Scutaro not fazed by slow start

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Comfortable with his new surroundings, shortstop Marco Scutaro remains in search of that same comfort level at the plate.

Scutaro's first spring training with the Boston Red Sox is nearing an end, and one question that lingers is how much he'll contribute offensively. Coming off a season in which he hit a career-high .282 with 12 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays, he's struggled to find his groove this spring.

"It's not there yet," Scutaro said Sunday. "It's taking me a little longer than normally."

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Michael DeHoog/Sports Imagery/Getty ImagesMarco Scutaro was 1-for-3 Sunday but is hitting just .156 for the spring.

Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan sees Scutaro as being caught in between -- he's out in front of the off-speed pitch and late on the fastball. That was more evident early in the spring, Magadan said, but he has noticed improvement since.

Scutaro is hitting .156 after a 1-for-3 performance in an 11-5 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. He struck out in his first at-bat (he was well late on a fastball) and popped out to second base before lining a single up the middle. The fifth-inning single broke a stretch in which he was 1 for his last 13.

Perhaps the single, in which Scutaro swung at the first pitch from submarine right-hander Pat Neshek, then was replaced by pinch-runner Kevin Frandsen, will be the catalyst to get him going.

"It can happen like that," Scutaro said before the game, snapping his fingers. "At the same time, you can lose it that quickly. Hitting is tough and that's why you have to be mentally tough every day and keep working through those adjustments."

One area that Scutaro must balance is over-thinking his swing.

"Maybe if he was laying out three hits a game, he wouldn't be thinking so much about his swing," Magadan said. "But he kind of stumbled coming out of the gate, so he's been tinkering with it a lot, trying to find that slot that he was in last year when he felt like he was locked in the whole year.

"When the hits aren't coming, even though you're having some good at-bats, instead of letting the at-bat unfold you can sometimes force things. I think he's kind of gone through that a little bit."

The 34-year-old Scutaro called himself a traditionally slow starter in spring training. He also believes spring statistics can be misleading, which is the main reason he isn't overly concerned.

"I've never seen statistics behind a baseball card from spring training," he said. "They only show them from the season because that's all that matters. You're just trying to get ready and work on whatever you're doing wrong, and try to get your body in shape."

While Scutaro had hoped to be further along at the plate by now, his defense has come as advertised.

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One highlight came Saturday when he started a 6-4-3 double play with a terrific diving stop behind the second-base bag, before flipping the ball to Dustin Pedroia while on the ground.

Scutaro said he has enjoyed his pairing with Pedroia, and that his initial impressions of the Red Sox are what he hoped they would be when he signed a two-year, $12.5 million contract this offseason. The club viewed him as a capable defensive shortstop who would provide more offense than Alex Gonzalez.

Scutaro doesn't think the adjustment of coming to the Red Sox has factored into his early hitting struggles.

"Hitting is crazy because you never know. Sometimes it's there, and then the next day it isn't," he said. "It's all about getting your timing and rhythm down. The only way to get your timing back -- it's kind of like a feeling -- is to play. It's not like you go to the cage and get that feeling."

Mike Reiss covers the Patriots for ESPN Boston and checks on the Red Sox occasionally. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag.

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Mike Reiss

Patriots reporter, ESPNBoston.com

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• Covered Patriots since 1997
• Blogging on Pats since 2004
• Joined ESPNBoston.com in 2009