The PawSox outfielder, who is recovering from surgery to his left wrist, said he took "300-400 swings a day" while training with the Fukoka Softbank Hawks.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 6, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Justin Sherrod, who likely will once again be patrolling the Pawtucket Red Sox outfield this season, should have his own reality show.

Oh, wait. He already tried that in a sense, appearing last year on ABC-TV's "Bachelorette." Unfortunately that didn't work out. Sherrod was one of Meredith Phillips' first cuts.

Maybe Sherrod could be featured in a medical show. Again, unfortunately, he has been cut on enough for that possibly, beginning with surgery to remove his hamate bone in 2002 and continuing through two seasons of Nomar Garciaparra-like left wrist troubles that ultimately necessitated the surgical repair of his tendon and tendon sheath this past off-season.

Sherrod, of course, would prefer some TV time that would show him taking his cuts against major league pitching.

So maybe to that end, producers should be lining up a "Sherrod Goes to Japan" show because recently the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Florida native spent about 10 days in Japan along with another Red Sox prospect, David Murphy, working out with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

Sherrod, who went 0 for 2 in reserve duty in the split-squad 12-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins yesterday afternoon, and Murphy, who played in the Sox' 8-7 victory against Cincinnati in Sarasota last night, had the opporunity to work with, among others, Sadaharu Oh, Japan's all-time leading home-run hitter.

Boston officials John Deeble, the organization's Pacific Rim scouting coordinator, and Portland manager Todd Claus, set up the exchange program, which came to pass the third week of February.

"It's not uncommon in spring training for Korean teams or Japanese teams to come over here or send over individual players to work out here. We wanted to reverse that concept," said Josh Byrnes, the Sox' assistant general manager.

"We thought it would be a good idea to learn more about their training programs and spring training programs. There might be something than what we do. We can learn from it," said Byrnes.

The January call with the invitation to Sherrod came from Craig Shipley, a special assistant to general manager Theo Epstein and director of player development and international scouting. There was some initial anxiety for Sherrod, who still was recovering from the wrist surgery.

"At that point I hadn't even picked up a bat yet," said Sherrod before yesterday's afternoon game. "My wrist was still sore. I ended up going to the doctor, and he assured me that the wrist was fine, that it was all right for me to be swinging."

Sherrod took enough swings, though, to convince himself he could take the physical demands. But he had no idea how organized and structured the Japanese spring training program was.

"I took about 300-400 swings a day," said Sherrod, who batted .267 with 17 homers and 51 RBI in 104 games for the PawSox around wrist soreness and cortisone shots.

That was only a small portion of each day's workout, with everything done as a team, said Sherrod.

After breakfast at 7, the players dressed at their hotel, boarded a bus at 8:50 for the 20-minute drive to the ballpark. Once there, there were all sorts of stretching and conditioning drills, numerous fielding drills, including a heavy dose of pitchers' fielding practice, several batting-practice routines, such as traditional soft toss from the side and tosses from the front, with players working out of three batting cages in 30-minute groups, which is about twice as long as groups here hit.

They returned to the hotel around 5:30, and an exhausted Sherrod was in bed by 8:30.

"I think maybe they overdo some things, but it was a great experience to go through all of those workouts. It was amazing to see how they went through all of those things. It was a lot more intense (than spring training here). Everything was full bore," said Sherrod, a 19th-round pick from Rollins College in Florida in 2000.

Sherrod said he enjoyed getting a glimpse of a different culture, and his visit gave him a better understanding of what Latin players feel and go through when they come to this country for the first time, having little or no language skills.

The best part for Sherrod, though, was that he made it through the experience without suffering through any debilitating wrist problems. It's still sore, and probably will be for a while, but Sherrod is hoping that for the first time since his rookie year he can enjoy an injury-free season. He's due.

"It's crazy," said Sherrod of his injury history. "You just have to battle through it. My wrist now is a little sore, but I've been swinging as hard as I can. I'm not holding back. Now I'm just going to try to play hard and see what happens. That's all I can control."

Alert the networks. After what Justin Sherrod has been through, a rise to Boston through Pawtucket would have to be fertile fodder for a made-for-TV movie at the very least.