FORT MYERS, Fla. — A year ago, Dustin Pedroia’s head was spinning, figuratively, as he digested his first big-league camp.

This year, his head has been spinning, literally.

Pedroia was summoned from his locker for a photo shoot the other day. He sat in a chair and was spun around 360 degrees as his likeness was captured for inclusion in the various Major League Baseball-licensed video games.

“That was cool,” said Pedroia.

Even more cool is the fact that, at the age of 23 and with only 2½ years of professional experience under his belt, Pedroia is being handed the keys to the second-base position for the Boston Red Sox.

But he is by no means taking anything for granted, even if a starting nod in 2007 was the logical message he could deduce from his Aug. 22 promotion last year and the Sox’ decision to allow steady, popular second baseman Mark Loretta to leave via free agency.

Nothing is etched in stone. Pedroia knows that. Something could happen this spring that would prompt the Sox to find another starting second baseman.

“I just have to keep working hard,” said Pedroia.

But, with the exhibition season beginning on Wednesday, Pedroia is being penciled in to play the position and bat ninth in the order.

And that’s the case even though Pedroia looked like a shell of himself when he walked into camp, which, actually, was a good thing.

It was a positive for Pedroia that people were looking at him and almost doing a double take, not quite recognizing him because he looked more diminutive than he had a year ago.

Pedroia, listed at 5-foot-9 in the media guide, dropped about 20 pounds in the offseason, down to a lean 170 pounds, give or take a few ounces. He looked a lot bigger, and slower, last spring.

“He put on some weight (before camp in 2006) and it wasn’t the right kind of weight,” said manager Terry Francona earlier this spring. “We asked him (after the season) to go home and come back ready to play and he did. He changed his eating habits.”

“He looks a lot better right now than he did last year,” echoed bench coach Brad Mills. “He’s moving real good, and I think he knows a little better what to expect this year. He’s ready to go.”

Pedroia said there was a reason he showed up so heavy last spring.

“I hurt my knee at the end of the (2005) season and didn’t have a chance to work out the way I wanted to,” said Pedroia.

And then things got worse for Pedroia, the Sox’ second-round draft pick in 2004 after a stellar career as a shortstop at Arizona State University.

In his first exhibition game, Pedroia suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder on a swing during a game against the Twins.

That injury set him back in big-league camp. But he went to Pawtucket, began thriving and was batting .305 in 111 games before being summoned by the injury-depleted Red Sox.

Pedroia joined the team in Anaheim, and notched his first major-league hit in his first game. It was not a fairy tale first month at the plate in the big leagues for Pedroia, though. He wound up batting a mere .191 (17-for-89) while playing most of the time at second, with a few starts at shortstop sprinkled in.

“But that time in the big leagues helped me immensely,” said Pedroia. “I needed to learn what it was like up here.”

Those types of struggles don’t faze him, he said.

“It usually takes me about 100 at-bats to work things out at the different levels,” said Pedroia, who had batted .255 in 51 games in Pawtucket in 2005 after being promoted from Double-A Portland.

He also didn’t seem to subscribe to the theory that his troubles at the plate for Boston last year were the result of too big a swing with too much of an uppercut for such a small man.

“I’ve been successful my whole life hitting like that. I was just overanxious a little bit last year,” he said.

So while he had some big-league at-bats to learn from as he worked out in the offseason, he also had a goal to get himself in better shape. He once again trained at the Athletes Performance Institute, following the rigorous workout program there and benefiting from a suggested change in diet.

And here he is, back in camp, the job his to lose. His uniform number is 64, down from 82 last spring.

He has been getting in some extra work with shortstop Julio Lugo, forming a middle-infield duo that, if the Sox are correct in their evaluations, could be Boston’s double-play combination for at least the next four years, which is the length of Lugo’s contract.

For the time being, Pedroia is concentrating on showing the Sox that their confidence in him is justified.

“I always wanted to be here,” said Pedroia. “I guess I lucked out. I just have to keep working hard.”

skrasner@projo.com