Rojas lives his MLB dream after call to The Show
This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it repeatedly in your inbox.
Johan Rojas is 22, so no one needs to be shocked to study he grew up taking part in “MLB The Show” on PlayStation.
It is even much less of a shock to study he created himself as a participant within the recreation. Everybody does that.
“I would make sure that I had a lot of speed, a lot of power, a lot of agility,” Rojas mentioned Friday afternoon, smiling. “All the good stuff.”
But now Rojas actually is in The Show. The Phillies on Friday promoted him from Double-A Reading to take Cristian Pache’s spot on the 26-man roster. Pache is on the 10-day injured record due to irritation in his proper elbow from a screw he had surgically positioned earlier than he signed his first professional contract in 2015. Nobody is aware of how a lot time Pache would possibly miss, so Rojas, who’s the Phillies’ No. 6 prospect, will assume Pache’s position for the foreseeable future.
Rojas acquired the news in Reading, the place he was having fun with a barbeque with household and buddies, together with his spouse and 11-month-old son, Johan Rojas Jr.
“I was so excited,” Rojas mentioned. “I started jumping. It was a special moment. My wife cried. My brother was super excited to the point where he was shaking. I was really emotional, too. I called my mom. She started crying, too. My uncles and aunts, they all started crying because they were very, very excited for me. It’s incredible. It’s something that I always dreamt about. I would play PlayStation sometimes and I would be like, ‘Yeah, I can be one of those guys.’ And I’m finally here. Even when I got to the ballpark today, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I had to pinch myself. I am actually here. I made it. It’s been a great 24 hours.”
Rojas is slashing .306/.361/.484 with 20 doubles, 5 triples, 9 residence runs, 45 RBIs, 30 stolen bases and an .845 OPS with Reading. He leads the Eastern League in hits (98), triples and runs (56) and is tied for second in steals. It is the perfect offensive season of his professional profession.
“Offensively, I worked on a couple of drills,” Rojas mentioned. “They started happening in Spring Training. … I just kept doing them. They worked. They helped me at the plate.”
What precisely has been the main focus?
“To hit the ball in the gap,” he mentioned. “That’s the No. 1 goal right now. … Be selective. Just swing at strikes. Be faithful to my game plan.”
Rojas already is likely to be considered one of baseball’s greatest defensive middle fielders, even earlier than he’s anticipated to make his massive league debut in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader towards Padres left-hander Blake Snell. (Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson mentioned Rojas will play middle towards left-handed starters.) Rojas is that good defensively.
But even earlier than Rojas acquired promoted, he figured to be talked about fairly a bit over the following couple weeks. Rojas could possibly be a gorgeous commerce chip for the Phillies, who will look to make upgrades earlier than the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline.
