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 commonly in your inbox.
Johan Rojas is 22, so no one ought to be shocked to be taught he grew up enjoying “MLB The Show” on PlayStation.
It is even much less of a shock to be taught 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 stated 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 listing 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 received the information in Reading, the place he was having fun with a barbeque with household and pals, together with his spouse and 11-month-old son, Johan Rojas Jr.
“I was so excited,” Rojas stated. “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 house 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 stated. “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 target?
“To hit the ball in the gap,” he stated. “That’s the No. 1 goal right now. … Be selective. Just swing at strikes. Be faithful to my game plan.”
Rojas already is perhaps one in all baseball’s greatest defensive heart fielders, even earlier than he’s anticipated to make his large league debut in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader in opposition to Padres left-hander Blake Snell. (Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson stated Rojas will play heart in opposition to left-handed starters.) Rojas is that good defensively.
But even earlier than Rojas received promoted, he figured to be talked about fairly a bit over the subsequent couple weeks. Rojas may very well be a sexy commerce chip for the Phillies, who will look to make upgrades earlier than the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline.
Content Source: www.mlb.com