BSN Exclusive: Rodgers overcomes beanball to make his MLB debut

DENVER – Anyone reviewing box scores for the Albuquerque Isotopes earlier this month would have noticed some excellent stat lines for top prospect Brendan Rodgers in the days before his call-up to the Colorado Rockies.

On May 13, Rodgers notched four hits and two runs batted in during an 8-7 loss to Washington Nationals affiliate Fresno.

On May 14, he added two more hits and a run batted in during a second straight loss to the Grizzlies.

But it was what happened on May 11 in the first game of this series that makes Rodgers’ back-to-back games of production so impressive.

In the third inning of the Saturday night affair against the Grizzlies, Rodgers was hit in the head with a 93 mph fastball.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Rodgers said of the moment. “He overthrew a heater. We were battling. It was a 3-2 count and he just tried to overthrow a heater. He just slipped. No hard feelings. He didn’t purposely do it.”

Though he was removed from the game as a precautionary measure, the 22-year-old would suffer a slight headache that would not linger. This wasn’t the first time Rodgers has been taken down by a beanball.

“In ‘17, I got hit way worse,” the Florida native shared. “It was 94 (mph) and it hit me pretty much in my temple. This one, it hit off and I saw a replay and it went up to the back net. It wasn’t square, but you never know how bad it could have been.”

Rodgers didn’t suffer a concussion from this incident two years ago, but he did miss multiple games with Hartford. The experience left an indelible mark on his psyche, one that prevented him from playing his brand of baseball.

“When I came back, I struggled. Maybe it was a little fear of getting hit again. I told myself I wasn’t going to let that happen again… I wasn’t going to let that affect me at the plate and how I was feeling. I just had to try and keep my confidence where I was,” he added.

Just 48 hours after getting plunked, Rodgers responded with a home run in his first at bat on just the second pitch he saw. The second homer of the game came on an 0-2 count. Impressive accomplishments for a young man with not-too-distant memories on how his fear rattled him.

So, how did he get through this? Perhaps it’s not surprising that the 2015 first-round draft pick did it without anyone sharing advice on how to get past the negative images of a baseball hurtling towards his head.

“(It) was kind of on my own,” Rodgers said. “I kind of just been through it already. I knew I had struggled and my own mentality wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

“(And) that’s exactly what I pictured,” Rodgers said of the best game of his season. “Doing that exactly. And I did and felt fine.”

Had his rebound from the beanball not been so resounding, the timetable for his debut with the Rockies could have been impacted.

“I was told that (getting hit) affected (getting called up) by a few days,” he shared. “Not much. Like a day or two. I knew something was going to happen soon. I just had to keep playing, playing the game hard, playing the game the right way. And it happened.”

The date was May 17 in Philadelphia and his first at bat would produce an RBI for Rodgers. In his Coors Field debut, he notched two hits to contribute to Colorado’s 8-6 victory. Similar positive results in markedly different locations.

“The only difference is in Philly, my first at-bat in my debut, they call my name and I got booed there,” he laughed. “They call my name here and they cheer. That’s the only difference. The fans being behind your back.”

Added the rookie in his good-natured style, “Haters gonna hate.”