Here’s to You: Rocco Baldelli
Rocco Baldelli rounds the bases on August 23 after his first home run since May 3, 2007 and since returning from an ongoing battle with a mitochondrial disorder (AP/ Nam Y. Huh).
Rocco Baldelli’s name once invoked awe and excitement. He was the sixth overall draft pick in the 2000 draft, shot through the Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays’ minor league system, and made his major league debut in 2003. In his rookie season, Baldelli batted a respectable .289 with 11 HR and 78 RBI while scoring 89 runs and stealing 27 bases landing him third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Angel Berroa of KC and Hideki Matsui of NY.
Baldelli again put up good numbers in 2004 in 136 games, but then missed all of 2005, nearly half of 2006, and barely played in 2007. Instead of awe and excitement, his name became synonymous for the punchline of a joke, much the same way Mike Hampton’s name has been for several years.
Then in March, Baldelli was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder that left him severely fatigued after doing only minimal activity. The jokes and punchlines about Rocco turned into concern over whether the disorder would necessitate the retirement of the 26-year-old centerfielder, who had been thought to be a huge part of the Rays’ future success.
After the diagnosis, Baldelli was placed on the 60-day disabled list to begin the season, and the team decided to decline his 2009 option (which will make him a free agent at the end of this season) under the unknown circumstances and complete extent of the disorder.
Thankfully, for Tampa Bay and baseball fans, Baldelli was back spraying line drives in batting practice by mid-May and by the end of the month was back in uniform playing in extended spring training.
After spending time on rehab assignments in Vero Beach (High Single-A) and Montgomery (Double-A) where his plate discipline, hitter’s eye, and home-to-first split times each slowly progressed, Baldelli finally returned to the Rays’ active roster August 10 when Carl Crawford was sent to the DL.
In his first game back, Baldelli got the start in right field, and in his second at bat, he ripped an RBI single. Baldelli would go 1-4 with the RBI single but also added a diving catch in the outfield. Then on August 22, Rocco bashed his first home run since May 3, 2007 and knocked another two days later.
Baldelli has continued to contribute while playing in a platoon (in order to keep him from reaching the stage of overly fatigued). This past Saturday, Baldelli went 2-3 with two hit by pitches and received the honor of enduring a bottom of the pile beating by his Rays’ teammates after he hit a walk-off RBI double to help Tampa Bay defeat Baltimore 10-9.
“What he’s done to come back and to win a ballgame like that is just huge for him, huge for us and huge for the city,” Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine said.
“I think we’re all glad we got the win,” B.J. Upton said. “But it makes it a little bit better that he got the winning hit.” (MLB.com)
What did the Rhode Island native think about his game-winning hit and the ensuing celebration?
“There were probably more people running at me, but for some reason, I can just picture B.J. and Aki running right at me,” Baldelli said. “And it’s a nice feeling — something that I’ll remember for a while.”
So what does Rocco have in store for the rest of the season? Well, he followed his game-winning performance by reaching base 4 times on Sunday (3-3, BB, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI) to improve his batting average to .351. As long as the young slugger can stay healthy, he could prove to be an integral part of the Rays’ lineup throughout the pennant race and playoffs.
So here’s to you Rocco Baldelli for helping Tampa Bay to their best month in franchise history (21-7 in August), being a great competitor but also a great person as anyone that has met you can attest, coming back from a disorder that can be dehabilitating at times, not being a primadonna that believes he has the right to whatever he wants, for just wanting to be a part of the Rays’ magical season, and for being one of the best stories in baseball this year for the team that is the best story in baseball this season.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:23 am
From PewterPirate55 on DRaysBay.com:
Glad to see Rocco back and contributing in pivotal ways.
I saw him play for Vero Beach in the Single A rehab stint. I wasnt very encouraged with what I saw and I immediately thought that he wouldn’t be back. But as I have learned on this board I have to look at a bigger sample size than one game.
Rocco is a great person. I think he doesn’t want to be the center of attention. Not that any of the team does, but, I don’t think Rocco wanted to be in the spotlight for his illness. When I got a chance to see him play it was a typical attendance for an A ball game 4 to 5 hundred people at the most and I was sitting in the second row behind home plate with some family and friends. The Rays were the visiting team in Sarasota, most of the shirts were red or red and white. So I guess about five or six guys sitting in the second row wearing blue Rays gear kinda stuck out. During pre game warm ups he came out of the dugout, we clapped and cheered. He looked over and smiled. When warm ups were over he brought a couple of autographed baseballs over and handed them to my nephews. I thought it was a nice gesture. I didn’t expect anything more than a chance to see him play and a personal interaction was what I got. Rocco is a first class guy all the way and he deserves all of the success that comes his way.
When he hit his first home run in Chicago my eyes got a little moist. He came a long way and for that moment the game was about him and not his illness. My nephews were coincidentally watching the game with me and could not believe he had come so far either.
Welcome back Rocco we have missed you.
Rocco for 08 MLB comeback player of the year.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I found Rocco when he was playing for the Montgomery Biscuits-I love watching him play and he is nice to look at!