Rocco Baldelli Tampa Bay Rays (4-27-2002)

What is your baseball background?

I grew up in Rhode Island I went to a private school, Bishop Hendricken high school. I played baseball my sophomore, junior and senior year. I played little league all the way up before that.

What happened after high school?

After I graduated within a week I was playing for the Princeton team with the Devil Rays.

What round were you drafted in?

I was drafted in the first round in 2000. This is my second full year in pro ball.

Where were you at last year?

I played for the Charleston RiverDogs in the Sal (South Atlantic League) league last year.

What is your baseball philosophy?

I don’t know. I just go out there and play and whatever happens happens. So far it has worked out okay and hopefully it will keep working out. I just do what I do, play how I’ve always played, and try to learn as much as I can every time I come out on the field.

How about your hitting philosophy?

I go up there hacking. I don’t really take a lot of pitches. A lot of organizations and hitting instructors preach that taking pitches and getting on base is the most important thing, but your not going to get hits unless you swing the bat. So I am up there swinging.

Do you look for a certain pitch?

I, like everybody else, like hitting fastballs but you have to be able to adjust. To be a good hitter you have to be able to hit all the pitches so you might as well get used to hitting now.

What do you think about the first pitch?

I am always ready to swing. I don’t just stand there and let the first pitch go. If it is a good pitch, if its one that I want to swing at then I’m going to swing. I am not just up there hacking at every first pitch of every game.

Do you think the pitchers try to get the first pitch for a strike to get ahead of you?

I would think that and I have always thought that all the way up through high school. I swung at the first pitch a lot because pitchers just try to throw it down the middle sometimes and I would try to hit one in the sticks.

What would you say your strengths are?

Probably my speed. I can use that defensively, on the bases, and in hitting as well. That kind of helps me out in all areas of my game. If I am not doing one thing well I could always go out and play a good center field for my team if it’s not working out with the bat. Maybe leg out an infield hit or something like that. That is the constant in my game”

What do you think your weaknesses are?

Being one of the younger kids in the league, swinging at bad pitches that maybe I don’t want to swing at. My outfield throws have improved. Just not being too experienced in the game right now.

When you signed a contract did they tell you how long it would take before you were in the big leagues?

No. Our organization doesn’t have a plan set. I’m sure they do, but we don’t hear about it much. They just let what you do on the field dictate when your move up. That’s a good rule to go by I think.

Pitchers throw inside and outside to set hitters up, do hitters set pitchers up?

I try too. It is kind of is a difficult thing to explain. You just get a feeling of what pitch a pitchers going to throw and you are ready for it. Sometimes you can play like you can’t hit a certain pitch. The pitchers then finds what he thinks is a weakness and he throws that pitch and you are ready for it.

It seems like guy with talent don’t go as far as guys with lesser talent?

I think it true in certain situations. I think its totally opposite in other situations. It all depends on the person and their drive to get better. It doesn’t matter if someone is talented or not talented there are some people who are talented and don’t work hard and they never become anything on the baseball field. It could go either way.”

Do you look at people above you in the organization?

I see how everybody’s doing. I check to see how my friends are doing because I know a lot of guys who I have played with. I am not doing it in a competitive way hoping things don’t work out so I could possibly go up. That’s not the way to do it. If you play well and do well then things are going to work out for you”

Do you think high draft picks get more chances?

I think they do. It’s not something that is always fair or things like that. I think that when someone has a lot invested in some one they make sure they get something out of their investment. I see it sometimes. Whether it is right or wrong I don’t really know. That is not my place to say but I think it happens.

Do you think at the end it is the ones who deserve it?

I think in the end the guys who stay in the major leagues are the guys who deservers it. That is the most important thing”

Describe the battles for the roster spots?

It’s tough to worry about all the other people. You have enough to worry about just going out in the field everyday and worrying about what your going to do. So if you just worry about yourself it doesn’t really matter what the people ahead of you or behind you are doing. You are going to progress. I think that is all the organization is looking for. That you are getting better as a player and not that you are getting better compared to the person ahead of you.

Do you watch film?

We watch film sometimes. We tend not to watch film when things are going well because you don’t what to start looking for stuff you’re doing wrong. When things are going bad that’s when you look at the films of when you were going well and then see what you were doing different than you are now. That’s basically how we run our films.

How much do you think chemistry in the clubhouse effect the team?

I think it affects the team a lot. At the minor league level some teams don’t stress winning enough as much as other people do. You get a lot of teams worried about developing players and not worrying about the win loss record. Right now our coaching staff is stressing winning. They want to build winning teams and a winning organization. I think that is a great idea stressing winning over just developing players.

It seems there are two different ideas. One is if you win at the minor league level you get used to winning. The second is you develop players with the ultimate goal is to win at the major league level?

There is a balance you have to meet. You can have a great team that wins at the minor league level and you could have no major league players off that team. That’s not doing anything for the organization. Or you could have a bunch of great players that don’t know how to win. There’s a balance in between you should hit.

How important is weightlifting?

I think in today’s game it is really important. Look at those guys on television playing ball or you walk into a big league clubhouse and those are big and strong guys. They get by a lot of them on their strength and how they play the game strength wise. For some people its speed or like pitchers how he throws, or his philosophy, a lot of it doesn’t have to do with strength and weightlifting. But looking at today’s game it is a big part of it”

Do you lift everyday?

We have a lifting program. We lift twice a week for strengthening. It is impossible to gain strength during the season there is too much going on. In the off-season is when we get that done. I have a small gym in my cellar and I have a gym I go to also. The organization has a guideline book for us.

Do you read the sports page to see the reports about you?

I like to read. I like to read everything about baseball. Sometimes I pick up a magazine or newspaper and I’ll be in it but I don’t get publications or newspapers just to read about myself. I don’t think that is really too healthy to do things like that. I am a heavy reader. I read the front page as much as I read the sports page and I do read things about myself sometimes.

Does that affect you?

I don’t think so. I don’t get anything out of it. It’s more of an entertainment value.

Baseball America lists you as one of the organizations top prospect.

That’s really meaningless stuff when baseball publications list players. In the end to become a major leaguer it doesn’t matter what you were rated, or anything like that.

How do you handle the fans yelling at you?

I don’t get too much of a raise out of those guys. When I was in high school I used to get some of that stuff worse than I get it here in professional baseball. It kind of picks you up and makes you work harder. You can laugh at those guys. You can turn around and shove it to them.

How do you handle the umpires with the balls and strikes?

You know when you get a pitch you don’t like. My philosophy is that you don’t have to be completely rude to the person but if you have something that doesn’t go your way and should have, you have to let them know or else it is going to eat away at you. Things like that are going to bug you. So when something doesn’t go my way and it should have I let them know about it

Have you ever been thrown out of a game?

No. I have never been thrown out of any game or any event in my life.

How about the brush backs knockdowns and retaliations?

I never got too much into that. My first year when I was in rookie ball an opposing manager thought I was stealing signs and relaying them to the batter at the plate when I was on second. I can honestly say that I was doing nothing of the sort. They threatened to hit me and said you better watch out next time. Our team was ready to fight with them because you have to be ready to protect yourselves. Besides that we haven’t had anything like that.

Would you expect your pitchers to retaliate?

I probably would. There comes a point that goes beyond baseball where someone can get hurt. You can’t just let someone do that to your teammate. I know my pitchers would stick up for me if anything like that happened.

What are your thoughts about being traded?

I haven’t really thought too much about that. Things that go on off the field player’s can’t really worry about too much unless you are at the big league level. When you are in the minors the only things you should be worried about is family and playing baseball, and that’s it. That’s what I think about it.

What would you tell someone in high school about professional baseball?

Don’t expect the glamorous lifestyle that you think your going to get if your lucky enough to play professional baseball. It is a grind, it is tough, and it is a hard thing to go through to get to the major leagues. But once you get there, I think it is going to be great