helping to train our children and youngsters during the two clinics which took place before the Monclova Acereros took on the Eagle Pass Broncos. Rojas has a long history of baseball and has worked with greats in both the Major Leagues as well as in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
When asked what they worked on with the kids on this cool Saturday morning, he had the following to say, “We didn’t have much time but we did stretching with the kids, a little bit of base running, we did some fielding, we did some hitting. With the older kids we did some pitching and catching and talked to them about their balance and mechanics as a pitcher. Mr. Maxwell worked with the catchers. We worked with the shortstops, did some ground balls. We basically told them to have fun. It was good to see the kids out on the field having fun and practicing the game of baseball. It was good that the parents brought these kids out early in the morning to practice with us. We’re glad to be here.”
When asked about his background, Rojas illuminated us with a long list of teams he has worked with throughout the years, “I played minor league baseball with Toronto and Oakland, I’m an ex big league bullpen coach and was in the World Series with the Detroit Tigers. Two American League Championships with them. I was with the Seattle Mariners for two years. I managed in the minor leagues for twelve years. I’ve also managed in winter ball in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. I’m the current manager for the Leones de Caracas there. Now I’m here in the summer in Monclova to win a championship here.”
When asked about the winner of the Venezuelan League, Rojas told us that his team lost to the eventual representatives in the Serie del Caribe, “We lost to Lara, (Los Cardinals de Lara) they had a great team and we just couldn’t beat ‘em, they beat us four out of five games.”
When asked about Venezuela and how the country is at this time, he added, “It’s good, the situation there is not good, but I don’t get into politics. We’re there to do one job and that’s to play baseball and to get their minds off of what’s going on in the country. Hopefully things get
better.”
When asked about attendance at the games, Rojas said that it’s the place to be, “Attendance is great. In Magallanes and Caracas you get 28,000 people watching the game.” This reporter reminded him that a great friend, Mr. Jesus Diaz-Wever is from there and he follows los Navigates de Magallanes and los Tiburones de La Guaina, “One of our assistants here with Monclova is Ozie Guillen who manages Los Tiburones.”
We had to pick his brain about pitching and catching and when asked about how important transfer is for catchers, Rojas had the following to conclude, “Well now it’s all about numbers. To me the most important thing about catching and throwing guys out is your footwork and your balance. If you don’t have footwork and your feet underneath you, you’re not gonna have anything on the throw. Your hands, your arm and your head all follow the base of your footwork. That’s how you throw runners out. Of course you also have to have a strong arm, but the mechanics of throwing is not about how quick the runner is, it’s the fault of the pitcher not holding runners. You need to hurry up. If your mechanics are there, you throw guys out.” He said that their catcher Bruce Maxwell has all the tools of a major league catcher. “He’s a major league catcher. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a job right now in the major leagues. He’s got power at the plate from the left side, he’s got a great arm, he receives very well, he
blocks very well, he’s a solid major league catcher.” We closed our conversation by asking him who the best pitcher he has ever worked with. “Justin Verlander for sure.”
A.D. Ibarra
-Moncada Park