Bellbrook graduation 2012
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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > March > 08 > Entry
Del Rosario’s background helps him mature
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Enerio Del Rosario speaks no English, but that doesn’t mean he and fellow Dominican Pedro Viola don’t understand what it takes to catch a manager’s eye when they aren’t on the pitching mound breaking off knee-buckling sliders and slinging searing fastballs.
Manager Dusty Baker notices that when the pitchers run, Del Rosario and Viola are always at the front of the pack, start to finish, like a pair of Kenyan marathoners.
“I was talking to (Dominican roving pitching instructor) Mario Soto and he was telling me that Del Rosario was close to being sent home, sent back to poverty (in El Seibo, D.R.),” said Baker. “And then Tom Brown dropped him down and he played rookie ball for three years.”
Then, as Baker likes to say: “Bam.”
“He went from A ball to AA ball to AAA ball in one year (2009), just like that,” Baker added. Del Rosario, a 24-year-old thermometer-thin 6-2, 165-pound lefthanded relief pitcher, started last season at Class A Sarasota. When he went 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA in 31 games, he was boosted to Class AA Carolina.
He was only in the Southern League for four games and posted a 1.59 ERA (no walks, nine strikeouts) and was zipped up to Class AAA Louisville, where he finished the season by splicing a 1-0 record and a 1.09 ERA in 15 games.
“Here he is now and I see one of the hardest-working guys in camp,” said Baker. “Those are the kinds of things that impress you, you know these guys are hungry.”
That’s literally and figuratively.
Del Rosario’s name came up after Baker was describing how players mature and develop in different ways.
“You hope their arm remains strong when their head catches up to their arm,” said Baker. “If you can do that, then you have action. Sometimes you don’t figure it out until you get sent home when you’re playing in a beer league someplace. I tell our guys just don’t be one of those gimme-another-chance guy.
“We tend to want our players to grow up super fast, instead of just growing up,” said Baker. “You try to help ‘em grow up and mature. But a lot of it depends on where you are from, your background, your family structure, the importance of your family, like if you might have been the bread winner at 16 or you were never the bread winner.
“There are a lot of factors here with guys from different places and different senses of responsibilities,” Baker added. “I was forced to grow up quicker than I wanted to because my parents go divorced when I was 16 and I was the oldest of five.
“Things change kind of quickly out there, you know,” Baker added. “They all have a story. We all have a story.”
YES, THEY ALL have a story, especially Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who pitches this afternoon in an exhibition game against the Kansas City Royals. He signed a $30.25 million contract with the Reds this year and came to the United States. Since then, he has become a father and has not seen his child, who is back in Cuba.
ONE OF the comments on this blog yesterday admonished me for complaining about the weather. Just reporting the facts, sir, just the facts. And it is raining again today and it is cold.
You know they aren’t accustomed to chilly weather in these parts. National baseball writer Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post forgot to bring a jacket and tried to find one, “But they didn’t have any at Wal-Mart or Target,” he said.
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By Cal
March 8, 2010 2:41 PM | Link to this
Hi Hal lets go to breakfast sometime. I’ll buy. I’ll be down the last week of spring training.
By Common Cents
March 8, 2010 12:28 PM | Link to this
Hal, ignore the morons. The majority of us look forward to your blogs and insight. Some losers are just jealous that they aren’t lucky enough to have a job where they get to watch and report on the game they love
By birdie
March 8, 2010 11:35 AM | Link to this
Hi Hal, from your(and Reds) fan from Celina I just wanted to let you know baseball is alive and well in Sarasota.Sunday’s game between Baltimore & Boston drew 8088 fans(a new record for Ed Smith stadium). Just thought I would let you know in case you did not see it reported any place in Az. Going to today’s game also against Twins.