Change of scenery

By Joe Mason
For the Times

Rob Rodriguez didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at Frankford High School.
Rodriguez, a junior, transferred from Thomas Edison at his mom’s request. He was excited about the prospects of attending a new school, but he also was a little nervous.
Last year, Rodriguez was a backup catcher on Edison’s baseball team. He knew that cracking the starting lineup for the Pioneers, annually one of the top teams in the Public League, meant he’d have his work cut out for him.
So he put in the work.
A lot of it.
"I worked on everything from the first day of spring training," Rodriguez said. "I spent a lot of time going over my hitting. The biggest thing I did was work on my throwing.
"I was throwing from home to second (base) in two and a half seconds. That’s a long time. But after I changed a lot of my bad habits, I got it down to about 1.8 (seconds)."
As Rodriguez’s batting average rose and his glove-to-glove time decreased, the junior became one of the better players in the Public League. And on June 11, he was rewarded with a spot on the Public League’s roster in the annual Carpenter Cup competition.
"When you go from being a backup to a guy who is one of the top twenty-five guys in the Public League, it’s an amazing honor," Rodriguez said. "It was great to be down there with all the great players, meet guys I didn’t know, and have some more fun with the guys on my team."
Rodriguez had fun, but his team didn’t fare too well.
The Public League squad fell to Chester County, 14-5, in a first-round game played Monday at the University of Pennsylvania. Since the Carpenter Cup started, the Public League has won just once and lost 22 times.
Although the score was lopsided, Rodriguez’s Pioneer teammates had solid performances.
Edwin "Tito" Rohena had three hits, including two doubles, in four at-bats. Fellow Pioneer Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche added a pair of hits, including a double.
Also starring for the Public League was Northeast High School pitcher Joe Breitweiser, who allowed one run over three innings of work.
Rodriguez was glad to get another day to play with his teammates and coach, Bob Peffle, who led the Public League team. Rodriguez still has plenty of Pioneer baseball left. Next year, all but three seniors return to Frankford’s team, a team that won the Public League championship two weeks ago.
He’ll also see them a lot over the summer, which is when his improvement started last year.
"I play with eight of the guys on the Olney Redbirds (American Legion) team," said Rodriguez, who plays outfield and catcher with that squad. "Last year’s (Frankford) catcher, Ramon Reyes, is on the team, so he teaches me a lot.
"He helped me a lot this year, especially once Legion started," he added. "It’s been nice because coach Peffle and coach (Juan) Namnun have helped me learn, then I get help from other places."
Those mentors apparently were impressed with his dedication.
"I’ll tell you, Robinson was good at the start, but he had a lot of habits that needed work," Peffle said. "He certainly spent the time, no question about it, to become one of the top players in the Public League.
"In April he had a lot of work to do, and he still knows he has work to do," Peffle continued. "But over the past few weeks, we’ve been playing at a lot of places that do not have backstops, and I think he let one ball get by him. He’s done a fantastic job, especially defensively, in spots where we really needed him."
Rodriguez also is learning how to become a complete catcher. Good high school catchers usually swing a powerful bat, possess great defensive skills, and, probably most important, serve as the team’s leader.
So far, Rodriguez has the first two down pat. Now he’s working on being the team leader for his senior year.
"It’s tough when you got a lot of players, a lot of good players, and we’re all friends, we’re like a family," he said. "We don’t really need a great leader; we have great coaches and then we all kind of lead by example.
"But I definitely want to go to college and play ball, so I know I’ll have to be a leader," he said. "I’m not very loud, but I have a deep voice, so hopefully people will listen to me." ••
Joe Mason can be reached at joemason70@hotmail.com