C’s Chat – 2023 Vancouver Canadians OF #34 Alan Roden – C's Plus Baseball

2023 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Alan Roden swings the bat in this edition of C’s Chat.

Willie Nelson once sang ‘On the road again, Just can’t wait to get on the road again.’ If the song was about Alan Roden’s 2023 season, the lyrics would be ‘On the base again. Just can’t wait to get on the base again.’

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Roden’s baseball career took shape when his family moved to Middleton, Wisconsin. A four-year letter winner at Middleton High School, Roden was originally a catcher for three years before moving to shortstop for his senior season of 2018. That year he batted .465/.556/.721 and struck out only two times to help the MHS Cardinals win their first regional title in eight years. Middleton coach Tom Schmitt raved about Roden’s abilities in this story from the Middleton Times Tribune.

“Alan is a tremendous worker. His preparation is right up there near the top of anybody we’ve had here. He’s got a good command of the strike zone. He’s everything you want in a hitter…His athletic skills allowed him to play catcher and move to shortstop his senior year without question or hesitation. He knew that his team needed him to do this to help give us the strongest lineup we could put on the field…He was a ‘5 tool’ baseball player. Add in his intelligence, passion for baseball, instincts, work ethic and competitiveness and you understand how Alan accomplished all he did. A very coachable player that stepped right into the lineup as a freshman and performed as an All-State player for four great years.”

After being a redbird in high school, Roden became a bluebird in college by joining the Creighton Bluejays where he would be teammates with 2019 and 2021 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Will Robertson. He opted to redshirt his 2019 freshman season and only got in five at-bats before Covid cancelled the 2020 campaign. Roden wound up getting a couple of hits, including his first collegiate home run against Minnesota.

That abbreviated 2020 season was a preview of how the next two years would go for Roden in Omaha. He won the Big East Freshman of the Year award and earned First Team All-Big East honours in 2021 after hitting 378 /.476 /.685 with 26 extra-base hits, including nine home runs and 47 runs batted in. He struck out just 18 times while drawing 20 walks. Roden spent that summer with the Upper Valley Nighthawks of the New England Collegiate League where he hit .357 with 15 extra-base hits and a whopping 28 stolen bases, getting caught only once.

Baseball America predicted Roden would have a big year in 2022 by naming him the Preseason Big East Player of the Year and ranking him as the number two prospect in Omaha for the MLB Draft. BA’s prediction became a reality when Roden was the co-winner of the Big East Player of the Year Award with Xavier’s Lucas Franzoni. Roden slashed .387/.492/.598 with 25 doubles among his 31 extra-base knocks. He was the second-toughest player to strike out in Division I baseball as he whiffed only eight times in 242 plate appearances while drawing a free pass 29 times. Roden would take another turn in summer college ball by joining the Wareham Gateman of the Cape Cod League and receive an invite to the MLB Draft Combine.

After drawing 49 walks and striking out 27 times during his time at Creighton, Roden’s contact ability and good eye in the batter’s box convinced the Toronto Blue Jays to select him in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft on the advice of scout Wes Penick. After agreeing to a $497,500 signing bonus, Roden attended the Jays draft camp in Dunedin before suiting up for the D-Jays.

Roden’s first professional at-bat resulted in a walk, the first of two that night against Tampa in his first game on August 9. He picked up his first two hits the following night versus Tampa. His first professional home run also happened at Tampa’s expense on August 14. That was all part of a career-opening six-game on-base streak that also included five straight games with a hit. After recording a hit in his last six regular season contests to push his OBP to .374. Roden would contribute to Dunedin’s run to the Florida State League championship. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored in the D-Jays Game 1 win against Fort Myers on September 13. He had another two-hit game and scored twice in Game 1 against St. Lucie on September 18. In the postseason, Roden batted. 294 with a .808 OPS.

In 2023, Roden appeared in four games with the Toronto Blue Jays in spring training, getting hit by a pitch against Detroit in Dunedin on February 28 before drawing a walk against the New York Yankees in Tampa on March 26.

Roden always found a way on base at least once a game until May 31. He had a 10-game on-base streak to begin his Northwest League career. Among the highlights was his first Northwest League home run in Everett on April 23. His 10-game streak ended, but he reached first base on an error and contributed two right-field assists against Eugene on April 25. Roden then ran off a 25-game on-base streak that came to an end at the hands of the Emeralds on May 31.

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C’s Plus Baseball chatted with Roden during the team’s homestand in May against Everett. This interview has been edited for clarity.

C’s Plus Baseball – Did you have a favourite major league team or player growing up?

Alan Roden – Being from Middleton and close to Madison, I was a Brewer fan pretty much my entire childhood. Probably my favorite player was Ryan Braun. You can’t not like him if you’re a Brewer fan, other than the steroids situation. But probably my favorite player growing up was Prince Fielder, first baseman, big bat, lefty. I’m a left-handed hitter, so he’s probably my favorite player for sure.

CPB – Did you get to go to a lot of games at Miller Park growing up?

AR – I went to a few, not a lot. It wasn’t like a thing we did often as a family, but we did go a few times and every time obviously it was a lot of fun.

CPB – I’m sure it was a lot of fun to listen to Bob Uecker on a daily basis.

AR – Absolutely. I mean you can’t not recognize his voice and he’s been with the team for so long, He’s basically been associated with the Brewers for forever now.

CPB – Your start in baseball. How did you get involved?

AR – Well, I actually was born in Alabama. I started hitting Wiffle balls when I was three and then I played T-Ball down in Alabama when I was five and then we moved to Wisconsin and then I just kept playing. I played in the town league, you know how it goes, and just kept playing through high school. I was lucky enough to get to play in D-1 (Division 1) in college at Creighton University and it worked out there too.

CPB – You had quite the high school career by winning awards all over the place. Anything that stands out to you when you look back in your high school career?

AR – I think the funniest part is that I didn’t play outfield in high school and I’m an outfielder now, so I played basically everywhere but the position I actually ended up playing. I caught for three years and then played shortstop my senior year. So it’s been a weird journey for sure in terms of defensive positioning.

CPB – Did you like catching or was it something where you just had to do it?

AR – I just had to do it. They just kind of stuck me back there and I kind of just did the job. I got it done and was probably pretty good, like better than maybe your average youth catcher. So I just caught for a long time and then in my senior year, I moved to shortstop because we had an injury and I had a pretty good arm and so that just seemed to fit. But I’m kind of glad I’m not a catcher anymore because they don’t have a very easy job and I like hitting. It’s hard to be a really good hitter as a catcher.

CPB – Creighton University, how do you wind up there?

AR – I wanted to go somewhere kind of close to home. Creighton’s six hours from where I grew up so that kind of played a role into it. And then obviously academics are really important to me. Going to a school like Creighton, which has good academics and a coach that teaches the right things, I think that shaped me as a human along with being a baseball player, all those things just kind of connected and created a really good fit.

CPB – What was it like getting to play in Omaha where the College World Series is held? What was that whole experience like?

AR – It’s hard to really even put into perspective when you’re there as a player what it’s like. But now looking back on it, I mean it was a tremendous opportunity and it’s hard to even say how cool it is to play there, to be able to practice there, do all that stuff. Because it really is a professional-ish stadium. They played a pro game there. And it’s that type of quality of college baseball that runs through in Omaha, so it was a privilege for sure.

CPB – You had great success, lots of awards such as the Big East Player of the Year. What was the key to your success?

AR – I didn’t play my first two years of college. Obviously my freshman year I redshirted and then my sophomore year was Covid so I played one game, had one start the first two years of college. And so I think a huge part of that time was just growing as a person and as a player and just getting better under the system that we had there and trusting the process. I think learning how to develop myself without playing was a big part of the success that I eventually had at Creighton and you know, it’s helped me now as well.

CPB – Anyone who you say has helped you out along the way to get youo to this point?

AR – I can’t answer this question without saying Ed Servais, the Creighton head coach. More probably the type of culture that he’s built at Creighton. I think specifically for me as a person, the things that work well and coaching me on the things he has set there was perfect for me and it really helped me. Obviously other coaches throughout the time like Connor Gandossy, the hitting coach at Creighton too. Those two for sure.

CPB – When the draft comes around, you get picked by the Toronto Blue Jays. What was your draft day experience like?

AR – It was actually in the Cape because I played in the Cape Cod League this past summer and I played there for about a month. I really just wanted to go out and experience that league because it’s got such a good reputation and it’s a cool experience to be able to say you played there. And so that’s something that I wanted to do. Not many players I would assume that were looking to get drafted as a senior or graduated senior would play summer baseball, but I felt like that was the right decision for me just to experience that. And so that’s where I was at. I had my Dad and my girlfriend with me. If I had to look back on it, would I do it exactly the same way? Probably not. I’d probably go home and be at home for it. It wasn’t perfect but it was good in itself so I have no regrets.

CPB – Did you have any idea the Blue Jays were going to take you?

AR – There were a few other teams that I thought maybe a short list of teams that were really interested in me as a player with the Blue Jays being on that list. It wasn’t a total surprise.

CPB – Will Robertson, former Creighton Bluejay and Vancouver Canadian. How well do you know him?

AR – We crossed paths for a year at Creighton when I was a freshman. He was a junior and that’s the year he got drafted. To say I learned a lot from Will would be an understatement. I learned a lot about hitting from Will and kind of took some of the parts of his swing and tried to learn from him because obviously he was a left-handed hitter who hit for power and for some average and just was a really good player at Creighton. I was a freshman that year and I didn’t get to play and so I was trying to learn from somebody and he was the perfect one to learn from. To say that he played a role in my development would be an understatement for sure.

CPB – I’m sure he must have given you the rundown on what to expect heading into the Blue Jays organization?

AR – Absolutely. He reached out and we communicated a little bit when it became official. When I got drafted. he was down there doing some rehab so we linked up and it was cool to have a familiar face around at the beginning for sure.

CPB – You get to Dunedin for the draft camp before reporting to the Dunedin Blue Jays. What was it like getting acclimated to the pro ball lifestyle?

AR – I think the Blue Jays did a really good job. They gave us two weeks after the draft to do what they call a draft camp and basically just took us around the facilities and different stuff like that and had us go through different workouts. It kind of just got us acclimated with what they stress in the organization and what they think is important in terms of how you prepare every day, how you go about your business every single day. So doing that and then heading into Dunedin I think was a really good transition. It wasn’t super easy because it’s a different game, college to professional just in terms of obviously the pitching and that style is different especially for me in the Big East but then also kind of schedule. You play every six out of seven days in the minors whereas in college you play Friday, Saturday, Sunday for sure and maybe some midweek (games) with school in between too, right? So it’s a little bit different where baseball is everything here now versus in college, you have a little bit of time off, less games and some more, I guess you could say, distractions outside of the game. But overall I think it was good but not always super easy at times.

CPB – You had quite the run with the Dunedin Blue Jays in going all the way to the league final. It seemed like as soon as the draft class got there things really turned on a dime. What was that experience like going to the finals?

AR – That was really fun. I think winning makes everything easier and so that was a really cool part of it. We had walk-offs and we would score late in the game to come back after not doing much the whole game. I think that just goes to show our draft class brought a lot of college guys, guys that never give up because we’re used to playing for the names on the front of our jerseys instead of on the back. So we took that kind of culture, that kind of way to play the game and brought it to Dunedin. When we all got together, it was a good group of players, an older group of players I guess you could say. And so we were ready to go, we could focus for nine innings and we knew how to play a full nine. It was just a lot of fun to be able to do that and have some success and kind of start out our careers. Having that kind of reputation of being kind of a gritty group and a group that is gonna play a whole game and never give up.

CPB – Heading of the off-season, was there anything that you worked on? You have that Player Development Complex at your disposal.

AR – Yeah, the facility is tremendous. Anything you could ever think of, they have. It was an awesome opportunity to work out there throughout the off-season but really just trying to continue to get better. Not do anything drastic in terms of any change. I did change my stance a little bit in order to try to create a little bit more damage and that’s still coming along. It doesn’t happen in a few months but to continue to work, continue to get stronger and be ready to play a full season was basically what I focused on.

CPB – I had read somewhere that there was a major league comp to Sean Casey. I don’t know if, if that’s something you agree with. I look at your stance from up in the press box and how you’re kind of angled off there (in the batter’s box). Is that something you really worked on the off-season, your set-up in the batter’s box?

AR – I worked on the new stance during spring training this year. I wouldn’t say I necessarily modeled myself after Sean Casey but I’m not gonna speculate on if it’s a good comp or not. But definitely something I worked on in the off-season and obviously still working on it because things aren’t perfect but it’s good to see that things are coming along and getting a little bit of progress here.

CPB – What is your approach when you step up to the plate. Obviously it’s to crush fastballs but what is your thought process when you dig in?

AR – I think the best way to answer that is it kind of changes depending on the pitcher, you know? You can’t attack every pitcher the same way. You have your certain hot zones and pitches you want to hit but you know you can’t approach a flame-throwing righty the same as you would kind of more like a junker lefty, right? That throws from the side at 45 degrees. So it kind of changes and also depends on who’s on base, what the situation is in the game. Do I gotta move a runner? Do I have to sac fly? Do I have to just kind of roll over the baseball, get a ground ball with second base and move ’em over. Things like that change how you approach an at-bat. But a lot of time, like you said, it’s just hammer the fastball and hope that you trust yourself enough to be able to adjust anything that’s slow.

CPB – You have a great eye at the plate and definitely you get on base. I know the game your on-base streak ended, you still got on base even though it doesn’t count because it was an error. But how are you able to get on base fairly consistently?

AR – It’s kind of something that that’s always been a talent of mine. I think what helps that a lot is the approach part of it. Knowing what I like to swing at and not deviating away from that. Trusting that helps a lot. But also another aspect is just trying to help the team win. You can’t score runs without getting on base. And I know for a player like myself, I aspire to hit more home runs. I want to hit more home runs, triples and doubles – all that stuff, that’s great. But how I can help the team win the most is getting on base and allowing the big boys to hit me in. So that’s kind of how I always approach the game and it’s served me well and I don’t plan on stopping or changing it.

CPB – You’ve hit the right-field wall a few times here at Nat Bailey Stadium.

AR – Yeah, I gotta hit it higher. But yeah, I’m not complaining about those good swings and you take what you can get for sure.

CPB – A couple of oddball questions just kind of end things off. The Creighton Bluejays – one word. The Toronto Blue Jays – two words. Where do you stand on this issue? Should it be one or two words?

AR – That’s tough. I don’t know. I honestly think I prefer the one word but I don’t know if I can even say that now. Yeah, I’m a Blue Jay versus a Bluejay.

CPB – Final question. The Canadians have five different uniforms – black, red, gray, white and the retros. Do you have a favourite?

AR – Whoa, that’s a good question. I wish I knew my splits on how I’m hitting with each jersey because I would choose the one I’m doing the best in because superstition, man. It’s a huge thing in hitting. I definitely buy into that. I think black, I like the black Jerseys a lot. I think it’s a really sleek look. I’ve never worn a black jersey before and I’ve obviously worn white, I’ve worn blue so I think I like black.

Alan Roden File

Born – December 22, 1999 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Height/Weight – 5-foot-11, 215 pounds
Bats/Throws – Left/Right
Twitter – @alanster28
Instagram – @alan_roden28
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 18 with Creighton and number 34 with Dunedin in 2022.
Walk-up Music -“Ride the Lightning” by Warren Zender.
Bluejays/Blue Jays Connection – Roden is the highest Creighton Bluejays draft selection by the Toronto Blue Jays. The 2022 third-round pick was taken one round higher than his former Creighton teammate and former Vancouver Canadians outfielder Will Robertson (4th round, 2019). Robertson’s selection came 20 years after the first Creighton Bluejay/Blue Jay draft pick when pitcher Peyton Lewis was chosen in the 18th round back in 1999.
Fun Fact – Roden is the second Creighton player named Alan to be selected in the MLB Draft. Pitcher Alan Benes was taken in the first round of the 1993 draft by St. Louis and spent eight years in the bigs with the Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers.