KANNAPOLIS— Looks like the Chicago White Sox got lucky when they drafted Casey Rogowski on the 13th round in June of 1999.
Rogowski, a 19-year-old lefty slugger from Livonia, Mich., is looking more and more intimidating. He was mighty Casey for the second time in three nights on Saturday, going 3-for-3 and driving in three more runs as the Kannapolis Intimidators whipped the Lakewood Blue Claws 5-1 at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
The Intimidators are batting a thousand at 3-0 on the young season. That’s just a bit better than Rogowski. He’s hitting a cool .800 (8-for-10) to lead the South Atlantic League.
“I can’t explain it,” said Rogowski. “Everything seems to be falling in.”
Or over the fence.
The really impressive thing about the night “Rogo” put together was that he pulled a double to right, smoked a single up the middle and drove an opposite-field homer down the left-field line.
“You don’t wanna be a one-dimensional guy,” said Rogowski. “If you can’t hit the outside pitch, that’s all you’ll see. They pitched me inside the first time and I pulled it. Then they stayed outside and I went with the pitches.”
Intimidators hitting coach Ken Dominguez is at least as happy as his prize pupil over this early tear.
“Casey’s shown he can handle different pitches in different zones,” Dominguez said. “He’s got pitchers thinking now and as a hitter that’s exactly what you want.
“When failure does come, he’ll stick to the game plan. Casey’s intelligent. He’ll keep using the whole diamond.”
While Rogowski keeps on glittering, so does pitching coach J.R. Perdew’s staff.
Lefty Jim Sweeney was brilliant for six innings, giving the Intimidators their third straight terrific start. He fanned 10 and yielded only three hits in an efficient 80-pitch debut.
Things are going so well for the Intimidators that even when things should go wrong they go right.
Sweeney walked the leadoff man in the sixth, usually certain disaster, but promptly picked him off.
When Kannapolis reliever Stuart Rohling walked the leadoff man in the eighth, manager Razor Shines pushed the right button, lifting Rohling and bringing in lefty Rocky Hughes. Hughes immediately got a ground ball which shortstop Guillermo Reyes, second baseman Chris Amador and first baseman Rogowski (who made a nice scoop) turned into a double play.
“Sometimes,” said Shines, “you get fortunate. That ball could have gone in the hole. Instead it went at someone. That’s baseball.”
Kannapolis scored two in the first when Reyes singled and rode home on Rogowski’s two-bagger. Derek Wigginton’s first hit of the season scored “Rogo.”
In the third, John Lackaff was plunked in front of Rogowski’s homer, which was fair by a foot or so.
“I thought maybe I was gonna have to leg out a double,” said Rogowski. “I was running with my head down, then I saw the ump give the home run signal.”
Kannapolis scored its last run in the fourth when Reyes whacked a triple and Lackaff, who’s at .400, doubled him home.
It was a strong night for the home team — four more extra-base hits, two more steals, more flawless defense.
“We’ve got some driven kids and some driven coaches who work with them ,” said Shines. “When you’ve got that, you’ll have a good club.”
No one’s more driven than Rogowski, who’s swinging like a first-round pick. He says he lasted until the13th round, because everyone was convinced he would play college football.
“I got no baseball letters from colleges,” he said. “I wasn’t disappointed to go in the 13th round, I was ecstatic. It’s baseball that I love. Baseball’s the sport I dreamed about when I was a kid.
“And now here I am.”
The dream continues.
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