No. 6 prospect Rojas fine-tuning eye by 'trying to close the zone'

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Johan Rojas smiled as he recalled those moments when a teammate marveled at his ability to put the bat on the baseball.

Specifically, those moments when nobody in the world should have made contact with it.

It partially explains why Rojas, 21, is one of the Phillies’ most exciting prospects. He is blazing fast. He can steal a base and run down a ball in center field with the best of them. He has a strong arm. He has posted some of the organization’s best exit velocities in recent years, but he also has tremendous bat-to-ball skills. It is a gift, but it is one that Rojas has been trying to use more judiciously as he rises through the Phillies’ system as the organization’s sixth-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

“Ever since I signed, I’ve been told to work on closing my zone because I can hit whatever I want,” Rojas said through an interpreter on Thursday at Carpenter Complex. “Hitting whatever I want might be more damaging than the damage I’m trying to do. So, I’m trying to close the zone, be selective, trust my eyes and trust my ability to hit the ball.”

In other words, just because he can hit almost anything he swings at, it doesn’t mean he should.

“Because he has such good bat-to-ball skills, we’re able to develop confidence in his ability to hit with two strikes,” Phillies Minor League hitting coordinator Jason Ochart said. “It gives him the ability to be a little more selective with less than two strikes. So a big focus for him has been, until you get to two strikes, let’s pick a zone and really attack that zone. Because a player like him can really do damage. We don’t want him throwing away at-bats early by chasing early in counts.

“We talk about winning pitches a lot. That’s a big focus for him. Sometimes winning a pitch can be taking a strike, if it’s a well-located pitch. So, it’s learning the strike zone and learning his strengths in the strike zone and then being aggressive with those pitches.”

Rojas saw some of the fruits of his labor last season. He slashed .240/.306/.374 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs in 351 plate appearances with Low-A Clearwater. He got promoted to High-A Jersey Shore and slashed .344/.419/.563 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 74 plate appearances. His strikeout rate fell from 19.7 percent in Clearwater to 10.8 percent in Jersey Shore. His walk rate increased from 7.4 percent to 9.5 percent.

It is a small sample size, but it is encouraging.

“I have been mentally preparing to get a higher barrel percentage on my at-bats,” Rojas said. “I’ve been working on spraying the field and gap-to-gap power. When I hit the ball, I’m doing it with more power.”

Countless hitters try to be more selective at the plate, only to fail. It is simply in their DNA to hack.

But Rojas cited a specific drill that has helped him resist those urges. The Phillies call it the “7 Ball Drill,” which is inspired by an image in the Ted Williams book, “The Science of Hitting.” It is familiar to hard-core baseball fans.

In the book, Williams is standing at the plate with an illustration of his hot and cold zones in the strike zone, which is seven baseballs wide. In the case of Rojas and other Phillies hitters, the development staff lays a plank in front of home plate that is divided into seven sections. No. 1 is on the inside corner. No. 7 is on the outside corner. The Phillies might tell Rojas that he is in a 2-0 count, so he should only swing at pitches in zones 3-4.

As he sees pitches, he yells out which section the ball crossed the plate.

“We’re constantly talking about it,” Ochart said. “Hundreds, thousands of reps, where he’s swinging or not swinging, verbally saying where the pitch was, and then the coach will validate it. ‘You’re right.’ ‘You’re wrong.’ That over time really starts to lock that in.”

If Rojas continues his progression in 2022, his stock will continue to rise. Many in the baseball community think he can be a star. Phillies manager Joe Girardi said as much after watching Rojas play a bit last spring.

“I know I’m getting attention,” Rojas said. “It just validates that I’m working well. I’m going to continue to try and grow every day.”