TORONTO -- Welcome to the big leagues, Alan Roden.
The Blue Jays’ No. 5 prospect, who launched himself onto the roster with a brilliant Spring Training that had everyone in the organization talking about him, recorded his first hit in the big leagues on Opening Day at Rogers Centre.
It wasn’t a rocket, but it didn’t need to be. Roden sent a Zach Eflin sinker back up the middle, and it just snuck past the glove of diving second baseman Jordan Westburg. The 25-year-old is typically fairly reserved on the field, but the broadcast caught a smile cracking through as Roden got back to the bag at first.
Roden has the ball sitting in his locker now, which he might give to his dad. There were some first-inning jitters out there, but he looked like he belonged, going 1-for-2 with a walk.
“I’ve been prepared. I’ve been ready to go for this game for a long time,” Roden said. “I’ve been excited for the past week, so when [manager John Schneider] told me, it was just an affirmation on what I wanted to do. I was just trying my best out there.”
This was one of the lone bright spots for the Blue Jays, who lost, 12-2, to the Orioles and welcomed Roden to the Majors by forcing him to watch fly balls soar over his head every 20 minutes. Schneider joked that he wasn’t exactly in a hugging mood when it happened, so Roden got a fist bump to hold him over and he’d talk with him again after the game. It’s a start, though, and for a team that’s looking for some sense of hope -- especially on offense -- a start has to be worth something.
Roden made headlines early in camp when general manager Ross Atkins called him out as the prospect he was excited to see -- a move completely unlike Atkins -- but all he did was deliver. He left an impression on the Major League coaching staff, just as he has done at every stop along the way in the Minors, and had Schneider praising his maturity and mental approach as much as his impressive physical talents.
“I’m pumped for Alan,” Schneider said prior to Thursday’s game. “Kind of like everything he’s done, when I told him yesterday after the workout, he just said, ‘OK. Let’s go.’”
Roden has become the poster boy for player development with the Blue Jays. This group has done well with developing MLB-level talent like Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz and others in recent years, but the organization needs some prospects to come along who can raise this team’s ceiling, not just its floor. Not everyone can be Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette, but the Blue Jays need young hitters who force their way into the lineup and demand to stay there.
That’s exactly what Roden has done, which is why even club president and CEO Mark Shapiro ended up speaking at length about the young outfielder recently.
“He’s a winning type of player, there’s no question,” Shapiro said. “He both projects well from a purely objective standpoint, and subjectively has the attributes you want to build a winning environment.”
Roden is expected to primarily play the corners for the Blue Jays and could see the odd day in center field, but his spot in the lineup is the interesting part. Roden hit ninth in his MLB debut Thursday, but if he can produce close to what he did in the Minor Leagues -- where he put up a .407 on-base percentage -- Toronto could also be looking at its future leadoff hitter.