Kumar Rocker has seen your hashtags, Pirates fans, even if he hasn’t spent much time watching your team.
He’s a 6-foot-4 flamethrower who supporters say is mature beyond his years. But he’s still just a kid, one who enjoys interacting on social media. And, the 20-year-old Rocker is quite familiar with the #TankForKumar slogan that trended on Twitter in Pittsburgh and other Major League cities where teams were competing for little more than the chance to select him in the 2021 draft.
“Good to see that, but keep it in the back seat,” he said Wednesday in a Zoom call with reporters.
Translation: The only black-and-gold team that has his immediate focus is the one for whom he pitches — the Vanderbilt University Commodores.
The presumptive No. 1 pick is back on campus preparing for what he hopes will be an uninterrupted baseball calendar amid ongoing concerns with COVID-19. Rocker is expected to pitch this weekend in intra-squad games, beginning Friday night.
You can bet the Pirates, who own the first pick, will be keeping close watch on a right-handed phenom who was limited to 15 innings last spring after pitching nearly 100 innings in leading the Commodores to the 2019 College World Series title.
The last time scouts saw him throw in March, he was lighting up radar guns with 98 mph fastballs and wicked sliders. Rocker said Wednesday he’s expanded his repertoire and plans to use changeups and cutters with regularity.
“As of right now, I think I have four legitimate pitches that I feel comfortable throwing in any count,” he said. “Right now, it’s a matter of sequencing. (It’s a matter of) setting up batters with each pitch I throw. Each pitch having a meaning.”
Rocker is no different than most of us who had their best-laid plans altered by the worldwide pandemic. Instead of building on a remarkable freshman season, he earned just three starts last spring and lost the opportunity, along with teammates, to defend an NCAA championship.
He spent his extended offseason taking summer classes, lifting weights and visiting with family.
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin isn’t worried how the change in schedule will impact Rocker and Jack Leiter, another right-handed pitcher expected to be a high draft pick. He said Rocker has a mentality similar to Vandy alums Walker Buehler, of the Dodgers, and Dansby Swanson and Kyle Wright, both of the Braves, who are battling in the National League Championship Series.
“You’re talking about motivated kids for the most part,” Corbin said. “These guys are wired to the point where . . . they are very focused on what they are doing. They have built good routines. They understand what a routine is. They are very good about their body. Very good about what they are eating. Very good about how they operate (day to) day.”
Rocker knows Major League scouts will be out full force in the spring, looking for improvement and seeing how he holds up to the enormous expectations.
It’s nothing new for a youngster who went through the draft process in high school. Rocker was a top prospect in 2018, who lasted until the 38th round (Rockies) because almost everyone realized he planned to play at Vanderbilt rather than turn pro.
“I think (the process is) very similar and I’ve kind of had a behind-the-scenes look at it the first time,” Rocker said. “I know what I did wrong and I know what I did right. The second time through, I’m just more mindful of things, have more awareness, too. I don’t think there’s any difference (in terms of expectations). Just go out and play, play for your team. I think I’ve got a good group around me that’s supporting me.”
Rocker seems determined to enjoy his final season on campus and to take a greater leadership role in the team. He knows the big stage that awaits, but is in no rush to get there.
As the condensed MLB regular season wound to a close, Rocker said he spent no additional time watching the Pirates or any other team near the bottom of the standings.
“Second time around, at least in my experience with those kids, they handle it well,” Corbin said. “Just because it’s ‘been there, done that.’ It’s not eye-opening to them that they have 20 guns going up behind them (every time they pitch). They ... can handle their adrenaline pretty well. We talk a lot about centering. When you are looking at young kids, 18-, 19-, 20-years old, their skill sets are all pretty good. But the separator is really the emotional stability. When you get players who can emotionally handle situations around them and people around them, then you find them getting to their skill set. Until that time, sometimes it’s tough to reach.”
Corbin plans to speak to his pro prospects before Thanksgiving break about focusing on team goals and not worrying about the draft.
Not surprisingly, several Pittsburgh writers participated in Wednesday’s conference call. Corbin was asked what the Pirates would be getting in Rocker if they indeed select him.
“You’re getting a very centered young man, someone who was raised very well,” the coach said. “He’s a great reflection of his dad and his mom. He’s someone who made a very difficult choice to come to (college) out of high school. His mother always said to me, prior to him committing here, ‘My son will go to school.’ When you hear that, you think to yourself, ‘Well, I’ve heard that before.’ In many cases it doesn’t work out, but it did with him.
“(He’s a) very introspective kid. He’s very deliberate about what he’s doing. . . . When you are a professional team and you’re looking to investing in young kids, the mind is such an important piece of that investment. I would say with Kumar, besides all the physical skills that he possesses, you are investing in something that is as close to being in place as any of (our former players in the majors). . . . He’s wired right to do this successfully, and he has a high ‘care level’ for everything that he does.”