Roden 'making a good impression' after meteoric rise in Toronto's system

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- While Alan Roden wanted to study the universe, it seems the universe has other plans.

At this point, it seems the universe has not let him down.

Roden, since being selected by Toronto in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft, has done nothing but ascend the ranks of the Blue Jays’ Top 30 prospects at the speed of light. Recently, the 25-year-old was dubbed the team’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline -- the highest jump for any prospect in the system year-to-year.

“It’s all been about making adjustments and continuing to get better and stick with the process,” Roden said of his approach since getting drafted. “I know everybody says that, but that’s how it is in baseball.”

Having studied astrophysics at Creighton University, where he hit .387 as a sophomore before being drafted, a career in baseball seemed as far away as the black holes he was studying.

At one point, Roden wanted to be an astrophysics professor. Both of his parents were professors, and following suit was nearly in the cards.

“Academics was always a huge part of my life,” he said. “[My parents] instilled that work ethic into me growing up. It was always two parts of my being: academics and baseball.”

He was drawn to astrophysics after a high school social studies teacher played a video that talked about explosions of stars and how they relate to life on earth.

“That really inspired me and was something I was always interested in,” Roden said. “I took physics in high school and took that into college and ran with it.”

Roden said his first full season in college contributing to the Bluejays (foreshadowing?) was when he felt baseball could be a career. As he continued to find success on the diamond competing in the Big East, his stock started to climb. Before long, he was getting calls from MLB clubs.

The outfielder is raking this spring, batting an out-of-this-world .438 (7-for-16) through 11 games and 24 plate appearances. His performance this camp doesn’t come without pressure, either, as last month, GM Ross Atkins dubbed Roden the player he’s most looking forward to seeing. Manager John Schneider felt the same as Atkins.

“I [feel] like I [have] a good opportunity this Spring Training to just play as hard as I can and do everything I [can] as a player,” Roden said.

It’s safe to say the entire Blue Jays organization can be encouraged with how Spring Training has gone thus far for Roden. In three plate appearances during the Toronto’s 13-9 win over Tampa Bay, Roden went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk, and he looked smooth handling a few hard-hit balls in center field.

“I’m just trying to have good at-bats,” Roden said. “It’s kind of the big part of Spring Training; getting used to being in the box again and do everything you can to have a quality at-bat every single time. So, [I'm] just focused on that.”

When asked if there’s anything to take from the world of physics into baseball, Roden said, “I definitely think there are some parallels in terms of looking at things analytically, being able to make adjustments quick, on the fly and having a good self-awareness has helped a lot.”

Last year between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo, the left-handed-hitting Roden batted .293/.391/.475 with 16 home runs and 75 RBIs in 126 games. In his 71 games with Buffalo, he hit .314/.406/.510 with nine home runs, 48 RBIs and 15 doubles.

Roden’s discipline and control of the strike zone has also shown to be impressive this early on in his career. The Wisconsin native drew 64 walks last season compared to 75 strikeouts. In 2023 between Double-A and High-A Vancouver, he walked 68 times and struck out 64.

“He’s done really well,” Schneider said of Roden’s camp performance. “Approach is the thing that we always kind of look to with him, and he’s shown that pretty consistently. He’s hit the ball hard. Nice to see him do his thing.”

As far as the potential to make the Opening Day roster, Schneider relayed a “we’ll see” for an outfield that’s composed of Anthony Santander, Daulton Varsho and George Springer. There’s also Davis Schneider, Myles Straw and Joey Loperfido.

“I think he’s definitely done what we have hoped,” Schneider said. “I think we’ll have that conversation in a couple weeks.”

Could Roden be the first man up if the club needed to make a call to the Minors early on in the year?

“He’s definitely put himself in good position, yeah,” Schneider said. “Going back to last year how he finished in Triple-A, yeah. He’s definitely making a good impression and I think he understands he can play at that level, and whenever that is, is good for him and good for us.”