The shoulder-length hair makes Nate Roberts easy to spot among his Joliet Slammers teammates.
“My mindset on having facial hair or long hair, you play in the dirt,” Roberts said. “You’re supposed to get dirty. I don’t agree with the clean-cut look as a baseball player.”
Roberts’ approach in the batter’s box likely will make a more lasting impression at Silver Cross Field.
“I don’t talk like this about many players, but this kid has a chance to be the best hitter in the league,” Slammers manager Jeff Isom said. “He flat-out knows how to hit. He won’t be here long if he can prove he can stay healthy.”
That’s the key for Roberts, a 26-year-old outfielder and Spring Grove native who’s starting his first stint of independent baseball in the Frontier League. The Slammers are in Florence, Ky., for their season-opening series against the Freedom.
Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 2010, Roberts hit over .300 in five seasons as a Twins farmhand, but he endured a series of knee injuries and surgeries and was released last summer.
Roberts didn’t see those setbacks as a sign to move on from baseball.
“No, no, no,” he said. “I’m still young. I’m not going to give up until I can’t physically hit anymore. I can still hit. That’s why I still come back to play. I’m a baseball player. That’s what I’m going to keep doing.”
In 2012, Roberts’ .446 batting average with the Peoria Javelinas topped the Arizona Fall League, which has many of baseball’s top prospects.
“He could go to (Class AA) right now if he proved he was healthy. He’s a big-league hitter,” Isom said. “Even our guys are in awe of him. We’re very fortunate to get him. Hopefully, he gets moved.”
The mental toughness required to get through the injuries and rehabilitation was an ongoing process.
“There’s no easy way to do it,” Roberts said. “You’ve just got to wear it if you want to try to get back. It’s a hard thing sitting there, watching from the sidelines, not being able to play and knowing that you’re not going to play.
“I’ve had four knee surgeries now. Each one kind of takes a little out of you emotionally and physically. But I still want to play, so I’m going to keep going until I can’t.”
Roberts compared his injury hardships to what Derrick Rose has gone through with the Bulls the past few seasons.
“We’ve kind of been over the same stuff the last three, four years with the knees, where you come back and get hurt right away,” Roberts said. “It’s just bad luck.”
Roberts played at Northwestern, Parkland in Champaign and High Point in North Carolina before he started his pro career.
Matt Kennedy, the Slammers’ hitting instructor last season and Roberts’ coach at Parkland, tried to get Roberts to join the Slammers after he got released last summer. He turned down the offer then because he wasn’t healthy enough, but signed with Joliet this winter.
The Slammers’ home opener Tuesday against Lake Erie won’t be the first game at Silver Cross Field for Roberts. He was a junior at Richmond-Burton in 2006 when the Rockets played in the Class A state tournament.
As for keeping his hair long?
“I usually do until someone who’s paying me tells me, ‘Hey Nate, go get it cut a little. Go get a trim,”’ Roberts said. “It was getting long about the time I got released, so no one has told me to cut it since then.”
Tierney is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Slammers at a glance
Last season’s record: 40-56, sixth in Frontier League West Division.
Manager: Jeff Isom, second season.
Players to watch (2014 stats, with Slammers unless noted otherwise): IF Max Casper (.257, 1 HR, 31 RBIs), IF/P Adam Giacalone (.265, 10 HR, 56 RBIs), P Jordan Guth (3-4, 3.04 ERA for Class A Clearwater), P David Kubiak (3-1, 1.51 ERA), DH Russell Moldenhauer (.298, 9 HR, 62 RBIs), OF Nate Roberts (.276, 8 RBIs for Class A Fort Myers), IF Alfredo Rodriguez (.255, 27 RBIs for Class A Brevard County), IF Chris Serritella (9 HR, 36 RBIs between Class AA Reading and A Clearwater), P Jordan Wellander (4-1, 3.31 ERA).
Tickets: 815-722-2287 or jolietslammers.com.
Website: jolietslammers.com.
Radio: Slammervision on website.
