Roden’s fan club soaks up the fun

Editor’s Note: This story ran in the Toronto Star on March 28. The Times-Tribune was given permission to run the story.

On the morning of the biggest game of his life, Alan Roden was at a Toronto diner with his parents and sister, who had flown in from Wisconsin the night before to watch his major-league debut with the Blue Jays on March 27.

Roden has always been poised, whether it was on the baseball field or in the classroom, where he graduated from Creighton University with a physics degree. But his family would have understood if he was a bundle of nerves hours before taking the field for the first time at the Rogers Centre.

That wasn’t the case.

“He asked us if we were ready,” dad Eric Roden said with a smile. “He was calm and — this is a tribute to his character — confident, but not cocky. And that character trait has served him well.”

Roden, a third-round draft pick by the Jays in 2022, was a long shot to make the opening-day roster, let alone earn the start in right field, batting ninth. But an injury to outfielder Daulton Varsho opened up an opportunity and the 25-year-old Roden earned the spot after an incredible spring training where he hit .407 with a pair of home runs.

Eric and Matilde, Roden’s mother, were hiking on the shore of Lake Michigan when their son called with the surprising news this week.

“It was a mixture of emotions because we didn’t really know that was going to happen,” Eric said. “What I would want to say is that this is really about Alan and what he has done. The biggest thing when he was a young player, it was all about his team. And so we’re his family, but it’s really his story.”

A group of supporters who have been part of Roden’s story in Middleton, Wis. made the trip to see the Jays play the Baltimore Orioles in last Thursday’s opener. They didn’t know if he would play, but the fact that he became the first Jays position player to make his MLB debut in an opening-day lineup since Devon Travis 10 years ago made a special day all the better.

“That means everything (that they’re here),” Alan Roden told the Star. “They’ve been there the whole way. They’re the best supporters out there … growing me into the man I am, and supporting me in any way they could throughout my career, and I’m grateful.”

When Roden was in high school, he told a local reporter that his goal was to become an astronomer. It was a natural choice, considering both parents were scientists. Eric said his son has a “native intelligence.” But when his physics program at Creighton was coming to an end, he had a choice to make.

“The decision was: Do I want to be drafted? And we said it’s totally his call,” Eric said. “But he had the mental, emotional strength to say, ‘Yes, I do.’ And we were just 100 percent behind him.

“It’s hard to explain (the feeling) when you see your own kid take responsibility to take on that challenge without any professional sports history in our families. We had some good athletes, but nothing like this.”

Tucked into the stands behind home plate last Thursday was Roden’s older sister Ana, who said it was “surreal” to see all her brother’s hard work over the years pay off.

“Kids dream to play here, and he’s doing it today,” said Tom Schmitt, Roden’s coach at Middleton High School, who drove 12 hours through the night to arrive in time. “You see countless MLB games, going to them or on TV, and now to see one of your former players, that’s special.”

Roden’s debut was special. After flying out in his first at-bat, he hit a hard ground ball up the middle in the sixth inning to record his first major-league hit.

As his son stood calmly on first base with the demeanor of a vet, Eric watched along with 40,000-plus Jays fans, the emotion of the moment overtaking him.

“It was the cheering of the fans. I guess I could have thought that it would have happened, but I wasn’t prepared,” Eric said. “And that’s what got me emotional, was that all these people were cheering for Alan.

“We cheered for him for a long time … but people that he doesn’t know were like, ‘Hey, the rookie got a hit.’ So it lifted my heart.”

Roden finished 1-for-2 with a walk in the Jays’ 12-2 loss and greeted his family and friends in the bleachers for the first time as a major-leaguer.

New team, same Roden.

“Like I always used to say, he would accept defeat gracefully and win with humility — all the way through hundreds and hundreds of soccer games, basketball games, baseball games, over and over again,” Eric said.

“He always had this even-keel personality. And now, what can you say except good for you, Alan.”