“Just hearing the story — he’s awesome,” infielder Frank Pfister decided. “He’s going to be successful because he’s got the right mentality. If you survived getting bit by a shark, you can handle the Midwest League, right?”
Rogers indeed joined the Dragons on Tuesday from extended spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., with quite a story to tell. A 28th-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds last June, the right-handed reliever missed what would have been his first pro season in 2010 because a 5-foot bull shark took a chunk out of his foot while he was surfing in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Galveston, Texas, his hometown.
“Wrong place, wrong time, man,” Rogers said before the Dragons beat Bowling Green 7-2 for their third straight win. “I got drafted and bit by a shark in the same month. What are the odds?
“I’m just fortunate to actually be here right now.”
Seated at his locker, Rogers pulled off his sock to reveal a wound on the side of his right foot that required 60 stitches and marks from the shark’s teeth on his toes that serve as gruesome reminders of a horrifying experience.
“It sliced me up in three different spots down here,” Rogers said, pointing to the area. “The side was kind of like flapped open.”
This all happened June 27, about three weeks after the Reds had called his name deep into the second day of the annual amateur draft. It happened a day before he was to pitch in front of Reds scouts in an attempt to show he was worth the signing money he and his agent were requesting.
“I ended up hanging with some buddies that day, and we go surfing,” Rogers said. “The next thing you know, caught a wave, paddled out, sat on my board and grabbed my foot.
“You know exactly what it is as soon as it bites you. It swam right in front of me. My buddy to the right of me is screaming. ‘There’s a shark!’ I’m paddling and paddling. The only way to get to shore was over the shark, so the scary part was actually paddling in. I thought I was going to get my hands bitten.”
Once on shore, it was a race against time.
“Pretty much on one leg I hopped back to my buddy’s truck, and he took me to the hospital,” said Rogers, who the next day had to call the Reds and explain why he couldn’t throw for them.
It would have been easy for the Reds to sever ties with such a low-round draft pick, but they didn’t. And by mid-August, once all the stitches were removed, Rogers was back on a mound showing scouts what they wanted to see.
The Dragons hope he can bolster a bullpen that has been inconsistent.
“I saw him briefly in spring training,” manager Delino DeShields said. “I liked him. He’s aggressive, throws strikes.
“I haven’t seen his shark bite.”
Rogers has new nicknames, of course.
Some teammates are calling him “Shark Bait” while others favor “Sharky.” He just smiles when he hears them.
And, yes, he actually did go surfing again last September, although in a different area.
“Surfing is like a passion for me, just like baseball,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t going to quit. Like when you’re on the mound, if a line drive hits you in the head, you’re not going to stop pitching.
“If I get bit again, though, I’ll probably stick to swimming pools.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland @DaytonDailyNews.com
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