The making of Johan Rojas, the Phillies’ unbuttoned-jersey-wearing ‘natural’ in center field

ATLANTA — When Johan Rojas was in the minor leagues, he used to unbutton the top of his jersey. He likes the way it looks with no shirt underneath. He calls it his “flow.” But when the center fielder made his debut with the Phillies on July 15, every button on his cream-colored uniform was securely fastened. It stayed that way for a few weeks.

Recently, Rojas has been leaving the top buttons undone again. His mentor in right field, Nick Castellanos, who also wears the top of his jersey unbuttoned, encouraged it. One day in late August, as they were jogging to the outfield together, Castellanos stopped Rojas, unfastened the top of his jersey, and sent him on his way.

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The message, according to Castellanos, was to “loosen up and chill out.” Rojas has taken it to heart. He is comfortable here. It’s obvious not just in how he plays the outfield, but in how he takes his at-bats. As a prospect, his defense was never a question, but the same couldn’t be said about his offense.

When Rojas was called up from double-A Reading and hit .346 in scattered at-bats through his first 11 games with the Phillies, some wondered if it was a fluke.

But Rojas, who was batting .306 at Reading, has kept hitting. He hit his second career home run on Monday night (and his first off a non-position player) in the Phillies’ 7-1 victory over the Braves. He has batted .300/.344/.442 over his 50 games. That, combined with the Gold Glove-caliber defense — he has saved 14 runs above average — makes it easy to forget he just turned 23 last month.

“I’m not surprised by it,” Castellanos said. “The talent is definitely there. He’s a smart kid. He asks all the right questions. Goes about his business the right way, he’s electric with his work, he takes pride in it, and I think right now he’s reaping the benefit of his process.”

Those who have watched Rojas from the beginning are not surprised, either. Andy Abad, an outfield coordinator for the Phillies, has known Rojas since he signed with the club as a 17-year-old in 2018. He remembers seeing Rojas in a tryout at the Phillies’ facility in the Dominican Republic.

“He stuck out,” Abad said of Rojas, who is listed at 5-foot-11, 165 pounds. “He was running around like his hair was on fire. He was like a wild mustang on the field. Diving all over the place during batting practice. Kind of like what you see now.”

The trick with Rojas was harnessing that natural ability. It was obvious to Abad, and just about everyone else, that Rojas was gifted. He could read batters’ swings and balls off the bat with ease. He could anticipate plays before they happened. But sometimes, he could get a little overaggressive.

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“It was almost like pulling the reins back,” Abad said. “For him, at first, he wanted to force his talent and tools on the game rather than letting the game come to him.”

So, Abad and Rojas worked on learning how to navigate in-game situations. If there was a runner on second in the ninth inning, and Rojas’ team was up by three runs, it was better to throw to second base, rather than gunning it home, only to risk overshooting the cutoff man. If there was a low-percentage throw, and Rojas thought he had a chance to throw the runner out, it was better to throw it to second to keep a double play in order.

If a three- or four-hole hitter was at bat, Rojas would play that differently than he would for an eight- or nine-hole hitter. It didn’t take long for him to get the gist of it. He asked a lot of questions, and worked hard on fine-tuning his tools. Batting practice was an ordeal. Rojas “power-shagged” throughout the minor leagues, to get as close as he could to in-game reps.

By Abad’s estimation, he’d jump or dive about three or four times per session. Rojas also took pride in his throwing, his glove work, and his ground-ball work. By the time his minor league games started, he’d already exerted himself quite a bit. But that didn’t matter.

“Paco [Figueroa] has done a great job with him with the early work,” Abad said of the Phillies’ outfield, first base, and baserunning coach. “We developed a routine to where he works his butt off before the game, so by the time it’s game time, he treats the game like it’s his reward.”

Rojas still plays that way. He is omnipresent in the outfield. But what is more encouraging to Abad is his decision-making. He said it enables Rojas to slow the game down. But you wouldn’t know it by watching him.

“He’s just one step quicker than the average outfielder,” Abad said. “He’s always one step ahead. He’s already reading a swing or leaning one way. But he came out of the box like that. It’s nothing new. It’s a credit to him.”

Rojas has forced himself into more playing time down the stretch. He is a spark plug who impacts the game on the base paths, in the outfield, and at the plate. That’s the kind of combination you want heading into October.

“We’ve been lucky here,” Abad said. “Aaron Altherr [a Phillie from 2014-19] was a pretty good defender. But there are some center fielders … you can just see how natural they are, like the Torii Hunters of the world, or the Kevin Kiermaiers. They are just a little bit better than everybody else. It’s almost like a shortstop who reads the ball differently. Someone who was born to do it.

“Rojas is like that.”

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