Flyin’ Hawaiian Shane Victorino offers tips to another Phillies speedster, Johan Rojas

BRADENTON, Fla. — Two hours into his weeklong stint as a Phillies guest instructor, Shane Victorino pulled up a chair in the batting cage next to Johan Rojas. Class was in session, and the lesson could be summed up in one word in Rojas’ native language.

Tranquilo.

Slow down, Victorino advised, knowing firsthand how difficult that is for a 23-year-old making his way in the majors. Rojas is the front-runner to be the Phillies’ opening-day center fielder, but a lot can happen before March 28 at Citizens Bank Park. And he is only 5-for-31 this spring. And there is an alternative (Cristian Pache) if the Phillies decide Rojas needs time in triple A.

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Yet there was the center fielder from the Phillies’ past — a two-time World Series champion and four-time Gold Glove winner — telling the team’s presumptive center fielder of the future to relax and let the game come to him.

“The game is so [very] fast, so fast, that you’ve got to slow the brain down,” Victorino said Sunday. “That’s what I’m trying to preach to him. Be you. Be what you can be. Because if you go out there and be the player that you can be, eight other guys’ jobs get easier.”

Victorino knows what he’s talking about. Twenty-one years ago, he was basically Rojas.

A splendid defender with track-star speed and boundless kinetic energy, Victorino accumulated 1,576 plate appearances through the double-A level before making his major-league debut for the Padres on April 2, 2003. He was 22 years, 123 days old.

Rojas was 22 years, 335 days old when the Phillies called him up from double A last July after 1,887 career minor-league plate appearances.

Victorino wasn’t ready, batting .151/.232/.178 in 73 at-bats. Because the Padres acquired him in the Rule 5 draft, they couldn’t send him down without offering him back to the Dodgers, his original organization. He got 1,442 more plate appearances in the minors — and was taken again in the Rule 5 draft by the Phillies — before making it back to the big leagues at the end of the 2005 season.

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“I had all the ability, but I had to figure it out raw,” Victorino said. “Until I figured it out, slowed the game down, realized what it took, and put it all together, I could’ve been just like another kid that you say, ‘He had X and Z, but at the end of the day, he never made it.’

“Being a Rule 5 guy, I got to learn for three months [in the majors], and then I went back to the shuffle. The toughest part for Johan is he’s going to have to learn in the big leagues.”

Victorino, 43 and living in Las Vegas, hadn’t met Rojas before Friday. His first impression is largely positive, although he has seen “indecision” from Rojas at the plate. Like everyone, he marvels at Rojas’ defense, which was on display again Saturday when ran down Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s drive to the gap in left-center field.

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In their first chat, Victorino quizzed Rojas, asking if he prefers to take the first pitch or swing away. Rojas said he likes taking a few pitches. Why, then, Victorino asked, did Rojas lead off a game last week against the Rays by swinging away at a first-pitch fastball that broke his bat?

In the same game, Rojas led off the sixth inning by taking second base on a hard-hit ball up the middle when the center fielder retrieved it slowly. But his alert baserunning was wiped away when he got thrown out trying to steal third.

“I told him, ‘This is where you have to allow the game to slow down and let it happen. You did your job. Don’t force it,’ ” Victorino said. “A lot of times as a young kid, that’s what you don’t do. You want to force the game. With him, it’s going to be learning those lessons. I think that’s where the growing pains will happen.”

The Phillies are working with Rojas on bunting. Victorino has a few tips on that, too. He racked up 25 bunt hits in his career, but when you’re as fast as him and Rojas, opponents are more on guard for a potential bunt.

“His bunting is not going to be the element of surprise,” Victorino said. “It’s going to be, ‘OK, you want to crash down and [bring the first and third baseman in]? I know that I can still put down a fundamental bunt in a four-foot radius, and good luck running in and making this play as I burn down the line.’ Now, they just threw it in the seats, and I’m on second and here we go.”

Some of Victorino’s advice might be sinking in. Rojas took more pitches Saturday and Sunday, which pleased manager Rob Thomson, who wants him to be able to work deeper counts from the No. 9 spot in the order.

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But there are other moments when Rojas still pushes. After reaching on a fielder’s choice Sunday, he got picked off first base by Pirates starter Quinn Priester to end the third inning with runners on the corners and Darick Hall at the plate.

“He always says, ‘Don’t let the game rush you. Play at your pace,’ ” Rojas said through a team interpreter. “I sit and listen to him because I know what he says is going to help me, especially in this stage of my career. He was a tremendous player, so it’s good to have him around.”

Victorino will stay with the Phillies through Thursday. He’s here to work with other players, too. But it only makes sense for him to focus on Rojas.

“I just want to bring a different voice,” Victorino said. “I’m not trying to say, ‘This is how you’ve got to do it.’ I’m giving a nonbiased opinion because I’m trying to help him be better.”

And maybe the message — tranquilo; relax — will resonate when it comes from a 12-year major-league outfielder.

“I don’t know. I hope it’s registering,” Victorino said. “All I’ve heard about the last few years is [the Phillies] need a bona fide defensive center fielder. Well, I think that’s what he is. Put him in the lineup, work through the at-bats, let him run balls down, and save however many runs a night out there.”

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