Q&A: Tigers Minor Leaguer Shawn Roof

Shawn Roof is a utility infielder for the Erie SeaWolves of the Eastern League. He comes from one of the largest professional baseball families ever: at least eight Roofs and four Haas (cousins of the Roofs) have played professionally, with Shawn’s father Gene, uncle Phil, and cousin Eddie Haas all reaching the majors. Shawn, 25, is the oldest of three baseball-playing brothers: Eric, 23, is a catcher for the Connecticut Tigers and Jonathan, 21, was drafted by the Rangers in the eighth round earlier this month.

(It also must be noted that while all the players I’ve spoken with this season have been very gracious with their time, Roof was easily the friendliest and most talkative. It’s always nice to ask a guy a question and have him rattle off a lengthy, informative answer. He seems like a genuinely good dude.)

Usually one of the things I ask guys about is their experience with the draft, but it seems like going through the draft is sort of a run-of-the-mill thing around you guys.

Yeah, it kinda is, kinda not. My dad was the baby of six brothers that signed professionally. I was the first one as far as the cousins and things go that actually got drafted. It was actually kinda tough because my brother, my younger brother, was supposed to get drafted the same draft as I. We’re all watching it, 20th round comes by, I wasn’t getting drafted, 25th round, I’m seeing guys I played against in college, I’m like, “Man, I’m better than those guys.” Every time the team that was talking to me popped up and they took someone else, it was kinda very tough, cause you’re like, “Man, am I gonna get picked up?” So I went to the mall, I left, I went home, and came back, and Dad, brothers jumping up, high-fiving me, I just got picked. So it was cool. And then my brother got picked a couple rounds later.

So you guys are all done now?

We are done. We’ve got a little baby sister…

Are we gonna see Bud Selig calling her name next year?

It may happen. [laughs] She may be the next one.

I found an old profile on the Illinois web page, read up a little bit about you, and it said that your first baseball memory was playing catch at the ballpark and you lost a tooth. What was that all about?

Fayetteville, North Carolina. That was one of my first memories, I was probably about three or four. Like three days before my birthday, and playing catch with one of the guys – you know, I always befriended a guy or two on each team – playing catch and I just totally missed it. It hit me, and my tooth was already loose, I felt blood and the tooth swishing around. So I jump up and down and the kid’s freaking out because he thinks my dad’s never gonna play him.

But it was kinda cool because I got to go back and play summer ball there. So my first memories were playing on that field, playing catch with my little brother, I remember batting practice, and I got to go back there and play college ball.

Did you spend a lot of time around the ballpark as a kid?

Growing up, when we were younger, before middle school, we’d always travel with Dad wherever he was at. When he was coaching in the big leagues we’d go up to Detroit for a couple months. I went to school in Florida during spring training, went to school for a month or two in Detroit, got to play Little League ball with Prince Fielder and Larry Herndon’s son, Little Larry. So we’d always go to the ballpark when my dad was managing, we’d always go for a week or two, sit in the dugout. I remember guys like Brandon Inge coming up, Rob Fick, those guys. Travis Fryman was one of my all-time favorites, got to hang out with him when he was in Detroit. So yeah, we were always at the ballpark.

How often do you talk to your dad and your brothers now?

I talk to my dad probably 5-6 times a week, usually every day after a game. I tell a lot of people here, I can’t go to the bathroom without him finding out in this organization. I wanna call, “Hey Dad, I had three hits today!” “I already saw.” So I talk to him a lot. My brothers, don’t talk to as much. My middle brother’s a little more quiet, try to talk to him when we get a chance, we’re very busy, get a chance to talk to him a couple times a week. Just any time he’s got a good game, I want to say, “Hey, good job,” or if he struggled today, just, “Hey, go get ‘em.”

Do you have any insight into how one family has had so much success in the game?

Honestly, some of it is genetics, but I think a lot of it is just hard work. My family has always been hard-workers, they grew up on a farm, and they worked on the farm, farm, farm. So they’re very blue-collar people, just worked hard. And my dad stressed it upon us. He never got mad if we had an 0-4 day, four strikeouts, left the bases loaded. He would get onto me if we didn’t play hard or work hard.

He was the first guy to come up to us and if we wanted to go to the batting cage, go to the school and hit, he’d be the first guy to take us there for five hours. But if we didn’t want to hit, he left us alone. So I think it kind of gave us the chance to let us be ourselves. He never put any of his plaques up or anything like that, so we kind of made our own name.

Obviously just being at the ballpark all the time, learning the game around big leaguers and minor leaguers I think really helped us too.

Out of the three of you brothers, would you say one of you is a better player than the others?

Right now, I’d say probably the youngest one is. He’s a very athletic shortstop. He can really play the field, he’s got a great arm. The middle one is a very good player too. He’s really worked his butt off, and he’s got some pop in a left-hand bat, and he’s learning to catch, so he’s got a chance to do very well too.

Your middle brother, Eric, he’s also in the Tigers system.

Yes, he’s in Connecticut.

Do you guys hope that someday you end up on the same team?

Oh, that’d be awesome. I mean, in high school we played shortstop and second base together, and we always were fighting back and. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie Major League 3, the two twin brothers? That was like us, we were the same way.

But we got the chance to play against each other in college. Senior weekend, we needed to win two, they needed to win three, we ended up winning our two, went to the Big Ten tournament, knocked them out. But it’d be awesome to play with him. We got a chance to play in spring training, in a big league game together. He had two hits, two-for-three with a couple RBIs, so it was a blast. And Dad coached first base. So yeah, we definitely want to.

Obviously we wanted the little brother to be able to join us, but he’s making a name somewhere else, and maybe we’ll kick his butt in the playoffs someday [laughs].

It sounds like there’s a rivalry between you guys.

I think it’s a fun rivalry. And I think what helps too is my brother is lefthanded, and he’s a catcher, he’s not an infielder, which is probably nice that we’re not battling back and forth. I think growing up there was more of a rivalry, being compared to Dad, he was being compared to myself. Now we’re just kind of making our own name and just having fun. I mean, I hope he does better than I do. Obviously I wanna be the best one, he wants to be the best one, but I’m just as happy to see him go three-for-four as me go three-for-four, you know?

A few things about your career that I noticed. You got hit by a lot of pitches in college.

I did, yeah.

Is there a skill to that? I mean, are you just diving out there?

I really just got on top of the plate, and anytime it was in I took a pitch, especially early in the count, just trying to get on base any way I could. And a lot of times people pitched me in and just ran it in a little too much.

Was it four pitches in one game?

It was four in one game, against Ohio State.

I also saw you had a reputation as a hard worker. You think that comes from the background?

Yeah, the background. And my mom too. Really, the biggest thing of all, whether we get to the big leagues or not, we all want to, but one day I can look in the mirror and say, “Listen, I did everything I could.” I think that’s really what Dad stressed upon – no matter what you do, work at it as hard as you can and one day you can look and say, “Hey, I did what I could do.”

Do you think you’re in the game forever, like your dad, like your uncle? Are you the kind of guy who’s gonna be coaching in thirty years?

I’d like to say no, I’d like to find myself doing something else, but you know how it is. You get that love of the game, and I have a feeling the more I play, the more I learn the intricacies of the game, the more I want to coach, stuff like that, I’ll probably end up doing it one day.

You hit your first homerun last year. Was that a big deal for you, for your teammates?

Yeah, we were knocked out of the playoffs, and that was kinda tough, but it was funny cause when I hit the ball my helmet went over my eyes so I didn’t see it. And I was borrowing my buddy Deik Scram’s bat. So I’m running around the bases, I’m looking for the outfielder, and I see it hit the fence and I’m like, “Oh my God, I finally got one.” And they’re all jumping up and down, they greeted me out here like it was college. They were more happy than I was. And you know, it’s funny, they said the biggest homerun came in the last game of the year.

So it was cool. I’d like to get a few more, but that’s not all the game is about.

Your game seems to be more speed. You stole a lot of bases in college but those numbers have dropped since you’ve been playing professionally. Is there any reason for that?

I think a lot of it has to do with the opposition’s better. The pitches are a little faster to the plate, catchers are better at throwing. You get to Double-A, if you’re not really, really fast, it’s tough to steal a lot of bases, you know, and that’s part of it. Last year we had a team that, we had a chance to hit a three-run homerun every hitter. We had at least eight guys with double-digit figures, so it was kinda stupid to go in front and steal a base and get thrown out when they’ve got a chance to hit a homerun right after you.

So we didn’t run as much last year and get a chance to run a little more this year. It’s just trying to find the right opportunity.

It also seems like your walks have gone down over the last couple years. Is that also because of moving up a level?

I think guys are around the plate a little more. Obviously you get a chance to hit you want to go after it. A lot of times in the nine hole, you get a chance, they’re throwing you fastballs, so you don’t want to take those and have to face their nasty strikeout pitch. But I don’t really know the reason why the walks are going down this year. That’s just how the game is.

You seem to be really versatile defensively. If I’m right, you play all four infield positions plus a little in the outfield too. Do you find yourself having to work extra at each position?

I think so, yeah. Especially when you’re not playing every day. Some guys I notice, we have some pretty good infielders on this team, and they take a day off and it’s good for them, just to have a day off. I feel that almost every day, I have to take a bunch of ground balls at third, at short, at second, double play feeds from everywhere, just in case someone goes down. I mean, if our second baseman goes down, I’m in there. If our third baseman goes down, I have to be ready, and I can’t miss a beat. Make an error – as a utility guy, you want to make all the plays. And I like to get in the outfield a little bit, and sometimes I’m even the third string catcher, so you never know what’s gonna happen. You just always have to be ready.