FORT MYERS, Fla. – Lu Rocker, a life-long baseball fan, married into a football family. Her husband, Tracy Rocker, was a two-time All-American at Auburn, won the Outland Trophy and was the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year in 1988. Tracy played in 24 games for the NFL’s Washington Redskins in 1989-90 and is now the defensive line coach at the University of Georgia.
His younger brother, David Rocker, was also an All-American at Auburn and played parts of four seasons (1991-94) in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams. Football, it seems, holds a lot of sway in the extended Rocker family, and Lu Rocker embraced it.
But Lu was also impressed by a character trait she and Tracy’s only child, Kumar Rocker, exhibited in his early childhood that seemed a little out of the family’s football mainstream. What Lu Rocker saw in her son was a proclivity for baseball that no one else on the Rocker side of the family seemed to have.
“(Kumar has) been playing (baseball) since he was 7 years old, but I remember when he was 2 years old and he threw the ball straight back to me,” Lu Rocker said Monday afternoon while using a small battery operated fan to cool herself in a shaded area near the top of the jetBlue Park stadium seating area. “I told my husband, ‘He’s going to be a pitcher.’ He said, ‘No, no he’s playing football.’ It’s funny how things work out.”
Kumar and Lu Rocker – who, with Tracy, call Watkinsville, Ga., home – were at jetBlue Park Monday and Tuesday for the Perfect Game Junior National Showcase, an event which featured most of the country’s highest-ranked rising juniors (class of 2018). The 6-foot-5, 235-pound, 16-year-old Rocker has risen the highest of any of them, coming into the Jr. National carrying the No. 1 ranking on his shoulders; he’s been No. 1 since entering the rankings on Sept. 9, 2015.
Rocker led a parade of top prospect in attendance at the event, a group that also included No. 14 right-hander/corner-infielder Will Banfield from Lawrenceville, Ga., and No. 18 outfielder/left-hander Alek Thomas from Chicago, both of whom joined Rocker on the PG Texas Orange team. Other top guys here included No. 3 outfielder/left-hander Jarred Kelenic from Waukesha, Wis., and No. 6 outfielder/third baseman Elijah Cabell from Winter Park, Fla.
“These are some of the best players – top-of-the-class players – that come around here and you get to compete against them,” Rocker said. “That’s really what I’m looking forward to, to see if the skills I have compare to theirs. You get that nice adrenaline boost to see what you can accomplish.
“You try your best to relax but when it comes down to it (the nerves) are going to kick in,” he said with a smile. “You just do the best you can, have fun with it; you don’t get mad or anything. When I’m out there pitching in front of all the scouts, I just focus on the catcher’s mitt.”
The amiable and athletic Rocker hasn’t committed to a college yet and is certainly keeping all of his options open. On his PG Player Profile Page, instead of naming specific schools he’s interested in, he lists the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences as the leagues he’d like to join; he carries a 3.75 GPA and academics are also important to him.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but Rocker is also a standout defensive end on his North Oconee High School football team and colleges have shown interest in him in that sport, as well. But with his ascension to the top of PG’s class of 2018 national prospect rankings he has developed a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to baseball. He plans to continue his pursuit of football for a while yet, but Rocker is a bright young man and the risk of injury on the football field is on his mind.
“I’m just going to see what happens,” he said before adding that he would not consider playing both sports in college. “I’m trying to focus on pitching. I realize that (football is) a different type of game; there’s a different aspect to it than baseball. But playing football helped me (with baseball). The focus and the aggression, that’s what I get from football.”
Kumar Rocker’s mom has also achieved great satisfaction from watching her son do this delicate balancing act:
“He works really hard at this game while football comes sort of natural to him,” Lu Rocker said. “I grew up in Maryland and I was always at the Orioles’ games so I’ve always loved baseball. … Just to see him mature through this has been incredible, and I love it. I basically go through baseball withdrawal when the season is over. I love this part of it, to be able to spend time with him and watch him accomplish his goals.”
On the flipside of that, Lu said she also “absolutely” enjoys watching Kumar perform out on the football field. She and Tracy were adamant that their only child stay active doing something during every season, and with football she’s had a lot fun watching him become bigger and stronger and more dominant out on the field.
“Perfect Game really kind of put him on the map last year when he hit that special number,” Lu Rocker said of the No. 1 ranking. “We didn’t think (the recruiting process) would happen this early; I think baseball works differently than football. With my husband coaching, they look at film, they’re visiting schools, but baseball has been totally different.
“In terms of the recruiting, to me it’s very important that he gets an education.,” she continued. “I feel blessed that, God willing, he’s able to take this and turn it into a good education; that’s really all I’m looking for. And, of course, he’s a pitcher so I want him to go to a good pitching school.”
So what does Tracy Rocker, the former Outland Trophy winner and college football coach, think about all this baseball stuff? Kumar Rocker said his dad has helped him tremendously when it comes to dealing with the mental side of playing a competitive sport but can’t offer much help when it comes to the physical aspects of playing baseball. Lu Rocker said it blows her husband’s mind that his son has become the top-ranked baseball prospect in all the land in his respective age group.
“(Tracy) never played baseball but he loves it,” his wife said. “And what’s great is that baseball is not concurrent. When Kumar is playing football, (Tracy is) coaching football and he never gets to see anything happen. With baseball being a little bit offseason from football he tries to get to as many games as he can, and he really enjoys it.”
The PG Jr. National Showcase is the 11th PG event Kumar Rocker has attended but his first PG showcase experience. He’s played in nine PG WWBA and PG BCS Finals with Georgia-based Team Elite Prime and was named to the all-tournament team at the 2015 15u PG BCS Finals, the 2015 15u PG WWBA National Championship and at the 2016 16u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational.
In fact, Rocker was named the Most Valuable Pitcher after leading Team Elite 16’s Prime to the championship at the 16u PG-EC Invite where he went 2-0 in nine innings of work without giving up a run and striking out 14.
He was also super impressive in his outing here Monday afternoon, which came after a four-hour lightning delay. Rocker worked his fastball at 88-92 mph (it topped-out at 93) “with wiggle and angle towards the plate,” according to the event’s blog, and “showed feel for a power curveball up to 78 with 10-4 shape.”
“I feel like my game keeps (progressing); that’s all I can ask for,” Rocker said. “There was a point when I decided I needed to this and I needed to this, and I came up with a routine just to better myself.”
As for the Jr. National experience, Rocker said he only hoped to leave having reached a performance level that he had never reached before; he accomplished that with his 93 mph heater. Lu Rocker, on the other hand, seems to realize that the baseball journey is just really starting for her son, the big kid who always seemed to be destined to excel on the football field and is instead shining on the baseball diamond.
“It’s been incredible for him being with other kids from all across the country,” Lu said. “We want him to see as much as he can, learn as much as he can, see different things; it’s all about development. He’s 16, and where he’s at right now doesn’t mean anything; he’s just got to keep getting better.”