Rodriguez' versatility keeps the game fun

Sean Rodriguez wasn't playing shortstop that afternoon. His dad told him that as they drove across Miami to the ballfield.

"I need you in center field today," Johnny Rodriguez said.

"We got a center fielder," Sean said.

Yeah, Johnny said, but lately he's doing a poor job of holding on to fly balls.

"He may cover more ground," Johnny told Sean, "but I know you'll catch everything you run down."

Rodriguez was 11 at the time. He played for the local Boys & Girls Club team coached by his dad.

Almost 13 years later, Rodriguez remembers that car ride with clarity, because it was the moment that changed the way he approached baseball.

It was the day Rodriguez stopped being a shortstop and became a baseball player.

"A ballplayer," Rodriguez said. "You can't have a better title than that."

Unless that title is Super U, which stands for super utility player, which is the title Rays manager Joe Maddon bestowed upon Ben Zobrist in 2009.

Rodriguez, 24, who came to the Rays organization in September as part of the trade that sent Scott Kazmir to the Angels, is quickly developing into the next Ben Zobrist.

"It would be a very good thing for Sean and for us if that would happen," Maddon said. "He has all the abilities, but I'm sure if you talk to Sean he wants to be the first Sean Rodriguez."

Thought to be a second baseman because that's where he played during most of his 71 games over two big-league seasons with the Angels, the first Sean Rodriguez has played second, shortstop and all three outfield spots this month and is expected to see time at third. He also pesters bullpen coach Bobby Ramos daily about getting some innings behind the plate.

"I want them to see what I can do back there," Rodriguez said. "I'll play everywhere."

Can he pitch?

"Sure," Rodriguez said. "I pitched in high school. I was the closer. I only had one pitch, a fastball, but I shook off my catcher to make the hitter think I could throw a curve."

Rodriguez is having a blast this camp, and it isn't solely because he's batting .405 with five home runs, 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored. Rodriguez is making diving catches in center field and diving stops at shortstop that start double plays.

His uniform is always dirty.

He's playing right field and left field and can't wait until he gets his shot at third.

And if Ramos would just listen ...

"This feels like Little League," Rodriguez said.

Only without the trip to McDonald's after a win.

Rodriguez was playing baseball almost as soon as he could walk, and it wasn't long until he developed into one of the better youth players in Miami, which meant it wasn't long before travel team coaches began calling Johnny to inquire about the availability of his son.

Sean Rodriguez said the phone calls went like this:

Coach: "We'd like your son to play for us. What position does he play?"

Johnny: "Where do you need him?"

Coach: "What?"

Johnny: "He'll play where you need him."

Rodriguez said he played for one coach who would make out the lineup, saving Rodriguez for last and sticking him in the position of a player who couldn't make the game.

"That's how I caught a lot," Rodriguez said. "I didn't care. It made the games more fun."

It's not all that different this spring on the days Rodriguez is not in the starting lineup. He watches from the dugout, waiting to see where he'll play in the later innings. Rodriguez said there have been days he was told he would go in for Jason Bartlett at short but ended up replacing Zobrist at second, and vice versa.

No problem.

Rodriguez said he comes to the park each day remembering what Bobby Magallanes told him during his first year of rookie ball with the Angels organization. Magallanes was a coach who preached the game is a lot better and a little less difficult when you're having fun playing.

"The key word is 'playing,'" Magallanes would tell the young prospects. "You never hear anyone say they're going to 'work' baseball."

Don't get him wrong. Rodriguez also comes to the park to work. And he gets there early, too. Usually around 6:30 a.m.

Why? That way he can get his extra hitting and weight training finished before the game, leaving his late afternoons open to go back to the Port Charlotte house he rents with his wife, Giselle, and spend time playing with 2-year-old daughter Sofia and year-old son Sean John.

"They're not awake when I leave the house," Rodriguez said. "So I can't play with them in the morning."

Not many people in Port Charlotte are awake that early. Carl Crawford is, though, and he often joins Rodriguez in the batting cage.

Like Crawford, Zobrist was an All-Star last season. Rodriguez wouldn't mind following that path. If they want Rodriguez to be solely one-half of a second-base platoon, fine. If they want him to keep a locker full of gloves so he can move around the field, even better.

If they want him to find a catcher's mitt ...

"I tried to make it clear to them that I didn't mind playing a lot of positions," Rodriguez said. "I didn't expect to be playing all six. That's just the way Maddon wants it. That's the way I'll do it. I have no problem with that. Basically, it's just up to them. Whatever they want me to do, I'll do it."

Just like those days playing for his dad at the Boys & Girls Club or traveling around the state, playing where needed.

"Sean comes to the park each day with one thing in mind - winning," Maddon said.

And he doesn't care what he has to do to help the team win: second base, shortstop, outfield.

"If they need an emergency catcher ..." he said.

Call Rodriguez an infielder or an infielder who can also play the outfield. Or call him a Super U or the next Ben Zobrist. All are applicable, especially if Rodriguez makes the team and inherits Zobrist's old job.

Or, you can just make it easier and call Rodriguez what he really is: a ballplayer.

"I'm a ballplayer," he said. "I'm a straight up ballplayer."

You can't have a better title than that.