Everyone knows when it is time for designated hitter Rob Pietroforte to hit. Just simply queue the Rocky theme song.
"He's very confident in his ability to go up there looking for a hit," sophomore third baseman Todd Emr said. "Like Rocky, he's always out there trying to be perfect. He's always at the extra batting practice sessions, getting his cuts in there. He's never one to show off or look for praise."
Just like the Italian stallion, sophomore Pietroforte finally earned some deserving press time after slugging his way to an astounding .687 batting average and Division III Player of the Week honors. By smacking two homeruns, three triples, and a double last week, he also earned the designation of Centennial Player of the Week.
According to Emr, Pietroforte continued to work hard and come to the field for extra batting practice despite national praise.
"Some of the guys and I found out about the awards and appraisal from reading it online," Emr said. "He never lets success get to his head, and he just kept coming to the locker room to work hard and improve."
Pietroforte said that following a difficult fall season, in which he tried to just hit homeruns and fill the prototypical power hitter role, he felt that he needed to change his mindset at the plate.
"After last season, the coaches came up to me and sort of nudged me saying, `We hope you step into a power production role next season,' " Pietroforte said. "That sort of got into my head and I tried pulling everything over the left field fence. Over the winter, I felt I needed to change my approach mentally and shorten up."
Pietroforte now credits his success at the plate to his newfound ability to stay back on the ball so that he can consistently drive it to right field. Like his childhood idol, Derek Jeter, Pietroforte always imagined himself as more of a clutch, gap hitter, as opposed to the low average, power hitter of last fall.
"Derek Jeter always gets that right hit at the right time," Pietroforte said. "I was turning into a power guy this fall, and I was doing what I thought could help the team by just going for home runs. I may not be hitting as many homers now, but home runs are not always what the team needs."
Similar to his idol Jeter, Pietroforte said he places more emphasis on winning championships and achieving success as a team. According to Pietroforte, the sophomores' victory in the annual intra-squad class tournament, gives him hope for the future of Blue Jays' baseball.
"Ever since we first got to Hopkins, we looked at ourselves as a class and figured that we would make a pretty decent team by the time we were seniors," he said. "Right now, we joke about future line up orders and pitching rotations. But we're looking to do something no Hopkins class has ever done and that is to win a College World Series title."
Even with being constantly lauded for his talent and recently bestowed with national honors, Pietroforte still looks back on his first home run in little league as his finest performance.
"It was a really cool moment, on my dad's birthday no less," he said. "It kept climbing and climbing over the left centerfield fence. My dad, also the coach of the team, told me, `It was the best present he could ever ask for.' "
