The mystery that is Rocco Baldelli

Chris Pope
October 16, 2008

In life there are some problems that can’t be fixed, some questions that can’t be answered and some puzzles that can’t be solved. To find all of these, just look at the Tampa Bay Rays’ biggest question mark, Rocco Baldelli.

The Rays drafted Baldelli out of high school with the sixth overall pick in the 2000 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Adding the much sought-after Baldelli to their first two picks the year prior, Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford, the Rays future was starting to look promising.

In 2002, Baldelli began the year in Single A but by the end of the campaign had led the Triple A Durham Bulls to their first Governor’s Cup and was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year. With the Rays chomping at the bit to get him to the big leagues, they traded away their All-Star center fielder, Randy Winn, to Seattle in exchange for the rights to negotiate with their manager, Lou Pinella. Weird at best.

Baldelli, 21 at the time, got the nod from Pinella as the opening day starter for the 2003 season and started it off with a hit in 23 of his first 24 games for the Rays. Coming up through the minors, Baldelli had been known for his outstanding speed and fantastic arm and was now drawing comparisons to the legendary Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio. Not just because they both played center field, wore number five and both had Italian-American heritage, but because of the immense talent they both possessed. Al LaMacchia, a league renowned scout with over 50 year’s experience, once took it to the point of calling Baldelli, “Joe’s twin brother.” 

[php snippet=1]

Baldelli finished the 2003 season playing 156 games with a .289 batting average and 11 homeruns. Adding career highs with 78 RBI, 89 runs scored, 40 extra-base hits and 27 stolen bases, Baldelli finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. His sophomore season was consistent with his rookie year, as the outfielder played 136 games, hitting .230 with 16 homeruns, 74 RBI, 79 runs scored, 30 extra-base hits and 17 stolen bases.

The following offseason, however, is what started the long and painful calamity that is Rocco Baldelli. While playing baseball with his brother in his time off, Baldelli tore his ACL, and while rehabilitating in the minors, injured his elbow to the point where Tommy John surgery became necessary. Resultantly, Baldelli was sidelined for the entire 2005 season.

Not long after, training camp came in 2006 and Baldelli tore his hamstring, keeping him out of the Rays line-up until June. Playing off-and-on because of the re-occurring hamstring injury, Baldelli was still hammering the ball, hitting .302 with 16 homeruns with 57 RBI in only 92 games. In 2007, the story wasn’t much different as he only played 35 games before spending the rest of the season on the Disabled List.

Heading into the 2008 season it wasn’t the injuries that stood in his way this time. Baldelli was under heavy testing to establish the reasoning behind his constant muscle problems and frequent fatigue. The conclusion soon came that the 27-year-old suffered a rare mitochondrial disease. According to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation,

“Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised.”‘

When asked about his disease in March, Baldelli explained it in his own words, “..It is literal muscle fatigue and cramping way before my body should be feeling these things. I would go out there and I was pretty much incapable of doing basic baseball activities, running and hitting and throwing. These were things I had done my whole life pretty easily and at some point within the last two years, we’re not exactly sure why, these things started to change.”

To make it even harder on Baldelli, the Rays announced in April that they would not be picking up the club’s option for ’09, making Baldelli a free-agent this winter. With the assistance of the Rays training staff, Baldelli has since found a mixture of medications and supplements that has improved his condition.

The Rays called Baldelli up in August and started him in right field. Since then Baldelli has remained with the team all the way up to Tampa’s current ALCS series with the Boston Red Sox. On October 13, Baldelli stepped to the plate at Fenway – the park he grew up going to with friends and family, against the the team he used to cheer for – and hit his first career playoff home run to solidify the win for the Rays.

Whether the Rays, or any other team for that matter, choose to re-sign Baldelli will be decided this offseason. But if he decides that it’s best for his health to hang up his cleats, Baldelli should not be remembered for that guy that didn’t match his rookie stat totals in his last three years combined, or for being on and off the DL. Baldelli should be remembered for what he did when he was healthy and being part of the first team in Tampa Bay history to make it to the World Series [editor’s note: knock on wood].

[php snippet=1]

The Author:

Chris Pope