Kent’s Rohan eyes MLB

KENT — Greg Rohan from North Lima and South Range High is winding down a prolific baseball career at Kent State University that has caught the eyes of major-league scouts.

The question is: Will Rohan’s 41 career home runs, including 20 last season, plus his other outstanding career offensive and defensive statistics be enough to get him drafted the first week of June?

“You never know. The draft is a funny thing. I had a good season last year. It just depends if you catch someone’s eye,” said Rohan (6-foot, 205 pounds), a senior first baseman whose 41 career homers rank No. 5 in school history. He also is eighth in putouts (804) and 10th in doubles (40) and total bases (371).

“I actually talked to a lot of teams this year with a lot of different scouts in the area. It is just a matter of going out and [playing well the rest of the way] and hope when June 9 rolls around that you get a call.

“I’m fortunate because our top two pitchers are pretty high-profile guys — Brad Stillings and Kyle Smith — and they bring out the scouts every weekend.”

The same could be said for Rohan, who is hitting .329 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs to help the Flashes to a 30-8 overall record and an 11-3 mark in the Mid-American Conference.

In February, Rohan won the Merle Wagoner award as the best senior male athlete at Kent State, while also being one of 50 college baseball seniors named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List.

The award, presented by USA Baseball and sponsored by Major League Baseball, recognizes the nation’s top college player.

Coach Scott Stricklin of Kent State thinks that Rohan can make the big leagues.

“He hits for power to all fields and is a plus defender at first base. I can see him hitting a lot of home runs as a professional player and because he works so hard, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him in the big leagues in a few years,” said Stricklin.

Last season, Rohan finished the regular season leading the MAC with 19 home runs, 58 RBIs and a .772 slugging percentage, and wound up with 20 homers which were the second-best single-season output all time at Kent State.

He was named MAC player of the year as well as to the All-MAC first team and Louisville Slugger All-American team.

Rohan said scouts have been profiling him as an outfielder “because I’m probably not tall enough to play first base. They compare you to major leaguers now [in requirements].”

He has outfield experience, playing there for KSU before injuring his elbow and missing the 2006 season, and he played right field last summer for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League.

Helping Rohan to further develop his long-ball swing and achieve his breakout season in homers last year was Andy Capraruolo, a former University of Akron baseball player and a Boardman High graduate now in his second season as a volunteer coach for the Golden Flashes specializing in hitting and outfield instruction.

Also on the roster are junior outfielder Jared Bartholomew from Howland High, redshirt freshman outfielder Joe Koch from Austintown Fitch and freshman right-handed pitcher David Wright from Salem.

Rohan is the son of George and Geralyn Rohan, and is majoring in business management with a 3.0 GPA as a double major in marketing and finance.

Rohan has two brothers, George and Gerrad, who share a baseball interest. George played baseball for the University of Findlay before graduating last year, and now is working in the family business. Gerrad is a sophomore at South Range and a member of the baseball team.

XJohn Kovach covers college athletics for The Vindicator. E-mail him at kovach@vindy.com