Former Littlestown star brings pro experience back home

Robert Rohrbaugh and R.A. Dickey used to have a contest.

The challenge? See who could float the slowest pitch over the plate during a game.

Rohrbaugh, a former Littlestown High School star, possessed a change-up he perfected in his days with the Thunderbolts. It caught hitters off guard with a change of speed and late breaking movement, and it kept fooling them all the way to his days playing Triple-A professional baseball — one step from the major leagues — with the Tacoma Rainiers.

Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner, threw his now-famous knuckleball that seems to move with a mind of its own even when he played alongside Rohrbaugh in Tacoma in 2008.

Their contest lasted until the Seattle Mariners called Dickey up to the major leagues later that year. It seemed Rohrbaugh might not be too far behind.

But his call never came.

While Dickey continues to pitch in the major leagues for the Toronto Blue Jays, Rohrbaugh has been back in Adams County for five years. He's coaching high school baseball and building a travel program called High Heat Travel Baseball that he aspires to make the best in the area.

Rohrbaugh never expected his life to go the way it has, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

He has new baseball goals in Pennsylvania, and he's just as close to achieving them as he was to pitching in the major leagues.

The electricity surrounding Littlestown baseball games has never been as intense as it was in 2002 during Robert Rohrbaugh's senior year.

Ten to 15 professional baseball scouts assembled at games across York and Adams counties to watch the 6-foot-2 lefty who had led the Thunderbolts to the District 3 title as a sophomore and continued to get better and better. You could count on one hand the number of runs Rohrbaugh allowed during his final two high school seasons.

“To have the control he had at his age was remarkable," recalled Steve Kress, Littlestown's coach from 1998 to 2006. "If you can throw the ball on the outside corner consistently, you take 50 percent of high school hitters out of the picture right away. It wasn’t just his control of the fastball, we worked really hard on developing his change-up even though he really didn’t need to throw it at the level he was at right then. That, in my opinion, helped his success right away at the college level.”

Rohrbaugh quickly found success at Clemson University, earning recognition as a freshman All-American his first season. The Tigers went to the NCAA regionals three times and to the super regionals once during his three seasons there, and the Seattle Mariners picked him in the seventh round of the 2005 MLB Draft.

Rohrbaugh found quick success again in the professional ranks, moving up to the Double-A level halfway through the 2006 season and to Tacoma halfway through the 2007 season. He was named the Mariners' Triple-A pitcher of the year in 2007 after starting 13 games for the Rainiers and accumulating a 2.95 ERA.

“He wasn’t a (95-mph fastball) guy, but he did a really good job of understanding who he was and what he needed to do to get hitters out," said Daren Brown, who managed Rohrbaugh in Double-A and Triple-A. “He was a very valuable guy to have on a pitching staff because you knew going out there that he was going to be able to get into the seventh inning and give you a chance to win a game.”

The Mariners invited Rohrbaugh to major league camp in 2008, but that's where an injury thwarted his promising career. He developed a shoulder impingement and struggled through the 2008 season with Tacoma, giving up 109 hits in 96 innings pitched and accumulating a 5.25 ERA.

“It felt like I couldn't get loose," Rohrbaugh recalled. "I couldn’t lift my arm straight up in front of me. It just got weak, really weak..”

The following spring, an MRI revealed inflammation in his shoulder, and doctors gave him a cortisone shot. By that evening, the strength returned to his arm. But his career never recovered.

That same spring, a new general manager named Jack Zduriencik took over in Seattle and implemented sweeping personnel changes throughout the organization.

“Timing is everything," Rohrbaugh said. "(Zduriencik) kind of brought in all his own guys, and we became yesterday’s news. They sent a couple of us back to Double-A, and at that point you kind of know the writing’s on the wall.

“There’s not much that separates the guys that are in A-ball with the guys that are in the pros. A lot of times it’s just about that window of opportunity and when it comes up. Are you performing your best at that time or are you struggling? They’re looking for something in particular usually, and it just didn’t work out that way for me.”

Just how close was Rohrbaugh to the major leagues? The timing worked out for Dickey in 2008, and for one of his Double-A teammates, Doug Fister, in 2009. The right-hander, a control pitcher like Rohrbaugh, earned a call-up that year and is now an eighth-year major-leaguer who signed a $7 million contract with the Houston Astros before this season.

Rohrbaugh pitched well as a relief pitcher in Double-A for the next two seasons, but he never received another call-up. The Mariners released him in 2011, and he landed briefly with the Atlantic League's Camden Riversharks.

But with the Riversharks, the drive Rohrbaugh pitched with all his life dissipated. The team released him after he threw six starts and accumulated an 8.68 ERA.

So Rohrbaugh packed his bags and returned to Littlestown, not knowing what he would do next. But his new career path waited for him in his hometown, and he'd find it at a high school fall league practice a few weeks later.

Kai Hess had long heard about a former Thunderbolt playing professional baseball, but the 2013 Littlestown graduate never met him until a fall league practice in September of 2011.

When Rohrbaugh stopped by that practice, Hess and his father, Derrik, proposed an idea that ultimately changed Rohrbaugh's life.

"We talked to him about whether he did any lessons outside of practice," Kai Hess, then a junior, recalled. "He told us, ‘No, not really,’ and my dad asked him if he would be willing to.”

All through his college and professional career, Rohrbaugh always thought he'd have a long career in baseball and make a lot of money playing the game he loved. Coaching — or any other role off the field — never crossed his mind. But with his pro baseball career seemingly over, Rohrbaugh decided to give it a shot, thinking, "Here goes nothing, let's see if I can do it."

He started by simply throwing with Hess, then watching him throw against a backstop to get a better look at his mechanics. He shared some drills and philosophies he'd learned from the coaches he played for throughout his career.

"Honestly, I haven’t changed up the routine from that first lesson I did," Rohrbaugh said. "I knocked it out of the park — I know that’s not pitcher talk — and I could just tell it was a fit. It clicked with me, and I stuck with it ever since.”

A few lessons later, Rohrbaugh brought out a video camera to record Hess and teach him by playing back his pitching motion.

For a while, Hess was Rohrbaugh's only client. But as word spread, other ball players in Littlestown and Gettysburg started asking for lessons, as well. Rohrbaugh joined the coaching staff at Gettysburg High School in 2012, and he remains a part of the staff.

Hess went on to pitch at Frederick Community College.

“He was great from the start,” Hess said of Rohrbaugh. “He taught me a lot about things at the professional level that you wouldn’t see unless you were there. He taught me so much, so I figured once he got his name out there he would have a large group of people to help out. He’s got a large knowledge of the game and everybody wants it.”

Decked in Seattle Mariners gear from head to toe, Rohrbaugh pulled up to Gettysburg High School in the spring of 2014 and walked into the first High Heat Travel Baseball practice.

“We wanted that shock and awe factor and wanted to show the kids: ‘This is what you can do; he’s a local boy from Littlestown,’” said Phil Cosden, one of three people who worked alongside Rohrbaugh to get the program started. “The kids saw it — especially the younger kids — and thought, ‘Man, I’d like to do that.’ This told them, ‘You can. Look at Robert, he’s from Littlestown.'”

High Heat Travel Baseball's roots sprouted after a pitching lesson Rohrbaugh did with Cosden's son, P.J., who recently graduated from Gettysburg High School.

They officially launched the program in October 2013, and the following summer they added more than 20 players, mostly from Gettysburg. The program now includes more than 50 players, hailing from all across Adams County as well as Spring Grove, West York and northern Maryland. They hope to expand into Franklin and Cumberland counties in the years to come.

“It seems like nowadays, everybody has a travel team," Rohrbaugh said. "Travel is kind of a phenomenon, it really wasn’t there when I played. You had your showcase teams, but travel teams were unheard of. I see a lot of high school players, and I know what travel programs they’re coming out of, that don’t know the fundamentals. I’m trying to bring a higher brand of baseball."

He bears ambitions of opening an indoor training facility and starting fall baseball teams within the next year, as well as getting away from the organization's current nonprofit model by hiring paid coaches.

His goal is to have each team led by coaches who played baseball at a level past high school. The staff already includes Doug Arnold, the current Delone Catholic High School coach who played at Shepherd University and York College; Ryan Brady, the current Gettysburg High School coach who played at Shepherd and Hagerstown Community College; and Syril Kress, the former Gettysburg High School coach who played at Bloomsburg University.

“We’re pretty excited about where we’re gonna be taking this, I don’t think anybody else is gonna be able to match what we’re going to do,” Rohrbaugh said. “We’re ready to take it to the next level and have year-round training from some of the best guys in the area. It’s little things like knowing when to tag up and when to advance on a throw, kids aren't getting the 'Baseball 101' fundamentals right now. I feel we can help out by getting the right guys with these kids. Whatever the next level is for these kids, we want to get them there.”

P.J. Cosden will play for Hood College next spring, making him the first alumnus of the program to reach the college level. Rohrbaugh and Phil Cosden think another three or four of the program's rising high school seniors could sign with colleges within the next year.

“I really can’t say enough about how he works with the kids," Phil Cosden said of Rohrbaugh. "Honestly, I’m in awe of him. Not only because of what he’s done for my son and other kids he’s worked with, but I’ve gone to clinics with professional coaches and Robert is right on with what they say. I can’t believe more people don’t take advantage of having a former professional ball player in their area.”

Now 32 years old, Rohrbaugh still misses playing the game. But coaching makes him feel young again, and he's devoted to building a program that could help more kids from his home area extend their baseball careers past high school.

“He was the most composed pitcher I’ve ever coached. He definitely always had the traits and the temperament to do what he's doing," Steve Kress said. "One of the things that I’m most proud of him for is that he’s giving back to what gave to him.”

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