Fab Freshmen John Jay and Roger Tomas
June 2, 2004
By Tracy Gale
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Usually when a student-athlete joins a perennial baseball powerhouse program like the University of Miami Hurricanes, he can expect a lot of time on the bench his freshman year. He might get some late-inning game time during a rout, but the road to a starting spot on the ‘Canes roster usually takes a year or two.
However, the 2004 season story may just have the perfect, happy ending-winning the College World Series-because of the unexpected contribution level of two freshmen: left-fielder Jon Jay and shortstop Roger Tomas.
Jay, who grew up in Miami and graduated from Christopher Columbus High School, spent a lot of time at Mark Light Field long before this season: his childhood summers were spent attending the Ron Fraser Baseball Camp.
“I came to camp at Mark Light, and then when I got a little older I came to games here,” Jay says. “There were other schools I was considering but when UM told me they were interested in me; well, it was all I needed to hear. UM has always been in my heart.”
Jay communicates that by putting his heart 110% into every play. Head Baseball Coach Jim Morris was so impressed with his fall campaign that he named Jon the rookie player of the 2003 fall ball season. Morris can’t say enough about his freshman left-fielder.
“Jon appreciates being here and being part of the program every single day,” says Coach Morris. “He comes to the field early, and he always has a smile on his face. His attitude is just great. My only concern with Jon was how he was going to handle, physically, the long college baseball season. Our season is twice as long as a high school season. But Jon has done everything we’ve asked of him: he had such a tremendous fall that we named him the best rookie, and that isn’t an award we give out every year. But Jon was so impressive, and he took that great fall season right into the spring-he hasn’t missed a beat.”
For his part, Jay is just happy he can contribute to his hometown Hurricanes. He seems as thrilled to be here as Coach Morris is to have him.
“I knew when I came here there were a lot of outfielders, so I didn’t expect this much playing time. I was ready to wait to be a starter.”
Jay lives at home with his mother, Maria, a teacher at Sunset Elementary, and his sister Janelle, who attends Coral Reef High School. Next year he will live in an off-campus apartment with Roger Tomas. His favorite college class so far has been Business Law, and Jay plans to major in Business Finance, which he feels will prepare him for whatever he wants to do after baseball.
Jay posted a .364 batting average through the regular season, second highest on the team. He says he is most happy so far with his hitting contributions, and the adjustments he has been able to make at the plate. Jay’s favorite road trip was to Florida State because ‘their fans were amazing, especially when they are all cheering against you.’
Playing home games at The Light is a thrill, and other than opening night, Jay hasn’t been nervous playing in front of the large UM crowds. It’s a dream come true to hear his name called out over the PA system each night by announcer Jay Rokeach.
“I used to hear him at games when I was younger, so that first time he said my name was really great.”
This summer Jay will play in the prestigious Stanton-Virginia Valley League. With the excitement of a great regular season behind him and the NCAA Regionals on deck, some players might look ahead to the Super Regional or even to the College World Series. Not the mature-beyond-his-years-Jay.
“We have to remember, it is one game at a time–we can’t look ahead. Now every game we play is the biggest game of the season.”
Tomas, also a Miami native, lived in the Shenandoah area before moving to South Broward while in middle school. An excellent infielder, he came to the University of Miami after considering FIU and USF. Why did Tomas choose UM?
“I was set to commit to FIU,” recalls Tomas, smiling as he remembers the sequence of events. “But then, the day before I was going to commit to [FIU head baseball] Coach Price, I got the call to visit UM. I committed to Coach [Gino] DiMare right then!”
Tomas also has memories of coming to Mark Light Field as a youngster. Since he played shortstop Tomas remembers Alex Cora being his favorite Hurricane. Now, fast-forward a few years and Tomas is UM’s starting shortstop. It’s a pretty strange turn of events for someone who, as recently as January, was going to be redshirted for the 2004 season.
“We fully expected to redshirt Roger this year,” Coach Morris says. “Literally the week before the season we had the conversation on whether or not to redshirt Roger. He had been on the DL for much of the fall, but then he came back in the spring just before the season and was hitting line drives everywhere. We decided we couldn’t afford to redshirt this guy.”
A good thing, too, because not long after the start of the season Miami’s Mr. Everything, All-American Shortstop Ryan Braun, went down with a ribcage injury. Tomas went from nearly being redshirted to starting at shortstop for the now second-ranked Hurricanes.
“I didn’t think about all of the playing time,” Tomas says. “When Ryan first got hurt it seemed like he would only miss a couple of games, so I thought I was subbing for a few days. At the beginning I probably pressed too much, I tried to do too much-I was trying to fill some very big shoes. But as the season went on and it was clear I would be playing basically every game, I relaxed. I just thought about contributing to each win and not overplaying. I am able to focus on that really well.”
Tomas’ focus has been right on target. The success has been all that much sweeter considering his injuries during the fall. Tomas finished the regular season batting .305 with nine doubles. Roger loves playing at Mark Light Field and says his favorite series were against Coastal Carolina and Long Beach State.
“Beating their great pitcher Jered Weaver was awesome! And coming back like we did on Friday and Saturday was great for our team going into the Regionals.”
Tomas’s parents Roger, a bakery owner, and Blanca, a teacher, come to most games, and so do his sisters Karla, an FIU student and Nancy, who just completed the fifth grade. Tomas’s biggest fan might be his grandfather Jose, who is retired and doesn’t miss any of Roger’s games. Tomas has decided to major in Criminology at UM, with an idea of someday working for the FBI. He lives at home with his family in Miramar, but will move in to an off-campus apartment with Jon Jay this August. Tomas is also looking forward to playing baseball this summer in Alaska.
Coach Morris thinks Roger has done a tremendous job for the Hurricanes filling in for Braun at shortstop. He has been so pleased with Tomas’s play that he expects to rest Braun for both Regional and potential Super Regional action.
While his power numbers aren’t ever going to rival the hitting prowess of Braun, Tomas’ defense has been stellar: he posted a .959 fielding percentage for the season. Roger feels the area needing the most improvement is his footwork and speed, which he’ll work on this summer. Regardless of his playing time now and through the rest of the 2004 post-season, Tomas is just happy to be contributing to the Hurricanes’ success on the field.
“As soon as Ryan [Braun] is ready to come back on the field I know I won’t be at short…but that’s fine. Whatever Coach Morris decides to do with me will be okay. I just want the ring!”
