By Paul Post
Brett Rodriguez wants to level the playing field for local kids who dream of playing in the big leagues someday.
A three-sport star at Queensbury High School, he reached Triple-A with the Seattle Mariners, a teammate of Cal Raleigh who set big league records this year for most home runs by a catcher and a switch-hitter.
But Rodriguez can’t help wondering how far he might have gone, given the opportunity to play ball year-round like kids from California, Texas, Florida and the Caribbean islands.
“Where you come from matters,” he said. “When I was a senior in college, my coach said, ‘Think how many more reps this freshman has had, being from Southern California compared to you from upstate New York.’ I asked the kid, ‘How many sports did you play?’ He said, ‘What do you mean? I play baseball all year round’.”
“My big vision, what I want for this community, is something I didn’t have,” Rodriguez said. “I want to give kids a chance. This gives them a place where they can come and get high-level development during our harsh winter months.”
His new baseball training center, On Deck Athletics, opened this month at Aviation Mall, filling a 10,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Sears Auto Center. He’s sub-leasing the site from Jeremy Treadway, owner of a new entertainment complex, ADK Karting Experience, in the mall’s former Sears store.
“I thought about this for a long time,” said the 27-year-old Rodriguez. “It was a big step for me, if I wanted to do this or continue playing because I do have a couple more years left on my contract in Puerto Rico. I’ve already told the general manager and players, I’m not going to be able to start my business, my baby, and go play this winter. I want them to win, but I have this going on right now.”
In addition to his Mariners minor league career, Rodriguez spent several years including last winter in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League, Puerto Rico’s most elite league. Its champion advances to the Caribbean Series, featuring the best teams from other island countries and Mexico.
Rodriguez, primarily a center fielder, got there twice, playing with and against many former big league stars including one of his boyhood heroes, former Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano from the Dominican Republic.
“One of the first Yankee games I ever went to, he hit a walk-off home run,” Rodriguez said. “Now I was playing against him. Before the game, I shared the batting cage with him. It was just like a big surreal moment for me. I got to meet a lot of different cool people.”
Big league catchers Yadier and Jose Molina, pitchers Edwin and Alexis Diaz, former Yankee shortstop Didi Gregorius, 2020 AL MVP Jose Abreu and third baseman Pablo Sandoval are just some of the stars he’s rubbed shoulders with
Rodriguez plans to invite former college and pro teammates to help conduct baseball camps in winter and summer.
“We’ve already done camps for 180 kids in Queensbury and Glens Falls Little Leagues,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of following, a lot of good relationships with different Little Leagues. They were asking, ‘When are you going to grow bigger?’”
Most recently, Rodriguez has given private lessons in a batting/pitching cage at The GYM in Aviation Mall. The much larger On Deck Athletics venue will have three main 13-foot-high by 72-foot-long cages that can be divided for a total of six, all on newly installed turf.
A separate room will have hitting and fielding stations, equipped with high-tech machines such as a HitTrax simulator (for immediate data feedback and virtual gameplay) and a swing analyzer to help pinpoint mechanical adjustments.
Several smaller rooms might eventually be used for basketball drills, golf simulators, birthday parties and an apparel shop.
Rodriguez is banking on the mall’s convenient location, near the Northway, to attract kids from north and south in addition to the immediate Glens Falls/Queensbury area.
At Queensbury High, where he graduated in 2016, he helped the Spartans reach the state baseball finals two times. From there he went to Division I Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. where he majored in business with a focus on finance and accounting.
Such studies, in addition to his strong baseball background, provide all the impetus needed to launch On Deck Athletics. Financing for the project is from NBT Bank.
“I developed a business plan, detailing how many teams and how many clients we expect to have,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve already got bookings into January. There is demand.”
Rodriguez was eligible for the major league draft after his junior year at Wofford, but suffered a foot injury and decided to return for his senior year in 2020. Both he and the team (15-2 record) got off to great starts, but the season was cut short by COVID.
The draft was still held, but reduced to five rounds, to help offset the pandemic’s economic impact. Rodriguez wasn’t picked, but the Mariners called early the next day and he signed as an undrafted free agent.
He had entered the transfer portal and was committed to play at Creighton with a year of college eligibility left, but turned pro instead. “It was a very tough decision,” Rodriguez said. “I told myself, I’m not saying no to two pro contracts.”
At Triple-A Tacoma, his locker was next to Raleigh’s, now one of baseball’s biggest superstars.
“I have a bat that Cal gave me,” Rodriguez said. “He was one of my favorites. He’s a great dude. I have a lot of Mariners friends like Colin Davis, who played with me at Wofford and in the minors, who are going to come and do camps with me. The baseball world is way smaller than you think. Everyone knows everyone else.”
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “It’s been a lot of work, but it’s coming together nicely.”
For information go to: www.ondeckathletics518.com.