Rokochy joins Prairie Baseball Academy
Kelsey Rokochy will continue his baseball career at Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge this season.
“I knew they had a good coaching staff and a good record over the last couple of years. They play against Calgary and some other good teams and they still have a good winning record and they’ve brought home a couple championships. One of my friend’s older brothers, Devon Schultz went there and he told me a lot about that program and said they had good coaching when he was there. So I sent them some video and it ended up they wanted me to come and play for them.”
Rokochy, 18, will join the Canadian Junior College program as he looks to pursue a playing opportunity south of the border.
“Yeah Lethbridge is kind of a big feeder school is one of the other reasons I wanted to go there. You go there, get some reps in, develop, grow a little bit more, and then maybe try and get an offer to a better school, which is kind of my dream obviously.”
Rokochy won three Baseball Saskatchewan Provincial Championships early in his Swift Current 57’s career.
“It was awesome. I’m especially thankful for the age group that I was in, just Derek Murdoch being the coach my whole life. I feel like Swift Current is a really good baseball community as well as a really good hockey community. There’s a lot of support behind both of those sports.”
He also won bronze at the 16U Western Canada Summer Games, silver at the 15U AAA Ray Carter National Championships, and silver at the Western Canadian Championships.
“I’d say going to Arizona for the sophomore tournament was probably one of the coolest experiences just because it was down in the States and there was so many teams there and so many people looking at you. I’d say winning silver in Toronto there with the provincial team, that was awesome, there’s nothing that’s going to beat that,” he said of his career highlights.
The 57’s missed the playoffs with a 10-22 record in the Saskatchewan Premier 18U AAA Baseball League this summer.
“There’s some pretty solid teams out there. Our team was pretty young and we didn’t have that good of a record. But I feel like we played some pretty good baseball. We weren’t getting destroyed at all, but we played some good baseball.”
Rokochy played a lot of shortstop this past season, but considers third, second and outfield his best positions.
Rokochy was third on the team with a .431 on base percentage this season, including 17 hits and a team leading 24 walks.
He also pitched in 10 games this season, allowing 29 hits and 49 walks over 35.1 innings to go along with 31 strikeouts.
Rokochy said he has not seen his fastball on a radar gun for a long time so is interested to see where he clocks in at PBA. He throws a four-seam fastball, a 12-6 curveball, a slider, and a change-up.
“I definitely want to get some more pitches in my arsenal, that’s another goal,” said Rokochy, who added that he’s unsure whether he will pitch or play in the field more in Lethbridge.