Down On The Farm With Cole Roederer
I was able to meet up and interview Cole Roederer recently, the 2nd round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2018. Roederer is considered to be one of the Chicago Cubs top 10 prospects, and he made his full season debut this year with the South Bend Cubs of the Midwest League. Cole Roederer has one of the highest offensive ceilings in the Cubs organization and in fact had his first ever multi home run game on July 18th. He is still very raw at this point in his young career and will need to work hard to reach his ceiling but he has tons of potential and should be an exciting prospect for Cubs fans to follow over the next few years.
If you’d like to see other installments in our Down on the Farm series, click here.
James Weisser: Who is one of your favorite players to watch?
Cole Roederer: My favorite player growing up was Josh Hamilton. I loved his swing and I loved everything about him, he was definitely one of my favorite players to watch growing up.
JW: Who do you try and model your game after?
CR: It’s kind of a mix, I love Charlie Blackmon, I love the way he plays, but I’ve loved Cody Bellinger ever since he first came into the league. I followed Bellinger his rookie year almost religiously, so definitely Charlie Blackmon and Cody Bellinger.
JW: What’s your favorite thing about the game of baseball?
CR: I love to hit, it’s one of my favorite things. I mean I like it when a guy is throwing 97-98 and you rail one of his fastballs, or they throw a hanger and you absolutely hammer it. That’s definitely one of my favorite things. I also really enjoy meeting all these new guys from all over the world, they are some of the nicest and coolest people I’ve ever met.
JW: What got you interested in the game of baseball?
CR: My grandma. My mom and dad used to work a lot so when I was a kid I hung out with her. She always would want to throw me baseballs and play soccer and all sorts of other games. I just loved hitting baseballs ever since the time I was a tiny little kid and still do today.
JW: What inspires you to do your best?
CR: My family, my brother and my sister work all the time, my sister is a stay at home mom with 3 kids. My mom and dad literally worked long hours just to sacrifice everything they had to give me the opportunity and chances that I needed to succeed in baseball. I definitely wanted to succeed for them so they can live comfortably and not have to worry.
JW: What’s one of the things you think is cool about being part of the Cubs organization?
CR: I think their history is cool, their historic like the Red Sox. They both have such rich history. I really like Wrigley Field, I fell in love with it instantly.
JW: What’s one of the things you take pride in about your game?
CR: I definitely take pride in my defense. I worked along time with my high school coach we used to practice just before the practice on defense and routes to the ball and getting around the ball correctly and doing the simple things right. He would notice the little things that maybe I didn’t notice and work with me on them to make things right. He would tell me, “You might not notice, but every scout, every big leaguer, and everyone of these guys will notice it”.
JW: What’s your favorite movie?
CR: I’m a really big fan of the 21 or 22 Jump Street movies. I love those movies, I don’t know why exactly, it’s probably because they make me laugh.
JW: What’s your favorite food?
CR: If I had to choose a category I would choose Mexican food. If I had to narrow it down to one thing, it would probably be a real good Carne Asada Burrito with a little bit of guacamole and a little bit of salsa.
JW: What’s your favorite kind of music?
CR: I’m a big hip hop guy, I love rap, but I also can switch it up and go slow country, and like old country music. I like those two just as much.
JW: What are some of your interests outside of baseball?
CR: I really love video games, I’m a big big video game guy. I love Call of Duty, love Fortnite. I play on controller, I play on keyboard. I just love video games.
JW: If you could be any superhero or have any superpower what would it be?
CR: I think I would really like to be Superman. He’s fast, can shoot laser beams, and fly. He’s like the perfect combo. I’d love to fly, but I also like Flash because he’s so fast. My one superpower would be flying.
