cheer up fortnite
Brendan Rodgers has been talked about a lot recently, and for good reason. His season started out on a rough note, but has drastically improved recently. In fact, if you read this morning’s Rockpile, you’ll see those exact splits between the start of the season and when his numbers started taking off and his batting really improved.
I had the opportunity to talk with Brendan Rodgers and learn a little more about his goals to give you some insight into the man behind the uniform.
Let’s talk about baseball.
Brendan Rodgers saw some real improvement in the second half of last season after being injured and having a rough start to the 2021 season. He said his goal this season was to “capitalize off of [the end of last season] and go from there.” While these goals weren’t super specific, the overarching theme was that Rodgers wants to build and improve year after year, which is something that he initially struggled with at the beginning of the 2022 season.
Reflecting on the start of this season, he said, “I’m in the process of changing some stuff. I [had] probably one of the worst first months a player could ever really have and it was frustrating.” He was just trying to keep his head up, keep working hard and improve from where he was with that start.
You might be asking, what has changed? What has he done differently to see the vast improvement he has? The answer from Rodgers was very simple: “I’m going to do everything I can to get on base and that’s how my mindset has been lately.”
Changing his mindset and working hard to improve is clearly working, which is something we all want to see and root for, and after talking to Rodgers about life and baseball he is really someone that is easy to relate to and cheer for.
Let’s talk about life
Outside of baseball, Brendan Rodgers used to be a big video gamer. Fortnite was his game of choice, but when Rodgers got the call to the big leagues he made the decision to take a step back from gaming.
“I quit cold turkey,” he said. “It was taking up a lot of my time and I had bigger and better things to focus on.”
In addition to gaming Rodgers talked about being from Florida and growing up near the water. He enjoys fishing and just being out in the sun. He assured me that now that he’s a big leaguer he doesn’t partake in water sports like he did when he was a younger, but he mentioned having a couple of jet skis that he enjoys from time to time. When it all comes down to it, he enjoys spending time outside with his family and friends.
What is one thing that Brendan Rodgers looks forward to every year outside of the baseball season? “I do an annual hunting trip every year. It is a new hobby of mine that I enjoy quite a bit.” That hunting trip every year is with someone else you might be familiar with — his teammate Sam Hilliard.
Brendan Rodgers and Sam Hilliard are more than just teammates and hunting buddies, though, they’re really close friends. In fact, when I asked Rodgers about any causes he’s involved in, he spoke adamantly about supporting Team Hilliard in the fight against ALS.
“My main one is ALS with Sam being one of my closes friends and see what he had to go through,” he said. “It’s something [I’ll be a part of] for the rest of my life and will always be there for him and whoever else is going through something similar.”
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Brendan Rodgers is making his name in the big leagues right now. He looked at the rough start of his season and decided to not dwell on it, but move on from it and keep moving in a forward trajectory. After talking with Rodgers, I really learned that he is just like us — he wants to be a good, supportive friend and find time to hangout with his family. Learning that and seeing the “man behind the uniform” makes it easy to cheer for him to continue to find success for more reasons than just being a Rockies fan.