The Traveling Tasin
From the first day that Rob Tasin stepped onto a baseball field his dreams of playing professional baseball were evident. It's every baseball players dream to one day have the opportunity to step onto the same field as those that you watch on TV on a nightly basis. For Tasin, playing the game of baseball has been something that he's never taken for granted and when he found out that he would have the chance to play professionally he was "beyond speechless".
The Philadelphia Phillies selected Tasin, a native of Houston, TX with the 564th (19th round) pick in the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Tasin played the final three seasons of his collegiate career in Norman, OK for the Oklahoma Sooners for head coach Pete Hughes. The path for Tasin to Oklahoma wasn't all that straight and narrow as he attended two different junior colleges while turning down offers from the likes of Rice and LSU.
Playing at Klein High School under head coach Barry Smith, Tasin in his senior year thought about taking his game to the next level. Tasin impressed not only on the mound but also at the plate hitting .355 with seven home runs to go along with a 2.40 ERA in 35 innings of work. The Rice Owls seemed to be where Tasin would start his collegiate career until more thought took him to Texarkana, TX and Texarkana College.
Taking the Junior College route for a baseball player is not all that uncommon these days but it is one that requires commitment and dedication to be noticed by scouts as compared to players that attend four-year colleges or universities. Tasin spent one season at Texarkana under head coach Will Bolt posting a 3-1 record with a 1.98 ERA. Uncertainty around the baseball program lead Tasin to San Angelo, TX and Howard College. Under the direction of head coach Britt Smith, Tasin would appear in just four games for the Hawks ultimately making the decision to red-shirt.
Through connections between coaching staffs and after a commitment to potentially play at Louisiana State University, the Sooners of Oklahoma would come calling. As a red-shirt sophomore Tasin appeared in 15 games putting together a 1-0 record with 2 saves and a 3.29 ERA. The final season for Tasin at Oklahoma was one to remember as he went 9-2 in 18 appearances with 11 starts. Tasin posted the most wins for the Sooners pitching staff while striking out 57 batters in 78.2 innings of work.
Sitting in his living room alongside his mom, Tasin was putting together a grill while tuning into the draft on the TV. The first 18 rounds of the draft had come and gone with more than 500 players hearing their name called. Tasin would get to hear his name called in the very next round, but interestingly enough that was all that he heard, "I was ecstatic when my name was called and it was a surreal moment, but with the announcement of the picks going so fast I didn't have the chance to catch what team I had been drafted by". Tasin had to use the resources of modern technology and go onto the internet to find out that he was going to be a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
As of July 7, Tasin has appeared in five games this season with the Williamsport Crosscutters, putting together a 1.29 ERA in seven innings of work. He leads the Cutters with three saves on the year and had worked six scoreless innings before allowing his first run of the season. When asked about the season so far and getting paid to play the game that he loves Tasin said "The Phillies are an amazing organization from top to bottom and have been nothing short of awesome to me. From the minute that they called me after the draft to when I arrived in Williamsport the coaching staff have helped me to work on some things and continue to build my confidence".