Rodgers gearing up for newest challenge

HARTFORD, Connecticut -- An argument can be made that no one in Minor League Baseball had a more impressive first half than Brendan Rodgers. 
The top Rockies prospect led the California League in batting average (.400), on-base percentage (.419), slugging percentage (.700) and OPS (1.119). Rodgers still tops the circuit with 147 total bases, even though he played in 22 less games than Colorado's 26th-ranked prospect Sam Hilliard, who stands second with 138 total bases.
But the harsh reality is that none of that matters now. 

"That's behind me," Rodgers said of his terrific first-half performance. "That was in Class A Advanced. I just need to keep doing what I've been doing and forget about the past. [Getting to Double-A] was my overall goal for this year. I've achieved that goal. Now I'm going to play hard here and hopefully continue to play the way I was [with Lancaster]."
On June 22, Colorado promoted the 20-year-old shortstop to Double-A Hartford, presenting Rodgers with a new challenge. Not only will the youngest player on the Yard Goats roster immediately become their most recognizable player since the franchise moved from New Britain before last season, but he's doing so in the team's first year at Dunkin' Donuts Park. 
"I try not to think about that too much," Rodgers said. "I pretty much just focus on going out there and playing hard. All this stuff is just kind of extra."
"We will put the guard rails up to make sure he doesn't change anything," Hartford manager Jerry Weinstein explained. "We will stick to the same program and routine that he had before. Nothing changes because he's here. Once you start thinking -- and he isn't this type of player -- 'Well now, I'm in Double-A, so I need to be really good or I got to do something different from what made me successful in the Cal League."
Gameday box score
Even with Rodgers is doing his best to just focus on playing, the hometown crowd turned it up a notch for the 2015 first-round pick's debut Monday, a 7-6 win over the Rumble Ponies.
"Everybody's here for him," said Barbara Breu, 64, a season-ticket holder from Wallingford, Connecticut. "One of the great things about Minor League Baseball is that we get to watch players progress and knowing that he's supposed to be a Major Leaguer, it'll be fun to see how does at this level. I hope he does wonderfully."
The stadium and crowd seemed to impress the 20-year-old too.
"This is like a big league stadium," said Rodgers, who collected two singles and made three errors at short in his home debut. "Everybody told me, this is the best place to play, the best surface, the best fans, the best environment to be around."

The pressure will only increase as MLB.com's No. 10 overall prospect gets closer to the Majors. He'll be expected to continue showing offensive prowess in the meat of Hartford's lineup while working work on his defense at short and at second base. 
"I've been focusing a lot on defense throughout the course of year," said Rodgers, who made four appearances at second with Lancaster. "Second is new to me, I picked it up last year with [Class A] Asheville, so I'm putting in the work and the time to get better on defense." 
"We want him to get his feet on the ground at shortstop," Weinstein added. "We've got 70 games for us to do everything that we need to do. It won't happen immediately, but we'll spend some time with him at second base when it's appropriate."
The promotion marked the first time in his career that Rodgers moved up a level in season, but he doesn't seem fazed by it at all.
"[My teammates] told me it's better competition and stuff like that, but it's baseball, it's the same game you've been playing since you were little. When I first started in Rookie ball, there were some surprises, but ever since then everything's been how I expected it to be," he said.

Rodgers started off a little slowly with 4-for-19 with four strikeouts and no extra-base hits in his first five games, but the Florida native is expecting to have a big impact on his new team.
"I have a lot of confidence in myself. Every day I go out there to prove that I'm going to succeed and things have gone pretty well for me so far," he said.
His new manager couldn't agree more.
"He's a ballplayer. He's a gamer. He's got great eye-hand skills and is at ease here," Weinstein added. "For me, this doesn't seem like its anything new for him. [He's confident,] not arrogant. It's not, 'Muhammad Ali, I'm the greatest.' He just believes in himself and he has every reason to believe in himself."