It’s been quite the whirlwind year for BJ Rosenberg. He was a South Atlantic League All-Star. He became one of the few players to double jump from Lo-A to Double-A. He played for Team USA in baseball’s World Cup in September (they defeated Cuba for the gold medal). And, less than two years after being drafted, he earned an invite to big league spring training.

Rosenberg began 2009 with the BlueClaws, going 7-2, 0.89, and did not allow a run in his last 28.1 innings with Lakewood. He was promoted to Reading in August.

We had a chance to talk to BJ earlier this week. Here’s part one.

• How did you find out that you got invited to spring training? Chuck LaMar (Asst. GM) left me a message. I thought it was a possibility but I didn’t really know. I figured it would come in the mail or my agent would tell me. But the next thing I know, I see a missed call. Didn’t recognize the number but checked the message. I was thrown off a little bit but it was really cool.
• How much of a whirlwind year has it been for you? It’s been pretty crazy. Lakewood, Team USA. When Dusty called me into the office and told me I was going to Reading, that was a big time surprise. I got to play close to where my sister lives, and I lived with her, actually.
• Team USA? I didn’t know what to think about that. It was something you never think you’re going to get a chance to do. That was the highlight of my baseball career, having USA on my jersey.
• What goes through your mind when you see USA on the jersey? Well, when we first got them, we got all the stuff that first night. I got to the hotel room and set the jersey on the bed and it hit me. Holy Cow. It had the flag on the sleeve, it was surreal. Playing for your country is really special. We were in Germany, and there were some US troops stationed over there. It felt like home for both of us, and I know they got a kick out of seeing us there.
• How was the competition over there? The Latin American teams were really really good. Canada had a good team. Some of the other nations were OK, but everyone had a few good players. It was probably around Double-A or Triple-A. The Cuban team was a very good Triple-A team. They had a lot of guys that could play in the Major Leagues if they were able to.

Part two soon.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 8:44 am and is filed under 2009 BlueClaws, Past BlueClaws, Q&As. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.