Every other week this baseball season, George Washington catcher Nelson Rodriguez will give us an inside look at his team’s quest for a second straight PSAL Class A city title and his mission to get drafted in June’s MLB First-Year Player Draft. In this exclusive diary for NYPost.com, the four-year varsity player talks about Thursday’s loss to rival Norman Thomas, which resulted in the two teams’ finished tied atop Manhattan A East, and his performance in last Sunday’s Scout’s Scrimmage.
We lost 4-3 to Norman Thomas today [and split the Manhattan A East division title]. The game was all about momentum. When they scored the first run that gave them all the momentum. We got down. We scored three runs in the last inning, but fell short. It was a hard-fought and both pitchers threw good.
We looked tired, we didn’t look the same. You always want to win the division. We came up short and we tied for the division. We’ll see what we get seeded in the [PSAL Class A] playoffs. If we would’ve won this game, we would’ve got seeded one or two. Now we’ll probably be five or six. It doesn’t matter. The playoffs are another story.
Winning the division doesn’t matter in the playoffs. If you go 16-0 and lose in the first round of the playoffs, it doesn’t mean anything. The playoffs are another story. Everybody is 0-0.
The Scout’s [Scrimmage on Sunday] went well. I felt good. I showed that I got better defensively and hitting, I did what I do. I squared the ball up and hit it hard. I think I boosted my stock a little bit.
I had three scouts call me yesterday. They asked me how much money I would sign for, when I want to get drafted. They were from the Angels, Seattle and the Padres. The draft is almost coming. They have to know what I want. I told them I’m thinking about the playoffs now and winning another city championship.
Right now I’m not thinking what round I will go. I’ll think about it more when it gets closer. It’s hard to keep your mind off it, it’s right there, two or three weeks away. I try my best not to think about it. It’s good to know I’ll get drafted, but things change. You don’t know what can happen.
Check back with Nelson Rodriguez every other Thursday during the season. His next diary will run May 31.