Top Canuck of ’11, Robson, continues to strut stuff
*RHP Tom Robson (Ladner, BC) has had quite a year: top Canuck, signing with the Blue Jays, attending instructionals, winning a silver medal and throwing in the same bullpen as Dustin McGowan.
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By Alexis Brudnicki
Over the last several months, life dramatically changed for Tom Robson.
From last spring to this spring, the 18-year-old went from playing against the Toronto Blue Jays as a part of the Canadian junior national team to switching dugouts and putting on the new blue uniform as a part of the Toronto club.
It all began last June, when Robson was selected by the Blue Jays in the fourth round (139th overall) of the draft by Canadian scout Jamie Lehman as the highest Canuck taken in 2011.
“I was actually with some friends,” the right-hander said of what he did during the draft. “I had just gotten back from the Dominican Republic with the junior national team. And we were at my friend’s house just watching a TV show, kind of listening to it on the computer.
“I knew the Blue Jays were interested and I heard my name. My name popped up [on the computer] and they said my name so it was pretty exciting.”
Though the native of Ladner, BC was overwhelmed with feelings of excitement after being taken by his favourite team, his immediate reaction was “just a sense of relief.”
“And I was proud of myself being drafted because that’s what I’ve wanted to accomplish for the last few years of my life. Obviously it happened and I was really excited and happy.”
The young pitcher took a sense of pride in being the highest Canadian taken last year, though he acknowledges the number of good baseball players that come from north of the border.
“It was good,” Robson said of being the highest Canadian picked. “Obviously I was really proud of myself, but I know there are a lot of other good Canadians out there too. I’ve played with pretty much all of them, like Dustin Houle and Justin Atkinson.
“I’m looking forward to playing with [Atkinson, taken by the Blue Jays in the 26th round] and I know all of us will have a few good years ahead of us. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”
Robson made his future plans official in August, signing with the team and beginning the whirlwind that has been the last seven months of his life. The righty’s journey was not without a couple of obstacles, including a hindrance due to his citizenship.
“I signed a few days before the deadline of the draft and I was flown down here [to Florida] to start practicing with the [Gulf Coast League] team,” Robson said after a spring training workout at Bobby Mattick Training Center in Dunedin. “I couldn’t play though because I didn’t have an American visa so I had to wait and I actually got one in the first couple weeks of January.
“In the off-season obviously I just worked my butt off. I had a personal trainer. I was running pretty much every day, just trying to get as strong as I could before camp started.
The hurler had a good understanding of the expectations he would face by the time he made it to his first pre-season. Robson took part in Toronto’s instructional league in September and was also invited to a 45-man mini-camp put on by the organization immediately preceding spring training.
“It wasn’t bad because I went to instructs, so I got a bit of a taste of what it would be like coming here,” Robson said of his transition into this spring. “Obviously when I got here there were only like 45 guys and now there’s over 150 so it’s a bit different. But I like it. I’m enjoying it and I’m having a lot of fun.”
Blue Jays Minor League Field Coordinator Doug Davis believes that between instructs and mini-camp, Robson has made a huge progression, and those experiences have helped prepare him for what he’s doing now.
“The guys that come to instructional league, it’s remarkable the change from then until now,” Davis said. “I think instructional league is an extremely important program because they get acclimated into the organization, for the most part, on the field, and understand what they have to learn to do from a baseball standpoint on the field, but also from a conditioning standpoint and strength standpoint.
“They’re still young and maturing and they grow and some of them get bigger. But I think because of that program, once they leave there, they have a very good idea of what they need to do. Then they go through a winter with a lot of information, a very good strength and conditioning program, and then they come back to us, sometimes as different kids.
“I think [Robson] is one of them just because he’s already a fairly big guy and he’s still growing and I saw a big change in him.”
The young righty believes that there were many benefits from the camps that he participated in, but the greatest advantage from mini-camp was the added attention for each of the players involved. He also learned that his game plan in the minors will not necessarily be the same of that he’s used before.
“I got a lot of individual coaching because there were less guys,” Robson said of mini-camp. “Right now I’m mostly focusing on pounding down fastballs lower in the zone and stuff, just keeping it low. Because I know back in high school you could throw it by guys but now they can all hit your fastball, so it’s important to keep it low.”
Having been in Florida for a few weeks of pre-season workouts already, Robson has been able to take advantage of the number of resources he has around him, playing with those who are more experienced.
“There are obviously a few of the older guys who you can watch and learn from and ask a few questions and they can explain to you what they’ve been through and you can learn from them,” he said. “So obviously I’ve been asking questions and watching some of the older guys pitch so I can learn from them.”
And who has Robson learned the most from so far?
“I was just watching Dustin McGowan throw the other day,” he said. “He threw a ‘pen. I think he was bumped back a day in the big-league camp, so he was throwing here while we were here and it was really nice to see him pitch because he’s been here so long and he’s been through a lot with the shoulder and stuff, and you know he’s mentally and physically pretty strong. So I learned a lot from watching him and his bullpen.”
