Aug 4, 2018 5 min read

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Hector Roa, a dead-pull hitter during his first season with the Wild Things, is going to the opposite field more this year and with terrific results. He has been among the top 10 in batting in the Frontier League for most of the season and is currently hitting .309 with 11 home runs, crushing many of the pitches to right field.

“I wouldn’t say I fight pull-hitter’s disease because I can spread the ball across the field,” said Roa, who batted .247 with 15 home runs last year, his first with Washington after five seasons in the Houston Astros farm system.

“I’m seeing the ball a little deeper this year. I’m thinking about hitting the ball up the middle. In batting practice, I spend 2½ rounds just trying to hit the ball up the middle or the other way. I think that has caused me to be more relaxed at the plate and a little more patient.”

Roa, who is second in the Frontier League with 54 RBI, is a hitter who takes the simple approach of swing hard in case you hit the baseball, which sometimes makes him pull off pitches on the outside part of the plate. But when Roa connects, the ball can travel a long way. This year, it has been going more up the middle and to the right side of the field. For example, his game-tying home run in the ninth inning July 17 at Normal was hit to right field. It sparked Washington to a 6-2 victory. He had a run-scoring double to the wall in right centerfield at Wild Things Park July 24 against Joliet and had a four-hit game Saturday in a win at Traverse City, the last hit a double off the wall in straightaway center field. He homered to left and hit a two-run double to right center in a 9-2 win over Normal Wednesday.

Manager Gregg Langbehn has been trying to get Roa to go the other way more often. Hitters who pull everything are vulnerable to pitchers who can throw outside effectively. Roa’s batting average last season reflected that as pitchers gave him a steady dose of breaking balls on the outside corner. This year, he has been able to counter that style of pitching.

“Going back to last year, when he’s hitting the ball well, he hits it to right center or up the middle,” Langbehn said. “When he gets in trouble, he’s pull happy because he’s seeing a lot of breaking balls. … He hits the ball to right centerfield better than anyone in the league.”

The strong-armed Roa also has been a force as Washington’s right fielder. He is tied for the league lead in outfield assists with10. In a game last month against Joliet, Roa threw out two Slammers baserunners, one at second base and one at home plate.

He also has an excellent baseball pedigree. Roa is a second-generation professional player. His father, Hector Roa Sr., played pro ball for 14 years including six in the Atlanta Braves farm system, reaching Class AAA. The elder Roa also played in Mexico, Japan and Taiwan.

The younger Roa grew up in Camden, N.J., where he played high school baseball as a freshmen. His father had moved to the baseball-rich town of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic to train players and help get them signed by major league organizations. Roa Sr. suggested that his son move to the Dominican Republic to improve his chances of playing pro ball.

“I had to live in the Domincan Republic for an entire year, no moving back to New Jersey for a month or two, to be eligible to be signed,” Roa explained.

So Roa moved and had to learn a new country and a whole new way of life. What he did like about the Dominican Republic was that baseball is the unquestioned sport of choice in the country. Heck, one of his neighbors in the Dominican Republic was former major league pitcher Pedro Martinez.

“If you ask any kid in the Dominican Republic what he wants to be when he grows up, he’ll answer a baseball player,” Roa said. “I’ve played winter ball in the Dominican Republic and the crowds there are unbelievable every game. As a player, you can feel the energy they add to every game.”

Roa was a third baseman when he went to the Dominican Republic but some scouts wanted to take a look at him as an outfielder. Roa admitted he didn’t want to make the conversion but his father convinced him it would help his career.

One week after converting to the outfield, Roa was signed as a 17-year-old by the Astros. In five seasons in the Houston system, he batted .244 with 35 home runs and reached the low-Class A level before being released at the end of spring training last year and signing with the Wild Things. At 23, Roa remains one of the youngest players on the team.

“He can hit for power, he can run and he has a good arm,” Langbehn confirmed. “There are a lot of things he does well. He’s in a good place right now.”