Former Nevada star gives up pro career

Jason Rodriguez's professional baseball career ended before it really got started.

Rodriguez, one of the top hitters in the Western Athletic Conference and the Wolf Pack's starting third baseman for the past two years, has called it quits less than a month after signing a contract with the Cleveland Indians.

Rodriguez, a 15th-round draft pick, played in just six games and batted .217 for the Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the short-season New York-Penn League.

"I just felt that I shouldn't be there," Rodriguez said from his home in Southern California. "I had all these feelings going through my head. Mentally you have to be there and I wasn't. I talked to my mom a lot. I know she was disappointed. She and other members of my family wanted me to continue playing. I kept talking with her and told her how I felt. I know she was disappointed. I didn't want to be a guy that played just to say he played."

Although his numbers weren't great, Rodriguez said he was getting playing time at second, shortstop and third base.

"I was there 10 days, and I played six or seven games," Rodriguez said. "The coach told me I was one of their priority players and that I needed to get x amount of at-bats. I would play three days, get a day off and play three days.

"I'm a pretty hard worker when it came to baseball. I'm not sure I wanted to put out that kind of effort again. I had fun at Nevada. It was the most fun I'd ever had playing baseball."

Rodriguez will return to school in time for the fall semester, and he expects to graduate in December. He will work as a student assistant with the Nevada baseball team during its fall season.

His future plans are up in the air after graduation. Teaching and coaching is an option he has already thought about.

"I'm interested in getting into coaching, ideally at the college level," Rodriguez said. "I don't want to coach anything less than high school varsity."

• Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281