As a veteran member of the Midland RockHounds, outfielder Chase Calabuig knows he needs to be adaptable to help his team string together victories.
Whether his role includes making a big play in the outfield or kick-starting the energy in the lineup, Calabuig has stepped up when he’s needed.
That willingness to help stood out when Calabuig was moved from the top half of the lineup to the ninth spot by RockHounds manager Bobby Crosby.
The Midland franchise got out to a strong start in the second half of its 2022 season and won two games to start its recent series against the San Antonio Missions.
“He’s probably split time halfway through being the nine hole and halfway through being one, two, three,” Crosby said. “He’s a guy who starts innings.”
Crosby said he likes to put his lineup together by having a strong hitter like Calabuig in the ninth spot to turn things over with a positive boost.
Calabuig was one of the protagonists in the RockHounds’ victories over the Missions on June 28 and 29, putting up four hits with an RBI.
Although the team couldn’t maintain its three-game winning streak after suffering two losses later in the week, Calabuig’s experience is still beneficial as new faces start to make their way through the locker room later in the season.
The 2018 27th round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics said he has learned a lot in his time with the RockHounds, especially when he needed to bounce back from the lost COVID-19 season in 2020.
Calabuig felt that he struggled through 2021 after trying to build off his first professional season two years before that.
“I was trying my best to stay mentally checked in, understand that it’s part of the process, keep working and keep grinding to see if I could turn things around,” Calabuig said. “This offseason, it was about coming back and proving to myself that COVID didn’t take that part of my game away.
“That I could come back, find my swing and be able to compete at this level the way that I know that I can and so far it’s been good, but we still got a lot of baseball left and I’m hoping to continue to improve on what I’ve done so far.”
Last year, Calabuig posted a .214 batting average to go with 69 hits, 34 RBIs and five home runs in 92 games played.
Before the RockHounds closed out their series against the Missions Sunday, Calabuig’s numbers through 64 games in 2022 are showing improvements in his game.
He has posted a .294 batting average to go with 67 hits, 30 RBIs and four homers.
Crosby felt like Calabuig just went through unlucky spells in 2021, but the manager felt that his player was becoming a better hitter through that process.
“He knows it was going to even out, sometimes it takes a new start and new year,” Crosby said. “It’s evened out a little bit for him and he’s still had some tough luck, he hits the ball at people and he hits the ball hard.
“A lot of the times if you’re going to a lot of line drives like he does, they’re going to find people but he’s starting to find some holes as well.”
With the second half of the season starting to take off, Calabuig feels like the RockHounds have a lot to prove after a slow start to the campaign.
The veteran outfielder believes it’ll be essential to keep his teammates focused on improving and moving on quickly from earlier mistakes.
“You’re going to go through highs and lows, but you’ve got to be able to ride the roller coaster of emotions and try to stay as even-keeled as possible and understand that’s part of this game,” Calabuig said. “This game is such a thing of minuscule inches and hitting a round ball to round bat, you just never know what’s going to happen.
“Some days they’re going to go your way, some days they’re not but you can’t ride those emotions, every day is a new day.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
