- November 28, 2024
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Mainland's Adam Rosenberg set a goal for himself this season: Hit .500.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
Hit .300 in Major League Baseball and you're an All-Star. But that's not good enough for Mainland High School's Adam Rosenberg, who's shooting to reach base on a hit in at least half of his total at-bats this season.
The Mainland left fielder entered the week batting.520, comfortably above his self-imposed .500 benchmark. And now hitting lead-off, he'll have even more opportunities to turn plate appearances into bumps to his average.
“This is the season we expected him to have,” Michael Burton, Mainland head coach ,said. “(He’s a) very motivated player.”
Aside from setting a personal offensive record, Rosenberg is also motivated to create a college-level playing opportunity for himself through his stats. He has had discussions with a few schools so far, and has a favorite, but he isn’t ready yet to put anything in writing.
“He hits the ball hard every time,” Burton said. “He hits it to the right side and left side. He hits it hard consistently, which is hard in high school. He’s been around .500 all year, and you have to establish yourself if you want to play in college.”
During the offseason, like many previous offseasons, Rosenberg played in the Mainland summer league, in addition to two fall leagues, on top of working in the batting cage with his dad on Saturdays.
“At the college level, they’re throwing harder and they have more pitches,” Rosenberg said. “So I really focused on hitting more for contact.”
Part of that focus, he said, was working toward the perfect swing.
“You have to know what it is,” Rosenberg said. “If you go and practice the wrong thing, you’re messing up muscle memory. With coach helping me get that perfect swing (established), I was able hit off a tee or hit with my dad in the cages. I could work on it in games in the summer.”
Rosenberg, a senior, is also the team’s captain, and in a recent game against Newberry, he showed some resiliency at the plate.
After striking out in his first two plate appearances, he drove the first pitch of his third at-bat through a hole on the left side of the infield. Then, he stole second and beat a throw home on a single to right field.
When the game was over, Rosenberg’s batting average had gone down a tick, something he admitted was on his mind.
“I mainly focus on getting the win for my team,” he said. “(My average) is always in the back of my head. ... But I’m mainly just hoping for the win. If I go 1-for-4, but that one is the game-winning hit, I’m happy.”
