UCLA Bruins shortstop Roch Cholowsky entered the season as the favorite to be selected first overall in this summer’s MLB Draft and Cholowsky’s performance this season has only solidified that belief.
Cholowsky can do it all on the diamond. Through 32 games this season, Cholowsky is batting .352 with 13 home runs and 41 runs batted in. Cholowsky hasn’t been too active on the basepaths this season, but for his college career, he’s 14-16 on stolen bases.
On Thursday, UCLA’s star infielder appeared on MLB Network’s show MLB Central to talk about his career, including his career on the gridiron. Before committing fully to baseball, Cholowsky was a three-star recruit who played quarterback and safety. Cholowsky said his time playing football helped him as a leader on the baseball diamond.
“Football is way different than baseball is. Just from the grinding aspect of it,” Cholowsky said. “You need all 11 guys on the field to be doing the same thing for a play to work. Just trying to bring that culture over to baseball I think helps me a lot as a leader.”
Once Cholowsky got a baseball offer from UCLA, committing wasn’t a hard decision to make. A few years later, Cholowsky appears to be destined to be a top pick while leading the Bruins to a College World Series appearance.
“It was a pretty easy decision for me,” Cholowsky said. “I’ve seen how many guys they’ve popped out and turned into successful Big Leaguers, especially infielders, and then also the area and the program history. There was really nothing I could pass up with UCLA.”
UCLA could be headed back to the College World Series, as the Bruins own a 30-2 record this season heading into their weekend series versus Rutgers.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Roch Cholowsky on how he uses his football experience on the diamond
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
