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By Sarah Meinecke - smeinecke@macon.comThe day Scott Robinson was born, a video was made that showed Robinson’s father, Bruce, helping his newborn son imitate a throwing motion.
Only Scott Robinson doesn’t remember which arm his father used in that early video. That may be one of the reasons the Macon Music’s starting first baseman and backup catcher employs both arms when he is one the field.
It’s a phenomenon that started when a freak accident put Robinson’s right hand in a cast for eight weeks when he was just 2 years old, and it continues today as he helps the Music in their inaugural season.
Robinson catches right-handed and plays first base left-handed.
“It’s pretty natural, although this is the first year I have caught professionally,” Robinson said.
Robinson will be on the field with the Music today as they take on the Charlotte County Redfish at 2:05 p.m. at Luther Williams Field. He is one of the mainstays in the lineup that has had a revolving door for the roster the past couple of days.
Headed out the door is Bryce Florie, best known for suffering a near-career ending injury when he was hit in the face by a line drive while pitching for the Boston Red Sox. Florie has been traded to the Newark Bears in the Atlantic League.
“We’re real happy for Florie,” said Music manager Phil Plantier, who signed and subsequently released pitcher Fabian Jimenez and utility player Zane Miller during the weekend. “He can use this as a stepping stone.”
Robinson can relate, as he views the Music as his stepping stone, he hopes, into making it back to the top levels of competition.
But baseball could have been completely out of the question when Robinson was a toddler. He was outside with his grandmother, who was pounding a metal umbrella into the ground and didn’t notice the young Robinson’s hand on the metal rod. As she pounded away, she impaled his right hand to the rod, which put Robinson in a cast for eight weeks.
With his right hand out of commission, Robinson used his left hand in every-day activities - including throwing.
But a year after the cast was off, Robinson was playing football with his dad and threw the ball back with his right hand.
“I threw a tennis ball left-handed and a football right-handed,” Robinson said. “I do almost everything right-handed, and I never thought anything of it, but throwing just comes naturally to me both ways.”
But even though Robinson had the ability to play both ways, he mainly stuck to first base throughout his career - first with Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego and then when he began his professional career.
The Houston Astros drafted Robinson in the seventh round when he graduated from high school in 2002, but bad luck struck when the Major League Baseball players threatened to strike, and Robinson’s offer was pulled off the table.
“I ended up going to Alaska for the summer, and I turned down a full ride (scholarship) to San Diego State,” said Robinson, who instead played a year at Palomar Junior College and signing with the Astros before the next draft.
Robinson spent four seasons playing for the Astros’ development teams before suffering an elbow injury last April. The injury was incorrectly diagnosed as a muscle strain, and as Robinson nursed the injury, he was released by the Astros. As it turns out, Robinson needed Tommy John surgery to correct the problem.
“It was a bump in the road,” Robinson admits. “But almost everyone comes back (from the surgery) if they rehab properly. I knew it would work out one way or another.”
So far it has worked out nicely for Robinson and the Music. Robinson is second in the league in batting at .341, and he has four home runs and 33 RBI.
“He works hard, and that is what you have to do with this game,” Plantier said. “He has come a long way in a short period of time. He doesn’t belong here in the sense that he deserves the opportunity to move on.”
No matter which hand he uses.
The Robinson file
