TORONTO –– On Tuesday afternoon, Miguel Rojas got a message from his dad.
“He sent me a picture of himself, lying down in bed, waiting for the game,” Rojas said. “He was really excited to watch me play.”
Hours later, everything changed.
As Rojas announced Wednesday, his father, Miguel Rojas Sr., passed away from a sudden heart attack shortly before the Dodgers’ game on Tuesday night.
Miguel Rojas announced the passing of his father, Miguel Rojas Sr.
Rojas shared the news in a post to Instagram: “What hurts me the most was that I couldn’t say bye,” he added.
Rojas said he got the news about 40 minutes prior to first pitch Tuesday, leading him to be a late scratch from the lineup. But on Wednesday, he was back in as the team’s shortstop and No. 9 hitter –– playing on the same day of his father’s funeral in Venezuela.
“It was gonna be really hard for me to make it in Venezuela in time to be there, to do all the stuff, due to the circumstances of being in a different country,” Rojas said, noting he would have had to fly back to the United States from Toronto first, then on to Venezuela. “So I decided to stay and do what my father would like me to do, which is play baseball. He’s got a first row seat to watch me play here in this special place that brought so many memories to my family.”
As Rojas discussed his father’s memory before Wednesday’s game, his eyes were red and he paused several times to hold back tears.
Wile Rojas was still with the team as of Tuesday night — Dave Roberts said he could be leaving as soon as Wednesday to be with his family. AP“He was feeling good, (so it’s) really hard to understand,” Rojas said. “I’m still trying to process the whole thing, but I really appreciate the support from the organization, from top to bottom. Everybody reached out and gave me my time to be there for my family.”
That included, first and foremost, manager Dave Roberts and first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Those were the two who implored Rojas to take Tuesday’s game off, he said, after he initially considered still trying to play.
“I was feeling in between, but I appreciate Doc and Freddie,” Rojas said. “They talked to me, and I went back to the hotel, and I was able to be there for the people who really care about him, and me and my family. So, even through the phone, I was able to help a lot of people back in Venezuela.”
For Wednesday’s game, Dodgers players also wrote Rojas’ “MR” initials on the side of their caps.
“What hurt me the most,” Rojas wrote in an Instagram post announcing the death, “was that I couldn’t say bye.”
As of Wednesday morning, Rojas was still deciding whether or not he would leave the team later this week and go on the bereavement list.
Roberts said, whatever Rojas chooses, he will have the organization’s support.
“My assumption is that there’ll be a leave of absence,” Roberts noted. “But just leaving it in his hands. And us as an organization, just reading and reacting to whatever decision he makes.”
Rojas shared several fond memories of his father, who he said was always supportive of a baseball career that was also nurtured by his grandparents.
“My whole family did everything they could to help me get my dream of playing Major League Baseball,” he said. “It wasn’t just my dream. It was their dream as well.”
Though his dad never got to see him play an MLB game in person, Rojas said he “lived baseball through me.” That included most offseasons, when Rojas would return to Venezuela to play in the country’s winter-ball league.
“My whole organization in Venezuela, Los Tiburones de la Guaira, always supported him,” Rojas said. “Even though I wasn’t there every time, he was in that clubhouse like he was me. He had his own locker even when I wasn’t there.”
The two also relished Rojas’ two World Series championships the last two seasons –– the latter of which included the veteran infielder’s game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7.
“I know how proud he was being my father, not just for what I did on the field but what I’ve been doing off the field as well,” Rojas said. “Every time he read news about me being good in the community and being good around the guys – that’s what he was. He was a guy that was always there for people. He put other people ahead of himself.”
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