Orioles Outfield Prospect John Rhodes On How High School Back Injury Shaped Career

Double-A Bowie outfielder John Rhodes is enjoying his first full season of pro ball, but there was a time when he wasn’t sure whether baseball would be in his future at all.

In fact, it was a check swing that forced Rhodes to hit the pause button.

Rhodes was playing in a travel ball tournament during his freshman year at Chattanooga Christian School in Tennessee when his back gave out on a check swing. Doctors found four fractured vertebrae and two bulging discs. Rhodes was a fast-growing teenager playing multiple sports at the time, and his position on the diamond — catcher — was extra taxing. Doctors shut him down for several months, meaning he couldn’t play basketball or baseball during that time.

The back injury is well in the rearview mirror for the 22-year-old Rhodes at this point, but it still offers perspective.

“There was that time where it was after school and I couldn’t do anything while my friends would be practicing, doing all their basketball stuff, and I would have to sit in one of my teacher’s room waiting for my brother to finish basketball practice,” Rhodes said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 31. “I was like, ‘Man, what if this is really it for my athletic career?’ I didn’t know. There’s so much unknown. I’m so thankful that everything’s worked out how it has today.”

Doctors told Rhodes he couldn’t catch anymore, so he transitioned to the outfield. Most college programs interested in him had recruited him as a catcher and backed off after his injury. However, Kentucky remained interested.

“I had four or five college offers at the time,” Rhodes said. “I’m from Tennessee. I kind of wanted to go to Tennessee. But Kentucky was the only one that recruited me not as a catcher, so I went ahead and committed early because I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return to baseball the same. I’m just going to take the gamble on myself here.’ So I committed to Kentucky.”

As a senior at Chattanooga Christian in 2019, Rhodes hit .560 with 22 extra-base hits and 43 RBIs. He moved on to Kentucky, where he hit .426/.485/.672 with 12 extra-base hits during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and .251/.397/.508 with 26 extra-base hits during the 2021 season.

Rhodes’ time at Kentucky allowed him to grow as a player and person, a story best told through his favorite quote: “Confidence isn’t walking into a room thinking you’re better than everyone, it’s walking in and not having to compare yourself to anyone at all.”

Rhodes said he saw the quote from Arizona Cardinals star defensive end J.J. Watt on Twitter. Rhodes explained that when he came to Kentucky at the age of 18, he felt the need to compare himself to what his older teammates could do. Then he realized he simply had to be himself.

“That rings true in pro ball as well,” Rhodes said. “You come here and you have Colton Cowser to your left, you have Connor Norby, you have Joey Ortiz, all these guys. If you compare yourself to them and you’re worried about all this, you’re really not secure in your own abilities. You’ve got to be able to walk your own path and be able to be like, ‘OK, this dude’s great. This dude’s great. I’m great as well.’ … You have to be truly confident in your own abilities or you don’t stand any chance in this game because everybody’s too good.”

The 6-foot, 200-pound outfielder was taken by the Orioles in the third round (No. 76 overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft. A sophomore-eligible draftee, Rhodes reportedly signed for an over-slot bonus of $1.38 million. He got his feet wet in the Florida Complex League and with Low-A Delmarva after signing, then reported to High-A Aberdeen earlier this year to kick off his first full season of pro ball.

Rhodes hit .259/.389/.428 with 22 extra-base hits in 248 plate appearances for the IronBirds. He was promoted to Bowie in early August, batting .200/.308/.327 with five extra-base hits for the Baysox before hitting the injured list Sept. 2.

What did Rhodes notice after he got the bump to Double-A?

“I think the pitchers are just a little bit more refined,” Rhodes said. “In Single-A, if [a pitcher has] a really nasty breaking ball, somebody would follow it up with a pitch to hit and you could kind of get away with spitting on that breaking ball. I feel here the pitchers are more refined. They’re here for a reason. If you get that nasty breaking ball and you spit on it, you might get it again three more times and you’re walking back to the dugout. I think you’ve got to be able to hit pitchers’ pitches better.”

For more from Rhodes, listen to the full interview here:

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles

Luke Jackson

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