By Don Leypoldt

Mike LaBarbera put his fork down and looked at his dinner companion a few weeks ago.  “Without knowing anyone else on North Adams’ roster,” predicted LaBarbera, himself an NECBL alumnus, an All-American at the University of Rhode Island and now a highly successful prep baseball coach, “Jeff Roy is going to be their hardest worker.”

In hindsight, LaBarbera could have thrown in a few other superlatives too.

A sophomore outfielder from Cranston, the lefty Roy won the Atlantic-10 Player of the Year this spring thanks to a .352 average and 22 steals.  Roy, who plays for LaBarbera’s alma mater URI, hit over .420 in conference play and recently was named an All-American from College Baseball Insider.  He proved you can’t spell “Rhody” without “R-O-Y”

At press time, Roy was leading the NECBL in steals with 17 while ranking in the League’s top 10 with a .360 average.  With three more steals, he will become just the third player in NECBL history- and the first in eight summers- to steal 20 bases and hit 10 doubles in a season.

The secret?  Work, work and more work.  This Roy is built much more like Oswalt than Halladay and has had to fight the “too small” label for his entire life.  Cut from his varsity team as a high school sophomore, Roy has worked himself into an elite player. 

NECBL.com: URI is real close to home.  Did you want to stay local in picking schools?

Roy: “I didn’t make the varsity baseball team my sophomore year of high school so that really showed me that I needed to start working harder.  I gave up hockey, which I had been playing since I was five years old, to focus on baseball.  My junior year, I made varsity in baseball and I ended up having a spectacular year.  URI was the first school to offer me.  I never went down South to any showcases.  It was always my dream to play for a D1 college and URI had a great program.  They showed me the schedule they were going to play and it was all good from there.  I got my opportunity my freshman year, did well, and rolled with it.”

NECBL.com: What kind of a hockey player were you in high school?  What was your better sport at the end of your sophomore year of high school?

Roy: “It was still probably baseball, but I was good at hockey.  I played for Team Rhode Island and had played hockey all of my life.  After I didn’t make baseball, I gave up hockey and took up indoor track to focus on my speed.  During baseball season, I busted my butt and did what I had to do.”

NECBL: What has been clicking for you this summer?

Roy: “We have a great team.  I can name every single player off the top of my head because we have such a great bond and we don’t put pressure on ourselves.  If I come up to bat and don’t get a hit, I know Charlie Law right behind me is going to pick me up.  Or Shane O’Connell or Will Klausing or any one of my teammates.  They’re going to pick me up.  I don’t put pressure on myself.  This is summer ball, and I’m having the time of my life right now.  We have a great team bond.  To be honest with you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I am doing without my teammates at North Adams, my teammates at URI, the coaches, fans and support we’re having…family, friends and everything.  It’s motivation for me to keep going.  Hopefully next year or the year after that, I see my name in the Draft and make a dream come true.  If it doesn’t, I won’t stop until it does.”

NECBL.com: What motivates you to work hard?  You have a reputation for a great work ethic.

Roy: “I’m only 5’8”- maybe 5’9” on cleats- and 170 pounds soaking wet.  I play against all of these kids who are 6’4”, 200 pounds and their skills and size were given to them.  It’s almost like they didn’t have to work.  What’s motivated me is that people have written me off as too small to play professional baseball or Division I baseball.  Or I’ll get, ‘He just gets lucky because he’s fast’ but that lit a fire under me to prove these people wrong.  If you look at Dustin Pedroia or Brett Gardner, they’re under 6 feet tall but they tear it up in the Major Leagues.  I idolize those people and I don’t want to look back and regret anything.  I work out.  I give everything I can to get better at the game whether it’s physically or mentally.” 

NECBL.com: It’s rare to have the power and speed combination.  Do you focus more on speed or strength, or both evenly?  What is your training regimen like?

Roy: “Our trainer at URI, Chris Chase, is an unbelievable guy.  He writes up our work out plans.  I do every body part.  I’m not a beach bum who just does upper body and forgets about legs.  I do everything.  When I get back after summer ball, I’ll work with a good friend of mine- Greg Murphy- who is a speed and agility coach.  I’ll run.  It’s staying healthy.  One of my teammates, catcher Shane O’Connell and I, do heat yoga to stay flexible.  It’s trying to be flexible while being solid at the same time.  You don’t want to be too big so that you can’t move or swing a bat.

“Every day is a new opportunity.  One of my URI teammates passed away this past Fall during a conditioning workout and that was a huge reality check: that life can be taken any day and you have to live every day like it’s your last.  That’s been my mentality ever since that because he was an All-State hockey and baseball player in Connecticut.  He was as healthy as can be and in a blink of an eye he was gone.  I try to leave it all on the baseball field and live with no regrets.”

Off the Diamond with Jeff Roy:

Favorite Movie: “Give me a second to think…I like funny movies.  Have to go with Chris Farley and Tommy Boy.”

Favorite Food: Bacon cheeseburgers.

What will you ask your parents to bring on parent’s weekend?: “Nothing really, just them.  It’s rough.  We have no spare time with the spring season and then I’m here for two months.  Living here in Southern Vermont, I have no cell phone reception so we’re always playing phone tag.  To see them in person is going to bring a smile to my face.”

Favorite music: “I like rap.  Eminem.”

Favorite ballplayer: “One of my favorite ballplayers is Brett Gardner.  I’m a Yankees fan.  But I also like Jacoby Ellsbury.”

What has been the hardest course you’ve taken at URI: “Sociology 302.  It was done in the spring, when we were always traveling, and the grades were mostly based on class participation.”

Who is a person you really admire?: “My Dad.  He played football for URI.  I wouldn’t be half the person I am if it weren’t for him.  His effort, and everything he’s done with work- my Mom is a stay at a home Mom and I have two brothers- but we all went to private high schools, we all went to college and none of us have any debt because of how hard my Dad worked.  I’m just real appreciative for the Father that I have and the support that he has given me.”

If Congress banned baseball tomorrow, what kind of job would you want?: “When I was younger, I wanted to be an architectural engineer but that never happened.  With school and baseball, it was just too much.  I’d have to say become a state trooper or, I don’t want to say enlist in the army, but I definitely want to serve our country.  So probably become a state trooper or a police officer.”