Junior third baseman and catcher Eric Roof (left) and his brother, freshman shortstop Jonathan Roof (right), practice their hitting at the new training facility Tuesday afternoon at Kobs Field.
From the small town of Paducah, Ky., to the super-sized campus of MSU, junior catcher Eric Roof and freshman shortstop Jonathan Roof always have been on the same team.
So when the younger brother was fielding scholarship offers from Kentucky, Louisville and MSU, it was only natural that the possibility of playing with his big brother was a key factor in his decision to come to East Lansing.
“When I started getting all these calls from people looking at me and when Michigan State first started talking to me, it was definitely a possibility that we could be playing together,” Jonathan Roof said. “It was a pretty big factor of me coming here.”
Although he wanted to follow his older brother to MSU, there was one person Jonathan had to check with first — big brother. But not to worry, Eric Roof was hoping the two would get to play together again.
“When I signed he was talking to a lot of schools,” said Eric, who played at St. Catherine Community College in Kentucky in 2006 and came to MSU before the 2007 season. “But, once I signed and I knew I was going to come here and play, I kind of wanted him to come along.”
Entering Wednesday’s game against Eastern Michigan, Jonathan is the Spartans’ fourth leading hitter, batting .292 with eight RBIs, while Eric has become the team’s No. 2 catcher — a place where head coach David Grewe said the team needs him to be.
“Eric’s our legitimate No. 2 catcher, and we need him to be that because he’s got to catch for us on weekends and mid-week games,” Grewe said. “Jonathan’s emerged as our starting shortstop and a pretty good one at that.”
While both players already have found their niche on the team, the two hope they might get a chance to play side-by-side in the future. In high school, the Roof brothers formed the double play combination for St. Mary High School with Eric playing shortstop and Jonathan at second base.
“We had a great time, I mean us two playing up the middle, the Roof brothers, playing up the middle,” Jonathan said.
“We had pretty good chemistry playing up the middle, and I knew what he liked, he knew what I liked, so we knew each other pretty good so it worked out real good for us.”
The two hope they can find themselves in a similar position someday with the Spartans. Eric, who saw action at third base last season as a utility player, could someday join his younger brother on the left side of the infield, something the two of them hope might happen.
“Hopefully, that’d be real fun,” Jonathan said of the possibility. “The Roof brothers on the left? That’d be pretty cool.”
While Grewe said the possibility of the brothers getting that chance is slim because of a deep and competitive infield corps, he said wherever they play, Eric and Jonathan are key contributors to the team.
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