Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Redshirt freshman, Roderick Coffee was slotted into the ninth spot in the lineup to start the 2020 baseball season for Texas Southern University in his first ever collegiate baseball game against New Mexico State University. He blasted two home runs that day in Las Cruces, N.M. He hit another the next day. Then, in the last game of the four game series, Coffee belted his fourth round tripper in the series finale.
His first weekend of College baseball, Coffee totaled four home runs, seven runs batted in and was hitting over .700. Because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that shut down all of collegiate sports, Coffee ended the season with 7 HRs, 15 RBIs, a .830 slugging percentage and a .383 batting average.
Coffee signed a national letter of intent to play at Texas Southern his senior year of high school. Things did not look promising after transitioning to Division 1 baseball at TSU and he was redshirted. Coffee was given several options during his exit meeting at the end of the 2019 baseball season. Head coach Michael Robertson wanted him to get more development and to consider JUCO ball for the season.
Coffee considered moving on to another DI baseball program but Coffee’s parents were very impressed with the academic programs at Texas Southern and wanted him to continue at the University. After looking at all the components, the one thing Coffee did do well is attend and successfully completed all scheduled courses, receiving a 2.94 Grade Point Average and passing 27 credit hours.
At the end of the 2019 season the team was going in a different direction and Coffee was not there yet. Robertson is a blue collar worker and Texas Southern baseball is a tough program. His academics is what kept Coffee in the program. Texas Southern’s first commitment in 2019 thought that, given the opportunity, he could play better than the kids on the field. Because of his redshirt status, as the team traveled to away games, Coffee had to stay on campus.
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