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Wild ride as player and scout leads Jeroloman to spot on FIU baseball’s coaching staff

This was in 2017, and Brian Jeroloman was 32 years old -- toward the end of his 11-year career as a pro baseball player.

During spring training with the Washington Nationals, Jeroloman witnessed a 17-year-old teammate named Juan Soto drill a double off the wall. When Soto – who at that time was one year away from establishing himself as a big-league star -- got back to the dugout, Jeroloman asked about the pitcher on the mound that day.

“Fastball, no good,” Soto said. “Curve ball, no good.”

Armed with this info, Jeroloman went up there and … struck out, whiffing at both the fastball and curve.

Clearly, Jeroloman was no Soto, even though the kid was only 17.

“At that point,” Jeroloman said, “I knew it was about time to retire.”

Five years later, Jeroloman is FIU’s new hitting coach. He’s also FIU’s lead recruiter, and he’s in charge of the catchers defensively.

After FIU went 16-34 last year, a new coaching staff was hired, with Mervyl Melendez, Jeff Conine and Willie Collazo exiting. Rich Witten is the new head coach. Jeroloman and pitching coach Sean Thompson are the full-time assistants.

Jeroloman, a lefty-hitting catcher in his playing days, was an outstanding athlete. He was a three-year starter for the Gators, leading Florida to a second-place finish at the 2005 College World Series.

He made the SEC’s All-Freshman squad in 2004 and was the starting catcher for the USA National Team in ’05. In early 2006, Baseball America rated Jeroloman as the best defensive catcher in college baseball.

That led to Jeroloman becoming a sixth-round pick by Toronto in 2006.

From there, Jeroloman spent 11 years in the minors. He never got to play in the majors, but he did get called up to The Show.

Here’s what happened:

In 2011, while playing Triple-A ball in Las Vegas for the Blue Jays organization, Jeroloman dove into third base, breaking his right wrist on the play.

Initially, though, the team thought it was just a sprain, and Jeroloman was called up to the majors the next day. In his first day taking batting practice in the majors, Jeroloman’s adrenaline was running hot, and he was feeling no pain.

By the second day, though, the Jays’ trainer noticed Jeroloman’s right hand shaking. X-rays were ordered, the break was discovered, and Jeroloman’s shot at a big-league at-bat was gone.

Still …

“From that moment on,” Jeroloman said, “I’ll always be known as a big-leaguer.”

Injuries derailed much of the rest of Jeroloman’s career, including a knee issue in 2012 and a nasty concussion the following season.

“There was blood coming out of my neck,” Jeroloman said of the concussion that followed a home-plate collision with Brandon Douglas. “I lost 40 pounds in the aftermath.”

By the time he retired in March of 2017 – shortly after witnessing the majesty of young Juan Soto – Jeroloman had played 773 minor-league games.

Jeroloman then coached for one season at the junior-college level and spent two years as a volunteer assistant at USF.

Then came three years as a New York Yankees area scout. That put him on the radar of Witten, who values Jeroloman’s evaluation skills as well as his recruiting connections.

Jeroloman, noting that Power Five schools are recruiting players earlier – as young as 14 and 15 – said FIU will look for opportunities with late-bloomers.

In addition, Jeroloman’s connections help him because high school and youth-league coaches are constantly sending him video on players to watch.

Coaches he trusts also warn him about players he needs to avoid due to character issues.

“The scouting background is enormous because you know how to grade players,” Jeroloman said. “In the pros, you attach a draft round and bonus money to a prospect. In college, it’s about how much scholarship money to offer.”