April 30, 2000

FLORIDA TODAY

Roneberg off to fast start

VIERA, Fla. -- In the early stages of the Florida State League season, there have been two constants in the Class A Brevard County Manatees lineup:
Brett Roneberg's name on the lineup card and the outfielder's ability to get on base.

"He's shown some real good plate discipline. He doesn't chase bad pitches, therefore, he gets himself into a lot of good (pitch) counts,'' Manatees hitting coach Frank Cacciatore said. "And when you do that, eventually, you're going to get some good pitches to hit.''

Roneberg, the only Manatee to play in the team's first 23 games, ran off a streak of 18 consecutive games this season where he reached base by either a hit or walk. Tack on the seven-game streak brought with him from Class A Kane County last season, and you have a 25-game streak second only to the 29-game stretch Quincy Foster put together for the Manatees last season.

"This is the first one I've ever known about,'' the 21-year-old Roneberg said of the streak. "I saw it written in the BC Manatees Web site. It was pretty cool. It's pretty nice to try to keep it going, but unfortunately it didn't, so I'll see if I can start another one.''

The way the year has started, don't put it past Roneberg to get something else going. The native of Australia ranked second in the Florida Marlins organization last year with 79 walks and is tied for the team lead this season with 13. He entered the weekend tied for third in the Florida State League with 28 hits and his .318 batting average ranks second on the team behind Willy Hill (.350) for batters with at least 59 at-bats.

Patience has been the key.

"I think it's a big key to hitting, if you're patient and very selective in the pitches you want to hit,'' Roneberg said. "If you chase bad pitches, you're not going to hit well. It's just a simple fact. To be patient at the plate is something I try to work hard on.''

Roneberg, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-hander, is in his fifth year in the Marlins organization. He signed as a free agent Feb. 1, 1996 after playing for both the Australian Junior National Team and the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian League as a 16-year-old.

He spent the first two years playing for the Gulf Coast Marlins, leading the league in fielding percentage (.994), putouts (481) and assists (29) in 1997, before moving on to Kane County in 1998. Roneberg said a stress fracture in his back caused by overuse limited him to 68 games with Kane County.

He returned to Kane County last season, where he continued his trend of hitting for a higher average each season by batting 0.288 in 132 games with a career-high eight home runs and 68 RBI.

"In '98, I was injured pretty much the whole year,'' he said. "I thought I was never going to play again because of the injury that I had. (But) everything healed up perfectly, and I had a good year last year and I hope to build on that this year.''

Roneberg also would like to see a build up of baseball's popularity in Australia, which is hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics this summer.
"It's well below the major sports (cricket and Aussie Rules rugby),'' Roneberg said. "It struggles in small towns, but it is slowly growing. It's very popular with the young kids under 15 years of age, who play the young T-ball . . . That's where we need to grow from, and the Olympics will help.''

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Roneberg said he became interested in baseball shortly after his family moved to a new home across the street from a baseball field.
"My dad was asked to play in a game, then he played for a couple of weeks and I guess I started playing with the T-ball, and we just went from there,'' Roneberg said.

A good showing by the Australian Olympic team this summer, Roneberg said, could have the same kind of effect on the sport in his home country as when the U.S. women won soccer's World Cup.

"In Australia, it could be unbelievable,'' Roneberg said. "If Australia does well and reaches the medal rounds and perhaps wins a bronze, a silver or even a gold -- I mean, they're going to be on TV every day, there are going to be fans watching it back home all around Australia and people are going to be at the games.
"The better we do, the better it will be for baseball in Australia.''