By Blake Dowson | [email protected]

Tall, smooth shortstops with rocket arms and plus hitting tools are a hot commodity for every major-league team.

College shortstops that gun guys out from deep in the hole and also bat over .300 hitting at the top of the lineup are gold.

Nick Roscetti had to have known he was going to get drafted this year. He is the mold of the shortstop described above. He has great range for a 6-3 player, with long arms that get extended easily at the plate.

But as professional as his game is, he still felt like a kid when he got a call from a phone number with a Milwaukee area code on June 11, the final day of the 2016 MLB draft.

“I was down in St. Louis watching my brother play in a tournament,” Roscetti said. “I was trying to keep up with the draft tracker a little bit. Then I got a call from a Milwaukee number, and my heart just started racing. Then I heard my mom and girlfriend start cheering because they saw my name on Twitter.”

Roscetti had a good enough junior season. In fact, his play during the conference season raised his batting average above .300 and he earned all-conference recognition. But there was a feeling that he was still next up. The 2015 team that went 42-18 was chock full of strong contributors, with Roscetti being the guy to hit either sixth or eighth most of the year.

With guys such as Eric Toole, Kris Goodman, Jake Mangler, and Nick Day gone to graduation, Roscetti was going to be in the spotlight for his senior year.

And it suited him well.

“My senior year is really when I realized I was more than likely going to get drafted,” Roscetti said. “People were contacting me throughout the season, and I had some interviews. I didn’t want to focus on it much because it could be a distraction, but it was hard to avoid. I knew there was a good chance.”

The Sherman, Illinois, native shot out of the gates in 2016, hitting well over .400 through the first month of the season, playing series against such teams as Dallas Baptist and Missouri State.

Altogether, he compiled 25 multi-hit games and 13 multi-RBI games and carried a 15-game hitting streak at one point during the year, while not missing a single start at one of the most physically demanding positions in the game.

“When Nick gets hot, there’s really no stopping him,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller remarked during one of his shortstop’s hot streaks. “He’s one of those guys who can get into a zone and carry it for a while.”

It wasn’t always doubles at the plate and double plays up the middle for Roscetti, however. Coming out of high school, his offer sheet wasn’t one similar to most eventual draft picks.

But an offer to play at Iowa was a chance for him to prove he could play with some of the best in the country, and for that, he says, he is forever grateful.

“It’s been a long road,” Roscetti said. “I didn’t get many offers out of high school. I just tried to always play hard and prove to people I was capable of playing at a high level and succeeding at that level.”

The hard work he put in has Roscetti in Arizona, gearing up to start his professional career for the Brewers’ rookie-ball affiliate.

Fortunately for Roscetti, he has a few familiar faces down in the desert. Joel Booker (Chicago White Sox) and Tyler Peyton (Chicago Cubs) are both playing for their new clubs’ rookie affiliates in the same league.

Together on the same team for three years, Roscetti and Peyton now play for rival teams in the same division. It will be a change of pace when the two are in opposite dugouts next week.

“I haven’t talked to Tyler, but we play the Cubs next week,” Roscetti said. “I’m sure there will be some friendly words exchanged between us.”