It was announced Wednesday that former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof was named Manager of the Year of the Class A Advanced California League. Roof earned the honor as manager of the Visalia Rawhide who have a league-best 78-46 record.
The Rawhide easily won the Northern Division championship in the first half of 2019 and are on pace to do the same in the second.
For those who don’t know Shawn Roof, well… you really should. He’s a real class act and one of nicest guys in baseball. He comes from a family of baseball. His father Gene Roof and uncle Phil Roof both played and coached in the majors. He had two brothers who played Big Ten baseball at the same time he did. Safe to say, baseball runs in the Roof family of Paducah, Kentucky. It appears now that Shawn is making a name for himself.
A real hustler on the field, Roof played as a shortstop for Illinois from 2004 to 2007. His name litters the Illinois Baseball Record Book. Most notably, he still leads all Illini in career hit by pitches with 45 as well as holds the single season record with 22 in 2007. Shawn is also fourth all-time in career steals with 65 with 40 in 2007.
In 2007, Shawn was drafted by the Tigers. He traveled up the Detroit system and made it up to Triple-A Toldeo by 2010. With Shawn’s people skills and baseball know-how, coaching was in the cards for him. He even had an assistant coaching gig with rival Indiana.
By 2017, Roof landed his first head manager role with the Hillsboro Hops in the Northwest League. With a combined 92-64 record, the parent Diamondbacks organization decided to move him up the A Advanced level with the Rawhide. The rest is history.
Personally, I remember Shawn as very approachable. He was the very first Illini player I spoke with and since then, we’ve kept in touch through his days as a minor league player and then coach. Shawn is always upbeat and never fails to ask how my family is doing.
I did reach out to Shawn Roof about this Manager of Year award. Shawn was typically humble saying it “should be a team award. Those guys are the ones that won it”.
Oh and he asked how my kids were doing too.
Let’s give some credit to Manager Shawn Roof!!