By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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Mel Rojas pitched for five major league teams from 1990 to 1999. 

His son, Mel Rojas Jr., is an outfielder currently playing for the Indianapolis Indians of the International League, the top affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

In 1994 the elder Rojas joined an exclusive list of big league players. 

By playing in the majors, Mel Jr. would become part of another unique fraternity. 

Mel Rojas grew up in the Dominican Republic and signed with the Montreal Expos prior to the 1986 season.  

Mel Jr. was born in Indianapolis on May 24, 1990, while his dad was pitching for the Indians.  At the time, Indianapolis was Montreal’s top farm club.  “I can’t think of the name (of the hospital),” Mel Jr. said.  “It was pretty close to Bush Stadium (where the Indians played until 1996).”  

Mel Jr.’s first stay in Indianapolis didn’t last long.  “From what I heard, my dad got called up to the majors two months after I was born,” he said.  “And then we moved to Montreal.” 

Mel debuted with the Expos on August 1, 1990, launching a big-league career that would last ten seasons.  When the season ended, the Rojas family left Montreal for their winter home in the Dominican Republic.  

Mel Jr. said he grew up “all around the world, pretty much.  I went to school in the Dominican.  And then, wherever my dad played, we’d go there for the summer.”    

That meant Montreal from 1990 to 1996, Chicago in 1997 (where Mel pitched for the Cubs), New York (while Mel pitched for the Mets from 1997 to 1998), Los Angeles, Detroit and Montreal (when Mel played for three clubs in 1999, the Dodgers, Tigers, and the Expos again).  

Mel Jr. said his favorite team was “wherever my dad played.  I really liked that Montreal stadium.  I really liked the city, too.  But I was way too young, so I can’t remember much about it.”    

One date that stands out for Mel Jr. is May 11, 1994.  “(That’s) when my dad struck out three guys with nine pitches,” he said.  It happened in the ninth inning of a 4-3 Montreal victory over the Mets.  According to baseball-reference.com, Mel Rojas became only the 41^st pitcher to accomplish that feat. 

Mel’s big league career ended in 1999.  He continued to pitch for minor league clubs and independent teams through 2004.  

By now, Mel Jr. was coming into his own as an outfielder who could bat from both sides of the plate.  “When I was pretty much a baby, I was left-handed,” he said.  “When I started playing Little League, I played right-handed.  I’d been a left-handed batter, and when I was seven or eight, I started being a switch-hitter.” 

Mel Jr. enrolled at Wabash Valley, a junior college in Mount Carmel, Ill.  As a freshman in 2010, he hit .398 with 12 home runs, 71 runs batted in and 61 stolen bases.  

The Pirates selected Mel Jr. in the third round of the 2010 draft.  “I was supposed to be a first-rounder,” he said.  “But I hurt my left hand in practice, diving for a ball.  I was kind of disappointed.  I didn’t want to sign.  I wanted to go back to school.” 

Mel Rojas urged his son to accept Pittsburgh’s offer.  “Dad kept giving me advice about it:  ‘You’ll be fine.  Third round is still good,’” Mel Jr. said.  “That made me change my mind.”        

Mel Jr. signed his first pro contract on July 15, 2010, and reported to State College, Pa., of the short-season New York-Penn League.  He was hitting .303 for Altoona (AA Eastern) in 2014 when he earned a promotion to Indianapolis.    

The Indianapolis team media guide contains no information about fathers and sons who have played for the Indians, a team that began operating in 1902.  

Before the arrival of Mel Jr. at Victory Field, the last father-and-son combination in Indianapolis appears to have been two more players named Mel:  Melvin Joseph Queen, who pitched for the Indianapolis in 1949, and Melvin Douglas Queen, a pitcher-outfielder for Indianapolis in 1969.  

The elder Queen saw big league action with the Yankees and Pirates from 1942 to 1952, while his son played for the Reds and Angels between 1966 and 1972.   

In his first year with Indianapolis, Mel Jr. batted .277.  He divided 2015 between the Indians and Altoona, and he opened the 2016 season in Indianapolis.  “We have very good talent on this team,” said Mel Jr., who saw limited action over the first few weeks of the season. “I’m not playing every day, but I know I’m going to get my chance.  And I’m going take advantage of it when I get it, and do my job.”   

Should Mel Jr. wind up in the big leagues, he’ll be part of one of baseball’s rarest cliques.  Only four Indianapolis natives have played for the Indianapolis Indians on their way to the majors.  

The first was legendary Donie Bush, who played for Indianapolis in 1908, a year before starting a sixteen-year career with the Tigers and Washington Senators.  Bush eventually became part-owner of the Indianapolis franchise, and in 1968 the Indians renamed their home field in his honor.    

The next was Orel Hildebrand, a baseball and basketball star for Southport High School and Butler University who pitched for Indianapolis in 1930 and 1931.  Between 1931 and 1940, Hildebrand played for the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Yankees.  In 1933 he became the first Hoosier native selected for the All-Star Game. 

The third was Jeff Parrett, who pitched for Indianapolis between 1986 and 1988.  While Bush and Hildebrand were lifelong Indianapolis residents, Parrett grew up in Lexington, Ky.  He wore the uniforms of the Expos, Phillies, Braves, Athletics, Rockies and Cardinals during his ten-year big league career. 

The most recent Indianapolis-born player to make the jump from the Indians to the majors was Bryan Bullington, who pitched for Madison (Ind.) High School and Ball State University.  Pittsburgh made Bullington the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft.  He played for Indianapolis in 2005, and again from 2007 to 2008.  He saw big league action with the Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Blue Jays and Royals between 2005 and 2010, and pitched in Japan from 2011 through 2015.    

Mel Jr. hopes to join this select company.  “That would be great,” he said.  

Se habla espanol, se habla ingles:  Mel Rojas Jr. also wants to assist Spanish-speaking teammates.  “I went to a bilingual school in the Dominican,” said Mel Jr., who speaks fluent English and Spanish and sometimes serves as a translator.  “It’s kind of hard for the guys to learn English.  

“That’s not to say English is hard, or they’re not smart.  It’s hard coming from the Dominican, playing baseball and learning English.  It’s just hard.  So I understand them and I try to help them as much as I can, on and off the field.” 

Family dynasty:  Mel Jr. is a baseball blueblood.  His dad’s uncles, Felipe, Mateo and Jesus Alou, all came up with the San Francisco Giants.  The Alous made history in 1963 when they became the first set of brothers to play in the same outfield.  

“They’re my great-uncles,” explained Mel Jr.  “They started everything off.  We’re a big baseball family, thanks to them.” 

The elder Rojas’s cousin is Moises Alou, who spent 17 years in the majors as an outfielder.  Moises’s dad, Felipe Alou, managed Montreal when Mel and Moises were Expos teammates from 1993 to 1996.