Hailing from the home of Major League Wiffle, it’s only natural that Brooks Rogowski’s background is baseball-heavy.
But this month, the towering forward has his sights set squarely on the NHL Draft. And after trading in his baseball glove and cleats for hockey mitts and skates, the former first baseman’s 18th birthday weekend is shaping up to be a pretty special one.
Rogowski, from Brighton, Mich., comes from a baseball family. Both his father and uncle were drafted by Major League clubs, and a career on the diamond was the 6-foot-7 winger’s primary pursuit.
Until it wasn’t.
And now, the Oshawa Generals forward - and future Michigan State commit - is making a name for himself on the ice, all while taking his baseball past as added experience as he attempts to carve a path to the NHL.
“It just kind of gets you perspective, right?” Rogowski told reporters at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo earlier this month. “You're playing a different sport at a high level, and you kind of have to transition late, but it just gives you that confidence like, ‘Yeah, I can do this, I can transition and still compete with everybody.’
Just playing baseball just gives you that perspective that you need to play high level sports.”
This season in the OHL, Rogowski collected 42 points and finished tied for his team's lead in powerplay goals with seven. He’s expected to head back to the Generals in the fall before starting his Michigan State career in 2027.
And in speaking with the winger, it’s clear that schooling - and pursuing educational opportunities through sports - was important.
“I kind of just was like, ‘If I'm gonna play sports, I might as well try and get some schooling out of it,’ he explained. “And so at the time, it seemed like baseball was the option, 'cause Michigan high school hockey isn't, you know, a traditional route. So I was playing, and kind of just got lucky.
“Oshawa gave me the (schooling), and just let me try and be a pro hockey player.”
That untraditional pathway took Rogowski to the NHL Combine as one of 90 invitees, and he’ll enter the Draft ranked No. 21 among North American skaters per NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings.
Regardless of where his NHL rights end up, though, the lead-up to the Draft been a pretty special experience for Rogowski.
Memories made, connections forged.
All in pursuit of his pro sports dream.
“Making those connections is fun,” he said of meeting fellow prospects and NHL management in Buffalo. “You get to do something that, you know, isn't normal for everybody.
“(I’m) just enjoying it. Staying where my feet are.”
