KU baseball student manager Jonathan Rosa refuses to be beaten by cerebral palsy

LAWRENCE The navy blue walker with its worn silver handles sits hidden under a sink in the bathroom of the Kansas baseball clubhouse.

Jonathan Rosa doesnt know its there. His teammates took it from him.

On a Friday afternoon, three hours before a home game against Texas Tech, Rosa fields bunts from his knees with the Jayhawks. One ball bounces to his left and he lays out to catch it. When it is time to take the teams annual photo, he walks out to right field, standing stiffly at a 90-degree angle with long, slow strides and his feet lifting no more than an inch off the ground. His arms pump with each exhausting step.

Lets go, Johnny, KU coach Ritch Price says. Were waiting on ya.

Rosa was born with cerebral palsy, a permanent, incurable disorder that comes from an injury to the brain. The disorder, which affects 764,000 children and adults living in the United States today, alters body movement, coordination, posture and balance.

Rosa is the last one to the bleachers, and he sits in the bottom left corner of three rows. When the photo is finished, the players run in one by one, chest bumping their way back to the dugout for batting practice. One of Rosas teammates lifts him over his shoulder as he runs to the dugout.

After walking into the clubhouse, Rosa looks to his left and knows something is missing. His walker the one he left next to the entrance no longer is where he left it. He stops for a moment, scanning the clubhouse for the clunky piece of metal on wheels, and then continues on as if it never happened.

* * * * * *

Rosas love for baseball came when he was 5 years old watching the New York Yankees from Mexico City. He loved the pinstripes and idolized Derek Jeter.

Read more:
KU baseball student manager Jonathan Rosa refuses to be beaten by cerebral palsy