Lakeland, Fla. — The tattoo on his left arm reads, nosce te ipsum, which translated from Latin means, “know thyself.”
Sometimes a piece of body art cuts right to the core of a person.
“That means a lot to me,” Tigers outfielder Jacob Robson said after spending Sunday morning running through a battery of hitting and defensive drills on the back fields of Joker Marchant Stadium. “Because if you don’t know yourself, then you are not going to be able to interact with the world.”
Robson, 27 now and in his sixth professional season, could teach a seminar on the concept of knowing thyself and how it applies to the often soul-crushing business of baseball.
“Your world can come crashing down at any minute,” he said. “That happens every year to guys. Guys get so mentally screwed because of the game. It’s so demanding. If you take it too seriously, then you can let it consume you.”
By rights, Robson could be salty about being back at minor-league minicamp. He could be salty about being designated for assignment last year after having his best season as a pro, after making his big-league debut. He could be salty that his debut was just a quick four-game stopover in August.
But he’s not. At all.
“It was amazing to finally achieve every baseball player’s dream, that’s for sure,” said Robson, who grew up in Windsor, Ontario. “It was really special to do it with Detroit because I grew up watching Detroit and being a Tiger fan. It was really cool just to be on the other end of Comerica Park.”
He went hitless in seven at-bats, scored a run and made an incredible running-diving catch in foul ground down the left field line that made all the highlight reels. The biggest thrill, though, came in Toronto in September when he was on the club’s taxi squad.
“To be in Toronto, in the clubhouse when Miggy (Cabrera) hit his 500th home run,” Robson said. “You know Miggy likes to come into the clubhouse between at-bats when he’s DH-ing. He comes walking in after that and I dapped him up and said congratulations. Pretty special.”
The first time Robson got on base in the big leagues was to pinch-run for Cabrera, in a close game against Cleveland. He ended up scoring in the eighth inning.
“I was talking to my parents about that, like, how cool is that?” Robson said. “My childhood legend, the best hitter on the Tigers when I was growing up, one of the best right-handed bats of all time, and the first time I get on base is to pinch-run for him. Like, it was so amazing. I was the person for the job at the time. I deserve to be there.
“It was a really cool moment in two different ways. I’m doing this surreal thing, but also I’m the right man for the job.”
He felt a little twinge of regret when he was optioned back to Toledo, just because he didn’t get that first big-league knock, he didn’t get the 0-fer off his stat line.
“I would’ve liked to get that out of the way, but that’s just an ego thing,” Robson said. “I had seven at-bats. It’s like a grain of sand in your season, in your career. I don’t think anybody is judging me for seven at-bats. … I know that I’m good enough and that’s good enough for me.
“I know that I’m able to play there and get a hit there and I think it’s going to happen.”
Nosce te ipsum.
‘Shine in my own way’
Robson knows the odds are long against him making the Tigers this spring. He was essentially passed in the organization by three younger players last year — Derek Hill, Akil Baddoo and now Riley Greene. Often players his age with a seemingly blocked path to the big leagues will seek out professional opportunities in Japan or Korea or even Australia.
Robson has never entertained the notion.
“I don’t know if my time playing baseball in the United States is over yet, playing on the major-league side,” he said. “If I just do my thing, I’m good enough to play in the major leagues. I’m just trying to be the best version of myself, just shine in my own way.
“People will see it. Those people are professional at judging that. AJ (Hinch, Tigers manager) is a professional at judging who’s ready for the big leagues and who isn’t. He will see that. He’s a sharp person. Nothing gets by AJ.”
More than anything else, the week he spent in the big leagues last August validated another of his long-held beliefs — that the game itself is the same, regardless of the level of competition.
“Everybody says that, but you don’t really know it until you go through both,” Robson said. “Yeah, things are serious in the major leagues. They want to win every game. There’s a lot of money at stake. But at the same time, you are playing a game for a living. It’s a game.”
For a competitor like Robson, whose intensity and passion have worked against at times in his career, that was a hard truth to accept. It’s fully crystallized now. Especially after last year.
“If I’m just pushing myself too hard or too much the wrong way, then I’m not going to get the results any way,” he said. “I’ve made that mistake in the past where I worked too hard and let baseball consume me instead of being with it.
“Like, baseball isn’t on me. I’m next to it.”
Good enough to be there
The only time Robson was legitimately peeved last year, when he seriously had to ask, “What the heck is going on here?” was when he was assigned to Double-A Erie at the start of the season. He’d played a strong full season at Triple-A in 2019, posting a .352 on-base average and a .750 OPS.
But the Tigers assigned just three outfielders to Triple A to start the season, Christin Stewart, Hill and Daz Cameron. It was crossroads time for Robson, and he responded by playing the best baseball of his career.
“I was put in a position where I just had to decide, ‘OK, I’m not going to quit. So there is nothing else I can do. I have to play for this team, however I feel about it,’” he said. “I didn’t expect to be there. I didn’t expect that to happen. But I was put in a position where, I have a game tonight. I might as well try and win the game. I might as well try to have fun doing it and make the most of my time there.
“And just not care about whoever is judging me in the stands, in the other dugout or in the front office.”
Robson slashed .424/.531/.712 for Erie in April, posting a 1.2 OPS. When he got promoted back to Toledo, he continued to produce (.353/.476/.628) over the next 13 games. Impressive stuff.
“It was hard, but I’m really glad that happened,” he said.
Who knows where it all takes him in 2022. Maybe he gets a chance to put up a number or two in the big-league hit column. Like he said, he knows he’s good enough to be there and that’s good enough for him.
“I don’t really think about things as motivation anymore,” Robson said. “I just think like, I’m a baseball player and I don’t want to stop playing. I just enjoy playing the game. I know that’s pretty cliché, but if I wasn’t having fun, I wouldn’t do it.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky