RSN: You signed less than a month ago, and in the last 24 hours have helped the Gulf Coast Red Sox win the league championship and are about to make your debut with the Lowell Spinners at Fenway Park. What’s going through your mind right now?
RK: I’m just having fun with this. This is crazy. I think the promotion was more along the lines of at-bats -- that they want me to get more of them. I’m sure if they felt it was rushed they wouldn’t have done it. I feel like I’m ready for it. As long as I get my bat on the ball, that’s all I’m worried about right now. I go to instructional league after the season, then, next year, maybe back [to Lowell], or maybe Greenville.
RSN: Did you really don a Red Sox cap at graduation? Were you that confident that the Red Sox would draft you?
RK: I did. When I was walking up to get my diploma, after I heard the news, I took out my cap and put it on. In conversations before the draft, they already told me what they wanted to give me, money-wise, and that was my set number from the beginning.
RSN: You had previously committed to the University of Virginia. Did you tell them right after the draft that you were signing with Boston?
RK: Actually, they didn’t have any idea. I wanted to tell them, but [Boston] said it was going to take a couple months. The fact is that something can go wrong in that many months. Two months is a long time for something to move off line. If I didn’t have [the contract], I would have had to go to college, and I wouldn’t have wanted to go to a [Junior College]. I would have wanted to go to a four-year school.
RSN: Why did you have to wait so long before signing your contract?
RK: They said the commissioner’s office was really, really involved with the draft. They actually did an article on that in Baseball America. I was a little skeptical because this is my future, you know? But when I saw that article, I knew they were for real and that it was going to get done.
RSN: That must have been an uncomfortable period.
RK: It was a little, but it was refreshing, too. I had a nice two months of hanging out with my friends and family and everything. I was a three-sport athlete my whole high school career—baseball, basketball, and football. I came in with back problems, with shoulder problems. The whole summer, I just rehabbed, and I came into the organization healthy.
RSN: Do your experiences in other sports help you as a baseball player?
RK: Football definitely helped me out because it’s a grind every day. You bring that mentality with you wherever you go. It makes these practices seem easy, but at the same time you can work really hard and get things done.
RSN: You were not able to pitch your senior year because of a shoulder injury. Do you think that hurt your draft status?
RK: I barely even played outfield. Draft-wise, I think there would have been more competition. There were two or three teams that were on me, but I feel like if I were healthy I would have been able to show all my tools. My junior year, I showed all of that. I wanted to my senior year, but I couldn’t. I think it hurt me, definitely.
RSN: Did you ever think you were going to pitch at a higher level? Was that ever in the back of your mind?
RK: I thought maybe I would have pitched, but at the same time, I knew I wanted to be an outfielder. It’s more fun. I like to be an everyday player.
RSN: Jason McLeod, the Red Sox scouting director, has said that you didn’t swing and miss all year your senior season. Is that true?
RK: It was true until I got to rookie ball [laughs]. I fouled off balls that I wouldn’t hit solid, but I never swung and missed. I think I struck out once, looking, but you know how high school umpires are.
RSN: Given your penchant for contact, do you consider yourself more of a contact hitter?
RK: I’m more about putting the ball in play and making the defense make a play on me; using my speed. At the same time, I feel like I can work on my swing to the point where I’m not just a contact hitter, so I can put balls in the gaps and run. I mean, I can, but I’d rather be able to do that more consistently.
RSN: Some draft pundits have questioned your ability to hit for power. Do you consider yourself more of a gap-power hitter?
RK: Yeah, gap power, run around the bases, make things happen. That’s what I do. I was a quarterback, and my job was to make plays. That’s what I want to do, just make the defense wonder what’s going to happen.
RSN: How would you describe your approach at the plate? Are you a disciplined hitter, or are you more aggressive?
RK: I’d say more disciplined. I tend to take a lot of first-pitch strikes, no matter what. I like to see the ball and to see what the pitcher’s got. I’m not just going to go up there and hack, because I feel like I cheat myself if I don’t see what they have and wait for my pitch. Sometimes I take a really good first pitch, which I feel like is a little bit of a weakness. I’m going to work on that. If I see a really good first pitch, I need to go after it.
RSN: You’re from New Jersey, but most of your extended family lives in the Boston area. Did you grow up a Red Sox fan?
RK: I did, but I was more of a fan of baseball in general. I was never a Yankees fan, I’ll tell you that.
RSN: Did you hear it from Yankee fans after you were selected by Boston?
RK: When I got drafted by the Red Sox, that’s all I heard. Some were like, “Congratulations!” and some were like “Get out of here. See you later.” Whatever.