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  • JSerra’s Parker Joe Robinson is the Register’s Baseball Player of...

    JSerra’s Parker Joe Robinson is the Register’s Baseball Player of the Year.

  • JSerra's Parker Joe Robinson, left, makes a catch to for...

    JSerra's Parker Joe Robinson, left, makes a catch to for an out before San Dimas' Jacob Castillo can make it to base during the Boras Classic Thursday at JSerra High School.

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Parker Joe Robinson was a little too rough in Pop Warner football, a bit too aggressive in youth soccer.

He would learn that it was OK to beat up on baseballs and catchers’ mitts.

Robinson decided some years ago that baseball is his sport. It was a good decision. This year, as a senior at JSerra, Robinson got a scholarship from Texas and had a season that made the pitcher/first baseman the Register’s player of the year.

Robinson was Trinity League co-player of the year with teammate Brady Shockey. He batted .378 with team highs of six home runs and 28 RBI. On the mound Robinson was 4-2 with a save and a 2.36 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings.

JSerra won the Trinity League championship. The Lions were seeded No. 1 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs and advanced to the semifinals.

Robinson was a senior leader on a team that mostly had non-seniors in the starting lineup. Although young, the Lions were sure of themselves but not cocky about it.

“We thought we should win,” Robinson said. “We had a quiet confidence about us that was pretty neat.”

Robinson’s father Jeff was a major league pitcher for 11 years. Joe Robinson, an alumnus of Troy who went on to star at Cal State Fullerton, likes his son’s approach to the game.

“He’s humble and not a stats-oriented guy,” Jeff said.

Joe was not sure how good his son, the youngest of his and wife Lorin’s four children, could be until the Area Code Games tryouts a couple of years ago.

“They started with 300 outstanding players,” Jeff said, “whittled it down and then made another cut to get down to eight teams. That’s when it struck me that this guy (Parker Joe) is pitching against the best high school players in the nation and he’s doing just fine.”

Robinson was more than just fine. He threw a three-hitter in a 1-0 win over Servite. He struck out nine in that game and drove in the run on a two-strike squeeze bunt.

Bunting was one of Robinson’s better skills, kind of surprising for a high school player who is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.

“He was one of our better bunters,” JSerra coach Brett Kay said, “not that I wanted to bunt him often. He also had nine stolen bases and that led our team.

“Parker was one of the faster guys in our program. He’d smoke a ball to the shortstop or third baseman and they’d think, ‘He’s a big guy so I can take my time.’ But he could really run.”

Robinson committed to Texas in the summer and signed with them during the school year. Why Texas?

“It helps that my dad played for Augie Garrido,” Robinson said of the former Titans coach now at Texas. “That makes my dad trust in my going to Texas.

“I always wanted to get out of California. I visited Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas. I just felt like Texas was the sweetest thing ever.”

Before leaving for Texas in early July, Robinson plans to play in a couple of high school all-star games. He started at first base for the South and pitched a 1-2-3 inning Monday in the Orange County All-Star Game.

That sort of versatility makes him a valuable player.

“I could expect the unexpected with Parker Joe,” Kay said. “I could have him lay down a squeeze bunt or have him steal a base in a funky situation. I could trust him for so many different things, and that made him a coach’s dream.”

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com