Whether toeing the rubber or digging in at the plate, Rob Riley can fill the void.

Rob Riley has struggled coming out of the bullpen for the American Defenders of New Hampshire, to be sure.

But at the plate, he’s a hit. And that might keep him around.

The lefty has a 0-0 record and 7.16 ERA on the mound in 13 relief outings, but he’s also batting .391 in 23 plate appearances and can also play multiple positions in the field. On a 22-man roster, that’s considered gold, numbers aside.

“It’s huge,” Defenders manager Brian Daubach said. “With the roster limits, we have to have a guy who is effective in both roles. I’m not afraid to throw him out there at DH and then he goes from DH into the game - and that’s valuable when we’re short of guys.”

Riley’s only other professional season in the United States was with the Yuma Scorpions of the Golden League (1-0 in 17 appearances) in 2006. Last year he played overseas in the Netherlands. He was also an outfielder at theVirginia Military Institute.

“I got to pitch and hit over there (in Holland) and got some experience,” Riley said. “But after college, when I went to pro ball I really couldn’t hit with a wooden bat and became a pitcher, left-handed, throw low to mid-80s. Just wanted to keep playing.

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“With a 22-man roster, the more you can do, the more you can help, the more valuable you are to a team. Every day it’s kind of an adventure coming to the ballpark. Every day here is kind of like Groundhog Day for a baseball player, you do the same thing over and over. But for me it’s kind of interesting because I don’t know what I’m going to be doing every day when I get to the ballpark - pitching, hitting, pinch-hitting, DHing, playing some outfield - you don’t know. It’s kind of fun. Keeps me on my toes.”

Riley’s a go-getter. He went out to the Baseball Winter Meetings last December in Las Vegas and that’s where he met the Defenders. The 30-year-old got a chance to try out for the U.S. Military All-Star team out in San Diego in February because he is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, and that’s where Daubach noticed him.

He had not played in the U.S. since getting released out of spring training with the independent South Georgia Peanuts in the now defunct South Coast League. “I’ve bounced around,” he said with a smile.

But Holland wasn’t a bad place to land.

“An incredible experience,” he said. “I have Dutch ancestry so I got to go see where my family came from back in the 1600s and travel Europe a little bit. I got to keep playing baseball, play and coach a little bit, learn the culture. It was awesome. Later in life, you’ve got to do that. I’m having too much fun every day.”

Especially since he joined the regular work force after college, before he decided to give the game one last shot in 2004, and began going to tryouts in 2005 searching for a place to land.

“I was just trying to get a contract and get the innings I needed,” he said. “It turned out last summer I got the innings I needed, and it turned out I got those innings in Europe last year. I had some success, got to hit a little bit, Dauber saw me (in San Diego) and I got a chance.”

“At the beginning of the year, he’s a guy who would throw two or three innings for us,” Daubach said. “He’ll do anything we ask. But ideally, I’d like to bring him in for two or three lefties. That’s his ideal role.”

Which does he like better, pitching or hitting?

“I just want to be on the field, man,” he said. “I just want to be in the game . . . I’ve got to keep it going.”