JACOB YAGER GOING
TO ST. BONAVENTURE
GRAHAMSVILLE-- Three major factors --- his size, his mound presence and his bat speed, have won 16-year-old Tri-Valley Senior pitcher/third baseman Jacob Yager a place following high school graduation on the Division 1 St. Bonaventure University baseball team.
He will turn 17 on August 7.
Yager, his family and Tri-Valley Secondary School Principal David Pulley, following a video conference with the Bonnies head baseball coach Larry Sudbrook last week gave a verbal commitment to attend St. Bonaventure starting in the fall of 2021. His course of study will be Environmental Science.
Coach Sudbrook said that "NCAA D1 rules do not allow me to comment on a student athlete until he has signed a National Letter of intent and that does not happen until November."
But Jacob's parents had previously been told that St. Bonaventure coaches liked Jacob's size, his presence on the mound and his bat speed.
Jacob some months ago spent some time at the Olean, NY campus and liked the size of the classes along with the baseball facilities and the coaching staff.
St. Bonaventure, located in the western part of New York State is a learning institution that houses more than 2000 students.
Founded in 1858 in the interest of promoting Catholic-Franciscan education, the university continues to this day to pursue academic excellence through personalized attention that reflects the Franciscan tradition of valuing human relationships.
In a written interview with Yager last week this talented high school baseball player said, "I got offered a full ride at St. Bonaventure and have verbally committed to this university."
He noted that his last high school game was played in June 2019 but "that the pandemic has not slowed things down as I have been steadily working on my hitting and pitching."
Yager works out as much as he can and also attends training in Newburgh twice a week.
A recent baseball showcase in Cortland allowed him to put up some good numbers with stats showing that he was pitching his fast ball at 83 to 85 miles per hour and his bat speed (exit batting velocity) was 103 miles per hour .... and he has his senior high school year to increase both stats.
When his senior year baseball starts he plans on playing third and first base and pitching.
This summer he plans on playing as many tournament games as possible with his Fishkill travel team and "I have already played some good teams that have big college players in their lineups."
At St. Bonaventure coaches have told Yager they want him to pitch every five days and when not pitching playing first base, hitting someplace in the top of the batting order or sometimes being the designated hitter.
His college head coach is veteran 36-year mentor Larry Sudbrook who over his vast career has helped many players into the major leagues.
St. Bonaventure competes in the NCAA Atlantic 10 Conference against conference members including Davidson College, Duquesne University, LaSalle University, Saint Joseph's University and the University of Virginia.
Competition for Yager over the past several years included tryouts at the age of 15 where he competed in the USA 16 and under competition and out of 458 players he had the honor of being placed in the "Elite 30" category and came close to the cut while being named Player Of The Day during competition.
Because of his performance in the Florida USA games Jacob was asked to return to USA trials at the NYS Institute in Old Westbury, LI where his baseball skills awarded him the honor to compete with the 16 and under USA Northeast Team in Cary, NC.
As far as his previous competition with USA Baseball, Yeager indicated "there's nothing going on now with USA Baseball because of the pandemic."
USA Baseball, with support from Major League Baseball, has generated a Long Term Athlete Development plan (LTAD) to provide a multi-stage developmental pathway for an individual's life-long experience within the sport of baseball in the United States.
Yager has committed himself to the USA Baseball mission which is not just about baseball but includes communities and people and that baseball is a vehicle for change and empowerment and is an experience that provides adversity, success and most of all fun.
The USA Baseball tryouts are for the purpose of identifying potential players as prospects for professional baseball and to select players for the Northeast Teams and it is not a college showcase.
At the National Team Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. several years ago Team Freedom left fielder Jacob Yager was named Player of the Day and hit 2-for-2 with a home run, double, scored two runs and tallied three RBI's in Team Freedom's effort against the Dallas Tigers.
In USA competition Yager pitched and played first base.
Yager's summer vacation has consisted so far of him playing baseball for the Cadets Baseball Academy/Arsema 17u team in Fishkill and during competition last weekend at the Perfect Game tournament in Piscataway, NJ Yager in the first game of the tournament he played first base and hit a homerun, single and was walked.
Pro scouts from the Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners have been keeping a close look at Jacob during summer competitions and if it comes down to being offered a chance to go into minor or major league baseball St. Bonaventure has told Jacob they would not stand in his way for him signing a contract.
His major travel team during summer months at the Cadets Baseball Academy is coached by Angel Lugo, a former major league player with the Cleveland Indians.
One of the highlights of Jacob's summer baseball career took place last summer July 19-21 in the 28-team Firecracker Saratoga Springs Showcase Tournament.
Jacob pitched five innings in the game to determine what team would play for the championship and with Yager's eight strike outs and giving up only four hits his team won.
In the championship game Sunday July 21 with the score tied 2-2 in the eighth inning and no outs and with players on second and third Yager smashed a line drive shot on the first pitch over the center fielders head to score the winning run earning him the Tournament MVP award.
Formerly a two-sport athlete (baseball and basketball) at Tri-Valley Yager made the decision last winter to not play basketball but instead participated in a Velocity and Weight Training Program offered by Cadets Baseball Academy coach Angel Lugo.
Last summer Yager's summer league baseball produced a 400 plus batting average while his stats for the 2019 Tri-Valley Bears league schedule showed him with a 519 batting average, a total of 26 RBI's and five home runs. He pitched 41 innings, had an Earned Run Average of 0.51 and a total of 75 strikeouts.
His pitching routine includes a fastball ranging in speeds from 83 to 85 mph, a curve, slider and change-up.
The blur of the bat in Jacob Yager's bat swing clocked at 103 miles per hour is the kind of stuff St. Bonaventure University liked when viewing Yager in videos and baseball showcases.
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