The CBB continues our countdown for the 2010 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the list today with number 15 in our countdown with junior RHP Kevin Jacob from Georgia Tech. He is a 6’6 228 pound right hander from Baltimore Maryland where he attended Parkville High School. As a senior in high school, he went 9-2 with a 0.45 ERA while holding opponents to a .112 batting average. He was honored as a first-team all-metro by the Baltimore Sun and an All-American by Louisville Slugger. In 2006, Baseball America rated him the fourth best player in the state.
Kevin decided to continue his career with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the ACC. He appeared in 20 games in relief as a freshmen without recording a decision as he accumulated an ERA of 4.50 in 30 innings of work. He struggled with his control as he walked 17 batters while hitting two batters and tossing eight wild pitches. Jacob’s sophomore season saw him go 5-3 with a 4.69 ERA in 22 appearances (7 starts). He ended up striking out 54 batters in his 55.2 innings of work while holding batters to a .270 average. He continued to struggle with his control as he walked 29 batters, tossing 12 wild pitches, and hitting two batters. He spent the summer of 2009 in the Alaskan Baseball League with the Anchorage Bucs. He had an unbelievable summer which saw him go 2-1 including 12 saves with a 0.34 ERA. He ended up striking out 45 batters while cutting down on his walks as he only allowed four on the summer. The most impressive stat was that he only allowed nine base hits in his 26.2 innings of work. Baseball America named him the best prospect in the Alaskan League.
If Kevin can find his control like he did this past summer with the Anchorage Bucs, then he will be able to bring his dominance to the backend of the Georgia Tech bullpen and bring up his draft stock. He already has a 97 MPH fastball and needs some work on his breaking stuff but as I always say you can’t teach talent. We have included a video of his pitching from the Georgia Tech scout day at the bottom of this article.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
3 comments
So let me get this straight– here’s a guy who has stuggled mightily with his control over his first two college seasons– with an ERA above 4.50 both seasons, and good but not elite level Ks per IP and BAA– who has one great Summer in Alaska, and he suddenly becomes the #15th ranked player in all of college baseball? It’s great that he throws an upper 90s heater, but even you acknowledge his control issues and work needed on his breaking pitches.
Call me puzzled on your ranking system.
Those numbers in Alaska were absolutely beyond ridiculous!
I have seen Jacob pitch in person on multiple occasions and he tends to either be really on or terrible.
His biggest problem is consistency and it looks like he found it this summer.
The Alaska League is NOT the ACC, though it is certainly improving. Again, I just think you’re putting way, way too much emphasis on Summer League performance and tools vs. actual D-I college experience.
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