Jake DeLeo has proven himself to be one of the best high school baseball players in the country.
Still photos courtesy of Seshu Photography.
For someone who loves to play baseball as much as Jake DeLeo, the cancelation of his senior season was a curveball, but not one he couldn’t handle.
“Everybody in the country and everybody in the world is kind of in the same situation so I was going to try and make the best of it,” said the Avon Old Farms senior outfielder.
Even before this year, the Norwalk native had already proven himself to be one of the best high school baseball players in the country.
“I mean this is a kid who throws 96 mph from the outfield, has over 105 mph exit velocity when he swings the bat and he runs a 60-yard dash in 6.1 seconds,” said Avon Old Farms baseball head coach Robert Dowling.
Major league scouts have taken notice and now DeLeo has a chance to hear his name called in the 2020 MLB Draft.
“It’s kind of a testament to the way my family raised me, the people who have trained me since I was a young age and a testament to myself about how hard I work and how seriously I take the game,” said DeLeo.
Getting drafted would be an incredible accomplishment any year, but even more so this year since Major League Baseball shortened the draft significantly.
Sports
“When you go from 40 rounds to just five rounds, you go from 1,200 people being drafted to about 160 people drafted,” said Dowling.
“The amount of guys playing Major League Baseball right now that were drafted after round five, I’m sure you’d be kind of astonished,” added DeLeo.
No matter what happens, Jake has a bright future ahead of him. He is currently committed to play college baseball at Georgia Tech. If he gets drafted by a professional team, he will join the likes of World Series champion George Springer and about a dozen other Avon Old Farms baseball players selected in the MLB Draft.
“I will stand by this for the rest of my life. It was the best decision I ever made going there,” said DeLeo. “They always talk about the brotherhood and the brotherhood really is what they say it is.”
DeLeo’s former high school teammate Hudson Haskin is also hoping to be drafted this year. Currently, he is a sophomore at Tulane University. The MLB Draft begins Wednesday, June 10 with the first round followed by rounds 2-5 on Thursday, June 11.
