According to the Island weekend weather forecast, Jake Haggard will be getting a blast of the sort of summer weather to which he is more accustomed. Not that it matters because he has been plenty hot enough this season for the Victoria HarbourCats in the West Coast League.
“I’m used to sweating my butt off,” said the native of West Palm Beach, Florida, who will be entering his sophomore NCAA Div. 1 season at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
The strapping six-foot-three, 230-pound third-baseman has been having a blazing time of it in another way in summer-collegiate ball in cool sa国际传媒 and was hitting .326 for the HarbourCats with five doubles, a triple, 14 runs scored and 12 RBIs in 24 games heading into Friday night’s contest at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park against the Kelowna Falcons.
Haggard finished up 1-for-4 on Friday but the visiting Falcons edged the HarbourCats 2-0.
Haggard played baseball almost exclusively growing up because his mother was afraid of concussions in football. It is proving a wise choice of sports for Haggard. But baseball is a game of swings and in more ways than one.
“I was struggling at the beginning of the season and then I went into the cages with Todd [Victoria head coach Todd Haney] and it clicked after that,” said Haggard.
“He gave me the right tips on how to approach the ball.”
Five seasons in MLB, as Haney had as a player, will give you that sort of insight.
“There are a lot of good arms in this league and you need to have quality at-bats, and the hits will start coming,” said Haggard.
“And quality at-bats also means having good outs, having made good contact, even if fielders made a great play. No strikeouts.”
A sense of perspective has also been important and it has made the engaging Haggard a fan favourite at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.
“If you have fun, you will play well,” he said.
“That’s why I like to play loose and smile, wave and talk to the fans.”
The diagonal trip across the continent from Florida and Louisiana across the border to the Island came about because Haggard’s college pitching coach is a friend of bench-boss Haney. It’s turned into a productive connection.
“I’m looking forward to when I’m a junior in college, which is the [MLB] draft year for players, and I want to use this summer in the WCL as another building block toward that,” said Haggard.
Haggard had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs in a 7-6 HarbourCats (15-16) loss to the AppleSox (20-10) Wednesday night in Wenatchee, Washington, and added another two hits Thursday night in an 11-10 loss to the Sox as host Wenatchee won the three-game set 2-1.
The HarbourCats returned to Royal Athletic Park on Friday night to begin a three-game weekend series against Kelowna (12-15). Going through the sort of bus travel, and everyday play, that players experience in Single-A and Double-A pro is part of the learning curve in summer collegiate ball.
“It’s way different than the weekend games, and four days you get off, in college ball,” said Haggard.
“You have to take more care of your body here. Playing every day takes more of a toll, even when you are DH-ing.”
Wenatchee also headed to the Island, for a three-game set against the NightOwls in Nanaimo, beginning Friday at Serauxmen Stadium. The ’Owls (12-14) defeated the Lefties (6-20) by a 5-2 count in Port Angeles on Thursday.
FOUL TIPS: Former Corvallis Knights star Brooks Lee, named the 2019 WCL top prospect, lived up to billing by making his MLB debut this week for the Minnesota Twins. Lee became the 39th WCL alumni to play in the MLB this season.
