Like almost every Little Leaguer, Jacob Amaya’s dream was to play professional baseball. I knew he wanted me to put on the jersey that he put on, and it was an honor.” “When he passed away, it set a fuel for me. But Jacob felt the pull of his grandfather once he was drafted, and used that as extra motivation. Unfortunately, Frank passed away in 2016, the year before Jacob would sign. Growing up it was always him and my dad, giving me knowledge about the game.” “My grandpa was always watching the Dodgers games when I got home. “It was amazing when I got drafted by the Dodgers,” Amaya said. Frank was primarily a SS, but he also played 2B and some OF.įor Jacob, being drafted by the Dodgers was somewhat of a dream come true. Frank’s career was over in 1959 as a 23-year-old. In 1959, he reached AAA in the Reds organization, and then moved on to the Mexican League. He played for four teams in the Dodgers organization from 1955-1958, all at the B and C level. He started with the Great Falls Electric in the Pioneer League, a C level league. His grandfather, Frank Amaya, was also a SS who was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. There was undoubtedly a little extra motivation for Jacob to sign with the Dodgers. But the Dodger scouts also noticed Amaya, and was able to sway him away from his commitment. There was no question as to what position he would play at Fullerton. Amaya was always gifted defensively at SS. What was never in question was Jacob’s glove. That was more than enough for a player who was being tracked by college and MLB scouts as a freshman to seal the scholarship offer to the Titans and Cal St. He led his team to a CIF Southern Section Championship Title. Both schools were within 25 miles of Dodger Stadium.Īt South Hills, Amaya was a star. Two schools very close together with Northview north of the 10 and South Hills south of the 10. For his junior year he transferred to South Hills HS in West Covina. Amaya spent his freshman and sophomore year at Northview HS in Covina. On September 3, 1998, Jacob Amaya was born in El Monte…less than 20 miles from Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers were able to sign Amaya for $247,500, and he immediately became my favorite LAD affiliate non-pitcher player. I readily admit that I pull hard for LA area picks, and Amaya was even more special as he signed his letter of intent to play for Cal State Fullerton, one of my favorite schools. Alexy was traded to Texas in the Yu Darvish acquisition.īut the subject of this post was the 11 th round pick in 2017, Jacob Amaya. He made his MLB debut with Texas in 2021. Alexy is now in the Texas Rangers’ organization at AAA. In 2016, that 11 th round pick went to Pennsylvania HS RHP, A.J. In 2015, the Dodgers selected a high school RHP from the San Diego area in the 11 th round, Imani Abdullah. All of the top HS players are selected early, but there were those that had a lot of promise and might be swayed with 3 rd – 5 th round level signing bonus. That allowed them to have enough bonus dollars where they could draft a HS player in the 11 th round and pay way overslot. For the first three years in the AF era of the Rule 4 draft, the Dodgers have selected picks in rounds 8-10 that could and were signed for well below slot values. This post is about another young man that I have touted since he was the 11 th round pick for LAD in 2017. He should find his way to Tulsa before too long. While Lockhart has become somewhat of surprise pitching star for the Loons this year. Leasure was just promoted to AA, the first of the 2021 draft picks to do so. This year I am pulling for a pair of 5 th year college seniors that were 2021 draft picks: Jordan Leasure and Lael Lockhart. My son was a college senior All-American at the University of Nevada – Reno, and it took 26 rounds for him to get selected.
With Ochsenbein, I have a soft spot for college seniors. I do not know why I grew such an affinity to Pepiot. Aaron Ochsenbein was not known at all, and he was a college senior that I began writing about. Ryan Pepiot was not an unknown, but I became enamored with him on draft day. Why would anyone care about a 33 rd round draft pick? But Harold did. Harold writes about many of the fringy prospects, but he attached to Zach McKinstry from the beginning. Why would anyone know about a 38 th round draft pick who had TJ surgery after HS? But we did. We were both on Caleb Ferguson when nobody outside of his family knew who he was.
Admittedly Harold takes an even lower prospect approach to follow. I admit that I have a tendency to closely follow those who are considered fringy.
I get a little chuckle when a player that I have pushed in my writing gets ignored and later becomes a prospect to watch.
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