Jake Taylor patiently waited for a turn to anchor the pitching staff at powerhouse Boston College High, and when it came, the Belmont resident didn’t let the moment go to waste.
Despite pitching about a single game’s worth of varsity innings over his first three years of high school baseball, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-hander knows his Division I college baseball destination—Columbia University—thanks to standout play on the travel circuit. But he’s a relative unknown in MIAA circles, at least for now.
“For my college coaches to offer me a spot was enough to prove myself to them,” Taylor said during a break in a recent practice at the school’s Dorchester campus. “I feel like now I’m proving it to myself and my teammates.”
Most Division I commits star for years on their high school’s varsity team, but, during his first two years of varsity baseball, Taylor backed up former Boston Globe All-Scholastics Liam Kineen and Sam Keene, now freshmen pitchers at Division I programs Princeton and Cornell, respectively. With the Eagles looking to repeat as Division I state champions, it’s Taylor who now steps into the role as the team’s ace and standard-bearer of the program’s values.
According to Taylor, the baseball culture at BC High is different. Though he could have played varsity baseball at Belmont High as a freshman, Taylor says he chose the Eagles, as more of a “moral decision” based on the school’s Jesuit education. The BC baseball pedigree didn’t hurt, either.
The Eagles captured the program’s first state title since 2009 last spring, knocking off Catholic Conference foe St. John’s Shrewsbury in the final. BC High, ranked No. 4 in the Boston Globe’s season-opening top 20, was 1-0 at the time of the reporting of this story.
“This is probably the best place to be if you’re playing Massachusetts high school baseball,” Taylor said. “Every single one of these guys could play on every single team in the state.”
BC High coach Steve Healy elevated Taylor—a Belmont Public Schools student through eighth grade—to the Eagles varsity as a sophomore following a standout freshman year on the school’s freshman team. Aware he wouldn’t play much, Healy expected Taylor to soak up the expertise of talented upperclassmen.
“We knew he wasn’t going to pitch a lot, but we also knew he was as talented as anyone on the staff,” Healy said. “It was just all those other pieces, like learning how to pick off runners and how pitchers field.”
With a five-pitch mix consisting of a four-seam fastball topping out just above 89 miles per hour, changeup, curveball, sinker and, as it’s known around the program, the “slider of death,” Taylor started both the season and Catholic Conference openers.
“His pitches are nasty,” said senior catcher Tommy O’Donnell, whose grandmother lives in Belmont. “I see him getting more and more confident every day.”
How the tides have turned. Healy lauded Taylor for a career-long “great attitude” that now rubs off on the team’s underclassmen and called him a “coach on the staff.” Going from a little-used reliever to a starter comes with responsibilities and expectations for both the player and the coach. It starts with consistent and thorough communication. Taylor admits he felt frustrated at times throughout his first three years because what athlete wants to sit on the bench?
Healy meets regularly with every player but seeks out Taylor first. Comparing him to past pitchers is not on the table.
“I just want him to be Jake,” Healy said. “Being himself is going to be great. He has fantastic, unhittable stuff… we just need him to relax and throw it in the zone. Doing his thing will get him where his predecessors were.”
Taylor, who played his club ball for Dirtbags Baseball’s national-level roster and local program Route 2, faced some of the country’s best hitters on the travel circuit, catching the attention of college programs from around the country before choosing Columbia. He received preseason Northeast Region Honorable Mention All-Region honors from scouting service Perfect Game despite his limited varsity experience.
“It’s less of an experience thing [than it looks],” Taylor said. “I’m very confident in myself and have no doubts… every single pitch, every time.”
