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Dirtbag Pitcher a Quick Study
by Bob Keisser, Long Beach Press-Telegram
October 24, 2007
Jake Thompson's path to Long Beach State didn't require directions. All
he had to do was walk from the baseball field at Wilson High School, cross
Park Ave., and enter Blair Field across the street.
That's about a 50-yard walk, but it was hardly a simple path. Thompson
hasn't thrown a pitch as a Dirtbag and yet he's already done something
that Jered Weaver, Abe Alvarez, Bobby Crosby and Troy Tulowitzki never
achieved.
Thompson is a college freshman who decided to skip his senior year of
high school so he could start college, and college baseball, early. While
many of his former classmates at Mayfair High and Wilson High look forward
to their 2008 senior prom, he's a teammate of several college seniors.
Rather than trying to help Wilson win consecutive CIF titles, he'll try
to help the Dirtbags get to Omaha and the College World Series.
Instead of taking classes and the SAT in a bid to get into college, he's
two months deep into four college courses and spending his afternoons
with professors Mike Weathers and Troy Buckley on the campus field.
He couldn't be happier if he was elected homecoming king. He likes the
atmosphere on campus, the challenge of the classes and his first steps
as a college baseball player.
Ask him what's been the hardest thing so far about college and he finds
a quick answer. "Time management," he said with a smile.
"I don't think I'm going to miss my senior year (of high school).
The college experience is 100 times better. I'm meeting new people every
day on a campus with 30,000 students.
"I was always interested in playing Division I baseball. I've been
playing at Blair Field my entire life and I'm real comfortable there and
I've been attending Dirtbag practices and games for a long time. I'm sort
of used to playing with guys two or three years older than me."
There's nothing simple about his story.
As a sophomore at Mayfair in 2006, he had a 1.33 ERA and 6-1 record and
had already landed on the radar of pro scouts and college recruiters with
his play on travel teams, Connie Mack, U.S. National youth team squads,
invite-only affairs like the Area Code Games and Major League Baseball's
Urban Youth Academy in Compton.
Late that summer, a family issue led his mother, Diane Munoz, to transfer
Jake and her daughter Morgan to Wilson. Her daughter quickly made Wilson's
soccer team and Jake was expected to add to Wilson's solid resume for
the 2007 season.
Those plans were quickly squelched when Wilson's rivals questioned their
eligibility. Thompson worked out with the Bruins but couldn't play, which
was difficult to watch as the Bruins marched to a CIF title.
"It was horrible," said Munoz, who had no idea transferring
would jeopardize her children's athletic career. "I can't tell you
the number of times I cried. It was killing me. Watching him handle it
like a young man broke my heart even more. He was trying to be so mature."
"Every time it seemed like something good happened that would allow
me to play," Thompson said, "something else would come up."
The eligibility issue was complex enough that there were no guarantees
that Thompson would be eligible for the 2008 season. With a large handful
of letters already in hand from colleges, mom and son began to consider
their options.
They knew the family of Robert Stock, who passed up his senior season
at Agoura High School so he could enroll at USC early and become the Trojans'
everyday catcher in 2007. USC quarterback John David Booty also left his
Louisiana high school early to get a jump on college ball.
Thompson went to a private school as a youngster and began later than
most, so he was a 17-year-old high school junior. (He turned 18 in August.)
Academics were also a priority and Thompson, an honor student at Mayfair,
had completed all but one of his necessary core courses by the end of
his junior year. He passed his GED, took the one remaining core class
he needed off-campus, and was accepted by the university for the 2007-08
school year.
"We were already recruiting him for 2009," Dirtbags assistant
coach and pitching guru Troy Buckley said. "By his sophomore season,
he was already one of the most high profile guys in California. He was
more on the map of pro scouts than anyone else. Colleges knew of him but
he was still a year away."
"I was worried about his status for next year," Munoz said.
"I'm a baseball nut and I follow this stuff like crazy. I knew the
Stock family and it planted a seed. The situation was very uncomfortable
because Jake's basically a humble kid. We had a long conversation and
decided that if he didn't play (in 2007), we would speak to other people
and coaches and consider alternatives.
"I didn't want to set him up for failure. I would never do this if
he hadn't shown me he could actually do it or if Long Beach State didn't
believe he could handle it."
The process included talking with his teachers at Wilson to learn if they
felt he was ready for college and with college counselors at Long Beach
State about the transition. They talked with coaches of Thompson's summer
teams and other baseball people about making this kind of jump. Diane
Munoz said Jake's stepdad, Mark Munoz, and his former Mayfair coach, Sean
Buller, have played a significant role in his development and were there
for him as he made this decision.
"I felt I was ready," said Thompson, 6-3 and 195. "My mom
urged me to take hard classes and prepare for college. I've been playing
a lot of baseball so I didn't think missing a high school season was going
to hold me back."
"I would be surprised by anyone who didn't go to high school as a
senior," said Buckley, who attended Santa Clara. "But Jake is
18, the age of a lot of college freshman. Ability-wise, we wouldn't bring
him in if we didn't think he could survive athletically or academically.
"His not pitching his junior year isn't considered risky, by us or
anyone else. He's pitched more than enough innings in his summer leagues."
Scouting reports say Thompson has a fastball in the 90 miles per hour
region, a sharp curve and a mature changeup. He was already on most scouting
lists as one of the top 100 senior prep prospects for 2008.
He will be competing for playing time on a deep Dirtbags pitching staff
that returns its weekend starters, Andrew Liebel, Vance Worley and Manny
McElroy, and closer Bryan Shaw. But Buckley has worked true freshmen into
his pitching plans in the past, including Adam Wilk last season. The Dirtbags'
fall drills are underway and Thompson will likely make an appearance during
a rare three-game fall series against the University of San Diego from
Nov. 2-4, with the first two at Blair.
Even if pro scouts were on his trail, Diane Munoz always preferred her
son go to college.
"Everyone knows me," she said. "I'm the mom who counts
her son's pitches. It's not what a mom usually does. But it's always been
me and Jake, and I was really concerned about an 18-year-old going into
the pros that early. People said opportunities like that may never come
around again, but I believe he needs a college education and three years
of good direction in college baseball.
"I want him to have a head start. That's why I wanted him to get
all of his core classes done. I know what kind of players have been developed
at Long Beach and what Buck has done with other pitchers. You want your
kids to feel comfortable regardless of where they are."
To that end, Morgan Thompson has transferred back to Mayfair so she can
continue her soccer career and graduate with her old classmates. Meanwhile,
Thompson is the freshest of freshman at Long Beach State.
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