Baseball Beginnings

By John Klima
June 2, 2009

Back in Arkansas, there was a high school center fielder who could run, field and throw. The kid was certain he could hit. At the time, some scouts agreed with him and some scouts didn’t. He signed as a mid-first rounder and hit .190 with no home runs and six errors in rookie ball.  

Torii Hunter now has one more Gold Glove Award (seven) than the six years it took him to reach the big leagues. All those offensive struggles early in his career are a distant memory.

Jake Marisnick is about to embark on a similar path that he hopes will take him to similar heights. He is another skinny centerfielder gifted with above-average speed, throwing and fielding skills, the tools Marisnick accurately describes as the “tools you can’t take away and can’t teach.”

After a strong summer against good pitching, coming back to metal bats and high school pitching felt like slow motion. Marisnick began the season in a slump, trying to find his mechanics. He didn’t hit in March and early April. Some of the national scouts who came to see him against Norco’s Matt Hobgood bailed on him when the hard-throwing Hobgood controlled those outings.

One AL cross-checker believes that downgrading Marisnick because he didn’t hit Hobgood in two games when the right-hander had arguably his best stuff of an award-winning season is a bad call. “His hands are too fast not to hit,” the scout opined.

Marisnick’s advisor is Larry Reynolds, Torri Hunter’s longtime agent. As a fringe benefit of being a center fielder, Marisnick found a role model in both tools and persona. He takes pride in his defense, which always seems to be innate with the rare natural center fielders.

The day before Marisnick and Riverside Poly faced left-hander Tyler Matzek and Capistrano Valley in a Division I semifinal, Baseball Beginnings caught up with Marisnick to discuss the season, the future, and Hunter’s advice to the young center fielder whose growing pains are not unique. 

Baseball Beginnings: I’ve heard some guys grumble that you haven’t hit for them the way they want. I’m sure you have to. It doesn’t necessarily reflect on what kind of player you are in the long haul, but do you think it hurt you in the short term?
Marisnick: I think when (the season) started out, I was just pressing too much. I looked up and saw all the scouts and tried to do what they wanted for the first half of the season. I think I was hitting .200, if that. I was struggling off not great pitching. It didn’t help that going out one day seeing 74 mph and then coming back the next day seeing Hobgood throwing 94.

My mechanics and everything were all screwed up. The second half, I came out and said, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to play baseball and have some fun with it.’ That’s how I came out. I thought I did pretty good, but some guys came out for their one game and saw what they wanted. The guys who have been on me the entire season, who saw me before and after the slump, have seen me play well. They’ve brought out their guys and I think they like what they see.

Baseball Beginnings: Hobgood had such a strong season that he’s probably vaulted himself. He’ll hit 95, drop to 75 with a curveball, and he has this off-speed split. Can you describe facing him?
Marisnick: He’s a competitor and he’s not afraid. Some guys will go out and just want to ring up the radar gun. He’ll do that and then hit you with a curveball. He’s a bulldog. Nice kid off the field. On the field, he wants to win more than anyone else I’ve ever faced.

Baseball Beginnings: Was it frustrating to have a good summer, especially with Angel Elite where people loved you, and then all of a sudden get a label?
Marisnick: That’s the main thing I didn’t get. It’s baseball. People go through slumps all the time. Our high school season is 20 games. In the major leagues, that’s a regular hitting slump for any guy. I come out and I don’t hit for 20 games so I’m less of a prospect? I’m less of a player, apparently? I just came out in the second half and I thought I did great. I thought I came out and played as good as I have.

Baseball Beginnings: Let’s talk about the second half.
Marisnick: I just started relaxing more. I didn’t care about what people thought. I just went out and did my business and tried to help the team win. That ended up helping me out.

Baseball Beginnings: What kind of player do you envision yourself becoming as you grow?
Marisnick: I try to model myself after Torii Hunter in the way he gets after it. He goes out, gets it done on defense, plays hard for his team and gets it done with the stick, hitting for power and average.

Baseball Beginnings: Have you ever talked shop with Torii? He was a guy who signed as a high school centerfielder and didn’t hit as quickly as some people wanted him to. 
Marisnick: I remember one time I went over there to help with something after an 0-for-3 game or something. He pulled me aside and said, ‘Dude, you’re going to have a lot of those in baseball. So get used to it. You’ve got to learn to handle that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ It’s a good person to hear that coming from.

Baseball Beginnings: What do you think are your best tools right now and what do you think you will have to work on?
Marisnick: The tools I’ll carry with me are the speed and the arm, the tools you can’t take away and you can’t teach. That’s going to be my best quality. Obviously going out my first year in pro ball, a lot of guys struggle. You’re getting used to everything. I think my speed will help me out there. Defensively, I’ll be able to make plays. It’ll be all about getting used to playing every day and seeing a good pitcher every day.

Baseball Beginnings: How far along do you think you are as a hitter, not out here, but in the real world?
Marisnick: I feel confident in myself, but one thing I have lacked this year is using the whole field.  That’s something that when I’m going right, I tend to do a lot of.

Baseball Beginnings: You guys will probably be facing Matzek on Tuesday. Do you have any history against him?
Marisnick: Not much of a history, but we know he’s good and can be a tough kid to face.

Read Jake Marisnick signs
Read Jake Marisnick Catchup
Watch Jake Marisnick Scouting video
Read Jake Marisnick Scouting report
Watch Matt Hobgood vs. Jake Marisnick Video
Hobgood vs. Marisnick game
Jake Marisnick Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays

Categories: '09 Meet the Player
Tags: Angel Elite, Jake Marisnick, Torii Hunter