Pittsburgh Pirates: A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer With Jake Wright

Featured in the 16th installment of a ‘A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer’ is 2019 draft pick, Pittsburgh Pirates outfield prospect Jake Wright.

There are a plethora of draft picks going into any year in baseball. After the draft, you can have up to 40 new players and 40 star-struck eyes willing to prove themselves. Today’s Pittsburgh Pirates prospect interviewee was no different.

The player being highlighted in today’s ‘A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer’ is the Pittsburgh Pirates 2019 32nd round draft pick – outfielder Jake Wright. He was a very pleasant and humble young man with a passion for the game.

To get a glimpse behind the curtain and to understand who Wright is as a person, I asked him to describe himself. “I’m a person who likes to work hard, and I have a passion for baseball. Baseball is always on my mind, and I’m obsessed with it. I feel like it’s in my DNA. I wasn’t pushed to play a sport, but there was something about baseball that made me fall in love with it.”

Most people, when they talk about a baseball player, the first thing that comes to mind is money. “These guys are millionaires” they might say well I’m here to squash that notion. Minor league players, for the most part, scrape by and have to get a second job to make ends meet. Wright himself has a second job. I asked him what that was like and to explain how being a minor league player is.

“Getting drafted is good, and it’s a dream come true, but when you get that signing bonus, most people want to spend it. I put mine away, and I’m letting it build up in an account. I didn’t have a job last off-season, but my buddy, who is a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, is from my hometown, and he asked if I wanted to work with him chopping trees down and make some extra money.”

Wright continued to talk about how his buddy also had an in home gym, and they were able to work out together after their 12-13 hour shift was done. Wright is a testament of work ethic and having that drive to better himself at all costs. Very few people recognize the grind it takes just to get better each day, let alone during an entire career.

Speaking on his work ethic and the reason he is this way, Wright mentioned his father. “My dad worked third shift for 25 years. I’ve seen him work like crazy. He would go into work at midnight and come home at eight in the morning my whole life. He’s definitely instilled that in me.” His father probably instilled the passion for the things he does as well, which explains his one word description for himself as “passionate.”

Going off of his one word description, he went into detail on what he means by saying passionate.

“If I’m doing something I want to do it right. Even days when I don’t feel like it, I’m still going to do it because I’m passionate about it. Even when I’m tired, I’m still going to get out there and lift weights and hit in the cage. I feel like I have something missing in me if I’m not doing something.”

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Wright mentioned to me previously that no one in his immediate family played sports growing up, and no one pushed him to play at all. So I asked if there was anyone at all in his life that inspired him to play the game that we love.

“I would say no one inspired me to get into baseball. I think it was just something about it. I would be in the backyard, and I’d rather pick up a baseball instead of playing with toys. When I got into tee ball, I had a good friend who’s dad was our coach his name was Shane Blanchet. So him and a really good group of friends inspired each other to fall in love with the game. We would all hang out and were so close and always want to win. Those coaches and friends inspired me to play I’d say.”

Everyone has heroes growing up, especially within sports. I wanted to know who was Wright’s heroes and who he tried to model his game after.

“Mike Trout is definitely a household name, so I loved him. I loved Ken Griffey Jr. loved his swing. As I got older, I started realizing my body type, and I need to try to emulate guys with my body type. Towards the beginning of college, I looked at guys like Adam Eaton and Cole Calhoun. I really like their swings and the way they go about things and the way they play defense. I have to be what I’m good at, and I know I’m not going to be the 6-foot-5 guy who hits 500ft home runs. I need to play good defense and hit for average and some power.”

Baseball memories are always a joy to look back upon and reminisce. Hell, I think the stories are what makes this game so great. In that vein, I wanted to if there were any memories Wright could recollect.

“I have two, actually. My most favorite was when I was ten years old, and our team went to Myrtle Beach for a tournament. One of my best friends, named Dillon, was in a four-wheeler accident. It put him in a coma for a long time for a while; it didn’t look like he was going to make it. He ended up surviving.”

Wright continued, “This was about a month after, and we’re in Myrtle Beach with a bunch of teams. I was participating in the home run derby, and it was about to get started, and my buddy walked up to the field. He wasn’t supposed to be coming, and at that point, I knew I had to win this for him. I won the home run derby, and it was really cool. My buddy came out on the field and take pictures with me, and I gave him a bat signed by Cal Ripken. That is probably my best memory.”

The second story for Wright was came from his time in college.

“Winning the conference tournament at Coastal Carolina and advance to the regional with Georgia Tech. The spotlight that it was in was really cool. I’ve never played in front of that many people before. Being from a small town, I didn’t grow up playing in front of a bunch of people. Just to see how I would respond to the pressure, and that type of crowd was amazing. It felt like a dream the whole time you play each inning, and you didn’t even feel tired.”

We then switched up the conversation to Bristol and his professional career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. “Getting drafted and going to Bristol was awesome. I was a little skeptical going in as far as how close the team was. Then within a week, I knew every single person and their life stories. The comradery we had at Bristol was special. Even the people who didn’t speak English, we still found a way to communicate and learn things about each other. It was like home when I was there I really didn’t miss home I felt like I was where I needed to be.”

With last year being the first real taste of professional ball, I wanted to know what was the main thing he could take away from last season.

“I learned a ton of things, but the biggest thing was I can’t compare myself to other people. I got to be good at what I’m good at. You see all these good players around you, and you see what they do well. If you let that get in your head and you compare, it will eat you up. I learned that real quick within the first couple weeks. I would see another guys swing, and it wouldn’t work for me. I had to take a step back and just be myself.”

Looking at yourself in the mirror and assessing who you are is an everyday thing. As a ballplayer, you have to asses who you are on the diamond as well. So I asked Wright what kind of player is he.

“I’m a player who hits for power and average. I’m one who will work the counts and have good plate discipline. I’m a good base-runner; I’m not going to wow you with my speed or anything even though I’m working on it. I love the game, and I will always have a smile on my face.”

We talked a bit about his selflessness as well. “I would almost rather see someone else do succeed than myself. I get more joy out of seeing my buddy hit a home run than me hitting one out. When I play the game, I want to help out the next guy behind me. If I’m running bases, I want to get that next bag, so if he gets a base hit, he will get the RBI. A lot of people say pro ball is every man for himself, but if I can help out another guy, I will. I really enjoy the team aspect of baseball.”

I mentioned to Wright that he seemed like a future coach and had that mentality with his previous answer. He went on to say that’s something he would love to do and have some kind of hand in baseball. He also mentioned before when he was at JUCO, he coached a 12 and under team. Before the statewide shutdown, he was even coaching some kids. It sure seems like being a skipper is in his future someday.

In the advanced stats department, Wright mentioned some things but most notably exit velocity. “I try to stay in the 95-99 (MPH) range. I know if I’m not in the 95-99 range, I wasn’t my best that day. I look at that, and the consistent contact number, and I also love to see how far it goes. I like advanced stats, and the game is growing with analytics, and it’s cool to see the game of baseball is changing. I don’t let the numbers change my swing though I have my swing, and I like the way it’s going. I make adjustments when my coaches or coordinators tell me to. I don’t get caught up in launch angles and stuff like that. If you get caught up in things like that, bad habits start to form.”

Speaking of swing adjustments and coaches giving tips, I wanted to know what hitting coach Jonathan Prieto and Kieran Mattison hammered home with Jake last year. “They realized I was really good with my plate discipline, and they gave me a hot zone. They told me I need to absolutely hammer everything in that zone and stick to that zone. They said that’s what makes the difference between a good hitter and a great hitter when they own their zone.”

Wright told me his zone was the middle part of the strike zone inside and outside. He would lay off those border strikes for the most part unless, of course, he was staying alive in a two-strike approach. In the middle of the season, he struggled due to him being too patient. They told him to own his zone still but expand his strike zone a little bit, which then sent him on a tear towards the end of the season.

Wright is yet another outfielder within the Pittsburgh Pirates system that I’ve talked to, and like every other outfielder, I wanted to know where he is most comfortable. “I’m comfortable in the corners if they need me to I will play center, but I’m most comfortable in either right or left.” Whatever gets him in the lineup and enables him to get more swings is fine by Wright.

I wanted to know with the extra time available now since there is no baseball what he was working on in his workouts. “I’m working on getting faster and stronger. Since this is a really long off season, this gives players an advantage to people who put in the work for and get a lot of results. We have all this time to be grinding in the weight room and grinding with sprints to get stronger. You will see a separation of people who have put in the work when the season comes back. I don’t like the feeling of seeing somebody else working, and I’m not, so I always want to be working when someone else isn’t.”

With makeshift garage gyms and the struggle to get in proper workouts, I wanted to know if it has been the same for Wright. “Actually, no, the guy I work with who’s name is Evan Sisk has an at-home gym. He’s ten minutes away from my house, so when I’m done hitting, I will go over and lift weights. It’s got everything you need like a squat rack, dumbbells, leg press, and extensions. It’s been a blessing to have him, and we kind of push each other.”

Next. Revisiting the Joakim Soria Trade. dark

Now is time for the most important question of them all. I wanted to know where is the best place I can find some food in the legendary culinary world of South Carolina. “In Columbia South Carolina, it’s called Southern Belly BBQ.” It’s going to be tough to eat at all of these places the players have suggested me to eat at, but momma didn’t raise no punk, so I’ll go to all of them eventually.

Now, I don’t know if it was his southern drawl, but I could listen to him on a loop for a long time. Overall, Wright was a great interview and an even better person. With his work ethic and incredible ability to tell stories, I hope he makes it big just like every other guy I’ve talked too. Can’t wait till there is a season to root my guys on!

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