Jaylyn Hubbard’s baseball journey has taken him all over the country, and he is ready to bring his abilities to Grand Junction.
Hubbard went to college in his home state of Texas at Texas State University, where he spent five seasons playing in the Sun Belt Conference. The Washington Nationals then drafted him in the 27th round of the 2019 draft.
COVID-19 put Hubbard’s MLB career on hold, and then he was hoping to get a full season going into the 2021 season, but due to an injury at the end of spring training, Hubbard stayed in Florida to rehab in extended spring training.
“I could kind of see that was the nail in the coffin with the Nationals organization. I finally got healthy, got back on the field, I felt pretty good, and then they called me in the office one day and were like hey man, we can’t make the space for you,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard then got a call from Sussex County, an independent team in New Jersey.
“I headed up there like three days after I got home from Houston from West Palm Beach. […] They were a really hot team when I arrived there, so I was like, I’m sure they really don’t want to mess with their recipe right now, so I was just chillin’ there,” Hubbard said.
While he did not see the playing time that he was hoping for while in New Jersey, Hubbard was able to take that opportunity and learn from the guys around him and better his game for the next step in his career.
“I learned a lot from a lot of older dudes who have been in independent ball for a while, and they really taught me a lot in terms of the game and how to carry yourself and in just what you need to do to get out of independent ball and on an affiliated team. So I am expecting to apply what I learned up there,” Hubbard said.
While Hubbard has worked in the cage and taken ground balls like every infielder does throughout the offseason, he has also been working on his speed and running the bases.
“The thing that I am focused on this offseason is running the bases full speed more because I feel like everyone does their little running program or stuff, but essentially that is what put me on the shelf with the Nationals is trying to turn a double into a triple,” Hubbard said. It is hard to replicate game speed unless you do it at game speed nearly every other day of the offseason, so once you get in a game, that speed is normal to you.”
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