Jayden Gill '21 Recruiting Profile

Playing ball in the bigs…that is every Little League baseball player’s dream and I was no different.  What I didn’t realize at that age is that there is a lot more to getting there than just dreaming about it. 

I was quite literally raised in a cage.  My older brother is 8 and a half years older than me.  He played baseball his whole life and I tagged along with him and his teammates.  He was very competitive, and never let me win just because I was smaller, which pushed me tremendously.  I remember being 4 years old at one of his tournaments and his teammates gathered around me as I hit balls in a cage, impressed that I could do that at my age.

My grandpa has always been a huge role model in my life. Despite his age (he is 81) he still pushes himself with the things he loves and has taught me to do the same. Anything I set my mind to I feel as though I’ll be able to accomplish with hard work and determination.

I have worked hard throughout my baseball career and have some very high points as well as some not so high points. Throughout middle school, I never felt I was given the opportunity to show the coach what I was capable of because I did not get a lot of playing time. Instead of focusing on that, I decided to use the opportunity to become the best teammate I could.  I prided myself on always the first one on the field and the last one to leave.  I made it a point to be the first off the bench to pick up a teammate coming back into the dugout and always the one first out to the break between innings. 

The high school varsity coach saw this and asked me to play summer ball with his Single A American Legion team.  I walked away from that season with 1 defensive error and hitting above .600.  I feel like my resilience and coachability during my middle school years is what led the coach to ask me to play with him.

My freshman year, I was the starting first baseman for the freshman team and finished with another great season.  That summer, I played AA with the varsity coaches and helped lead the team to a 1^st place finish. 

My sophomore year, I was the starting varsity first baseman but struggled at the plate.  I finished with no defensive errors but only a .250 BA.  I struggled with my confidence and spent that summer working on my mental game of baseball.  That summer season on AA American Legion, I had a .400 BA and had 2 defensive errors. I also found a new love, coaching.  The varsity coach asked me to help coach and mentor the incoming 8^th graders and I enjoyed this immensely. 

Unfortunately, my junior year of baseball has been canceled due to COVID-19 and we just received notification that American Legion Baseball has been canceled as well.  I am excited to find out that at this point, my fall team is still scheduled and am hoping to find some camps to do once Washington State’s stay-at-home order is lifted. 

I struggled with my grades freshman year, but have worked hard to get them back on track the rest of my high school career.  I performed well on my PSAT but was notified that all SAT testing had been canceled until this coming fall, so am unable to take the SAT until then.

Although COVID-19 has derailed me, I am not allowing that to bring me down. I am working hard at maintaining my physical shape, working on my defensive skills and spending time each week in our batting cage.  Thankfully, I have a younger brother who is a freshman and able to pitch to me.  Through playing baseball throughout the years, I discovered a few things about myself; I love hard work, I am very competitive, and I always finish what I start.

While I was helping to coach the 8^th graders last summer, I was asked a question: ‘What college do you want to go to and why’?  At that point, I had not started researching colleges, but knew I would like to pursue a degree in Business Marketing or Biology.  I do not care if the college I attend is big or small, as long as I get to do what I love the most, play baseball.