Pick a ‘special moment’ for sox scout Altobelli
Summer on Cape boosted Wu-Yelland’s confidence
J.J. Altobelli was with his fiancé Carly at their home in Southern California on Thursday night, watching MLB Network’s coverage of the draft and monitoring the final rounds, when he received a call from Dan Madsen, a Red Sox scouting cross-checker on the west coast.
It was close to 6 p.m. local time and the Red Sox were about to make their fourth-round draft choice at No. 118 overall. Altobelli, a West Coast area scout for the Red Sox, knew a call from Madsen likely meant a player he scouted was at least in the discussion to be taken.
Sure enough, Madsen was calling to tell Altobelli that the Red Sox were about to select Jeremy Wu-Yelland, a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher from the University of Hawaii who he had been scouting since 2018.
In most cases, a pick like that would fall under the radar. But this choice meant more. A lot more.
For Altobelli, the moment was even more special because of what he’s been through this year. On Jan. 26, Altobelli’s father, John, stepmother, Keri, and sister, Alyssa, died in the helicopter crash that also claimed former NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. John was a longtime college baseball coach who spent 27 years at Orange Coast College in California, and was one of the most respected amateur baseball coaches in the country.
The moment wasn’t lost inside the Red Sox scouting department. In his post-draft remarks, first-year scouting director Paul Toboni made it a point to praise the work Altobelli did in the face of tragedy, and said that under normal draft circumstances — when draft picks would be announced internally on a conference line — he would have dedicated the pick to Altobelli and his family.
At home, the news that Wu-Yelland was getting picked even left Altobelli a bit speechless.
“I was thrilled,” Altobelli said. “I was kind of in shock, honestly, but I can’t be happier and it meant a lot. …
“There’s no doubt it was a really special moment for me personally. Every draft pick you have I think is special to the area scout, but for me, this year and what’s gone on, Jeremy being selected, it’ll be a moment I’ll never forget. He’ll always be connected to me now for something that’s been a big positive out of this year for me.”
‘There for a reason’
Altobelli’s special moment
Thursday was the culmination of more than a year of hard work on Wu-Yelland that began with a chance discovery in the fall of 2018.
Altobelli was in Hawaii scouting draft-eligible players. But Wu-Yelland, then a sophomore and not yet draft eligible, was hard to miss. Altobelli saw him throw in an intersquad action and was immediately struck by an electric fastball that was hitting 94 mph, and he left excited about continuing to scout him.
But Wu-Yelland still had a lot of work to do to prove he was worthy of a high draft pick. Though he had shown glimpses of his raw talent in his first two years at Hawaii, he was inconsistent, posting an ERA over 5.00 that was fueled by command issues. He needed some help.
To get his pitcher right, Hawaii baseball coach Mike Trapasso had just the idea after the 2019 season ended. He called up Tom Holliday, who he used to pitch for at Oklahoma State, and asked him if he’d be willing to take WuYelland on the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod Baseball League, arguably the best college summer league in the country.
“(Trapasso) said, ‘I got a guy, he’s got enormous potential that I’m just not reaching him, it just hasn’t happened yet and I think the Cape would be good for him and I know how much you could do for him,’” Holliday recalled. It worked, but it wasn’t easy. When Wu-Yelland got to the Cape, Holliday noticed the lefty was quiet, lacking in confidence and slow to trust the process that was being mapped out for him. The way Holliday coached was that he let all his players start from scratch. He observed, watched, and drew conclusions without worrying where or who they’ve been, but instead who they are and want to be.
“I explained that to him and he looked at me funny, like this guy’s coming from Mars,” Holliday said.
Slowly but surely, Wu-Yelland caught on. Chatham pitching coach Dennis Cook, who pitched for 15 years in the majors, was a big help. Wu-Yelland connected with him as a fellow lefty, and Cook kept his approach simple with the young pitcher, who warmed up to the advice he was getting.
“Cookie comes and says, ‘Hey man, you know what? He kind of changed a little bit today. He asked a couple questions. He’s
starting to loosen up a little bit. He wasn’t as intimidated.’ …
“I tried to let him know he’s not inferior, you’re superior. You have a great arm, you have a chance to be a big-leaguer. I don’t think he ever believed that.”
Holliday let Wu-Yelland throw how he felt without restrictions and that helped him relax into his talent. His newfound comfort showed as he posted a 3.15 ERA in 10 appearances — which was better than the numbers show due to one bad outing — with 26 strikeouts in 25M innings. Holliday used him strictly out of the bullpen in late-inning situations with the lead, and he excelled in that role.
“Every little thing about pitching that Jeremy had struggled with, we attacked it,” Holliday said. “Right down to where we were saying, ‘You’re special. I’d like to put you in games where we have a chance to win.’ And he’s like, ‘Seriously?’ He’s never had that kind of responsibility. …
“By the time we got to the last three weeks of the season in the Cape, we wanted Wu out there to win games. He accepted it really well. … I mean, he was electric. Obviously, the Red Sox paid attention.”
And clearly, Wu-Yelland had gained a level of confidence he didn’t have before.
“Jeremy was there for a reason and the personality, coming out of that shell, that happened,” Holliday said. “His mother was the first one to notice it and she was really appreciative and said nice things to my wife about how much she was enjoying it. That was important, because I knew then that he was listening to us.”
Wu-Yelland carried that momentum back to school for his junior season. He had an impressive fall season in which he made some mechanical adjustments, developed his changeup and even improved his velocity.
Though he was tempted to make him a starter, which he was as a sophomore, Trapasso put Wu-Yelland in that high-leverage reliever role, and he noticed a different pitcher, one that was pounding the zone, commanding his pitches and trusting his stuff. The results continued as he produced a 0.69 ERA in seven appearances and struck out 16 in 13 innings in a shortened season due to the pandemic. The highlight came on March 1, when he dominated against No. 2 Vanderbilt with six strikeouts in four shutout innings.
Wu-Yelland had finally arrived, and he could point to that summer on the Cape as the biggest reason why.
“You take your car to the shop to get it fixed, you hope that they fix it, and so (Trapasso) sent him to the shop and we fixed him,” Holliday said. “I still don’t think he’s finished. I thought whoever picked him was gonna get a steal. The Red Sox did it. …
“Jeremy getting drafted did not surprise me and quite frankly, if the Red Sox keep handling him right, you’re going to have a special arm there.”