Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Jake Eder eager to prove himself
Boynton Beach native eager to prove himself after being drafted by hometown Marlins
It was July of 2006. Young Jake Eder, his mother and his friend were watching a Florida Marlins game in their living room in Boynton Beach. Dontrelle Willis, who was on the hill that night, stepped into the batters box with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Willis turned on a high fastball, driving it way out over the right field fence for a grand slam.
“We were freaking out,” Eder said over the phone this week, “me and my friend, jumping all over the couch, going insane.”
Eder’s reaction was a bit more measured last Thursday, when his name was called in the fourth round of the MLB Draft at pick No. 104 to the now-Miami Marlins, the organization he grew up rooting for. But the feeling was no less jubilant.
“I expected to hear my name at some point, I just didn’t know when,” he said. “So that kind of unknown was just kinda there. When I did, it was exciting. It was awesome.”
Eder began charting his course at Atlantic High School, before transferring to Calvary
Christian Academy for his senior year in 2017. At Calvary Christian, he posted 81 strikeouts and a 1.25 ERA, earning him South Florida Sun Sentinel All-County honors. PerfectGame ranked Eder the best left-handed arm in the state and the sixth best in the nation in 2017.
Though he was drafted by the New York Mets in the 34th round, Eder opted to honor his commitment to college baseball powerhouse Vanderbilt instead, where he jumped into the rotation immediately.
But that linear ascent — blue-chip high school talent to the best college program in the country to the starting rotation as a freshman — plateaued there, as Eder posted a 5.46
ERA in nine starts in 2018. He moved to the bullpen in 2019, where he enjoyed more success, including pitching the final three innings of the College World Series win over Michigan.
But what endeared Eder to Marlins’ director of scouting DJ Svihlik most was his performance in the Cape Cod League over the summer, where, amid a group of the best talent in amateur baseball, Eder stood out. He posted a 2.29 ERA in four starts, striking out 24 while walking just six. In an environment swarmed with scouts and front office personnel, Eder opened eyes.
“Take a look at what Jake
Eder did in the Cape versus what he’s done at Vanderbilt, and ask yourself why,” Svihlik said.
“It’s my job to know why. And it’s my job to bet on Jake Eder that the environment he’s pitching in will have a very big impact on his success.”
Svihlik did not explain his “why” any further, though by nature of his answer, he appears to have one. Eder has a simpler explanation.
“We came off our run at the World Series. I had been pitching well,” he said. “And I went into the Cape, and I kind of got into a starting routine and starting role, and just kind of had the consistency, had a lot of fun more than anything up there. I think that’s part of it, too.”
That, he reasoned, was transitioning well into what promised to be a breakout junior season. Eder won the third spot in the Commodores’ starting rotation and held his own in four starts, going 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA. Things were trending up.
“The best is ahead of this young man, for sure,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said on MLB Network during the draft.”
That is all prologue now on a professional career that officially took flight last week. Eder is focused now on staying in shape, biding his time until the next steps are made clear.
The end goal, of course, is to be in a position to have a D-Train moment of his own, to toe the rubber at Marlins Park, in front of his family, for his hometown team.
“I guess I haven’t really thought about that,” Eder said. “I mean, it would be unbelievable. It would be awesome. That’s the goal, so yeah, it would be unbelievable.”