Red Sox selection LHP Jeremy Wu-Yelland a ‘special moment’ for scout J.J. Altobelli
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 lefthanded 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 helicop
ter 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, firstyear 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 WuYelland 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 Wu-Yelland 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.