The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jankins the latest in line of Quinnipiac success stories
These are heady times for Quinnipiac athletics.
The women’s basketball team is fresh off a miracle run to the Sweet 16, the hockey team is a perennial power and the men’s basketball team just hired a young coach with great pedigree who the school is betting can take it to the next level.
Meanwhile, perhaps a bit lost in the shuffle, junior righthander Thomas Jankins was selected in the 13th round of the MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers last June. He was the highest-drafted Quinnipiac player since Bryan Sabatella was a ninthround selection in 2005, and the third-highest pick since 1986, when MLB went to just one draft each June.
“It was a nice honor,” said Jankins, “but once you get playing, it’s really not that important. It’s all thrown out the window when you’re playing games. You don’t go around telling guys on the field what round you were picked. When you’re pitching against them, it doesn’t matter.”
Longtime big-league reliever Turk Wendell, a fifthround pick by the Braves in 1988, remains the school’s highest draft pick and only product ever to reach the majors.
Jankins is now in his first full season of pro ball with Class A Wisconsin, and he’s doing just fine. He had a bit of a hiccup in his last outing, coughing up six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, but otherwise has given the Timber Rattlers at least five innings in every outing — including 7 1/3 innings of four-hit, onerun ball in a win over Clinton in his prior outing on May 17.
“It’s been a little up and down so far this season,” Jankins said by phone last week, “but I’ve been able to string together a couple of good ones. (May 17) was the deepest I’ve gone into a game so far. I’m still trying to learn all the hitters, get used to my first full season. Once I get adjusted to that, I think it will go pretty well.”
Jankins, who grew up a Red Sox fan in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, signed with the Brewers the day after being selected last June.
“It was always my goal since I was a little kid to play pro baseball,” he said. “I wasn’t too picky about what I wanted, how I wanted it to go. If it was possible to skip my senior year, I was ready to make the jump.”
Quinnipiac head coach John Delaney wasn’t surprised to see Jankins go relatively high.
“We knew his talent was good enough to play, which is really a credit to everything he’s done,” Delaney said. “He would legit work his (behind) off every day, put in the time and effort to the point where he was in a scenario to be drafted that high.”
Delaney added that pro scouts he talked to all said the same thing about Jankins: “He’s a different beast on the mound. He’s such a competitor. It’s rare to find a player like that, with a skill set like that. Even if he didn’t have his best stuff, he’d keep going and get you seven innings, whether he allowed four runs scored or zero.”
Jankins reported to rookie-level Helena, pitched well and got promoted to Wisconsin, where he posted a 3.20 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts). He’s strictly been a starter this season and currently sports a 4.65 ERA after nine starts.
Jankins is treading in some familiar territory: Delaney was also drafted by the Brewers (in 2008) and spent a season with the Timber Rattlers, who are based in Appleton, Wisconsin. In fact, the Rattlers’ current manager, Matt Erickson, was Delaney’s hitting coach.
“I really enjoy being in Appleton,” said Jankins, adding that the life of a minor-leaguer “is a grind, for sure. But there are certainly a lot of worse jobs to have than playing baseball every day. I remind myself of that on the long bus trips, that I could be doing something much more different.”
Jankins returned to Quinnipiac to take classes this past fall and is now one semester short of graduating, something he plans on completing “whenever I get a chance.”
Ah yes, Quinnipiac. Jankins is still a big fan of his alma mater from afar.
“They’ve definitely tried to take the program to the next level,” he said. “I followed everything: hockey, the basketball team, especially the baseball team this spring. I was always following the live stats. I take a lot of pride in Quinnipiac. A lot of people who leave there feel the same way. It’s a small school, with a tight-knit group of athletes.”