Saint Louis senior Jordan Yamamoto has given an oral commitment to play baseball at the University of Arizona, he said Wednesday night.
Yamamoto called Arizona his “dream school from his freshman year” and earned a nice scholarship offer after topping out at 92-93 MPH at the Area Code tryouts for the Milwaukee Brewers at Westmont College in Montecito, Calif.
Yamamoto immediately received interest from a host of colleges, including Oregon, Utah and Loyola Marymount. Once the Wildcats came calling and Yamamoto met with the coaching staff, led by head coach Andy Lopez, the decision was a no-brainer.
“I wasn’t really expecting too much when I went up there,” Yamamoto said. “After the tryouts, I got a bunch of phone calls but the one that stood out was the University of Arizona. That was my dream school from my freshman year.”
Yamamoto said he topped out at about 88 MPH during his junior year at Saint Louis, which ended with a 2-1 loss in 13 innings to ‘Iolani in a playoff for the ILH’s second state tournament berth. After working out in the summer, he said his fastball velocity jumped to about 90, but he never thought he’d touch 92 and 93 on the gun like he did in California.
“That surprised me at first,” he said. “Down here I throw slower. When I went up there I didn’t know I was that fast until they told me I was throwing 93. I think the air up there is thinner. That’s why the ball was a little bit faster.”
Highlights of Yamamoto’s junior season:
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