BOLD MOVE: Jake Bold takes a swing this spring in his junior season for the Princeton University baseball team. Star catcher Bold recently signed a contract to play for the San Diego Padres organization. Bold, who hails from La Jolla, Calif., is looking to someday play for his hometown team. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Justin Feil
Jake Bold was like lots of youngsters who grow up dreaming of playing for their hometown team.
The Princeton University product took a step toward living out his dream when he agreed in July to a contract to play for the San Diego Padres organization.
“It was pretty surreal,” said star catcher Bold, who grew up in La Jolla, Calif., only 20 minutes from San Diego. “I mean, I’ve been a Padres fan my entire life. I’d probably say when I’m home I go to five or 10 games a summer.”
Bold had the opportunity to play at the Padres’ Petco Park in high school while at La Jolla Country Day School. He’d like that opportunity some day for the parent club, but he’s not thinking that far ahead quite yet.
“Obviously I’m working towards getting to Petco and playing in front of my hometown fans, but I’m just filled with a sense of pride and wanting to be the best I can each day because I look down and I see ‘Padres’ on my jersey, I see ‘San Diego,’” said Bold. “All that stuff is driving me. It’s not just getting to Petco. I feel like I’m representing the organization already. And yeah, I’m trying to get to Petco, but each day I’m trying to get better because I’m representing the organization in every way.”
Bold is playing rookie ball as part of the Bridge League that supports exhibition-style games with players from the Arizona Complete League, which wrapped up its season only a couple of days after Bold completed his paperwork. He didn’t have a chance to play for the ACL Padres club before their season closed, but he’s getting his first taste of professional ball.
“When you’re out there every single day and you have someone to work with, you’re very much in the present because you know how far you have to go,” said Bold. “And it’s kind of like you can’t really trick yourself in that way, you know you’re not good enough now. But what you’re doing is working towards being good enough to be at Petco Park.”
Bold will be playing through September 1 and then after a couple of weeks of instructional league, he will return to Princeton to start his senior year. His plan is to finish his degree over the next two fall semesters, something other Princeton baseball players that have signed ahead of graduating have also done in the past.
“He’s a terrific, terrific athlete who loves baseball,” said Princeton head coach Scott Bradley of the 6’0, 215-pound Bold. “He’s a little like Mike Ford, who was an undrafted free agent. People seem to think he’s not good. Teams called Jake Bold up in the 14th and 15th round. They’re trying to save bonus pool money. Once the draft ends, they’re not tied to the bonus pool and they can give him a good bit of money and pay for his last year of school. The Padres are his NIL (name, image and likeness) money.”
Bold’s signing means his college eligibility has expired as he is now focusing on advancing up the professional ladder.
“When you get to pro ball, you realize it’s like nothing is good enough,” said Bold. “There’s always something to strive towards. And there’s always something to try to get better at. And just being able to stack days is the hugest thing.”
Bold grew plenty in his three years with the Tigers. He has a hard time recognizing what he was like as a freshman catcher thanks to plenty of working with former Princeton assistant KJ Hallgren, who’s now with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bold did make an immediate impact at Princeton though. He started 34 games as a freshman before starting the final 87 games of his college career for the Tigers. He led Princeton this spring in batting average (.260), RBIs (27) and on-base plus slugging (.915).
“His bat to ball skills are really good and he’s really improved as a catcher,” said Bradley. “He went and did some workouts with teams. He walked in our door and hit third and fourth for us right away. He’s been our best hitter for us over the course of the last three years. He went last summer to the Northwoods League and hit .330 in a great college league with 12 or 13 home runs. A lot of the scouts have more emphasis on what the kids do in the summer than even college because they have wood bats in their hands and they can just focus on being baseball players. I don’t think anyone has any clue what our Princeton players go through on a regular basis that take away from their ability to just go out and play ball. They have a few other things on their plate.”
Bold also managed a Princeton staff that had its share of talent. Sophomore Scott Episcope was drafted this June in the fifth round by the Milwaukee Brewers.
“When he’s healthy, he’s got big league stuff, he really does,” said Bold. “It’s pretty remarkable to watch. I know he’s the only guy that I will say without hyperbole he’s the best pitcher I’ve ever caught. And I know he only threw 20 innings, but it’s pretty remarkable to see how he thinks about the game.”
After this spring, Bold knew through his advisor that there were teams interested in him. He worked out for a few of them, and he started the summer playing for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the prestigious Cape Cod League. When Major League Baseball’s draft came, he was cautiously optimistic that he’d be picked up by some team. Teams began gauging his willingness to sign after the 10th round, but Bold was done negotiating after he heard from another Princeton University graduate, Adam Esquer. Esquer never played baseball for Princeton but he works in San Diego’s front office and he reached out to say the Padres wanted to sign Bold following the draft.
“I kind of jumped at that,” said Bold. “I didn’t really want to even hear out anything else. That’s kind of a hometown thing.”
Bold had to get all of his belongings out of his Cape Cod League hosts’ home and make his way to San Diego to officially sign his contract. Bold felt bad about leaving his Cape team before the season ended, but he wanted to get moving on his next steps.
“A lot of guys will leave during the summer and just leave because they want to go home,” said Bold. “I had a genuine excuse, this was a pretty big excuse. So they were totally cool about it.”
Returning home to sign a professional contract was particularly emotional. When he wrapped up all the loose ends, he just walked outside his house to relish the moment and contact his friends and family with the news.
“I’ll remember that for the rest of my life,” said Bold.
He is still grasping it all – the Padres jersey with “Bold” on the back, the locker with his name and the team logo, the chance to go back home to represent and try to rise in the organization that has been working to change its culture to that of a playoff team.
“Being able to play for them is pretty unique and something I don’t take for granted,” said Bold. “It’s something that I’m just very, very, very grateful for them giving me this opportunity.”
Princeton played a big part in it by helping him develop to earn the opportunity. He will be back working out with the Princeton team in a few weeks and offering help to other Tiger players working toward fulfilling their dreams. He’s living proof that their dreams can happen too.
“He’s an offensive-minded catcher,” said Bradley. “He has a chance to move up.”