Jack Roberts UVA
Jack Roberts (2013, RHP/1B, James River HS, Midlothian VA) to play for the University of Virginia
When the team that would eventually become the legendary Richmond Braves National ’08 team held its very first tryout in Bon Air, Virginia in 1999, a five year old named Jack Roberts was there. Through the years he has played with and been influenced by a generation of Braves stars and coaches but none more so than current Braves 17U coach David Hacker. Early on, Jack and a herd of little brothers found a willing a playmate on the road in Coach Hacker who doled out baseball instruction disguised as big fun when he played with the team’s exuberent siblings in between the big brothers’ games.
Twelve years later Jack sits at the top of his class, the product of a childhood spent at the ballpark. “Coach Hacker and I have known Jack since he was 5 and he always wanted to throw the baseball harder than everyone else,” says Braves co-founder Tommy Mayers. “It is no surprise that Jack has grown up to become one of the nation’s premier power arms in the 2013 class. He has the size, velocity, and pitchability to be a top pitcher in the ACC.”
Jack follows in the footsteps of other several other Braves hurlers by choosing UVA, including his brother Will Roberts, a fifth round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians out of the University of Virginia in 2011. “Coach O’Connor has landed another star pitcher from the Braves program and this one may be the best prepared of them all,” adds Coach Mayers. Congratulations to Jack and the Roberts family and Go Wahoos!