Get to Know Ty Jacobs
With a Lifetime of Baseball Knowledge, Ty Aims to Lead Colorado Players of All Ages to Victories Beyond the Game
Baseball runs in the family for HitStreak General Manager Ty Jacobs. His grandfather on his mom’s side played at The University of Oklahoma. His father also played collegiately and professionally. But Ty’s natural passion and love for the game has given him his own experiences and perspective as he has charted his path in baseball.
In high school at Cherokee Trail, Ty amazingly was an All-State infielder, All-State outfielder and was named the Colorado Pitcher of the Year. Needless to say, he knows the game. Growing up in Colorado, playing at both the University of Northern Colorado and Metro State, running baseball operations at HitStreak, and now coaching at the high school level, he also knows the Colorado baseball landscape inside and out.
His exploits on the field though are not what drives him these days, but rather a bigger perspective both on and off the field. Ty is married to his beautiful wife Nichole and father to two amazing girls, Sawyer and Harper. He runs the day-to-day and team operations at HitStreak and he’s the Varsity Head Baseball Coach at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch. While pushing and encouraging players of all ages to become the best players they can be, what Ty is most passionate about is helping them to be the best versions of themselves long after each player is done playing the game.
These lessons and leadership traits blur the lines between life and baseball, which for Ty have often been indistinguishable.
Get to know Ty more through this interview where he talks about his playing experiences, how they shaped him for a future in baseball, the difference between the youth and high school levels and what he wants out of HitStreak teams and players.
On getting back into baseball and coaching after playing:
“If you had asked me when I was 21, ‘what are you going to do when you grow up?’ I would have still told you to play baseball. God had other plans and for a while I struggled with that. I didn't know why I didn't keep playing baseball and why I didn't get more opportunities to keep doing that. I got to go play overseas for a little bit and it was very fun but I guess growing up I always thought it was going to be more than that and I felt God tugging at my heartstrings to come back. A coach that I grew up playing for was the JV coach at Rock Canyon High School and he called me one day and said the coach just left and it was him and 86 kids for the fall and he needed some help. I started going over there every afternoon for a few weeks until they hired somebody and then he wanted to keep me on a staff but in my current life situation I had to be behind a desk 40-50 hours a week. I kept praying about it and I felt like God was telling me to do it and I was a little timid. I asked God to make it so clear to me I couldn't say no. I went to church that weekend, and they were preaching on Matthew 6. And one of the main verses is the birds don't sew up and reap for the next season…God always provides their meals for them, and they don't worry about where their next meal is coming from. I went in the next day, put in my two-week notice. I found an ad that Scott had posted for HitStreak and came in and met with him.”
On what makes HitStreak teams different:
“I think there's a lot of good baseball people involved in all the clubs out there. I really do. But my main goal, me and Scott, we talked about we wanted to do something just different than other people are doing. Part of that being different is we saw a lot of kids and teams around that are very skilled today – I think kids are more skilled than we were when we grew up playing – but I think they've lost the art of playing team baseball. I think the respect and the character has gone downhill on the ball field, if I'm being honest. You hear a lot more chirping and getting on umpires and parents and kids. When we started teams, I really wanted it to be different so we build in character training and leadership training to all of our kids. I think that's just a really important aspect where —at the end of the day—all these kids are going to be done playing baseball at some point…then what type of person are you? That's really what matters in life is what kind of son are you? What kind of friend are you? What kind of husband are you going to be? I think taking that a step further and really developing the person at the same time as the baseball player is really important.”
On his relationship with HitStreak players and teams:
“We’re never going to be an organization that has 50 teams out there. We keep it small by design. We have eight baseball teams and eight softball teams. I want to be able to know the families and know the kids when they come in here. And if a kid has an issue to be able just to walk up and talk to me like I'm his friend, not just he's not another number that's coming through here. I want it just to be personal.”
On developing baseball players on the field:
“We're not reinventing the wheel. Getting good at baseball is kind of boring if we're being honest. It’s repeating the same simple movements over and over and over and over again until you don't have to think about it and whether that's a 9-year-old or an 18-year-old those principles hold the same. I think the fundamentals are really what separates. The people who are the best at fundamentals excel and the people who are shaky on their fundamentals have trouble so from that standpoint it's pretty similar.”
