Casting his own shadow: TJA senior living up to his name

Destiny is a funny thing. Even when it is written for us, etched in stone or foretold in the blessing of a name, we always still have to reach out and take it for ourselves.

Jason and Charla Cobb of Louisville knew when they gave their second son his name, Joshua Ty Cobb, that they were setting him on one of two paths.

“I lost a bet, I just knew I was having a girl,” Charla said.

Jason, who had played baseball in college himself, and whose love for the sport has never dimmed, named him after the unrelated rural Georgia-born MLB star Ty Cobb, who set 90 records during his baseball career, was known for his aggressive base running and winning nine consecutive batting titles from 1907 to 1915 and later two more.

“I told Jason, if we name him that, you better hope he likes baseball and you better hope he’s good, or he’s going to get made fun of,” Charla said shortly after her son officially signed his official commitment to play college ball for the Augusta University Jaguars. “I think we named him right.”

Ty, the Thomas Jefferson Academy senior, has loved baseball as long as he has loved anything. Even as a small child, in the 10-and-under division he and his Wrens Dixie Youth team won the state tournament where he set several records, one for hitting five homeruns, another for his batting average and a third for his 22 strikeouts.

A year or two later he joined a travel ball team that competed across the southeastern United States, from Atlanta, to Myrtle Beach to Orlando to win a world series in their age group.

Last year, as a high school junior, with a batting average of .525, an on-base percentage of .674, 45 RBIs, 10 doubles, 3 home runs, a record of 7-1, two saves, an ERA of 0.98, and 80 strike outs he was named GIAA Single A state Player of the Year.

Now he is looking forward to moving on and playing at the next level with Augusta University.

“When you’re little every kid wants to go pro,” Ty said recently. “Right now, I’m just excited that I get to continue to play.”

AU was always on the list of schools he hoped to play for. Not only is it close to home, but he also knows and has played with other players on the team.

“I went to a camp there, did really good and later got a text asking her to come visit,” he said. “I loved the coaches. They really seemed to care about their players. It was everything I could ask for.”

Ty's high school baseball coach for the last two seasons, Andy Bonifay, said that he first met Ty when he was little and came to several camps organized by Bonifay’s father. He was really glad to reconnect with him over the last couple of years.

“From what I know of him at that age, he has always loved baseball. Even now, that love for the sport hasn’t disappeared at all,” Bonifay said. “You get those kids who are really good at an early age and it’s always a good sign, but you never really know what’s going to happen when they get to high school. Will they continue their development or have they reached their peak too early and leveled out. Ty has continued to develop year in and year out.”

Bonifay called Ty an extremely disciplined worker who does everything he can on his own, both in and out of the regular season, to improve all of his skills and athleticism.

“When he’s not pitching, he’s playing first base,” Bonifay said. “He really succeeds at a high level in both hitting and pitching in our league. He’s pretty natural with both. I think he’s leaning towards pitching in college, but in our league he’s the best hitter, and that’s determined by coaches across the state. It was pretty unanimous.”

Ty says he just likes to compete, to get out there and have fun with his friends, says he always has.

Jason, his dad, says Ty has always stood out among the kids he played with, partly because he always practiced with kids a lot older than him. He grew with an older brother who played travel ball and Ty was always out there competing with and playing with those older boys.

His mom, Charla, remembers the first game Ty was thrown out of.

“It was the very first live-pitch game he played in,” she said. “He was running the bases and came into home plate hot and just took the catcher out, just wiped him out. Ty was probably six years old. The umpire told him that was a great MLB move, but they couldn’t allow it in that league.”

When Ty was a freshman and his brother Aiden was a senior, they got to play on the TJA Jaguar team together and that year they won a state championship.

Bonifay said that while a lot of kids sign to play ball in college and bring just one particular exceptional skill to the table, Ty’s talent is more muti-faceted.

“He has a great glove at first base,” his mom said.

“He does. His defense is crazy,” his father added. “If it’s in the area code where he can catch it or scoop it, he’s going to get it. He has great hand-eye. He’ll strike out on something that was a ball because he knew it wasn’t a strike,” his dad said.

“The umpire might call it a strike, but he’ll say he isn’t going to swing at something that isn’t a strike,” Charla said.

“He’s just seen so much,” Jason said. “He’s been all over, played short, first, third. His knowledge and his baseball IQ is real good. I quit coaching him early, wanting him to get it on his own. And he wants it.”

His dad said he did not want to Ty to burn out on the sport, and he never did.

He said that while pitching, his son works the zone real well.

He’s not overpowered he said, but throws regularly in the 85 to 86 mph range as a lefty adn has good breaking stuff.

“But the main this that nothing bothers him,” Jason said. “Brentwood, a big rival, can be over there chanting and talking trash, and the louder they talk, the bigger he smiles. He’s zoned in on what he’s doing."

This past spring, as a junior, Ty had 35 RBIs in 25 games.

“He’s getting almost two RBIs a game,” Bonifay said. “He’s the guy we want up with runners in front of him. And pitching wise he won seven games and lost one to the AAA state champions. He threw 43 innings this spring and struck out 80 guys, so he’s almost at the two strikeouts per inning mark. And on top of that he’s a great defensive first baseman. He isn’t contributing just one thing, plus is baseball IQ. He’s the smartest guy on the field, our best pitcher, our best hitter and he’s up there as one of our best defenders.”

Ty said that he has learned a lot from different coaches and competitors over the years, but really, every bit of what he knows about the sport goes back to the person who first set him on the path, the man who named him after a baseball legend, his dad.

“He taught he everything I know,” Ty said. “I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I am left-handed. I had to start getting lessons young because I wouldn’t listen to him. He said the same things. I’m not sure why I could listen to this other guy, but wouldn’t listen to my dad. It’s funny, I’ll be at a pitching lesson now and the coach will tell me some tip and it will be something dad told me when I was young. I’m thinking, I heard that one before.”

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Casting his own shadow: TJA senior Ty Cobb living up to his name