UConn’s Jacob Wallace ‘through the moon’ as he goes to work with Red Sox idols
Jacob Wallace spent much of his first full professional season looking for an open space in his Massachusetts hometown.
“I went back home from spring training and I started throwing with one of my buddies from high school,” Wallace said. “We were just hopping from field to field, trying to not to get kicked off the field by cops. We actually got kicked off three times. The fields were closed, but we were the only two people on the field, I had to get my throwing in somehow.
“They were nice about it. They were just doing their job, and we were trying to do ours.”
Eventually, Methuen High opened it artificial turf field and Wallace, with his catcher, Brett Blackwell, who plays at Worcester State, were able to get their work in regularly.
When masks become a memory, Wallace will be much better known around Methuen, Mass., and probably have a little clout. He’s not just a professional player anymore, he’s with the Red Sox.
The Rockies, who drafted Wallace in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft, sent him to Boston Friday as the player to be named later in the trade for veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar.
Tuesday, Wallace will fly to Fort Myers, Fla., for instructional camp at Fenway South.
“I kind of calmed down the other day,” Wallace said, “I mean, I was still through the moon with excitement, but I kind of calmed down and then I said, ‘Let me check the front office and the staff and all the pitching coaches and see everyone I’m going to be meeting down there.' And the first three names I see are Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek and David Ortiz as special assistants to the GM, and I started going nuts again. I mean, three huge names and the fact they’re going to be down there, roaming around, is insane to me.”
Wallace, a 6-foot-1, 190 pound righthanded reliever, unheralded out of high school, became a star at UConn. By his junior year, 2019, he was touching 100 MPH on the radar gun, and putting hitters away with his slider. He was 3-1 with 16 saves and an 0.64 ERA, with 68 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 42 innings. With the Huskies facing elimination in the NCAA Regional at Oklahoma City, Wallace struck out all seven Oklahoma batters he faced to nail down the win. The next day, he retired all eight he faced, striking out five, but Oklahoma had pushed the winning runs across before he came in.
Video of those performances made the rounds on social media all over again once Wallace became Red Sox property.
“Being able to have that performance when my team needed it the most was awesome, a great feeling,” Wallace said. “I can definitely use that as a reset in my mind, if I’m ever struggling, or if something happens that doesn’t go my way, I can look back and use that.”
The Red Sox had scouted him intensely, but the Rockies took him with the 100th overall pick, seven before Boston picked in the third round.
When he began playing in the Rockies' organization, Wallace discovered that every batter he faced was the equivalent of a middle-of-the-order, Division I college hitter, but that didn’t slow him down. He had 12 saves for Class A Boise, allowing nine hits, walking nine and striking out 29 in 21 innings.
Wallace reported to Arizona in January and spent two months there before the Rockies had to close down their complex due to the pandemic. He has been working on a new, shortened arm path that the Rockies think will prevent injuries and allow for better command of his fastball, and he is working on a third pitch, a circle-grip changeup.
After returning home to Methuen in March, Wallace had to work on his own, the minor-league season ultimately canceled.
“I would have had to work on the little tweaks the Rockies wanted in-season, and expected to do just as well while working on those things,” Wallace said. “It would have been really tough. Having this time off, it was good in that way, but I would definitely have rather had a season.”
Last Friday, Wallace got the call from Rockies GM Jeff Bridich with news of the trade. He has been filling out forms, taking COVID-19 tests, and has a physical exam scheduled before he goes to work for his hometown team. Next season, he could start in advanced Class A, or Double A Portland, which would bring him through Hartford. The Red Sox closer, at the moment, is another former Husky, Matt Barnes, who helped them win the World Series in 2018.
In the early stages of a rebuild, the Red Sox could figure on Wallace’s as late-inning stopper when they are in position to challenge for the playoffs again.
“My favorite players, definitely Pedro Martinez, all-time great,” Wallace said, “and Craig Kimbrel. Always a big fan of David Ortiz and all the excitement he brought. Then when I was in college, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers — those guys are phenomenal players.”
And Wallace could soon be one of them. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s pretty great.”
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com
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