Jacob Hurtubise pauses military service to chase baseball dream with Cincinnati Reds

C.J. Gillman, the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league hitting coordinator, knows what it’s like to play against Jacob Hurtubise.

Gillman was an assistant hitting coach at Air Force during the 2019 season when Hurtubise starred at Army as a prolific leadoff hitter and talented defender in center field. When the two schools matched up against each other for their season opener, the scouting report on Hurtubise said to prepare for him to bunt.

With his elite speed, it’s important to keep him off the base paths. But that’s easier said than done.

Hurtubise laid down a bunt toward third base and reached safely in the top of the first inning. He advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on another passed ball.

That was just a sign of things to come. Hurtubise reached base five times and scored five times. Army won 17-2.

“Hurtubise is an absolute weapon,” Gillman said. “I remember, it was like, OK this guy will bunt. We had our third baseman like a step in off the grass. He still laid a drag bunt down. … It was pretty cool the way he created on-base opportunities and then he was devastating on the bases, stealing bases.”

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Hurtubise signed with the Reds as a non-drafted free agent last summer and he became the first baseball player to sign a pro contract after former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper endorsed a policy to allow military service academy graduates with a realistic chance of a pro career to delay their military service obligations.

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He had one of the most decorated careers in Patriot League history, setting league career records for walks (142) and stolen bases (105). He began thinking seriously about a pro baseball career after he led the nation in stolen bases (42) as a sophomore in 2018 and he helped lead the Black Knights to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years.

Then he put up video game numbers in 2019: .375 batting average, .541 on-base percentage, 45 stolen bases and 71 runs in 61 games. He earned All-American honors and was the league’s defensive player of the year. The Seattle Mariners took him in the 39th round of the MLB Draft, which made him the first Cadet to be drafted since 2015.

“Thinking back on those specific games in those seasons, it is cool, but it’s more than just me being fast,” Hurtubise said. “It’s my teammates pushing me, my coaches believing in me. I can’t take all the credit for my accomplishments over the four years, but it is something cool that I’ll be able to look back on.”

His speed and ability to reach base were legendary. He even started as a freshman despite breaking a bone in his hand, his hamate, two weeks before their season opener. He knew it’d affect his swing, but that’s how much the coaching staff valued his speed.

"Guys talk about me playing with a high motor," Hurtubise said. "I feel like I play baseball at one speed and it’s always been kind of fast. That’s something I pride myself on."

He began to draw more interest from teams after a successful summer season in the Cape Cod League in 2019. It was a step up in competition and he posted a .313 batting average and .429 OBP in 21 games with six stolen bases.

So, when there were changes to the MLB Draft process this summer amid the pandemic, he didn’t have too many concerns.

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“I had been approved before the draft, so if a team was going to offer me, I was going to be able to go play,” Hurtubise said. “There was no concern there. I was getting interest from a couple of different teams, so I was pretty sure after the draft – after I didn’t get drafted – that I would be given an opportunity, at least, to sign with a team.”

After he went unpicked in the five-round draft (it was shortened from 40 rounds), he was ranked No. 14 on Baseball America’s list of top undrafted senior players. The publication said he’d make for an “intriguing signing” with his plus-speed and disciplined approach at the plate.

Non-drafted free agents could sign for a maximum of $20,000. With teams capped on how much they could offer players, it was essentially a recruiting process. How did the Reds convince Hurtubise to sign with them?

“(Gillman) shot me a text and was like, ‘Hey, man, we need to talk about this. You’re the type of guy that we want with the Reds and we want to be able to try to develop you,’” said Hurtubise, who didn’t know Gillman when he was at Air Force. “The Reds, their motto in terms of hitting is ‘do damage or take the walk.’ That was kind of my thing in college. I was second in the country in walks, I think, my junior year.

“So, when I heard that, I was like, that’s kind of a philosophy or system that I already excel in. I thought the way he explained it, the way he pitched it to me, it just sounded like the perfect situation. So far, it’s ended up being a great fit for me.”

He will begin a five-year service commitment after his baseball career ends (Second Lieutenant Air Defense), but the Reds have loved what he's brought to the organization since he signed.

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When Reds farm director Shawn Pender watched Hurtubise during the team’s instructional league in October, he was reminded of Bobby Dernier and Tony Campana. It’s not just his speed on the base paths, but the way he affects games.

The Reds played Cleveland about 17 times during instructs because their two spring training complexes are next to each other. In one of those early games, Hurtubise hit a ball that snuck through the right side of the infield.

“Probably a three-hopper, two-hopper,” Pender said. “It had a little juice on it because it got through, but the right fielder kind of delayed his route and he was safe at second. I haven’t seen many guys hit a ball to right field between the (second baseman) and (first baseman) and get a double out of it – and the guy didn’t bobble it. It wasn’t a bobble and it wasn’t a bad throw. It was a bang-bang play, but I don’t think the guy realized (his speed). It’s just a lot of things like that.”

Baseball America named Hurtubise as one of their “10 under-the-radar prospects” who stood out at instructs: “His tools and playing style fit the ‘overachiever’ archetype and have him on the radar as a potential big-league reserve.”

Hurtubise was just thankful for the opportunity to play after his senior season was cut short and the minor league season was canceled. He was working at an Amazon warehouse, trying to make some extra money to prepare for future minor league seasons, when Eric Lee, the Reds’ senior director of player development, called to tell him he was invited to instructs.

He impressed the team's player development staff immediately. 

“It was funny, after the third game, he got a couple of other hits that turned into doubles because the outfielders were charging the ball so hard and then they misplay it and he’d be on second or on third,” Pender said. “He adds an element to the game that is unique. Hopefully, it will continue.”

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One of the Reds’ top prospects, Michael Siani, is a similar type of player. Siani, a fourth-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, is the best outfielder in the club’s farm system and he stole 45 bases in 60 attempts at Class-A Dayton in 2019.

“When Michael Siani runs, it looks like something out of National Geographic,” Gillman said. “It’s like a gazelle, the most elegant thing you’ve ever seen in your life. When Hurtubise runs, it’s like, god that’s fast. He goes from zero to top speed in an insanely short amount of time. I think that’s what is so impressive about it."

Hurtubise, a Zionsville, Indiana native, has more of a slap, opposite-field approach at the plate because it plays to his speed. He was clocked at 3.67 seconds to first base on a bunt during instructs, Pender said. It's rare to add an elite tool like that for a non-drafted player. 

And as much as the Reds are happy to have more talent in their minor-league system, they are grateful to have Hurtubise's influence on other players. 

“You could argue that he performed as well as anyone in our instructional league,” Pender said. “He’s a high-engine, aggressive baserunner. He had a huge impact on our instructional league players because of the way he ran. He’s got them fired up and then they became more aggressive.

“He’s a leader himself. Obviously, his military training, his background was proven every day with us with the way he carried himself, the way he spoke, the way he helped other players even as an entry-level guy.”