Horn Has Put Himself In First-Round Consideration

Six-foot-four, 220 pounds, with a chiseled, muscular physique. Biceps popping under his sleeves, redirecting attention from his high waist and coat-hanger shoulders. Pitching with a mid-90s fastball and showing promise with his offspeed stuff. A fresh, low-mileage arm that’s never even had a pitching coach. This is the prototypical high school righthanded pitching prospect.

This is Jared Horn.

“I’ve always been in love with the game of baseball,” Horn said.

When Horn was three years old, he begged his parents to get him into tee-ball. They had to lie about his age, but they made it happen, and Horn was hooked.

That was 14 years ago. A lot has happened in Horn’s life since then, but his passion for the game of baseball hasn’t faltered. In fact, it’s intensified.

When asked what he likes to do when he’s not on the field, Horn doesn’t have much to say. He works out, he does his homework. Sometimes he goes fishing. But baseball is his life.

In the fall, Horn completed his high school football career. He was a three-year starter at quarterback for Vintage High (Napa, Calif.), and was an all-league offensive player and an all-league punter. Horn’s prowess on the football field garnered Division I interest, but he committed to play baseball at Cal early, making his decision as a sophomore.

During the fall of his sophomore year, Horn was invited to a prospect camp at Cal, but couldn’t make it. He had a conflict with football. Shortly after that camp, Cal came to Vintage to check out another pitcher, Aaron Shortridge, who’s now a freshman for the Golden Bears. After watching Shortridge, Cal watched Horn throw 10-15 pitches. Later that day, they offered him a baseball scholarship.

Horn’s prospect balloon had its initial helium, but things were just getting started. He would go on to participate in the Area Code games as an underclassman, and then again as a rising senior in August of 2015.

On the opening night of the Area Code Games, with all of baseball’s eyes glued to the field, Horn started for the Northern California A’s team, matching up against the Southern California Brewers—who had likely Top 10 picks in Blake Rutherford and Mickey Moniak. That night Horn started against Kevin Gowdy, a righthander who has a chance to be selected on the first day of the draft. Horn showed promising stuff, sitting at 89-93 and touching 94. His curveball broke with late 11-to-5 snapping action, and his changeup showed fade. Scouts were circling his name in their programs. His balloon was starting to fill up.

Horn has taken another step forward this spring. His fastball has been up to as high as 97 mph, and sits comfortably in the low to mid-90s. He has a potent arsenal of offspeed stuff, and his athletic ability shows on the mound. He isn’t perfect; no prospect is. But he recognizes areas of his game that he can improve upon, and he wants to get better.

“I’ve never really had a pitching coach other than my dad. Mechanically I feel like I can improve on my front side,” Horn said. He’s hoping to learn how to use his lower half better, aiming to both increase his velocity and strengthen his command.

At this point, Horn is ready to embrace a baseball-only lifestyle. Sure, he can dunk a basketball or find his receiver down field on a fly route, but he’s ready to embrace every-day baseball. Horn’s prowess in other sports has limited his baseball experience, and he hasn’t thrown as much as some of the other prospects in the upper echelon of this year’s prep pitching class. Horn is also young for this class, not turning 18 until July. These factors indicate that there might be even more untapped potential for Horn.

It’s still unclear where exactly Horn fits in this draft class. One of the strength’s of this year’s class is high school pitching, and teams are in the process of sorting through all the arms to figure out who they value the most. It is clear, however, that Horn has forced himself into the first-round discussion, with scouting directors and upper-level scouting officials showing up to every one of his starts.

Horn’s potential is undeniable, and his athleticism, arm strength and baseball rat mentality will have him on the prospect scene for years to come.