Elliott: Ohio HS stud Jake Hanley has maple leaf on glove due to Nova Scotia roots
RHP-1B Jake Hanley of Mason, Ohio is ranked the No. 2 player in Ohio. He pitched with a Canadian Maple Leaf stiched to his glove since his father, Todd Hanley, is from Dartmouth, N.S.
April 19, 2024
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
At the moment, Jake Hanley is a two-way man.
His fastball has been clocked at 95 mph for his William Mason High School Comets in Mason, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. And the 6-foot-5, 232-pounder shows power at the plate.
Besides being a two-way man on the field, thanks to his father Todd Haney, of Dartmouth, N.S., he’s a man of two countries, too.
Told he was eligible to play for Canada at the next World Baseball Classic eligible, Jake replied, as sons so often do, “ah, yes ... my father has mentioned it once or twice.”
A right-handed pitcher, Todd left Dartmouth in 1989 to pitch for the University of Toledo Rockets. Toledo coach Stan Sanders had run camps in Nova Scotia for five summers and decided Todd was a fit with the Rockets program. Sanders, a Toledo Hall of Famer, won 534 games (1970-92) and also coached in the New York Yankees minor league system, including the likes of NFL Hall of Famer John Elway. He also was an assistant when Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt was at Ohio.
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Besides power, Jake has the strike zone knowledge of Joey Votto, the former Cincinnati Red now rehabbing in Dunedin with an ankle injury.
“Joey was my favorite player,” Jake said. “I’m a left-handed hitter, like Joey. And I’m big on the knowing the strike zone. I spent a lot of time watching Joey and the Reds before travel ball. We’d go to three or four games a year, plus watch the Reds on TV.”
Todd met his future wife Susan, who had an option to run track but concentrated on physical therapy classes. They were wed and had two children: Jake who is eligible for the draft in July and brother Ben, a grade 10 student. Todd works for Prime Therapeutics.
Jake’s grandparents, Richard and Nancy, visited Ohio from Nova Scotia in 2012 and Todd’s mom is coming south this spring. LHP Evan O’Toole (Bridgewater, N.S.), a second cousin, pitches for Oklahoma State. In 2021, O’Toole gained Canadian Baseball Network Third Team honours when he went 9-0 with a 1.31 ERA for the Iowa Western Reivers and transferred to Oklahoma State
This spring, O’Toole is 1-0 with six walks and 18 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings. So besides a fastball, both take good family genes to the mound.
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Jake, who pitches with a Canadian Maple Leaf stitched on his glove, is expected to go in the top three rounds in July depending upon signability.
As the No. 2 high schooler in Ohio, according to Perfect Game Scouting Service, his star has been rising for some time going to showcases where the scouts flock: East Coast Pro, the Area Code Games in West Palm Beach and the Area Codes national in San Diego.
“I played pretty well, my name was thrown around quite a bit,” Jake said.
He made the all-tournament team, batting .500 in front of 200 scouts. All the more impressive since he went as a pitcher and “talked his way into letting him hit,” according to his father Todd.
“I try not to get my head wrapped up in it too much,” he said. “I’m not big on social media. I just play my game.”
His games so far this spring playing 1B, pitching and DHing ... as he
_ Was 1-for-2 with a walk and picked up the win in a 6-5 win over Lakota West. He is hitting .333 (12-for-36) with two doubles, a homer, 19 RBIs, six stolen bases and a .962 OPS. He pitched three scoreless, allowing one hit while striking out five. That makes him 4-0 with an 0.40 ERA, as well as 33 whiffs in 17 2/3 innings. At the plate, he was hitless in two at bats with one walk.
_ Had two hits in a 6-2 win over Kings.
_ Singled in a 1-0 win against Fairfield.
_ Pitched a complete game one-hitter against Fairfield in a 2-0 win, walking one and striking out 13.
_ Had two hits in a 9-2 win against as he drove in a pair and walked.
_ Knocked in a run and walked twice in an 11-1 romp over Hamilton.
_ Gained the win in a 6-5 victory against Lakota East pitching four innings allowing three runs -- one earned -- on two hits and a walk, as he fanned nine. At the plate, he singled and walked.
_ Was hitless in an 11-2 loss to Hamilton.
_ Singled and walked in an 11-5 win over Blackman.
_ Went 3-for-5 with a double, homer and four RBIs in an 11-9 victory against Tullahoma.
_ Picked up the win in a 6-0 victory over Colerain, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless allowing one hit and walking four, while he struck out six. He also singled.
_ Walked three times and plated a run in a 4-1 season-opener victory against Strongville.
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When the clock strikes nine at night in Ohio, the Hanley father and son duo can be found at the high school batting cage. Hitting coach Kyle Weldon has the key, allowing Jake to hit off the tee and off a machine since “my dad’s arm was shot a long time ago.” They used to head across the street to a city park but the high school was a better fit.
Jake has committed to play for the Indiana Hooisers and head coach Jeff Mercer. Former Toronto Blue Jays 3B Scott Rolen, a Cooperstown inductee in 2023, has a large presence in the program.
Jake chose Indiana over Duke, Clemson, Ohio State, South Carolina and Kentucky. His friends Max Johnson, a Mason High grad, and Devin Taylor, of Cincinnati, persuaded Jake to come to Indiana.
“Max went there for a year and gave me a tour of the facilities when we played there,” said Jake. “I’ve known Devin since he was 12. He hit 16 home runs last year (at Indiana) and is projected to go as a top 10 pick (in 2025).”
He has enrolled in Indiana’s Kelley School of Business.
Like in the book North Dallas 40 where the two NFL veterans say their most memorable games ever played were in high school, Jake recalls his best as not being on the national stage but with his Mason Comets. For Jake, it was the regional semifinal his freshman year.
“The game that sticks out against Vandelia-Butler,” Jake said. “In my second at-bat I hit a triple off the right centre-field wall, next time up I singled past the second baseman, the third time I lined out. Now, with two out in the seventh their guy throws a 2-2 pitch right on the corner.
“I took the borderline pitch. There was a lot of emotion from their fans. Next pitch I hit for a two-run double to right centre. Our whole football team was there watching, it was a big deal playing in that big of a tournament. It was kind of making a name for myself and it stuck with me.”
Mason wound up with a 7-4 loss to Vandelia-Butler in Dayton and was eliminated from the tourney.
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Like any other teenager who lives within half an hour of the Reds’ Great American Ballpark, Jake grew up a Reds fan.
“We were able to get autographs from both Brandon Phillips and Chris Heisey, but I wasn’t able to get Joey Votto’s autograph,” said Jake, who correctly pointed out the Reds have not won the National League Central since 2012.
For a while, as the Reds had seven losing seasons of the next 10 - including a 100-loss season in 2022 - it was a tough to root for the Reds.
“I didn’t know the roster, they were always changing guys in and out,” said Jake.
And then came 2023 and the arrivals of SS Elly De La Cruz, 21, INF Matt McLain, 23, LHP Andrew Abbott, 24 and DH Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 23.
“The whole city was talking about the Reds,” Jake said. “It was cool to see the younger guys step up.”
The Reds finished two games over .500 and hope to make a run at the NL Central.
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Scouting reports ...
The second-rated 2024 first baseman in the nation was second in overall Max Grip Strength right-handed (198.8) and fourth left (175.2) at the Prep Baseball Super 60 event in McCook, Ill. He was second in both max batted distance (397 feet) and highest average batted distance (312 feet), while finishing sixth in highest average exit velocity (96.9) and eighth in max exit velocity (103.4).
Jake Hanley, RHP-1B, Mason (Ohio) HS
Commit: Indiana
“A large-framed two way player, Hanley is a 6-foot-6, 232-pound left-handed hitter and right-handed pitcher. While he touched 94 mph and showed solid feel to spin the this summer, he also had a loud offensive showing at the Area Code Games, where he went 5-for-11 (.455) with two doubles, three singles and four balls in play hit harder than 90 mph.
“Hanley has more strength than bat speed, and he also employs a slight hand hitch that can cause timing issues in his load—in addition to a bat path that can get a bit lengthy at times—but he showed impressive ability to get on time and utilize his strength in games and hit balls deep to both gaps. He’s not a great runner, but he moves well underway and turned in fringe-average times from home to first from the left side.”
_ Baseball America.
“Jake Hanley (2024, Mason, Ohio) is one of the premier two-way players in the class of 2024, profiling extremely well as both a power-armed righthander and a power-hitting left-handed hitter. An Indiana commit, Hanley is very physical at 6-foot-5, 232 pounds, and had a very good weekend both ways as a player. He struck out six in four innings in his start on the mound, missing a lot of bats in the zone with his fastball, which was overpowering in the 87-91 mph range. He’s able to work it north/south in the zone, and was successful at missing bats in all quadrants of the strike zone. He can sink the fastball down and blow up barrels with it, and showed a better slider than we’ve seen from him before, with late-biting tilt that got whiffs out of the zone. He had a successful weekend with the bat as well, picking up a couple hits and walking a lot, and has substantial left0handed power that should play huge at the college level once he arrives in Bloomington.”
_ Perfect Game Scouting Service.
“An unmistakable presence at a hulking, albeit lean and athletic 6-5, 232 pounds, Hanley stood out in all facets including on the mound where he bumped 95 miles per hour with a solid three-pitch mix. However, the bat, and more specifically the power potential, reigns supreme when considering his upside as a prospect.”
“Surprisingly nimble with a 6.82 60-yard dash time, he showcased a fluid, uphill stroke that appeared to have him clubbing balls with a tree trunk. Maintaining ground connection, his ability to clear the hips and the all around compactness of the approach appears less high maintenance which is a nice selling point for future adjustments.”
_ Shooter Hunt, Prep Baseball
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Todd Haney played from ages 9-to-18 in Nova Scotia for the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry, Kentville Wildcats and Pelham Electric. Then, he says he was off to Toledo where he pitched “in excruciating pain.”
At home, he was a teammate of 1B Darren Doucette (Dartmouth, NS), a 25th round draft choice from Ulster County Community College of the St. Louis Cardinals. Doucette played three seasons in the Cards organization with the class-A Hamilton Redbirds, class-A Savannah Cardinals and class-A Madison Hatters. He then played four seasons with the Adirondack Lumberjacks in the independent Northeast League. He hit 58 homers in 450 games.
Doucette’s son Ty Doucette (Dartmouth, NS) is hitting .344 for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 26 games with six doubles, six homers, 28 RBIs and a 1.034 OPS.
Suddenly Nova Scotia is a hotbed for draft prospects. A year ago, LHP Kyle Carr, whose father Darcy Carr (Sydney, N.S.) is Canadian, was selected in the third round from Palomar College by the New York Yankees and signed for $692,000.
And where will Jake Hanley go come July?
“If you go on draftability, Jake would probably rate higher as a pitcher, he throws 95 and is 6-foot-5,” Todd said.
The Hanley family has heard from scouts from many teams, including the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Toronto Blue Jays, who may soon have ex-Red 1B Votto on the rehab trail.
“We were lucky to be able to watch Joey all those years,” said Todd. “It was a sad day when the Reds didn’t bring him back. We’re happy he gets to finish in career close to home.”
Now, the question is, will Jake Hanley be a Reds draft, head to one of the other 29 teams or be a Big Man on Campus at Indiana?