Steinmetz is first Orthodox Jewish draftee
Steve Gilbert
@SteveGilbertMLBSince being selected by the D-backs in the third round of this year's MLB Draft on Monday, Jacob Steinmetz has received plenty of attention for being the first known practicing Orthodox Jewish baseball player to ever be drafted.
There have been stories in the New York Post, the Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel, just to name a few.
"It's definitely been overwhelming," Steinmetz said. "I was never one for all the attention. I mean, I obviously I know there's stuff that that I have to do and it comes with this territory, but growing up, I never went to any of the showcases. I didn't really care much about all the Perfect Game rankings or whatever it was. So, the attention wasn't really for me. Now obviously, it's just, it's going to be there, so I'm going to have to get used to it."
The attention is understandable, but D-backs scouting director Deric Ladnier wants people to remember something -- Steinmetz is a heck of a good pitching prospect.
What was it the D-backs liked about him?
"Everything," Ladnier said. "Delivery, body, spin rates, plus-velo. This young man has got a curveball that, when you just read it as far as the spin rates and things, it's legitimately power stuff. And obviously he's got the body and the size and the projection for what you're looking for."
After the D-backs selected Steinmetz with the 77th overall pick, Ladnier got text messages from executives with other teams that had hoped he might fall to them.
When he met with teams at the recent MLB Scouting Combine, Steinmetz laid out a plan for how he could pitch professionally and still keep practicing his faith.
As a practicing Orthodox Jew, Steinmetz eats only Kosher food and observes the Sabbath, which entails not riding in a car, bus or plane from sundown on Friday until sundown Saturday.
"It'll be up to us to make the adjustment organizationally, to meet those needs," Ladnier said. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity for this young man, who's supremely talented, to make a stand for who he is. Like I said we weren't taking him to make this impactful statement. We were taking him because of his physical ability, understanding that there are going to be some adjustments that we as an organization are going to have to make. And I'm proud to be part of it, honestly."
Making adjustments is something that Steinmetz has been doing ever since he started playing baseball.
Sometimes that meant packing his own Kosher food for a trip or it impacted where he would stay before a Saturday game. Honoring the Sabbath doesn't mean that he won't pitch on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons, just that his mode of transportation getting there might be different from others.
"It's not too complex, honestly," Steinmetz said. "I talked about it with the teams, obviously, and it's just what I've been doing my whole life. The plan is for the weekend games, just to stay close by to the field and then either walk or bike to the field on the game day. Then pitch if it's my turn to pitch and if not, watch my teammates, but that's it."
Following his faith so devoutly over the years in some ways has helped him both with baseball and his schoolwork because it taught him discipline.
So, when the pandemic hit, he found a way to make the most of his time by signing up with Tread Athletics, an online pitching development company that builds custom training and throwing programs for pitchers. By following that program, he put on 25 pounds and saw his velocity tick up.
"I definitely think it carries over, just being committed and dedicated to my religion while playing baseball," Steinmetz said. "And not only with baseball with school and anything really in life. It just kind of prepared me and made me dedicated to really anything that I do."