ORONO, Maine — Jackson Coutts already had drawn the attention of numerous NCAA Division I college baseball coaches along the Eastern Seaboard with his potent bat and the versatility to play several positions.
But when those recruiters discovered this summer that the incoming senior from Orono High School also could throw a fastball 90 mph, that interest reached a new level.
Coutts recently capitalized on his ever-broadening combination of skills by verbally accepting a scholarship offer to continue his baseball career at the University of Rhode Island beginning in the fall of 2017.
Coutts also considered James Madison University, Northeastern, Hartford and the University of Maine before opting for Rhode Island, which this year won its first Atlantic 10 Conference championship since 2005 and stunned sixth-ranked South Carolina in its first game of the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s a pretty nice campus, and the town the university is in, Kingston, is pretty nice and everything is close together,” said Coutts. “The coach there said he could probably see me playing all over the place, left field, first base, maybe a little bit of catching and he said he could see me as a reliever, too.”
Coutts’ consideration of the University of Maine was somewhat tempered by the presence of both of his parents on staff at the Orono campus. His mother, Lynn, a standout softball player for the Black Bears who later was that team’s head coach, serves as a senior associate director of athletics.
“He didn’t want to live in Mom and Dad’s shadow, and I can’t really blame him for that one,” said Mike Coutts.
The younger Coutts is expected to make his most immediate impact on the collegiate level with his bat.
The two-time reigning Penobscot Valley Conference Class C player of the year batted .578 at Orono High last spring with two home runs, 24 runs scored, 14 RBIs and 11 stolen bases despite being walked intentionally 18 times in 18 games.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Coutts also has hit third in the batting order during the last two summers for the Maine Lightning, a Portland-based all-star team that travels throughout the Northeast competing in showcase tournaments.
“Obviously Jackson’s going to hit, he’s probably the best pure hitter in the state and I would have said the same thing last year,” said Ryan Copp, head coach of the Maine Lightning 17U Showcase team.
Coutts’ pitching history had been relatively limited until after his fastball was clocked at 87 mph during the annual Maine Underclass Showcase held June 23 at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.
He subsequently topped out at 89 mph during one of the Lightning’s games at the Boston Invitational showcase in Northborough, Massachusetts, an affirmation of a summer spent consistently throwing in the mid- and upper-80s, which drew the immediate reaction of the college coaches in attendance.
“Being able to throw 90 miles an hour in one of these tournaments is pretty special, you don’t see that on a regular basis,” said Copp. “One coach who was there said, ‘You might have the Babe Ruth of Maine baseball here,’ because he’s a guy who can pitch, he can hit, he’s athletic and can not only do it all, but do it all well.”
Among the college recruiters in attendance for the Boston Invitational performance was URI head coach Raphael Cerrato and assistants Jim Martin and Sean O’Brien.
“At that point it was almost a no-brainer for them,” said Copp. “If his hitting doesn’t work out then you’ve still got a guy who can throw it 90 miles an hour. If it doesn’t work out on the mound, you’ve still got a middle-of-the-lineup bat as a freshman because he’s going to have an opportunity to hit in the top five or six of that lineup as a freshman and I think do very well.”
While there’s considerable expectation that Coutts will wind up in the URI lineup as a daily contributor early in his career, there’s also the belief that given his lack of a lengthy pitching background there’s plenty of room for growth on the mound.
Coutts hopes his experience as a three-year starting catcher at Orono — he also plays on the Red Riots’ football and basketball teams — will enhance his increasing focus on the art of pitching.
“A lot of things go on behind the dish,” he said, “and if I can translate that to the mound then it will be very beneficial.”
