Tools make Lincoln-Sudbury shortstop Jake Haarde a Penn state baseball commit

SUDBURY – Jake Haarde's frame doesn't scream "Division 1 athlete."

The Lincoln-Sudbury senior stands 6 feet tall and weights 180 pounds (or 175, depending on the scouting service). He committed to Penn State last week not because of his physical makeup but for his skills, work ethic and attitude.

"When you watch baseball players, you see some guys come up to the plate and they’re bigger and you’re like I feel like they can do this one thing, they’re projectable because they’re big and they hit the ball hard, that’s one thing," Lincoln-Sudbury coach Matt Wentworth said.

The Warriors have produced that before. Pitcher Thomas Rogers stood 6-4 as a freshman and grew to 6-6 last season before he matriculated to Maryland.

"It’s easy to look at that guy and say he’s a monster on the mound. He was a guy who you looked at him and he kind of looks like a D1 player," Wentworth said. "With Jake, you look at him and he’s not some sort of physical specimen. But it goes to show that it’s his tools. You watch him on the baseball field, you see all the stuff that he does."

Haarde is a prototypical leadoff hitter. His speed allowed him to steal 19 bases last season. He can play shortstop, where his throws predictably land in the first baseman's mitt, and in the outfield, where he'll likely land for the Nittany Lions.

"It seems like every throw he makes to first base is on the money. He has good range. He’s one of the best baserunners I’ve ever had in the program," Wentworth said. "It is a testament to his work ethic that it’s not somebody looking at him and saying he’s some sort of biological freak. He’s a guy that puts the work in and has excelled at his craft using the tools that he had."

Lincoln-Sudbury voted Haarde a captain last year as a junior despite 10 seniors on the squad.

"When we bring it in at the end of the game he has things to say and not just cliché things to say but things that are relevant that we know we can embrace to get better," Wentworth said. "He doesn’t call people out, he’s very supportive. He leads by example. He’s a positive guy."

Haarde hit .420 and scored a Dual County League Thorpe-leading 24 runs as a junior. The DCL All-League player drove in 15 runs, tied for fourth in the league. In 94 plate appearances, he only struck out 10 times. Haarde also possesses power and a flair for the moment.

After Natick no-hit Lincoln-Sudbury in their first meeting at home, Haarde led off the game at Natick in the Rich Pedroli Classic with a homer.

"There are some guys who are really good players, and that’s what they want to focus on, being a player, and he’s more than that," Wentworth said. "He wants to be a leader, and he’s good at it. That’s a really impressive thing that college coaches look at; this is the type of guy that we want, not just the type of player that we want."

Haarde figured out he wanted Penn State after visiting the State College campus in Central Pennsylvania last week.

"I just loved the facilities and campus. The coaching staff is amazing," said Haarde, who is also a football captain and returning two-way starter at wide receiver and defensive back for the Warriors. "It just all felt like a perfect fit for me."

The staff features New England roots to help him feel at home. Penn State hired longtime Boston College head coach Mike Gambino in July. He brought former Northeastern hitting coach Nick Puccio and BC director of pitching technology Will Jauss with him to the Big Ten.

"I always knew him as the BC coach beforehand," said Haarde. "I always knew them, too, so it helped having them over there."

Haarde wasn't sure whether he would have landed at BC if Gambino had stayed in Chestnut Hill. But it's a moot point because both are Nittany Lions now.

"The Big Ten is a conference I've always been aiming for," Haarde said. "It's great for me to end up there."

Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk. 

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Tools make Lincoln-Sudbury's Jake Haarde a Penn State baseball player