Barthel Always Had The Dream To ‘Play Out West’

Jordan Barthel RHP / 3B / Austin Prep, MA / 2024

SCITUATE, Ma. - The desire to “play out west” is a reality for Jordan Barthel. The recent Austin Prep graduate is now at Utah Valley, with classes ready to begin soon.

“I think it’s a good academic and baseball fit for me,” Barthel related. “I like being outside a lot.”

Born in Arizona, Barthel moved to Massachusetts at a young age but kept the dream of returning to his roots.

“I always wanted to play out west,” the 41st-ranked 2024 right-handed pitcher in New England said. “The weather is great.”

Jon Pollard, the head coach at Austin Prep, is an acquaintance of Eddie Smith and helped connect Barthel with Utah Valley.

“When I was looking at schools he brought up coach Smith,” Barthel reflected. “I did a camp out there last year and I got an offer.”

When Smith left to take the head coaching position at the University of Washington Barthel decided to keep his commitment to Utah Valley, though there was other interest from schools in the northeast along with Virginia Commonwealth and George Washington.

“Some wanted me to reclassify,” explained Barthel, who had already previously reclassified. “Freshman year I went to a vocational school and I ended up repeating junior year.”

The decision to do that at Austin Prep was beneficial.

“The reclass year helped me a lot,” Barthel said. “It was the right choice at the end of day. Now I feel I’m ready enough for college.”

How it turns out is still to be determined.

“I’ll go all out this year, take it step by step and see what happens,” Barthel said. “Nate Rasmussen is the new head coach and I like him and the pitching coach.”

Being far from home (51/2 hour flight) is admittedly difficult.

“The first week was tough,” the 19-year-old related. “When my parents left it was pretty tough knowing I won’t see them for a while. But I’ve adjusted. My sister is going to school in Arizona so she’s close.”

The road to Utah Valley was far from smooth.

“It was definitely tough my sophomore and junior years, not a ton of coaches looked at me,” the 118th-ranked 2024 in New England noted. “After my second junior year I had a lot of exposure. Coach Pollard got a lot of schools to look at me and PBR helped me a lot. Once they took video of me, some coaches saw me. PBR helped me go in the right direction.”

As for being far from home now, that is nothing new for Barthel.

“I drove two hours to school every day,” Barthel said of his time attending Austin Prep. “I woke up at 5 a.m. and drove two hours through Boston to school. It’s helped make me a better person following a schedule every day. It was a big change in my life.”

Even so, the days were long.

“On a normal day I’d wake up at 5, leave for school at 6 and arrive at 7:45-8 o’clock,” Barthel related. “I’d go to school from 8 to 2:30, lift or run from 2:30-4, rest, then go to practice from 5-7:30. I’d get home at 9 but on game days it was 10:30-11.”

After that kind of experience, the 6-3 195-pounder has no doubts that he can make a big impact in college.

“My goal is to work harder than anyone and try to be their guy, their ace,” Barthel said.

A 3.6 student at Austin Prep, Barthel plans to major in business at the Western Athletic Conference university.

“I’m really looking forward to college life,” Barthel concluded. “I’m excited to wake up every day and play baseball at a school where I’ll get a great education and meet new people.”