It might be cold outside, but for former Allen Park Jaguar and Central Michigan Chippewa Jakob Marsee, he’s living every kid’s dream, playing professional baseball. The San Diego Padres drafted Marsee in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB draft. Marsee said, “I kinda had mixed emotions,” talking about getting drafted. He said, “I wasn’t necessarily excited to be leaving the friends at school, but on the flip side, it’s been a dream of mine to get that phone call.” Marsee said he spent the day with his family and called it “a dream come true.”
In High School, Marsee was a three-sport athlete playing Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Marsee said playing the three sports in high school helped him get to this level of baseball, saying, “Honestly, the athleticism that they all have benefited me,” he would say, “Even if they don’t all interlock, but they’ve all benefited me.” Marsee would say that in football, playing defensive back and wide receiver helped him with routes to catch fly balls in the outfield, from basketball, it’s the quickness and agility that have helped him there.
During high school, Marsee committed to play baseball at Central Michigan University(CMU), where he spent three years playing baseball before getting drafted. The jump from high school to college is something that Marsee described as a transition saying, “I had to sit out my senior year of high school due to injury,” so when he got to campus in time for fall workouts, Marsee said, “I needed to find my place there,” and that can be tough for any freshman in college. However, finding his place didn’t take long as he said, “I finally found my group of people,” he continued “The upperclassmen took me under their wing and showed me the way to go, and that benefitted me in the long run,” Marsee said it was those older teammates showing him how to work, and helping him with what to do off the field that helped make him a better player.
While at CMU, Marsee helped lead them to a combined 96- 43 record and back-to-back NCAA tournament berths, and he described those teams as a family; he would say that they knew the way they had to win was to play together and play for each other. He said that Coach Bischel “is doing a great job over there of installing a foundation of having fun and enjoying the game,” he then continued by saying, “You never know when you’re going to play your last game,” Marsee then touched on his freshman season which was cut short due to covid saying that they used it as a tool to show that you never know when your last game could be, so leave it all on the field.
He also said his teammates and coaches have helped shape him into the person and player he is today. With his coaches, Marsee talked about what he’s taken from them, and he said the biggest thing he took from all of them is shaping him into the person he’s become. Marsee said that all his coaches preached doing the right thing, being a good teammate, and being a good person, and that is what he took from all of them. He would say that “Even when you’re not having a good day, you still have to be there to pick up your teammates.”
Even though it’s coaches that helped prepare him for his on-field success, it was support from his family that got him here. Marsee is family-oriented, and that’s clear to anyone who knows him. He said the move from Michigan to Arizona for the start of his professional career was exciting. Saying, “I have a little brother, but I know he looks up to me, and it’s cool to be able to show him that he can do anything no matter where you’re from,” the pros of that, however, come with the cons saying “It’s difficult not being around them all the time,” according to Marsee. One thing that helped Marsee through his injury was his family and just being around them and doing stuff with them. Being away from his family for so long at this point and not being able to see his little brother grow up has been tough, but due to technology like facetime or zoom, he can still call or facetime them to see how they are doing and check in with them.
Jakob is the second of three brothers; while he talked about missing being able to see his younger brother grow up, he talked about the competition he had with his older brother as both played football and baseball. He talked about that brotherly competition saying, “We joke about it all the time; he’s so much stronger than me, and he could beat me up if he wanted to,” he then went on to say, “We always went at it, and played sports together at home,” and that’s where sports would stay until he got to high school. Before Jakob played varsity football, he said, “It was cool to watch and look up to him playing football,” then, as a sophomore in high school, Jakob got moved to varsity football, and the two were on the same team. Being on the same team, he said that experience was one of the coolest things being able to play high school football with his brother for his senior year. He said that the experience of playing together helped them become closer. “He was always tough, so that helped me become tougher,” according to Marsee.
As we said in the lead, Marsee was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB draft. In the winter of his junior year, Marsee said he started talking to scouts and doing interviews, but come the season, his main focus was the CMU baseball season and winning with that group. Marsee didn’t want to know anything in the season, and his parents and agent handled it all. After the season, he found out how much interest there was in him, and he said he was shocked. He did go on to say that nothing can prepare you for draft day. “There was so much emotion, and it’s a rollercoaster of a day,” according to Marsee. He did say it was cool, but he’s glad he doesn’t have to deal with it again.
After he signed, he moved out west and got in camp. He talked about what he picked up since being there every day with coaches or staff saying, “It’s super cool,” and that’s not only the baseball side of things as he would go on to say, “there is a bunch of things that I didn’t have before, and I think that is unique and cool, and stuff I’m still trying to learn,” that’s all before baseball.
On the baseball side of things, “There is a bunch of data and technology that I never looked at before,” according to Marsee. Some of that data and technology used is stuff that Marsee has never looked at before, but he says it’s helping him now. Some of the things he said are still a little bit away for him as he knows if he were to dive into it and notice his numbers are low, then that wouldn’t help him but hurt him by trying to change something that is working. He said he asked them, “If you notice something can you tell me so I can fix it,” but he said he doesn’t want to look at the numbers himself. He said all the gadgets that give those numbers are cool and help to advance the game.
Jakob said that the one thing he is most looking forward to on this journey is, of course, one day making it to the big leagues, but for now, he said he’s looking forward to taking it one day at a time and taking it all in from the trips with the team, to going to new places and playing some baseball. He also knows there will be some ups and downs, but he said that those will help him become the man he’s going to be, and that is what he’s looking forward to the most.
At the time of writing, Jakob Marsee got optioned to High-A for the Padres, which is the Fort Wayne TinCaps, who start their season on the road April 6 at 6:35 pm versus the West Michigan Whitecaps in Grand Rapids.