Baseball: Huntley’s T.J. Jakubowski commits to Bradley

Huntley’s T.J. Jakubowski set out to make a name for himself as a junior.

The dynamic middle infielder hit the weight room and started to see his hard work pay off. Jakubowski showed lots of growth as a hitter especially, which caught the eyes of college recruits and coaches.

Earlier this month, Jakubowski’s hard work was rewarded. After a busy summer with his travel team, GRB Rays Illinois, Jakubowski announced his commitment to NCAA Division I Bradley.

Jakubowski joins his brother, Jake, as a D-I baseball player. Jake Jakubowski started his college career at Heartland, where he won a NJCAA DII National championship, and now plays at Valparaiso.

“It means a lot,” T.J. Jakubowski said. “I want to make a big impact right away. It’s really cool, because this is what I always dreamed of as a little kid. I just want to show off my talents and see what I can do.”

As a junior, Jakubowski hit .345 with a .439 on-base percentage, tallying 39 hits, 18 RBIs and 29 runs scored. He smacked eight doubles, drew 16 walks and struck out 13 times in 137 plate appearances while playing in all 37 games. He earned Northwest Herald All-Area honorable mention and was named to the All-Fox Valley Conference team.

The Raiders ran into a hot McHenry team and lost 22-7 in the Class 4A Hampshire Sectional championship game, ending their season with a 29-8 record. Huntley won its sixth straight Fox Valley Conference and seventh straight regional title, coming up just short of its third sectional championship in school history.

Andy Jakubowski, T.J.’s dad and coach at both Huntley and the GRB Rays, said T.J. has continued to show growth this summer while competing against tougher competition. Jakubowski has traveled across the country with GRB Rays at events in Kansas City, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Indianapolis, among other cities.

“It means a lot. I want to make a big impact right away. It’s really cool because this is what I always dreamed of as a little kid. I just want to show off my talents and see what I can do.”

—  T.J. Jakubowski, Huntley senior

“He’s shown a lot of growth in the last three, four years,” Andy Jakubowski said. “He was always kind of a scrawny guy; he hit his growth spurt and he made a big effort to get bigger, faster and stronger over the past couple of years.

“The positive thing about this summer is he’s facing very good competition, where the pitchers are upper-velocity guys who can command three pitches. And he’s been able to compete against them and be successful against them. That’s only going to help him as he moves forward next year at the high school level, and eventually at Bradley.”

T.J. Jakubowski also will have a familiar face awaiting him in Peoria.

Tyler Albright, a 2013 Huntley graduate, played at Oakton Community College for two seasons and University of Tennessee-Martin for three. After he was done playing, Albright became the Heartland Community College hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for four years, then joined Bradley last year as an assistant coach.

Albright coached Jake Jakubowski at Heartland and recruited T.J. to go there before ending up at Bradley.

“I’m a really big fan of him,” T.J. Jakubowski said of Albright. “He really believes in me and my abilities to help Bradley get better.”

Andy Jakubowski said T.J. always has been a stronger defender. His improvement as a hitter is something he had to work hard on.

“By hitting the weight room hard and working at his craft offensively, he had a tremendous junior year for us, making all-conference, and now he’s carried that over and had a very successful summer circuit, as well,” Andy Jakubowski said. “He can handle the bat extremely well. If you want him to bunt, he can get down a bunt. If you want him to hit and run, he can hit and run. He’ll move runners over, he’ll get runners in.

“He handles the bat well, he doesn’t strike out all that much and has a very good eye.”

T.J. Jakubowski said he is excited to join a Bradley team that isn’t far removed from success. Bradley earned an NCAA Regionals appearance in 2015 and had back-to-back, 30-win campaigns in 2018 and 2019.

Bradley had a down year most recently, going 13-37-1 overall and 6-21 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“Their past couple of years haven’t been the greatest, but they really believe with their newest recruits, they can get back to where they used to be,” Jakubowski said.