Jankowski waits for a move up to the majors
Jordan Jankowski is working his way up the Houston Astros minor league system.
Jordan Jankowski
Peters Township graduate Jordan Jankowski delivers a pitch in a game against Canon-McMillan High School, May 7, 2008.
Former Peters Township standout Jordan Jankowski went from a power-hitting catcher to a relief pitcher with the Astros.
Jordan Jankowski continues pitching, continues striking out batters at an impressive rate and continues playing while on the cusp of the major leagues.
An Observer-Reporter Baseball Player of the Year during his days at Peters Township High School, Jankowski continues to hope that the Houston Astros, or some of the other major league teams, are noticing what he’s doing and how successful he has been.
He keeps waiting for that call to the major leagues.
Oh, Jankowski gets plenty of phone calls. Many of those, however, are from people wanting to schedule baseball lessons for their kids.
Jankowski is not your typical baseball player. By day, he is co-owner of a baseball training center in South Park. By night, he’s a pitcher for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Class AAA affiliate of the Astros. He’s been very successful at both professions.
With Fresno, Jankowski has pitched in 34 games (one start) this season. He has an 0-2 record with two saves, a 4.13 ERA and an impressive 66 strikeouts in 48 innings. He has walked just 19 batters. A five-year pro player, Jankowski ranks second in strikeouts among Pacific Coast League relief pitchers and second in strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents are batting only .197 against Jankowski, which ranks in the top five of the league.
“The season has been going well,” Jankowski said last week during the PCL’s all-star break. “I had a rough month of May, which skewed my numbers a little.”
Last year, Jankowski, a 6-1, 225-pound righthander, was named Fresno’s Pitcher of the Year after going 8-3, 3.18 with five saves in 55 relief appearances.
Those are eye-popping numbers for a pitcher at any level, especially one in the hitter-friendly PCL that includes such high-altitude outposts as Albuquerque, El Paso and Reno. Yet those impressive statistics haven’t translated into a promotion to the major leagues or even a spot on Houston’s 40-man roster, which is the first step toward getting to “The Show.”
“It’s tough,” Jankowski said, “because Houston’s bullpen has been one of the best. Those guys are statistically ranked No. 1. To get to the majors, you have to get lucky at the right time. I keep waiting for an opportunity. … I talk to my agent frequently and he tells me you’re playing for the Astros, but there are 29 other teams watching you.”
If Jankowski never does make it to the majors, at least he’ll have a job after baseball. Well, it’s not exactly outside of baseball. Jankowski is co-owner of Pro Performance Pittsburgh, located in South Park. It’s a baseball training center that has 120 students and is associated with three AAU teams, from ages 9 to 18, called the Pittsburgh GameChangers.
Jankowski said the unique aspect of Pro Performance Pittsburgh, which opened last fall on Cochrans Mill Road, is all of its instructors are current or former professional players. Among them are former Peters Township outfielder Jim Gallagher, who spent three productive years at the Class AAA level in the Chicago White Sox system, and current Wild Things pitcher Matt Fraudin. The GameChangers, who will host tryouts for their teams Aug. 6 and 7, also are coached by former pro players, which Jankowski said is by design.
“All of our travel teams – there are no father-coaches,” Jankowski said. “We pay our coaches to come in and coach the travel teams. That’s a big selling point for us. There’s no daddy-ball coaches.
“Our basis is every kid counts. One thing I noticed before starting this business was there had been a dropoff in the number of kids from the area who were getting drafted or getting Division I scholarships. I also noticed every kid seemed to have the same batting swing, like they were being taught by one person. But everyone is different. So we decided to open our training center and treat everybody as individuals. We’ll teach the fundamentals, techniques and the mental aspect of the game, but we’ll do it in different ways.”
Jankowski said he spends many mornings during the baseball season in Fresno, or wherever the Grizzlies are playing, working on Pro Performance Pittsburgh business. Phone calls are set up to be forwarded to him.
“We play most of our games on the West Coast, so it gives me something to do in the mornings before I go to the ballpark,” Jankowski said.
And, maybe one day soon, Jankowski will get a phone call from the Astros informing him that he’s been promoted to the major leagues.