Mitchell Jebb has two seasons left of varsity baseball but it will be a long time before he forgets the remarkable 2018 campaign.
Jebb was a first-team all-state athlete for the state runners-up in Division 2, Saginaw Swan Valley. He didn’t get a hit in seven at-bats during the Final Four June 14-16 at Michigan State University, but still had a solid season at the plate and at shortstop.
It was his second year on the varsity.
He called his season as a freshman “quite different, practicing with your team every day and bonding with the guys.”
Jebb started playing shortstop through his travel team and high school. He said he improved at shortstop defensively this year “big-time. My arm strength has jumped about 5 to 10 miles an hour which is very good.”
He hit in the mid .400s.
“I kind of cooled off at the end of the season,” Jebb said.
But he said he improved “bigtime” this year at the plate when he batted around .350. A year of experience was a key factor at the plate, he added.
He batted third in the order.
“Driving in runs was my job,” he said.
Swan Valley ended its season at 33-9-3. Only a few seniors are graduating.
“From the get-go, we knew we had something special,” Jebb said. “Our team has a lot of potential for the future.”
The 6-3 loss to Stevensville-Lakeshore in the championship game was disappointing.
“We had a rough game,” Jebb said. “It’s a baseball game. You never know what might happen. Any team can beat any team any given time. It depends on who’s the hottest.”