Jackson is Loaded from top to bottom

MILL CREEK – To gauge the ridiculous overflow of baseball skill at Jackson High School, consider a theory from Timberwolves senior pitcher Cam Nobles.

Niki Desauteles / The Herald

Members of Jackson High’s baseball team (from left): Travis Snider, Geoff Brown, Kawika Emsley-Pai, Joseph Lind and Cam Nobles.

“You could take all 18 (varsity) guys,” said Nobles, a University of Washington recruit, “split them up into two teams and they could both be varsity teams: Jackson ‘B’ and Jackson ‘A.’ It’s unbelievable the talent we have this year.”

That’s not arrogance. It’s honesty.

Jackson graduated just one senior from its 2005 squad that went 22-6 and placed third in the Class 4A state tournament. Three Timberwolves seniors (Nobles, right fielder Travis Snider and first baseman Joey Lind) have already accepted scholarships from Pacific-10 Conference schools, and juniors Geoff Brown (pitcher/outfielder) and Kawika Emsley-Pai (catcher/pitcher) are among the region’s top prospects. At least seven other current varsity players will likely compete in college.

“The caliber of talent that is on that team, it goes far and beyond just one or two players,” said Alan Matthews, Associate Editor of Baseball America.

Baseball America ranked Jackson No. 10 in its national preseason top-50 poll, and the Timberwolves recently moved up to No. 7. The only other Washington team to make the list was No. 21 Hudson’s Bay of Vancouver.

In compiling its rankings, the publication sends out more than 400 questionnaires and conducts first-hand research, and Matthews said every response from Northwest coaches praised Jackson. Matthews also watched several Jackson athletes, many of whom compete for the powerful Seattle Stars club team, up close over the summer. Although prep programs from warmer states like California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Alabama usually dominate the rankings – seven of the schools in the top 10, including No. 1 Agoura (Calif.) H.S., are from one of those five states – Jackson compares favorably with the country’s elite.

“The proof was there,” Matthews said. “(The T-Wolves) are right there.”

Snider, a thick 6-foot, 225-pound slugger and mature captain, is the headliner. The Arizona State recruit might never suit up for the Sun Devils because experts believe he could be taken early in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft this June. Based purely on skill and not financial considerations (known among insiders as signability) Snider, who batted .524, hit six home runs, and drove in 26 runs during the 2005 regular season, will likely get plucked in the first three rounds, Matthews said.

“He’s a very good hitter and he has the potential for some power. He has a pretty polished approach at the plate,” said Matthews, whose publication named Snider a first-team Preseason High School All-American.

As for the team’s other stars, Washington-bound seniors Nobles and Lind are ranked eighth and 36th, respectively, by Baseball Northwest among Class of 2006 players in Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. (Snider is No. 1.) And Baseball Northwest slots T-Wolves juniors Brown, a transfer from Kamiak, and Emsley-Pai, also a football standout, as the state’s third- and ninth-best ‘07 prospects.

With a cluster of high-profile stars and many other less-heralded but significantly talented players on the squad, it’s difficult to squeeze into Jackson’s lineup. But the focus is on team success.

“We have guys that are willing to sacrifice their bodies, (to) sweat and bleed out here on the field to get better,” Snider said. “You know only nine of us are going out there to start (the) game.

“It’s all about getting to Safeco this year,” Snider added, “and that’s what every kid on this team has been working for.”

He’s not talking about watching a Seattle Mariners game. Safeco Field is the site of this year’s 4A state championships (May 26-27). Every time Jackson ends a practice, Nobles said, it chants “1, 2, 3, Safeco!”

“We have a goal. It’s not a mystery, and it ends at Safeco Field,” first-year Jackson head coach Alan Briggs said. “Usually a coach would never want to admit that.”

But Briggs, a Meadowdale High alum who pitched at Edmonds Community College and Washington, is certainly in touch with reality.

“I’m impressed (by) their level of talent at their age level,” he said of his players. “There’s not a whole lot of instruction that I can really provide. I can look at some little things, but I’m working with some guys who already know how to play baseball.”

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