Melton’s former high school coach Eric Lund said, “everybody had a little input, but without Jacob’s desire to be the best he could be, none of this would be possible.”
After winning PAC-12 player of the year at Oregon State, the Astros selected Melton with the 64th pick of the draft.
If you ask Lund, he should have gone even higher.
“The Astros are the smartest team in baseball if you ask me,” Lund said.
Both Lund and Melton’s dad Joe agree that Jacob’s work ethic is second to none.
Lund said, “he competes at getting healthy quicker than he should, he competes at tying his shoes, he competes at fishing.”
“He is a super hard worker. He’s not going to get out-worked at any level. It’s just not going to happen,” Joe Melton said.
For Joe, the feeling of seeing his son get drafted hasn’t sunk in yet.
“It’s really unreal right now,” he said, “it hasn’t really kicked in and I don’t have the feelings for it yet, I’m sure we will when we get on that plane for the first time to go watch him play.”
Right now he’s just proud of his son overcoming so many obstacles to achieve his dream of being drafted into Major League Baseball.
“It was never about him making it to the big leagues, that’s kind of the bonus. That’s all on him. It’s whatever he wants, I’m just here to help out. That’s all a parent can do is just support,” Melton said.
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