FLVS Student Drafted by the Boston Red Sox
Jake Herbert is more than your average Spring 2019 graduate—this FLVS homeschool alum was drafted by the Boston Red Sox this month! The 18-year-old Polk county resident said, “To be drafted by the Boston Red Sox is a dream come true. It is the greatest achievement of my life so far.”
That’s quite a statement considering Herbert graduated high school with more than a 4.0 GPA, was recently named Polk County Hitter of the Year, All-State First Team, and has earned a Bright Futures Scholarship.
Aside from going pro, Hebert said he will take some college classes online in the fall during his off season. He plans to pursue an MBA and the Boston Red Sox have awarded him a 4-year scholarship to any state university in Florida.
Herbert took 14 core courses with FLVS and credits a lot of his success to the school.
“FLVS was extremely important in helping me reach my goals,” he said. “It gave me the flexible schedule I needed to train in the gym and work with coaches on hitting and catching so I could focus on baseball without losing anything academically.”
When asked if the young catcher had a special school memory or teacher he’d like to thank, he immediately thought of Spanish 1 teacher, Mrs. Brekke. “When I completed her class and moved onto Spanish 2 I was really struggling,” he said. “She still met with me and helped me with Spanish 2 and I wasn’t even her student at that point. It meant a lot to me.”
Jake is not the only one in the family associated with FLVS. His father, James Hebert, is a science teacher and has been with FLVS for 10 years. Jake said it was his dad who introduced him to baseball, and at age 5, he started tee ball. “My dad did his best to get me to play other sports like basketball, football, and soccer but I just wanted to play baseball.”
Jake was able to participate in athletics at George Jenkins High School. Dad said he knew from the early years that baseball was in his future.
James explained he just wanted him to explore all options. “From the time that he was in Little League, he always knew that he wanted to play baseball professionally, but more importantly, he was willing to sacrifice and make the hard choices to reach his goal,” said his father. “I specifically remember one instance in high school where I gave him a choice to go to the homecoming dance or drive to Fort Lauderdale and workout with his catching coach and he chose the workout. His dedication to his craft has been off the charts for someone so young.”
The Herbert family is very proud and glad Jake stuck to his passion.
The recent high school graduate said, “I want to thank the Boston Red Sox for taking a chance on me and I also wanted to thank my Mom and Dad. They sacrificed a lot to give me this opportunity and it means everything.”
Jake, congratulations, we wish you the best of luck, and look forward to following your career!
Fun Facts about Jake
Favorite athletes
JD Martinez and Yadier MolinaFavorite high school subject
MathHobbies
Playing guitarFuture goal
To be a major leaguer and play at Fenway Park in Boston
Cover photo: Jake’s new mitt and personalized locker at the rookie training facility in Fort Myers
Post by Suzan Kurdak, former FLVS Communications Specialist
CONGRATS TO YOU! WE ARE BIG FANS OF THE BOSTON TEAMS!
WISH YOU MUCH SUCCESS! : O
I agree Teresa. Good Luck man!
Good job! I am a softball player myself! Before anyone says anything, the 2 are nearly the same. Difference is ball is different and batters box is different. And the fact that in softball you can get someone out if you catch the ball at the base or tag them and in baseball you don’t. Still awsome!
Hello, Very happy to hear great young man, you are inspiring to the youth today. Keep up your dream no matter what others said you focus on your dreams. keep it up. I will watch you play, my husband and I are fans of Boston Red Sox for many years. And my kid is also a flvs student.
That is really awesome!! My mom and I are really huge Boston Red Sox fans. My mom is from Westwood, MA and is a huge fan of all Boston sports and so am I. We just got back from our annual summer visit to Boston and went to a great Sox game against the Angels where Sale pitched an amazing game. I also play baseball. I am a pitcher and dream of one day playing in Fenway Park. Best of luck to you.