Chasing the Draft 2016

Jesse+Rall+looks+ahead

Jesse Rall looks ahead

At a very young age Jesse Rall knew that he wanted to play professional baseball, it was a sport that just came naturally to him, a game that could change his life in a major way. Turns out he was exactly right. 

No matter how much he enjoyed playing basketball and football in high school he knew that baseball would be his ticket to the next level. 

“Basketball I hated practices, football I hated practices, with baseball I didn’t love practice, I loved playing games in all three but with baseball I knew I loved it more because I didn’t hate practice nearly as much,” Said Rall. 

Rall, a senior designated hitter and first baseman for the Lions will have made a potentially beneficial life decision by picking baseball if all of the pieces fall together.

It all started with a little hard work, which is something that Jesse is very familiar with, coming out of high school he signed with Cloud Community College and after a freshman season in which he hit 2 homeruns he exploded his sophomore season with 13 long balls. 

“The difference in those two years was my workouts,” said Rall.  “I worked out a lot more to get stronger, coming to Southern we have a strength coach that has helped me maintain power through the season which has helped a lot.” 

Power is something that Rall has no shortage of as he has hit 16 homeruns already this year, which is tied for the school’s single season record. It is also a commodity that major league baseball teams are always looking to draft, which is his main goal at the moment. 

“I would love to play any sort of professional baseball,” said Rall. “That’s been my dream ever since I started playing this game, was to make it to the league.”

After two very productive years at Southern it is not out of the realm of possibility that he could get drafted and begin living what was once just a childhood dream.

 If baseball doesn’t pan out he has taken it upon himself and created a solid backup plan as he is a pre-med major who is ready to move on to graduate school if baseball does not present a viable option. 

With so many possibilities in the medical field he has not ruled out any one job, as he is more excited about going out and trying different paths in medicine and deciding which particular job he feels like would be beneficial for him to specialize in.

There is a saying that states, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” 

In the case of Jesse Rall he is very talented young man who has worked extremely hard, making him a perfect candidate for the next Southern Baseball draftee or maybe the next big name in medicine, only time will tell.