Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Catching Up With Blue Raider Pitcher Jack Julian
4/3/2020 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
Jack Julian joined the Blue Raider baseball team from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 6-foot-3-inch freshman made four appearances for the Blue Raiders against some of the top teams in the nation.
Julian lettered in both football and baseball for Hixson High School. The Tennessee native recorded an 8-2 record, had a 1.43 ERA, and even threw a perfect game for the Wildcats in his senior season. The right-hander started his own lawn care and pressure washing business that he still operates during the off-season.
In his first season at Middle Tennessee Julian posted a .241 opponent batting average with six strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched. However, his promising start to the season was cut short after 17 games due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Check out our interview with Julian:
How have you been holding up during this weird time in history?
I'm back home now. Because I own my own landscaping company we've been working outside with all this quarantine stuff going on and a lot of other people are doing their own thing. I've been working and my guys continue to work while I'm at school, so now that I'm back here with them my buddy and I have been doing a lot and was introduced to pressure washing and have been washing driveways all week. I've been staying busy, but still getting my work in. I'm going to throw this afternoon and I'm trying to keep my arm in shape, but it's hard to pinpoint how I need to train right now because we should be in season. I've been getting into my summer routine a little bit earlier to try and get stronger so I can comeback and be a freshman again already having some experience this year.
While in high school you played football and baseball, what made you want to continue playing baseball instead of football?
I started playing football in middle school and in my seventh grade year I broke my arm on the first play of the game so I said 'you know what, I'm done with football. I'm going to focus on baseball.' My mom always told me ' Don't play football you're going to break your arm,' and what happened, I broke my arm on the first play of the game. In high school a couple buddies talked me into playing again my junior year because I had a pretty good arm from baseball. I was the starting quarterback for about five games then I switched over and played some wide receiver. It was a lot of fun but I just didn't love the game enough like I did baseball and that was about the time I committed to Middle Tennessee and I didn't want to mess anything up playing a sport that didn't matter as much to me.
How did you decide on coming to MT?
I went on a couple visits to different places and my buddy Rocky Evans, who lives in Chattanooga, played for [Head Coach Jim Toman] at South Carolina. Rocky told me all about Toman and how good of a guy he was. So I texted him and we came up and visited. I loved how it was just two hours away from home, a flat campus, a big campus, really nice school, and the big thing was my major which was concrete management. I love how I found that at a school I wanted to go to because nowhere else I visited had it. I've always been working outside, landscaping, so concrete is something I'd love to get into on the construction side of things moving away from the landscape business. Seeing that, the major that MT offered, the on campus lifestyle, and everything just seemed perfect and it has been perfect. I just wish we were still going to school.
In your first season at Middle Tennessee you pitched against North Carolina, Alabama, Coastal Carolina, and Memphis. Those are some very good teams to pitch against less than a year removed from high school. What kind of experience does that give you as a freshman?
Coming in and throwing against those teams definitely shows me that the coaches trust me and they see that I have the potential to be great. It's awesome that they threw me out there, especially in the first game of the season. Having that much trust and seeing that I did pretty well against those teams just shows me that I can compete against those guys. Just because it's an ACC or SEC school and we're Conference USA doesn't mean that I can't strike them out on a slider in the dirt. It's cool to tell everybody about it and being able to pitch against those teams as a freshman. I'm excited to do it again next year.
Obviously your first season with the team was a weird one, what are you missing about the team and baseball now that the season has been canceled.
I definitely miss my roommates and miss hanging out with them every day. I miss the locker room and seeing those guys every day. We keep in touch by texting every day on GroupMe, so we're still together but it's definitely not the same as if we were all together and just getting to work with everyone. I love the competition, I love to hit and throw with everybody, and being around a bunch of guys that just want to work.
What are some things you are doing to stay in shape and what are you doing to occupy your time?
I'm trying to run a mile every day and lift as much as I can, but the gym that I go to is closed so I'm doing some different things around my house and in my driveway along with different arm care stuff to stay in shape. It's very limited, but I'm making the most of it.
