Thirteen-year-old Jacob Ciccone was recently selected to represent the North Atlantic Region at the USA Baseball camp at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., where he hopes to be selected for the USA Developmental team that will compete internationally.
The development team is designed to groom young players to represent the U.S. in international competitions. Ciccone was selected along with 15 other players following a series of tryouts in July.
Initially, Ciccone tried out in August at the state level, and he was selected to move on to the regional competition in Allentown, Pa. The South Brunswick resident was one of 16 young players picked from several hundred 13-year-olds who tried out in the North Atlantic Region, which comprises eastern Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. In Cary, he competed with about 230 other young athletes from 10 other regions around the country to become one of 58 players who will become part of the 13U program. USA Baseball also has 11U, 14U, 16U and 17U teams.
Following the camp in Cary, USA Baseball will select a minimum of 56 players to join the National Team Development Program and to attend future National Team trials. The ultimate goal of the program is to develop players to represent the U.S. in international competitions.
Ciccone, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman, said he thought his tryout went well, but the competing players were all very good. “I was kind of surprised,” he said. “There were so many other high-quality players. I hit the ball pretty well, and for the pitchers, they put us in some different situations, like starting out with a 1-1 count on the batter during the intra-squad games.”
Ciccone began playing baseball at the age of 7 in the South Brunswick recreation program. As an 8- and 9-year-old, he was selected for all-star teams that competed at the district level, and his passion for the game increased.
“I felt so proud to be going to the districts and representing my town,” he said. “It was fun to compete against teams from different towns.
He played locally until the age of 12, when he began playing for the Milltownbased Five Star Baseball Academy, where he moved to first base when not pitching. Originally an outfielder, Ciccone got his first taste of pitching as a 9-year-old near the end of the season. After walking the first three batters he faced, Ciccone shook off the jitters and got out of the jam.
“That was so exciting,” he said. “After that, I knew I wanted to pitch.”
Ciccone soon began working with a pitching coach to develop his skills. He currently relies primarily on his fastball and a circle changeup. Like most pitchers his age, Ciccone also likes to experiment on the sidelines with the knuckleball. He recently tossed a one-hitter for his Five Star team, and his fastball has been clocked at 69 miles per hour.