Jacob Steinmetz is eighteen years old and is currently a starting pitcher in the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system. He is a 6’6 right hander who was selected early in the third round as the 77th overall pick in the 2021 Major League Baseball player draft. Upon being selected by the Diamondbacks, Jacob became the first Orthodox Jew to be selected into Major League Baseball. Jacob’s fastball was clocked as high as 97 miles per hour during his senior year of high school and his breaking ball has recorded spin rates that are well above Major League average.
Jacob graduated from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway in 2021. He was committed to go to Fordham University on a baseball scholarship following high school but decided to sign with the Diamondbacks and become a professional baseball player. Besides for baseball, Jacob also played varsity basketball at HAFTR and was a member of the National Honors Society. During the spring of his senior year, Jacob moved to Florida for three months and attended Elev8 Baseball Academy while continuing his classes at HAFTR via zoom. This allowed him to pitch against high level junior college competition in front of professional scouts as he worked to raise his draft value. Jacob is from Woodmere, New York, and currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.