Inside Baseball: The Scouts Are Watching

Jackson Hoyt Begins a Baseball Season Jam-Packed With Implications

On the surface, it was just another practice for the Nature Coast baseball team.

On a recent afternoon, coach Dan Garofano set up a live game simulation to help the Sharks get ready for a season that starts next week. That’s something Garofano and a lot of other coaches do each January and February. But this one had far more implications — and spectators — than just a routine scrimmage.

The proof was an unusual sight behind home plate. On the other side of the backstop, no less than seven scouts from Major League Baseball teams stood with their radar guns ready for action. They all were there for a singular purpose — to watch Nature Coast senior pitcher Jackson Hoyt throw a couple of practice innings against his teammates, who struggled to even put the bat on the ball. Hoyt will be the starting pitcher Tuesday night at 7 when Nature Coast hosts Springstead in the regular season opener for both teams. The scene is likely to be repeated every time Hoyt takes the mound for the Sharks over the next few months.

Already, four Major League teams have visited with Hoyt at his home. Most of the other teams have met with Hoyt via Zoom. He’s traveled to Tampa to meet with the New York Yankees and to Bradenton to get acquainted with the Pittsburgh Pirates. There likely will be more visits and trips in the coming months.

“They all ask a lot of questions and they want to get to know me and they also tell me a lot about their organizations,” Hoyt said. “A lot of them are different questions from team to team. But the one they all ask is how I feel about college or pro ball.”

The only other time a Hernando County high school baseball player drew anything close to this kind of attention was 30 years ago when scouts flocked to watch Hernando High’s Bronson Arroyo, who eventually became a third-round draft choice by Pittsburgh and had a lengthy professional career. According to people in the baseball world, Hoyt very possibly could follow a similar path.

The setting for what promises to be an extraordinary final high school season for Hoyt has been building for several years. He hired an agent and verbally committed to the University of Florida before he ever threw a pitch for the Sharks. He’s been on the radar of Major League teams for about the same length of time.

Hoyt is living under a microscope and the lens will only get stronger between now and the Major League Baseball Draft in July.

“I’m 50 and my head is spinning from all this,” Hoyt’s father, Rich, said. “It all seems like some crazy dream to me. But it doesn’t get to Jackson at all. He’s just very chill about it all.”

That’s mainly because Hoyt is unflappable in everything he does — from pitching to playing quarterback on the Nature Coast football team to hitting the ski slopes for the first time in his life over Christmas break to meeting with Major League teams. Hoyt is only 18 years old, but he sure doesn’t act like he’s 18, except for the moments when he’s playing video games or pickleball with his friends.

“The bigger the moment, the better Jackson gets,” Garofano said. “He just goes about his business. He doesn’t let what’s going on around him impact him in the least bit.”

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-hander has an uncommon fastball (it was clocked at 92.4 miles per hour in that recent scrimmage and was clocked as high as 94 miles per hour last year) and an even more uncommon poise and maturity.

“I really don’t get nervous,” Hoyt said. “I realize that there’s a lot of attention and a lot going on. But I’m just taking care of what I can control and, then, let everything else fall into place.”

Since the end of football season, Hoyt’s sole focus has been baseball. He’s hit the weight room hard almost every day and added muscle. He’s been working privately with pitching instructor Anthony Telford, a former Major League pitcher. One of the rare moments Hoyt ever has shown much emotion came on Christmas Day. As the family was gathering, one of Hoyt’s aunts ran into something unexpected and was late in arriving.

“Jackson was mad, or at least mad by his standards,” Rich Hoyt said with a laugh. “He hung around as long as he needed to. Then, he was gone.” Gone to hit the weights and do some long toss. All the hard work has put Hoyt in a situation that’s almost unheard of for an 18-year-old and rare even for adults. Hoyt already has an agent, two lawyers and a financial planner.

But, somehow, he has remained grounded. That was obvious during his first meeting with his financial planner. The advisor told Hoyt that he likely will be looking at a signing bonus between $2 million and $4 million if he’s drafted in the range many project and decides to pass on college. Those numbers represent what mid- to late-first-round picks in the 2024 draft signed for. The financial planner asked Hoyt, who currently drives a 2002 Subaru with over 200,000 miles on the odometer, what kind of car he would like to buy if he lands a hefty professional contract.

Hoyt’s response? A used (Hyundai) Elantra.

The financial planner, who is used to hearing Porsche or Lamborghini when that question is posed, laughed and asked Hoyt if he was joking. Hoyt was quite serious.
“I like Elantras and I can get one for under $300 a month,” Hoyt said. “That’s good enough for now. If I get to the Major Leagues in a few years, then I might get something a little more flashy.”

That’s because there’s nothing flashy about Hoyt’s personality and demeanor. Watch a Nature Coast practice sometime and you’ll see a potential first-round draft pick acting no differently than a sophomore backup.

“You’ll see Jackson picking up baseballs and doing all the little things everyone else does,” Garofano said. “He’s just one of the guys.”

Hoyt may be humble by nature. But a little reinforcement is being added to make sure he stays that way. Garofano constantly tells Hoyt and his teammates that what they accomplished last year no longer matters. On one of the walls in Rich Hoyt’s home, there is a shrine to his son. It consists of trophies, medals and baseballs highlighting some of Jackson’s achievements. There are also a few newspaper clippings.

But one of those clips doesn’t quite fit with the tone of all the positive items in the shrine. It’s an edition of The Hernando Sun from last May. It’s the game story from a Nature Coast loss to Hernando High (a team the Sharks had defeated in all three prior meetings) in the Regional Playoffs. “It’s a good reminder that there is more left to accomplish,” Rich Hoyt said.

Jackson knows that and he has high hopes for a new season that he thinks will be special. The Sharks return seven starters from last year’s district championship team. On the days Hoyt isn’t pitching, he’ll be in the outfield and he’ll be batting second in the order. That’s a subtle change from last year when Hoyt hit in the middle of the batting order. But Garofano has moved him up in the order to potentially get Hoyt a few more at-bats. In all likelihood, this season will be the last time Hoyt gets to put much emphasis on the offensive side because pitching will be his only focus in the future.

“I’d like to hit a few home runs,” said Hoyt, who never has hit a home run on the high school level. “This is the best team we’ve had and I think we can go a long way in the playoffs and maybe even win a state championship.”

Garofano has asked Hoyt to be more of a vocal leader this season. That part may not come naturally for Hoyt, but he said he’s already trying to be a leadership voice.

Despite all the excitement circling the school on California Street, there’s an inner calm among the Sharks and it’s trickling down from Garofano and Hoyt to the rest of the team.

“We’re a veteran team and all the attention isn’t impacting us,” Garofano said. “In fact, it’s a positive. It could help some of our other players. People in the baseball world all have connections. Maybe some of the scouts that come to see Jackson will notice some of our other players. Even if they’re not prospects to play professionally right away, those scouts have connections with college coaches and they could tell those college coaches they might want to take a look at some of our kids.”

Garofano, a long-time coach at high schools in Florida and Georgia, has been down this road before. He’s coached several players who ended up getting drafted, including Charlie Condon, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft. Garofano has had to field a lot of calls and questions from professional scouts. He downplays the extra work and says he gives the scouts what they need by sending out an e-mail each Sunday detailing when Hoyt will be throwing in practices and games.

“It helps a lot to have a coach that’s been through it before and I have complete trust and confidence in him,” Hoyt said. “He knows how to handle all that and I can just go out and pitch.”

All eyes will be watching closely when Hoyt pitches this season. And all eyes will be on something well beyond this season. His agent, Scott Bikowski, has cautioned Hoyt and his parents not to get too caught up in what round he’ll be drafted in or what kind of money he could be offered. With his letter of intent to the University of Florida already firmly in his pocket, Hoyt clearly is in a no-lose situation for a potentially wonderful future. Eventually, Hoyt may have to choose between college or professional baseball. Or maybe he’ll do both — spend a couple of years at Florida and then move on to the pros.

So, which way is Hoyt leaning? In typical Hoyt fashion, he’s not getting emotional or getting ahead of the moment. “Honestly, it’s 50-50 right now,” Hoyt said. “I’m just going to go and try to pitch my best this season. When it’s over, we’ll just see how it all plays out and see what’s the best option for me.”

The Hernando Sun will also be keeping a close eye on Hoyt’s senior season and continuing its series with a wrap-up of the high school season, the lead-in to the Major League Baseball Draft and an inside look at whatever decision Hoyt ultimately makes on his baseball future.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In Hernando County, an athlete like Nature Coast senior Jackson Hoyt comes along once in a generation — or maybe not even that often. An outstanding quarterback on the football team, Hoyt is an even better baseball player. At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, he has the measurables that top colleges and Major League Baseball teams covet. More importantly, he’s a left-handed pitcher — a precious commodity in the baseball world. Hoyt verbally committed to play baseball at the University of Florida before his freshman year of high school (at about the same time he picked an agent) and signed a letter of intent with the Gators in November. But, in a pleasant and promising way, it gets more complicated than that. Hoyt very well may end up playing at Florida, but the Major League Baseball draft in July looms large. In baseball circles, Hoyt is viewed as a potential high pick and it’s at least possible he could end up skipping college and turning professional. Hoyt is clearly in the driver’s seat as he goes through a remarkable senior year. Hoyt and his inner circle have agreed to give The Hernando Sun inside access throughout it all and we’ll have a periodic series on critical points during his journey. In today’s Part Two of the series, we look at the buzz surrounding Hoyt as he begins a high school baseball season jam-packed with enormous implications.