His impressive swing may not have made it to prime time television. But what 17-year-old Jacob Gatewood did, stunned baseballs finest.
At the home run derby, he got a chance to showcase his talents in New York during a quick commercial of the national telecast, and what he did drew some of the loudest cheers all night.
I'm feeling great it was the best day of my life," said Gatewood. "I don't know how else to put it, it just felt crazy to be on the field with all these different guys. Sometimes you forget they are human, you kind of think like maybe they are like robots or something like that. Best day of my life by far."
Gatewood slammed out an incredible nine home runs in just four minutes. When we chatted with him, he described how nervous he was before walking up to the batter's box.
Over the phone, Gatewood told ABC30, "Me and my dad's saying is always, pressure is a privilege so I kind of just wanted to soak it all in."
The six foot five athlete pitches, and plays shortstop for the Clovis Cougars.
Clovis High Coach James Patrick said, "Jake is a tremendous baseball player with extreme power and the last two days he was able to put his talents on display at the highest level."
On Monday night he was on a roll, and the twitterverse took notice.
Major League Baseball tweeted, "Players watching and liking what they are seeing from high schooler Jacob Gatewood's show!"
But the Valley teen says his favorite part of the night, was hanging out with baseball's best.
"They gave me some pointers about baseball, about life and about the derby," said Gatewood. "It was unreal."
