By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Jon Wylie has quite a collection of jerseys from nearly two dozen teams he’s played for throughout the spring and summer baseball seasons.

And he just added one more.

The Ironton Fighting Tigers’ senior standout pitcher signed a national letter-of-intent on Tuesday with the Xavier University Musketeers.

“I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to go to a Division 1 from a little school from Ironton. It’s an amazing opportunity to have,” said Wylie.

“I wish it wouldn’t be over. I wish it could continue. I know I’m only in high school for four years. I wish I could be in high school for as long as I want to be. But this is my dream continuing. I’m getting ready for it and I’m ready.”

Wylie played shortstop as well as pitching for Ironton. He plans to shed the possibility of being a two-way player at Xavier in order to get that next jersey he has his sights set on.

“It’s going to be a little different. It’ll be an adjustment, but I’m going to be focusing strictly on pitching. I feel like I’m going to become a lot better pitcher, have a lot better mentality for the position and it’s going to be a lot different not having a bat in my hand,” said Wylie.

“They asked me when they offered me if I wanted to be a two-way player when I went up there but I decided I just want to pitch because in my future I know what I want to do. My big dream is to make it to the MLB and I know I can do that through pitching.”

Ironton head coach Travis Wylie — who played at NCAA Division 3 power Marietta College — is also Jon’s father and knows his son’s qualities better than anyone.

“We know what he can do on the mound. That’s kind of what he’s known for and that’s what he’s going to Xavier for,” said coach Wylie.

“But he’s a good all-around player and he has been for a while. But the biggest thing from all of it is what people talk about with Jon and other coaches is how he is a leader and a teammate. As a dad, that’s what means the most. That’s his biggest quality. That’s what you want to get all your players to do.”

It hasn’t been a smooth path to the college ranks for the Ironton senior. He suffered an arm injury pitching at Gallipolis last season and had to shut his season down, undergo surgery and then rehab.

With the injury, Wylie will still be able to bat but his throwing will be severely restricted.

“We kind of have to go day by day with my arm injury. It was kind of crazy how that all happened last year. I’m bouncing back well from it. I’m going to therapy and learning a lot more new things” said Wylie.

“I’m relearning how to throw really. It’s a lot different, but everything is going well  and I’ll be ready for next season.”

Wylie started getting recruited as a freshman by a limited number of schools and got his first offer that year from Marshall. He went to a camp at Xavier during his sophomore year and they offered me a scholarship. They’ve always been interested in me since. A big thing is my travel team needed a place to practice. I called my college coach and he was in the NCAA tournament and he said that we could come there and practice on the field. That was a big thing for me because practicing on the field and walking around the campus, it felt like home to me.”Besides Marshall, Wylie got numerous offers including Ohio State, Wake Forest and a couple of other ACC and SEC schools as well as a couple of other Big Ten schools.

“Xavier has always been interested in me. They were at all my games my sophomore and junior years and summer. Even if I wasn’t pitching, they were watching me play the field. I always felt love for them and every single time I talked to their coach I felt like I was talking to my dad,” said Wylie.

The 6-foot-3 175-pound right-hander said Xavier never wavered from their commitment to him even when he was injured. He said being under the microscope of the Xavier staff will help him become a better pitcher.

“A big thing when I used to talk to colleges was what they used to look for in a pitcher. All of them would say that third pitch. Everyone can throw a fastball and a breaking ball for a strike, but it’s all about that third pitch,” said Wylie.

“My third pitch that I throw a lot is my change-up. From my sophomore to my junior year talking to Xavier, they told me to work on my change-up and throw it more. Coming into my junior year I was throwing that pitch about 50 percent (of the time). They’ll tweak a few things with me here and there, but I’ll be open to whatever concerns that they have.”

Oh, and by the way. Make that a size medium jersey.