A lot of guys can say they’ve done what Jeremy Pickrel does: Coach high school baseball in a modest-sized community. The 42-year-old lives in Galesburg with his wife and four children, working for the school district and as coach of the Silver Streaks baseball team.
He has experienced a lot of things most guys can’t say, too, such as receiving a bonus check for $75,000 from the Minnesota Twins after being drafted in 2004. Or, being in the same lineup card as Twins stars Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter.
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While Pickrel never made it to “The Show”, as the Major Leagues are called, he went further than 99 percent of guys who played high school baseball, and he’s got lots of great memories and stories to tell from his experience.
“You couldn’t watch the MLB draft on TV like you can today. You had to sit in front of your computer and watch the ticker. Right before pick number 301, they gave me a call on my cell phone and said, ‘If we choose you, are you ready?’ I said yeah, and then I saw my name come across the ticker, and then got a phone call saying I was a Minnesota Twin,” Pickrel said.
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Not bad for a scrawny kid who never really made much of an impact on the Silver Streaks as a player. In fact, Pickrel was known more for his soccer skills in high school than for hitting a baseball.
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Then Pickrel started hitting the weight room and packed plenty of muscle onto his 6-foot-4 frame. Suddenly, he could hit a baseball a very long way, and coaches at Illinois State took notice. In the summer after his graduation, Pickrel accepted a baseball scholarship. He put up some gaudy numbers for the Redbirds and grabbed the attention of a Midwest region scout for the Twins.
Despite an injury-plagued junior season at ISU, the Twins were interested. Thus began a five-year journey in their minor-league system.
He was making the princely sum of $950 per month, living in a house with five other teammates in Elizabethton, Tennessee, all sharing one vehicle, a Geo Tracker.
Galesburg head coach Jeremy Pickrel slaps hands with relief pitcher Grant Aten after the sixth inning against Washington during their Class 3A baseball sectional semifinal Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at Brian Wisher Field in Washington. The Panthers advanced to the sectional title game with a 3-2 victory. They’ll face Morton for the sectional title at 11 a.m. Saturday in Washington.
And he loved it.
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“All the stories you heard about with rookie ball, they were all true,” Pickrel says with a laugh. “Living in a small town, guys doing everything together and maybe getting into a little mischief along the way. It was something, trying to squeeze six guys into a Geo Tracker and drive to the field.”
The next year, Pickrel played right field for the Twins’ High-A affiliate in Beloit, Wis., and hit .277 for the Snappers, with 12 home runs, 65 RBI and 15 stolen bases. From 2005-07, he participated in major-league spring training camps and played several games with Mauer, Hunter, Joe Nathan and Justin Morneau.
“They were good guys. They didn’t treat you like you were inferior,” Pickrel said. “I remember Mauer asking me, ‘Now, Pickrel, are you the guy who went to Illinois State?’ It turned out he had family who went there. That was pretty neat thinking ‘Wow, Joe Mauer knows who I am.’”
Pickrel’s minor-league days started to turn in 2006, however, after injuries returned. He hit .231 in 2006 and was released at the end of 2007 spring training.
Galesburg High School baseball coach Jeremy Pickrel
Pickrell then played for independent league teams in New Jersey and Connecticut before his professional days finished with a club in Nashua, N.H., managed by former Boston Red Sox outfielder Rick Miller.
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“I got another injury, and I just kind of thought, ‘What am I going to do long-term?’ My manager and his assistant Brian Daubach (another Red Sox player) tried to talk me out quitting, but I just thought, ‘I’m done,’” Pickrell said.
Pickrell went back to school and got a teaching degree at Western Illinois, then volunteered on the Galesburg baseball staff. In 2017, Pickrel was named coach of the Silver Streaks.
He loves the job and lives a happy life with his wife, Kristen, herself a teacher in the Galesburg district, three daughters (Delaney, Camille and Paige) and son, Easton, who will be a freshman this fall.
“Being able to leave my own mark with Galesburg, coming home and coaching kids who are just like I once was, it’s special,” Pickrel said. “This has always been home to me and always will.”
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg baseball’s Jeremy Pickrel remembers days with Twins organization