UTICA, N.Y. – The Utica Blue Sox announced Saturday the signing of Evan Esch, a left handed pitcher from Woodbury, Minnesota. Esch is currently a freshman at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where he is studying entrepreneurship, and hopes to one day work in baseball, maybe even owning his own club team one day. 

Esch played high school ball at Mounds Park Academy where in his senior season he recorded 74 strikeouts in 29 innings of work. Including a 19 strikeout game in only 7 innings. Aside from pitching Esch also has a talented bat, batting .458 last season. 

Moving into his first season as a collegiate athlete Esch’s short term goal is to secure a job as a starting pitcher. He also said that what is really important to him is being the best teammate possible. Esch said he loves to be a leader, and the group they have at St. Thomas is one that loves showing up and working everyday which makes leading so much easier. 

As a long term goal Esch said he hopes to play three or 4 years of college baseball, then move on to professional ball. He said he hopes to be drafted around his junior year allowing him to move up and take the next step with a career in baseball. 

Esch originally heard about the Blue Sox from his coach, who told him how well the Blue Sox run their program and how competitive the PGCBL is. After that he decided to reach out, and was impressed at how professional the organization was. This ultimately led to his decision to come to Utica for the summer. 

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