Jace Johnson, a senior at Tracy High, recently committed to play baseball at San Jose State University (SJSU) on Aug. 23, 2024. 

Johnson has been playing baseball since he was three years old due to his dad playing, which became his inspiration to start playing the sport. 

Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, Johnson stands out as a left-handed pitcher with a strong passion to perfect his craft. 

“My career didn’t start to jump until freshman and sophomore year when I started playing travel ball seriously,” Johnson explained. “Before that, I just played to play.”

It was around the time he started travel ball that he also started pitching. According to Johnson, it was during this time that he learned to enjoy and excel at the art of pitching. He also started putting in more hours after school to keep getting better. 

Johnson’s sophomore year was important for him after making the jump to varsity. He continued to grow by becoming the top pitcher for the team. Because the team was looking at Johnson for a more significant role, he realized he needed to focus and take things much more seriously than he ever had before. 

At the time of Johnson’s commitment to SJSU, he was talking to multiple schools including Arizona State University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The thing that set SJSU apart from the other schools, according to Johnson, was that they had the best communication and were genuinely interested in having Johnson come play for them. 

“Some of my biggest accomplishments in my baseball career are the new personal records I set when pitching, the no hitters I have thrown in games and my commitment to San Jose State,” Johnson concluded. 

This upcoming spring, Johnson will be playing his last baseball season of high school, where he looks forward to playing for the new head coach, JaRell McIntyre. His goal is to help the team make the playoffs at the end of the season.