Photo by: Deborah Mundorff
Goldfarb Nearing End Of Long Journey
05/16/19 | Baseball, @GoDucksMoseley
Jakob Goldfarb arrived at Oregon from Arizona in 2014, and soon will wrap up a rare five-year career with the Ducks, who open a series at USC on Friday (6 p.m., Pac-12).
A long journey is nearing its end for the senior member of the Oregon baseball roster.
Nobody has played in a UO uniform longer than Jakob Goldfarb, the only fifth-year senior on the roster for the Ducks, who kick off the penultimate weekend of their regular season at Southern California on Friday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network). And few on the roster traveled farther to play at Oregon than Goldfarb, an Arizona native who found home in Eugene.
Goldfarb, an outfielder most of his career who has played some catcher this season, got his first look at the UO campus while attending a baseball camp as a high school sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz. He'd grown up a fan of the local team, Arizona State. But almost immediately after arriving in Oregon, his allegiance changed.
"Eugene just attracted me from the first time I ever stepped foot on campus," Goldfarb said. "I thought this was a place I could come and flourish."
Flourish he has, after breaking into the starting lineup as a true freshman in 2015. Goldfarb's career was interrupted by a season lost to injury in 2017, but he rebounded in a big way last spring, leading the Ducks in hitting (.308), slugging (.487) and on-base average (.397).
Coming off that season, Goldfarb might have turned pro. But he opted to remain in school as a rare fifth-year player, in part to expand his skill set by playing catcher. There he can put to use the rocket arm that has helped him throw out 12 baserunners on outfield assists, a school record.
A five-year isn't very common among collegiate baseball players, who are eligible to be drafted as juniors. But before he ever got to campus, Goldfarb proved himself willing to blaze his own trail.
Three years after Goldfarb arrived in Eugene from Scottsdale, another desert native signed with the Ducks. Evan Williams also plays the outfield at Oregon, and is now a sophomore.
"It was definitely different," Williams said of moving from the southwest to the Pacific Northwest. "But once I got here, it was great. It felt like home."
There have been some practical concessions to the new environment. Williams said he quickly adjusted to playing in long sleeves, in the cooler conditions. As the years have progressed, Goldfarb said, he's become more mindful of the need to go through a pregame routine that allows him to feel loose and explosive no matter the conditions.
All of those adaptations, Goldfarb said, have been to his benefit.
"I don't think you really grow unless you make yourself uncomfortable," Goldfarb said. "I've done a lot of that here over the past four or five years."
Soon Goldfarb will be an alumnus of the UO baseball program and the University of Oregon, one more Duck with roots from out of state. Attracting students, including student-athletes, from wide swaths of the country is a priority for the university, and Goldfarb is proof success can be achieved far from home.
A year ago, the Duck Athletic Fund reported support from alumni in 33 states across the country; the DAF held its annual Day of Giving on Thursday, with hopes of making it a "#FlockOf50," with the support of 500 total donors representing every state in the nation. Goldfarb's home state of Arizona is a prominent alumni base, and soon he'll be among its members.
But first, Goldfarb has at least two more weeks left in a college uniform. Oregon plays three games this weekend at USC and wraps up the road trip Monday at UC Riverside. Then, it's back home for the final series of the regular season, at PK Park against top-ranked UCLA.
For an Oregon baseball team still hoping to play its way into an NCAA regional, those are opportunities aplenty to enhance their postseason credentials. If the Ducks do qualify for postseason play, they'd probably have to travel away from the West Coast. But as Goldfarb and Williams have proven, they can leave their nest and thrive in new conditions.
"I could have stayed at home, and I'm sure I would have had a good career and a good time there," Goldfarb said. "But I wanted to get out of that comfort zone and experience something new. You just have to be willing to take that leap of faith, and trust yourself as a person that you can take on whatever challenges are thrown your way."
Nobody has played in a UO uniform longer than Jakob Goldfarb, the only fifth-year senior on the roster for the Ducks, who kick off the penultimate weekend of their regular season at Southern California on Friday (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network). And few on the roster traveled farther to play at Oregon than Goldfarb, an Arizona native who found home in Eugene.
Goldfarb, an outfielder most of his career who has played some catcher this season, got his first look at the UO campus while attending a baseball camp as a high school sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz. He'd grown up a fan of the local team, Arizona State. But almost immediately after arriving in Oregon, his allegiance changed.
"Eugene just attracted me from the first time I ever stepped foot on campus," Goldfarb said. "I thought this was a place I could come and flourish."
Flourish he has, after breaking into the starting lineup as a true freshman in 2015. Goldfarb's career was interrupted by a season lost to injury in 2017, but he rebounded in a big way last spring, leading the Ducks in hitting (.308), slugging (.487) and on-base average (.397).
Coming off that season, Goldfarb might have turned pro. But he opted to remain in school as a rare fifth-year player, in part to expand his skill set by playing catcher. There he can put to use the rocket arm that has helped him throw out 12 baserunners on outfield assists, a school record.
A five-year isn't very common among collegiate baseball players, who are eligible to be drafted as juniors. But before he ever got to campus, Goldfarb proved himself willing to blaze his own trail.
Three years after Goldfarb arrived in Eugene from Scottsdale, another desert native signed with the Ducks. Evan Williams also plays the outfield at Oregon, and is now a sophomore.
"It was definitely different," Williams said of moving from the southwest to the Pacific Northwest. "But once I got here, it was great. It felt like home."
There have been some practical concessions to the new environment. Williams said he quickly adjusted to playing in long sleeves, in the cooler conditions. As the years have progressed, Goldfarb said, he's become more mindful of the need to go through a pregame routine that allows him to feel loose and explosive no matter the conditions.
All of those adaptations, Goldfarb said, have been to his benefit.
"I don't think you really grow unless you make yourself uncomfortable," Goldfarb said. "I've done a lot of that here over the past four or five years."
Soon Goldfarb will be an alumnus of the UO baseball program and the University of Oregon, one more Duck with roots from out of state. Attracting students, including student-athletes, from wide swaths of the country is a priority for the university, and Goldfarb is proof success can be achieved far from home.
A year ago, the Duck Athletic Fund reported support from alumni in 33 states across the country; the DAF held its annual Day of Giving on Thursday, with hopes of making it a "#FlockOf50," with the support of 500 total donors representing every state in the nation. Goldfarb's home state of Arizona is a prominent alumni base, and soon he'll be among its members.
But first, Goldfarb has at least two more weeks left in a college uniform. Oregon plays three games this weekend at USC and wraps up the road trip Monday at UC Riverside. Then, it's back home for the final series of the regular season, at PK Park against top-ranked UCLA.
For an Oregon baseball team still hoping to play its way into an NCAA regional, those are opportunities aplenty to enhance their postseason credentials. If the Ducks do qualify for postseason play, they'd probably have to travel away from the West Coast. But as Goldfarb and Williams have proven, they can leave their nest and thrive in new conditions.
"I could have stayed at home, and I'm sure I would have had a good career and a good time there," Goldfarb said. "But I wanted to get out of that comfort zone and experience something new. You just have to be willing to take that leap of faith, and trust yourself as a person that you can take on whatever challenges are thrown your way."
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