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Northwestern Wildcats starting quarterback Jack Lausch will join the school's baseball team as an outfielder, the program announced on Monday.
Lausch, who threw for 1,714 yards over 10 games for the Wildcats in 2024, is a former elite baseball prospect. He came out of high school as the No. 1-ranked outfielder in Illinois and the No. 23 outfielder in the country by Perfect Game in 2022. He originally committed to Notre Dame for baseball before changing course and going to Evanston to play football. Lausch also had offers from college baseball powers Vanderbilt and Texas.
“Jack is an elite athlete with a high-level skillset and has an opportunity to make an immediate impact,” Wildcats baseball coach Ben Greenspan said in a release. “His leadership qualities and character attributes are exactly what we look for in players, and we are thrilled to have Jack as part of our program.”
Lasuch will remain with the football team and participate in spring practice, in addition to his baseball responsibilities. The redshirt sophomore becomes Northwestern's first baseball-football dual-sport athlete since Dan Kubiuk in 2015-16.
It will be a lot for Lausch to take on, but he's said in the past that he sees parallels between baseball and football.
“The best practice for the fourth quarter of a football game is hitting with two outs in the seventh inning with guys on base,” Lausch told Northwestern student paper The Daily last fall. “Just being in a competitive atmosphere helps you be a better player, regardless of the sport.”
Northwestern football player Jack Lausch is a real MLB prospect
As a high school senior, Lausch was the 2022 Chicago Catholic League Baseball Player of the Year, hitting .386 with a .521 on-base percentage. He was also named to the Class 4A All-State team.
His high school coach, Sean McBride, told The Daily's Jake Epstein in the fall that Major League teams remain interested in Lausch's services
“Every scout of every major league team was calling me every single day,” he said.
Now that he's been off the diamond for a couple years, only time will tell whether Lausch's undeniable tools have stayed sharp.
Lausch is a left-handed hitter who can hit for power to all parts of the field, according to his Perfect Game profile, while Baseball America ranked him as a top 250 prospect for the 2022 MLB Draft. He was also a pitcher in high school, but projects better as a position player.
The Wildcats will begin their 2025 baseball season on February 14 in California against Long Beach State.
