Jonathan Engelmann leaves legacy at Burlingame as a complete player

As a recent graduate from Burlingame, Engelmann could very well be playing center field at the next level. Which level that will be is yet to be determined, as he is currently deciding between a commitment to play on scholarship at University of Michigan or a jump to the professional ranks after being drafted Wednesday by the Minnesota Twins.

“[I’m] very excited, very ready,” Engelmann said. “It’s a blessing. God has put me in a good position … and I thank him every day. There are definitely two options I can choose. It’s exciting.”

Engelmann was a legitimate five-tool threat on the field. In addition to capturing the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title with a .462 average, he broke the Burlingame record with 36 stolen bases. He also won the team triple crown with one home run and 18 RBIs, and also paced the team with 37 hits, 28 runs scored, a .583 on-base percentage and a .687 slugging percentage.

However, it was Engelmann’s sixth tool as a prolific team leader that put him over the top as the Daily Journal Baseball Player of the Year. It was that leadership that helped Burlingame get hot through the opening of the postseason and win PAL Tournament championship.

“He wants to win and he always wants to help the younger guys,” Scott said. “It really surprised me how much he helped the younger guys … because he had so many other things going on himself that he put those things aside and helped the younger guys get better.”

Much of Engelmann’s inspiration for helping the younger Panthers acclimate to the varsity level is his once being the new guy in town. As a freshman, he started his varsity career as a third baseman at Aragon. Then as a sophomore transfer at Burlingame, the San Mateo native who didn’t know anyone on the team was just another lump of underclassman clay yet to be molded.

“(He was) just a big-bodied kid that worked hard,” Scott said.

After batting .273 in his inaugural season with the Panthers, Engelmann locked in with his power swing as a junior. A private student of Joc Pederson’s father Stu — along with Menlo-Atherton slugger Matthew McGarry — Engelmann’s middle-away approach garnered a breakout season last year in which he hit .412 to earn All-PAL Bay Division first-team honors.

By his senior season, Engelmann was firing on all cylinders. Then, with his bat already garnering plenty of attention from professional scouts, Engelmann’s running game took off. The running Panthers of 2015 can be traced back to a challenge dropped by Scott before the season opener. With a stable of speedsters including leadoff hitter Griffin Intrieri, Scott spurred his dugout to compete with one another for the team lead in steals.

“It was a little challenge,” Engelmann said. “Shawn had mentioned at the beginning of the year … we should race for the stolen-base title.”

The strategy paid off, as Engelmann and Intrieri became the first tandem in Burlingame history to swipe 30 bases apiece. Engelmann led the squad with 36 to finish his Burlingame career with a total of 65 steals. Intrieri stole 30 bases, tabbing his 30th in the Panthers’ 3-1 win over St. Ignatius in the opening round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.

Engelmann was un-paralleled at the plate though. He ran away with the PAL Bay Division batting crown. The runner-up to his .462 mark was Sacred Heart Prep junior Andrew Daschbach with a .443 batting average. Not that the numbers were the be-all, end-all to Engelmann.

“It’s something where I knew I was getting success at the plate,” Engelmann said. “I’m not really a stat watcher. … For myself, baseball is a game where if you do everything right, you can go 0-for-3 or 0-for-4. So it’s all about hitting the ball hard.”

In the field, Engelmann always seems to take the approach of going hitless at the plate. It took some imagination on his part, being as he hit safely in 24 of 29 games this season. But his philosophy of covering ground in the outfield is taken from something Engelmann once heard the Twins’ Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter say in an interview.

“Torii Hunter once said, “If I’m not hitting it, nobody is hitting it,’” Engelmann said.

Now the possibility of Engelmann joining the Twins organization is a tangible possibility. He was drafted by Minnesota in the 28th round Wednesday.

“It’s really awesome,” Engelmann said. “I couldn’t be more blessed to be in this position. It’s a dream come true to be recognized by a professional baseball team. A select few are lucky enough to be selected in the Major League draft and I was fortunate enough to be one of them.”

Whether the next stop of his baseball career is in Minnesota or Michigan, the acclimating process is old hat to Engelmann. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he then lived in New York as a child until his family relocated to San Mateo, where he started played for his first organized tee-ball team.

That isn’t his earliest baseball memory though. That came during a vacation in Kauai, Hawaii — where his family has a summer home — where he remembers swinging a Wiffle ball bat in the backyard.

At Burlingame though, he will be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

“The memories I ‘ve made at Burlingame High School will stay with me the rest of my life,” Engelmann said. “The friendships, the memories … they never leave you.”