Eric Jaffe, a right-handed freshman pitcher from Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School, is officially eligible to play for the UCLA baseball team this season.
Jaffe was waiting on an appeal to go through with the NCAA after he transferred from Cal when the school announced it was doing away with its baseball program, something UCLA coach John Savage called “a very odd situation.” He is enrolled in winter quarter classes and is expected to bring some depth to the Bruins’ pitching rotation this year.
Also a first baseman, Jaffe was rated the No. 86 prospect by BaseballAmerica.com and joins three other freshman right-handers in the Bruins’ 2011 recruiting class: Adam Plutko, Nick Vander Tuig and Zack Weiss.
“The four freshman pitchers are going to be major contributors from the get-go,” Savage said. “We’re expecting big things out of them. They’re going to have to replace a bunch of innings that we lost last year.”