Stepping up to bat: Tulane announces new baseball signing class

Abe Seldowitz, Contributing Reporter
September 18, 2019

With a 32-26 season record in 2019, the Tulane baseball team is among the Green Wave’s more solid performers. Looking toward the 2020 season, the team has recently announced who will replenish the talent that graduated in 2019.

The group of players leaving last year included a program-tying record six draft picks to Major League Baseball and a free agent signing.

Still, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Head baseball coach Travis Jewett announced the 18-man signing class with fall camp starting in the coming weeks. The signing class includes 10 transfers from junior colleges and eight recruits from high school prep programs.

Courtesy of Tulane Athletics
Junior Grant Matthews knocked it out of the park last season. He will be joined this year by freshmen recruits Luis Aviles, Dylan Goldstein and Luke Jannetta.

As the team turns the corner to start workouts, let’s take a look at the newest members of the Green Wave baseball team.

Luis Aviles is a catcher from Palmetto Bay, Florida. Aviles was a junior college (JUCO) honorable mention All-American at Wallace Community College in Dothan, Alabama. He hit for a whopping .424 batting average. Aviles also played one season for the elite program at Rice University. He started five games of the 14 he played in.

Dylan Goldstein also hails from Florida. He was a high school teammate of Liam Cogswell, another recruit in the 2019 signing class. Goldstein attended North Broward Prep and was named both team captain and team MVP during his senior campaign.

Luke Jannetta is an all-around athlete, with baseball being his best sport. Jannetta was a three-sport athlete at Westminster High School in Georgia, where he played four years of baseball as a pitcher and outfielder. Jannetta’s extensive athletic resume also extends to three years as a wide receiver and safety on the football team and one season as a shooting guard on the basketball team. Impressively enough, Jannetta earned the recognition of team captain as a junior and senior as well as MVP awards in both seasons.

The Green Wave baseball team is not only recognized for its athletic talent, however. Tulane also earned the American Baseball Coaches Association Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2018-19 season. The award aims to feature entire programs that maintained a grade point average over a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Although baseball’s schedule has not yet been announced, fans will be waiting with bated breath to see how the new talent fares this spring!