Paso Robles stars shine at Cal Poly baseball
Cal Poly baseball attracts some of the top high school talent from all across California. Even so, it’s two pitchers who grew up in Paso Robles just 40 minutes from the campus who represent some of the brightest stars the team has.
Jakob Wright and Carson Turnquist both grew up in Paso Robles, and took very different paths to becoming Cal Poly baseball players. Injuries, positional decisions, and schooling choices all compounded to lead both men to where they are today. For more baseball stories like theirs, checkout baseball news at Overtime Heroics.
The pair became teammates at Paso Robles High in 2018 with Wright being a sophomore and Turnquist the talented incoming freshman. Despite different styles, it was evident from the start that each athlete had the chance to play at the D1 level.
As the two definitive stars on their high school team they lifted, pitched, and studied the game together throughout their time at Paso Robles. After high school, the duo parted ways. Wright stayed local to play for Cal Poly while the allure of one of the top programs in the country in the University of Oklahoma took Turnquist to Norman.
Though he stayed close to home to play, the Jakob Wright baseball story is not as straightforward as it may seem. Wright was recruited out of high school as a two-way player, however quickly after arriving on campus he was shifted to a full-time pitcher. Despite reducing his workload to strictly pitching, the injury bug still hit Wright, and it hit him hard. In his first two seasons at Cal Poly he pitched just 18 innings due to injury.
Finally healthy this past year, Wright showed his immense talent leading the Cal Poly pitching staff in ERA with a 2.97 and strikeouts with 101. The Jakob Wright Cal Poly had recruited three years ago has shown up in a big way.
The Carson Turnquist baseball pathway has had similar twists and turns. After arriving at Oklahoma, Turnquist featured in just five games as a freshman. The desire to play consistently led to Turnquist entering the transfer portal.
Once in the portal, a big part of his decision to return home to Cal Poly was his relationship with Wright and their shared belief that striving to win as a team is the most important quality of a successful program.
Unfortunately, Turnquist had to undergo Tommy John surgery and as such has yet to pitch for his new team. Despite this, he has been working hard behind the scenes to come back better than ever and contribute. Whether the two will be in the rotation together next season is questionable though, with Wright’s play leading to likely being picked in the opening rounds of the MLB draft. Whether or not they are in the same rotation next year, both men’s careers took them from Paso Robles to Cal Poly, despite different twists and turns along the way.
