Jack Bushell signs with Detroit Tigers

18-year-old Adelaide pitcher Jack Bushell wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to become a professional baseball player.

“I had the opportunity now, and if I didn’t take it I couldn’t live with myself – I had to take it,” says the South Australia, who just signed with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. “It’s been my dream for a while now.”

The contract Bushell inked on Tuesday puts a nice bookend to a wild 12-months.

He’s put in some serious work – and hardcore air mileage – since January of 2023.

In started in January, 2023 when Bushell impressed for South Australia at the U18 National Championships.

“That’s when the conversations started with the Tigers,” says Bushell, who says he also chatted to other MLB outfits.

The rest of 2023? Buckle up.

He graduated high-school. He trained “six to seven” days a week. He attended a national junior camp.

AUSSIES ABROAD: Read stories on all the latest Aussies to sign pro.

He played Division 1 for Goodwood in the South Australian State League. He went to an U18 World Cup. He made his Australian Baseball League debut with the Adelaide Giants. He pitched for Team Australia at the Tokyo Dome vs Japan at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship.

Bushell is also a newly turned 18-year-old with friends, family and a social life to balance.
The life of a baseball player with professional ambitions.

“Honestly, it’s been such a whirlwind. It’s stuff you think about but you don’t imagine would actually happen. I just try to take a step back and enjoy everything as it comes,” he said in an interview in Tokyo last year.

Bushell has been on the radar of baseball folks in South Australia for ages. He was a star Little League and junior player with Goodwood Baseball Club, winning multiple MVPs while rising the system as a two-way player.

In the last 18-months Bushell has been tinkering and enhancing his pitching arsenal.

While he can hit 91-92mph on the radar gun, Bushell says he’s been working hard at his sinker and change-up to baffle opponents.

“About November last year I started pitching last year with [former Team Australia pitcher Josh Tols,” he says. “We figured out my fastball didn’t have as much spin as I’d like. We tinkered with a sinker which has been working well for me alongside my changeup, which is probably my best pitch.”

Those pitches baffled opponents internationally.

Bushell was the star of Australia’s U18 squad at the 2023 World Cup in Taiwan, leading the team in innings pitched, strike-outs, ERA (1.40) and wins.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) even called an athletic play of his the #3 overall play of 2023 in a World Cup event.

“I think that tournament was great for me. It sort of showed me I belong,” said Bushell in an interview in Tokyo late last year.

He is now one of five members of that U18 team who have signed professional, joining Declan Speirs, Adam Bates, Drew Davies and Jayden Kim.

Bushell’s World Cup performance was strong enough to become the youngest player selected on Australia’s Asia Professional Baseball Championship squad. Bushell started a game in front of nearly 50,000 singing fans at the Tokyo Dome and struck out the #2 home run hitter in the Japan professional league.

“My experience at the Tokyo Dome was crazy. Pitching in front of that many people was wild – I was so nervous, I was so pumped up. Crazy,” he says.

Things are about to get crazier for Bushell. The grind is about to begin.

Bushell will likely report to Florida for spring training. He’ll then attempt to work his way up a rigorous and ruthless minor league system in an attempt to make the Major Leagues.

Bushell will remain with the Adelaide Giants in the Australian Baseball League as they attempt to win their second straight Claxton Shield.

“I really have to thank Mum and Dad,” says Bushell. “I had a glove and bat in my hand before I could walk. I played at Goodwood so I need to thank everybody there – that’s where Dad played. I started playing juniors, then seniors and now the Giants. It’s been good for me with the Giants to see the pro guys here and give me a big taste of what’s to come.”

Written by Eric Balnar - Baseball Australia