Former Boston College Infielder Jake Palomaki Joins Penn State Baseball Staff

The Boston College alumnus joins his former coach at Penn State.

Boston College Athletics

Former Boston College baseball infielder Jake Palomaki has joined the Penn State baseball staff as an assistant coach. 

“I’m excited to be working under Coach Gambino again,” said Palomaki in the official press release. “Thankful for the opportunity given to me by Coach Gambino, Dr. Patrick Kraft and Vinnie James. Excited to be working with this coaching staff. Penn State has a culture of winning across all sports. The baseball team has a good thing going. I’m looking forward to helping us to make some noise on the national level.”

The Kennesaw, Ga., native played for the Eagles from 2015-18 under former Eagles head coach and current Penn State coach Mike Gambino. During his time in Chestnut Hill, he appeared in 196 games which included 192 starts and tallied a .286 batting average, 202 hits, 36 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 91 runs batted in, drew 153 walks, stole 60 bases, a .375 slugging percentage, and a .426 on-base percentage.

Palomaki was drafted as the No. 540 overall pick (18th round) in the 2018 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays and remained in the organization until 2021. He also had a short stint in the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2022 when he played for the Salt Lake Bees, a Triple-A team. In total, he recorded a .258 batting average, 266 hits, 99 runs batted in, 49 stolen bases, six home runs, a .354 on-base percentage, and a .676 OPS percentage in his minor league career. 

Most recently, he served as the hitting coach for the FCL Phillies, a rookie-level affiliate team in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. 

“As a player, Jake brought competitiveness, toughness, grit and a work ethic that our guys will be able to learn from,” said Gambino in the official press release. “He’s a tremendously high-character, high-integrity guy that will help our players grow and develop on and off the field with what he’s done as a player, working up to Triple-A and working as a hitting coach. He can bring tremendous value from a development side, helping our guys to win championships and develop into professional baseball players.” 

Palomaki joins a Nittany Lions program that went 29-24 overall, 12-12 in conference play, and made an appearance in the Big Ten Tournament and Championship.