Junior Josh Rosenblitt announced his commitment to play Division I baseball for Oakland University on Apr. 3 through his X account.
“I am very excited to announce my commitment to play D1 baseball at Oakland University! I would like to thank my coaches, teammates, and family for helping me to get to this moment. Go Grizz 🐻!” Rosenblitt wrote in his post.
The six-foot pitcher has been playing baseball for most of his life. When not playing for the Beachwood Bison, Rosenblitt plays for the T3 Warhawks, an elite youth travel baseball team.
Rosenblitt claims that he could have not accomplished his goals without support from his parents, his travel coach Ryan Rua—a former professional MLB player—as well as his current and former Beachwood coaches. Rua explained that Oakland will benefit from Rosenblitt’s many strengths.
“On the mound they are getting a bulldog,” Rua wrote in an email. “Josh is an old-school type of pitcher who is extremely confident in his abilities. That is easy to see by the way he attacks hitters, throws strikes, keeps up his tempo and analyzes between innings.”
“He is very mature beyond his years on and off of the field,” Rua added. “Whatever role Josh falls into, he will do his best to put the team in a situation to compete.”
The Bison’s ace has performed well so far in the 2024 baseball season, starting on the mound for five games with 63 strikeouts and a 1.08 earned run average. In the offseason, his fastball topped out at 89 miles per hour and he is currently the 41st overall baseball player in Ohio for the class of 2025 according to Prep Baseball Report.
Rosenblitt took careful consideration prior to making the decision to commit.
“Oakland had everything that I was looking for,” Rosenblitt said. “The coaching staff is great, their facilities are great, their teams are playing pretty good this year and they’re coming off a few good seasons, so I’m really excited.”
Although he also hits for Beachwood, Rosenblitt’s main asset is as a right-handed pitcher.
“My biggest strength I’d say would be my mental game,” he said. “I’m pretty smart on the mound, and I believe that allows me to succeed, especially in tough situations when things aren’t necessarily going well, and I just got to man up. I’m pretty good at staying calm, composed and doing what I need to do.”
While Rosenblitt has numerous strengths as a pitcher, he also recognizes that he must continue to grow.
“I’d say I could still get bigger and stronger,” he said. “But that’ll be good because that’s probably the main thing that I will be working on before I get to college, so when I get to freshman year, I’ll be ready to go.”
As a former baseball professional and elite youth coach, Rua has impacted Rosenblitt’s development as a player.
“My guys know I have their backs in any situation,” Rua said. “Playing baseball at the highest level was always a dream of mine and playing parts of five years in the big leagues was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. The process I had to go through is something that also connects me with our players. I share everything with them; success, struggles, stories… everything.”
Rua explained how the T3 Warhawks helped position Rosenblitt for success.
“We did a lot of marketing on Josh as a player,” he said. “We pushed him in big Prep Baseball Report events and showcases.”
“We also made sure to promote him as much as we could on social media,” he added. “Our relationships and networking helped put Josh in a good spot, but ultimately it was all the work that he continued to put in on his own.”
Rosenblitt was selected as team captain at the beginning of the season. He is admired by his teammates for his leadership as a player on the field and a friend at school.
“Josh is the definition of a leader, he is always the first person to keep people in line and he is a big role model for all the players on the team, everyone looks up to him,” said teammate and friend Jaycob Zabell.
“As a person, he is just a genuine guy, he is very kind, he is a hard worker in school as well as on the field,” he added. “He is very determined and patient; he is the complete opposite of arrogant, and he is overall a good person.”
In his junior season, Rosenblitt is currently just 24 strikeouts away from breaking Beachwood’s strikeout record of 246, currently held by former MLB pitcher and current Cleveland Guardians bullpen coach Brad Goldberg.
Rosenblitt expressed his career goals as well as future plans.
“I’d love to win as much as possible throughout my whole career and that’s really the main thing I can hopefully contribute on the field as much as possible… my goal is to play in the MLB,” Rosenblitt said.
