Jackson Coutts, the former Orono High School multi-sport athlete, is set to forego his senior college season and sign a contract with the defending world champion Washington Nationals after being picked up as an undrafted free agent on Sunday.
Coutts has been playing baseball for the last two plus years with the Rhode Island Rams, and was in his junior year when the season got cut due to the coronavirus pandemic this past March.
With URI, the outfielder was hitting .451 this past spring in 13 games (23-51), with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. Overall for the Rams he hit .302 (123-407), with nine homeruns, and 62 RBI. He also only committed one error in 79 chances with seven outfield assists. He helped lead the school to an overall record of 55-60, and a 28-19 mark within the Atlantic-10. Coutts is a 2017 graduate of Orono High, where he starred in baseball, basketball, and football for the Red Riots. He captained the football and baseball teams for three years, and also the basketball team for two. Was named Mr. Baseball in 2017 and helped the school win a baseball state title the same year, and also set a single season record with 25 intentional walks his senior season. He holds the school record as a quarterback with 1,508 passing yards. His father Mike played baseball at the University of Maine from 1978-1981, where he made it to the College World Series with the Black Bears in 81. His mother Lynn is a 1987 Northeast All-American softball player, who also played for the Black Bears from 1984-1987. Our very own Marc Calnan will be speaking with Coutts and getting his reaction on a podcast that will be posted within the next week.
