Jacob Watson was on his way to another stellar year in 2025 when he suffered a season-ending injury during the spring break trip to Florida. The Scarlet Raptors’ leadoff man and left fielder will retain his junior year of eligibility.
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Watson has appeared in 93 games at Rutgers-Camden, starting 92. He already owns the program’s career record for stolen bases with 87, 33 more than the previous mark. He also ranks among the program’s all-time leaders with a .436 on-base percentage (sixth), 105 runs (tied for 11th), 19 HBP (tied for 11th) and a .329 batting average (19th).
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Baseball 2025: Appeared in 14 games, starting 13 before suffering an injury that limited him to one pinch-hitting appearance the rest of the way…Hit .321 with a .438 on-base percentage and a .377 slugging percentage…Went 15-for-16 in stolen bases, finishing third on the team in steals despite playing less than one-third of the season…Collected three doubles, eight RBIs and 19 runs…Walked six times and was hit by five pitches…Added two sacrifices, including one when he played only as a pinch-hitter against New Jersey City (March 29, Game One)…Defensively handled all nine total chances cleanly, collecting nine putouts for a 1.000 fielding percentage…Opened the season with a nine-game hitting streak (16-for-36, .444)…Had four multiple-hit games in that streak, which ended with a 4-for-4 game, including a double, three runs and two RBIs against Rosemont (March 12)…Also went 3-for-4 with a double and four runs against nationally-ranked Cortland (March 9)…Went 2-for-4 with two runs against Immaculata (Feb. 22, Game Two) and 2-for-3 with one run and two RBIs against Swarthmore (March 1)…Had 13 stolen bases in 14 attempts during that streak, including two steals apiece against Immaculata (Feb. 22, Game Two), Widener (Feb. 27), Swarthmore (March 1) and Cortland (March 9)...Finished his brief season with four multiple-hit games and three contests with two RBIs.
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Baseball 2024: Started all 40 of his games, hitting .322…Tied for the team lead with 152 at bats and led the club in hits (49) runs (45), steals (39) and HBP (11)…Added 17 RBIs and 17 walks…Had two doubles and one triple to produce a .349 slugging percentage…Had a .421 on-base percentage…Set the single-season program record with his 39 stolen bases, breaking his own mark of 33 set in 2023…Shattered the old career stolen base mark of 54, hiking his two-year total to 72…His 45 runs scored were the fourth-highest single-season mark in program history…Collected four hits and three stolen bases, raising his career total to 50 steals, in a 17-5 win over Oneonta (March 12)…His first-inning stolen base against Bowdoin (March 16) tied Josh Kastrava’s career stolen base mark of 54…His second-inning stolen base against Ursinus (March 24) sets a new program record with his 55th steal…Went 4-for-5 with three stolen bases against Swarthmore (March 26) to reach 60 career steals…Stole home in the sixth inning against Kean (April 6, Game Two)…Notched his 34th stolen base of the season in the fifth inning against Alvernia (April 16), breaking his own single-season record set in 2023…A leadoff single in the seventh inning against Wilson (April 22) gave him his 100th career hit…Tied for the team lead with 13 multi-hit games…Had the team’s longest hitting streak of the season at 14 games, from March 5-30 (.466, 27-for-58, with 17 runs, eight RBIs and 19-for-21 in stolen bases)…Also had an eight-game hitting streak from April 7-18 (.333, 10-for-30, with 12 runs, two RBIs, eight walks and 6-for-7 on stolen base attempts)…Went 4-for-5 with three runs, two RBIs, three stolen bases and a season-high four putouts against Oneonta (March 12)…Went 4-for-5 with two runs, one RBI and three steals against Swarthmore (March 26)…Had his season high of four stolen bases in the opening game of a doubleheader against Rosemont (March 3), while going 2-for-4 with three runs and three RBI…Went 1-for-2 with three runs, one RBI, three stolen bases and a season-high four walks against Keystone (April 9)…Had multiple stolen bases in nine games, including four times with three or more steals.
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Baseball 2023: Started all 39 of his games while leading the team with a .328 batting average, 53 hits, 41 runs and a single-season program record of 33 stolen bases (in 36 attempts)…His team-leading 31 walks were one shy of tying the program’s single-season mark…Had a .376 slugging percentage and led all regulars with a .451 on-base percentage…In addition to 31 walks, reached base three times as a hit batsman and only struck out 10 times…Hit .318 (7-for-22) off southpaws and .341 against righties (46-for-135)…Hit .386 (27-for-70) with runners on base and .299 (26-for-87) with the bases empty…Hit .388 (19-for-49) with runners in scoring position and .714 (10-for-14) with a runner on third and less than two outs…Served as the Raptors’ leadoff hitter in 37 of his 39 games…Led the club with 15 multiple-hit games, including a team-high seven games with three hits…Had six multiple-RBI games, the fourth-highest total on the Raptors…His nine-game hitting streak from April 8-20 (11-for-34 (.324) was the second-longest streak on the team in 2023 and he also had a pair of six-game hitting streaks and a five-game streak…Hit safely in 31 of his 39 games and had two walks apiece in four of the games that he went hitless…Went 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts in four games, coming against Cairn (March 18), Ursinus (March 25, Game One), Cabrini (April 3) and New Jersey City (April 16, Game Two)…Had nine games with multiple walks, including three apiece against Delaware Valley (Feb. 23) and Stockton (April 13)…
Named the NJAC Rookie of the Week on March 20, April 3 and April 17…Named Rutgers-Camden Raptor of the Week on March 20…His first-inning stolen base against Penn State-Abington (April 11) was the 27th of his season, breaking the previous program record of 26 set by Chris Godish in 2002…Although he played right field in 34 of his games, he made his debut playing left field in the season opener against Delaware Valley (Feb. 23), going 1-for-2 with the three walks and two runs, getting his first collegiate hit with a second-inning single…Went 1-for-3 with two walks, one run and his first two collegiate stolen bases against York (March 1)…Was successful on his first 11 stolen base attempts before finally being caught against Salem State (March 17) in a game where he went 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI…Had his first three-hit game days earlier against Suffolk (March 14), going 3-for-5 with one run and three RBIs, while adding two steals…Went 3-for-5 against Cairn (March 18) with three runs and two RBIs, part of a six-game hitting streak from March 14-21 in which he went 13-for-25, .520, with nine runs, nine RBIs and eight stolen bases…After that hitting streak was snapped against Immaculata (March 23, going 0-for-4), he went 3-for-5 with four runs, one HBP and three steals in his next game against Ursinus (March 25, Game One)…In a doubleheader against Kean (April 1), went 3-for-5 with one run, one RBI and one stolen base in both games, including a double in the nightcap…Went 3-for-6 with two runs in the opener of an April 22 doubleheader and 2-for-4 with three runs in the nightcap…Collected four putouts in five games and had two outfield assists against Rutgers-Newark (April 7).
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High School: Baseball letterman at Delsea Regional High School for Coach Joe Smith…Captured All-Conference First Team and All-Conference Second Team honors during his career with the Crusaders…Graduated in 2022.
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Club Team: Young Guns
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Personal: Born June 29, 2004…Hobbies include fishing, bowling and playing cards…Health Sciences major at Rutgers-Camden who plans to pursue a career in chiropractic medicine…Jacob is the son of Ben and Dawn Watson.
