This handsome half Pinoy, half Ukrainian six-footer is not joining show business like his mother Ina Raymundo. Jakob Raymundo Poturnak is overjoyed because he recently got a college scholarship grant in the U.S. to play baseball for the Xavier Musketeers in Xavier University Canada. Just about every serious high school baseball player wants to play Division 1 (D1) baseball, and Xavier University competes at the NCAA Division 1 level. His mother Ina expounds, “Almost every year, Xavier has players that get drafted by a major league baseball team. The most notable player is Zac Lowther. He is currently pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, as of the moment. Jakob dreams to be drafted."
Major League Baseball players earn from US$500,000 to US$37 million dollars a year. That’s P1.8 billion in Philippine peso. Mike trout of the Los Angeles Angels holds the record for being the highest paid baseball player this 2021. I asked my seventeen-year-old godson Jakob since he has been getting a lot of attention recently in the baseball scouting seen that if he was offered US$2 million dollars, will he say yes to be drafted in a major league baseball team. “Honestly, it’s too early to say. To be drafted in major league baseball is an honor, but I want to gain more training first with the Xavier University, win games for them and play baseball with my new team, the Xavier Musketeers. It was Coach Bill O’ Conner who was the first to take notice of my talent offered me a college scholarship and professional baseball training, I owe it to him to be able to train and play D1 baseball with such a prestigious team. I also have to check with my parents regarding all offers. My dad Brian trained me since I was five years old. What I am right now, I owe everything to him. He even rented an open lot near our place and built an enclosed bull pen, so I can practice my pitches and gain strength and speed rain or shine. He believes that it’s 90 percent training and 10 percent games. My mom is my greatest baseball fan. She has been taking me to all my baseball games since I was five years old. I owe a lot to them for all the support they gave me," the future Major League star tells Gossip Girl.
Ina whispers to me, “Mark my word Giselle, I manifest that my son Jakob will not only be a Major League Baseball star, with his incomparable speed and unbelievable strength, he will be a Hall of Famer in baseball. He will bring Philippine pride to the World of Baseball. And I manifest that.” Ina’s eldest daughter Erika Poturnak was also recently accepted in Berklee College of Music. Berklee College of Music in the United States has produced some best-known musicians in the world. To date, 125 Berklee alumni have received 311 Grammy Awards. With a top-notch academic curriculum, exposure to all sorts of activities, and a faculty of 606 talented teachers, there is no place better to prepare for a career in contemporary music than Berklee. The Berklee school of music ranking is always in the top five of any ranking, all over the world. Oftentimes second only to Juilliard. But unlike Juilliard whose emphasis on the classical arts, Berklee is a distinctively contemporary music school. Ina tells Gossip Girl, “Erika wanted to study in a contemporary music school not a classical one because that’s her vocal forte and her dream to enter the pop music scene in the U.S. She already has professional experience here in the Philippines singing in a Sunday variety TV show, but I can really see her doing concerts and tours all over the United States. It’s really hard to get into Berklee, there’s a talent test and only the best vocal singers and composers get to Berklee. We really prepared for her talent test. I enrolled her for rigorous vocal training under Jade Riccio and her years of training finally pulled through because she got accepted in Berklee. It’s a tough school to enter, and I am so grateful to God that she got accepted.”