Year Over Year Growth: How Jackson Hotchkiss Developed Into Washington's Biggest Power Hitter
May 14, 2026 | Baseball
SEATTLE – At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Jackson Hotchkiss packs a lot of punch when he pounds a home run – 18 and counting so far this spring.
But ask the University of Washington sophomore about his most memorable baseball moment, and the dinger that still rings a bell with him is from when he was a skinny freshman at Battle Ground High School in the southwest part of Washington, about a dozen miles north of the Columbia River.
"We were going for a league championship against our rival, Skyview. At that time, I was a freshman, my brother was a junior, and everyone was on the same team, all of his friends," Hotchkiss recalled. "I hit a walk-off.
"It was a pretty big game for us, so that was a cool memory to have with everyone going crazy for that," he added, "especially people that I'd been around for so long. And obviously, having my brother there was cool, too."
At the time, Hotchkiss was going through a growth spurt – one that took him from 5-7 or 5-8 in middle school and added six inches during his first year at Battle Ground.
This spring with the Huskies, his game is going through a growth spurt. After missing the first 10 contests of the season in February while recovering from an injury, he is leading the Huskies in almost every offensive category – including home runs – as they head into a showdown series against national No. 1-ranked UCLA this week at Husky Ballpark.
The opener of the three-game set at Husky Ballpark is Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Friday's game also starts at 6, and the finale on Saturday is at noon. If UW (22-29 overall, 11-16 Big Ten) wins at least one of the three games, it can secure a spot in the conference tournament, set for May 19-24 in Omaha, Nebraska.
"We've put ourselves in a tough spot, but you can't really think about that when you're just going out there trying to win a game," the 20-year-old Hotchkiss said. "You have to put all that behind you. We just have to do what we know we can do and it'll all work out."
A TWIST HERE, A TURN THERE
The trip from Battle Ground to The Diamond on Montlake is pretty much a straight line of 165 miles up northbound I-5. But in the world of college athletics, things don't always go in a straight line.
Hotchkiss signed with Washington in the fall of 2023 just as he was starting his senior year at Battle Ground.
"This was actually my first offer. It's a cool spot to be," he said. "I never really saw myself going to school around here. I got the offer, talked to the coaching staff, and it all kind of worked out nicely."
In the spring of 2024, Hotchkiss hit .397 with three home runs, four doubles, three triples and 19 RBIs for Battle Ground, helping the Tigers reach the Washington state tournament for the first time in seven years. That July, while playing summer ball in Utah, he was chosen in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks and ultimately received an offer from them.
Just one week prior to the draft, Eddie Smith had been named head coach of the Huskies after three seasons at Utah Valley, turning that program into one known for its offense prowess (106 home runs in 2024). In the days immediately following the draft, he was back in Utah, picking up some of his things and his car to make the trek to Seattle.
"I've seen it so many times – the draft doesn't go the way a player had hoped," Smith said. "He had some interest in Washington. I was on the ground (in Utah) less than 36 hours packing up two big bags of clothes to drive up here, and he was playing in a game about 10 minutes from my house.
"I got a chance to go watch him play and meet with him in the hotel where he was staying. Hopefully in that moment, we could kind of share the vision of what we were doing from the player development side and what we were working to build here. He recommitted to us. I'm glad it worked out."
Even as a freshman when there are so many new things to get adjusted to, it worked out mostly well for Hotchkiss. He played in 51 of Washington's 57 games, starting 48 of them. In fact, he was the only freshman who was a regular in the lineup. Hotchkiss batted .241 with six homers, 11 doubles, 26 RBIs, 68 total bases, and a .420 slugging percentage. From his spot in left field, he had a .989 fielding percentage with just one error.
Solid numbers for a guy not only playing a higher level, but at a faster level, too.
"The game speeds up on you really quick," he said of the step up to college. "You have outfield balls coming at you 15 miles an hour harder than they were in high school. At the plate, they're coming at you 10 miles an hour harder.
"Once you see enough of it, you kind of get used to the speed of everything and can slow it down. But as a freshman, that's kind of hard to do sometimes."
Added Smith, "It was a roller coaster year for him. It was something where getting to play every day as a true freshman helped him get his feet wet and get a pulse on what it takes to navigate at this level. He did a nice job with that."
MAKING A WEIGHTY DECISION TO GET BETTER
For many, the end of the season segues right into the start of summer ball in one of the numerous leagues geared specifically toward NCAA-eligible players. That allows them to further develop their skills playing with and against players trying to do the same thing at the same level.
But Hotchkiss decided on a different path last summer, one that led him toward putting on more weight, more muscle … and ultimately, more power.
"The biggest thing holding me back was just being a skinny freshman," Hotchkiss said with a slight laugh. (Indeed, on Washington's 2025 roster page, he was listed at 190 pounds, one of the lighter guys on the team.) I needed to gain that weight to go from flyouts to homers. That was the biggest thing for me was I took the summer off (from playing) to weight lift. … It helped a lot."
That Hotchkiss did that of his own volition certainly caught Smith's notice.
"Every player says he's going to work out hard, but Jackson is different," he said. "This strength rampage he went on was pretty remarkable. He came out this past fall and hitting the ball 115 miles an hour off the bat. What he was doing in the fall was totally different than a year ago. Then he had an incredible January (during preseason workouts) and I thought, 'Wow, this is a superstar in the making.'"
An abdominal injury right at the end of January sidelined Hotchkiss for the start of the season, He missed opening trip to the Puerto Rico Challenge, a three-game series in Los Angeles against Loyola Marymount, and the first three home games on the schedule. The Huskies won just one of those first 10 games.
Hotchkiss made his season debut on March 1 at home in the second game of a three-game set against San Diego State, coming in a pinch runner and as a defensive substitute in left field. He did not get an at-bat that day.
But five days later when the Huskies opened their Big Ten schedule at Indiana, Hotchkiss was in the starting lineup. In his first at-bat of the season, he drilled an RBI double. On his next trip to the plate, he hit his first homer of the spring, a solo shot. His final line was 3 for 4 with the two RBIs, but Washington fell short, 4-2.
He had one hit in each of the next two games, both UW victories, then delivered a perfect 4-for-4 performance in a 7-4 non-conference win against crosstown rival Seattle U on March 10.
He homered in three of his next four games, part of a seven-game hitting streak and a stretch of having at least one hit in 11 out of 12 games (with two hits in five of those games).
With just the UCLA series remaining on the regular-season docket,, Hotchkiss not only leads the Huskies in homers, but also batting average (.368), on-base percentage (.434), slugging percentage (.767), total hits (60), total bases (125) and RBIs 43 – even after missing those first 10 games and not getting an at-bat in his first one back.
"It was devastating for our offense (when he was out injured)," Smith said. "When he returned, our offense was incredible overnight. In my career, I don't remember a single player having that sort of impact."
FLYING HIGH ON THE NATIONAL LIST
The homers haven't come in bunches. But they do keep coming. Hotchkiss slugged two at Southern California on March 22 and two at Minnesota on April 10. He hasn't gone more than four games without one. Coming into this week, Hotchkiss has had one in four of the past six games, including a string of three games in a row.
His 18 round-trippers are tied for 27th in the NCAA (No. 2 in the Big Ten), Also on the national list, his 0.45 homers per-game average ranks No. 10 and his.767 slugging percentage is No. 14.
Washington's single-season home run record is 22, set in 2003 by Chad Boudon. At 18, Hotchkiss is tied for No. 7 on that list.
"I was shooting for 10-plus (homers), so I've passed that," he said. "You just take one at a time. You don't ever see too far into the future, and this definitely wasn't something that I was expecting. But it's happening, and I'm just going with it and kind of keep doing my thing, and it's working fine for me."
Through last weekend, Hotchkiss has raised his batting average 127 points, from .241 in 2025 to .368 now. He enters this week on a 12-game hitting streak, logging multiple hits in eight of those games.
"Last year, I was pretty flat through the zone. This year, I wanted to get more I plane with the ball," he said. "I took time over winter break to kind of mess with that a little bit and I'd say it definitely helped with everything."
Like baseball players everywhere, Hotchkiss will take getting on base however he can. Among his 60 hits, 32 are singles. He also has drawn 19 walks.
But he has more than earned the green light to take big swings.
"I'm a taller guy, and this lineup definitely needed more power," he said. "I kind of stepped into that role. That's a role I took for myself to kind of affect the game that way. I'd say that's something that was on my agenda."
It was on Smith's agenda, too.
"I thought this was the kind of player he would be," he said. "So often, sophomore year is when people make a big jump. With Jackson and the worker that he is, he's not just a book-smart guy (with a high classroom grade-point average), he's a street-smart guy. Tell him something once, and he learns from it, he adjusts to it – he's that kind of player."
Hotchkiss says he is enjoying and appreciating the feel and the mindset of the college game.
"High school is more intimate. But in a way, there's more meaning behind this," he said of playing for Washington. "It feels like there's a lot more that goes into this than high school. Every game in college is pretty memorable.
"They're all kind of similar, but they all have their own importance."
That'll be especially true this week with a postseason berth on the line and the top-ranked team in the country in the other dugout.
"We're just trying to push through and get a couple more wins and hopefully secure a (Big Ten Tournament) spot, keep going as long as we can," Hotchkiss said.
He'll certainly try to keep going as long as he can …
… every time he steps to the plate and swings his bat.
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballHayden Lewis Highlights | Washington Baseball vs. Oregon
Monday, May 04
Washington 9, Oregon 5 | Huskies Highlights
Sunday, May 03
Blowing it wide open. Blake Wilson launches a three-run bomb 💣
Sunday, May 03
Hotchkiss doing what he does best 🚀
Sunday, May 03
