Jason Amalbert has been a Division I shortstop prospect since his freshman baseball season at DePaul Catholic.
Now a senior, the Oklahoma commit is one of three D-I shortstops on the Spartans but the only one who is also a 2026 MLB Draft prospect.
So, what prompted DePaul coach Joe Gambardella to move Amalbert to center field this spring?
“I thought the projection [for him] was always in the outfield,” Gambardella said. “I’ve talked to major-league scouts that give him, like, a George Springer comp[arison], which is kind of cool. I just think his athleticism plays in the middle of the field.”
The 2025 DePaul infield featured Amalbert at third, J.C. Pacheco (Arizona State) at shortstop and Aiden Ogando (James Madison) at second base in most games when Amalbert was not pitching. Yes, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander does that, too.
As for the move to the outfield, “I think it was just a good chance for me to be seen at every position,” Amalbert said. “Our middle guys hold it down pretty well, with Aiden and J.C. And having me in the outfield, being in that as my primary position really helps the team a lot.”
The results bear that out. DePaul opened this season 16-3, earning the No. 1 seed in the Passaic County Tournament and advancing to the May 16 semifinals against Pompton Lakes.
A young baseball ‘lifer’
Amalbert batted .450 with 30 runs batted in and 31 runs scored through 19 games. Since being named to the All-North Jersey first team as a sophomore, he has increased his home run total from seven (2024) to nine (2025) to 10.
That all tracks with his training – which, for the 18-year-old, has been ongoing the past (wait for it) 16 years.
“I was maybe like 2 years old when my parents got me into the backyard, just throwing the Wiffle ball around,” Amalbert said. “I’d play with my cousins and just started whacking them things.”
His mom, Adria, grew up playing soccer, softball and basketball, while his father, Joe, is in the Garfield Athletic Hall of Fame as a football/basketball player (Class of 2000). So the athletic genes are there.
Growing up in East Hanover, “I didn’t really have a trainer, it was just [Joe] in the front yard or in the backyard throwing with me every day,” Amalbert said. “Once I really started to get older, I’d say around 9-10 years old, he encouraged me to go see someone. And I’ve been going to the same guy, Jimmy Shepherd, since.”
On the radar
His draft stock got a boost from a showcase in California last fall.
“It started really heating up after the Area Code Games,” he said. “Even though I had kind of a minor setback with a foot injury, just going into all the meetings I did in the offseason with the pro teams was a really cool thing.”
Amalbert will go into the July 11-12 MLB Draft as one of the Top 150 prospects, according to MLB.com.
“Seeing that was, obviously, really surreal,” he said. “Trying to eventually make it to the major leagues is an ultimate goal of mine. It’s just so cool to see that I’m finally living out this dream that I’ve always had.”
Of course, he hopes to come out of the latter rounds of the county and state tournaments with some hardware. That’s why he added, “Now, I just have to keep going step by step, day by day, and not focus on anything too big.”
The immediate future
DePaul has reached the Passaic County final twice in three years but fell to Passaic Tech both times. Amalbert, Pacheco and fellow captains Christopher Marano (Stetson) and Jayden Marte (Misericordia) want to make the most of their final opportunity.
“We have great seniors and great captains,” Gambardella said. “They are very selfless – this is about this program, and I think that’s the reason we’ve come together so quickly.”
Although this is Gambardella’s first year at DePaul, he coached three sectional-title teams at Ridgefield (2012, 2014, 2015) and was an assistant with Pascack Hills for two state titles (2018-19).
“[Amalbert] is probably the best I ever coached,” Gambardella said. “And I had Luis Hidalgo [at Ridgefield], who was a North Jersey Player of the Year. I had Ryan Ramsey [at Pascack Hills], who’s with the Royals organization. But, all-around baseball player, versatility, five-tool – Jason is probably the best one I’ve ever coached.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jason Amalbert of DePaul NJ boosting MLB Draft stock in outfield