CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – While participating in 15 Perfect Game events over the last 24 months – including four stints in the PG Iowa Spring and Fall Wood Bat Leagues – two-way standout Grant Judkins has developed into one of the top class of 2016 prospects in the state of Iowa.
A freshly minted senior at Pella (Iowa) High School, Judkins earned Top Prospect List recognition at the 2014 PG Spring Top Prospect Showcase, the 2014 PG Midwest Top Prospect Showcase and the 2015 PG Spring Top Prospect Showcase – all here at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium – and was back at PG Field Saturday for this year’s PG Midwest Top.
He was also named to the all-tournament teams at last year’s PG WWBA Central Labor Day Classic (Underclass), PG WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship and PG WWBA Underclass World Championship, all while playing with the Iowa Select Navy underclass team.
Those achievements are certainly noteworthy and definitely played a role in Judkins receiving a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa, which he readily accepted. But they just might pale when compared to what he did in June and July while playing with the Pella HS Dutch during Iowa’s summer high school season.
The Dutch, ranked No. 1 most of the season in Iowa’s Class 3A (the classification for the state’s second tier of schools in terms of enrollment, with Class 4A including the largest schools), finished 34-5 after losing in the semifinal round at the state tournament in Des Moines. The loss was disappointing, to be sure, but did nothing to taint the memories.
“It was definitely a special season,” Judkins said before his PG Midwest Top batting practice session Saturday afternoon. “We didn’t know how the season was going to go at the beginning of the year but we came out and played really well and just had a really good time with all the guys. We got really close to everyone and just played really well together.”
It could be argued that no one in the state played better than Judkins over the course of the two-month season, with eye-popping performances both at the plate and from the mound.
A left-handed batter, he hit .520 (64-for-123) with 14 doubles, nine triples, 13 home runs, 57 RBI, 51 runs scored and 15 stolen bases with a 1.699 on-base-plus-slugging (OPS) percentage; his home runs and triples totals ranked first in Class 3A and his batting average ranked fourth.
On the hill, the right-hander finished 11-1 – the most wins in Class 3A – with a 0.56 ERA, and allowed just six earned runs on 43 hits while striking out 112 and walking 10 in 74 2/3 innings pitched. At season’s end, he was named the Iowa Class 3A Player of the Year by several statewide media outlets.
The numbers Judkins posted speak of playing with a high level of confidence, and that level only continued to rise as the season progressed. The more confident a young player feels while out on the field naturally leads to a higher comfort level, as well, and when comfort and confidence go walking hand-in-hand, a state’s Player of the Year award can often be the end result.
Pella is a city with about 10,300 friendly folks and a rich Dutch heritage located about 110 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids in east-central Iowa, and Pella High School has a storied athletic history. During the 2014-15 school year, the Dutch won an Iowa Class 3A football state championship and reached the Class 3A boys’ state basketball tournament in addition to its final-four showing at the 3A state baseball tournament. Judkins is also a member of the basketball team.
He said he comes from a “baseball family” and his father, Rob Judkins, played baseball at Central College, an NCAA Division III school in Pella (his mother, Shannon, played golf at Central.) “My dad has been my coach pretty much all the time while I was growing up and he’s taught me a lot,” Judkins said. “Every year I just keep working harder and try to improve on a lot of different things.”
The Iowa Hawkeyes and head coach Rick Heller made their offer to Judkins and he responded with his commitment back in January, just before the Hawkeyes’ began their historic 2015 season. They won 41 games, finished second in the Big Ten regular season standings and made their first NCAA Regional Tournament berth since 1972.
“I had heard a lot of good things about them and they just sounded like they had things going in the right direction,” Judkins said. “It was really cool watching them, and seeing how well they were playing. I’m really excited to be going there.”
This fall, Judkins is a member of the PG Iowa Select squad that includes many of the state’s top-ranked prospects and competes in several national-level PG tournaments.
“It’s really a lot of fun,” Judkins said. “Getting to play with Spencer Van Scoyoc and all those other guys, it’s been a good experience, and going out and playing against some of the best teams in the country is always a lot of fun.”
Judkins, ranked No. 294 nationally and No. 2 in the state of Iowa, has found his PG experiences to be beneficial in terms of college recruiting and also getting to meet a lot of new people who can help him down his path, players and coaches alike.
His go-around at this year’s PG Midwest Top is just another notch in his belt as he gets ready to dive head first into his senior year in high school. He made the trip here with his Pella HS teammate, 2017 shortstop Tyler Hillman, who also plays with PG Iowa Select.
“This is a good experience getting to go up against some of the best players in the state and from other states,” Judkins said. “It can bring the best out in you, knowing that people are watching and that you’re going against some of the better players; you have to come out and compete.”
He will play with one of the PG Iowa Select teams at the PG WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship at PG Field in early October, a tournament that serves as a qualifier for the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., later in the month.
It also seems certain that he will make a third appearance at the PG Spring Top Prospect Showcase at PG Field next April and may even be a candidate for the PG National Pre-Draft Showcase in May.
If he continues to show improvement and excels on those stages in front of the large contingent of scouts that annually attend those events, his name could enter discussions surrounding the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft. And if that becomes a reality, he might not be around for an encore performance with the Pella Dutch next summer and may not end up in Iowa City after all.
“I really haven’t thought too much about it,” Judkins said. “I know that it could be an option but I’m just trying to take it one step at a time. I just want to come out here and improve on everything and try to get better in any way I can,” he said.