GLENDALE, Ariz. – An event like the Perfect Game West Uncommitted Showcase, being held this weekend on the Chicago White Sox side at the Camelback Ranch spring training facility, was specifically created for top upperclass prep prospects like Trey Winget.
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound outfielder/infielder from Washington, Utah, and a senior at Desert Hills High School, Winget is a top 500-ranked national prospect in the class of 2017 (No. 4 overall in Utah), who is athletic and seemingly sound fundamentally, and who has taken his time with the entire college recruiting process.
That means that as the calendar sits on the verge of flipping over from 2016 into 2017, the 17-year-old Winget has yet to decide which college campus he will call home for the next three or four years and he’s set his sights high. He lists Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford from the Pac-12 and Indiana from the Big Ten as “colleges interested in” on his PG Player Profile Page. Winget carries a 3.9 grade-point average at Desert Hills, so academics is an important consideration as well.
He is at the PG West Uncommitted Showcase with two dozen other class of 2017 prospects hoping to show college recruiters they have continued to improve and are getting increasingly ready to sign that letter-of-intent. The West Uncommitted is running simultaneously with the 95-player PG National Underclass West Showcase.
“It’s stressful, honestly; you have to do a lot of work to get your name out there,” Winget said Saturday when asked about the recruiting process. “It’s fun once you get out there and talk to the coaches but it can be stressful to try to figure things out. These are big decisions, you know?”
At least Winget doesn’t have to look far for guidance when it comes to navigating the college recruiting process’s sometimes murky and choppy waters. His father, Cole Winget, pitched at the University of Nebraska in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, so he’s intimately familiar with the routine, even while the landscape has changed considerably.
“It’s been enjoyable but it’s also been quite stressful,” Cody Winget said Saturday, echoing his son’s thoughts on the process. “When I played, of course, Perfect Game wasn’t around and the face of recruiting with college sports and professional sports is different. And we feel this is a great tool, a great resource.
“So, it’s been fun yet it’s been challenging, and at the same time it’s been a little stressful because you want to come to these events and perform well,” he continued. “But if you don’t, it just provides more motivation to work harder and get back out there and do it again.”
This is Trey Winget’s fourth Perfect Game showcase and he was a Top Prospect List performer at each of the previous three: the 2015 PG West Coast Underclass in Mission Viejo, Calif.; the 2015 PG National Underclass West Showcase here in Glendale and the 2015 PG National Underclass Main Event Showcase.
“I came out here (this weekend) because I wanted to get all my (workout numbers) up and I wanted to get better ratings,” Winget said. “I wanted to do better hitting-wise and have some fun – have some fun, hit the ball, throw harder, run faster and just improve everything.”
Consider it done. Winget recorded event-best performances with a 6.61-second 60-yard dash; a 1.60-second 10-yard split; a 92 mph throw from the outfield and an 86 mph throw across the infield. He topped his previous bests in the 60 (6.67-seconds), the outfield throw (89 mph) and the infield throw (77 mph).
“He really just wants to increase his performances and reach his statistical goals,” Cody Winget said. “But one of the other benefits of this is that he is able to meet kids from all over the country and he enjoys all the kids that he’s met. We’ve been to California and we’ve been to Florida and we’ve come here a couple of times, so he knows these kids and he enjoys playing with these kids.”
Trey Winget was joined on the PG Maroon team roster by his cousin Mason Peters, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound outfielder/third baseman from Draper, Utah, and a senior at Corner Canyon High School. This is Peters’ first PG showcase experience, and the importance of the event wasn’t lost on him either.
“We’re both trying to get better and showcase our talents,” Peters said of he and his cousin. “It’s important to get this exposure so the colleges out there can get to know you. … Everyone out here is talented and it’s fun to go out and see what you can do.”
Winget said the key to producing a solid showcase performance is to never put too much pressure on yourself. He believes that if a prospect takes the field and tries to think too much or simply tries too hard, the experience can become a humbling one in a heart-beat.
“You have to stay within yourself and focus on what you want to try to do – focus on the process – and I think the results will come,” he said. “When you finally come out to one of these you can see where you’re at and you can see what you need to work on. You start working on those things, and it’s a lot of fun to (see) progress and get better. I have no doubt in my mind that this is a good place to come to and a good thing to do.”
“It’s a good moment for these kids to assess how they stack up against the competition,” Cody Winget added. “At some of these events we’ve been to in the past, a lot of his teammates have been committed or have gotten drafted, so he wants to figure out where he stands amongst his peers so this is really a good thing.”
Trey Winget said his father has had a tremendous influence on his baseball career. Cody got him started with the game when he was only 2 or 3 years old, with the son swinging a bat in the backyard and the dad offering encouragement each step of the way. As Trey began to develop, however, differences did emerge.
“He’s real intense when it comes to baseball and I’m more laid-back, but everything goes good with the different contrast (in styles),” Winget said. “It’s been my goal from the start to play college baseball and my dad was like, ‘OK, if you want to do it, let’s do it.’”
His performance here Saturday – Winget is certain to be 4-for-4 when it comes to being named to a PG showcase Top Prospect List – can only serve to prove his goals are both realistic and attainable. That is, after all, why the Wingets keep showing up at these events.
“It is important for (Trey) to be here because he’s used these events to measure his performances,” Cody Winget said. “… (The Perfect Game) service is available to everyone on the planet to look at and subscribe to, and it’s important to Trey to create a resume and this is what he feels like is his resume and he want to get better.”
This has been a resume-builder in more ways than one. When the Wingets make their way back to Utah on Sunday, Trey Winget will do so knowing he put his best foot forward and college recruiters would be most prudent in considering his entire body of work.
“I hope to come away from this smarter as a baseball player,” he said. “Maybe I can improve socially, too, maybe be able to talk to people a little bit better and be able to present who I am as a person and a player better. I hope that I can leave a mark out here with the people who will see me as both person and a player.”