SAN DIEGO – The annual Perfect Game Underclass All-American Games at the University of San Diego’s Fowler Park has for several years now brought together nearly 100 of the nation’s top rising high school juniors – and a smattering of sophomores – for the purpose of playing baseball at the highest level in perfect weather conditions just a short drive from the Pacific Ocean.
The event is held in conjunction with the Perfect Game All-American Classic, the premier high school baseball all-star game for rising seniors that this year will be played on Sunday, Aug. 16, at the San Diego Padres’ downtown digs, Petco Park.
And while there are prospects here from states as far-flung as Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Iowa, two of the five team rosters are filled with the names of California kids who dream about taking the field at Petco in August 2016.
These are Cali kids who know each other well, and many have climbed into Perfect Game’s class of 2017 national prospect rankings while playing together or against each other at events like this one or the just completed Underclass Area Code Games up in Long Beach.
Among the many players in attendance Wednesday that fit that bill was infielder Jayson Gonzalez, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound right-handed power hitter from Covina, Calif., now a junior at Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, Calif. He just completed a solid three days of work in Long Beach and on Wednesday morning was eager to get after it under the shimmering San Diego sunshine.
“Seeing all the talent that’s out here – there are a lot of players here that I’ve played with in the past – I’m really looking forward to playing the next two days,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve played with and against a lot of these guys (at PG events and the Area Codes) and even with USA Baseball, and I’m pretty familiar with a lot of the guys that are out here.”
Gonzalez is ranked the No. 26 overall national prospect in the class of 2017 and the No. 4 middle-infield prospect. No. 2 Royce Lewis from San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and No. 3 Nick Allen from San Diego are also at this event, and were teammates of Gonzalez’s on the Underclass Brewers in Long Beach. In fact, most of the top underclass prospects at the PG All-American Games – especially those who traveled from out East -- were also at the Area Codes last weekend.
“I know all of these guys are hard workers and they all want to get to the big leagues someday,” Gonzalez said. “It’s always fun playing with them and hearing about all the things they do on a daily basis.”
This is Gonzalez’s seventh Perfect Game event dating back to mid-August of last year when he attended the PG West Coast Top Prospect Showcase in San Juan Capistrano. He was named to the Top Prospect List at that showcase, the only 2017 cited among a host of 2015s and 2016s. The TPL report read:
“(Gonzalez is a) big, physical infielder whose power loves to the expectation that his imposing frame hints he is capable of. Where his strong build is deceptive is in his athleticism – he ran a sub-7.0(-second) 60-yard dash and showed very good range defensively. Chance to be a high-level player.”
During the first two days of November 2014, Gonzalez was back on the PG showcase circuit at the California Underclass in Monterey Park, Calif., and again was included on the Top Prospect List. That report was strikingly similar to the earlier one:
“A high-level athlete and overall talent, Gonzalez brings an assortment of tools to the table. He has an above average arm, showing that (by throwing) 87 mph from shortstop and 90 mph from the outfield. He also ran a 6.91 60-yard dash and flashed good bat speed and power from the right side.”
Gonzalez played with BPA DeMarini Elite at both the 17u and 16u PG WWBA National Championships in Emerson, Ga., this summer and was named to the all-tournament team at the 16u event.
Those are two big national stages, as was the one provided by his participation with the 14u USA Baseball National Team two years ago. His inclusion at last weekend’s Underclass Area Code Games and this week’s PG Underclass All-American Games are extensions of those events and he feels right at home.
“I just really try to go with the flow,” Gonzalez said of the approach he tries to take. “I’ve been to a lot events just like this … and I just try to relax and take in everything that is going on throughout the day. It’s fun to get out in front of the scouts – there have been a lot of eyes out there – and I definitely enjoy that part of it.”
Gonzalez is a member of an active and athletic family with a father and older brother that played minor league baseball and an older sister that is playing NCAA Division I softball. The Atlanta Braves selected Gonzalez’s father, Wallace Gonzalez Jr., in the 44th round of the 1988 MLB June Amateur Draft and the elder Gonzalez played four seasons in the Braves’ minor league system.
His brother, Wallace Gonzalez III, was a 29th-round pick of the Houston Astros in the 2011 after attending the 2010 Perfect Game National Showcase and earning Top Prospect List recognition at the 2010 PG Sunshine West Showcase and the 2010 California Underclass Showcase.
Gonzalez III spent three seasons as an Astros farmhand before leaving baseball in the rearview mirror and is now a red-shirt freshman tight-end on the University of Utah football team. Gonzalez’s sister, Alexis Gonzalez, is a junior catcher on the Cal State Fullerton softball team; his mother, Adela, played high school softball.
“My family has just been surrounded by baseball and softball and they’ve had a huge impact on me,” Gonzalez said. “Seeing my brother go through all of this before me, I got to learn what he did right and wrong; he had a big impact. And with my dad knowing a lot of people and knowing how the game works, he’s helped me a lot, as well.”
Last December, midway through his sophomore year at Bishop Amat, Gonzalez announced that he would take his big bat and 3.85 grade-point average to Vanderbilt University. When asked what ultimately cemented his decision to commit to Vanderbilt, Gonzalez didn’t hesitate before answering “Coach Corbin.”
Tim Corbin has built the Nashville, Tenn., Southeastern Conference powerhouse into a preferred destination for top-shelf ballplayers who also happen to be academically inclined, including those from Southern California whose backyards are occupied by many of the top D-I programs in the country.
“(Corbin) is someone special and what he’s got going on over there is something special,” Gonzalez said of the Commodores, who won the 2014 NCAA Division I College World Series and finished runner-up this year. “His program has been progressing every year, so Coach Corbin is the main reason I committed to Vanderbilt.”
Gonzalez’s participation here at the PG Underclass All-American Games in what really can be considered his backyard should further solidify his standing in the eyes of baseball scouting community, especially when that focus turns to the class of 2017 when many of these guys will be playing in the 2016 PG All-American Classic. By that time, the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft will be only about 10 months away.
“I just enjoy playing against and with my friends and my teammates that have been working hard,” Gonzalez said. “This is obviously a humbling experience being out here with all these guys, but it’s also a lot of fun. I’ve always dreamed about playing in the big leagues and playing college baseball. That has just always been my dream and it’s been great the way things have worked out the last couple of years.”