CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Every one of the nearly 180 prospects that attended last weekend’s Perfect Game Midwest Top Prospect or PG Midwest Underclass showcases at Perfect Game Field-Veterans Memorial Stadium did so with the intent of bettering his game.
In the absence of a case-by-case study, the presumption here is that none of the young players from the high school graduating classes of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 in attendance showed more progression in a year’s time from everyday Joe to top-level prospect than 2017 Des Moines shortstop/right-handed pitcher John Swanda.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 185-pounds when he showed up for Friday night’s workout session at the PG Midwest Top Prospect, Swanda had added 10 pounds of muscle to his frame in the 12 months since he showed up at PG Field for this same event in 2015. But the 10 extra pounds isn’t the only thing that’s changed for the 17-year-old senior at Des Moines Roosevelt High School, and even as he got reacquainted with his PG pals over the weekend, he did so feeling calm and confident.
“With the relationships that I’ve built throughout this last year, it’s unbelievable with the way it effects my life,” Swanda said before taking the field for a showcase game early Sunday afternoon. “I keep working hard, and I want to come back and I want to show (the scouts) that I keep getting better every single time out; my numbers keep improving.”
Swanda was here over the weekend with his father Mark Swanda, and the dad is also excited about what he’s been seeing from his son: “It’s important for John to be here because it helps him continue to mark his progress against the other ballplayers – and his friends,” Mark Swanda said Sunday. “It’s also a social thing. He’s playing with his friends and he’s meeting new friends, and playing alongside the top competition is important to him.”
It didn’t take long for John Swanda to announce his presence Friday night. During the infield workout, when the prospects are asked to throw across the infield from the shortstop position to first base, he delivered a missile that left his hand and reached the first baseman’s glove traveling 95 mph. It was a record at the 18-year-old event, one of PG’s longest running annual showcases.
Swanda also produced an 89 mph fastball during a short pitching outing on Sunday, another personal best while performing at a PG showcase or tournament (this was his 13th). For reference, it’s important to look back at his numbers from the 2015 PG Midwest Top when he threw 84 mph across the infield and his fastball topped-out at 81 mph.
“I always knew (that velocity) was in there somewhere,” he said with a smile. “It’s definitely the work you put-in in the weight room – and I grew a lot, too – but I think it was always there; I just had to release it at some point.”
When asked to reflect on that first showcase experience a year ago, Swanda admitted that he had no idea of what he was getting himself into. He really didn’t think his performance was that terrible – he was named to the all-encompassing Top Prospect Team – but also realized he had a lot of work to do if he were to reach his goal of playing college baseball at the NCAA Division I level.
He had started playing in the PG Iowa Select Teams League with Iowa Select Navy in the fall of 2015 (he also played in the 2015 Iowa Fall Wood Bat League). Playing for Select Navy, Swanda earned all-tournament team recognition at the 2015 PG WWBA Underclass Labor Day Classic at LakePoint in Cartersville, Ga. He was also with the Select Navy at the 2015 PG WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship in Cedar Rapids, the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers, Fla., and the preeminent PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla. He showed improvement every step of the way while his eyes were simultaneously being opened.
“Traveling all around and going to Jupiter – it’s crazy the competition you see there and all the scouts,” Swanda said. “You want to be one of those guys that the scouts are looking at it makes you hungry. … It’s all the top guys and it’s just crazy. You’re out there playing with them and it steps your game up, for sure.”
He had previously dabbled in basketball and football but after his experiences last fall he decided to concentrate on baseball (“He continued to choose baseball as a priority and continued to work hard at it, and he’s stayed unsatisfied that he hasn’t got it figured out yet; It’s a constant process,” his dad said.)
This past spring, Swanda attended both the PG Spring Top Prospect and PG Pre-Draft showcases, where he threw 89 and 88 mph across the infield, respectively. It was with that full head of steam he headed into this junior summer season at Roosevelt HS with an enhanced sense of purpose. The results were nothing short of mind-blowing.
In 44 games with the Rough Riders (they finished 33-11 after a loss in the semifinals at the Iowa Class 4A State Tournament), Swanda slashed .486/.560/.817 with 69 hits – including seven home runs, six triples and 14 doubles – while driving in 43 runs and scoring 61. His hits and runs totals and slugging percentage were all tops among the players from Iowa’s 48 Class 4A (largest enrollment) schools; his batting average and on-base percentage both ranked second.
Consider for a moment those numbers when compared to his 2015, sophomore season stats: a slash-line of .318/.385/.409 with 35 hits (2 HRs, 4 2Bs), 16 RBI and 22 runs scored. Just last week, The Des Moines Register named Swanda to its 2016 Elite All-State Team, a nine-man squad that includes the state’s top players regardless of class.
“I knew I was going to go out there and do a lot better than I did my sophomore year,” Swanda said. “Being at the (PG) showcases in the spring made me want to get better and made me hungry to go out there and compete. I think that kind of translated into the high school season.”
John Swanda has committed to the University of Nebraska, the school his older sister attends and one he has long been interested in. He took it upon himself to send the Cornhuskers’ coaching staff – including head coach Darin Erstad and associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Ted Silva – an email in the spring, and they indicated they had noticed Swanda when he was playing Jupiter the previous fall.
The two parties continued to correspond and Swanda was ultimately invited to Lincoln for a visit. He attended a game during the visit and was immediately impressed with the game-day atmosphere, the rabid fan-base and the campus in general. There was no offer during that first visit but during subsequent conversations Swanda made it clear he would feel very comfortable in Lincoln. The official offer came in July.
“It’s positive reinforcement for the hard work he’s put in and he’s finally seeing some payback for that,” Mark Swanda said. “It’s encouragement for him going forward, as well, that Nebraska, obviously, thinks he belongs at that level; that’s what he’s been working for.”
Mark Swanda is a Des Moines-area contractor and John’s mom, Tonya, is a Des Moines area school teacher; both are Iowa State University graduates. John Swanda said his dad has long had the biggest impact on him baseball-wise: “With the fall league and all the traveling, it takes a big (commitment) and he’s stuck with me all the way. There was never a question of whether we wanted to do it or not, it was always we have to do this to get better and to reach our goals.”
Mark Swanda enjoys the social aspect of the showcase experience, too, getting to meet the other dads that gather at these events to watch their kids perform. He also feels it’s important that he’s in attendance so he can watch John do his thing out on the field so they can discuss and critique the performance once they’ve had time to take everything into account.
“Baseball is a game of failure and it’s full of life lessons,” Mark Swanda said. “I try to reinforce good values and good sportsmanship and to work hard, and it pays off; I think he’s certainly seen that. (Baseball) reinforces a lot of life lessons that I think we all gain eventually but it’s nice to be able to use it as a parenting tool, as well.”
Failure didn’t rear its ugly head for John Swanda very often during his very contented summer of 2016. He can look ahead to a fall semester that he hopes includes return trips to the PG WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship here in his home state and the PG WWBA World Championship down in Jupiter.
Swanda is ranked in the top-500 nationally in the 2017 class, and sits in the No. 4 slot in the state rankings (he is Iowa’s top-ranked shortstop prospect). Over the past year he has elevated his game to the proverbial “next level” and firmly believes his presence on the PG showcase scene has been a difference-maker.
“(The showcases) keep me working harder and they keep me coming back,” John Swanda said. “Playing against this level of competition makes me want to get better because there are always going to be guys that are better than you, and it makes you want to try to surpass them.
“The relationships that I’ve built with all these guys, I think that’s going to play a key role in moving up to the next level and how I carry myself among those guys,” he concluded. “I want to be known as a guy with good character from how I carry myself on the field, and this is just getting you ready for the next level.”