FORT MYERS, Fla. – Xavier Edwards is a Perfect Game showcase gym rat. If the opportunity is there for the country’s No. 60-ranked overall prospect from the class of 2018 to showcase himself in front of PG’s large, note-taking, Twitter-happy scouting staff while the SkillShow video cameras are rolling, you can count on Edwards being in attendance.
So, it was not surprising to see the 5-foot-10, 145-pound, 17-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop from Wellington, Fla., in attendance this week at the blockbuster PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex. It marks the third time in four years he’s been counted among the participants at the Main Event.
It was also not surprising to see Edwards at six other PG showcases – including the PG Junior National Showcase each of the last two years – since his debut at the 2013 PG Under-Main Event as a 5-foot-6, 120-pound 14-year-old.
Perhaps most impressively, Edwards has not only shown-up at the showcases, he’s shined. He has been named to the prestigious Top Prospect List at six events, including twice each at the Jr. National and the National Underclass-Main Event.
After attending so many PG showcases – and excelling at each one of them – Edwards has learned how to manage his time and keep his focus while also making sure he stays on top of the event’s mostly up-to-the-minute schedule. The key for him, anyway, is ignoring the nerves and the butterflies that will inevitably appear, and just keep concentrating on the task at hand.
“At first I was real nervous, just trying to do my best, but now I have set goals that I’m trying to reach and I won’t be satisfied until I reach those goals,” he said before taking batting practice Thursday morning. “The way the showcases are set up it can make for a full weekend but it’s a lot of fun just meeting new kids and making new friends and being out here for the whole workout. It never gets too tiring because it’s scheduled all pretty well, so it’s all very good, very fun.”
Edwards spends the offseason in training with one main objective: improve his numbers from showcase to showcase. If the numbers keep getting better it’s not unrealistic to conclude his overall game is getting better while he works to tighten the tools that might not be as strong as some of the others.
At this point, it seems necessary to mention something else Xavier Edwards is passionate about. His dad, Jovon Edwards, and his mom, Lynette Edwards, are both educators – Jovon has worked in the classroom and as a principal and a dean, Lynette is a facilitator in the Palm Beach County (Fla.) School District – and both juggled academics and athletics while in their younger years.
Jovon, in fact, played college baseball and basketball at Alfred (N.Y.) University, and the Los Angeles Dodgers selected him in the fourth-round of the 1984 MLB January Draft-Regular Phase right out of Alfred U. An outfielder, Jovon Edwards played all or parts of six seasons in the minor leagues (1984-89) with the Dodgers, Mariners and Mets organizations before leaving the game in 1984.
But the Edwards’s have always put academics ahead of athletics, and that isn’t lost on their young son. Xavier carries a 3.45 grade-point average and has committed to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where he will continue both his education and his baseball career.
“My parents wouldn’t let me go to a school that didn’t have tremendous academics,” Edwards said. “It was either going to be Vandy or Duke for me, and Vandy ended up being the school. And winning national championships (in baseball) isn’t a bad thing either.”
Xavier Edwards enrolled this fall at North Broward Prep School in Coconut Creek, Fla., for his final two years of high school, a move that was made strictly for academic reasons. His parents wanted to make sure that the academic rigor at his high school will meet the standards that Vanderbilt requires, and that necessity will be met at North Broward Prep.
On the baseball field, speed and defense are definitely Edwards’ calling cards, with a heavy emphasis on speed. He ran a 6.71-second 60-yard dash Wednesday morning, good for the sixth-best effort at this week’s showcase and just a 10th-of-a-second off the 6.61 he ran at the 2016 PG Junior National Showcase in June. He did throw a personal-best 87 mph across the infield, which tied for the 10th-best effort his week.
He can also use his speed to his advantage offensively. In his first showcase game Wednesday afternoon, he reached base on a bunt single and stole two bases.
“I think it’s important for him to keep measuring his success – in terms of his strength, his speed, his arm, his accuracy – up against what I believe are the best players the country has to offer,” Jovon Edwards said Thursday when asked why they keep showing up at these events. “Perfect Game certainly brings out the best talent that is available.”
Xavier Edwards has also played travel ball since the summer of 2013 with Palm Beach Select on a team his dad has helped coach. He’s been named to five PG all-tournament teams, including at this past summer’s 16u PG WWBA National Championship.
He played on the Palm Beach Select 16u team that won championships this summer at both the PG WWBA 16u East Memorial Day Classic and the PG WWBA 16u Florida State Championships; he has played at the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship each of the last three years. He has really enjoyed playing for his dad.
“He’s hard on me, just like any other dad would be, I guess, but it’s good that I’ve got to play for him,” Xavier said. “He’s only going to be my dad once, so it’s great I’ve got to spend the time with him my entire childhood.”
And, perhaps most impressively, he has already played at the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., three times: in 2014 with the St. Louis Pirates/Midwest Mets Scout Team, in 2015 with Palm Beach Select and this past October with Team EvoShield.
Both academically and athletically, Xavier’s parents have had a huge impact on his life, just as it should be, perhaps: “My dad has been training with me since I was young and it was my mom who first got me into baseball to begin with; she would play catch with me when I was a little boy. My dad played in the minor leagues, so he’s carried me this whole way, and I wouldn’t be here without those two,” he said.
Jovon Edwards tries to make sure he speaks openly and honestly with Xavier when it comes to relating his experiences in minor league baseball. He explains to his son that it’s a grind and a difficult process and the young player needs to be sure it is something he wants to commit himself to and pursue with a true passion.
“You’ve got to be physically and emotionally prepared to do that, as well,” he said. “You have to be ready to take the long bus rides, to compete day-in and day-out, and that’s very mentally tough to do. Right now, he’s just looking at the process and he’s certainly looking forward to going to Vanderbilt. If something else happens we’ll kind of take it with a grain of salt.
“I played the game at a high-level … and I think he’s a much better player than I was probably because of the training that he’s received,” Jovon continued. “He loves the game. He loves practicing, he loves playing, and this is where he wants to be all the time. He’s enjoying the process of trying to improve, trying to get better, and he understands the hard work that it takes to get there.”
The younger Edwards has two more seasons of high school baseball in his future and like every other Florida prep prospect he is looking forward to those seasons more than anything else in his immediate future. But he’s also especially grateful for the intangibles these PG showcase and tournament experiences have provided him in between those short high school seasons.
He has especially enjoyed not only making new baseball friends at the events but also the opportunity to learn from them and the coaches that staff the events. He talks to kids from across the country just to see if the ballplayer from, say, New Mexico, has a trick or two up his sleeve the ballplayer from Florida can put to good use. And he also continues to learn that he is not alone when it comes to waking up every morning and wanting only to play baseball … nothing more, nothing less.
“I had a love for this game, so I just ran with it,” Xavier said. “It’s a humbling game. You can think you’re the best in the world when you go 3-for-3 one game, but then you can go 0-for-3 the next game. It can be a humbling experience; you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low.”
His dad learned that same lesson many years ago, back when he was playing in high school, college and the minor leagues. And when the father and son get back home to Wellington Friday night, Jovon Edwards already knows the conversation the two will have.
“I know he’s going to ask me, ‘OK, what do we need to do and when can we start working on those things,’” the dad said. “He really enjoys and loves playing the game of baseball and he wants to play it at the highest level possible for him. … He has the passion and the desire to play this game at the next level, without a doubt.”
“I just want to keep improving and keep getting better,” Xavier concluded. “And I want to be able to keep a smile on my face because it’s a great opportunity to be out here; not everyone gets the chance to be out here. I just want to keep having fun with the game.”
With the whole summer and fall of 2017 ahead of him, Xavier Edwards is going to be presented with many more opportunities to show just how much of a showcase PG gym rat he truly is. Based on his national ranking alone, it seems likely he will receive an invitation to the PG National Showcase right back here at jetBlue Park in June with many more PG WWBA tournaments to follow. For Xavier Edwards, baseball truly is academic.