CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The annual Perfect Game Pitcher/Catcher Indoor Showcase is one of PG’s oldest and most established events (it dates to 2001) and has always provided an excellent stage for many of the top prep prospects from Wisconsin to come down and get in a late-winter workout.
This year’s event – held Saturday and Sunday at Perfect Game Headquarters on this city’s far northeast side – was no exception, with 12 of the 61 prospects in attendance arriving from America’s Dairyland.
One of the top guns in attendance this weekend was Indian Trail Academy and High School (Kenosha) senior Ryan Hoerter, a right-handed pitcher and Auburn University signee Perfect Game ranks as the No. 373 overall national prospect (No. 2 Wisconsin) in the class of 2017.
Hoerter and his mom, Kathy, made the 4-hour drive from their home in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., to Eastern Iowa on Saturday night and were at PG Headquarters’ indoor facility as soon as the doors opened Sunday morning.
At 6-foot-6, 185-pounds, the tall and lanky Hoerter has played in seven PG tournaments – most of them with Kenosha-based Rawlings Hitters Baseball and R.J. Fergus – since 2014, but this was to be his first PG showcase experience. On this day, he was looking forward to working out some of the cobwebs that had developed over the course of a long, cold Wisconsin winter.
“Sometimes at showcases there can be a lot of sitting around, and that’s got to be the hard part, just trying to figure out when to get ready,” Hoerter said before taking his turn to pitch. “But I’m excited to be here; I’ve been looking forward to it. With this showcase and being able to throw against live hitters, that’s going to help a lot; it makes it more game-like.”
Although Ryan already has the scholarship from Auburn in his back pocket, Kathy Hoerter had the feeling going in that this experience would be a valuable one for Ryan.
“I think it’s still important for him to get out (and pitch), especially at this time of the year before his high school season starts; he needs to get as much visibility and as many practice reps in as he can,” she said. “We’re down here for his benefit just so he can keep going and keep refining the skill set that he has.”
Hoerter took what he called “a good, healthy shutdown” during November and December and started throwing weekly bullpens again in early January. With the start of his spring baseball season at Indian Trail Academy just around the corner, Hoerter knows it’s essential that he practices good arm care while also trying to settle into some sort of routine.
Being a part of the Indian Trail Academy program throughout his high school career gave Hoerter the opportunity to play alongside Perfect Game All-American middle-infielder and 2016 MLB first-round draft pick Gavin Lux.
Hoerter described Lux as a “grinder,” the type of player who might not have set out to be a first-round draft pick but possessed the work ethic to make what was once only a dream become a reality. Hoerter was especially impressed with the way Lux handled the pressure that cascaded down around him as he drew more and more attention from MLB scouts during the summer after his junior year in high school and into his senior year spring season.
“He’s a great kid, and he went out performed like (the scouts) weren’t even there,” Hoerter said. “You can learn a lot from a (player) like that. Physically, it was different for me because he’s a position player, but how he handled it mentally taught me a lot.”
This year’s Indian Trail roster includes seniors Nick Elsen and Kyle Antos, who like Hoerter have signed with D-I programs: Elsen at Kent State and Antos at Bradley.
The Hoerter family moved from Kimberly, Wis., to the Kenosha area when Ryan was in the sixth grade, and they immediately began looking at different training programs in the area. It wasn’t long before he discovered Fergus and Hitters Baseball and it proved to be an excellent match.
“It’s a different mindset, it really is, just the way R.J. runs things; he couldn’t do a better job,” Hoerter said. “He makes it different, and that’s the best thing about it.”
Hoerter earned all-tournament honors at the 2015 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship and the 2016 17u PG WWBA National Championship, and won a PG tournament championship at the 2015 PG WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship playing with various Rawlings Hitters’ teams.
“It’s good to be around all the best athletes and (age-group) baseball players in the United States,” Hoerter said. “Those (PG) tournaments are different than any other ones; they’re the most competitive tournaments; that’s why I really enjoy doing Perfect Game events.”
More all-tournament recognition came Hoerter’s way in October when he was named to the honor squad at the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., after pitching for the Chicago Scouts Association; his fastball topped-out at 89 mph at that event.
“That was interesting; that was awesome,” he said of the whole Jupiter experience, which includes a collection of hundreds of scouts sitting golf carts behind home plate and up the baselines. “Until you get out on the mound and witness what is presented in front of you, you don’t really get the whole feel for it; it’s incredible.”
Kathy Hoerter and her husband, Dirk Hoerter, have been there through it all; Kathy wouldn’t have had it any other way: “It’s been so enjoyable, and I dread in a few months when he leaves us,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure hauling him to all his baseball games since he was very young and all the way up through now – I’m bringing him to Iowa for a Perfect Game event.
“At one point I was thinking, ‘Gosh, when is all this traveling going to end?’ and now I don’t want it to end; it’s wonderful.”
It might seem improbably that a kid from Wisconsin would end up at Auburn, but Hoerter explained that Tigers’ assistant coach Brad Bohannon had previously coached at Kentucky and had professional ties with Fergus. Bohannon came up to watch Hoerter throw for Indian Trail last spring, and Hoerter responded by tossing a no-hitter, the first one in school history. He joins a 2017 Auburn recruiting class that includes PG All-Americans Tanner Burns and Steven Williams.
“The (college) recruiting was stressful but at the same time I think it pushed him to keep getting better and better and stronger and stronger because all of those eyes were on him,” Kathy said. “From my standpoint, it’s been very gratifying watching him mature through this whole process.”
Added Hoerter: “Each year I’ve progressed just to where I want to be. I don’t want to progress too fast and I don’t want to progress too slow and I think I’m right at that good medium; I’m happy with where I’m at right now.”
Showing any sign of improvement is the only thing Hoerter hoped to take away from his PG P/C Indoor Showcase experience. That could have come many forms, like picking up an mph or two on the radar gun or mastering the command of a third pitch that he maybe didn’t have even a week earlier. He was also looking forward to getting out in front of a nice collection of scouts for the first time since Jupiter.
“At a showcase event, you kind of need a little bit of adrenaline, so when you see a couple of radar guns going up or a couple of scouts taking notes, it gives you that little (boost) that you need,” he said.
On Sunday, Hoerter showed a fastball that sat almost unflinchingly at 86-88 mph and topped-out at 90, a PG event personal best; his breaking stuff sat consistently at 76-77 mph. All-in-all it was a pretty darn good day’s work for the kid from Wisconsin.
“I always love these experiences because Ryan gets to meet new people,” Kathy said. “He also gets to see if he can try to improve upon his personal bests, so I’m just thankful that he has this opportunity and people want him to come to these types of events; we’re very grateful for it.”