CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Izaya Ono-Fullard and his father, Kenneth Fullard, made the short drive north from their home in North Liberty, Iowa, this weekend to attend the Perfect Game Spring Top Prospect Showcase right on the heels of a lot of baseball-basketball buzz emanating out of the Iowa City area on Friday.
A 5-foot-11, 195-pound, sweet-swinging third baseman and a senior at Iowa City West High School, Ono-Fullard was still enjoying the news involving one of his ICWHS baseball/basketball senior teammates, Connor McCaffery, who on Friday made official his plans for the 2017-18 school year.
McCaffery, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound son of University of Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery – rated a four-star basketball prospect by most re recruiting outlets and a top-500 baseball prospect by Perfect Game – announced he would play baseball for the Hawkeyes in 2018 and take a basketball redshirt in 2017-18. He will not be under scholarship in either sport next school year, according to a plan worked out between Fran McCaffery and Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller.
“I’ve been playing baseball with Connor since sixth grade and we’ve been throwing partners forever,” Ono-Fullard said of McCaffery. “We’ve played together for a lot of years and he’s always been a great friend to me. It’s been really tough for him and there’s been a lot of people who doubted him and say he gets things just because of his dad, but I know that’s not true. He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever met.”
Ono-Fullard was speaking from Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday morning, immediately after taking part in the Spring Top’s workout session. Rain, wind and cold forced the rest of the event’s schedule to be moved indoors – the 60-yard dash was run at the Coe College Racquet Center and eight simulated games were played the Perfect Game Indoor Facility, four each on Saturday and Sunday – and the showcase went off without a hitch for Ono-Fullard and about 100 other prospects.
It’s likely the Spring Top will be Ono-Fullard’s final PG showcase appearance – McCaffery was scheduled to be on hand but was unable to attend – and it’s an important one. He has been involved in the college recruiting process for four years now but is still uncommitted as he waits for the right opportunity to present itself.
He was impressive during the workout session, recording an event-best 99 mph Pocket Radar exit velocity off his bat and throwing 82 mph across the infield (9th best). During simulated game action, a PG scout reported that he showed “a very mature, calm approach at the plate with the ability to consistently repeat a line-drive swing plane that produced hard contact between the gaps.”
Kenny Fullard played basketball at the University of Iowa for former head coach George Raveling in the mid-1980s and has watched his son perform at PG showcases and tournaments for the last five years while simultaneously going through the recruiting process. He knows how important additional exposure – and repetitions – is for Izaya at this stage of the game.
“This gets him focused on some of the things that maybe he’s not great at right now,” Fullard said. “It gets him working on his speed -- getting more power and speed with his bat – and it really helps him hone in on what he needs to get done.
“I love watching him play; I wish I could do some of the things he does with a bat in his hand,” Fullard continued. “That’s been a special thing watching him grow, starting out as young as he did and becoming a pretty good baseball player.”
Ono-Fullard began his PG career playing for Iowa high school baseball hall of fame coach Jim Van Scoyoc in the 2013 Iowa Fall League only a month after celebrating his 14th birthday, and right at the beginning of his freshman year at Iowa City West; he has since participated in a total of 20 PG tournaments and showcases.
This weekend’s PG Spring Top was the sixth PG showcase he’s attended dating back to the 2014 PG Midwest Underclass Showcase in Cedar Rapids, and including the 2015 PG Junior National Showcase in Fort Myers, Fla. He has been named to the Top Prospect List at four of his previous five events and will likely make the Spring Top’s TPL, as well.
He’s enjoyed several seasons playing in both the Iowa Spring and Fall Leagues with league director Steve James, and noted that James has been especially helpful as he works his way through the college recruiting process.
James also served as his coach on several Iowa Select teams that through the years played in tournaments at first-class venues in Fort Myers, Jupiter, Fla., and Emerson, Ga., and he has been named to four all-tournament teams.
That includes a selection at last year’s prestigious PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter. He was also the recipient of the Most Valuable Player Award at the 2015 PG WWBA Underclass Labor Day Classic at LakePoint in Emerson, when he was on the tournament runner-up Iowa Select Navy team.
“(PG) has always (provided) good exposure for me; I’ve always felt like I need to be loyal to them,” Ono-Fullard said. “I’ve just had a lot of fun doing these showcases. I know a lot of these guys here and it’s great competition. I think it helps a lot and it’s just really fun to do.”
To Ono-Fullard’s way of thinking, it’s all part of the recruiting process, especially for a young prospect from Iowa that plays a summer high school season which keeps him from enjoying the benefits of playing on a high-profile travel ball team in June and July. PG’s Iowa Spring and Fall Leagues and events like the PG Spring Top in April provide opportunities for the Iowa kid to receive the exposure he craves.
And if a young player must go through the process, he might as well have some fun while he’s doing it. Just getting around a bunch of other prep prospects who are all working hard at continuing their baseball careers in college – and maybe even in pro ball – makes it all worthwhile.
“When I went to the Junior National down in Florida, that was the fun part,” Ono-Fullard said. “There are a lot of guys there and everyone wants to be a professional baseball player; it’s just real competitive. You get to meet new guys from all over the country and talk to them and hear which schools they’re talking to, and you want to compete with them and prove yourself, especially being from Iowa. You just really want to prove that Iowa kids can do just as much as everyone else.”
The clock is winding down on Ono-Fullard’s days as a student-athlete at Iowa City West, the perennial home of state championship-caliber athletic programs in both boys’ and girls’ sports while competing in Iowa’s large-school classes (4A for boys, 5A for girls).
As part of both the Trojans’ baseball and basketball programs for the last four years, Ono-Fullard has experienced a lot of winning. The baseball team under head coach Charlies Stumpff has finished as the 4A state runner-up three straight seasons (2014-16), and the basketball team under head coach Steve Bergman won 4A state championships in 2014 and 2017 and was the state runner-in 2016.
Ono-Fullard broke into Stumpff’s starting lineup as a sophomore in the summer of 2015 and slashed .441/.512/.607 with one home run, 19 doubles, 40 RBI and 31 runs scored in 44 games and he slashed .354/.472/.469 with two home runs, nine doubles, 30 RBI and 37 runs as a junior last summer. The Trojans were a combined 69-19 during those two seasons.
“I think it starts with our coach,” Ono-Fullard said of the baseball program’s success. “(Stumpff) really preaches that we can’t make any excuses and that we know we have the talent and we just have to go out and earn it; no one’s going to hand it to us.
“We do a lot of work during the offseason to prepare ourselves … and we’ve been there – we know what it’s like to win and we know what it’s like to lose, and we know what to expect when we get down to (the) state (tournament).”
His dad has certainly enjoyed the ride: “I never won a state championship in anything all the time I was playing sports,” Fullard said with a laugh. “But it’s always fun, and I’m just amazed at how well (West’s) teams do. And getting to know all the different kids and everything, it’s just been great.”
Ken Fullard also recognizes that his son has benefitted greatly by having outstanding coaches to guide him in addition to Stumpff and Bergman at West. He praised the coaches Izaya has worked with at Perfect Game, including Jim and Aaron Van Scoyoc, noting that they’ve always offered encouragement to his son and let him know that he’s following the right path. Izaya, in turn, recognizes the impact his dad has had on his athletic career.
“When I was younger I really wanted to play basketball and be just like him, but he noticed that baseball was probably the sport I was better at and he’s really encouraged me to get better at baseball,” Ono-Fullard said. “He’s always signed me up and taken me to all these things – and paid for everything – and he’s always been really supportive of me; he’s done everything he could to get me to where I wanted to be.”
(In a side note important to people of a certain age, Ono-Fullard has one very famous relative on his mother Reiko Ono-Fullard’s side of the family. Reiko is a niece of Yoko Ono, the widow of the former Beatles legend John Lennon).
The progression of Ono-Fullard’s baseball career has been steady as she goes, and he said he’s been pleased with his development into a top-500 national prospect. Most of the reports generated by PG’s scouting department from his participation at showcases speak glowingly of his prowess as a hitter: “very strong at contact with plus extension”; “power will continue to develop and has present hitting tools that project for the next level.”
But is work at third base also doesn’t go unnoticed – “compact arm action that produces accurate throws with on-line carry”; “smooth, comfortable glove actions to all sides”; “extended range to both sides of 3B with plus charge on slow rollers.”
Ono-Fullard called the entire recruiting process “pretty crazy.” He said he first started garnering some interest even as a freshman, the result of attending both college camps and PG events. As the years sped past, he said he is starting to get a little frustrated although he has a great support group with people encouraging him to take his time and do what’s best for him.
He states without hesitation that he’d love to go to a Big Ten school, maybe even his dad’s alma mater, Iowa. But he’s keeping his options open and is even considering going to a prep school for a year or maybe a junior college.
“It’s been educational because basketball and baseball are totally different types of recruiting experiences; I think you have to be a little more proactive as a baseball player to get noticed,” Fullard said, relating his own experiences to those of his son. “That’s basically the only big difference that I’ve seen so far.”
And even while Ono-Fullard continues to deal with the rigors of the recruiting process he can still find time to feel pretty darn good about the fortunes of his good friend Connor McCaffery, who saw things fall neatly into place this weekend.
“He’s a great basketball player but he’s also a really, really good baseball player and I think it’s great that he’s decided to play baseball and basketball, too, because I think he’s got a real bright future in baseball,” Ono-Fullard said. “I’m happy for him.”
And when everything falls neatly in place for Ono-Fullard, it’s a safe bet McCaffery will be happy for him, as well.