CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The beautiful baseball field at Kirkwood Community College that sits on this city’s southern-most boundary was buzzing with activity throughout most of the day Monday as dozens of top prospects were united with dozens of MLB scouts for the 21st annual Perfect Game Pre-Draft Showcase.
The event, one of the longest running in Perfect Game history, is designed to give the prospects one more coveted dose of exposure about three weeks in front of the start of June’s MLB Amateur First-Year Player Draft.
These elite players – most are high school seniors but there were also high school juniors and junior college prospects in the mix – arrived from points near and far, eager to display their wares. Mingling in amongst them was an unassuming, 6-foot, 209-pound right-handed pitcher and outfielder who spent several hours impressing the gathering with his strong arm and churning legs while also showing more than a little pop in his bat.
Nick Jodway arrived in Eastern Iowa for the Pre-Draft Showcase from his home in Morganton, N.C., with a solid PG profile he established while playing for Andy Partin and the North Carolina-based Dirtbags Baseball organization the past two years. This was to be his first PG showcase experience.
“I’ve never been to a Perfect Game (showcase) and I really wanted to go to one before college or the draft or whatever happens; I figured this would be the best one, this pre-draft workout,” said Jodway, who has signed with UNC Wilmington. “I’d like to bump up my draft standing if I can, just to see what happens there.
“I’ll approach this event just like any other pro workout,” he said. “I want to come out here and do my stuff, and hopefully be able to both hit and pitch, and just try to impress the scouts as much as I can.”
Jodway was speaking before taking part in the morning workout session, held in ideal, summer-like weather conditions, and he did, indeed, go out impress the scouts in attendance.
He started out by running an extremely quick 6.50-second 60-yard (the 6th-best effort at the event; his 1.63-second 10-yard split ranked 9th), threw 93 mph from the outfield (tied for 2nd-best) and delivered a 91-mph ball-off-the-bat exit velocity (tied 8th). He then went out and worked two efficient innings from the mound.
“My focus might change a little bit, but overall I’m just out there to pitch a game, like any other game,” Jodway before making his showcase game debut. “I might not be throwing a (complete) game like I normally would, but everything else will be normal when it comes to the game part.”
His raised some eyebrows, prompting a PG scout to report:
“Nick Jodway … generated excellent life from a three-quarters slot with a fastball that sat in the low 90’s, topped at 93 mph. Jodway consistently pounded the strike zone with fastballs, effectively staying off barrels and inducing weak contact.”
Taking in all the action while sitting amongst the scouts was Jodway’s father, Tom Jodway, who accompanied his son to the PG Pre-Draft. He had to be pleased with what he saw.
“I think it was very important for him to come over here and play with the best of the best,” Tom said when asked why he and his son had made the trip half-way across the country to be here. “Just for him to get in there and throw some pitches and maybe even get a little hitting in (will be beneficial).”
Nick Jodway began his Dirtbags/Perfect Game tournament career in 2015 and was promptly named to the all-tournament team at both the 16u PG WWBA National Championship and the 16u PG World Series that summer.
The partnership continued into 2016, which turned into magical summer and fall seasons. The Dirtbags kicked things off by winning the 18u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic at LakePoint (Emerson, Ga.) in late May, and then added a big exclamation point by wearing the crown at the granddaddy of them all, the prestigious PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., in late October.
The Dirtbags won their opener in Jupiter, and then settled for a 1-1 tie with Team Indiana, a result that put their backs against the wall ever so slightly. But they managed to win their third and final pool-play game and claimed the pool championship with a 2-0-1 record, and advanced to the tournament’s 32-team playoffs.
Once there, there was no stopping the ‘Bags. They won three playoff games by a combined score of 20-5 on Oct. 23 alone, and then beat the Midland Redskins, 8-0, in the semifinals and the Team Elite Prime, 4-2, in the championship game; both were played on Oct. 24.
After the tie in game two, Jodway could tell the team was on a mission and intent not to stumble again. It could be argued that every team in the field has a chance to make the sort of run the Dirtbags went on, but at the end of the day, they were the last one’s standing.
“I love Andy; he’s probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. He’s a great guy and he pushes you to be your best,” Jodway said of the Dirtbags’ Partin. “Down there at the WWBA World (Championship) when we ended up winning the thing, it was just a great experience. Those guys that I played with – you couldn’t ask for a better team or better players or better coaches.”
His dad was along for that electric ride, too: “It’s been a ball, just watching all them boys on the Dirtbags work their way through and win that championship,” Tom Jodway said. “It’s been a lot of fun watching him play summer ball, and it’s been very beneficial to him. All of them boys, they’re a great group of kids and the coaches are great.”
Although neither his pitching or his hitting numbers didn’t warrant him being named to the all-tournament team in Jupiter, he did walk and score a run in the championship game and recorded a 95-mph fastball during the one inning he pitched.
Jodway just wrapped-up his prep career at Jimmy C. Draughn High School in Morganton; this season the Wildcats finished 14-9 after losing in the second-round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 2A playoffs. According to stats posted on maxpreps.com, he hit .344 (26-for-61) with three doubles, a team-high ERA and 68 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings pitched.
Jodway has always been a baseball guy, which he said is kind of unusual because the folks around Morganton – a city of about 17,000 folks located in west-central North Carolina – love their football. It is worth noting, however, that former PG All-American and current San Francisco Giants All-Star and World Series champion Madison Bumgarner hails from Hickory, N.C., which sits just a little over 20 miles east of Morganton.
He said he was drawn to UNC Wilmington because of the success the baseball program has enjoyed – it has advanced to an NCAA Regional seven times since 2003 – and also because his sister, Marissa, attends school there. Marissa will be a senior next school year and Jodway said he and his sister are very close.
After signing his national letter of intent, UNCW head coach Mark Schalf had this to say about Jodway in a university news release:
“One of the hardest throwers on the East Coast … (Nick has) been able to develop a breaking ball that pairs well with his fastball. Nick is a pitcher that likes to attack the zone and comes after hitters. We’re excited to see how he continues to develop.”
Perfect Game ranks Jodway as the No. 161 overall national prospect (No. 8 North Carolina) in the class of 2017. Hearing his name called at some point over the course of the four-day MLB Draft is a very real possibility and something that has come up in conversations with his family.
“(The draft) is definitely something I’ll think about; it just depends on how it all plays out,” he said; he also listens to any advice his advisors might send his way. “I’ll go to events like this and they will give me a little bit of feedback on what I should be working on, and then it will all come back to (the draft).
“I’ve tried to keep pushing myself further than I could have ever imagined when I was, like, 12 years old,” he continued. “I never could have imagined I would be right here, right now, and I just love it.”
He pushed himself to the limit at Mondays PG Pre-Draft Showcase and the scouts in attendance had to take notice. It was a Top Prospect List type of performance at an event where every prospect that performed was ranked in the top-500 nationally in his respective class. When asked what he hoped to take away from the showcase upon reflection when he got back home, Jodway was direct and to the point.
“I hope to impress the scouts, obviously, and just have a good time and meet some new guys and have fun,” Jodway said. “I’ve never been to Iowa for any tournament or showcase or anything so I don’t know a lot of these people. It’s just neat to meet new people and be able to play with them and get to know them.” And it’s also pretty neat that dozens of scouts got to know him a little bit better, as well.