FORT MYERS, Fla. – As one of the first three players to ever be invited to return for an encore performance at the Perfect Game Select Baseball Festival, Brady House is obviously an elite talent. And, with that thought in mind, no one should have been surprised at the what he told PG Saturday morning.
“Baseball has always been my main passion; I started playing when I was 3½ years old and my first word was ‘ball,’” House said, speaking from a back-practice field at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex. “I actually played football a little bit when I was younger, but I found out that football just wasn’t for me – it was baseball all the way.”
The 15-year-old House is back at jetBlue for his second go-around at the PG Select Fest, and he couldn’t be any more in his element than he is right here, performing alongside 43 other age-eligible top prospects from the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
He is a strong and athletic 6-foot-3, 205-pound, slick-fielding shortstop from the baseball hotbed of Winder, Ga., a strapping, rising sophomore at Winder-Barrow High School and a Tennessee commit. Perfect Game ranks him as the No. 11 overall prospect in the national class of 2021.
Although the Select Festival is technically labeled a “14u” event, the participants are selected according to age-eligibility rules and House was able to return this year because he was one of the youngest players at last year’s Fest.
If he was indeed a wide-eyed youngster a year ago, this weekend he is looked upon as a somewhat seasoned vet. He watched the slightly older guys a year ago and picked up a lot of things that he can use to improve his own game.
It didn’t matter if it was the way they hit or the way they changed their mechanics in the cage or the batter’s box, he was determined to bring it all back to this year’s Select Festival.
“My thoughts are to just go out here and have fun,” House said. “Of course, I’m playing with the best guys in the country, so getting to know them is the most important part. Just learning from what they do in their practices to improve my game is a goal of mine. It’s just to have fun and go out and play my game.”
House plays his summer-ball with the nationally prominent, Winder-based Team Elite organization – he is used to playing up an age-group or two with TE – and that association creates a strong sense of familiarity here at the Select Fest with three other prospects here from the same program.
2021 right-hander and Vanderbilt commit Christian Little from St. Louis, Mo., and 2020 right-hander/outfielder and Maryland commit Jeffery Waters from Mableton, Ga., play with Team Elite and are teammates of House’s on Team Gordon; Team Elite 2022 infielder/right-hander and Louisville commit Hayden Murphy from Chula, Ga., is on Team Erickson. Little and Waters are the other players who are back at the Select Festival for a second straight year.
“Team Elite is the place that I ended up and it’s the place that best fits me,” House said. “The coaches there get me to where I want to be, and coaching-wise they’ve improved my game every day. No matter if we beat a team 24-0 they’re still telling us stuff that we can improve on and I love that about Team Elite.”
The Perfect Game Trophy Case on House’s PG Profile Page is already packed to the rafters, and considering he still has the summers of 2019 and 2020 to play, it’s hard to imagine what the final load of treasure will look like.
He’s been named to 12 all-tournament teams while playing and has three Most Valuable Player and one Most Valuable Pitcher awards to his credit, all while playing with Team Elite. House has been a member of four teams that won PG WWBA championships, and one each that won PG BCS, PG Super25 and PG Youth championships from 2016-18.
“My main goal (at those events) is just to have fun and not really be nervous,” he said. “All these days you’ve worked hard to get to this stage, so you’ve got to rely on what you’ve worked on to get you there and know that you’ve got to perform your best out here.”
Because he lives in Winder, House has baseball opportunities open to him seemingly 24-7. He can spend hours on end at the Team Elite facility and during the summer months he’s likely to spend just about every weekend at Perfect Game Park-LakePoint in nearby Emerson. His development into an elite baseball prospect isn’t accidental and it certainly has been noticeable.
One prominent person who has noticed is PG National Crosschecker Jheremy Brown, who is also in attendance at this weekend’s 3rd annual PG Select Baseball Festival. Brown noted that a lot of the young athletes here have long frames and big bodies but they don’t necessarily have the strength that House possesses.
“With Brady, you look at him and it’s the wide back, it’s the broad shoulders, it’s the physicality throughout, but there’s still room for him to fill,” he said. “With that has come the power with the bat, and just how easy the power comes to him – any given swing can go out of the yard.”
That also translates into arm strength and House has recorded a top fastball velocity of 91 mph. Brown pointed out that a couple of years ago that fastball was sitting 81-85 mph and is now at 88-91 which speaks further to his development and physicality. And, Brown said, based on his age it’s reasonable to assume he will keep getting bigger and stronger.
In addition to his play with his high school team and with Perfect Game, House has a long history with USA Baseball and Team USA. He played internationally on the 12u team that won a WBSC World Cup championship in Taiwan in 2015 and most recently on the 15u team that won the championship in Panama just last month.
“It’s a great experience to go out there and represent your country,” he said. “Just getting back from Panama with the 15u team and knowing that we went out there and supported out county like we were supposed to, that’s just a great honor.”
It can get to be a bit of a grind at times, and that requires the top prospects like House to solider-on, particularly on the mental side of the equation.
House carries a 4.0 grade-point average at Winder-Barrow HS, so it’s obvious that academics are a priority in his life. He’s missed a lot of school already this year due to his commitment to USA Baseball and told PG that he’s brought plenty of schoolwork with him here this weekend that he gets busy with once he gets back to his hotel room.
“You’ve got to make time for your homework because if schoolwork’s not important to you now it’s going to catchup with you in the long run,” House said, “and that’s going to affect baseball.”
When asked who has the biggest impact on his baseball career – and his life, for that matter – to date, House was quick to answer that it’s been his parents, Michael and Dana.
They’ve pushed him every day to be the best that he can possibly be and without them, he said, he doesn’t exactly know what his baseball standing would be because they keep him on track. If he’s not performing up to expectations – or, at least, his own expectations, Michal and Dana will be straight-up with him and he’ll go hit in a cage or go to the Team Elite facility and work on whatever it is that needs to be worked on.
It’s also safe to say his parents are there for Brooks House, as well. Brooks is Brady’s 13-year-old brother who Brady predicts will one day be a top prospect from the class of 2023 (he is a third baseman and there is just something special for those of a certain age to hear “Brooks” and “third baseman” in the same reference).
PG’s Brown feels like if House keeps developing and growing he may one day make the move over to third base. On the other hand, Brown feels like Brady is athletic enough to stay up the middle on the infield if that’s where scouts and coaches think he can play.
And while he’s a pretty good pitcher at the moment, Brown continued, as he continues to develop it’s his bat that will be his loudest tool and the one everyone wants to see. Whatever transpires, it seems likely Brady House will just keep being Brady House.
“He’s just a real humble kid and everyone gravitates towards him,” Brown said. “He’s a funny kid and well-spoken and they just want to be around him, and maybe some of his power will rub off on them, too.”
House has committed to the University of Tennessee with head coach Tony Vitello and assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Josh Elander, a decision he made with his family.
“It was a long, thoughtful process, and me and my family thought about it; prayed about it,” he said. “We just love coaches Elander and Vitello. We love the way they coach; we love what they have in store. Just being up there around the town (Knoxville), I really like it and it just fits me best.”
At 7 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, Brady House will play in his second and sure to be final PG Select Baseball Festival all-star game, which will once again be televised to a live national audience (CBS Sports Network). He knows exactly what he wants to take away from this second go-around.
“Memories; memories are everything,” he said without hesitation. “I want to come down here and have fun, interact with the players, and whenever I get into the game, just don’t sweat it; just play my best and play my game.”
Home Run Challenge finalists set
The preliminary round of the PG Select Baseball Festival was held late Saturday morning on Field 1 at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex, and four finalists emerged from the competition.
2022 Andre Arthur (Nassau, Bahamas), 2022 Luke Davis, 2022 Logan Forsythe (D’Iberville, Miss.), 2021 Brady House (Winder, Ga.) and 2020 Jeffery Waters (Mableton, Ga.) each hit one home run during the prelims and will compete in the finals about an hour before Sunday night’s first-pitch at jetBlue Park.