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Tournaments  | All-Tournament Team | 12/17/2019

Second To None For Alderman

Blake Dowson
Photo: Kemp Alderman (Perfect Game)

17u PG Tournament All-Tournament Team

To breathe in the air on the field at the Perfect Game National Showcase is to know you are one of the best players in your class.

Kemp Alderman knew that of himself, and wanted to prove it to everyone in attendance. He went to the National Showcase at Chase Field in Phoenix with a goal in mind.

“My mindset heading into that was just trying to do the best I could and try to make the All American game, which I didn’t,” Alderman said. “But not making the All American game basically just made me want to work harder and play better and be better for the rest of the summer. I wanted to put my name out there because I knew I could do better.

“I really played [with a chip on my shoulder]. I’m not saying I should’ve made it, because I could’ve done better at the [showcase], but it did put a chip on my shoulder and I wanted to show people I could do better.”

What followed was a summer in which Alderman competed in three Perfect Game tournaments, dominated on his way to being named to the All Tournament Team at all three, all leading up to him being named the PG Player of the Year for the 2020 class.

Alderman plays with a pure strength that might not be matched in the entire 2020 class. At 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, he’s an intimidating presence when he digs into the batter’s box.

At the 2019 WWBA 17u National Championship, Alderman hit .375 with two home runs and nine RBI in eight games for BPA. He was also named to the All Tournament Team for his work on the mound, tossing 10 innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts.

It was more of the same at the 2019 WWBA 16u National Championship, as he hit .500 with a pair of home runs and 11 RBI in eight games, while also getting up to 94 mph on the mound.

At his last PG event of the year, the 2019 PG 17u World Series, Alderman again hit .500 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, and five RBI in five games.

At the National Showcase back in the middle of June, he recorded an exit velocity of 108 mph, the top number at the event. Alderman said some of his strength is natural, but his work in the weight room and in the cage are really what makes the ball pop off his bat.

“A lot of it is pure strength, but a lot of it is mechanics, too,” he said. “I work out a lot and I try to get my mechanics right. I put a lot of emphasis on that…I’ve got a God-given body, but I actually work out a good bit and I got blessed with good genes.”

On top of the time he puts into the weight room, Alderman also plays football and basketball at Newton County Academy in Decatur, Miss.

Baseball is and always will be No. 1, Alderman said, and the work he puts in during the offseason is no less rigorous than any one-sport baseball players out there. In fact, football and basketball are basically forms of cross training for him.

“Even when I’m in the baseball offseason and I’m in my other sports, I’m always practicing baseball. Doing those on top of each other helps me stay in shape and stay physical. It helps me become a better athlete by playing three sports.”

Juggling has become natural for Alderman. There are the three sports, all requiring plenty of attention, and there’s also new position work on the baseball field.

When Alderman, who with his big, physical body had always played behind the plate, committed to Ole Miss, the coaching staff there told him that catching was not in his future with the Rebels.

BPA Head Coach Jared Sandler didn’t want to resort to just using Alderman as a DH at his events, though.

“Coach Jared was like, ‘Kemp I think you need to start pitching and playing first base,’” Alderman said. “When I was younger, I kind of hurt my arm so I quit pitching for a while, and then I went out there one day and I was throwing 88-90 [mph], so they thought they could do something with that. Coach Jared kept helping me and we worked on my mechanics. Last summer I threw hard, but I wasn’t a pitcher. This summer, he developed me into more of a pitcher.”

Now, Ole Miss sees Alderman as a two-way player, wanting to use his bat and his 94 mph fastball.

And while first base seems like a natural fit for Alderman when he’s not on the mound, he also juggled learning how to play right field this summer for Sandler. With another solid first baseman in the BPA lineup, Alderman was willing to play anywhere in the field to help his team win.

His arm plays well in right field, and he took to the position quite well. He ended up playing a majority of the summer in the outfield.

“I was like, ‘I’ll give it a shot,’” Alderman said of the position change. “I’ve always been a guy who will try anything. Whatever helps the team win.”

That is a testament to Alderman’s character. He could have been bullish and stuck to what he was comfortable with, over-eager to prove people wrong after not being selected for the All American game early in the summer.

New positions opened up new possibilities for the Ole Miss commit, though, and he kept on hitting through it all.

On top of the numbers, he now lays claim to the title of Perfect Game Player of the Year, some validation for the work he puts in on and off the field.

Alderman is a humble player. He truly does just want his team to win ballgames. He quite literally doesn’t read his own press clippings. But the Player of the Year honor did allow him to reflect a bit.

“I’m really not a big social media guy, but a guy I know sent it to me, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was just sitting there thinking that there are a lot of kids out there that work hard and want to be named that, and it’s just a great honor to be named Perfect Game Player of the Year. I worked really hard and it feels really good to be named that.”
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