CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – It’s not often that a player from the Perfect Game High School Pacific Region – California and Hawaii – makes an appearance at the PG Pitcher/Catcher Indoor Showcase, held annually every February in cold and often stark Eastern Iowa since 2001.
The vast majority of the event’s attendees come from Iowa and adjoining states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri but it’s not unusual for prospects to arrive from the Northeast or even Canada.
Last weekend (Feb. 7-8) only one player from the PG HS Pacific Region made an appearance at Perfect Game Headquarters’ new indoor facility, which was surrounded by about a foot of snow that fell a week earlier. And Jonah Peralta didn’t just jet-in from California, either, instead coming all the way from Kamuela, Hawaii, near Hilo on the Big Island.
It was a long way to travel for the 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-handed pitcher, a senior at Kamehameha Schools Hawaii Campus in Keaau who is ranked by PG as the No. 4 overall prospect in Hawaii in the class of 2015.
Peralta left the Hawaiian Islands at 1:20 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 6) and flew to San Francisco where he met his father, Jesse Anderson. A connecting flight was cancelled by the weather so Peralta and his father flew into Aspen, Colo., then on to Chicago, finally arrived here at 7:30 Saturday night (Feb. 7).
“The traveling wasn’t fun,” Peralta said before taking part in his pitching session Sunday morning. “Not only the jet-lag but the weather – it got to me and it’s with me right now because I’ve got a cold.”
Peralta’s only previous trip to the mainland United States was in September when he traveled to Goodyear, Ariz., with Big Island Baseball to take part in the Perfect Game/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass). He threw well during that tournament – showing a fastball that sat 84-87 mph and a 71 mph changeup – and it gave him enough confidence to want to try a PG showcase.
His fastball topped out 86 mph at the PG P/C Indoor “with good life” on his fastball, while showing the “ability to command a good changeup with arm side run and some sink” and featuring a “solid curveball with good action and depth” according to his initial scouting report. He impressed PG scouts enough to be named to the event’s Top Prospect List.
Peralta said one of the main reasons he decided to attend the PG P/C Indoor was because he hadn’t seen his father, Anderson, for at least six years and they were able to hook up in San Francisco, where Anderson lives. The entire experience provided an excellent opportunity for the two to spend some time together while also giving Peralta his first taste of showcase baseball; he wanted to use it as a yardstick.
“Honestly, I wanted to come in and see how I matchup with people from the Mainland,” he said. “I’m going to go to college next year and play ball and I want to see how I matchup with people I’m going to be playing against; that’s the main reason I wanted to come up here.
“You don’t get a lot of exposure in Hawaii like you do up here, and that’s one of the other main reasons I wanted to come up here. That was one of the main reasons I came over to Arizona, too.”
Peralta has not committed to a college yet but said he actively considering some options. On the “colleges interested in” window on his PG profile page he lists San Jose State, Hawaii, Washington State, Arizona Western College and Yavapai College.
The son from Hawaii and the father from San Francisco didn’t just throw a dart at the map that happened to land on Cedar Rapids when they were making a decision about which showcase to attend. They made calls, did their own research and decided at this time of year – with Peralta’s college decision looming – the PG P/C Indoor was the place to be.
“He’s been doing really well so we wanted to make sure we got him here,” Anderson said. “I think it’s good for him to get the exposure and he’s getting all psyched-up it, getting some eyeballs on him; I think that makes him feel good.”
Peralta has played baseball for as long as he can remember, beginning with his years in T-ball. He started pitching as soon as he completed the coach-pitch portion of his career and it is pitching that really got him sold on the game.
“When it comes to pitching, I love competing one-on-one because after I strike someone out – I won’t say ‘I’m better than you’ – but I can say it’s that competition that I love and that’s what keeps me coming back to the game,” he said.
It was only recently as his velocity began to increase that Peralta started to think he might have a future in the game at the next level. And with that realization he really got down to business and started working hard and the results have reflected that.
The father and son have kept in touch through the years through phone calls and Facebook, and Anderson was quick to point out how much credit Peralta’s mother, Uilani, deserves for the heights Peralta has already reached. Anderson has, however, tried to follow his son’s progress as closely as he is able to.
“I love it; I’m just happy I can be here with him today,” Anderson said. “I just want him to have his fun and gain some confidence and do whatever it he wants, basically. He has backup plans and I’m pretty proud of him that way; he’s got some good things laid forth.”
Peralta describes a close-knit baseball community on the Big Island, calling every experience “anecdotal” to the point where everyone knows each other and everyone knows what everyone else is doing.
As many as 39 native Hawaiians have played in the major leagues but it is the recent success of players like Kolton Wong and Shane Victorino that resonate the most with the current high school players. Wong attended the same high school Peralta attends.
“Ever since (Wong), that major league destination has been something that everyone has wanted to do,” Peralta said. “That’s when everyone starting getting serious about it and not just playing for the high school, they started playing for their future.”
Peralta arrived at the PG Headquarters indoor facility more than hour early on Sunday and did some stretching while watching the other pitchers, most from the Midwest go through their warmup routines. He wanted to see if they went about things differently after having come in from the cold; he also wanted to see how he sized up against the competition.
It was a lot for the jet-lagged kid with a cold from the far reaches of the PG HS Pacific Region to consider on a Sunday morning.
“When I leave I really want to take away the feeling that a kid from Hawaii can stand with these kids here,” Peralta said. “The talk in Hawaii is that the Mainland kids are always bigger – they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster. I just want to prove that I can come from Hawaii and I can compete with these guys.”