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Leagues  | Story | 3/19/2021

History on Iowa Spring League's side

Jeff Dahn
Photo: Jackson Wentworth (Perfect Game)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – When it comes to high-profile amateur baseball being played in the state of Iowa over the last quarter-century, the Perfect Game Iowa Spring League has no rival in terms of both its historical significance and its ability to entertain fans and scouts alike.

Over the course of its 25-year history – with 2020 being a bit of an outlier – 98 PGISL alumni have been selected in the MLB Draft – including five first-rounders – and 15 of them have made their Major League debuts.



On top of that, more than 900 have made commitments to college programs big and small, including many of the nationally prominent powerhouses from the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and others, including the Ivy League.

Keeping it even closer to home, all 12 Iowans who have been invited to the PG All-American Classic are alumni of the PGISL. It’s a number that includes right-hander Jeremy Hellickson from Des Moines, who was at the 2004 PGAAC and went on to be named the American League Rookie of the Year while pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2011 MLB season.

But wait. It’s also a number that includes catcher Ian Moller out of Dubuque, a starter at the 2020 PGAA Classic just last summer who is signed up to play in the League for a fourth season in 2021. The names populate record books at just about every level of the game and that’s a great source of pride for PG Founder and President Jerry Ford, who continues to call Eastern Iowa home.

Ford, a highly respected veteran scout and college coach in the state, had been long-convinced that Iowa high school players were under-scouted and underserved, mostly because of the state’s summer prep season. There were very few ways the most talented Iowa kids could be seen by professional baseball decision-makers without scouts having to watch 50 games just to see 50 prospects, an unfeasible proposition.

“This distinct disadvantage was the reason Perfect Game was started and it quickly turned things around for the Iowa players,” Ford recalled during comments this week. “Scouts and recruiters could now spend a weekend at one location in Iowa and see all the top players compete with and against the best competition in the state, and now the best competition in some of the surrounding states, as well.

“The PG Leagues took one of the most difficult states for scouts to cover and turned it into the easiest state to scout.”

Judging by the look of many of the 2021 preseason rosters, the scouting community will have every reason to turn out in full force every weekend from now through the end of April. The event history tells us this will be the 26th year of competition in the PG Iowa Spring League, but with the 2020 season cancelled by the pandemic after just one weekend of play, 2021 will mark the 25th complete season, assuming it reaches its scheduled conclusion; there is no reason right now to believe otherwise.

Things were scheduled to get underway on March 13 but a combination of circumstances pushed opening day back to this weekend. Thirty-five games are scheduled for both March 20 and 21 and all 70 will be played at the Prospect Meadows Sports Complex just north of Marion.

Opening weekend will feature 32 squads based in Iowa; they’ll be joined by two Wow Factor Great Lakes teams out of Michigan and the Wisconsin-based CBT Wolfpack. By the time everyone’s accounted for and ready to get after it by mid-April, there will be more than 40 teams with close to 600 players taking part.

Twenty-one teams will play under the Iowa Select banner, a longtime nationally-prominent program based in Cedar Rapids. The Iowa Sticks program, with its base of operations in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee, has eight entrants.

“Obviously, getting the Iowa kids prepared for high school and their summer season is the most important thing, and being able to provide great opportunities with kids outside the state,” PGISL Director BJ Fish said this week. “Especially this year having a unique opportunity with states starting their high school seasons later, we’re able to have more out-of-state programs join.”

The powerhouse Wisconsin-based Hitters Baseball program will begin bringing teams over the weekend of April 10-11, and another top Wisconsin group, Greg Reinhart Baseball (GRB), will also start bringing teams next month. Those organization’s teams, according to Fish, will boast rosters that feature even more top prospects sure to draw the attention of MLB area scouts.

And another feature unique to this the ’21 PGISL season is that individual players from out-of-state are also signing up and being placed on one the existing teams. One example of that is 2021 outfielder/right-hander Markell Dixon, a top-500 Southern University recruit out of St. Louis who will be playing with Iowa Select Nordgren, coached by longtime Cedar Rapids baseball fixture, Gordy Nordgren.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the top teams from both the Select and Sticks programs are set to garner the most attention from the dozens of MLB scouts sure to be in attendance. And those two teams, Iowa Select Evans and Iowa Sticks Scout 2021, will meet in a much-anticipated double-header to kick things off Sunday morning.

Iowa Select Evans, coached by another longtime Iowa baseball fixture, Tim Evans, features a roster that touts eight D-I commits/signees from the classes of 2021 and ’22. It includes Moller, an LSU signee ranked the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2021 class, as well as his Dubuque Wahlert Catholic HS teammate, 2022 outfielder Tommy Specht (No. 51-ranked, Kentucky commit).

Eleven other Select Evans prospects are ranked as top-500s in their respective classes and all but one has already made his college commitment. In an interesting twist, Marion High School junior teammates, right-hander/infielder Owen Puk and right-hander/first baseman Jaqson Tejada, have both committed to Florida International; Puk is the younger brother of PGISL and PGAAC alumnus and current Oakland Athletics left-hander AJ Puk.

2021 outfielder/infielder Gage Franck (t-500, DMACC) is another student at Marion High and ’21 outfielder/middle infielder Coy Sarsfield (t-500, Iowa) lives in Marion but attends Linn-Mar High School on the north side of the city.

Iowa Sticks Scout 2021, coached by Evan Romanchuk, is also loaded with top-500 and D-I talents from all four prep classes (2021-24), led by ’21 right-hander Jackson Wentworth (No. 137, Kansas State) from Urbandale.

Other 2021 top-500s with the Sticks Scout 2021 include catcher Gehrig Christensen from Des Moines and shortstop Sam Petersen from Huxley, both Iowa signees; right-hander/corner infielder Easton Johnson out of Gilbert is a Creighton signee.

Right-hander/corner infielder Justin Hackett (t-500, TCU) from Winterset tops the 2022s, first baseman/left-hander Sam Harris (No. 295, Duke) out of Urbandale leads the 2023s and Des Moines left-hander/first baseman Blake Larson (No. 20, TCU) from Des Moines steps up as the top freshman.

Rosters for the teams from Hitters and GRB had not been submitted as of mid-week, but Fish said they will be loaded with must-see prospects, as is usually the case with those programs.

“Typically, we’ve had (Iowa Select), Hitters if they’re able to make it, and Sticks have three teams that have guys you’ll look at for the (MLB) Draft,” Fish said. “This year we’ll have up to five or six teams full of draftable players, so it’s going to be pretty cool those weekends when everybody’s down here in mid-April.”

Those players and more than 400 others will be building on a solid foundation of excellence that was first laid down when Jerry Ford organized the Iowa Spring League in 1996.

Perfect Game only came into existence in the first place because Ford, always a visionary, identified a critical need for getting Iowa high school players more exposure in front of the national scouting community. That exposure was sorely lacking because of the state’s high school association’s decision to play a summer-only prep season.

The vision was grand and the plan right on the mark, and the Iowa Spring and Fall Leagues greased the wheel to generate the juice that in turn allowed PG to become a national and even international brand. The Iowa kids not only began getting noticed but they began getting drafted and eventually many made their way to the major leagues.

“Our idea was working perfectly for Iowa players,” Ford said, “(but) we simply had to find a way to stay in business, so we went to Texas and we went to Florida. After a while we became profitable and have kept growing since; PG is everywhere. 

“So one could say Perfect Game is only what it enjoys these days because of that desire to keep giving Iowa kids the most opportunities possible of playing in the leagues.”

Every prep prospect drafted out of the state Iowa in the last 20 years, with one exception, played in the PGISL, as has every Iowa player who has made their MLB debut. And there have been four first-round selections: Marshalltown’s Jeff Clement (Mariners, 2005 Draft), Iowa City’s Jon Gilmore (Braves, 2007), Cedar Rapids’ AJ Puk (A’s, 2016) and DeWitt’s TJ Sikkema (Yankees, 2019).

Cedar Rapids’ Ryan Sweeney was the first PGISL grad to reach the Big Leagues, debuting with the White Sox in September 2006. Others quickly followed with Clement (Mariners) and Norwalk’s Joel Hanrahan (Nationals) following suit in 2007, and Clive’s Matt Macri (Twins) and Algona’s Brad Nelson (Brewers) realizing their dreams in 2008.

Former PGISL performers who are currently on Major League contracts or have spent time in the Bigs recently include Cedar Rapids’ Puk (A’s), Mitch Keller (Pirates) and Scott Schebler (Reds), Norwalk’s Matt Dermody (Cubs), Cascade’s Colin Rea and Grimes’ Anthony Watson (Giants).

After 26 years, it’s not at all difficult to reach the conclusion that the best is yet to come for the PG Iowa Spring League, which is the only non-professional league in the state that uses wood bats. The next 25 years and beyond promises further growth and development from a concept that initially struggled financially only to become the pillar of PG’s success.

“In the end...the desire and our necessity to keep the leagues in Iowa going is what caused us to expand,” Ford said. “And the PG leagues in Iowa were able to continue identifying and displaying players to the scouting and recruiting communities for two-and-a-half decades.”
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Leagues | Story | 4/18/2023

Iowa Spring League Notebook: Week 3
Perfect Game Staff
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Joey Oakie (‘24, Ankeny, IA) touching 94 early this morning sitting 90-92. Oakie collected 4 K’s through 3 IP. Explosive arm and gets good ride on his fastball. Also flashed a good slider for strikes. Able to work himself out of a jam early. #PGSpringLeague #Iowa commit. pic.twitter.com/Ihdk3FsVOZ — Perfect Game Iowa (@IowaPG) April 15, 2023 Joey Oakie (2024, Ankeny, Iowa) threw his first warm up pitch of the day at 94 mph and did not disappoint in the rest of his performance. Oakie went on to throw three innings collecting four strikeouts, no base on balls, and one earned run. Oakie also adds a wicked slider that dips all the way down to 76 mph, keeping hitters honest. He has elite separation in his upper body and creates a ton of whip with explosive arm speed. Oakie was working the whole zone this weekend and showed some cut on his fastball as well. Oakie has already...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/27/2023

Midwest Invitational Scout Notes

Tyler Kotila
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Creighton Tuzzio (2024, Clarinda, Iowa) took the ball in the semi-final game and was able to get on the bump and carve for his team. Tuzzio is a taller 6-foot-6, 210-pound frame with plenty to like in the operation. The right-handed pitcher has a slower and more controlled operation as he works through the delivery. He lifts the leg up around the belt and then works through a three-quarters release with good whip through it. The fastball worked up to 86 mph on the fastball and held in the low- to mid-80s. He creates some angle on it with the taller & projectable frame. It runs arm-side and can be a problem for right-handed hitters. He also showed a low-70s curveball with a bigger 11/5 tilt to it and good depth to miss some bats. The Iowa Western commit threw 5.0 innings, allowing just 1 run, with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts to his credit.   There’s no surprise here, but...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/26/2023

WWBA World Championship Pool Preview

Perfect Game Staff
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Pool A Team Top Pos. Player RK Class Top Pitcher RK Class Location Boston Red Sox Scout Connor Lane 500 2024 Tague Davis 59 2024 Boston, MA Cangelosi Sparks Tyler Bell  122 2024 Brady Chambers 500 2024 Lockport, IL Dirtbags National 2024 Dalton Wentz 74 2024 Riley Leatherman 251 2024 Sedalia, NC Florida Burn Colton Schwarz 214 2025 Presley Woodson 500 2025 Sarasota, FL Projected Pool Winner: Dirtbags National 2024 With one of the deepest and most physical lineups in the nation, the Dirtbags National 2024 club have been putting up runs in bunches. No hitter is hotter than Austin Irby, as the ECU commit is While sluggers Dalton Wentz, Will Craddock and Palmer Hornick won’t be in attendance, Lee Sowers, Will Brooks, Jon Young Jr. and spark plug Carter Richardson lead an offense that averages over 7 runs per game. They can cover ground on...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/26/2023

Coastal Soph. Fall Invite Scout Notes

Todd Coffey
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Michael Flores (2026, NC) looking great through 4 innings pitched with 11 k’s. Great command and completely missing barrels. #2023WWBACoastalSophmoreFallInvatational pic.twitter.com/Oqd3WD0E05 — PG Coastal Scouting (@PG_Coastal) September 24, 2023 Michael Flores (2026, Mooresville, NC) put on an electric performance to watch for the SBA Futures 2026 in their matchup versus the Carolina Reds. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound, RHP did his job for his team today to keep them in the game. Flores throws with a high leg lift and creates some good motions towards the plate with his whippy action. Flores has a great feel for the zone and pounded strikes at a 66% rate. Flores generated swing and miss after swing and miss and it was clear he was in control out there on the mound. He sat in the 70-mph range to 79-mph range with his fastball with the ability to pinpoint it wherever he pleased....
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Tournaments | Story | 9/26/2023

Fall Frenzy Scout Notes

Jason Phillips
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James Sherry (’26, Aiken, S.C.)- the 6-foot-1, 155-pound right-handed pitcher tossed a complete game for Xtreme Xposure Baseball-Bennett in an 8-1 win over 2 Way Athletics 16U. A primary outfielder, Sherry finished with 15 strikeouts and just one walk while controlling the zone at a 65% strike rate. Appearing in only his second PG tournament, Sherry turned in another great pitching performance after being selected to the All-Tournament Team at the 2023 16U PG Southeast Labor Day Classic. Aidan Petrocco (‘24 GA)- singles here into LF to load the bases for @643DPAthletics Primary MIF 2-for-4 w/ run scored on the day. #FallFrenzy @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/Ly7zEuRwyg — Perfect Game Georgia (@PG_Georgia) September 24, 2023 Aidan Petrocco (’24, Johns Creek, Ga.)- the 5-foot-9, 160-pound right-handed hitter for 643 DP Cougars 18U led the 18U Southeast Fall Frenzy...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/27/2023

Sophomore WWBA Scout Notes: Day 3-5

Kyler Peterson
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A high speed look at this 2B from Keon Johnson... #WWBAWorlds @PG_Georgia https://t.co/Ejl8GirIgk pic.twitter.com/ate7ro35cp — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) September 24, 2023 Keon Johnson (2026, Macon, Ga.) started off the morning loud, going down to get a pitch down and smoking a double that split the opposite field gap at a 92 mph exit velocity. The shortstop has one of the best hit tools in the class and has tremendous feel for the barrel. The swing is quiet and simple, staying loose through the zone. The ball jumps and the parts really work. At short, Johnson looked silky with good actions, range, and plenty of arm strength across. The game comes easy for the Georgia native, and still just 15, the all-around game is very well-refined for the age.  Jaxson Wood (2026, Hoover, Ala.) finished batting .500 over the tournament, including three extra-base hits. The primary...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/25/2023

Deep South Fall Invitational Scout Notes

Alex Dorso
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Patrick Kovacs (2026 Knoxville TN) was dominant in his outing in game two of pool play for Exposure National. The southpaw tossed three scoreless innings allowing two hits while striking out eight. He showed plus command of the fastball dotting it to both sides of the plate while working off the corners at times. Patrick sat 75-78 topping at 79 multiple times throughout. He mixed in a tight breaking ball with two plane movement that he had no problem mixing in any count keeping the opposing hitters off balanced in the box. Coming from a mid 3/4s slot there was some deception within the operation making it tough to pick the fastball up out of the hand. The frame has plenty of athleticism within with plenty of more room for additional strength as he continues to mature. Kovacs should be a fun follow as he continues to progress through high school. Ryan Riojas (‘26 TN) drives this...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/24/2023

Sophomore WWBA Scout Notes: Day 3

Troy Sutherland
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Sophomore WWBA Scout Notes: Days 1-2 Extended look at Gunnar Garrison... 7 IP, 1 H, OER, 13 K, 1 BB (70% K) #WWBAWorlds @PG_FourCorners https://t.co/V89oASpD8r pic.twitter.com/tsP1mWCoNz — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) September 21, 2023 Colorado right-hander Gunnar Garrison (2026, Eaton, Colo.) was magnificent in his start for Slammers Anderson 2026’s. The big and physical 6-foot-4, 210-pound arm threw a complete game, seven inning, one-hit shutout, striking out 13 and walking one. The fastball had downhill life to it, sitting in the 85-88 range for the entirety of the game. Garrison held the velocity and reached back for his fastest bullet of the game, at 89, in the seventh inning. Finishing the outing with 70% strikes, he filled up the zone and went right at hitters. He also induced swing-and-miss on a curveball, featuring late...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/22/2023

Northeast Qualifier Scout Notes

John McAdams
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Jack Harley (2024, Mendham, NJ) put together a dominant performance at the plate in the WWBA NEQ, leading his team to a coveted Jupiter bid while also earning MVP-honors. The 6-foot-1 left-handed hitter showcased his advanced bat-to-ball skills on several occasions. He batted .643 with two doubles, a home run and six stolen bases. Harley utilizes a repeatable, synced-up stroke with clean separation into launch. He has a great feel for the barrel and creates good strength at impact to all parts of the diamond. The future Hokie recorded a hit in all six of his games and proved to be a reliable bat at the top-of-the-order for Clubhouse 2024 EvoShield. Harley’s build offers a good balance of strength and athleticism, making him a well-rounded prospect with intriguing upside moving forward.  .#VandyBoys commit Aiden O’Connell (‘24, NH) is back on the bump in the #NEQ...
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Tournaments | Story | 9/23/2023

Sophomore WWBA Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Vincent Cervino
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Nathan Caldwell (2026, Columbia, S.C.) looked the part in the batter’s box as the Team Elite three-hole hitter had one of the hardest hit balls of the day. There’s really impressive bat speed and the ability to create violence and rotational acceleration through contact. He missiled a single during the game and there looks like there’s going to be pretty significant impact potential long term. He’s a strong kid with good indicators and offensive tools to like. Drew Borkowski (2026, Huntley, Ill.) showed plenty to like in the arm as he got the start in game one on the day for GRB. At 6-foot-1, 170-pounds he’s got a lanky frame with long limbs and plenty of room for physical projection. It’s a quick arm with solid arm speed throughout and he opened up sitting 85-87 mph with the fastball. The fastball showed good sinking life and he used it to get a lot...
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College | Story | 9/22/2023

Cape Cod Top 2025 Prospect List

Vincent Cervino
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Earlier this week we debuted our Cape Cod Top 100 Prospect List and mixed amongst the 100 names were some 2025 graduates who will be eligible for the upcoming 2024 MLB Draft. Below, each of the 50 names are eligible in 2025 and those listed with an "^" are continuing their careers at a new school this fall.  Name Pos. Team School Hometown State Adonys Guzman^ C Bourne Arizona Valley Cottage NY Aidan Jimenez RHP Chatham Oregon State Elk Grove CA Anthony Martinez 1B YD UC Irvine Fairfield CA Ben Jacobs LHP Bourne UCLA Huntington Beach CA Bradley Hodges LHP Hyannis Virginia Fleming Island FL Brady Neal C YD LSU Tallahassee FL Brody Donay^ C/1B Hyannis Florida Lakeland FL Caden Bodine C Bourne Coastal Carolina Haddon Heights NJ Cam Leiter^ RHP Orleans Florida State Island Heights FL Cannon Peebles^ C Cotuit Tennessee Mechanicsville VA Drew Faurot^ SS Orleans Florida State Tallahassee FL...
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