Jon Gilmore has been bred for baseball’s biggest stage since junior high

Iowa City High baseball coach Dennis Knoop knew something special was happening in the spring of 2003.

It wasn’t a player coming back from an injury, or his team going on a winning streak. It was the eighth-grade graduation of Jon Gilmore.

High school baseball in Iowa is a summer sport, and a student who successfully completes eighth grade is instantly eligible as a high-school athlete, making Gilmore eligible to join the varsity team when the final school bell rang at Southeast Junior High. Thus, Knoop probably had the best position-player prospect ever to come through City High.

“I took some heat for bringing him up early like that,” Knoop said. “But he was ready to play at that age, and he proved it by hitting over .500 in the playoffs.”

Even opposing coaches were stunned by the game-changing bat of the eighth grader.

“West Des Moines Valley coach Steve Mohr (an Iowa Baseball Coaches Association Hall-of-Famer) told me after our game that he had never pitched around an eighth-grader before,” said Knoop.

For Gilmore, the hardest part was in the dugout, not on the field.

“Back then, all of the guys were older and it was pretty intimidating,” said Gilmore. “But on the field, when we were playing, I felt like I belonged there.”

Now, as Gilmore prepares to begin his senior season at City High, he does so with a bit of uncertainty about the future.

The Wichita State signee will begin the high-school season in late-May with the Little Hawks, but the Major League Baseball draft takes place in early June, about three weeks into Gilmore’s senior season.

“I’ve talked about it [the possibility of leaving for pro ball if drafted high enough] with some of my teammates and it would be tough to leave,” said Gilmore. “But they know it would be a great opportunity for me.”

The one thing that is for sure, say those who have watched Gilmore grow, is that nobody will work harder than he will.

“This kid is off the charts when it comes to dedication, work ethic and most importantly, understanding what you’re working on,” said Tim Evans, owner of Diamond Dreams, an indoor baseball training facility at which Gilmore trains daily.

“With his attitude, he’s truly a coach’s dream,” said Knoop. “If you were going to build the ideal baseball player, you’d build a kid like him.”

Even college coaches shunned by Gilmore’s decision to sign with Wichita State can’t help but be impressed by the 6-3, 195-pound shortstop.

“Jon is really a special player and person,” said University of Iowa baseball coach Jack Dahm. “His passion for the game is unparalleled.”

Gilmore sees it as his personal responsibility to do everything he can to be successful in baseball.

“God had blessed me with the talent to be a good baseball player,” said Gilmore. “It’s up to me to take advantage of those gifts and make the most of them.”

Gilmore has had some help along the way, not just from Evans, himself a former Triple-A outfielder with the Astros, but from his own sisters?

Gilmore’s sister, Liz, married Dan Heefner, who was an all-state infielder at City High in the mid-1990s. Heefner, now the hitting coach at Dallas Baptist University, helped work with Jon’s swing as a young player. Gilmore’s other sister, Julianna, married Ben Zobrist, a shortstop for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“Dan and I talk a lot, and he’s taught me a lot of things over the years,” Gilmore said. “Ben has talked to me a lot about the adjustments to playing at the college and professional levels.”

One thing that nobody can teach is bat speed. And Gilmore, who enjoys watching the lightning quick bat of Vladimir Guerrero, has plenty of it.

“He has the quickest bat I have ever seen,” said Evans, who was a NCAA division I hitting coach after his professional playing career. “People in Iowa should watch what this kid is doing, because you don’t see it very often.”

Gilmore knows he will no doubt need that quick bat as he moves on in his baseball career and in the pre-draft showcase games.

“Playing in the showcase games around the country, you see the best pitchers and the guys who throw the hardest,” said Gilmore. “It feels good to be in that group, and I get to see how I stack up against the best.”

Playing high-school baseball in Iowa isn’t the best gauge of a player’s true ability, and for the star players it can be even more difficult.

“I have to be really patient because teams tend to pitch me very carefully,” said Gilmore. “I just have to make sure that when they do make a mistake, I’m ready to do some damage.”

According to Evans, some damage has already occurred.

“He hit a ball that went through the cage net and lodged in the wall here. I checked that net and there wasn’t anything wrong with it, except for the hole the ball left.”

Even Vladimir Guerrero would be proud of that.

This story is part of MidwestBaseballMagazine's Ballplayer Series