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Jackson ‘Jack’ Perkins, the former Kokomo high school standout, was drafted into Major League Baseball on July 18. It was a dream come true when the Oakland Athletics called his name in the 5th round, and when that dream became a reality, only one word could be expressed by him. “Grateful!”
Perkins graduated from KHS in 2018 and went to play for the University of Louisville Cardinals. While a student athlete there for three years, Jack earned two degrees. Accomplishing such a feat, he couldn’t stress enough the importance of challenging himself in the classroom.
“Honestly, it goes right back to high school,” said Perkins. “Kokomo does a great job of offering AP (advanced placement) and dual credit courses. I was over a semester ahead going into my freshman year of college.”
Getting an opportunity to speak with Jack at length, it became more and more evident that he is quite a mature 22. Aside from having the gift of being a capable scholar, he seems to know very early in life how to utilize the tools made available to him during a time of struggle.
In terms of academics, Jack has a message for young people.
“College, to me, is just about discipline, said Perkins. “It’s a grind. We [athletes] take the same classes as everyone else. If there was something I didn’t know, I was asking for help or getting a tutor immediately. If you need help get it, because it benefits you to do so.”
Jack made it very clear where it is he developed such a strong foundation of hard work, discipline, and ambition.
“My parents have always pushed me to excel at whatever I’m doing,” said Perkins. “I can remember my parents telling me, even in doing simple chores as a kid, ‘if you’re going to do something, always do it to the best of your ability.’”
Perkins made note of the fact that his parents were never overbearing, but those little teaching points were critical to the mindset he has today. Along with those extremely important life lessons, Perkins couldn’t say enough about the role of his high school coaches played in his development.
“Coach Colby in football, Coach Swan in baseball, Coach Moore my freshman year in basketball, and all my college coaches; I’m super thankful for the experiences I had with them,” said Perkins. “The power of someone believing in you is super important. Every coach I had at Kokomo I can say provided that for me. I wouldn’t be where I am now without that support from those coaches.”
Jack expressed that this baseball journey was not without trials and tribulations. In 2019, uncertainty loomed as Jack had Tommy John surgery, a corrective surgery to repair an elbow.
“As athletes, as people, we have our future kind of planned out,” said Perkins. “When it doesn’t go exactly how you planned, it can be difficult to maintain that fire and spark.”
Also, by the end of his senior year at Louisville, there appeared to be no future hopes at arriving to the “Big Show” as he had planned all along. Yet, a glimmer of hope found in “Home Sweet Home,” Indiana. Jack acclaimed his faith and relationships throughout the experience.
“It has been a long journey,” said Perkins. “I was depressed and thinking at one point I was going to step away from the game of baseball. I remember asking prayer warriors to pray, and then there came a point where I realized, I’m not finished.”
That’s when he learned of a chance to play for IU would allow him to further pursue a playing career. In his final year of collegiate eligibility with Indiana University Bloomington, Perkins led all IU pitchers in five categories: strikeouts, starts, innings pitched, ERA, and batting average. To have a chance to come to Indiana and lead in those major categories was a big-time opportunity.
“Me being drafted, I know this wouldn’t have happened without God,” said Perkins “It is okay to be an athlete and be competitive, but also to trust and know that [God] is going to fulfill your wants and needs in life.”
Just as unexpectedly the divine occurred with a chance to play at IU, his opportunity to play in the MLB came from an unexpected organization.
“Honestly, I had never talked to the Oakland A’s,” said Perkins. “It took me by surprise that they called my name.”
Jack acknowledged the fact that relationships and who you know play a role in the some of the success you attain in life, in conjunction with gifts and abilities. He credited Coach Mercer at IU for putting him such a great position to be drafted.
Jack appreciates the Oakland A’s as they are a smaller market organization that “prides themselves on yanking strategic draft picks that will provide value to the organization,” he said.
Perkins received some confirmation that he was right where he needed to be in an encounter with a UPS man at his hotel in Arizona. The gentleman expressed, “the A’s have the best people, and are the most relationship oriented of all the teams I’ve experienced here.”
That was all Jack needed to hear.
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