How Charlotte Christian’s Judd Utermark became the nation’s high school home run king
Charlotte Christian’s Judd Utermark is leading the nation in home runs, and he has evolved into a legitimate Major League Baseball draft prospect — in part due to a devastating concussion suffered prior to the most important summer of his career to date.
Wait, what?
“I guess it turned out, OK,” said Utermark, who is 6-foot-5, 245-pounds and built in a way that if he told you he was going to Alabama to play football you would believe him.
In May 2021, Charlotte Christian was playing High Point’s Wesleyan Christian in the N.C. Independent Schools 4A best-of-3 state championship series. Utermark was playing third base in Game 1, and a Wesleyan player dragged a bunt down the line, right in front of him. Instinctively, Utermark ran toward the ball.
“I slid feet first to try to basket-catch it,” he said, “and our catcher didn’t see me.”
Instead of fielding the ball, Utermark got kicked in the face. He finished the series, which Christian won, but shortly afterward, the headaches came.
So did the sensitivity to light.
A diagnosed concussion forced Utermark to miss summer ball after his junior season, typically the most important summer for recruits hoping to sign with a college the following school year.
Changing course
Instead of playing, Utermark dedicated his time to training. He traveled to Driveline Baseball near Seattle, a specialized facility that has helped pros like Clayton Kershaw and Joe Kelly work on pitching issues.
Utermark was a good high school player, having committed to SEC power Mississippi, a program that has appeared in the College World Series five times. But for nearly two months at Driveline, Utermark was pushed beyond his comfort zone, training six days a week.
“They use the analytics of baseball and statistics to better the game and to better the players they’re training,” Utermark said.
On one of his first days there, he found himself in a neoprene suit, covered with sensors — like when professional players get digitized into video games — computers tracking his every movement. The idea was to identify even the tiniest flaws in his swing.
“They would throw really high speed pitches at you, unrealistic speeds to be quite frank,” Utermark said, “and you get used to that high speed. I was able to pick up pitches better and I was able to face pro and collegiate guys who were working on their pitching while I’m working on my hitting.”
And when he came back to Charlotte to face high school players?
It became record-setting.
Big boomer and a broken Mercedes
Fifty-three-year-old Eddie DeStefani was driving his white 2018 Mercedes station wagon up Sardis Road this spring, just before baseball season started, and he was talking to his brother on the phone over Bluetooth. It was about 4:45 p.m.
Suddenly, he heard a crack, followed by a loud sound.
“It felt like a cannon went off,” DeStefani said. “I didn’t know what happened, really. I looked up and my windshield was shattered.”
In fairly heavy traffic, DeStefani pulled off on the next street, just past Charlotte Christian’s baseball field.
“I was like, ‘Did somebody throw a rock?’” he said. “And I looked at where I was and went, ‘Holy cow, I think somebody just hit me with a baseball.’”
DeStefani drove back to the baseball field, and all the Knights coaches were waiting for him at the fence. Utermark had smacked a ball probably 425 feet or more. But it had to clear the fence, clear the grass behind the fence, and clear some pretty tall trees behind that.
“I hit that during an intrasquad (scrimmage),” Utermark said. “And it was a nice (car). I felt horrible. I hit it and I sort of was jogging to be honest, and all I hear is ‘CRASH!’
“And I’m like, ‘Oh no, this is not good.’”
DeStefani was a good sport about it. The school’s insurance took care of his windshield, and he has a funny story to tell. When he found out Thursday afternoon just how good a season Utermark is having, DeStefani was less than shocked.
“I would say I’m not surprised,” DeStefani said. “I mean....that’s a poke. You figure there’s the fence, grass and trees, and then the road. It’s a lot. I should’ve gotten the baseball and had him sign it.”
Big stick, big move, big senior season
Heading into a state quarterfinal playoff game Saturday, Utermark had 17 home runs. As of Thursday, May 12, that was No. 1 in the country, tied with Eric Snow of Mary Persons High School in Georgia. East Lincoln’s Garret Michel was next with 16.
Utermark broke Christian’s 22-year-old school-record for home runs (13), and he’s done it in an era where the baseball bat isn’t meant to allow the ball to travel as far.
“He’s a great player,” Christian coach Greg Simmons said. “He’s a four-year starter and there’s not a lot of those guys around. He’s the epitome of what Charlotte Christian stands for. He’s a kid who’s strong in his faith. He’s got a 3.5 GPA and he’s strong in the weight room, strong on the field. He does whatever you ask him to.”
Simmons said that for a player as large as Utermark, his time of 6.8 seconds in the 60-yard dash is phenomenal, and he isn’t surprised that there are Major League scouts at nearly every one of Christian’s games. At practice, as he was talking, a scout from the Cincinnati Reds walked up.
“I think right now,” Simmons said, “there are probably 10 to 15 teams really interested and all of them have an interest, if that makes sense....When you have a high school kid with these kinds of tools, it’s hard to not look at a guy.”
Along with his power, Utermark’s vision has improved too, thanks to his summer training. He’s hitting .442 with 38 hits and 42 RBIs. His RBIs rank fifth in North Carolina. He’s scored 46 runs, which ranks No. 2 in the state, and he has a nearly flawless .953 fielding percentage.
This season, Simmons has moved Utermark from the No. 4 hitting spot, where big sluggers usually slot, and has him batting first. That makes it harder for teams to walk him intentionally.
“Coach Simmons is a genius,” Utermark said. “Some teams like to pitch around me who have a good scouting report, but some teams will take their chance, which I would as well, but putting me in the leadoff spot ultimately gets me more at bats.”
Big future
Utermark could have some big decisions ahead of him this summer. If he’s drafted, and his draft position is high enough, he could be enticed to pursue professional baseball right away. Or, he could continue on to college, where some of his childhood friends and travel ball teammates have already signed.
These are good problems to have, he said, and as weird as it sounds, he’s happy he ended up heading west last summer.
It changed his life.
“I am not so much surprised as I am grateful for the work that I did put in this offseason,” he said. “I was thankful I put in the work in the weight room and the millions of swings I took this summer for this moment. It’s not so much I’m worried about hitting home runs, it’s more about hitting the ball as square as possible and being able to have the best at-bats as possible.
“And if they throw a pitch that leaks over the plate and I catch it and it has the right angle upwards, it’ll go out. So I’m not so much worried about home runs as much having the best at-bats.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 11:22 AM.
