By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

In the summer of 2012, Southport High School alumnus Cam Perkins left Purdue to launch a professional baseball career.  

He returned to Indianapolis two years later, just one step away from the Major Leagues as a member of the International League’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs – the top farm club of the Philadelphia Phillies.  

“Climbing the ladder this quickly, that wasn’t what I expected,” Perkins said during a series with the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field.  “I wasn’t expecting to be in Triple-A by my second full season, so I’m definitely ahead of schedule.” 

The accelerated progress is like a World Cup soccer goal.  It happens … just not very often.  But then, Cameron Edward Perkins’ path toward baseball’s summit has always been a little unusual.  

Born in the heart of football country, he arrived in basketball territory as a teenager.  His high school would never be mistaken for a prep baseball hotbed.  He picked a college which won its last conference title back in the days of the Model T Ford. 

“I grew up in Texas, where it’s pretty football-heavy,” says Perkins, 23, a Beaumont native who grew up in the nearby town of Vidor. “So I played a lot of football.  I was always doing something.  I did track, I did basketball.  But baseball was always my favorite.”   

At Vidor High School, Perkins was a catcher on the baseball team.  “My dad always said, ‘You might as well learn to play everywhere, and you can never learn too many positions.’  You never know when a team needs a catcher.  And if that’s the way you’re going to get into the lineup, then so be it.  I still think I could catch to this day, but I don’t know if (the Phillies) feel that way.” 

When Perkins was 11, his parents divorced and his father relocated to Indianapolis.  Cam opted to join him in 2007, enrolling at Southport High School for his junior year.  “I liked being the new kid,” he said.  “No one really knew my name the first couple of months.  I was just ‘the kid from Texas.’  I made a lot of friends pretty quickly.” 

Naturally, there were adjustments.  “I found out as soon as I got here that you can’t play baseball all year ‘round,” he said.  “In Texas, I played through December and January, and you really can’t do that here.”  

Southport High School’s contributions to Major League Baseball consisted of Chuck Klein, a Hall of Fame outfielder (Phillies, Cubs, Pirates, 1928-44), All-Star pitcher Oral Hildebrand (Indians, St. Louis Browns, Yankees, 1931-40), and no one since.  

When Perkins tried out for the Cardinals baseball squad, coach Scott Whitlock liked what he saw and named Cam his starting third baseman for the 2008 season.  In his Southport debut, Perkins looked like anything but a future big league candidate.  Whitlock claims he botched two plays in the field while taking the collar in three at-bats.  

Perkins’ version differs, but not much.  “I actually think I did get a hit that game, but I know I had a few errors,” he said sheepishly.  “It was the first time in my life I'd actually played third base.  It wasn't the start I'd hoped for.  It went pretty poorly.”      

Over the next 27 games, however, Perkins went on a rampage:  60 hits in 83 at-bats, good for a state-leading .723 average.  He knocked in a jaw-dropping 56 runs as Southport won the Marion County title for the first time in 18 years.  “I was doing something right,” he said.  “I feel like you can't even do that in batting practice, hit .700.  Balls were flying through holes everywhere.  It was one of my favorite – if not my favorite year – playing baseball.” 

Perkins was also one of Southport’s top scholars, maintaining a 4.2 grade point average on a four-point scale.  “School’s always been important to me,” he said.  ”I think I graduated 14^th or 15^th out of 400-something.  Baseball’s not forever, so you’ve got to be able to do something after it.” 

As college and professional scouts began keeping close tabs on him, Perkins started considering baseball as the ticket to higher education.  Instead of a traditional college baseball powerhouse like Miami, Texas or Louisiana State, he decided on Purdue – a school that hadn’t won a Big Ten Conference title since 1909.  “I committed to Purdue very, very early,” he said.  “When I went on my official visit there, I loved everything about it.  Ultimately, the coaching staff and the education were the two biggest factors, along with not being far from home.  And you couldn’t do much better than a free education from Purdue.”  

As a senior in 2009, Perkins batted .521 and won Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year honors.  Southport became the first school to win consecutive Marion County titles since Perry Meridian in 1998 and 1999.  “We were one of those teams that always seemed to get hot at the right time,” recalled Perkins, who clubbed a three-run homer in the Cardinals’ 9-4 win over Lawrence North in the County championship contest at Victory Field.  

That June, the Seattle Mariners selected Perkins in the 43^rd round of the June draft.  “I wasn’t ready to go play professional ball,” he said.  “I didn’t really seriously consider it.  I was young.  I had some maturing [to do], and I still needed to get better at baseball, and get bigger and faster.  So it was never really an option for me.” 

Perkins entered Purdue in the fall of 2009.  In 2010 the Boilermakers went 33-24.  “We were the school from the North that no one really pays attention to,” he said.  “But my sophomore and junior year, I think we easily had the best offense in the country.  One through nine, there wasn’t a weak spot.” 

With a lineup that included Perkins (.349) and catcher Kevin Plawecki (.341), Purdue improved to 37-20 in 2011.  The Boilermakers won the Big Ten title in 2012 with 45 wins – a school record – as Perkins hit .355 and led the conference with 61 RBI.  “I had pretty good numbers at Purdue,” said Cam, “but when you hit in front of Kevin Plawecki, there’s not too many pitchers that are going to pitch around you to get to him.” 

Seven Boilermakers were selected in the June 2012 draft, including Perkins (Phillies) and Plawecki (Mets).  “It was the best and the worst day of my life,” Cam said.  “It seems like you’re waiting for days and days before you get picked.” 

Perkins was talking to a Pittsburgh scout when his name appeared on the draft tracker.  Philadelphia had taken him in the sixth round. “It was a relief when it finally happened, and it was pretty exciting.” he said.  

After signing, Perkins reported to the Phillies’ affiliate in the rookie Gulf Coast League.  He spent most of the year at Williamsport, Pa. (short-season New York-Penn), batting .304 in 67 games while adjusting to the daily grind of professional baseball.  “In college, you play a weekend series, maybe once a week,” he said.  “But at the end of the day, it’s still baseball.  The pitcher’s sixty-and-a-half- feet away, and the bases are still 90 feet apart.” 

Last year at Clearwater (high-A Florida State), Perkins was among the league leaders in several offensive categories when he suffered a wrist injury at the end of May.  “I got hit by a pitched ball, and it fractured my ulna,” he said.  “I was out for five or six weeks.”  The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Perkins finished with a .295 in 103 games, and Baseball America ranked him twelfth among Phillies prospects.  

He opened this season with Reading, Pa. (Double-A Eastern), but wasn’t there long.  After batting .342 in 52 games, he joined Lehigh Valley on June 3.  During the IronPigs’ July 6-9 visit to Indianapolis, Perkins had plenty of supporters on hand.  “The first two days, I had probably a hundred people here,” he said.  “Some Southport guys, the coaches from high school and some teachers.  There have been probably three or four Purdue guys here who are still in the area.  It’s good to be back where I started, just seeing everyone cheer for you.” 

Perkins, who went from catcher to third base in high school, has played first base and the corner outfield posts during his brief professional career.  At Lehigh Valley, right field has been his primary spot.  So where does he feel most comfortable?  “I get asked that a lot – ‘What’s your favorite position?’” said Cam, “and I always say, ‘My favorite position’s the batter’s box.’  If I have to play center field, catcher, pitcher, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as I can get myself in the lineup.  I’ve only recently been moved to the outfield.  So, obviously, I’m working on that consistently, still trying to get comfortable out there.” 

Perkins also works at activities away from the diamond.   At Williamsport in 2012 and again last year in Clearwater he was honored for his volunteer work.  “We go to retirement homes or to special needs places, and just say hello to everyone, or go to children’s hospitals,” he said.  “I’ve gone to kids’ camps and played dodge ball and wiffle ball.  It feels good, just making a little kid’s day.  I feel like I’m selfish, because it’s like I get a lot more out of it than they do.  Making them happy makes me very happy as well.  I don’t know how they give me community service for that, ‘cause I’m having more fun than they are.” 

And he still plans to finish college.  “My major was movement and sports science,” he explained.  “My ultimate thing was physical therapy.  I have two semesters left – one year – and the Phillies agreed to pay for it.  That was one of the things in my contract when I signed.” 

“Baseball runs through September and starts in February, so it’s just one of those things where I need to find time to do it.  But, yeah, one hundred percent, I’ll finish.”