He throws a 94 mph fastball. He won a state football title. Now he wants a Sweet 16.
Before he ever took his first high school test, Kade Grundy’s college plans were set.
The Somerset junior was playing for the varsity baseball team as an eighth-grader when recruiters from the University of Louisville came to scout two of his teammates.
“I remember we were playing Lexington Christian,” Grundy told the Herald-Leader after he helped the Briar Jumpers’ basketball team beat Gallatin County in the All “A” Classic on Thursday. “I ended up going 2-for-3 (batting) and came in to pitch and got three strikeouts, it was so cool.”
It worked out just fine for his teammates: Trae Harmon is now a sophomore slugger for the University of Kentucky and Seth Bennett is an outfielder for Kentucky Wesleyan. But it was Grundy who laid the foundation for a road to Louisville that day. He accepted a scholarship offer from the Cardinals the following month.
Grundy is a three-sport star for Somerset. He had a team-high 1,441 receiving yards this past season for the football team, which won its first state title when Kaiya Sheron threw a 20-yard touchdown to Tate Madden on the final play of the Class 2A championship game.
“That last play was incredible, you couldn’t draw it up any better,” Grundy said. “It’s honestly still surreal to me when I think about it.”
Grundy also led last season’s baseball team with a .456 batting average. He’s the top scorer for the basketball Briar Jumpers so far this season, averaging 16.2 points per game. Grundy missed his first eight shots against Gallatin County in the All “A” Classic on Thursday night, but took over the game down the stretch. He scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter as Somerset won 46-37.
“Big-time players make big-time plays and that’s what he did in the fourth quarter,” said Somerset Coach Jeron Dunbar. “He’s a great leader. He leads by example and he never gives up, even on a bad day. Tonight he looked over at me and said ‘my bad,’ then he’ll tell me to give him the ball. He wants the ball in big-time situations. And truth be told, we want him to have it.”
(Somerset was eliminated from the All “A” Classic in Friday night’s quarterfinals. Grundy scored 24 points, but the Briar Jumpers, 17-3, were defeated 51-50 by St. Henry.)
Family ties
Grundy paused for a moment when asked which sport brings him the most joy.
“My favorite is whatever is in-season. I can’t really pick one,” he said. “Playing all three keeps me sharp and keeps me competitive in everything that I do.”
But from an early age it always felt like baseball was his destiny. Grundy’s father, Phillip Grundy, pitched in college at Western Carolina and spent seven years in the Kansas City Royals’ minor league organization. He’s been the head coach at Somerset since 2001.
“Early on I knew I was better at baseball than I was at anything else,” Kade Grundy said. “Knowing my dad’s history in baseball I was drawn to it. And he helped make me into the player I am. It’s my best sport and it was the best decision for me to pursue that.”
Grundy said Louisville offered to let him pitch and play in the outfield. He loves every aspect of the game, but staring down a batter gives him the biggest charge.
“Hitting is really fun but there’s nothing better than being on that mound, it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe,” Grundy said.
Grundy went 5-1 with a 1.80 earned run average and struck out 67 batters last season as Somerset won the 12th Region championship. He’s spent lots of time developing a diverse array of quality pitches and hopes to use them to help the Briar Jumpers get back to the state tournament this season.
“My fastball is probably my best pitch. I’ve gotten all the way up to 94 (miles per hour) before,” Grundy said. “If I want to finish off a strikeout, I usually go to my slider or a curve ball. My off-speed stuff has gotten better over the years.”
The task at hand
Baseball is Grundy’s future, but he’s presently preoccupied with making a run on the hardwood.
“We’re a pretty veteran team. I think we have the chemistry and the time under our belt to make noise in the region and get to the Sweet Sixteen,” he said.
Somerset has not been to the big dance since 1985.
His basketball coach foresees a day when Grundy and the program are historically intertwined.
“I think he’ll end up being our all-time leading scorer,” Dunbar said. “But he’s looking to get us a state championship first. He got one in football, now he wants one in basketball.”
Dunbar has no doubt his starting point guard will go on to do great things on the baseball diamond at Louisville, but he and Grundy’s other head coaches often discuss what a fun ride he’s enjoying right now as a jack-of-all-trades for the Briar Jumpers.
“We always talk about how he’s living the storybook high school career. Every kid growing up in elementary school or middle school wants to be the best guy on the team and wants to get the kind of accolades he’s had. And he’s had them in all three sports. That’s your dream, and it doesn’t happen to most people. But he’s living it right now.”
