My first look at JD Dix occurred in June of 2021. The event was the 15u Midwest Premier Baseball Top Prospect Series with games being played at various ballfields in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb., held at the same time as the College World Series. Having covered Hitters Baseball for years I was already aware of his name and after one look it was clear he was poised to follow in a long line of talented prospects from the Hitters program.

My second look at Dix came roughly one month later at the 16u version of the same event. Dix continued to make a strong impression for his overall athletic talents, showing strength from both sides of the plate, quickness on his feet and a rocket for an arm, taking the mound while maintaining mid-80s fastball velocities as a player who was a little over a month removed from his freshman year in high school.

By then I was easily convinced of his talents, and I wasn’t alone, as Dix had established himself already as one of the top prospects in the high school class of 2024. He wasn’t just a top prospect in Wisconsin, or regionally in the Midwest. We’re talking about a high-end talent from a national perspective who would be a player to watch as he progressed and matured leading up to the present day.

Now Dix is a senior year in high school and is considered one of the best amateur players at any level from coast to coast, currently ranked the 70th-best overall draft-eligible prospect by MLB Pipeline.

His time spent on the summer circuit was with Hitters Baseball, already long established as Wisconsin’s best at mining young talent from the Badger State. The list of players that have come through the Hitters is impressive, with a heavy emphasis on infielders that can really swing the stick. Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop and second baseman Gavin Lux – Baseball American’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2019 – is one of the Hitters’ greatest success stories, as is Atlanta Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic. Both were first round draft picks, in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Other Hitters alums include New York Yankees catcher Ben Rortvedt, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the second round of the 2016 draft. Big league utility player Owen Miller was taken in the third round in 2018 out of Illinois State. AJ Vukovich is a top prospect in the Diamondbacks system and was a fourth-round pick in the five-round draft of 2020. Jack Blomgren was taken one round later by the Rockies after starring at the University of Michigan. Noah Miller, Owen’s brother, was a first-round pick by the Twins in 2021 and received a Rawlings Gold Glove last season as the best defensive shortstop in all of minor league baseball.  Alex Binelas posted large numbers at Louisville before being drafted by the Brewers in the third round in 2021.

Former Hitters at the college level include a trio of Michigan Wolverines – Mitch Voit, Jonathan Kim and Jack Counsell – a quartet of Louisville Cardinals – Michael Lippe, Gavin Kilen, Will Vierling and Alex Alicea – and Minnesota Golden Gopher Brady Counsell.

“It’s kind of crazy to see this small environment, even just from Hitters, that produces talent,” Dix said of the long list of players whose footsteps he has followed. “You ask, ‘how can they do that training indoors?’ But I think it derives from what RJ built and what he ultimately wants for his players and it’s just a little bit different.”

Dix is referring to Hitters’ founder RJ Fergus and the 40,000+ indoor facility he built that serves as the home of the program. Here you can find a full-size infield, batting cages and a workout facility. I personally have seen Lux physically transform himself here, I watched Kelenic take the best round of batting practice I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen Binelas intently work to perfect his swing.

Playing indoors during the cruel winter months helps close the gap between northern and southern teams. One signature of Fergus’ Hitters teams is playing air-tight defense, and it’s not an accident that so many stars from the program have been infielders.

“He’s a combination of Kelenic with the athleticism, Miller with the glove and Lux with the bat. He’s got a little something that they all got,” Fergus said of Dix. “His work ethic is right up there with all of them. … We’re really lucky that those guys would have come out of our [program]. Who would have ever thought that Wisconsin kids would be minor league player of the year and Gold Glove player of the year? And Dix is right there with them.”

In addition to his familiarity with so many great baseball players through the Hitters organization, Dix has played with quite a few high-end players at Whitefish Bay High School, located just a stone’s throw north of Milwaukee.

Whitefish Bay High School is also the home of Craig Counsell, who claimed a pair of World Series championships during his 16-year playing career before he took over the reins of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers as their manager. Counsell spent nine years as skipper of the Brew Crew, guiding the team to the playoffs five times in six years before heading south to take the same job with the Chicago Cubs.

Two of Counsell’s children, Brady and Jack, also played at Whitefish Bay High School. As a freshman Dix played alongside Brady when he was a senior on the left side of the infield. As a sophomore Dix played on one of the most loaded teams in the state with Jack Counsell, Voit, Lippe and DJ Kojis, who is now playing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

And while that prodigious team fell short of a state championship, that honor occurred one year later during Dix’s junior year, taking down Hortonville 5-1 to secure the Blue Dukes’ first-ever title.

“It’s no different this year,” Dix said, looking ahead to his senior season. “You have to have the mindset that the players don’t really matter, it’s the team atmosphere and team chemistry that’s what you have to [strive for]. We didn’t have guys throwing 90 miles per hour. I don’t even think we had a guy sitting 80 in the state championship. It doesn’t matter, you have to have fun with the game and not take it so seriously. Act like it’s a game, because it is, and at the end of the day if you take it too seriously, maybe like we did two years ago, you don’t have the same successes.”

While at Whitefish Bay Dix created lifelong friendships and bonds. He learned from the leadership of Brady Counsell and the wisdom of Craig Counsell while Dix and Jack Counsell became best friends spending hours together at the gym, on the road as well as both on and off the field.

Playing with so many talented players has given Dix a tremendous amount of perspective. Born in Chicago, Dix and his family moved to California when he was four years old. Six to seven years later the family moved back to the Midwest, to Wisconsin, where Dix and his father have stayed. Dix’s mother and his brother have since moved back to California as JD has quite a few contacts on the West Coast and is more than aware of what it takes to compete with and against the best players in the nation.

“My brother lives out in California, so I know a lot of California baseball players, and it’s just a little different,” Dix said. “So they’re like, ‘Wisconsin baseball?’ And I tell them there’s some really good guys, there’s even an L.A. guy that’s starting [for the Dodgers] that’s from Wisconsin, 20 minutes from where I live. It gives great perspective that even in the Midwest we can produce great talent as we’ve seen in the past 10 years.”

As part of Dix’s journeys he played youth hockey and arrived in Wisconsin as a competitive swimmer while also excelling in baseball. His dad encouraged him to switch hit, and his natural athletic talents allowed him to stand out in pretty much everything he did. Given the difference of coaches and training in swimming between Wisconsin and California, Dix would soon put that part of his life behind him focusing purely on baseball by the time he began high school.

With success came increased attention, and not long after he was opening eyes on the travel circuit. During the summer after his freshman year in high school he was drawing the attention of more and more college recruiters as some of the biggest and best schools were regularly attending his games.

“Talking to the colleges,” Dix said of the most impactful moments of his journey. “Before that it’s just a dream, you want to play college baseball, you want to go to the pros, but it’s just a thought and it’s not really in motion yet. I started to get those calls my freshman year, my freshman winter, and suddenly it was like, ‘oh dang, this is legit, I can do this.’ This is what I’ve worked for. … Since four years old I’ve wanted this. You’ve watched baseball all your life and you want to be on that big field but now it’s there and it’s pretty cool.”

Of all of the schools pursuing Dix, Alabama stood out, and that’s where he initially committed to play. He established a close relationship with then-recruiting coordinator Matt Reida. That would change quickly, however, last spring when Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon was fired after he was found to be involved in a betting scandal. Reida would also leave Alabama, now serving the same role at the University of Houston.

As a result Dix opted to decommit from Alabama and re-open his recruiting search.

“Matt Reida got me there, he was the sole reason,” Dix recalled. “I think in the summer he saw me in 10 of the 13 tournaments [I played at] during my freshman year. I got to know him really, really well, we’re still close to this day. The loyalty piece to me is huge.

“Things had changed for me when I decommitted. I was definitely a different person, different priorities, different needs and stuff like that. That’s ultimately what drove me away from [Alabama].”

Instantly Dix became one of the most highly sought-after players, a free agent of sorts that had no shortage of opportunities from the best colleges in the nation.

Finishing his junior year in high school in mid-June, fresh off a state championship, Dix instantly was off to his next venture. He participated at USA Baseball’s Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) which has served as a common path for every top prospect in the nation the summer leading up to their senior year in high school. It’s part of a very busy summer circuit that includes long-established events such as the East Coast Professional Showcase and the Area Code Games.

All of that led up to him participating in the inaugural Prep Baseball Report All-American Game. For all of Dix’s travel during the summer months he got to stay at home for this event which was held at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

At that point in time he was still uncommitted, and Dix took his time making that decision for the second time in his young life. Ultimately he chose Wake Forest, a rising program led by head coach Tom Walter and the recruiting efforts of assistant coach Bill Cilento. The Demon Deacons are coming off their first appearance at the College World Series since 1955 and only their third in program history. But anyone that follows college baseball knows their player development program, including its one-of-a-kind pitching lab, will keep Wake Forest in the mix for Omaha for years to come.

“The attention was super high last year,” Dix said of his whirlwind year. “Even as a 16-year old, 17-year old, it’s super hard to use that pressure for you and not against you. As I’ve matured it’s gotten easier and easier, but that pressure from everybody was a lot last year. There’s no doubt, you’ve got to play the game with intent and intensity like no other, but if you don’t have fun with it you kind of lose the grip on why you play baseball in the first place. That’s what I’ve tried to balance.”

Lost in the shuffle amidst all of Dix’s accolades, accomplishments and travel is an injured shoulder. He first dislocated the shoulder diving back to a base the fall of his sophomore year and it’s something he had to live and play with for two years. Dix initially chose to address the sore shoulder with physical therapy, intent on playing his sophomore year in high school while preparing himself for the Underclass version of the Area Code Games the summer that followed, not to mention the Hitters nine-week tournament schedule.

It turns out Dix had a torn labrum, and when he realized he was throwing the ball in the low-70s, significantly down from his usual throwing velocity, it was determined orthoscopic surgery would be necessary to repair it. That procedure took place on October 3 of 2023, shortly after PBR’s All-American event.

Since then Dix has continued with his PT as he continues to focus on strengthening the area around his shoulder. He has also committed a lot of time to the weight room, putting on about 15 pounds of good weight while continuing his speed training. Basically, doing anything he can to get bigger, faster and stronger. He even shared with Fergus that he has a machine in his basement that allows him to take one-handed swings to hit golf ball-sized wiffle balls with a small bat to keep his hand-eye coordination up to snuff.

When Dix’s senior season starts in early April he fully expects to be on the field and in the lineup, fully healthy and determined to lead Whitefish Bay to a second straight state championship. He’s quick to admit the biggest decision that lies ahead of him – signing out of high school as a premium pick in the 2024 MLB Draft or honoring his commitment to Wake Forest – is not something he has any control of at this point in time, but continuing to work and play hard will help fulfill his destiny.

“There’s a difference between a Division I guy and a pro guy out of high school and there was no doubt JD was going to get a Power 5 scholarship to a Division I school, for a school that’s probably going to go to Omaha,” Fergus said of Dix’s talent. “You could tell that as a freshman.

“He’s got the size, he’s got the athleticism, he’s got a competitive edge to him. He’s got no fear, he plays frickin’ hard. He’s JD, man, he’s different.”