AUBURN, Ala. – If Auburn fans wanted to see an assist in the winter, Jared Harper was their guy.
In the spring, assist-hungry Auburn baseball fans are singing a different tune: "We've got Judd."
In the same way Harper's SEC-best 231 assists electrified Auburn Arena, Ward's seven outfield assists, also the most in the Southeastern Conference, send a jolt through the crowd at Plainsman Park each time the Tigers outfielder nails a baserunner.
"It's definitely one of my favorite things to do in baseball," said Ward, a sophomore from Russellville, Alabama. "It brings a lot of energy, and I like that."
Ward picked up his first two assists in Auburn's first four games this season. He's added five more in conference play, including his most recent, a double play against Georgia on May 11 when he caught a fly in center and fired a strike home to nail a runner attempting to tag from third.
"It definitely brings some life back into the team," Ward said. "It gets people hyped up, ready to go, because you're giving them a chance to come back. It gives some life back into the team, especially in close games."
After Ward's assist against the Bulldogs, the Tigers scored twice in the next inning in a game Auburn won 4-3 in 10.
"Making a truly game-changing play in the outfield is rare," said Auburn assistant coach Gabe Gross, a former big-league outfielder. "It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it is such a momentum swing. It almost always goes from the offense thinking they've got something big going, to now the defense has just taken a run off the board.
"It is a huge momentum swing, especially in this game, which is emotionally more charged than the professional game, with young kids. It swings the game big-time, and they know that. He's made a lot of them for us this year."
"Like against Tennessee, I think we were down 3-2 in the seventh or eighth inning," Ward said. "We came out in the bottom of the eighth and took the lead and just kept it, right after one of those."
"When you have assists," Gross said. "You've got to have two things happen. You've got to have a good arm, but you've got to be accurate, and that's what he is.
"He takes it personally that guys are not going to run on him. That he's going to throw guys out. And he's always going to do it in a way that's not going to let baserunners advance, understanding the principles of the game. At the same time, he's taught himself how to get the most out of his body, to really air the ball out."
Ironically, Ward traces his arm strength to an injury to his throwing shoulder that required surgery as a high school freshman, ending his pitching career and making him a full-time outfielder.
"I feel like it made my arm stronger, coming back, doing all the rehab, taking it seriously," Ward said.
His accuracy comes from an old-school baseball training technique, playing catch at increasingly longer distances.
"Long tossing, I guess," he said. "Just working on hitting people in the chest every day. During the season, it just depends on how your arm feels. Some days, you lazy toss. On game days, you want to get it hot before in and out."
"He's got a strong arm, but he can put it in a place where you can complete the play on the back end," said assistant coach Karl Nonemaker, a former All-SEC outfielder at Vanderbilt. "That's pretty special."
Like a quarterback who assesses the defensive alignment before each play, Ward calculates each possibility before every pitch, baseball's equivalent of a pre-snap read.
"It's just knowing the situation in the outfield," Ward said. "Do we need to throw this guy out, throw it all the way? But if there's a ground ball through and there's a runner on second, you want to stay through the cutoff, because if you can't throw him out, it keeps the runner from getting to second. It keeps the double play in order. It's just knowing the situations."
You might think after seven outfield assists – as many or more than nine SEC teams, the scouting report would be out across the league: don't run on Judd Ward. The "Russellville Rifle" hopes not.
"I kind of want them to," he said. "I get really amped up after. Definitely up there with a home run. I don't know about walk-off, yet. I ain't got that feeling yet."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer