Hi all,
Just saw the 2017 Stanford Camp dates and thought I'd post.
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Look like camp price increased to match Headfirst, but include lodging and meals and 3 days. (And no telling if Headfirst will increase their price by $200.)
When did they release the coach list last year?
When would be the best year to go: Summer after Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior year?
Go when the player has something to showcase. Something are the baseball tools that coaches are looking for and that stand out, e.g., running speed, throwing velocity, bat speed, pop time, etc. The time to do that varies by player.
AND go if the schools on the player's vetted list of colleges will be there.
Big Taco posted:When would be the best year to go: Summer after Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior year?
Summer after Soph & Jr year
Gov posted:Hi all,
Just saw the 2017 Stanford Camp dates and thought I'd post.
Sign up ASAP . This camp fills up FAST . Most spots are gone by February 1
Gov posted:Hi all,
Just saw the 2017 Stanford Camp dates and thought I'd post.
Hands down the Best academic showcase in the Country. It's a MUST DO for all 3.4 + GPA guys that are serious about playing NCAA Baseball
StrainedOblique posted:Gov posted:Hi all,
Just saw the 2017 Stanford Camp dates and thought I'd post.
Hands down the Best academic showcase in the Country. It's a MUST DO for all 3.4 + GPA guys that are serious about playing NCAA Baseball
+1
PS: And though Coach Stotz is no longer a Stanford coach, I see he's still running this event. So it should still be great.
Registration doesn't open until December 31, 9pm PST.
Truman posted:StrainedOblique posted:Gov posted:Hi all,
Just saw the 2017 Stanford Camp dates and thought I'd post.
Hands down the Best academic showcase in the Country. It's a MUST DO for all 3.4 + GPA guys that are serious about playing NCAA Baseball
+1
PS: And though Coach Stotz is no longer a Stanford coach, I see he's still running this event. So it should still be great.
Exactly. Stotz is a legend. He runs the best college showcase camp in the country. Dude wrote the book!
Going to provide a little devil's advocate advice here...Stanford was NOT as good this past summer as past. Too many mistakes/too much down time, poor management of scheduling and really awful issues with videos and their "report cards."
The camp is still nevertheless at Stanford and fun for boys to stay in the dorms and play (one game) at Sunken Diamond. And lots of coaches from a variety -- NOT JUST high academic -- colleges attend (from JUCO to high powered D1 to Ivy to D3 of all levels).
However a few issues: Numerous people received wrong rating/videos that did not work etc and these issues were never solved or resolved. In other words, wrong info was shared with the coaches there. This is NOT an isolated incident of one kid, it was numerous as we knew many people there and ran into more along the rest of the recruiting summer showcase schedule. My own 2017 received the stats from his previous year, completely different. Another 2018 good friend had a videos that never worked, same with a 2017 later offered from an Ivy at the end of the summer who had no video and for some reason the hit tracking was never measured either although he did the BP/hitting drills. Another 2017 received a rating that was like "you should never play baseball" despite the fact he already had offers, and did very well at the camp so it had to be a mistake. And on and on.
Another issue which has been discussed on this forum, the schedule at Sunken Diamond. One game of the 3 played. Who pitches there has a huge advantage as most coaches just stay there to watch games. PLUS the scheduling of pitching is just poor. You check in and don't do much that Sunday. Year before the schedule was given for pitching that Sunday night. Not last year. Instead, many guys had a THREE hour practice with their coach who they are trying to make a first impression on and THEN found out the pitching schedule. Friend scheduled to pitch immediately after that 3 hour practice and had ZERO time to inform the coaches who wanted to see him pitch, and to boot, it was way way off site. The kid was dead tired and still did well, but the stats from his game were reported incorrectly, and kids from the other team were the ones holding the radar gun used for the official velocity. Really? How hard is it to have a preliminary pitching schedule IN ADVANCE?! How hard is to have a COACH be in charge of the radar gun (there are several coaches assigned at each field, including one to evaluate pitchers)? And how hard is it to keep accurate stats? It was a mess.
Stotz, when emailed by parents, copies the emails to coaches without telling parents their email will be shared -- which is so unbelievably inappropriate. He also made some really awful comments about the weight of certain coaches (anyone on the recruiting road will know there are a few coaches at almost everything and this one guy from one of the most well known universities on the planet was told to stop eating so many twinkies in front of everyone, comments about the girls in bathing suits at certain schools, about finding a beautiful wife, and lots of just politically incorrect good old boy comments. There were even a few dads with dropped jaws.
I don't mean to malign the camp. We loved it two years ago. Last year was markedly different.
I've written about our experiences at the Future Stars Camp and All Star Camp before. Both my boys did these camps and enjoyed them a lot.
I will agree with TWOBOYS that the experience has changed over time, and not for the better IMHO.
Kids will love this camp. The hat, the jersey, the photo on the Jumbotron, batting / playing on the sunken diamond, living in the dorms, etc. It's pretty fun for them and my guys really had a good time. Coach Stotz is a hoot...I really like the guy.
That said, I do not believe this is the best high academic camp for exposure to the most college coaches of D1 and D3 high academic schools. As noted above, the list is diverse from JuCo through D1 at Stanford. One of my guys had the Kansas coach as his team coach. Another had Butte JuCo. Those may be fine schools, but they are not high academic as defined by a Headfirst or Showball or me for that matter, and they weren't on my boys' high academic schools lists.
When the structure was Future Stars and All Stars, mostly rising Sophs and rising Juniors did Future Stars. Mostly rising Seniors (and some rising Juniors) did All Stars. I felt the camps were more focused to those audiences and the college coaches attended accordingly. The camps are now open for all age groups.
Showcasing for high school players is about exposure to the coaches on their vetted lists. It's not about random chance... "I hope somebody sees me and likes me". While that's possible, IMO, fishing in the right pond is important.
At $950 for the camp, it is now very expensive and similar in price but not experience to HF...again IMO. HF has more high academic D1 and D3 coaches...at HF Long Island there were over 100 schools represented and all were four year, high through highest academic. Access to those coaches is concentrated on two fields (Sacramento) or four (NY and FL) fields that are adjacent. And access to coaches is overtly encouraged at HF. At Stanford, games are played throughout fields around Palo Alto. Other than the Sunken Diamond game, we found at most a half dozen coaches at the high school game locations across several days of play.
If the coaches on a player's vetted list will be at the Stanford Camp, then this camp should be an option in the context of exposure to those coaches. If the coaches on a player's vetted list are not at Stanford, a family with the time and money could still choose to send their player. The kids will have a great time! I'm not sure that's the best use of limited time and money for recruiting, but that's an individual decision.
PG National Academic, Showball, Headfirst, Stanford, et.al., should all be given careful consideration in the context of exposure to the schools on your player's vetted (academically and athletically) list. For third party assessment, none is better than PG in my opinion. Their rating is sound and can be shared with all the coaches on your player's list. For direct exposure to the largest set of high academic coaches, we found HF to be the best. Again, just my opinion.
I concur with Twoboys and Branson. 2017 went to Future Stars in 2015 and All Star 1 last summer. A lot of fun but questionable results last year. 2015 was great. Last summer, though, videos were a mess, times incorrect on measurables, contact with coaches far less than HF. Started to request corrections on videos but first request was misunderstood and I decided not to follow up because my own clips were far better than what Stanford provided (of the ones that worked).
I wrote Stotz about which coaches will be there next summer, and he wrote back and said the 2016 list would be "85-90% correct." Ah, but which 85-90%? With three camps over 9 days, I'm not sure how many coaches will stay for all three of the contiguous sessions. I will be very surprised if the list of coaches is available before registration starts and the camps are full.
It does look like two of the three games now offered will be at Sunken Diamond, but that is just my opinion based on the reduced # of teams being formed per camp.
Would it make sense for a 2019 to attend this year or wait til next year? We are on East Coast, so not a quick, cheap trip in addition to the camp fee. Expensive proposition and thinking there may be more affordable, closer high academic options. 2019's PSAT's were in the National Merit Semifinalist range and he's interested in engineering. Thanks - love the info sharing on this board!
2019&21 Dad posted:Would it make sense for a 2019 to attend this year or wait til next year? We are on East Coast, so not a quick, cheap trip in addition to the camp fee. Expensive proposition and thinking there may be more affordable, closer high academic options. 2019's PSAT's were in the National Merit Semifinalist range and he's interested in engineering. Thanks - love the info sharing on this board!
EDIT: Yes I think it would. My 2018 did the Stanford All Star Camp II the past July as a rising junior. It was a terrific experience for my son; he received valuable feedback from a number of coaches who were on his target list. He's now played in front of those same coaches twice since the Stanford camp (AZ Fall Junior Classic & HF Jupiter). It's been a nice positioning opportunity.
It's a showcase/camp where having a big measurable will enable your son to standout. Even if money is not an object to go the Stanford Camp, get your 2019's measurables bench marked and get him stronger and faster over the next several months. You want your son to have the chance to leave a positive impression with coaches he meets who are on his target list. Prepare....
Gov, thanks for posting.
The flyer seems to be all for "All-Star Camp" . . . what is or was "Future Stars"?
Future Stars was the name of the camp Stanford used to have for rising sophs and jrs. Now they've mixed everyone together (rising sophs, rising jrs, rising srs) into 4 smaller camps of three days each. (14 teams per camp, approx 16 players per team, about 225 kids per camp). We really liked Future Stars when my 2017 went in 2015. Trying to decide now whether my own 2019 should go next summer or not. Our decision will NOT be about the new age groupings; it will be whether the boy has something to show or not.
2019&21 Dad posted:Would it make sense for a 2019 to attend this year or wait til next year? We are on East Coast, so not a quick, cheap trip in addition to the camp fee. Expensive proposition and thinking there may be more affordable, closer high academic options. 2019's PSAT's were in the National Merit Semifinalist range and he's interested in engineering. Thanks - love the info sharing on this board!
Gonna disagree, very mildly, with Gov. It really depends on the player and the family's situation. Stanford is a great experience, and you can't have too many of those, but compared to HeadFirst, you don't get as a many eyes on a kid at Stanford. It sounds like your son is an elite student. If he's an elite player as well, you're going to want to get him in front of Ivies, Patriots, and maybe above. You can get in front of those without the expense of a CA trip if that's an issue. If he's more likely to be a D3 type player, then you should hold off a year anyway. D3's pay little attention to players until the summer before their senior year.
Just one opinion....
JCG posted:2019&21 Dad posted:Would it make sense for a 2019 to attend this year or wait til next year? We are on East Coast, so not a quick, cheap trip in addition to the camp fee. Expensive proposition and thinking there may be more affordable, closer high academic options. 2019's PSAT's were in the National Merit Semifinalist range and he's interested in engineering. Thanks - love the info sharing on this board!
Gonna disagree, very mildly, with Gov. It really depends on the player and the family's situation. Stanford is a great experience, and you can't have too many of those, but compared to HeadFirst, you don't get as a many eyes on a kid at Stanford. It sounds like your son is an elite student. If he's an elite player as well, you're going to want to get him in front of Ivies, Patriots, and maybe above. You can get in front of those without the expense of a CA trip if that's an issue. If he's more likely to be a D3 type player, then you should hold off a year anyway. D3's pay little attention to players until the summer before their senior year.
Just one opinion....
Good perspective and excellent point about D3's.
JCG posted:2019&21 Dad posted:Would it make sense for a 2019 to attend this year or wait til next year? We are on East Coast, so not a quick, cheap trip in addition to the camp fee. Expensive proposition and thinking there may be more affordable, closer high academic options. 2019's PSAT's were in the National Merit Semifinalist range and he's interested in engineering. Thanks - love the info sharing on this board!
Gonna disagree, very mildly, with Gov. It really depends on the player and the family's situation. Stanford is a great experience, and you can't have too many of those, but compared to HeadFirst, you don't get as a many eyes on a kid at Stanford. It sounds like your son is an elite student. If he's an elite player as well, you're going to want to get him in front of Ivies, Patriots, and maybe above. You can get in front of those without the expense of a CA trip if that's an issue. If he's more likely to be a D3 type player, then you should hold off a year anyway. D3's pay little attention to players until the summer before their senior year.
Just one opinion....
If you, and I hope others will chime in, had to do it all over again, and you KNEW your kid was a D3 level player, would you be willing to roll the dice, wait until the summer before senior year, and attend only ONE event where you knew there would be an excellent variety of D3 choices?
(I do not mean this as a challenge. I'm being sincere: Could one camp/showcase be enough?)
