Body type, pitching and projectibility

So are we starting a 50U team? 

Dang it!! can it be 55U? so I can get on it!!

Originally Posted by joes87:

Trying to differentiate a little bit between your run of the mill travel team and a team that is geared to college recruiting.  

Not trying to be a PITA here, but why didn’t you just say that in the 1^st place? It’s precise and understandable.

So what showcases do you go to? Are you talking about camps like the Stanford camp held someplace where a lot of coaches can look at players, or are you talking about showcases like PG puts on?

Doc - are you switching gears on me talking about young people respecting their elders?  That is an entirely different discussion. 

In sports ...talent matters most.  Always has and always will. When you have it then you are "eccentric" or "innovative".  When you don't you are a "distraction". 

I would agree that any kid that is untalented or a equally mediocre talent with the masses that acts like a distraction will have limited options and justifiably so.  Even if you have talent you can become a distraction if you are too far out of control. 

Who wants to deal with a kid that thinks he's Mike Trout when he's a knuckleheaded Rainbow Trout?  But if he is Mike Trout talent there are 30 MLB teams that will put up with a raft of crap to keep you around.  See Josh Hamilton - your classic tatted up, loud music, drug addled punk player who will manage to make over $100MM playing baseball. 

No matter how clean cut my kid is - he isn't as good.

Stats, he was using common baseball terms. It's usually understood within the community that a travel team differs from a showcase team in purpose. A travel team is put together with the intent of instructing and competing. A showcase team is geared toward exposure. As a result, a showcase team is unlikely to practice much. A showcase team is also likely to be more flexible with their pitching rotations in order to garner exposure for their players even at the expense of affecting their chances of winning a game or tourney. For example, a showcase team might throw a particular pitcher because a college he is pursuing has sent a recruiter even when a better pitcher is available.

That's what they do to all freshman.

....I also need it.to be 55u!...

I'm in if it's 50 and over.  And there are designated runners for everyone, including the batter.

Thanks root 

stats I will give you some examples when I have more time to type stuff up tomorrow. 

Ok 55U or make it 60U. 

We saw one at a tournament a few weeks ago.  All these grey haired old farts with the wheeled bags.  They were playing in a "young kids" tournament -- 30 ish.  It was wild.  Dudes could still play.   

 Luv Baseball,   At the Area Code Games today, the boys had a few speakers talk to them. Tom House told the players that they are being watched on the field and off the field. He also said respect for your parents and how you act when your having a bad day would be graded.    An SEC coach told a kid that he wasted his mom and dads money by coming to his camp. He told him that he was disrespectful to the coaches that were working with him and that his talent was just a waste. But your probably right Luv Baseball, those guys don't know what they are talking about!

If Eminem and Mike Trout had the same talent I would select Trout before Eminem.        

The way I see it, Eminem is more likely to discharge a firearm in a nightclub than Trout would be. I have been told that Scouting isn't an exact science, but sometimes gut feeling, instincts, and wisdom reign.

if you have mike trout talent a team will found room

Stats here is how I differentiate the two.

A travel team is basically a team of kids playing baseball.  They play lots of tourneys and their primary goal is to play baseball.  Folks think that playing on a good travel team that wins a lot of tourneys will get their kids noticed.  Also, many of these teams think playing in certain tourneys will get the kids noticed.  For example around here there are many tourneys in Dekalb, IL.  Dekalb is home to Northern Illinois University.  Many of the tourneys promise a game or two on NIUs field.   My sons previous travel team played in these tourneys.  These teams hope that somehow someone from NIUs coaching staff will be out watching the game and notice some of their kids.  The reality of the situation is that the folks working the fields and these games for the school are either student athletes or unpaid graduate assistances.  Once they have the field dragged and caulked for the game they disappear and could care less about the game.   Many of them travel down to PG events during HS for the exposure.   So the only real exposure they get is at the PG events. 

A showcase team from the outside can appear to be a normal run of the mill travel team.  In fact they have an entirely different approach to the season as well as the way they play the game.  Using my son’s organization as an example.  The first ¾ of our season was not played in any type of traditional tournament.  We played in what I will call “closed” events.  These events were not open to all teams.  There is a very small list of teams that are invited to these events.  There is no tourney champion, just round robin play.  In fact we probably played the same 5 or 6 teams for 4 weekends in a row.  This small group of teams works with the Chicago Scouts Association here in Chicago.  CSA is a group of MLB scouts and college coaches who works with a select few teams in our area.   Every single game we played was attended by a group of college guys.  Early on we would average about 6 guys per game and that grew to about 12 by the time the season wound down.  If we played a team with a hot prospect there would be 20+ guys there.  Once in a while these guys were there to see a certain player, but for the most part they know that this small group of teams provides a high number of college ready players and are out looking at these teams.  For example last year there were about 36 2015 grads. in our program,  30 of those kids ended up committing to play college ball.   In addition to structuring the program to get the kids the maximum amount of exposure they also play in a few PG events.  More so at the Jr. level then the other levels.  Finally the program runs “private” showcases for our kids only.  Again they work with the colleges here in the Midwest, and some beyond that, to get them into watch our kids workout.  These events are usually attended to by 30+ schools. 

While both teams hold tryouts and on the outside appear to be very similar there is a world of difference on how the organizations work.

Really interesting set up Joe. I think there is a shift to that set up a bit. There are a few teams in Ohio that are doing the same kind of thing, I think. My son's summer team was never a part of that, but would have been a very nice way to focus.

Kind of like PG is doing in GA only on a much smaller scale

Doctor - that is a different topic altogether. My comments were directed toward the "respect for the game".   I still don't know what that means. 

Having respect for other people and conducting your personal interactions appropriately is always necessary - unless you have ungodly talent.  In that case you will be given many more opportunities to prove you are a knucklehead. 

Apparently the kid wasting his parents dough did not have that kind of talent.  So he was a jerk kid that was one of a 100 or more other kids - take him or leave him.  In that case who wants to deal with a PIA - see ya later kiddo.

No doubt that given a choice between Trout or Josh Hamilton that Trout comes out on top every time.  His reliability alone makes that a no brainer, yet Hamilton still finds a spot in MLB. 

Hip Hop is no closer to the end of civilization than Elvis was 60 years ago.  Tattoos while unappealing to me seem to be here to stay. Same with piercings.  Pants at the shoes which I view as an abomination aren't going anywhere either.  But if I ran a baseball team - or any other business - and disqualified anyone on these grounds then I will get trounced by my competition and deservedly so.

Doctor in your comment you called the kind of thought process for disqualifying people on grounds above that have nothing to do with performance or inappropriate conduct as being a "Redneck".  Believe it or not I agree with that assessment.

While we are calling into question style (pants at the shoes,), can anyone tell me where the "pants used as leggings" style came from?  Was at a tournament this past weekend and saw a couple of guys that stretched their pants legs under their shoe.  I have always wondered how they keep the pants leg from either ripping or popping off.  I realize this is probably not a huge deal but I could not believe they were presenting themselves in this fashion given the event at Lakepoint.  Any MLB guys rocking this style?

When my older son (now a college jr - not playing ball) was playing travel this seem to be used more then it is today.  The kids rip holes in the bottom of the pants and put their spikes through the holes to hold the pants down.  Not sure where it came from.

IMO I think travel ball has become so watered down that the better players are looking for somewhere to go.  Setup's like this provide them with an option.  Now a days I have come to think of most travel ball teams as rec-ball+.  

The travelball teams - yes.  I have found that the 'showcase" program we now belong to is cheaper then a lot of the area travel teams. By at least a $K a year.

Originally Posted by roothog66:

Stats, he was using common baseball terms. It's usually understood within the community that a travel team differs from a showcase team in purpose. A travel team is put together with the intent of instructing and competing. A showcase team is geared toward exposure. As a result, a showcase team is unlikely to practice much. A showcase team is also likely to be more flexible with their pitching rotations in order to garner exposure for their players even at the expense of affecting their chances of winning a game or tourney. For example, a showcase team might throw a particular pitcher because a college he is pursuing has sent a recruiter even when a better pitcher is available.

Common to who? The assumption here is often that everyone reading posts understands the “lingo”, but there’s a lot of folks who look in that don’t possess knowledge of all the “common baseball terms” you seem to. Personally, I thought I knew what he was talking about, but wanted to be sure before I commented.