PG Showcase Grade

Good stuff, thanks.  Not surprising that he's a catcher. I'm guessing that most of my kid's HS team could beat him in the 60.

JCG,

There have been others we graded low that made it to the Big Leagues.  It is great when players go out and prove us wrong rather than give up. Those are the ones I respect the most!

Every so often we see excellent MIFs that profile better at another position for one reason or another.  In this case it was his lack of running speed.  Here is the report from his sophomore year in high school. Can only wonder what we would have graded him had he been a catcher back then.

Scouting Report

Rafael Lopez might have been the top pure hitter at the Showcase. He’s a present strong 5'8" middle infielder from Wellington, Florida, and a left handed hitter. Lopez has a very balanced approach with excellent rhythm, and above average bat speed and hand strength. He squared up on virtually every ball he swung at in batting practice and in games, and showed his power to all fields at different times. Lopez hits like a much bigger player and is going to be a run producer with metal in his hands. Defensively, Lopez is a smooth and confident player who made all the plays. He has good arm strength with a quick, polished release, and he works hard to get into position to make plays look easy. The only flaw in Lopez’s game is his overall speed. If Lopez was a 6.6 runner instead of a 7.6 runner, you’d see his name near the top of national prospect lists. We really like the way this young 2006 prospect carries himself, too. He’s a ball player who is going have plenty of success in the future. 

PGStaff,

Forgive me if this is a newbie question but why do I see some players have a profile but little or no data year after year, no scouting reports, just games played, while others like Lopez have a well documented history? Is it the type of event? Do you have to opt-in (and I suppose pay for) a scouting report?

I have to show this to a dad I know. The kid is a beast at the plate.  A leader.  Throws right, bats left. Big strong kid. Probably 6' 0"+ 200lbs at 16.  Kid used to be a catcher and pitcher.  Dad, who played some MILB, has been working like crazy to turn him into a SS.  And he's good at it. Good hands, big arm. But he's very slow.  Maybe dad has been on the wrong track with this kid.

The other thing this does is get some players to work harder.  My son has not done a showcase yet, but he was ranked in the 2017 high school rankings.  He is now working to be ready for the showcase in January where he hopes he can raise his ranking.

Good stuff. For every review that is right on or where the kid is reviewed and makes it etc against the odds....excluding the beasts that are destined for Big D1-Juco and ultimately, the MLB......i have seen many, many write-ups that i just get the feeling was the responsibility of PG to perform since the kid signed up and paid. Excluding the outright bombs that show up, it always felt to me like the showcase write-ups didnt really matter that much to colleges or MLB guys. I know PG is a  marketing org, just thought some of the reviews on kids were cheesy. Am i wrong? 

How many reviews does one PG staffer do in a year?  How many different ways can you say "Decent bat, but nothing wow like.  Decent arm, but he will never hit above 90.  Fielding was okay, no ESPN moments to be found."

I'm sure coaches and scouts know how to read these by now and have a filter on what the scout is saying.  At the same time if Johny finds out that he had the identical write up as Timmy there may be some fighting words!  Those PG people have to spice it up somehow!

Did you see the Cubs this year? 

Its a great story and I am really happy for the kid.  Overcoming his lack of speed is awesome.  I love this line from his first evaluation:  "Be interesting to see him in a few years."  Well look at him now. 

The write ups are on kids who attended an individual showcase.  And yes, they had to pay to attend the showcase.  If you see a kid with a bunch of tournaments under his belt, but no write ups and no grade, he attended a bunch of PG tournaments, but has not attended an individual showcase.  

I know PG has a bunch of info written up behind the scenes on all kids who participate in their tournaments and that info would be available to scouts/recruiters if they asked, but is not available to the general public.

Hope that clears things up a little 2016Dad.

I have seen other kids jump 2-2.5 points over a few showcases, but 3.5 is huge what a hard worker.

do you ever rank/see kids that are obviously very good players but for one reason or another perhaps dont make it to a showcase?    Ive heard spectacular things about Kyler Murray,  qb commit to A&M,   scouts claiming he might get drafted in the 1st round but he doesnt seem to have that type of PG rating. 

If he attends Allen HS, then PG has him ranked #100 nationally in the class of 2015. He has no PG showcase listing or even a WWBA tournament. To be ranked that high without even a major tournament appearance says volumes.

Yes we do rank players we have seen that have not attended a showcase, including Kyle Murray who we have ranked #100 in the nation.  Kyle would probably be ranked higher but it has been made fairly clear that he plans on playing football at the next level. It is hard to rank someone extremely high when they don't plan to play baseball. If and when we hear anything different we might rank him differently. In the meantime, we consider him an outstanding talent who may never play baseball after this year. We believe his #100 ranking is appropriate under the circumstances. Then again some might question why we are ranking someone in the top 100 when they don't plan on playing baseball.

We do wish he would play baseball.  There were events we invited him to, but he was attending football camps at the time. He is an outstanding athlete.

We have had many top football prospects in the past That we have ranked higher.  However, we knew at the time that Jameis Winston still planned on playing baseball and that Archie Bradley and others were likely to choose baseball over football.  We also knew that Jeff Driscall was going to play football So we didn't rank him as high as we could have.

Bottom line... We consider draft day as our report card for the rankings. Whether it is the current draft day or after college draft day.

that makes perfect sense,   Im not an Aggie fan but given the performance of Kenny Hill so far this season and the fact that they also have the top ranked QB from the last class who has seen action already in relief could create a log jam for Murray.    I know he is a legacy,  his father was a star qb there.   I assumed Murray would go the Russell Wilson route, play college football but continue to play baseball when he could in the summer,  it sounds like that is not what you are hearing.  

Is this a case where Lopez should have waited a year before attending a showcase?   In the end it didnt matter though,   he showed huge improvement and PG recognized that. 

PG,

  A question I've meant to ask. The height/weight listed. Is it self reported or do they measure these things at a showcase? I had just noticed that Lopez was 5' 10" as a freshman and 5' 8" the next couple of years. I also ask because of the tendency to fib a little on these. I, myself constantly reference my kid as 6' 3" when he's actually 6' 2 1/4".

Did you really have to go there? I'm an Arkansas fan and didn't really want to hear anything about Kenny Hill today.

Ht and Wt is reported by coaches and/or players.

Agreed. With the way my son performed (or did not perform) at his one and only PG showcase, he was expecting to see "throw the bum out!" in the comments section .Instead, the comments were more like "let's try to find something nice to say about this kid" which I agree, recruiters know how to read.  (Personally I think they could have mentioned how handsome he is and what a gentleman!)

he is looking forward to doing another showcase early in the season to get a new  critique and of course to get that grade up!

Does height and weight have an impact on an overall PG ranking?

Nope, talent. 

BOF-

If a PG grade is based on ability and projection doesn't current height, weight, and build all have to factor in somewhat.