CaCO3Girl posted:That sounds like a very successful program, and I won't pick on it. I was actually curious at the numbers.
I think others on here have explained it better...is it possible to go D1 without PG/PBR exposure, YUP! Will it likely open up more possibilities if you have PG/PBR exposure, especially if you are trying to go more than 50 miles from home, YUP!
Not 100% accurate IMO. I've explained this many times, but our 5-10/85 mph younger one would not have benefitted from big showcase exposure. All they woulda seen is a 5-10/85 mph guy vs. a crop of 90+ guys and about the best he could hope for is being ignored. At worst, his lack of velocity and size would have been accentuated and permanently kept him off their lists.
This was in fact what happened to him when he attended a regional showcase in Northern CA. He was ignored or permanently written off by a number of coaches in favor of bigger, higher velocity guys who, in the end, never accomplished anywhere near what he did. A big/national showcase would have only made this situation worse IMO, and so we did none of them.
To figure him out, a college coach needed to watch him for a while in HS/travel ball and understand what he brought to the table (pinpoint command, competitiveness, 4 pitch repertoire, etc...). A college coach needed to call his HS and travel coach and ask if what they were thinking was correct. A college coach needed to hear from coaches of other HS's and travel programs that they oughta give him a look cause he's 'different' than the stereotype of short, lower velocity pitchers. A college coach needed to talk to area scouts to find out that he really knows what he's doing out there and that yes, his velocity in the 1st inning may be 84 but by the 4th inning its 88...something that would not be found in a showcase.
All of that paragraph above rang true for 3 or 4 college coaches who put their ear to the ground and listened to the rumble...and figured it out. A couple in our area did not, and paid for it later in college.
The coach who ultimately recruited him to a Pac12 school must have watched him pitch close to a dozen times in HS.
I love what a minor league pitching coach who used to coach in the Pac12 told him last year in Spring Training - 'JBBson, you are one of reasons I left college baseball - you were nowhere on our recruiting board as a HSer, but we learned we hated facing you in the Pac12 - I just got tired of recruiting big names only to find out kids like you were the ones we shoulda recruited.'