@PABaseball posted:You're trying to convince a bunch of people who have been through the process, sat with coaches, have been coaches having those conversations with parents, are currently coaches, etc, that PG grades matter. They don't. There is more than enough (anecdotal of course) evidence on this board where people have asked coaches how much stock they put into rankings, ratings, etc and the answer every time is zero. In the rare cases where they do, the same coaches go and vet the kids themselves before doing anything with that information.
Coaches are not heading over to PGs site and sorting by showcase grades to see who they're going to target. They don't cross kids off their list because PG only has them as an 8 and not an 8.5. Does PG get the top of the heap right? Of course, they all play for Evoshield, Five Star, Dulins, 643, Team Elite etc. It's pretty easy to see who the top guys are when they all get together and play against each other in the playoffs, in Jupiter, etc. My guess would be the top 200 players are probably spread out across 20 or so teams - who run into each other fairly regularly.
Once again, you (and others) keep talking about "rankings". I'm talking about GRADES. They are simply a grouping of like-metrics, regardless of what a PG write-up says about what each grade represents.
National level travel teams are usually made up of kids from all over; they don't develop talent themselves. How do you think they identify players to invite for their teams? You haven't seen these teams recruiting from the PG Junior National Showcase and other events?
Again, not talking about rankings here-just grades. You don't receive a grade (today) without having metrics and that usually means you attended a showcase. Unless you are a pitcher--who received pitching metrics at a tourney.
Not disputing how college coaches find players but anyone here who thinks PG (and others--like PBR) doesn't have at some impact is in denial. Me, I'm a realist. Coaches don't have the time or resources to evaluate every high school player in the country based upon that kid sending email with his metrics on the subject line. These prep organizations most definitely have an impact.
Every major college program out there crows about their recruiting class rankings (and no, those are not based on GRADES)...