I think there have been a lot of good points made here. I think that things have changed tremendously in the last 10 years when it comes to summer baseball. In our program we try to find the right balance of offering kids college exposure as well as great instruction. That is why we play in showcase tournaments on the weekend, yet we practice twice a week as well. We are able to use our indoor facility for all of our hitting where a player to coach ratio is 3 to 1. Then we practice outside where our pitchers throw their pens and work with our pitching coach, while our other positions are broken down individually for their defensive work. On average we have 4 to 5 coaches with college or professional playing experience working with our players.
I do think that there is a huge misconception with showcase teams that they are only good for players who are D1 calibur or that the showcase teams sell themselves as the only route for parents to get their son to the D1 level even though he is not a D1 player. Our program really tries to help the kids who are D2 or D3 level players who have extremely limited options here in the state of MD. Over the past 3 years we have sent over 70 kids on to play in college and less than 20% of those have been D1 players. If you play only in the Maryland summer leagues, you are really going to have a tough time being seen by schools in PA, VA, NC, and WV.
The summer should be a time when kids are not only playing a highly competetive level to get ready for high school next year, but also a chance for them to learn and improve on their weaknesses as well as be seen by as many colleges as possible if playing college baseball is their goal. If a legion, metro, showcase, or any other team can provide those 3 things for a high school player, then I think its a great fit for that player.