Tequila's post is a great one and I understand the OP as well. As a businessman I don't begrudge PG at all, nor any of the people who have successful careers based largely on parents chasing a dream or trying to help their child fulfill a dream. I happily pay for this for my child, as I am sure most others are as well. I don't think anyone can reasonably deny that the PG business model and this entire industry though is funded by the parents of children who will never play D1 baseball. It is the only way the economics work. So, I understand when people get frustrated.
The point that this can be done cheaper for the informed parent is of course true, but not what is actually happening in the real world.
I pay for my son to play on a showcase team for the summer. It is not cheap. We play at events on college campuses and there are scouts from multiple schools in attendance. The kids get exposure and evaluated and are given feedback from coaches. After my son pitched this weekend he got to have a personal conversation with a school and coach who explained what he liked and did not and what he should work on. We have 2 kids on the roster who are for sure Power 5 kids. The rest, like my son, need to develop more to have any outside chance at D1 and are most likely D3 players. I knew this when I chose to pay for it. I made the choice so my son could see first hand where he needed to get to achieve his goal and so he can play top notch talent every weekend, because it is fun to do.
He won't ever play a PG event because he is not the kid for that (unless something drastic changes this year). We will likely do the high academic showcase with the hopes of a D3 chance and admittance to a great school.
BUT, it took me a LOT of research and the help of this board to really understand the intricacies of this world.
Let's not pretend that the PG business model and most of the travel ball and recruiting world revenue is not based on people pouring money down a pit that will never yield the desired results.
Youth baseball and the end of the little league process would benefit from a much better education process for parents to understand the realities of travel ball, lessons and college recruiting.