quote:PG quick question. Why do some ask to have the lower ratings removed? Seems to me that if a player is rated at a lower number at a showcase one year and then he goes the next and improves his rating, that would only help him. IE: shows that he is getting better as a player over time/experience,is there something I'm not understanding about the rating system?
Some we have graded very low and have left their grade blank. Others request that we take off the grade, some request we take off the entire profile. Guess they are thinking it might not help them. Others have gone from very low grades to very high grades. This does show something important because most players don't improve that much unless they are very serious, have a good work ethic and are tough minded. All of which are positive qualities. Most people don't improve that much by accident. See "Bum's son!
quote:However, tomorrow if I can find the time at the office, I will list some, lower than 8 grade, players who just recently signed with some of what everyone here would say are Top Level DI college programs.
I will keep working on this, but I need our tech guys to help. I checked one SEC conference school (Alabama) because they were the first "highest" level college to show up on our database. Here are the results based on 46 players we graded who have signed or cvommited to Alabama.
14 graded 10
8 graded 9.5
7 graded 9
6 graded 8.5
4 graded 8
2 graded 7.5
2 graded 7
3 graded below 7
One player we graded a 6 ran a 7.4 60, threw 76 across the infield, pitching he topped at 71, and his hitting notes were not all that great. He was a high school senior at the time we graded him.
I can probably give many more examples if the tech guys have time to produce it.
quote:PG,
In all fairness, aren't players nationally ranked on pgcrosscheker also? That means you could have an 8.5 at 104 and an 8 at 804 (just as an example, if it is way off, please correct me as I'm not trying to paint a picture with an absurd example). That would be quite a difference and I would think that most coaches would at least cross reference thier PG rating with their PG ranking.
Sometimes we actually rank a lower graded player higher than the higher graded player. We get lots of emails and calls when that happens. It should be remembered that we only attach a grade from showcase events. We do not attach a grade to players in tournaments. That is because we can't always get enough during a game to accurately grade based on potential. However, let me give an example.
Player A is graded a 9 at a showcase.
Player B is graded an 8 at a showcase.
Player B didn't show as much ability at the showcase that player A did. But later on Player B showed a ton of ability at a tournament. He still shows up an 8, but we now think he is much better than an 8, in fact we think he is even better than Player A at this point, so we rank him accordingly.
It has always been my belief, that we shouldn't rank kids after a certain point. Instead of rankings by the number of 1-2500, I always thought we should rank the top 250-500 by number and list the others alphabetically as higher level prospects.
CPLZ brings up a very good point that I think many here who follow our stuff would agree with. The truth is that the difference between whoever is ranked 150 and 250 is so little, that it is entirely likely that #250 could be a better player than #150. That said the differnce between who is ranked 650 and 2050 might be even closer.
Often we get complaints about players moving down in the list even though they have performed well. This wouldn't happen if we quit looking at players once the first rankings were released. But, we are always seeing new players and adjusting accordingly. When we see a player who we think is a definite top 50 type, that means everyone ranked 50 are lower moves down a notch when we enter the new guy into the rankings. The more guys we see that are among the very best, the more others move down. It doesn't mean we think less of their ability. It means we found another top guy. This can be hard for some to understand.
All this can be very important. A few years ago we saw a RHP from Kansas the very first time at a tournament. Not many knew who he was before that. The next time the rankings were updated he was ranked around #20 in the country. His very next game had 40 scouts including at least a dozen scouting directors at a small town in Kansas. He was later drafted in the 2nd round by the Pirates.
People do pay attention.