Skip to main content

Reply to "Showball Showcase Camps"

Just attended Showball here in NorCal this week. It’s the same format as Head First  - college coaches performing the baseball-related activities, while SB employees keep things running. Camp is organized and well run. Lots of opportunities to impress.

Day 1 is measurement, testing and BP, along with a meet and great midday where players and coaches mingle.

Day 2 is live play, batters start with 1-1 count, pitchers evaluated. One 12-14 inning game. Pitchers guaranteed 3, some pitch 4.

My son is a 2024 PO. We checked in on the first day, got the hat and t-shirt, then left. Luckily we live 25 mins from the field. There is nothing for POs on the first day except check in and meet and greet, which we did not attend.

Teams are assigned and designated by shirt color, with different color caps for each grad year.  

Son got to pitch 3 innings on Day 2. (Stay flexible; the number of pitchers per team was imbalanced and he wound up pitching with a different team at a later slot but it worked out.) He shut everyone down and Showball tweeted about him, with video.

About 30 coaches in attendance, we’ve already heard from 4 D3 schools and the one Ivy Coach in the dugout with the players told him between innings he wanted him.

All players go down the baseline and get verbal 1:1 feedback from a coach before leaving. Son was told he was a good candidate to play college ball, and that he should go where he’s wanted.  

Head First has a very similar format.

But Showball seems to have cut a deal with all 8 Ivy head coaches during the pandemic.  The quality of coaches at SB was significantly better than at HF, which had a camp nearby on the same dates. Some of the coaches that HF advertised (Duke) wound up coming to SB. Oregon (unadvertised) also made an appearance at SB.  

Given the presence of all 8 Ivies (actually 7, Yale just got a new coach this week, they were not in attendance) I think the momentum has shifted towards SB, so would recommend that over HF. But both are well run and deliver what they promise, albeit at super high prices.

My daughter was recruited into the UAA as a pitcher out of a HF camp. She also got a couple NESCAC offers.

video from this week attached

Attachments

Videos (1)
IMG_0738
Last edited by SpeedDemon
×
×
×
×