All Star Baseball Academy - Weekend College Mini-Showcases

Not much context here or on the link for anyone to give sound advice.  Can you be more specific?  How old is your son? Does he have the skills, size and work ethic such that getting in front of college coaches is even a good thing at this stage?  Might be that playing legion and just working hard to develop his game is better than traveling all around just to play in front of college coaches.

Thanks! Not so worried about how he will perform, his skills are good for a 2020 and he is getting stronger.  My question is about people's experience with THESE SPECIFIC camps / showcases.  Level of coaches engagement, types of coaches that attend.  Are these good events...

I am not familiar with these specific events or the organization sponsoring them, perhaps others in the PA/NJ/Mid Atlantic region are.  I am familiar with other, established brand name events where coaches are in the dugout and on the field - Stanford Camps, HeadFirst and Showball.  All are very good, if your son has skills to display and will stand out.  Beware of the following:

1. Many of these events are really geared to exposure for pitchers; luckily, my son is one and benefited from that.  I may be biased, but it seemed to me that most coaches were focused on games where a player that they wanted to see was on the mound.  At least, in any case, it was easier for Ps to stand out.

2. These coaches will be paid to attend, and for some (volunteer assistants), this and money they get from their own camps, is about all the income they have for coaching.  So, they may well show up and "mail it in".  They will typically be focused and paying attention when there is a specific player on their radar is participating.

3. Many of the coaches who attend will likely be more junior (ie, not the head coach and/or not the recruiting coordinator).

It also matters how skilled the team your son plays on is.  My son played on a team that was loaded with all eventual D1 commits.  The more talent, the more coaches who will flock to watch and will increase the chances of any particular player standing out.

Good info from Bucsfan.  To add... I don't have first hand with these specific events.  But, it has been my experience that these mini's can be relatively good bang for the buck and the recruiting process seems to be trending in this direction.  Although, the better ones seem to be the ones not advertised... where the college staff arranges for some of the travel teams to come and play a round robin at the campus, knowing there are a few kids they want to get a look at and knowing that the travel orgs generally have good talent.  One of our HS players drew the attention of the program he eventually joined this way.  However, the the more they are advertised and made mainstream (as it appears is the case here), the less focused attention I would expect.  

An equally important part of the equation - are these schools on your son's radar as target schools or will they likely be?  You have said he has the skill set.  So, if the schools are right, developing some dialog prior to the events could certainly make these worthwhile.

Yeah, I share your fear in regards to size of showcase.  I know it is at least 16 teams at each, so can be overwhelming for coaches.  I am still waiting on an answer on schools / coaches, they say will be confirmed by January, but of course need to decide on team sooner. I have a call in to see attendance from last summer's events.

I really like the idea of it, but always best to get as much info as possible.  Also, with my son being a 2020...things may change.  A few extra MPH throwing or off the tee changes school options.  

I sent you a PM.

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

Yeah, I share your fear in regards to size of showcase.  I know it is at least 16 teams at each, so can be overwhelming for coaches.  I am still waiting on an answer on schools / coaches, they say will be confirmed by January, but of course need to decide on team sooner. I have a call in to see attendance from last summer's events.

I really like the idea of it, but always best to get as much info as possible.  Also, with my son being a 2020...things may change.  A few extra MPH throwing or off the tee changes school options.  

 

 

Totally agree that now is the time to get as much info as possible.  Stating the obvious but don't be afraid to drill down with these questions to the ones running the teams/organizations you are considering.  How much does the organization help individuals with pre-event communication with schools if there is particular interest on the player's part?  Do the events lend themselves to some dialog that can occur on an individual basis?  Can individual visits be arranged around the events or is it purely structured as a team/group event?  Etc., etc.  Some of this is likely asking a lot for these types of events but I think you will get a better understanding overall if you ask these types of questions.  

No! Don't Call Bunt! is the most fantastic screen name I've seen.  It inspires me to think of something clever for myself besides Midwest Mom.  The bunt is the most overused and low-to-no payoff play in baseball!  Kudos.  Are you a parent or a student athlete?  Your profile says 2020 Grad.

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

All,

Thinking of joining a travel team whose plan is to play at like 4 of these college weekend 3 game showcases where college coaches are in dugout and there.  Brown, Villanova, Duke.  

http://futurestarz.net/tournament-list/

Does anyone have any experience with these?  Level of coaches and schools? How involved are the coaches?  General experience?

We were debating between this and just legion ball with a few events on our own.  But this seems to be saying 4-5 coaches at every game and in dugout.  Could be great exposure.

Appreciate the feedback!!

This is the 3rd year of doing these I believe and from what I have seen ASBA has a hit a huge untapped spot. They are well connected and have plenty of schools represented, the new thing over the last couple of seasons is to have the college coaches in the dugouts with teams during games and it seems to be well received both ways. St Joes started it to the best of my knowledge.

My son played in several and honestly I think they were great. He got more bang for the buck from these type of events because they got see and know him...he is a gamer fairly quiet, he doesn't have the measurable BS from the showcase circuits and was over looked constantly. When the schools got an up close and got talk to him and watch him from a different perspective the interest level more then doubled, it was almost over night and obvious. The RC at his school told me that he was very intrigued by him but not sure, then he got to spent some game time with him at one event and went to top level recruit by the end of the first day...nothing changed with the boy just the way he was able to be seen.

I guess it may depend what type of school your boy is looking for and what type of kid he is.