This is Bobby McKinney with baseballclearinghouse.net. Let me begin by answering some questions about us.
Quickly, Seth, you are right there were no college coaches at our event on Feb 24, at Notre Dame Academy.
This workout was a try-out combine for the Mid Atlantic Mets and players attended for that reason. College teams had began games. By the way, you did a great job that day.
A person earlier said they would not attend a event where there are no college coaches. I would think that getting your own player profile page that you can keep updated and having your skills information posted on our viewable database, by the way all 1500+ colleges in the country can see what you did at the event, would be very beneficial. This seems to me to be a very good investment of $149.
I was informed that our name came up on this message board and the that we should identify our company and how we operate.
The showcase business is the wild west in many ways with people getting involved by running events, building up a bad reputation and then getting out; and leaving debris in their wake.
The staff at baseballclearinghouse.net are career baseball people. Many call us "lifers". Our staff has over 20 years of pro scouting experience and decades of experience coordinating and running showcase type events and tournaments. You can look at our bio's on our website. We have formed relationships with thousands of college coaches pro scouts, high school coaches,
summer travel and tournament coaches. Just because you haven't heard of us doesn't mean we haven't been around.
We are new company doing something that we have done very well for years for other people and organizations, the only difference is we are now running our own operation. We are not competition for other groups. We continue to inform many of the top baseball organizations of better players for their top tier events and look forward to a continued relationship.
The reason we began this endeavor is for the same reason many people have stated in the proceeding messages.
There are many options for players, and we want to make sure that we provide what is most beneficial to young players.
Exposure.
As you(your son) begin the journey into higher level baseball (usually at the age of 15yrs old) most every parent and coach want their players to compete in the highest level of competition to prepare then for the possibility of playing in college or even professional baseball. Tournaments are designed at 14/15/16/17/18 for teams to play on a national scale. These tournaments are designed to expose players to "next level" evaluators.
The problem begins when tournaments begin to grow. We are great supporters of these tournaments and feel every team should strive to play in these national level tournaments, however when you begin to play games on 4 to 25 different fields, it is "impossible for the college and pro evaluators to see a wide range of players.
Therefore, we designed our showcases to place players on one field and take away the hectic nature of tournament play and allow players to be evaluated in a focused environment.
There are entry level events that are open to anyone to register, done locally to save cost, with the benefits of national level exposure with the power of placement in a nationwide database that only college coaches and pro scouts can access(free of charge.
There are (3) three different types of events we run.(two are open registration and one is by invitation)
Two types of Open events (anyone can register). ($89)
1) Skills Combine- this a pro style workout with players "numbers" (throwing velocities from
their defensive positions, running times 60yd-40yd- home to 1b times, pop times. radar
tee exit velocities and pitchers pitch velocities) being placed on our open database for
every college coach and pro scout to view. How would you like every one to know you ran a
6.6 sixty or showed a 88fb. For $89 you receive your very one player profile page that you
can keep updated with all your contact information, academic improvements, and when and where they can
see you play. This is the most cost effective event you will ever do.
2) Open Regional Showcase (anyone can register only) ($149)
This event is open to all players and consist of a Skills Combine and players playing in a 8 inning game.
One day event with players participating in events where overnight stays are not needed.
College Coaches do attend these type of events. Typically it is schools that have had very good
recruiting results in the area. There is no way for us to know what schools will be attending. We let all
the schools in, say a two to three state region, know about the event and provide them with a list of
players attending. If a player has sent information to a specific school many times a college will come
in to see these players perform. History has shown us that there are D1, D2, D3 and Juco prospects at
every event. Top Players from these events will receive invitations to our highest level event, our
Elite Super Regional.
3) Elite Super Regional (invitation only) ($499)
Invitation only event designed to showcase 90 to 100 players (broken down by specific position)
in a high level professional stadium in front of college and professional scouts. Top level talent
given the chance to impress baseball decision makers.
How College Coaches and Pro Scouts search and review skills numbers form our events:
Skills numbers are searchable, example you are college coach and your are looking for a certain positional player, you can do the following search
2009
RHP
from Virginia
GPA greater than 3.0/ or SAT higher than 1400
with FB velocity greater than 86 and who is un-committed.
A Coach would select those criteria and push select.
In (1) one second all the players matching those criteria will appear.
The coach can then enter his password and user name (that is provided free) and view the bio and contact information of the player.
We are not a recruiting service, we do not have player grades or scouting reports. We let the players skills number speak for themselves. College Coaches and Pro Scouts will make their own decisions on players, we simple put a player into a national arena.
Sorry for getting long winded but I wanted to paint a clear picture of our role as a support instrument in
you(your son's) progression towards next level baseball.
You will receive invitations to many events from many different organizations. Evaluate them and participate in what
you feel comfortable with.
You DO NOT have to attend any event, ours included. You have the power to say no. Please don't paint a picture
that you are being forced to attend any events. Like anything in life, there is always someone
willing to take your money, if you want to hand it to them.
Make sure you are getting what you want.
It may be best to read over this again, The structure of our business is simple and many people are not used to this, don't try to complicate it. A organization that charts credible skills numbers and provides them to every college
and pro scout in the country.
If you have any question please call me at 757-839-3147
Thanks and hope to see you soon,
Bobby McKinney
bmckinney@baseballclearinghouse.net