Baseball Factory/ Under Armour

Here is my only advice of warning about their program.  I have a player that is a bench player, he has a beautiful swing but has no plan at the plate.  He has sub par feet and a sub par arm.  His father, in a meeting, challenged my evaluation of his son by stating the Baseball Factory rated him as a DII player.  I have spoken to many DII coaches and DI coaches that have seen this kid play and not one coach believes that the kid is any better than a DIII player AT BEST.  Most coaches told me that they do not believe he is even a college player. 

 

Now this is my only contact with baseball factory but due to this it does make me cautious about how they rate players.

In my opinion , It's a money grab. Your son will be invited to play in some big tourney out of state for the low price of 3000.00. We did the video package, got the evaluation and was invited to Arizona to play over the Christmas break for the low price of 5000.00. When i said no thanks I have 6 year old twins that would like for Santa to come they gave me this long speech about how he was a D1 caliber player and we were missing out on plenty of college scouts and pro scouts etc etc. I still said no and they sent me the video which we were hoping to use in a email blast, it looked like it could have been shot by one of my 6 year old twins and been just as good. Wasted 499.00, had a friend of his shoot a video with a IPhone and it did the trick.

As far as the evaluation goes, hitting I thought was one of his better performances, catching was weak. The eval said his catching was at a JUCO level at 16 and hitting needed work.

Do a search on here or on the web and you will get many like stories.

Ha Ha 3 T's.  I saw the video of my above mentioned player and it did look like a 6 yr. old shot it.

The people that pay that money are the suckers for the organization.  I am aware of 2 top pitchers that went to top game, and they were not required to pay at all.  Everybody I know that paid got very little out of it.  Caveat Emptor..

If you're "invited" you shouldn't have to pay...right?

My experience has always been that Baseball Factory is all about the $$$$$.  Their only criteria for taking on players seems to be the parents ability to PAY, rather than the student athletes ability to PLAY.  My teams have played BBF a number of times, and I've not been impressed even once.  The worst experience I had was when one of their coaches came into my dugout during a game at the Arizona Jr. Fall Classic and started trying to recruit a few of my players.  Nobody ever got thrown out of a dugout faster!

 

 

The kids I know who played BBF had parents leaving no wallet unturned in a quest to get the kid to college ball. I don't believe BBF impacted any of their futures. Only one was a legit prospect. He got his visibility at PG.

Getting sage advice here, Trout.  In my son's senior year of h.s. NOT ONE of the six players drafted off his scout team were ranked by Under Armour.  Five or six kids that were JC players or best, but their parents paid the dough.

So I bit.  Last year at this time, saw an event in MD, kid showed well, got the phone call and swallowed the bait hard.  Went to FL over MLK holiday.  My kid DOES play high level ball, but bonded with some parents and saw kids playing that were real bad.  They tried to sell me on an event in Cape Cod this summer, I told them no.  I told them that I was embarrassed as a professional sales person to not recognize their sales goal.

 

The video I got was decent quality. 

Baseball Factory is one of the more reputable showcasing companies available.  So much of what has been said above is, I think, misfired.

 

That being said, I don't know what you get with them that Perfect Game doesn't do better.  I think it's a tough mountain for BF to climb to stay competitive in this marketplace.

Midlo,  I do not agree.  The above described player that I have was given a D2 grade by Baseball Factory however a 3 grade by Perfect Game, which means a "Possible D3 prospect".  On top of that all college coaches view him as did Perfect Game did.

IMO, my experience with BF is that it always seems to be about the next event, which is never cheap.  My son attended his first PG Showcase a cpl of weeks ago.  I saw so much more actual talent attend that event as to compared to the talent at the BF event.

There are many players who have been drafted and/or recruited without BF or PG. IMO PG was a much higher level than BF (We paid for both). BF was accurate with their grading, and PG had the best recruiting tourneys and showcases. I would only use BF if you have no other access to a service. I would save the $$$$'s for summer travel and hotel. Find a team that attends the PG major events, SCOUTS abound; you still have to market your player.

Thanks for all the information and responses.  Definite consensus in opinion here.  My son wanted to go and we opted for the $99 afternoon session.  I think these type showcases provide good experience.

 

I was mostly trying to find a showcase team that would play more in the southeast and not concentrated in our state for this Fall and get him in front of schools.  This was answered very well in this thread...

 

As far as the rating, I have a good idea what college tiers he fits at this stage based on direct feedback from current and former college coaches opinions.

 

Thanks guys !!!

 

 

BF had a $99 event?

ggmjr,

At the National tryout you have two options:

1.) Previum video package for 499.

2.) Just the tryout for 99.

 

Here is an example:

 

http://www.baseballfactory.com/tryouts/highschool/

My son just completed this event and I was prepared to be hustle out of money after reading this post but they where actually great. My son ran a 7 and arm speed was 86 bat had very good pop and they said he don't need to go to any of there development camps and that he will be on there radar for 2014 national team. Ask for no money or anything .They did say he was a d11 or d111 player. But he being looked at by some d1 and d11 and JUCOs. But the perfect game gave him a score of 7.5  last year and he has improved a lot according to his coaches, just can't pick up weight.

Let us know if they ask for a lot more money to go to next event.

My son is signed up for their showcase next week in Texas.  I now wish I would have read some of these posts previously and we may have opted to invest that money in a different avenue. 

Between club and summer teams, son has three teammates who paid the $99 to tryout for baseball factory.  These players are of differing skill levels... One in particular is behind the curve IMO.  All three were "invited" to join the/a BF "national" travel team.  The price tag I heard from all three was $3,500 to play in something like two tournaments... Not sure what other bells and whistles.  Maybe there's some video and online ranking included with that price tag.  The crazy thing to me is... Two of these players are paying the fee to play for BF.  I keep waiting to hear something great about Baseball factory, but haven't heard anything that could remotely justify such a cash outlay... then again, I'm not sure what could possibly warrant that kind of money.

Sharpen your pencils. How much $ does this organization make per Team for this event. These businesses are not created to support the development of our children; they don't even market the players. In fact, very few coaches use these services. These services survive and thrive off of our desire to give our kids a boost. BF's clients are parents not players. Final thought, there are players at all events invited (no fee) because they are already on the "radar." just imagine the college savings you'd have for little johnny if you did go to overpriced events. Or just play Lotto. Good Luck

Is Top96 owned by the same people as Baseball Factory?

My son has not gone to any BF events, that being said i think they have their place. If you don't get caught up in all the extras and fluff they offer for more $$. They are the only ones that come to Hawaii (Trotsky has his thing but its a small affair). We contemplated going to the BF event on Oahu in August if for anything to have his abilities measured officially (60, bat speed, arm speed ect...) against others in the state that attend. And for $99 i see that as reasonable

 

So i think they have their place, are they selling a dream? of course but allot of others are doing it too (albeit a little more subtle). Just need to be wise with the spending and the kids ability. 

 

 

Ditto much above. Here's their model :

 

- invite anyone to tryouts; accept $99 but sell the video package for $499

- run a decent event (although OF velo 40 feet into a fence, not so good)

- invite players to "national events" for big bucks, with the tease that they're special

 

And the kicker: keep their reputation intact by hosting one very legit national event at Wrigley each year -- for nationally-ranked talent -- but invite players who have or have not participated in a BFF event. Most haven't. I actually think they just go to PG and Baseball America, find the top prospects, and invite them.

 

And again, that is what keeps the pro's talking them up.

 

 

 

Does anyone here know anything about Under Armour Showcase West (http://www.teamonebaseball.com...wcases/article/1217/) (July 18-19, 2014, at Azusa Pacific University)? Thank you. 

 

P.S. Please forgive the double-post (I also posted my question in the showcase forum). This forum appears to be more active.  Thanks, again.