Baseball player in Wyoming

Welcome to the High School Baseball Web! You have come to a great site which will, hopefully, will give you lots of good information.

As for your son's situation, I would recommend intially attending a regional showcase or a college camp in your part of the country. This would help your son understand what he needs to work on and how he stacks up versus others the same age, size, etc. While attending the camps, don't be afraid to ask the instructors for feedback. Some camps give it automatically (written evaluation) while others do not. Whenever we have waited 'til the camp was over and talked with the coaches working the camp...we have always found that they were very helpful. Showcases are a good way to get objective information such as 6o time, throwing velocity, speed to 1st, etc. This information also will give you some direction on what your son needs to work on. If he does well at either the showcases or the camps...he may get noticed - but that would not be my main reason for attending right now.

Finally, the easiest thing you can do is keep visiting this site and learn form the experiences of others. Baseball people are a very "giving" bunch and you will find lots of advice here. Figure out what sounds right for you - not all the advice here will - and use it.

Best of luck to you and your son!

Thanks so much for the help. I hate to show my ignorance, but I've never heard of a showcase. What do they entail.
The CO Rockies came here a few years for camps. My son attended but he was young. I believe they are't coming anymore. We've heard a lot of the Las Vegas camp at Christmas. It requires a plane flight, but we're hoping to hit it this year. Our next closest shot is Denver, a 5 hour drive. I was hoping someone might recommend a couple camps or, I guess, showcases that might get him the maxamim exposure. I can't really afford to fly him around very often.
Thanks again for your info. I've been reading these posts most of the day and have picked up some interesting things.

Momneedshelp-
Perhaps you would like to Private message PGStaff to ask about showcases near you. A showcase is an event that allows a player to be rated by scouts and collegiate coaching staff within a tournament like setting. To send a private message, just click on PGstaff's avatar and click on private messaging.
I will send you a PM so you can see how it is done.
Stay here on the hsbbweb, most folks will help you with whatever you need, and welcome!

momneedshelp, Welcome to HSBBW!

Here is what I would recommend. First, immerse yourself into HSBBW and ask a lot of questions and do a lot of research into recruiting and training techniques.

What position does your son play? I want you to consider this for a moment.. the odds against a position player from Wyoming are astronomical. Now, it can be done BUT -- BUT -- please consider having your son concentrate on pitching only. It is the one baseball position that can be trained absent high-level competitive baseball.

Middle-infielders and good hitters need vast experience, repitition and play against the best. That just won't happen where you live.

So if you concentrate on pitching (and somehow, find him a QUALIFIED pitching coach), he may have a better chance. Make his arm indisputable.. and that can be done in Wyoming! Have him throw year-round. Long-toss outside during the warm months, and throw inside during the cold months. There are many ways to do this: Against a net, find a large, usable space like a warehouse or barn, etc. It can be done. He must throw year-round, non-stop, 5x-6x week. Perhaps by the time he's a Junior he'll at least have a plus arm to have a chance.

And get him on the best team possible (regardless of how bad it is). Find a way to get in as MANY GAMES AS POSSIBLE.

Forget about the Vegas camp. Rather, this Winter, enroll him in the Albertsons college camp in Twin Falls, Idaho. It's closer, less expensive, and there are tons of small to mid-size college scouts there. Let them all know of your son's desire to play college baseball -- at any level -- and get their email addresses and keep in touch with them.

Your son can play college baseball. But in my opinion he needs to have a focused plan. PM me if you need help.. I have some experience in this area. Good luck!

Bum, you have a PM

Mom
You don't mention which part of Wyoming you are in so I don't know your travel distance to Utah. However here is a link to a camp at BYU (I know BYU is not exactly a Wyoming fan's best friend ) The BYU coach is a great guy and spent several years in the majors. There are other camp offerings on the website as well. Good luck in your search. I have a 15 year old as well and he has high school tryouts tomorrow.

BYU Camp

Oh, this is great. Thank you everyone for your advice. To answer some questions, we're in Casper. My son plays pitcher & catcher. Seems to be about equally skilled in the 2 positions. He does try to throw year round. He's got a pitching coach who pitched professionaly I believe for about 5 years. They throw in a greenhouse. But even with the greenhouse it gets to cold sometimes to throw. Between my son's work schedule and his coach's they usually only manage once a week. His coach says he has good accuracy & great ball movement, but he's not up to his speed yet. He needs to long throw & finding a partner & an area are tough during bad weather. We don't seem to know anybody who's as serious about baseball as my son is. I'd try to catch in long toss for him, but know it would be great for a laugh but doubt it would do him any good. I will look into both the Utah & Albertsons camps. I'm not a sports person at all so leave it to my sons to get into them, so don't have any hard feelings against Utah.
Thanks again everyone.
My son is hopefully going back onto a travel team this year. The Connie Mack team's out this season. My son's off for a couple more weeks from a broken collar bone & has missed to many of their practices. He has one more year in the city league & is hoping his old team will hang together 1 more year. They don't play anywhere where I think they get much exposure, but it's play time.
I am finding this site a great help. Already did some searchs & discovered the showcases. At least I don't feel at such a loss.

Hi momneedshelp, welcome to this web site.

There use to be a couple of teams in Rapid City, SD. One went to Alaska every year for tournament play. But it has been a long time since I was there and I am not sure about these teams any more. I actually played on one of the teams when I was there in the Air Force, but that is another story!!

I did a quick web search and found a couple of articles.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/05/28/news/local/news04.txt

From the article:
"Post 320 sponsors one of two Legion baseball teams in Rapid City. The other team, Post 22, plays at Fitzgerald Stadium". Fitzgerald Stadium use to be a pretty good baseball park by any standard.

The Guy that wrote the article:
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com

I would pick some summer camps at colleges like BYU menentioned in another post, and a try to get to a winter camp south of your location!! Most of the bigger programs have other college coaches help at these "bigger" camps so you get a lot of exposure or bang for your buck.

As for the long toss, you might try getting your son a bucket of balls and let him throw at a target if he can't get anyone to help.

Good Luck

momneedshelp,

Your son needs to throw more than 1x week. He needs to throw 5-6x/week, year-round. Can you set up a net in a heated garage or basement? Have him throw into the net.. it's the same thing assuming he simulates throwing to a partner and follows the Jaeger long-toss method. You said his arm is not up to speed. Get his arm up to speed first before you waste money on showcasing. Once he has the arm then showcasing is a good investment.

momneedshelp,

As others have said, Welcome to the HS Baseball Web!

I wanted to especially say hello to you in Casper, because my husband and I lived there when we were first married, over 25 years ago. We did not have kids then, so the lack of HS baseball programs didn't matter to us!

I know it's very difficult to find a place for your son to really throw in snowy, freezing weather. Here in Minne-SNOWta, my son (who is 21 now) threw into a net in our garage with a small heater running when it wasn't TOO cold, threw into a net in our family room when it was too cold in the garage, and rented a pitching tunnel at a baseball facility as often as possible.

Very best wishes to you and your son, and let us all know how things go.

Julie

if possible i would check out cheyennes legion program. I played for there coach this fall on a travel team he knows hes stuff and makes it a priority to get his players to the college level.

mom, I fully empathize with your position. Montana does not have HS baseball either. But take heart! It can be done. Both of my sons went on to play in college.

The key thing you need to understand is that NO ONE is going to come to find you. That simply means that you are going to have to "go to them" if you want to make something happen. You have a couple of years yet to line up your ducks. The summer between his junior and senior year is the most critical time.

A solid JR College program is the Jayhawk league in Kansas. 19 schools in all, split between East & West. Go to the individual schools websites and see what is available in the way of winter showcases and summer camps. The University of Kansas also puts on an All-star camp the first week in August. Modeled after Stanford's camp, they bring in college coaches from around the country to assit. It was a great experience for my son who wound up in the Jayhawk League.

My other son got his best exposure from the Northwest Championships put on by Baseball Northwest. If I'm not mistaken, they now include a team from Wyoming as well. You can check out their website as well, www.baseballnorthwest.com .

It can be done for someone in your son's situation, but you need to be prepared (time and budget wise) to do more than what is required in areas where baseball is stronger. I would reiterate, they are not going to come to you, so you will have to go to them. Tell your son to work hard, and good things will happen.

Great advice, Montana Dad! Yes, BBNW has a Wyoming team. The most important lessons here, I believe, are:

1) Work on your present ability and athleticism.
Do this indoors if necessary, but work harder or
just as hard has anyone from a "warm" weather
climate. You simply MUST have the tools.

2) Go find them. Find camps/showcases that
give you exposure to schools that you are able to
compete and afford.

3) Develop a game plan for contacting college
coaches and expressing your desire to play at
the next level.

Theres a minor league team in Casper. Their season starts in June, perhaps the GM of the Casper Rockies may have a net work and knows of travel teams, facilities etc. maybe he could give you helpful information.