Ben Zobrist graduated HS with zero recruiting interest

Wow.  It all starts with a belief in yourself and a little help from a coach along the way.  Very cool.

Wow. From No interest to the MLB. Think of how many first round picks wash out and never make it to the MLB. Then you here stories like this one.......Grind it out...

He was the best pure hitter in the series. PERIOD. Performance trumps everything else. It's nice to be ranked. It's nice to be recruited by everyone. It's nice to be on the radar. But it always will come down to performance. If you perform at every level you play you will play a long time. I love this guys game. Everything about his game. And of all the hitters I watched in the WS there was no one I felt better about when he was in the box. He is a great baseball player.

Coach_May posted:

He was the best pure hitter in the series. PERIOD. Performance trumps everything else. It's nice to be ranked. It's nice to be recruited by everyone. It's nice to be on the radar. But it always will come down to performance. If you perform at every level you play you will play a long time. I love this guys game. Everything about his game. And of all the hitters I watched in the WS there was no one I felt better about when he was in the box. He is a great baseball player.

With all the positions he can play, he's also a manager's (especially national league) dream. 

He's become one of those guys that every post season playing team needs in the clubhouse. As a player that has to be the highest compliment. Really solid human being. Funny story was posted on this site (I think it was here) a couple of years ago about how competitive and rules oriented he was as a kid.

So when the showcases = bad discussion comes up it would be fair to say if not for a showcase, a World Series MVP would have never played plast high school?

This also shows how much has changed in the last 15 years.  Very unlikely that this would occur today, given the proliferation of social media, self-marketing, recruiting services, showcases, camps, etc., etc.  Unless Zobrist was a very late bloomer and simply didn't show any projectability in H.S., I can't imagine the likelihood of a kid not being seen by SOME level of college, particularly if he has athleticism or skills that would ultimately have him as an MLB starter.

If I recall, isn't the lack of midwest scouting and opportunity the reason Jerry started Perfect Game to begin with?

That may be true Nuke, although if a kid is not projectable in size or measurables, you could argue the opposite is happening, and more kids are getting dismissed earlier today, than they would have in the past.

Nuke83 posted:

This also shows how much has changed in the last 15 years.  Very unlikely that this would occur today, given the proliferation of social media, self-marketing, recruiting services, showcases, camps, etc., etc.  Unless Zobrist was a very late bloomer and simply didn't show any projectability in H.S., I can't imagine the likelihood of a kid not being seen by SOME level of college, particularly if he has athleticism or skills that would ultimately have him as an MLB starter.

If I recall, isn't the lack of midwest scouting and opportunity the reason Jerry started Perfect Game to begin with?

The only thing that has changed is the anxiety created by society and parents that are pushing for early commitments.

There have been and always will be players that are granted an opportunity after they have completed their HS career. It is nothing new. Albert Pujols is another example and NO he was not a late bloomer.

Everyday Dad posted:

That may be true Nuke, although if a kid is not projectable in size or measurables, you could argue the opposite is happening, and more kids are getting dismissed earlier today, than they would have in the past.

There used to be several levels of low minors. Anyone with any talent got an offer. My father-in-law was offered a Class D contract while playing in a semi-pro league after college. It was the equivalent of a D3 pitcher being offered a contract one level below the GCL.

Backpick25 posted:

Nuke83 posted:

This also shows how much has changed in the last 15 years.  Very unlikely that this would occur today, given the proliferation of social media, self-marketing, recruiting services, showcases, camps, etc., etc.  Unless Zobrist was a very late bloomer and simply didn't show any projectability in H.S., I can't imagine the likelihood of a kid not being seen by SOME level of college, particularly if he has athleticism or skills that would ultimately have him as an MLB starter.

If I recall, isn't the lack of midwest scouting and opportunity the reason Jerry started Perfect Game to begin with?

The only thing that has changed is the anxiety created by society and parents that are pushing for early commitments.

There have been and always will be players that are granted an opportunity after they have completed their HS career. It is nothing new. Albert Pujols is another example and NO he was not a late bloomer.

Really, that's the only thing that's changed?!?

So there aren't FAR more showcase and recruiting opportunities in 2016 than in 2015?

I don't disagree that anxiety levels have increased exponentially due to all of this, but IMHO it's silly to believe for a moment that the opportunities to be seen, or to be very talented and remain "undiscovered" haven't changed significantly in the past 15 years.  Probably more than any other previous 15 year window.

When Ben Zobrist was still in HS, PG was just getting started outside the state of Iowa.

However, in Iowa one kid that was very involved with PG Was Dan Heefner.  Dan actually hung out at our facility for a few years and played in PG events.  From there he signed with DI UNI and then transferred to Olivet Nazarene in Illinois where he became an All American. One of his teammates and closest friends there became Ben Zobrist.  Later Zobrist transferred to Dallas Baptist.  and now Dan is the head coach at Dallas Baptist. Ben and Dan stayed close friends and still are.

They are married to each others sisters. 

In 2006 Dan told his nephew Jon Gilmore to go to the PG National.  From there Gilmore was selected to the PG All American game.  Then in 2007 he became the first 1st round pick ever out of an Iowa HS.

It sure is a small world!

All that said I thought Rizzo should have been the MVP.

Speaking of connections to the Cubs.  Tim Buss played for me in college.  Then he went to work for PG for a couple years.  Then he worked with the Iowa Cubs helping out their trainer there.  Now he is the head strength and conditioning coach and sits in the dugout for every game. I have no doubt that he is part of the winning attitude there.

his mlb career was very unusual too. didn't become a full time player until age 27 and then suddenly became an all star level player.