Our son received an invitation to the Blue-Grey Baseball Classic at Wake Forest University, in August. We would appreciate feedback from anyone who has attended.
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Where is your son interested in going to school? If the Southeast (NC,SC,GA,etc.) then go if he is DI material. Get in on the 1st week. We went the 2nd week last year and I got the impression that there were more coaches at the 1st week. If he is less than DI material, see if any DII or DIII schools he is interested in are going to be there (i.e. contact the coaches directly and see if they are going, BG will only say that they sent out invites - they cannot guarantee who is coming). If you just want to play good ball games then go if you have the money. If you are pressed for money and are looking at DII or DIII schools (or schools not in the SE), I would stay home and see if there are other avenues to persue (like DII schools can work out your kid once at the school to see him and DIII schools may have clinics or something like that or may just go on a video sent).
We went the 2nd week last year. BG said that they have a 85% sucess rate at getting scholarship money for kids. Nobody has contacted my son from the event. My son was interested in SE schools and then changed and now is looking at NE schools where he can get his major. Sour grapes? No, just facts. The facts will change if somebody contacts him later and says that they saw him there and that started their interest (he is a senior this year so he doesn't have long).
Also you can talk to the BG folks and they can give you some helpful advice, but it is about the same as what you get here on this board. If you are interested in NE schools, I would go with College Select. Their showcases are in the NE so they draw a lot of NE schools. If your son is definite DI material, then Perfect Game has much praise on this board. If its DII or DIII schools you are looking at and you are thinking of going to a Perfect Game function, then again, contact the schools coaches and ask if they will be there or not. These schools have little or no budget many times for any recruiting to be done so don't assume that because the event is within 300 miles that someone will be there. Shoot, we have seen DII and DIII schools where the baseball coach is the linebacker coach on the football team and the women's JV basketball coach in the winter (or something like that). How much time do you think those coaches have for recruiting baseball? Oh and sometimes they may teach a class or two also.
So in closing. A well run showcase? Well, haven't been to a Perfect Game or the College Select. We went to the Best in VA camp/showcase and got some interest there. Went to the Southern Maryland Camp last summer and got several letters of interest from there. The camp/showcases also expose your son to college coaches for several days and let the coaches see how your son works and acts as well as plays. We had rain at our BG showcase and they did the best they could to accomodate and work around it. Many complained about the way it was handled and they wished they were getting a refund, but you know they can't change the weather and they still have to pay their people and for the stadium, etc. I thought they handled that well. Tom Rizzi at College Select has been helpful to me even though we went to the BG instead of the CS showcase, so that tells me something of his interest in getting kids into college ball.
Hope this helps you and others in their quest.
Tim Robertson
We went the 2nd week last year. BG said that they have a 85% sucess rate at getting scholarship money for kids. Nobody has contacted my son from the event. My son was interested in SE schools and then changed and now is looking at NE schools where he can get his major. Sour grapes? No, just facts. The facts will change if somebody contacts him later and says that they saw him there and that started their interest (he is a senior this year so he doesn't have long).
Also you can talk to the BG folks and they can give you some helpful advice, but it is about the same as what you get here on this board. If you are interested in NE schools, I would go with College Select. Their showcases are in the NE so they draw a lot of NE schools. If your son is definite DI material, then Perfect Game has much praise on this board. If its DII or DIII schools you are looking at and you are thinking of going to a Perfect Game function, then again, contact the schools coaches and ask if they will be there or not. These schools have little or no budget many times for any recruiting to be done so don't assume that because the event is within 300 miles that someone will be there. Shoot, we have seen DII and DIII schools where the baseball coach is the linebacker coach on the football team and the women's JV basketball coach in the winter (or something like that). How much time do you think those coaches have for recruiting baseball? Oh and sometimes they may teach a class or two also.
So in closing. A well run showcase? Well, haven't been to a Perfect Game or the College Select. We went to the Best in VA camp/showcase and got some interest there. Went to the Southern Maryland Camp last summer and got several letters of interest from there. The camp/showcases also expose your son to college coaches for several days and let the coaches see how your son works and acts as well as plays. We had rain at our BG showcase and they did the best they could to accomodate and work around it. Many complained about the way it was handled and they wished they were getting a refund, but you know they can't change the weather and they still have to pay their people and for the stadium, etc. I thought they handled that well. Tom Rizzi at College Select has been helpful to me even though we went to the BG instead of the CS showcase, so that tells me something of his interest in getting kids into college ball.
Hope this helps you and others in their quest.
Tim Robertson
We attended last summers BG event at Wake. Lot's of scouts! D1,2,and 3. As far north as Dartmouth attended. My guess would be 40 plus schools there. It was well run, we had a little rain but all games were played. My son played until 2 am one morning and loved it. We got several contacts from being there. Would I go again? YES Would I attend other BG events? NO The reputation for the Wake Forest event is very good. Other events not so good.
Have been to a number of BG at Wake Forest, but not recently. About 50-60 colleges and MLBs scouts .
One player I recommended to the Blue Grey threw 92 mph and had colleges practically tackling him when he left the mound. He signed with an ACC college. Now playing pro ball.
As for other HS showcases, if you looking up Northeast I would attend Selectfest. They draw the most colleges and MLB scouts at it. PG at Wareham and Top 96 draw well too.
As for Tim Roberson complaint. You need to look how you did compared to what other players did there in the 60 YD, release time, MPH, and what they did in the games and skills workout.
Just about ever player at any showcase who does not get college calls, they blame everyone except they did not perform when they had to.
One player I recommended to the Blue Grey threw 92 mph and had colleges practically tackling him when he left the mound. He signed with an ACC college. Now playing pro ball.
As for other HS showcases, if you looking up Northeast I would attend Selectfest. They draw the most colleges and MLB scouts at it. PG at Wareham and Top 96 draw well too.
As for Tim Roberson complaint. You need to look how you did compared to what other players did there in the 60 YD, release time, MPH, and what they did in the games and skills workout.
Just about ever player at any showcase who does not get college calls, they blame everyone except they did not perform when they had to.
Thank you for the information. We believe our son is D1 material. He has coaches that believe this also. He has an interest in NC so we are interest in going to this event.
