A quick summary of two camps my 2020 RHP (PO) attended over the past two months. I thought that both were very good.
University of Oregon: One day camp for all positions. Outdoors. The weather was a bit chilly but in the sun was very nice. The quality of the campers attending was good. I didn't see anyone that clearly did not belong -- which is not to say that all were D1 prospects, just to say that all looked like decent high school baseball players. The campers were given UO baseball t-shirts and name tags.
The day started with a lecture in their GORGEOUS Student Athlete Center (so much Nike money there) then moved to the baseball stadium. Baseball stadium is a very nice facility, a full stadium with snack bars and luxury boxes, which an A ball team uses during the summer - not sure how much of the spring. Great facility - we got a locker room tour - with an indoor area (which I did not see) with cages and pitching areas.
No instruction per se, just drills, bullpens and BP. No scrimmage. UO coaches and players were omnipresent with clipboards and appeared to be paying close attention. Son threw a bullpen to a UO catcher with the pitching coach and another coach watching. Rapsodo was used to provide metrics. An evaluation was provided after the fact which was disappointing - just the bare Rapsodo results. However my son followed up with the PC and got a much more helpful evaluation, which was nice.
Afterwards there was a tour of the fitness and training facilities, which were so, so nice. Great weight room, great training facilities - you could really see the benefit of going to a D1 P5 school with money. They shared the indoor football facility, a cavernous building.
The coaches were extremely responsive to any questions. I reached out ahead of time and let them know we were coming. Email responses were prompt and addressed the question presented. Coach Wasikowski was a good speaker. The camp was very well run. It was the type of camp you would hope for if you were looking to be evaluated. If you were looking to be taught - maybe not so much. A great experience for my son.
High Point University: One day camp for all positions. Indoors and off campus due to expected inclement weather. Quality of campers was generally good although varied more than Oregon. Some younger players, and one that seemed a bit lost. No t-shirts and no labels. Coaches were very good about shouting out the name of the player being evaluated.
No instruction to speak of - like Oregon it seemed focused on evaluation. Timed 60 and infield. Can't recall if there was an outfield drill or not. The facility had a high ceiling. Pitchers were evaluated by pitching live to hitters, and the hitters the same against the pitchers. At bat started with a 1-1 count, each pitcher pitched to roughly five batters, the batters just set up in an unending line. A radar gun was used to take speed measurements. I imagine they each got three at bats or so. Coach Cozart called balls and strikes from a screen behind the plate. Batters also did some work off a tee.
Coach Cozart took the pitchers aside and talked with them for about 45 minutes, then gave the whole group, players and parents, a talk about recruiting and then took questions.
I thought the camp was well run, with coaches all around with clipboards who appeared to be focused on the evaluations. I had reached out to the coaches to make contact and let them know we were coming. Coach Cozart and his staff were very responsive and professional - I can't say enough good things about them. He followed up with me and gave me a candid evaluation of my son's performance at camp. Unfortunately because we were off campus we weren't able to get a tour of the baseball facilities at HPU.
Both were fine camps, run professionally by very good coaching staffs. I was happy that my son attended both, and feel that he got a fair shake at both camps. You can't compare the two programs of course - the money available to the baseball program at Oregon is possibly close to HPU's total endowment (slight exaggeration there, but you get what I am saying). I wish my son had the chops to pitch at Oregon just so he could take advantage of that beautiful, beautiful Student Athlete Center - an entire five story building dedicated to make sure that the student athletes succeed academically. Man, I loved that facility...
Hats off to Head Coaches Wasikowski and Cozart for two good camps.
