We received an e-mail from our HS coach with several College "Prospect Camps" that are taking place in the winter months (Georgia). I looked into them and they are for ALL HS aged players (9th -12th). Can anybody provide any insight? These are 1 day camps with costs ranging from $175-$250. I suspect it's just a fundraiser and an expensive day of baseball workouts.
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Are they at colleges? Are any of those colleges one that your son has some interest in playing at....and is he capable of playing there? If so, they aren't a bad way to get in front of the coaches you want to see you. You'll have a better chance of the coaches at Georgia State A & M West (I made that up) seeing you if you go to the camp at GSAMW than you will hoping they see your son somewhere else. Typically these camps will have coaches from more than one school....and usually have some type of "instruction" component rather than just a typical showcase. You'll get 1) instruction from college coaches and 2) some face to face time with the coaches rather than them sitting in the bleachers watching at a showcase. Really not a bad deal if you the teams/coaches attending fit your son's needs and wants
Couldn't tell by your Post what Grad year your son is. That could change what you hope to get out of such a camp (camper-prospect-or recruit). If early in the recruiting process, the instruction can be helpful. My son learned tips from several MI drills. The camp may also test measurables- 60 yd, MPH as Pitcher, arm strength, etc. In that regard I would go to one close, not too costly.
As Buckeye noted, if schools have reached out to son and have been in communication, that changes things. My 2015 went to a few of these school camps winter before his sophomore year of HS season and winter before his junior year of HS season. One of the events had several hundred campers (some HS had multiple players show up--group rate). As it turns out a one day, a fielding clinic held by a RC turned my son from a PROSPECT "on the board" to a RECRUIT. Sure glad son decided to go- turned out to be school he would attend. Good luck!
Great info !
my son just started reaching out to coaches by email , and they replied pretty fast , he put some current info about him and etc . And they are asking him to come to their camps . He's a 2019 going into Soph yr . Now I know there's rules about coaches could only send camp info at this age , but are they real offers for them to look at him , they are D1 schools and he's consider a top prospect in our area .
Some poeple say that those coaches make tons of money on camps , so is he another Camp goer or do they really want to see him ?
He's just another camp goer. My son gets them all the time.
If your son is a prospect, his summer league coaches should do far more in the way of getting him noticed by coaches than a showcase will.
Someone above said that some showcases can be better, if there is instruction involved. That is an interesting addition that I hadn't heard about before.
We have had one or two that mentioned that players would get to meet coaches and tour their campus. While it means zero, I thought it was a very savvy inclusion. Makes it sound like letter/email recipient is a prospect getting recruited. Even though he's not.
What's the thought if a college coach reaches out to HS coach and asks him to encourage my 2018 to attend their camp? This is after several email invites that were pretty standard stuff. The day after varsity coach told us about the calls, son got another email asking him to fill out their athletic questionnaire and reminding him about the camp. The camp isn't expensive. Worthwhile??
Iowamom23 posted:What's the thought if a college coach reaches out to HS coach and asks him to encourage my 2018 to attend their camp? This is after several email invites that were pretty standard stuff. The day after varsity coach told us about the calls, son got another email asking him to fill out their athletic questionnaire and reminding him about the camp. The camp isn't expensive. Worthwhile??
Is it a school that your 2018 would consider going to? If the coach took the time to call the HS coach, I'd say that he is serious about your son. The camp and questionaire emails are pretty standard though...
If you can swing it financially and it's a school your boy would consider, why not? Some of these camps actually have a number of different schools in attendance. That makes it even a better deal.
I recently sent my sons (2017 and 2019) to a pricey (~$250 for one day), high academic, D 3 camp where only the host school was in attendance. I think it was a mistake, even though the head coach strongly encouraged my oldest to come, ostensibly based on video we had sent. Since it was going to be the only time this staff was going to see my oldest, and we were traveling through the area, I decided to go for it since the school was a legitimate academic option, and I wanted my youngest to experience a camp that had showcase components in a relatively stress free--for him-- environment.
I don't think I'd do another camp like this UNLESS there were several schools in attendance, or the price was half as much. These events take time and energy. and the more programs involved in staffing the camps the better.
Update: My 2018 has only recently decided he wants to go to JUCO (better late than never I suppose). So we are getting him into a PG Showcase and also looking at JUCO Camps at the schools he is interested in. Some we've received e-mails (blanket) but the cost is fairly low so we are going to have him attend a couple in the fall. I don't think it can hurt. We don't have much help from our summer coach so we are navigating this on our own. I'll share what our experience is once we get through it all. Any advice anybody would like to throw our way is ALWAYS appreciated!
Dialed in: We are brand new to GA and have been looking to get the boy (2018) in front of Juco programs in the Peach State. Here is a link to a program I found that is holding a medium range two day showcase, after which they rank players and post such on their website. Perhaps best of all is their fall program. They play a number of scrimmages against Junior college teams. Great way to get in front of those same coaches your boy may wish to play for. http://www.baseballscoutz.com/gaallstar
Also, South Georgia State is holding one with limited participants November 5th. http://www.sgsc.edu/athletics/juco_showcase.cms They say that other JUCO coaches may be in attendance.
Happy to help the best I can.
Teaching Elder posted:Dialed in: We are brand new to GA and have been looking to get the boy (2018) in front of Juco programs in the Peach State. Here is a link to a program I found that is holding a medium range two day showcase, after which they rank players and post such on their website. Perhaps best of all is their fall program. They play a number of scrimmages against Junior college teams. Great way to get in front of those same coaches your boy may wish to play for. http://www.baseballscoutz.com/gaallstar
Also, South Georgia State is holding one with limited participants November 5th. http://www.sgsc.edu/athletics/juco_showcase.cms They say that other JUCO coaches may be in attendance.
Happy to help the best I can.
Really appreciate it! We did register for the Scoutz program; we had received an e-mail probably since he's registered with NCSA. Checked otu the S GA State one but the date isn't current. We'll wait until it gets a bit closer. Thanks again and good luck to your son too!
dialedin posted:Update: My 2018 has only recently decided he wants to go to JUCO (better late than never I suppose). So we are getting him into a PG Showcase and also looking at JUCO Camps at the schools he is interested in. Some we've received e-mails (blanket) but the cost is fairly low so we are going to have him attend a couple in the fall. I don't think it can hurt. We don't have much help from our summer coach so we are navigating this on our own. I'll share what our experience is once we get through it all. Any advice anybody would like to throw our way is ALWAYS appreciated!
We are in the same boat. My son went to a local D2's camp 2 times in the last 2 years, had a good rapport with the coach, then the coach was fired. Now he's hoping to get seen by the new coach, but no camps at that school yet. Otherwise, we are trying to find camps that have more than one school represented to get seen by more. Our summer was basically a wash out, no literally. So many rain outs, games shortened or cut out of the schedule altogether, or rescheduled to start at midnight - no scouts at any games at all this summer. My son's team did pretty well, he did amazing, had a great summer personally, but crickets. Our whole entire team, crickets. My son has been emailing coaches, filling out questionnaires - gets all the camp ads sent to him, but who can go to all those camps? Need to find the most beneficial ones. Where to start?
My 2018 is going to a PBR showcase in a couple of weeks. We've had good experiences with those in Iowa. Perfect Game of course is the gold standard, if they have something near you. I feel like those have been more beneficial than camps. He's been to several D1 camps, and oddly, they seem to be good if you're a prospect at that school, or a junior college/D3 prospect. It's not like the host D1 invites a number of other D1s to their camps. Sort of a — we want to be the only D1 on the minds of our prospects, but if we don't want them, then the JUCOs and so forth are welcome to fish in our pond.
dialedin and Teaching Elder, don't forget that high school kids are usually allowed to attend one workout at each JuCo baseball school (subject to local high school rules). Have your sons call the JuCo coaches on their lists and ask those coaches about individual workouts. Many will invite kids to workout while their teams are practicing in the fall. I would also keep tabs on those schools this fall. Try to figure out how many kids showed up to the fall tryouts. Some get an outrageous number of kids showing up at the tryout, and many will greatly underestimate what it takes to make the team. Good luck.
MidAtlanticDad posted:dialedin and Teaching Elder, don't forget that high school kids are usually allowed to attend one workout at each JuCo baseball school (subject to local high school rules). Have your sons call the JuCo coaches on their lists and ask those coaches about individual workouts. Many will invite kids to workout while their teams are practicing in the fall. I would also keep tabs on those schools this fall. Try to figure out how many kids showed up to the fall tryouts. Some get an outrageous number of kids showing up at the tryout, and many will greatly underestimate what it takes to make the team. Good luck.
My son actually had work outs at D2 level as well. It was not allowed at D3 or D1.
