Committed Players Showcasing

My take: Don't showcase after you signed your NLI unless the showcase is going to help you with the MLB draft.

But, after you have verbally committed and before you sign your NLI, then I don't think it's terrible to attend a showcase if you just want to get some metrics on where you stand.

But, I'm not sure how your college would feel about it? Do they see that as you still shopping yourself? Or, if it's some sort of team showcase, and they see your team is attending and notice that you are abstaining, do they see that as you being loyal to them...or, as looking to hide your current conditioning?

Or, do schools just don't care whatever you do because they already know that they want you?

Why not just play to get better?

Agree with Go44dad.  You go to face the best competition.  Most committed guys don't go to regular everyday showcases, but do go to the elite invitationals or Jupiter.  When you play at the National, you are  playing against high level D1 competition.  Every single kid is committed to a strong program. We also attended some of the events because he had been working towards playing in them since 8th-9th grade.  If you are a draft possibility, they are important.

First we have to differentiate between showcases and tournaments. Some people roll them into one thought. The only reason to do a showcase is if a player believes he’s draftable and is willing to sign. The reason to play in a tournament is to be challenged with quality competition.

If you have a goal to play professionally and are invited to such events as:

PG National

PBR Super 60

PBR ProCase events

Then of course you go. This is where you develop a following amongst pro scouts.

Of course you attend the PBR events after you sign your NLI. The PG National occurs the summer before the NLI so this is the primary launching point for the draft (before other events like East Coast Pro, etc.)

If getting invited to the PG National or Super 60 is a goal, you may feel the need to attend "lesser" events which are billed as "stepping-stone" or "feeder" events. Of course you must think carefully about these and attend only if you really feel you have metrics similar to attendees of past big events and need to show them.

It is certainly an individual choice and there is no "correct" answer.

But if your son aspires to play professionally one day then why wouldn't you try to get invited to one of these coveted events?

Clearly many people do!

Another thought: take a look at some of the recent schools that have announced they are discontinuing baseball. The 2021's committed to those schools have now announced they are back in the recruiting game. Gee, I hope they had something (measurable) to show potential suitors. So if a kid feels he has worked hard and KNOWS he has the ability to show improved metrics, it is certainly worth giving another showcase some consideration. You never know what's going to happen.

I don't think a HS players willingness to sign should be the decision maker as to whether he should attend a showcase (w/ pro scouts attending). You may not want to sign after HS but certainly you'll consider signing later! You should get your name out there as early as you can in order to generate a following throughout your college career. How else can you gauge their initial interest-level?

@RJM posted:

First we have to differentiate between showcases and tournaments. Some people roll them into one thought. The only reason to do a showcase is if a player believes he’s draftable and is willing to sign. The reason to play in a tournament is to be challenged with quality competition.

Yes, good point.  I assume everyone is using the definition of showcase is mostly timed/videoed skill and measurement stuff, with a little bit of live hitting. But "Showcase" has become a marketing word for tournaments last five or so years.

@Go44dad posted:

Why not just play to get better?

To RJM's point, by showcase I didn't mean tournaments. Play? Yes! By showcase I meant things like PBR, PG, I95, etc. where you go as an individual and get measured or it's something where your organization runs for video and metrics. Sorry for the confusion.

I am not sure a signed NLI qualifies as an "engaged girl", I would state it is a married one.  Live AB against top pitching prospects are still valuable, but is it worth the hundreds of dollars? Maybe just be a merc guest player at high recruit tourneys? If you are good player, there is a team that will pick you up.  

@Go44dad posted:

Yes, good point.  I assume everyone is using the definition of showcase is mostly timed/videoed skill and measurement stuff, with a little bit of live hitting. But "Showcase" has become a marketing word for tournaments last five or so years.

Showcase team has come to mean any team in any age group in a baseball academy that places it’s 16u and 17u teams in tournaments scouts come to watch. It’s cracks me up when I see a post (typically not here) about a kid playing on a 12u showcase team. Some parents think travel means showcase.

Arsenal is the most known program in our (I’ve since moved) area. During a break in our 14u tournament I watched some of a 9u Arsenal game. Dads told me their kids were going to play D1 because they played for Arsenal.

I got to know a former poster (dad of an Arsenal player) well when we realized our kids were playing against each other most weekends. He told me at 17u there were only four players remaining from the 13u team.

@Francis7 posted:

To RJM's point, by showcase I didn't mean tournaments. Play? Yes! By showcase I meant things like PBR, PG, I95, etc. where you go as an individual and get measured or it's something where your organization runs for video and metrics. Sorry for the confusion.

My son was an "individual showcaser" who attended many events where multiple schools of his choice attended. He followed up with specific school camps where there was mutual interest.  After committing (mid summer prior to senior year) there really would have been no more reason to keep attending showcases, unless $$ paid upfront was not refundable.

My take is if you are committed you still want your name to be out there just in case something happens. Like someone else pointed out in an earlier post, you never know what is going to happen. Programs folding because of Covid, coach leaving, new coach not honoring commitments, etc. A perfect example was the new coach at Georgetown came in and basically told all the prior commitments that he was starting over fresh.

Also mentioned was the big national events, playing and stacking up against the top competition. One of my son's goals is to get invited to PG National. He is a committed 2023 that committed early. He is still doing the big invite only events in hopes to get the invite to the top events for each showcase organization (PG National, PBR Super 60, Future Stars National Combine, etc). He didn't go to the PG Junior National last year because of all the Covid mess. But he is going to the Junior National this year.

He also enjoys doing showcases. He likes seeing how his numbers stack up with the best kids in his class. It drives him to work harder. So if that is a motivational tool and he gets better because of it, I am all for it.

@2022NYC posted:

I am not sure a signed NLI qualifies as an "engaged girl",

I meant that verbal commitment = engagement.

I’ll go against the grain here and say I think they’re always of value. How much value is completely up to the individual situation, but by most measures, I fully acknowledge that they’re of low value.  Improving metrics is good. More video is good. More exposure is good. Continued branding is good. Networking is good.  More feedback is good.  Showing your desire to do something when games aren’t being played is good.  There are bunch of smaller things that can be extracted from any opportunity to be seen. Is it worth the money? For some, yes, for others, no way.  One thing I always appreciate about them is the pressure to perform.  Especially when there aren’t games to be played, it’s a place where the pressure is always high to perform well and there are no do-overs. I think that’s of value because it’s nearly impossible to fabricate and it can say a lot about a player. As my son  did them, I noticed there were primarily 2 types of kids showing up:

1) the kids who showed up and played it safe. Conservative. They performed well enough to check the general boxes, but were too reserved to stand out and show how bad they wanted it.

2) the kids who showed up to dazzle. They swung for the fences with every opportunity they could find.  They’d rather reach for the sky and fail than get lost in the pool of average.

My son’s first couple looked more like #1 than #2. So we started having dialogue about him seeking out opportunities to stand out. Create something from nothing. He did a JUCO Route one where he was approached immediately after his drills by an enthusiastic college coach. My son performed well and got strong metrics but the coach said the thing he loved the most, was how he performed during the catching thrown downs/pop times. But my son isn’t a catcher. He’s a MIF. They needed 2-3 guys to catch the balls at 2B. When they asked for some, my son didn’t raise his hand. He sprinted to 2B and took the spot he wanted. What’s more, he was treating each ball he received at 2B as if it was a live ball. He had as much intensity on every throw as the actual catcher did.   His body language told anyone watching that he was there to show everything he had - without taking a minute off. As many of us know, it’s often the small things that mean the most. Eyes are always watching.

Dan your response is exactly why I love this page. You gave a great perspective I hadn’t considered. In general, our thoughts on showcasing post commitment were similar to our pre commitment thoughts. Namely, have a specific purpose and guard against going just because someone sends a flashy invite and tells you you’re special and unique and that’s why you got the invite. FWIW, PTWoodson’s preference is playing in high level games with his HS or travel team rather than showcasing. He did PG Jr National and National, ECP, BF and Area Code...but not Super 60 and others.  Per Francis’s request he is considered draftable now but wasn’t really considered draftable at the beginning of the summer. So, yes, he would have definitely done at least PG National no matter what (that was the only one he was invited to at the beginning of the summer; he probably would NOT have been invited to PDP if it had happened).

All kinds of personal reasons for a verbally committed player to continue to play baseball whether that is a tournament or showcase (you pick the word)  My son was an Ivy commit prior to the PG World Championship in Jupiter where there were a significant amount of college and pro scouts..  So many golf carts that I would describe it as...more golf carts per square inch than anywhere on the planet.

My son went simply because he gave his word to his travel coach a few months prior, and his travel coach was very helpful with the college recruiting process.  In his mind, it was just another team tournament not really a showcasing event.   It would be the last showcase he would play with his teammates who had played together since 14U.   Additionally, I think my son wanted to see what the best of the best looked liked.  He wasn't disappointed.

JMO.

Does anyone know around what PG national rank you have to be to get an invite to PG National Showcase?

@JWH posted:

Does anyone know around what PG national rank you have to be to get an invite to PG National Showcase?

https://www.perfectgame.org/ev...ShowcaseResults.aspx

A PG Premium Content subscription will unlock all the data ...

I just looked and saw one “High Follow”, one “Top 1000” (both pitchers) and about forty players ranked in the “500” bucket.

I was wondering if the top 500 guys may of been ranked higher last year and just dropped ranking wise. I just didnt know if there was a normal number and below that got invites.