Trying to decide what showcase would be better for our son. What showcase between PG national underclass west and California underclass would have more college scouts? California is November 1st and 2nd, Arizona is December 6-7.
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While I'm still a newbie with this, I would say the showcase that amplifies your sons abilities the best...has he done any camps yet? Any mid-level showcases? Might want to identify some velocity, size, speed data...others will be able to give a better response knowing what type of player you have
Desert Dad,
In addition to phillinNJ's advice to attend a showcase that amplifies your son's abilities, I would seek to get in front of college recruiters that he has identified as a school he may want to attend. IMHO you are putting the cart before the horse with your question. Figure out what/where son wants to go then find out if those college recruiters will be in attendance at a specific showcase then go to that showcase. Typcically, showcases will list the colleges attending.
If playing college baseball is a goal of your son, most people quickly learn that spending a lot of time researching schools & communicating with coaches is a great idea before writing big showcase checks. JMO.
Okay here's some more information he's a 2018, he is a catcher first and loves it. He is a high academic kid 4.2 GPA. 6'0 200 lbs. Pop time 2 flat sometimes under. Are we too early?
Originally Posted by Desert Dad:
Okay here's some more information he's a 2018, he is a catcher first and loves it. He is a high academic kid 4.2 GPA. 6'0 200 lbs. Pop time 2 flat sometimes under. Are we too early?
Desert Dad,
If your target schools are top level D1s (ACC, PAC-10, SEC, etc...), no I don't think you are too early. I've been in a coaches office at an SEC school and he had a whiteboard with his high school freshmen watch list....it was not a short list. You need to find what showcases these schools are attending when your son is ready. With a 2.0 pop time, it sounds like he is ready defensively. If he has similar talents on the offensive side, then I think he'll get noticed and quickly. The academics at these schools can be a differentiator, but his baseball skills will be door opener. There is a whole section about Showcases on this site. You'll find that most aspiring college baseball players will attend a Perfect Game showcase(s) as well as some others. There is a large PG showcase going on right now in Florida, and I think there was one in AZ last week.
For any other schools, it is just going to depend on the school and how competitive the conference is. Some may be interested in a 2018 and others not so much right now. He may catch a coaches attention, and they stay in touch until the coach is ready for 2018s. It happens all the time in the mid-major conferences. An extreme D1 example would be an academic conferences like the Patriot or ivy League. They may start looking at player as early as the Fall of junior year but won't seriously recruit someone until they are close or have exceeded the schools SAT/ACT requirements. They won't officially lock up a player until Fall of their senior year.
I know I'm painting a broad brush here, but I think it is up to you and your son make a decision that you want to target specific schools. See how that works, and then adjust accordingly. I'd suggest targeting the top level schools since their recruiting timeline is in play right now. Research all the showcases these top schools attend, and put it on your calendar. Possibly send the coach an email intro and request a verification he will be at that showcase.
Frankly, it is a lot of research and big learning curve on the process. We have lots of folks that have been through this and can help. Good luck.
I don't think it will matter much between the two, frankly these showcases are about getting into the PG database with an independent assessment of your son's relative skill level. I think my son went to a National Underclass two years before his graduation. This helped us understand what level of baseball he should be targeting. Whenever he played in a subsequent PG tournament his numbers would be tied back into his profile so a recruiting coach could go in and look and get an update on his progress or how he did. If I recall it was at USC and of course the USC coaches were there, but I am not sure who else was, and we did not go there because XXZ coach was supposed to be there, Other events are for this IMO.
He also got to see some of the top kids in the California and see how he compared. I would think that the California event would have more participation, but don't really know.
I appreciate all the advice. We will go to the California pg showcase. BOF it makes sense to get in the PG data base. I started following this forum about a year ago it's been very helpful but I come to realize I have a lot to learn.
