We just got back from day 1 of the Diamond Skills camp at Georgetown Prep (essentially a big indoor track facility at a fancy D.C. prep school). My son is a 2015 catcher. Frankly I was very disappointed in the event. Although "69 schools" had apparently committed to the event, today only 13 were listed as present and all but one were from very minor D3 programs. Apparently the boys were told that there would be many more coaches ("70%") there for the next two weekends (what about the fourth?) and today was viewed more as a preliminary day (for which we made a 5 1/2 hour round trip).
There were about 100 kids in the pitcher/catcher session (thirteen 2015 catchers out of about forty total). The only formal catching eval was doing about six pop times (on an indoor track) and there was no formal eval of blocking, receiving (other than catching bullpens), or other throwing skills (to bases or fielding bunts?). Hitting was basically soft toss and net hitting but again without any formal evaluation or measurables by anyone. There was absolutely no instruction. It seemed to me that the coaches randomly floated around, often playing with their cell phones.
I remain disappointed in these large showcase events where the number of attendees dwarfs the number of coaches and the events feel like organized disorganization. Am I judging too early or is this what we can expect over the next three weekends of this event and end up no better off than when we started in terms of collegiate exposure?
