I would be very wary of any event UA touts as a feeder into their "All-American tourney". My son attended the Under Armour Invitational in St. Pete "with the chance of being recognized and invited" to the aforementioned.
So all he did was pitch a complete game against the Orlando Scorpions(19 of 25 kids committed to mostly D1 programs), and did not allow an earned run. He scattered just 4 hits, had multiple K's and only one walk in 7 innings.
The next day I asked the guy running the event if my son would be receiving an invitation based on his performance, and he was very vague. He said those decisions would be made after the tourney was over. He was also the one who told me coaches/scouts would be in attendance, but I never saw a single one.
After a week had passed I called the tourney director and asked him what decisions had been made. He told me to contact the coach for the team my son played for. When I did the coach told me that despite my sons great performance he was told that UA did not select kids from losing teams(our team lost 2 of 3 games and was eliminated early).
I found that hard to believe because if a young Roger Clemens was pitching, how could they ignore him just because he was on a losing team?
Now my son is no Roger Clemens, but his quality performance against a top opponent should have meant something. Instead we never heard a peep from UA, nor were any coaches/scouts there to see it.
I am not bitter about it, but it did open my eyes to how poorly some of these events are run. This one seemed nothing more that a money grab.
My son, wife and I did have a good time, so I just chalked it up to a learning experience.
On the other hand I have had very good experiences at events like Perfect Game. While they have not turned into anything solid as of yet, I am hopeful the exposure he received will help somewhere down the road. I certainly saw enough scouts to know his performances were seen.
