Dirtbags Baseball

I have no idea what the expense is. I do know that the Dirtbags are one of the top programs in the entire nation. Typically their entire roster ends up playing DI baseball, most at the very highest level. Many end up playing professional baseball. Last year's minor league Player of the Year was a Dirtbag.

So if a player has that kind of talent, the Dirtbags would be a great choice.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

For starters when PGStaff speaks, people listen.
So definitely put a lot of weight into his post.

That said, I am not personally familiar with the Dirtbags or Impact baseball, but have heard about them, and seen a couple of their games in tourneys.
The reason I am even commenting is that they MIGHT be like a few other top travel teams in that they have multiple teams affiliated with them, but are not actually the top team.
The best way to describe it would be to imagine a professional team having a farm system with everything for AAA on down to rookie ball. If your kid is good enough to play for the Major team great, and they may not even need to pay. Where as the cost comes in when you sign up for one of the other teams thinking you will be with the top team(or a chance to move up to it), but wind up being stuck on the AA team. Now that in and of itself would not be a problem if the organization helped develop the kids, and tried to promote them. However at least two major travel teams I am familiar with use the lower teams to finance the top team, while giving little exposure to the players of those teams.
Worse still, they have no interest in developing your kid, and might have 4 other players on the same team that play his position. So you might be paying big $$$ and your son will only get 2 innings at 1st, then it will be bench time so the other kids get their minimum time as well.

Again I want to stress that the Dirtbags nor Impact have that reputation to the best of my knowledge, since I know nothing about how they are structured. But before signing up for any team, make sure exactly which team they will be playing for, and how many other kids are on the team at your sons same position.

Vector,,, In my opinion you are right. The dirtbags held so called "tryouts" which turned out to be "signups" and then sent out invitations to players saying you made the team and ask for $1875.00. After they got your money the players were told they were on some kind of an "instructional team" and given dates for games. Later on they were told they were on "scout teams" and the places you play was changed to different fields at some high school in the middle of no where and changed the dates. They don't even play real games, they are just scrimmage games against other dirtbags "scout teams". Any one of these players could of gotten the same deal through their high school for around $50.00 to play scrimmage games against other high schools in North Carolina. The dirtbags received approximately $150,000 dollars from these children's parents. And on the dirtbags website they say they want to "help the children". After talking to most of the parents at the so called scout team games if they were told the truth about what the dirtbags were doing they wouldn't have paid that kind of money. I'll tell anyone next year when you see the dirtbags are having tryouts BEWARE. and they should change the name from "tryouts" to "signups" because it doesn't matter how good or bad you are they are going to put you on a team and take your money. If I was involved in the dirtbags management I'd be ashamed of myself for doing this to people. I thought when you went to tryouts, If you were good enough to make a team then you made it and if you wasn't good enough you didn't make the team, but not with them they take your money and put a player on a team and if the player was to be really good then he is held back because he plays with and against other players that shouldn't even be playing baseball on that level of play.

The Dirtbags were the real deal maybe 5 years ago. They had the "Dirtbag" team which were primarily 17 year olds. 50% of them were D1 capable. They also had one 16U team and one 15U team. These players were better than most. In the last few years, the dirtbag owner added 2 to 3 teams per age group all the way down to 13U. You started to see Dirtbag names with a color after it such as Dirtbag 15U Black or Dirtbag 16 Gold, etc. A friend of mine was on one of the three 17U teams. He thought he was on "the Dirtbag" team. The main scout team is a 17U team and it has no color or age associated with its name. So, there were actually four 17U teams. My friend's team had 21 or so players. He received did not receive any help with his baseball skills. The owner of the Dirtbags also owns Impact Baseball and employs quite a few folks, Their salaries have to be paid somehow. I also have a friend that played on the main team at the same time as the other that played on the "farm" team. One particular weekend, the main team was flown to Florida to play in a big something or other showcase, while the farm teams (same age group as the main team) played in a local Impact Tourney. My friend indicated they did not have to pay airfare. My son played with a non-Dirtbag team. The Impact tournaments had you playing one game at the college and all the others at high schools. In one day, you would play a game at one Venue and then have to jump in the car and have to drive 45 minutes to a different Venue for your second game. These Impact tournaments cost between $650 and $800 per team. The gate fee was $15 per person. 90% of the venues had no concession. 100% of the venues had no working scoreboard. The games were 2 hours and not a minute longer. If it rained out the game, you didn't get your money back. Just last year, Impact tournaments started requiring teams to stay at particular hotels in addition to paying the tourney fee. Not sure the purpose to that, except that Impact was probably getting some sort of kickback. Another thing to look out for, Impact Prospect Showcases. Last year, there was the TOP 150 Prospect Showcase. Supposedly, a player had to be "recommended" for entry into the showcase. There was also fee which was cheap, $75. But if you wanted to get feedback from the college coaches that attended, then you had to pay an additional $75. When it was said and done, the "Top 150" was "Top 220ish". There were 10 teams with about 23 players on each. You played 2 games with college coached there to watch. My son's 1st game time was on a Friday at 5pm. His second game was on a Sunday evening at 6pm. I asked for my money back. Didn't get it. Some of our friends did attend. One of the guys never got to run the 60yd.You only got 5 pitches during BP. No matter how bad a pitch was, you got 5. You were lucky to play 2 innings during the game. The worst is yet to be told, I believe the Dirtbag/Impact Baseball Organization hurts the chances of players in the triangle area of being recruited by ACC teams. There is one particular ACC team that you never see at showcases around the triangle. I believe he gets his info about players from the Dirtbag/Impact folks. My son attended a Prospect camp given by this school. I believe the cost was about $350. There were quite a few Dirtbag players there. This school's coaching staff knew each player. My son overheard one of the DIrtbags mention that they didn't have to pay the fee. I have actually seen an employee of the Dirtbag/Impact org see a non-Dirtbag player pitch in a high school game. He liked what he saw. The very next time this pitcher pitched, there were 5 college recruiters at the game. No one person should have that much influence over the mass of kids playing high school baseball in the triangle area. So its like, if the Dirtbags don't know ya, then you much not bee too good. There are some good ball players out there that don't have the money to play with the Dirtbags and have high school coaches that do absolutely nothing to help players get recruited. Yes, you do need to do it yourself, but what baseball player can get 5 college recruiters to their games. Finally, here is the kicker, the Dirtbag/Impact baseball owner is building a new facility in Burlington or somewhere there bouts. As long as parents continue to pay the $1300-$1800 seasonal fee, then nothing will change.

I know nothing about the Dirtbags now, and I've never known the specifics. I will say this, I played the travel circuit beginning in 2006 through my high school graduation in 2008. I was really happy to never have to pitch against the Dirtbags.

my sons summer team  played in 5 Impact Tournamets last summer (2012).  Not a dirtbag team, but a Greensboro/Triad team.   each weekend  we played in either a small hs fields and one game on 1 college field, UNCW, NC State come to mind.  I did notice that the Dirtbags "main" team always seemed to play at the bigger school venues.  Also as hard as I looked I only managed to see 2-3 scouts at all the games, total, all summer.   I also spoke to a couple of dirtbag players over the summer, and the players on their team were from all over the state & never practiced together, they only meet/saw each other at the tournys...not sure how common that is, but on my sons team, all the playes were from guilford county/greensboro.  It was his 1st year of travel ball & while he enjoyed the experience he will not be playing in any Impact tournaments this summer.  Instead he will be playing Legion Ball with post 45 out of asheboro and attending 3-4 college camps to get exposure in front of ACTUAL COACHES at schools he interested in attending.  hope this helps, p.m. me if interested in any more info

I'll tell everyone this for a fact. The dirtbags and impact baseball miss represented and plain out deceived hundreds of parents and children. They said you were going to a dirtbags team tryout and it wasn't anything but a sign up. I could of taken the 1875.00 dollars and went to every ACC baseball comp offered this summer. one coach has 28 players on two different teams (scout teams) and is supposed to help develop them into a better player...but ... he is only going to see these players twice a month in scrimmage games that are two hours each. No practices at all unless you want to go to the dirtbags facility in Burlington and pay an extra fee to practice. I've never been "ripped off" like this before in my life. If it wasn't for hurting the children I would contact a lawyer over this. I think the attorney  general's office in North Carolina should take a look at it. All they are doing is running a scam. The tryouts we went to was advertised as a college showcase team, then after we paid our money everything changed. I'll ask anyone that doesn't believe what I'm saying to come out and watch one of these "scout team" events and you will see exactly what I'm talking about.

Playing with the Dirtbags has been a huge waste of money.  It has been total deception from the very beginning.  You receive an email saying, "Congrats, this is your invitation to join the Dirtbag baseball program",  if you don't look at the fine print in the attachment you won't know if you made one of the teams (15u black, 16u gold, etc.) that plays on actual college campuses or if you made one of the "instruct teams",  now known as "scout teams".  We have played two "tournaments" (actually scrimmages) and have played the same team 5 out of 6 games. All of these games on high school fields with the coach running back and forth between innings to instruct...or in their words "develop the players".

What a joke!!!  It burns me up that we payed $1875 plus travel expenses to play scrimmage games.   Also...the Impact organization thinks nothing of cancelling games and moving them to Monday...hello!!! we work!!  I'm not taking time off, paying for a hotel room or driving 2 hours to play a scrimmage game!  

Note....the color named teams also payed $1875, but they get a least one or two games on a college campus, more tournaments, and they actually play other teams. 

 

 

  

I tried to stay away from this topic.....

 

Welcome to the travel ball world.

 

From our recent experience, most ALL showcase or tournament events that keewartson's team atttends/attended (ie Braves/D1Draftable, Canes/Dynamic Baseball, Dirtbags/Impact Baseball, and others): 

      1)  Charge gate fees, usually $10-25/pp for all games at the event. I remember not that long ago balking at $5. The PG WWBA week-long event was $50 for 7 games.  

 

      2)  Teams play at least one game at "the main venue" such as a college campus and all other games are played at off-site fields such as high schools.  This is typical.  Sometimes the off-site fields are 45-60 minutes away from the campus.  This is typical.  Coaches will come out to see talent.

 

      3)  Most organizations started out with one very competitive team, many years ago, before the travel ball boom.  You tried out for the team.  Once 'they' figured out that there were lots of kids that wanted to play ball, and the parents were willing to pay for their child to play ball, teams were formed at all age groups, then later multiple teams at each age group.  Now all over the country you see blue, red, white, camo, gold, national, american, west, east, north, south, etc teams.  This is not a bad thing, you just need to know it is a business.

 

      4)  I am not sure of the age group your son plays, but most teams at the upper age groups are not instructional.  You get your hitting, fielding, pitching instruction elsewhere. Some teams provide instruction, but the players mostly live nearby.  MANY (most!) teams are formed with talented players that do not live in the same local.

 

      5)  The prices you were charged were in line with what we paid yearly for keewartson's prior teams, paid on a monthly basis.  This included part of the uniform (jersey/hat) and maybe some group instruction at the beginning of the season.  I think it is becoming common knowledge that the younger teams support the older teams, mostly by charging all teams the same price, however,the older team's events may cost more, or are provided at no charge.  We have heard that it rewards the older players.

 

     6)  The talented teams naturally draw the college coaches.  It is up to the PLAYER to provide college coaches with his team's schedule.  Otherwise, how will the coaches know to show up?  And who to look for?

 

     7)  As with any other 'purchase', it is buyer beware.  Talk to other parents if you can.  Rarely do you hear complaints from the parents of players on the "top tier" team. If you need to, change teams. You read it all the time on this site, "play on the best team you can" and still get playing time.  The landscape of travel ball (coaches, team, organization) can change quickly. 

I think every parent I've talked to at these so called "scout teams" feel the same, basically the dirtbags and impact baseball ripped us off. They are not doing what was promised. We had one coach for two teams, only had one empire and he was even making jokes with the parents how screwed up the games were.The pitcher's would balk and no one called it and the one coach didn't ever tell them what they were doing wrong. There was some parents that had to drive 5 hours to watch this "dog and pony show". Then they scheduled the games on Monday when some of the players had to go to school. I will have to drive the 5 hours also when the games are in Wilmington. There are also 14 year old players, playing against 16 and 17 year olds. How is a 17 year old going to benefit from a couch trying to coach 28 people at one time and half that time he's over at the dugout talking to someone else. I think the dirtbags and impact baseball needs to do some explaining and refunding. On Saturday they played 11 straight innings without a break. It was supposed to be 2 games. All they done was after 5 innings was changed batting lineup and continued to play. No scores no eras, no batting coaching, no coaches calling the pitches. Most of the time no 1st base coach or 3rd base coach. We need a facebook page started.

First hand experience...

Run, don't walk away

 

Several years ago I knew of an instance where a parent made such a stink the (different) organization gave a refund, probably so they would just go away.  I guess it wouldn't hurt to politely ask for a prorated refund and cut your losses.  You may not get it, but you never know unless you ask.

About contacting the NC Attorney's Office, I did exactly that. It wasn't the Dirtbags though, it was another showcase team that ripped me off for $1300, They only questioned the owner. Though they believed me, they told me they needed more complaints to justify the cost of investigating. The YAK Showcase team is not as big as the DIrtbags, but they are ripping off people just the same. It is a business, but it is a business built on lies and false advertisement. As long as parents continue to pay these ridiculous fees, nothing will change. I say summer ball needs to go back to playing on Legion teams. College recruiters can come to those games. Dirtbags/Impact Baseball has inserted itself between high school baseball and colleges and making a huge profit.

Summer ball doesn't need to go back to Legion ball. Parents need to do due diligence on travel teams. Teams that screw people have bad reputations. A little bit of research would expose them.

Totally agree with RJM...  Legion ball had its time and travel ball is a better alternative.  Unfortunately, there is a small window for them to be seen at the right time and a year spent with a team can be wasted time and money.  Word gets out and the quality of the teams within an organization will diminish. 

Legion has seen its day BECAUSE travel teams popped up everywhere. Players flocked to these travel teams because of what travel team owners promised them. Legion is not for profit. This is the root of the problem with travel teams. There are folks out there trying to make a living off the hopes and dreams of boys wanting to play college ball and even MLB. There are some travel team owners that are out there for the RIGHT reasons. They charge half and even less than the Dirtbags and YAK. But there are not enough of them.

Pretty sure that's exactly what RJM is saying. If people do their due diligence, those teams that are there for the right reason will be found.