Early Recruit Signing

JLR58, check your PM's....look up and towards the right of your screen, do you see the red number next to your name, click your name and open your private messages.

As a side note, received a camp/showcase invite yesterday for my 14 year old 9th grader from a very D1 school.  Within that email, which WAS a generic email, I thought it was interesting that they did point out "I know you are a Freshman"....they really are starting earlier and earlier since they are targeting Freshman for their camps/showcases.

CaCO3Girl posted:

Redsdad posted:

I like this portion of what you said "...don't really want him caught up in the hype of the PBR or PG rankings, recruiting sites etc"

Truth is many good players never get ranked simply because they don't attend PBR or PG events.  How can someone really say "Player X is the number one player in Virginia".  That statement can in no way be validated unless every baseball player in Virginia was assessed.  What I wonder is how many players go onto to the next level without ever attending one of those events.  I can tell you our small/young organization has assisted 17 players move on over the past two years; none of those players participated in any PG events and very few went to PBR's.

In the end, those players moved on because of their talent, hard work, and relationships involved across the process.

In short, there is no need to ever get caught up in the "hype" plenty of players move on without it.   

Redsdad....the OP's son doesn't just want to play at the next level, he wants to play D1.  While I agree 100% it is entirely possible to move onto playing baseball in college without attending a PBR/PG event I'm just not certain how many players can move onto playing D1 without attending ANY of these events.

Out of the 17 players your organization assisted, how many went D1?

I wasn't going to bite on the question but the curious side of me is pushing me to do so; I suspect any response in reply to the aforementioned numer is headed in only one direction...we have had two DI commits with the rest being DII and DIII; #18 committed to a DIII school last night.

Redsdad posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

Redsdad posted:

I like this portion of what you said "...don't really want him caught up in the hype of the PBR or PG rankings, recruiting sites etc"

Truth is many good players never get ranked simply because they don't attend PBR or PG events.  How can someone really say "Player X is the number one player in Virginia".  That statement can in no way be validated unless every baseball player in Virginia was assessed.  What I wonder is how many players go onto to the next level without ever attending one of those events.  I can tell you our small/young organization has assisted 17 players move on over the past two years; none of those players participated in any PG events and very few went to PBR's.

In the end, those players moved on because of their talent, hard work, and relationships involved across the process.

In short, there is no need to ever get caught up in the "hype" plenty of players move on without it.   

Redsdad....the OP's son doesn't just want to play at the next level, he wants to play D1.  While I agree 100% it is entirely possible to move onto playing baseball in college without attending a PBR/PG event I'm just not certain how many players can move onto playing D1 without attending ANY of these events.

Out of the 17 players your organization assisted, how many went D1?

I wasn't going to bite on the question but the curious side of me is pushing me to do so; I suspect any response in reply to the aforementioned numer is headed in only one direction...we have had two DI commits with the rest being DII and DIII; #18 committed to a DIII school last night.

That sounds like a very successful program, and I won't pick on it.  I was actually curious at the numbers. 

I think others on here have explained it better...is it possible to go D1 without PG/PBR exposure, YUP!  Will it likely open up more possibilities if you have PG/PBR exposure, especially if you are trying to go more than 50 miles from home, YUP!

CaCO3Girl posted:

That sounds like a very successful program, and I won't pick on it.  I was actually curious at the numbers. 

I think others on here have explained it better...is it possible to go D1 without PG/PBR exposure, YUP!  Will it likely open up more possibilities if you have PG/PBR exposure, especially if you are trying to go more than 50 miles from home, YUP!

Not 100% accurate IMO.  I've explained this many times, but our 5-10/85 mph younger one would not have benefitted from big showcase exposure.  All they woulda seen is a 5-10/85 mph guy vs. a crop of 90+ guys and about the best he could hope for is being ignored.  At worst, his lack of velocity and size would have been accentuated and permanently kept him off their lists.

This was in fact what happened to him when he attended a regional showcase in Northern CA.  He was ignored or permanently written off by a number of coaches in favor of bigger, higher velocity guys who, in the end, never accomplished anywhere near what he did.  A big/national showcase would have only made this situation worse IMO, and so we did none of them.

To figure him out, a college coach needed to watch him for a while in HS/travel ball and understand what he brought to the table (pinpoint command, competitiveness, 4 pitch repertoire, etc...).  A college coach needed to call his HS and travel coach and ask if what they were thinking was correct.  A college coach needed to hear from coaches of other HS's and travel programs that they oughta give him a look cause he's 'different' than the stereotype of short, lower velocity pitchers.   A college coach needed to talk to area scouts to find out that he really knows what he's doing out there and that yes, his velocity in the 1st inning may be 84 but by the 4th inning its 88...something that would not be found in a showcase.

All of that paragraph above rang true for 3 or 4 college coaches who put their ear to the ground and listened to the rumble...and figured it out.  A couple in our area did not, and paid for it later in college.

The coach who ultimately recruited him to a Pac12 school must have watched him pitch close to a dozen times in HS.  

I love what a minor league pitching coach who used to coach in the Pac12 told him last year in Spring Training - 'JBBson, you are one of reasons I left college baseball - you were nowhere on our recruiting board as a HSer, but we learned we hated facing you in the Pac12 - I just got tired of recruiting big names only to find out kids like you were the ones we shoulda recruited.'