Anybody out there attend? I'm interested in your opinions of the camp. My son was part of the pitcher portion of the camp. This is the second camp we’ve attended and I can only compare the South Carolina Camp and the Florida State camp.
My biggest complaint; while I appreciate the deal on lodging, the Collegiate Village Inn is a roach infested dump that should be torn down. If we ever go to another program there, we will not stay in that hotel.
The pitchers went through 6 stations; pitcher defense (pick offs and scooping the ball and flipping to the catcher); throwing arm motion; pitcher defense (covering first and fielding bunts); glove arm motion; bull pen; video.
Since we attended the SC camp first, and hearing how good the Fla. St. Camp was, I expected a similar setup. Florida State players ran two of the stations. That’s ok and is done at SC’s camp, but I felt that there were several issues that were not being taught properly, based on my perception of how things should happen.
For example;
Station #1, when they were teaching a hurried scoop throw to home, the fielder should stay low and shovel the ball on a line to the catcher. Not once in two days was this taught. Most of the kids would grab the ball and flip it as they stood up and by doing so most throws were high if not over the catcher’s head or flipped with such an arch that it would be impossible for a catcher to concentrate on the ball as he is about to get slammed into. They also were teaching the kids to use the glove to perform this move; the kids enjoyed practicing being the hot dog rather than learning a good form to make the pressure play. They also worked pick offs, very little instruction; just had the kids go practice their motion.
Station #3; Right or wrong is in the eye of the beholder, but I’ve very seldom have seen a pitcher get to first in time to set up like a first baseman. At this station they never once worked on covering first on the run, they taught, run straight to first, turn to the ball then catch it.
The ex-pros who handled the other two stations were great and even though they had differing techniques, they recognized it and said so. They taught multiple techniques to arm motions.
The pitching coach handled the bullpen sessions and while he appears to be a very competent individual, he did very little instruction, he seemed to be more focused on staying on his timetable. While this “maybe” a complaint, I really didn’t mind his lack of instruction. The kids I was watching should have known enough or picked up enough in the other sessions to be ready to apply the proper skills. My only issue mentioned among the parents was the lack of any notes being taken. Most of the parents were like me, we wanted to used the camp to show off our kids and to maybe make an impression so the recruiting staff may follow up later in the season on the kids with potential. So either the coach has a super memory or they were only interested the kids “they” brought in to the camp.
At the SC camp, the pitching coach keeps an eye on the bullpen and makes a list of kids he likes and wants to follow. There are also a number of other schools represented. These coaches/scouts aren’t there teaching, all they are doing is looking for players. There were not any other people around at the Florida State camp, just the ex-pros who are high school coaches.
Final observation; I watched the sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the bullpen the day they were using the radar gun. I was shocked at the lack of speed exhibited by the kids. I had heard that a kid that throws in the mid 80s was rare but I didn’t believe it till I saw it for myself. I watched around 50 guys pitch and of those only 15 or so broke 80, and only 4 through 84 or more, and only 1 through 90. What was even worst was the number of seniors that were struggling to throw 75.
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