For pitchers, when is the right time to attend a showcase/prospect camp?

quote:

* If your son is 15 and throwing 70 mph...is it worth it? If so, why?

Interesting question. Perhaps. For starters, assume money is no object as it indeed is not for some people. Secondly, even if finances are tight, people have a way of fiding the money for things they think are truly important.

If cost is not a major issue, then experience may be the reason you send a young kid out there. If you wait and place all the marbles in a basket down the road, and he happens to have a bad outing, then there may not be enough time to correct things and recover. The early exposure is not really for those who are watching imho. It is for your son to see how good he needs to be. It also gets him used to the process so that as he gets more experience, then maybe his natural ability can take over. He can also learn from past mistakes and perhaps pickup things from more advanced players.

I don't believe the case for waiting to post a strong number is quite as strong. The good players, championship caliber players, are not afraid to go out and lay it on the line against other good players. Posting a good number and riding that out can also raise questions.

I guess the ultimate question here is whether or not to wait until physical maturity has allowed a kid to post meaningful numbers or whether posting sub-par numbers might damage a kid's reputation. I think experience gained outweighs potential harm. Moreover, I think there are coaches out there who recruit players who remind them of themselves. They might see a low-velocity kid who they can see by his actions on the mound will get much better than that. They might see a winning attitude. They might see someone who was just like them at the same stage of development. If you are not out there on the stage, you will never give a coach a chance to formulate that positive impression.

If you have 90 mph exit speed in hitting, or 90 mph pitch speed, do you need to go to any camp?

If not, then would it be more cost effective for parents to spend money on velocity improvement, than camps/showcases?

Just answering from personal experience, my son was never seen at a showcase pitching until the summer after his junior year. I am not a fan of having him throw to be seen in the winter -- especially living in the Northeast. Some might argue that scouts would like to see improvement over time, but throwing at maximum speed a couple of times during the summer seemed to work out fine my my guy.
Velocity is only one part of being projectible. Size and body type have a lot to do with it too.

Many college coaches like to see pitchers in games---it gives them a more solid evaluation

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Many college coaches like to see pitchers in games---it gives them a more solid evaluation

The way it worked for my son, he was at an Area Code tryout in the morning and had a tournament game that same night about 40 miles away, which he started and pitched very well. A good majority of the same scouts where at both events. He was very lucky the way it worked out.

Good question Justbaseball, not sure if there is one right answer, I do suppose it depends on each individual player and what you are looking to get out of the experience.
Mine did his first showcase AFTER his first WWBA (junior). We only sent him because we wanted him to see the competition he would face for recruiting and for the draft. The second showcase was actually a last minute decision, other than that, we felt competing in front of coaches was much more beneficial.

quote:

..."When should you send your (pitcher) son to a showcase?"

IMO you go when your player shows a similar skill set as those that were deemed prospects in previous showcases.

If your 15 or 16 YO pitcher throws in the low to mid 70's I would look to see what players with similar numbers are being rated. If the current skill set that your son currently possess isn't getting "prospect" type ratings then I'd wait. That doesn't mean that a year or two later if the skill set changes and he's laying down mid 80's to 90's cheddar with an good off speed pitch... then I'd say pack your bags and go showcasing.