Future MLB stars on display at UNCW
By Chuck Carree
Staff Writer
chuck.carree@starnewsonline.com
Professional baseball scouts, in general, attend nearly all the major showcases around the country.
They circle one on their calendar as a must-see event – the East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase, which starts this morning at UNC-Wilmington’s Brooks Field.
Joe Siers, a scout with Cincinnati, annually goes to Perfect Game and the Area Code Games, which rival the ECPBS.
“None of them are scouted as heavily and have as much talent as this one,’’ he said.
The Area Code Games, though, are double the size of the ECPBS because the field includes players from Canada and Latin American countries.
Many scouts favor the ECPBS because it is run by Major League Baseball and expenses are kept at a minimum.
MLB waives the entry fee and charges players $150 apiece to cover a five-night stay in the UNCW dormitories and three meals a day in the cafeteria.
“Some of these other showcases just want to make money and they’ll take any player who will pay whatever it is to go there,’’ said Ray Fagnant, a scout for the Boston Red Sox and a coach for one of the squads in the showcase.
There are 32 showcases aimed at high school players.
“We obviously take the better players,’’ he continued. “I really stress to parents this is really the best showcase they can send their sons to.’’
He also added the ECPBS is the highlight of his scouting responsibilities and claims the showcase is better than the Area Code Games, which started in 1987.
As for what to expect in the showcase today through Thursday, look for a mix of power pitching and a strong cast of position players.
There also appears an abundance of left-handed pitching. In fact, a team sponsored by the New York Yankees, has seven southpaws – four are underclassmen, meaning not in the 2006 draft class.
“We had a pretty good club last year,’’ Yankees’ scout Mike Gibbons said. “This club is probably a little better position wise.’’
Chicago White Sox scout Warren Hughes expects the squad he assembled to hit well, a contrast from last season.
“We had a lot of good arms last year and a lot of them were drafted,’’ he said.
Another scout, Brian Bridges, who will coach a Florida Marlins’ sponsored squad, indicated his position players match up with the other five teams in the showcase, which is a decade old.
The ECPBS was held in Chapel Hill the first two years and moved to UNCW in 1998.
Original Post
