GLSCL

I take it you didn't win??  Son first game in NECBL was Thursday night, only had nine positional players, an last one got there during pre-game from airport changed in dugout, a lot of their players are still in playoffs.  An we did getthe win with a bases loaded walk to score winning run.

Nope they did not win, they lost the next one as well, but are now 2-2. Son got a chance to pitch for 3 innings and did well.

 

They won last night on a walk off at Don Edwards field. They were trailing most the game 4-0, and 4-2.

Another nice evening at the park. Crowd was on the smaller side but did get loud, It was good to see a comeback win.

I have been at two more stadiums in the Great lakes league.

 

Xenia Scouts Grady's field.All turf field, except for the pitchers mound. It has a nice playing surface, Covered seating in a grand stand. Nice place but not much character,in my opinion. This is a relatively new stadium. It is used for tournaments and show cases. Many college teams rent this field especially in the early spring.

 

Grand Lakes Mariners Montgomery Field: This a High School field. I thought it was a great place to watch a game. There is no covered seating, but who needs it on a spring summer afternoon. This field is set in a very nice community park. The bleachers behind home plate offer a great view if this turf infield with natural grass in the outfield. There are additional bleachers on the third base line and a press box/concession stand along first. The announcer was well informed. I really enjoyed his his pace and inflection. 

We just finished watching a game at Ned Skeldon Stadium in Toledo. While the field was nice, All natural field that seemed well maintained, the rest of the Stadium was serviceable.

 

Clearly at one time this was a very nice stadium and probably could continue to be. Plenty of seating and the views down close to the field for the most part were very good. Get higher up in the grand stands though and there were posts blocking the view.This stadium needs a lot of TLC. Have you ever seen the TV show called "The Walking Dead"? Wander out of the main seating area and you could be one of the shows sets. It has a look of long neglect, and looks like most anything of value was stripped out.

 

While watching the game was a nice experience, getting to and from the field or the restrooms was quite an experience.

Bishop, have you seen any other fields, just found this and would love to here more. . how is the baseball (talent wise) in this league?

My son has had a great experience. i was not able to make to the other parks unfortunately. My son started most of his games at home. 

 

The talent is pretty good. There are some big name schools that send their players there, but mostly those are kids that just finished their freshman year. We saw quite a lot of the usual suspects, Indiana, Toledo, Kent State. Also a lot of rising juniors and some seniors from Mid majors, Tulane, Dartmouth.

 

The Settlers were by far the only team to use so much D3 and D2 talent. They had 3 from Denison, No surprise the GM is the wife of Denisons AD and the old GM was an assistant from Denison. All the Denison players were very good though. They also had a Player from OWU (yeah), and Elmhurst. These players saw a lot of playing time. The team is also going to finish tied for first or second after the weekend is over. 

 

All teams supply host families, which was an experience that I wanted my son to have. I would suggest this league for anyone. Is it going to compete with the Cape talent wise? No, but I would consider it somewhere in the top 8 to 15 leagues in the country.

 

Probably not quite as good as the prospect but not far behind.

Your league is listed as number 12.

yes as per PG's web site the league is ranked 12. That may be high or low depending on your criteria. For my criteria, my son getting  playing time against very solid competition, with a reasonable number of games. In addition the foot print of the league is small enough that there is not too much traveling, and he has an experienced host family. It gets his foot in the door in a good league. next year the criteria may be different.

 

8-15 is my opinion and is over a period of time. It may be 12 this year, but next year it may be higher or lower. It has generally been trending down, in the rankings from PG, as more an more leagues start up or improve. 

 

It really is not my league. I am not associated with it, other than my son plays on one of the teams.

My son play's in the NECBL, great league, well run, experienced host family's, good coaching, travel bus is very nice, DVD and WIFI, best competition my son has lined up against on a daily basis.  No cost to the players. 

 

Thanks, Mine is a senior to be in HS. No specific offers yet so not sure where he will end up. I do know he wants to stay relatively close to home for college and so was just thinking ahead. After reading about teh mess in Myrtle beach wanted some feedback on teh more local summer leagues  

Chef,

In general I would try and stay away form the leagues where there is not separate ownership of the teams and where one guy runs and owns the whole thing. Those are usually moneymakers. And the money is not made off of the concessions and ticket sales but made off of the players.

 

Stick with the leagues where each team is owned separately and is affiliated with a league. These teams try to make their money at the gate and through concessions.

Proud,

That is a great league and has very nice venues. We have relatives in Rhode Island, and now the league has two teams in that state.

 

I am happy that your son is playing their and having a good experience.

 

Not all young men get an opportunity to play in that league, they are selective. But some players would go their and get in over their heads and not get enough playing time. As always go to the highest level you can play that fits all your criteria.

Bishop, that is very good advice. thanks. When do players strat picking thier summer teams and is college coach the one that picks for them or how does that process work?

Really depends on your schools coach. Some coaches are better at placing kids than others. Kids start getting placed in the fall, so it can be tough for a freshman who does not have any stats against other college players. I know in my sons case there was several opportunities, and the teams came to his coach about him. But he had had two successful years for his college.

 

His first year though, there was not a lot of choices, the coach found a couple of local teams, but son had played against those teams in the past on his 18U traveling team and always crushed them. He was young enough that the year after his freshmen year he played for his 18U team again, rather than one of the local wood bat teams, and did well again.

 

Ask the college coaches about it but do some research. If he has a group of schools that are interested in him and he is interested in them, go out to the different teams websites and see were their players get placed. iT can be a lot of work but it is worth it.

 

OWU usually places one or two players in the Great lakes and Prospect, and the others are in local leagues or lesser known leagues.

 

I just bumped a thread started by the very informative Hokieone about this subject:

 

http://community.hsbaseballweb...ruting-well-underway

 

it is a good read.

 

Players don't pick their summer league, the teams work with college coaches to set their rosters.  They try to place players at their level and were they will getting playing time.  I know in the league my son is in if the player appears over his head the team will send him home.

 

No, players usually do not pick their league. Sometimes though if your coach is not proactive it is up to the player to contact the leagues they think they can play in. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen some time. Some coaches get input from the player. They may want to play close to home or have preferences. 

 

My sons coach talked to him about his options. He had several teams interested, and the coach worked with him to find the right fit.

 

Some times teams will take a younger player to get a stud. Some coaches do package deals. Most times it works out, but occasionally kids get in over their head and do not get enough playing time. You see it every year, my sons team lost several players due to lack of playing time.  

GSCL is having the semi-finals, The Settlers won the first game last night. Tonight we are traveling down to Western Hills HS in Cinci to watch the second game.

does it cost money and if so how much? only about hour drive for me, after son not playing last week or so, I am itching to see some baseball

Hi, I noticed that one of you had the ranking for the league.  I was hoping someone could either list the ranking order or post the link to where I could find the leagues ranking.  Thanks for your help.

 

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Rank	League	Lists	Reports	Teams	No.	Top Prospect
NA	Team USA	List	Report	1	20	Carlos Rodon, lhp, NC State
1	Cape Cod	List	Report	10	100	Sean Manaea, lhp, Indiana State
2	Northwoods	List	Report	16	75	Derek Fisher, of, Virginia
3	New England Collegiate	List	Report	10	40	Alex Haines, lhp, Seton Hill (Pa.)
4	West Coast	List	Report	9	30	Hunter Virant, lhp, UCLA
5	Alaska	List	Report	6	30	Braden Shipley, rhp, Nevada
6	California Collegiate	List	Report	6	30	Jason Hursh, rhp, Oklahoma State
7	Coastal Plain	List	Report	14	40	Andrew Brockett, rhp, Richmond
8	Perfect Game Collegiate	List	Report	9	30	Rocky McCord, rhp, Auburn
9	Prospect	List	Report	12	30	Jake Johansen, rhp, Dallas Baptist
10	Cal Ripken	List	Report	10	30	Hunter Renfroe, c/of, Mississippi State
11	Valley	List	Report	12	30	Julian Ridings, of, Western Carolina
12	Great Lakes	List	Report	11	30	Max Murphy, of, Bradley
13	Texas Collegiate	List	Report	7	25	Jason Jester, rhp, Texas A&M
14	Florida Collegiate	List	Report	6	20	Nick Gonzalez, lhp, South Florida
15	Jayhawk	List	Report	6	20	Austin Darby, of, Nebraska
16	Atlantic Collegiate	List	Report	17	25	Paul Paez, lhp, Rio Hondo (Calif.) JC
17	Futures	List	Report	9	20	Corey Stump, lhp, Florida
18	MINK	List	Report	8	15	Michael Gunn, lhp, Arkansas
19	New York Collegiate	List	Report	12	20	Grant Heyman, of, Miami (Fla.)
20	Southern California Collegiate	List	Report	6	10	Matt Anderson, rhp, Long Beach State
21	Far West	List	Report	8	10	Brad Zimmer, of, San Francisco
22	Hawaii Collegiate	List	Report	4	10	Mick Van Vossen, rhp, Michigan State
23	Pacific West	List	Report	8	10	Matt Pollock, of, Buffalo
24	Southern Collegiate	List	Report	7	10	Brian Holberton, c, North Carolina

Chef,

Sorry I did not see this in time. But good news there is another game tonight at 7:05 PM at Western Hills. Cost is 5 Dollars. I will be going out again tonight.

I was out at Western Hills High School to watch a semi final game in the GLSCL. It was a nice place to watch a game. There are main stands behind the plate right up against the Netting. You feel right on top of the action. I am sure the umpire could hear every complaint. There was also a place to watch with some tables along the left field line and out in right field.

The sound system is nice, but it got a little old, when every player of the home team was announced, like the guy with the ready to rumble tag line. It was neat at first but by about the third inning it got old.

 

The playing field itself could have used some work. I know it is getting late in the season and fields are getting torn up, but this has not been a really dry summer, and the infield grass was looking real spotty. The grass was thin and there were some small bare spots. The lip was uneven we saw several hops and skips that allowed players to get on base. One of those might have caused a score.

The outfield configuration was rather strange. There was short porch in Right with a Huge fence. At the foul pole it was 287. The right Field fence runs at a 90 degree angle to the right base line out to center field at 397. It takes a 45 degree angle for about ten yards, then another 45 degree angle before running to the left field foul pole at 320. The center fielder in this configuration has a lot of ground to cover.

 

You can see the field here:

 

https://maps.google.com/maps?q...453&t=h&z=18

 

I enjoyed watching the game and everybody we met was very nice. They had the usual promotions such as Dizzy Bat, Guess the secret word, and 50/50. The concession stand had the usuall fare plus Corn on the cob.

 

It was a good experience and they put on a good show. The field is just showing some wear from the long season.

 

 

DR,

you have a dialog. (private message.) click on the dialog button up in the right hand corner next to your name.

Well I visited another field this weekend. Son pitched at Simmons field in Lima. This is the only field in the league that sells beer.

 

Field kind of reminds me of a small, old New York Penn league field that you see in some of the PGBL and NYCBL teams play in. Bleachers out along the left and and right field lines. Bleachers right behind home plate with the press box/announcers box right behind them. This was the first place we went that has an actual ticket booth entrance you had to enter through.

 

The field was nice but not spectacular, it was serviceable.

 

They used a lot of sound effects, Widows crashing on deep foul balls, Cash Register sounds when the home team struck out a batter, and a train horn whenever the home team had a good hit or made a defensive play. The speakers were not right behind home plate, but off to the sides on the first base and third base sides. This was nice because you were not blown out every time they used one of the sound effects.

 

They do have one promotion I have not seen. It is called the Beer Batter. The announcer picks out a batter from the visiting team and every time he is struck out, they drop the price of beer for a dollar. I am happy to announce that the Beer Batter for our game against the Locos did not strike out once. So the price of beer stayed the same throughout the game and the fans stayed lucid.

 

 

Hi Bishop,

 

Our son has played in Prospect League last 2 summers. His team, and a few others in the league, also have the Beer Batter promotion. Some teams only run it during a particular inning, but son's team did it every time a particular batter came up to bat. If batter struck out, beer was half price for the rest of the inning. Last year, during one game, my son struck out the beer batter 3 times! Needless to say, the young man was not too happy, but the fans sure were!

The Settlers won the Championship for the second year in a row. My son got to pitch in the first game and did very well only allowed 4 hits, struck out three while walking one.

 

They pieced together the pitching for the final using pitchers that had mostly pitched relief throughout the year. They were able to put up enough offense to win. 

 

I can tell you I enjoyed the summer immensely, I saw most games my son pitched. Early on he was a long reliever and I missed one of those. All venues were within driving distance for us, we live in Central Ohio. I was able to make it to very field except for Lexington's, Hamilton's and Daytons.

 

Each team is run a little differently.

Cincy and Southern Ohio, clearly were very focused on the fan experience, they had lots of promotions between innings and had many more fans in attendance at most of their games.They clearly seemed to be targeting young families with kids and an affordable entertainment experience. They still put very good teams on the field, Southern Ohio was first and Cincy was second, at the end of the regular season. Cincy's fans traveled well, I believe that when they came to the Settlers to play, they brought the most fans. Southern Ohio is easily the attendance leader. They double the attendance of the second place team. Cincinnati came in fourth for attendance.

 

Lima, only had the Beer Batter promotion and a 50/50, there were no on field shenanigans between innings. I was only at their field for the fist game of the championship and their were a lot of fans in attendance, They regularly finish third in attendance figures. They regularly in the top three in attendance. They are the only team that serves beer. Quite a few sound effects but it did not get in the way too much or get overly irritating. Good team they usually finish in the top 3 or four in the regular season. Historically they have been a force in the league.

 

Licking county and Grand Lake Both have professional sounding announcers and may play some music, such as another one bites the dust when an opposing player strikes out. There is generally no on field promotions and the sound effects are non existent or minimal. Each licking county batter is sponsored, and the players sponsor is announced each time he goes up to bat. example: Up Next Matt Smith sponsored by Waste Away, Company tag line. For fans of these teams it is mostly about the baseball, and you do not see a lot of young families at the park. There attendance is usually in the bottom third. Licking county has been in 3 of the last 4 championship games and won the last two. Grand Lake has historically missed the play offs every year. This year they made it to the one game playoff by finishing in the top 6.

 

Xenia and Lake Erie both had announcers but not much else. The announcer, announces the player and the school at the beginning of the game and the at bats. Xenia is usually at the bottom for attendance. They so not charge for entry and not sure they even keep track on how many attend. Lake Erie charges attendance after you are already in, and comes around to collect during the game. They do not report attendance numbers. Xenia has made the play offs once in the last 3 years but has not made it to the championship. They are usually a just under .500 team. Lake Erie Has been successful in the past winning the championship in 1999, and has qualified for the post season 6 of 7 years. They have been down a bit the last 3. Usually finishing near the bottom.

 

Dayton Docs, I was not able to attend any the the Great Lake league games at Nischwitz stadium, but I have attended tournaments there. If you go in the middle of the day bring sun screen because there is o shelter and it can get very hot in the stands. They did not report attendance numbers. Dayton has only been the league for a couple of years, they have made the playoffs every year.

 

Lexington Hustlers, I never attended a game of the Hustlers. I have no iDea what type of experience it is or what model they use. They are usually in the bottom half of the league and do not make the play offs.

 

Hamilton Joe's, I have never attended a game in their stadium so I cannot comment. They do have good attendance numbers, this year they finished second. Historically attendance wise they are middle of the pack.

 

My son really enjoyed his summer with this team and really got a lot out of it. He reached many of his goals and accomplished most of the things he wanted to work on. The coaches were helpful and he met a lot of new friends.

 

He may go back to the Settlers next year. He wants to explore his opportunities and maybe see another part of the country a little further from home. Not great for us seeing his games, but the choice is his.

 

I hope everybody else son could have the opportunity and experience my son had this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bishop,

I've enjoyed reading and following this thread.

Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Thanks Wales, I enjoyed it.