Help! WWBA or College Prospect Camps?

First things first : does he want to go to school on the West Coast near home ?

This can determine where he attends events

These type questions are always hard to answer without sounding partial. Truth is I don't really want to pursuade anyone one way or the other, but in the interest of honesty, with all due respect to college camps this is like comparing a raison to a water melon... No matter where someone wants to go to college! Anyone who would hold a college camp at this time of year is going to miss many of the best players from California or anywhere else because they will be in Georgia along with the vast majority of college coaches.

First of all you could play in the WWBA tournament and be seen by hundreds of scouts and college coaches. For those who are fimiliar... it's pretty much the same as Jupiter in October. There are many West Coast and California schools in Georgia for this event. A large number of crosscheckers and scouting directors also from all parts of the country. It's pretty much one stop recruiting. Even those who aren't there hear about everything that goes on there.

Sorry, I guess I am partial.

First of all, if your son is a pitcher, he should go to WWBA over anything else.

If he's a position player/hitter, then I think it depends on an honest assessment of where he stacks up. If you genuinely feel he is Division I material, he should go to WWBA, because he will gain instant exposure to at least dozens and perhaps hundreds of different programs. That could open doors that he previously hadn't thought of, or even just give him an offer that he can use as negotiating leverage with the school that's his top choice.

If your son is more of a D-III guy, then I would lean more towards cultivating a particular school of interest to him.

The biggest thing is, PREPARE, so that you show up at your best. Eat well, sleep well, practice regularly and effectively, don't pitch for your Legion team the day before the tourney, etc. No matter where you go, the impression you make can be either negative or positive. If you don't do everything in your power to make it positive, you wasted the time and the money.

Also -- if you choose WWBA -- your son should e-mail every school of interest's recruiting assistant coach to make sure they know what team his on and the pool play schedule. Then take your laptop and e-mail all of them with any schedule updates and changes.

As this tourney has grown, more and more games are played away from the East Cobb complex, so you need to give folks a chance to arrange their schedules to get to see you play. Hopefully you'll get at least one game at East Cobb or Kell (right across the street), but neither are guaranteed.

baseballfam4,
What year in HS is your son, and which age group of WWBA are you considering?

PG

You have a right to be partial

My son is a 2010 position player(3rd).He has a 3.5 GPA/college prep and he would be playing 18U
June 30th thru 6th.
He's had some contact with some D1 coaches,but seemingly, more serious interest from D3 coaches,which I would probably have say to realistic, fits him best all around.(Also,strong NAIA)Had alot of interest with mid-west coaches,but think he wants to stick to California.He's open though, because he wants the education and playing time.

P.S. Thanks so much for all the feedback. It is so helpful.

Your son should definately go to Ga, IF he is on a decent team. If he goes on a team no one knows or is bad, the Scouts won't see him, there are too many good teams to watch, unless he plays against one of them. WWBA is THE place to play this summer. 1st class, more scouts than you can imagine.

Thanks for your input.He would be on a really good, solid team, well known,but not the "best" team--which has 98% of the players already committed to colleges.(They will send 3 teams) In regards to one of the questions prior... The college prospect camps we are interested in wouldn't be held during the WWBA,but throughout the summer.(Although,Cal-State Fullerton has one during that time.) It's more of where we want to direct our $$ with our budget--WWBA or College camps.Both can be very expensive.
Trying to do what,hopefully,is the best option for our son and budget,but I don't know if it's possible to balance both...it sure is stressful wondering "what if" with my son's future.He's worked so hard.

baseballfam4,

while I think there is no comparison between the two, I'm only thinking from a high level prospect point of view. I would think that going to Georgia would be more expensive than staying in California.

No one, least of all me, can tell you what is the best option. There are many who head to Georgia without great results. I understand that it is stressful, but don't feel bad no matter what you end up doing. Neither one is an absolute must!

I would bet that the Cal St Fullerton camp is a very good one and would be great to attend. It's just hard to compare things that are so much different.

Whatever you decide to do... Best of luck. We all need a lot of that! It's not worth getting overly stressed over, either way can produce good or not so good results.

Attending the WWBA 18U could be good for your son. Here are some considerations:

Will he get to play a lot? Most teams take some players who end up getting very little playing time. Unless you are assured that your son will be either a everyday starting position player or a starting pitcher, the trip may be fun, educational, and a great experience, but it probably won't enhance your son's chances of finding a good college fit. Don't guess about this; ask your prospective team manager/coach.

Roughly, there will be 3000 players at this tournament, and obviously scouts and recruiters can't evaluate all of them. In fact, given that a scout can only take in perhaps 25 games, he probably is limited to seeing (but not necessarily evaluating in any serious way) about 10% of the field. They'll typically try to see the top teams. Your son's team may not attract many viewers.

It's a long way from California to Georgia, and mid-level D1 or D3/NAIA schools in CA, which apparently are the ones you are targeting, may not attend. Realistically, for the WWBA tournament to provide good exposure and value, a player who wants to attend college on the West Coast needs to be a starter on a top team. It's probably different for a player looking for a fit at a college closer to Georgia.

So I suspect that you may get more exposure for the money by finding a camp or two which hire in coaches from other colleges. That'll probably take some digging. For example, the Fullerton camp only uses Fullerton coaches, and that may not provide appropriate exposure.

It may also make sense to consider the Arizona Senior Fall Classic in October, because primarily West Coast schools (most of them attend) are represented there.

None of this is advice; the WWBA tournaments are great. It's just some stuff to consider when trying to maximize the benefit to a mid-level player.

Baseballfam4,

As you can see, you've gotten HUGE advise from some of the most seasoned Posters on here. All of it is wise and usable.

I whole-heartedly agree with PGStaff about not stressing over this. Both scenarios are a win-win for your son. It's apparent that your son has some baseball talent for Coaches to come watch him play. My son attended numerous WWBA tourney's and I can attest that it is unlike anything else I've ever seen or attended. Scouts from ALL over are crawling over East Cobb and other fields during those couple of weeks. He doesn't have to be on the "best" team to be seen as one Poster said. He can be on a mediocre team that just happens to play one of the better teams and shine! I promise the Scouts are paying attention!

Take a deep breath and relax. Follow your heart....then follow your billfold! lol

The key for the player in large events like these is for him to notify the schhols he has an interest---let them know the schedule and field locations

Thank you--everyone for helping this "newbie"!! This is all so awesome!I mean... where else can you get this kind of sincere advice from the baseball wise and experienced!
I am truly gratefull.

I'll second the recommendation above for the Arizona Fall classic. I know it wasn't one of the choices on your list - but it is worthy of adding to the list

Great event, held at one of the spring training facilities, attended by virtually every west coast college. There is a pdf of the schools that attended in 2008 on this link.

http://www.azfallclassic.com/senior/index.htm

I am a player who has done both. Attended 2 weeks of WWBA sophomore summer and then attened college camps junior summer. I am a recent high school graduate who is non-committed for college and will be playing again in GA this summer with the 18U. There truly is great competition there and there are scouts galore. I am hoping some school finds themselves in need of a switch hitting 1B after the draft and give me a look. I would suggest attending if your son is committed to getting to the next level. All of the CA universities also have fall and winter camps.. I have attended a few of those and they are the same as during the summer. He will be seen.

In one of the responses it said to contact the college coaches,before-- the WWBA tournament...how can I find out who will be attending? My son has emailed all the college coaches from schools he is interested in that he will be attending,but would like to know who will be there for sure.

baseballfam4,

I'm a bit too close to the situation, but it sounds like you will be in that tournament and would like some advice.

This tournament has lots of teams and players. Also there are lots of scouts and college recruiters. These scouts and college recruiters understand what they need and we make sure they are well informed at all times. That includes scheduling changes.

We can only tell you that there will be hundreds of scouts and college coaches. My suggestion is to simply send them your son's name and any other information you'd like to send them and tell him which team he is on. They will take it from there. Most of these people are very good at what they do and if they want to know when or where someone is playing they call us. In most cases they don't need to call us because we have already provided the info they need. Besides, we actually scout every single game, every single pitch. Most of this information ends up in our database, including all of our scout notes on every player. We have a very good reputation with college coaches and they will ask us lots of questions.

With thousands of players, imagine if all the players contacted the college coaches or scouts. My suggestion is to go play the games and if your son is truly a college prospect... Good things will likely happen. If you would like to send an email to coaches telling them who you are and which team your on... That should take care of it.

Best of luck

Thank you! The people on this site have been so helpful!

We were fortunate in that our son played both 18U and 17U last summer. While there are a lot of scouts at 18U, there did seem to be more at the 17U, and there were a ton of them, and they did go to all games off of the ECB sites, etc. This is an opportunity not to be missed in my opinion. I know it costs more to travel there than to stay in Cal. Hopefully you will be able to get to some California school camps also.