High school to college to pro

In think the "positioning" is done at the HS level to get to the next level---College-- if the pros happen it all well and good but at the college level it seems that it all takes care of itself--the player is playing in a solid program where the coach willt ake care of business

The other factor, which many parents do not want to hear, is that the player is a potential good college player in HS but his college ball will be his last hurrah, so to speak---not a bad thing to be one of the "select few' that play college ball and get your degree-- the even more "select fewer" get a shot at pro ball -- but in either case the percentages are small for success.

Just take the ride and enjoy and position yourself for whatever may happen

Interesting question. I'll attempt an answer by asking another question.

Is it possible there is an assumption out there that college games and the college summer leagues are more heavily scouted and thus maybe, showcasing would possibly be superfluous?

Excellent thoughts Fungo. I will say that for a JUCO player, I think the thinking on showcasing might be a bit different because they still have their final college destination pending. My own son, for example, hopes to do his first PG event this summer. So he hasn't given up the thought of "showcasing" at all.

I do agree with TR's thoughts that most college players realize that this will be it for them. The ones that aspire and hope to be drafted either feel very secure in the follow lists that they know they're on and assume they'll be followed, or they think the program they're in will obtain the needed exposure/opportunity to be considered for the draft.

An interesting question. Had never considered it.

Perhaps it'd never come up for me for two, off-the-top-of-the-head reasons:

(1) With college and summer seasons coming back-to-back, when would a player have the time to showcase?

(2) As ClevelandDad's question suggests, isn't virtually every game at the college level a "showcase" of sorts? Scouts are usually present at college and summer season games.

Lafmom good point on the JUCO players. I had never thought about that. The JUCO player does have an additional level in his progression but my first thoughts would be that the JUCO/four year college established relationships would negate the need to showcase.
ClevelandDad I agree that it would be superfluous to continue to showcase once a player reaches the college ranks. Not because college events are more heavily scouted because I actually felt the pro scouting activity was more condensed and active during the high school years. I tend to think both are sufficiently scouted to select pro players. I think we the parents, the “bankers” that ultimately control exposure, realize where our son stands and we have more knowledge of the exposure/recruiting puzzle. I can only relate my personal experience and how I felt at different times of my son’s recruitment. I always felt I needed to do more for my son’s exposure and I wasn’t doing enough while he was a freshman, a sophomore, and a junior in high school. I was very ignorant when this all started. I was in a “learn as you pay” mode. I had NO idea about how much exposure was enough. But then during the summer of his junior year of high school I started to feel I had probably done enough. College coaches started calling and there was a trickle of pro interest. When multiple college offers came in I was SURE I had done MORE than enough. When he signed an NLI during the early signing period I said “whew” and relaxed. Then on the first day of spring practice I was totally caught off guard with the presence of twelve pro scouts. I felt at that point had opened a can of worms. I also knew I would never spend another dollar on exposure. Can I go back and analyze what I did, or what he did, to make everything fall in place? No. But I would tend to think it was about 90% his talent and 10% exposure. If his talent were less would more exposure have been necessary. Maybe that’s a question that will never be answered. I'm not negative about any of the recruiting process because there are so many variables that will never be understood.
Fungo

Fungo

Now that was an excellent post! Enjoyed the reading.

Shep

Fungo,

Interesting thoughts.

My experience has been that there was alot more exposure to pro scouts in the summer collegiate leagues than in high school.

That may have to do with the fact that we were living in the northeast at the time - or maybe just overall talent level in high school in our area.

One thing is for sure - I could have and should have done more for the eldest. No question about it.

Fungo - You are correct in that often (probably most often) JUCO players do rely on the relationships of the JUCO/4 year to define their destiny. Also, we've found that some schools that recruited you out of HS will continue to follow you, but some others either loose interest due to being offended they weren't chosen or perhaps just because of changing needs.

I guess in my mind, though I see JUCO no different that HS. Why allow anyone else to determine things for you - might as well put yourself out there if you have the opportunity and see what other options might appear. But I do think that most JUCO players/parents rely on the JUCO experience and pretty much stick with just playing, not showcasing just as the four year kids do.

Fungo, this is an interesting topic, and there was a time (not so long ago) when "exposure" as we know it now did not exist. The college coaches (and pro scouts) at that time still knew who the pro prospects were, who the D-I, etc., prospects were.

Therefore, in my opinion, some smart business people who knew the baseball culture began to develop showcasing as a business, and many parents thought that they had to have their sons participate in showcases or they would slip through the cracks.

The culture now is that showcasing and marketing is necessary. When I first started recruiting in the 80s there was no such thing......as a matter of fact, I have stated this before on this site, if again there were no showcases the same kids would be getting scholarships and college opportunities as are with the showcasing.

The 'marketing' for college scholarships/roster spots has merely increased the cash flow and enabled more people to earn a living by being involved in baseball than there were before.

There are the same number of baseball scholarships and the same number of roster spots as there have been for years. We (as parents) can say that perhaps a particular event was responsible for helping our kids get scholarships/roster spots, but those same kids would have the scholarships/roster spots even if we did not have the 'middle men'.

As far as showcasing for going from college to pro ball......that has not changed in the last twenty years. The scouts still go out and watch (as many times as necessary) every kid who may be a prospect.

In Canada the showcases have changed scouting methods.
We used to get 30-50 MLB scouts at our larger tournaments a few years ago but they tend to go to showcases and college games looking for more experienced players.
We have always looked at college as the make it or break it years.