Jimmy Barnes 2015 SS/3B Deep Creek HS, VA

And? Are we starting new threads for every high school player in Virginia? 

I hope this is not what Jimmy's parents money is buying for exposure....

No, Jimmy's parents didn't pay a dime.  We see hundreds of players and do everything we can to get them some recognition for their hard work.  No player pays a penny.

 

Thanks,  Bobby McKinney

 

and what is he beign recognized for?  his nice uniform?  I'm so confused by this post!

I guess your right, I will add notes and more information as I post the pics.

 

Should not be a lot of confusion,  Players are spending their summers looking for the opportunity to impress college recruiters.  I know some recruiters look at these message boards.

 

Recognition, I guess is the fact they have worked very hard and moved into area of being a recruitable college baseball player, deserves exposure.

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

Bobby McKinney

Again, I have no dog in this fight but this seems all a bit mean spirited.  I do not know Barnes at all, personally, but even a little research would quickly show he has some talent.  Jimmy Barnes was the first team All-Conference 17 3b  and Co-Player of the Year!!! and was an honorable mention 3B on the All 4A South Region Team behind 1st teamer Trevor Denton of Hanover and 2nd teamer Chase Williams of Nansemond River.  The other honorable mention 3B was Sean Hughes of Jamestown. Not sure, but this would seem to fall within the category of recognition and achievement no?

Top-flight recruiters don't get their leads off of high school message boards. Instead, they get them from trusted sources in the baseball community and the players, themselves. The recommendations of parents and paid representatives are generally viewed with extreme skepticism.

 

The player, himself, would be well served to communicate his interest to those programs in which he's interested and where he thinks he can contribute. 

The approach of posting a player's attributes as a means to promote the player via this Board poses an interesting series of questions.

 

1) Work with me here: What if this approach works to the benefit of the player, i.e., it delivers greater visibility to his target audience and has a positive impact on his recruiting objectives? If that occurred, then you would expect that every player would do the same thing. Result? A board full of player promotions. And of course, there would be diminishing returns, not to mention a loss of site visitors (much to the dismay of advertisers).

 

2) And what if it doesn't add any benefits? Then either the act of posting continues unabated or it ceases (there's no benefit). In the case of the former, there's a loss of site visitors, and with the latter, all is well.

 

We can guess all we want as to whether or not this marketing tactic works, and as it is in the Marketing discipline, opinions run in second place to test results.

 

So test away, but in light of annoyed site visitors/members in two of the three potential outcomes, you'll want to test beneath a different Forum topic.

 

Deep down, however, I sense this will not end well. In the digital world of anonymous postings, identifying a young man in this fashion could open up a variety of opinions, rumors, naysayers and outright deceptions.

My two cents....

 

It is marketing and promotion plain and simple.  If Baseball Clearinghouse is paying the bills for this website along with other business supporters I have no problem with them advertising in a format that the web administrators allow. 

 

In addition, it is a thread topic that I will most likely click for the last time as there is really nothing that interests me.  I have nothing against the players.  However, I like to watch young up-and-coming talent on the field not read about them through a promotion.  JMO.

I agree.

Seems like this biz is using a player to fatten his wallet, not get the player noticed (see Prepsters comment as well).

Do these players know that you use free sites to market their talents?  How much do they pay you to do this?

I have sent a notification to Julie to see if Baseball Clearinghouse is a site sponsor.  I don't have access to the names of all of the sponsors and so, don't want to take action just yet until MNMom replies. 

I didn't realize this post would set off this much discussion,

correct me where I went off course here,

1) the watermark was placed on photo as a photo credit.

2) no one paid anyone a penny for the placement of the picture or statement.

3) information was placed from a source who was at an event, not getting paid a penny for attending event, simply to cover event as a media source.

4) I was under the impression, from viewing years worth of post from anonymous individuals, that actual documented information from a identified source, not a person who remains anonymous, would be welcomed.

5) I personally provided college recruiting articles to this site that have been posted for years, and used by thousands of viewers as a resource.

 

 

It seems I have stepped on some toes of the old guard of this site.  

 

I cover hundreds of games each year, arriving for the first game of the day and remaining till the last.  Overwhelmingly, at the end of day, I outlast every college recruiter and remain the only person in the ballpark left to document, film, evaluate players.  I am not getting paid for this.

 

To answer a few comments,

 

The post on this board involving game times, coaching changes, and nuts and bolts information on high school baseball is valuable to college recruiters and pro scouts.  static information provided by board posters tends to be helpful.  Most recruiters will tune out when the opinions and bickering between posters begins. 

 

Of course college recruiters get information from different resources, non d1 schools have very little to no budgets to travel for recruiting, they do use this information to identify players.  The majority of players are non d1 caliber players and benefit greatly from any exposure they may receive.

 

If there is a place on the forums to place the type of information I provide, please let me know.  If not, then no other post will be made.

 

This site allows pictures and video to be posted, it is part of the form when loading messages.  Am I the first person to load pictures in this manner?

 

I have been covering high school baseball for over 23 years, we'll before this site, or the internet or most posters have been around.  Before you accuse someone of "fattening their wallet" know what your talking about.  I am neither a parent or a paid representative,  and I am one of those "trusted" resources you spoke of.  

Next time you talk to a college coach or a travel team coach, mention my name and see what they say.

 

Thanks,

Bobby McKinney

 

 

 

 

Bobby- Does Jimmy Barnes know that his information is posted here on this website?

 

 

JH,

 

And you ask that question because? Are you suggesting that nothing can be posted about a player who does not know it is being posted?  I wouldn't be surprised if players don't know half of what is posted about them.  I say half because I suspect that half of the players read this forum (at least that was a rough percentage of my son's high school team.)  The information can be gleaned by anyone who attends a workout.  I have seen the "numbers" posted on this web site for all participants from some workout events for which the players DID pay to attend the event.  Did they all know it was being posted?

 

My only suggestion is that, instead of starting a thread on only one player, perhaps Mr. McKinney should have started a thread whose title was Uncommitted 2015s, if it has not been started already.  I know those kind of threads have been here before.  I recall posting information on a number of players that I had watched regularly (you may recall that I posted writeups on many high school games, including many in which Western Branch was not a participant), did not inform the players I was so doing and certainly was not paid a dime to do so.  (And I have had college coaches call to ask me about players in this area.)

 

As Mr. McKinney said, he spends long hours at the ballpark.  I see him frequently behind home plate with his radar gun poised on each pitcher.  I distributed to each high school player on my son's high school team, at Mr. McKinney's request, an information request form preprinted with the player's and high school name and with a return addressed envelope .  Mr. McKinney wanted the information to place in his data base AT NO CHARGE to any of the players who mailed it in.  I have viewed that information from the data base, at no charge.  I don't know whether Mr. McKinney still maintains it but he used to have links to all of the colleges in the US which was a great one stop short cut to college teams' web sites.

 

I thought this web site was to relay information about high school teams and their players.  It seems Mr. McKinney's posting fits in that category. 

Isn't a lot of what is posted on this web site "marketing, plain and simple?"  Travel teams post information on tryouts. Isn't that marketing for the teams?  Travel teams repeatedly post information on the success of their players at events (World Wooden Bat tournaments, for example) and work outs.  Isn't that marketing of both the teams and their players?  Posters, myself included, provide write-ups of games.  That is, in some respects, marketing of the players who were successful in those games.  The "All This", and "All That" teams are posted with regularity here.  Isn't that marketing of those players who played so well that they made the teams?

As for wanting to watch up and coming talent on the field, seeing information on a player might cause one to go watch a game in which he is playing.  I have attended MANY high school games in which my son was not playing and MANY high school games in which Western Branch was not a participant.  My interest in some of the games I attended, particularly to travel to the Beach District or Peninsula District, was sparked by having read something on this web site about a player or players on the team.

As a parent, I would be furious if someone posted a picture of my player on an unknown website without my permission, regardless of the reason. That is what was done here.
Interesting to note that many links on baseballclearinghouse.net were working yesterday but not as of now including the one of the player.
I must be missing something, if you just joined on 7/1 which articles are you referring to that you have posted?

Perhaps creating a "sticky" topic under each regional board for "Uncomitted XXXX Year" would be a good place for these posts (assuming one doesn't already exist.)

 

Since colleges tend to recruit regionally, it would be a logical place for these types of posts, and be much easier for a college coach to find info on kids that might help his program. 

 

Putting them on the "Virginia" board(or any other state) might get them lost as I can't see a coach scrolling through dozens of topics to find these "player" topics...but having a single topic that a coach could bookmark and check periodically might be helpful (you could do it by state, but then the coach would have to check several...where doing it by region they can just check one.)

 

Anyways, I have no problem with a player getting promoted (paid or not)...in the end it might help that kid find a team to extend their playing days another four years.

I dont see a coach scrolling through any topic to find a player.  There are so many other sites for that purpose.  There is a forum here for uncommited players?

The problem would be if he is promoting his business via this site and not paying to be a sponsor of this site.