louisiana09 - Showcases

louisiana09,

Personally I don't think 15 is too young for your son to start attending a local or regional showcase or two.

Some of the posts you read about age may have really meant "it's not necessary for them to be seen when they are that young; save your money". College coaches are not going to start recruiting a 15-yr-old sophomore unless he is exceptional - they are busy looking at juniors and seniors. But if a showcase is affordable for you, your son can benefit at this age, by getting comfortable with how showcases work, and knowing what to expect when he is a little older and it does count.

Also, with you living in a small town, he can start to see how he measures up to some players from perhaps "baseball hotbeds" in your region. My son attended his first regional showcase at age 16 and it was an eye opener. He was in the lower rung of players at that showcase (one in his group was an 18-yr-old senior drafted in the 2nd round a couple of months later), but he enjoyed the experience and didn't feel embarassed or intimidated, came home very excited to work on improving.

My advice: If your son is interested and you can afford it, send him to 1 or 2 showcases that the HS coach recommends.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Julie

MN

Quote: if a showcase is affordable for you, your son can benefit at this age, by getting comfortable with how showcases work, and knowing what to expect when he is a little older and it does count.


Thanks for the info and great advice. We are planning on sending him. I didn't know if this could hurt him in anyway. Son is not easily intimidated or discouraged so he should be fine. We have faith in his hs coach and we know that he will do what is best for our son.

lou09 - I agree with MNMom's advice. If you search through the forum, you can find lots of ideas and opinions on showcases too. Also, don't forget to check out the articles at the front of the site. Good luck to your son and welcome to HSBBW!

Here are a few resources that helped us out a few years ago...and a couple new ones I found...

1. http://eteamz.active.com/5abaseball/index.cfm
Houston 5A baseball has a tremendous following & presence in the baseball community. Contact Randy Byers (founder of H5ABaseball) for info on "local or Regional showcases".

2. Triple Play Baseball hosts many tournaments & showcase events. Summer Select Teams typically focus on the "Showcase Ciruit" for both Juco & 4 yr. college recruits...TPB may be able to help you with getting your son on a team as a guest.

3. http://www.theballparkacademy.com/camps.htm. New, so don't know much about them.
4. Houston Heat & Kyle Chapman...great summer teams,... may accept guest players...
5. Louisiana All-Stars Baseball Club...in (Baton Rouge) Louisiana & takes his teams to many Showcase events around the country & hosts a few high profile tournaments in La.
6. Check with JUCO's & 4 yr. schools (Tulane, LSU, McNeese, UNO, LA. Tech, etc.) to see if they host showcase events, or can tell you about the "showcase ciruit".
7. PG...check their schedule in Jan for Houston Area Underclass events or BCS/ WWBA events in South Texas/ Houston Area. Last year they did Underclass at both Baylor & Texas A & M...LOTS of exposure with either of these venues!!! Excellent!!
8. If he's a stud, , check MLB Scouting for list of tryouts...usually they publish the list in May for the upcoming summer...
9. Randy Taylor, Tex. Rangers Scout, in Houston, or Rusty Gerhart, MLSB scout in Texas...
10. Camps... Baylor, TCU, Tex A&M, SHSU, U of H, Tulane, LSU...Get to know these recruiters, have son fill out questionaires...gets him on their mailing list. Be sure to ask which College recruiters have "committed" to attend...that's often different than "We invited Coach So & So at XYZ Univ..."

15 yrs. may be early for some, just right for others. Recruiters like to see a couple years of "progress", meaning they follow kids during HS. Can't comment on your HS coach recommendations for "local showcases"...but he may means "camps"...(see above).
Key to the whole process is networking! Having your son evaluated objectively will give you an idea of how to proceed with the "exposure" part of the equation, related to the recruiting part of the process.

Good Luck!!

Baseball Mom:

Thanks for all of the information, it will be a great help. This is very new to me, but I am learning. HS Coach wants him to try out for the “Louisiana Legends” baseball team. A couple of kids from our area played for this team and had good results. Coach would like for him to try out for the 17/under team instead of the 16/under. Not too sure about this, I would rather him play on the 16/under team if it means more playing time. We will have to weigh the options.
Son is scheduled to take his first ACT test tomorrow, which is very important to college coaches in Louisiana due to the TOPS scholarship program. If he scores a 20 or above tuition is paid. Son is only a sophomore so I am not really sure how he will do. I think it is early to be taking it, he has not yet taken a lot of courses that he will be tested on but he is in all honors courses and has a 3.9 GPA so hopefully he will do ok. Again, thanks for the info.

son is at Tulane...Mark Kingston is the recruiter...great guy, get to know him!

baseballmom

I will. Hopefully my son's dream of playing college ball will come true like it did for your son. He is such a hard worker at athletics and academics (always, always 100%), it breaks my heart sometimes because he works so darn hard.

You cant go wrong with hard work, no matter what direction you're heading into.

We too are from a small town.
I have found that taking my son to college showcases and clinics has gotten him " seen " and has also allowed him to " see " the competition out there. Its easy to tread in shallow water, but trying to swim in the deep end is a whole different story. With every experience we have learned something new and I think thats been a definate positive for both of us.
We're rooting for your son too!!!!
Persevere!!! Persevere !!!!! Perservere!!!