Has anyone done this in the past? What schools have shown up? What sort of interest was generated from this showcase versus Headfirst/Stanford/Top96? Thank you for any help.
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My son signed up for one of the Headfirst California sessions this Summer over PG, HF and the others. It cost more, but what I wanted was the names of the schools and the coaches who were participating before committing the sign-up costs. When we found 10+ schools that were good matches, that was the selling point for us. I am not sure when PG lists the coaches and schools attending (if ever). I know Stanford eventually releases the list of coaches and schools, but it is after the entire camp has already sold out. Top 96 is a lower cost option and has more area academic showcases (Midwest, South, etc.) and they too list the schools and coaches before you pay. In the end, even at the higher cost, what we heard and read about Headfirst convinced us to go that route.
I can't speak specifically about the PG Academic Showcase because my 2016 did not attend but if it's like the PG showcases he did attend there would be a marked difference between it and the HF showcase. First, as Backstop pointed out, you'll know what schools will be in attendance at HF where you won't know who will attend the PG event until or if you see them there. Second, the schools will be sometimes visible, sometimes not but at arms length. At HF the player (and parents) will be right with the coaches as they are everywhere - on fields, in seats, walking around, etc. You will get a booklet with the coaches in attendance and their picture. Your player will be able to find them and speak to them. There is a cost for this yes, and it's not cheap. But, it's really not that much more expensive than a PG event in the grand scheme of things. I could not find the cost of the Academic Showcase online but the cost is similar to the NE event that my 2016 attended we're talking a drop in the bucket when compared to what I spent over the years - about the cost of one high end composite bat.
Depending on where you are at in the recruiting process and what level you expect your son to play it may not make sense to guess on who will attend an event. At some point you'll need to know who will be there and be able to target them via communication (email, phone, smoke signals) to get them to your game during the event. I may be wrong but I just don't think you can do that at a PG showcase (and I'm guessing someone will tell me I'm wrong). Either way it will come down to how the player performs on the field and what their grades/tests scores are like but I would not go into an event that costs that much without more information to work with. Just my opinion.
FWIW: redbird5 (VA Forum mod) is holding an academic showcase in late June. See http://coastalvabaseball.com/ for details.
You should use the search button upper left on this site. There is a ton of really good and detailed info on PG Academic as well as PG Academic pros and cons vs. HeadFirst. I bet your questions will be answered..but...
My 2016 son attended after freshman year, and it was by far the single most impactful event (other than maybe WWBA in Oct. of Junior year) for him and kick started his recruiting process. Really quickly (because this is all already here and you will find it if you use the search button)...
PG Academic - lots of schools but you won't know who in advance and won't be able to talk to coaches directly; key to get a rating, see how one stacks up and have PG scouts provide a report that can be accessed on PG by any coach at any time whether he was there or not. Also, as in my son's case, it "signals to the market" that a kid is highly academic focused...
HeadFirst - more schools flock there; direct dialogue with coaches, more games/playing time. My son did this, too.
Did I mention you might benefit from the search button? 
I can't say anything more than I have heard lots of good things about HeadFirst.
People often ask why we don't publish the schools or scouts that will be attending our events.
The reason is because we can't, we don't hiore scouts or assistant college coaches to work the event. Truth is they pay us to attend our events when they get there. This makes it impossible to provide any honest list ahead of time or guarantee who will be there. On the good side they are there to scout and recruit, nothing else.
We hold events that have very few scouts or recruiters, to events that are the biggest attractions in all of baseball for scouts and recruiters. And never for absolutely sure do we know ahead of time exactly who is going to show up.
When we hire people to help with an event it is called a camp or clinic and we would then advertise who will be there.
Guess since they pay the day of when they get there it's difficult to post online list ahead of time.
To PGStaff,
Don't mean to hijack this topic, but there are lots of non-PG showcases posting the college and MLB organization names, after the event. With this historical data, the parents/recruits can know if it's worthwhile to attend the event this year. Not sure why PG never published the scouts attendance info, is it confidential or has legal complication.
We have done that in the past and got some complaints from scouting departments and one college. We actually posted an interview we did with the late Joe Walsh (Harvard). He said some great things about PG in that interview. Within days he called me and asked to take it down. Compliance wouldn't allow it. NCAA rules disallow any college coach from endorsing a scouting service or their events.
Truth is we feel like we work for every college and every MLB scouting department. They use our information even if they didn't attend an event. Believe it or not, they know that we know which players they would like. So while there could be an event that has a few scouts and college coaches, the information on those players at the event is going to be seen by a very large number of decision makers.
I could give hundreds of examples, but here is one. One day at an indoor showcase in Cedar Rapids Iowa a kid from Wisconsin showed up. Nobody knew he was and he was already a senior. He was from very small town in Northern Wisconsin. He threw about 35 pitches and that was all it took. We wrote him up. The Recruiter from Clemson called me up and asked about him. That coach is now the head coach at Florida. Anyway, he told me they had lost a pitcher and needed to replace him and wanted to know if I thought this kid from Wisconsin would be good enough for Clemson. I told him the kid is talented enough to pitch at any college including Clemson. The recruiter had not seen the kid pitch, called him up and the next thing you know he was committed to Clemson. His name is Jason Berken and if my memory serves correct, he became a freshman All American. After Clemson he pitched some in the Big leagues.
These kind of discussions are common around here. And I sure can understand why people might want to know which colleges are going to be at an event. But lots of times recruiters and MLB scouts are busy working and even though they might be friendly they prefer to get their work done. As hard is might be to hear, they know who and what they want. They really don't want to hear from every player and parent that was at the same event. It just takes time away from them being successful. However, some, not all, DIII coaches aren't so selective and the more people interested in their school the better it is. Especially if they know the player's academics match their college.
LHPParent,
As noted above, there are plenty of threads on this topic already.
My 2012 did PG National Academic, my 2016 did not. Both did Stanford Futures and All Star camps. Both did HF Jupiter and Long Island. 2016 did HF Sac.
IMHO, the rating my 2012 got from the PG event, the exposure to the coaches who were there, and the top prospect status he got there were all significant factors in his recruiting process. He was a national class talent and the rating from PG was a trusted "third party" assessment of his baseball tools, i.e., trusted by college coaches.
My 2016 was not at the same baseball tools level. Again, IMHO the PG National Academic was not a fit for him. He would not have received a high rating. We were concerned that that could hinder his recruiting chances so we focused on getting direct exposure to college coaches where he was a fit for their programs. We focused on the best for him; the academic D3's that are a large part of HF events. The time and money we would've spent at PG National Academic (lower fee but travel across the country for us), we directed to HF Sac and then went to HF Long Island as planned.
There are plenty of coaches at all levels/divisions at PG events. But not knowing who would be there was a factor in whether it made sense for my 2016 to go. My 2012 was a D1 talent and was rated highly by PG. It didn't matter whether there were a lot of schools there or not (though there were that fit him and he was offered by several immediately after they saw him at National Academic). His high rating and positive review was marketable to all schools.
I've commented on Stanford camps several times. I am not as bullish on them as I was several years ago. Too crowded. Expensive. And not enough coaches. But if you have the time and $$$ and want a really fun experience for your player, then by all means. I wouldn't do it again.
Headfirst is the premier academic showcase organization in my book. Both on how they run the camps and the depth and breadth of schools attending. Again, IMHO.
But as always, fish in the right pond. It could be HF or Top96 or Showball or PG or Stanford or...some combination or something else.
Go where the schools on your player's vetted list will be.
Nice to have the PG Staff explain the difference and the reasoning why they do not and cannot list the schools and coaches at the Academic Showcase. There are certainly benefits from going to other PG events and getting scouted and rated at those. My son is doing one of those as well. However, when it comes to the academic showcases, all indications are Headfirst is the best option to actually meet the coaches from the schools and have an opportunity to discuss a future at their institution. It may not lead to anything, but as MK indicated, the cost is well worth it to get the opportunity to meet the coaches and get a lot of questions answered.
For the record, I do not support very many people that do what we do. Some I have no respect for.
But HeadFirst seems to be the best at what they do. I would actually enjoy attending one of their events some day. They seem to do things the right way and they have helped many young kids get a great education. I would be a fool not to respect HeadFirst and I fully understand why so many attend their events. It certainly doesn't bother me when someone chooses HeadFirst over the PG Academic, in some cases I might even recommend that. I think each reaches a different audience and in a different way.
Bottom line, people need to do what is likely to work the best for their player. Players are not all the same.
PGStaff posted:We have done that in the past and got some complaints from scouting departments and one college. We actually posted an interview we did with the late Joe Walsh (Harvard). He said some great things about PG in that interview. Within days he called me and asked to take it down. Compliance wouldn't allow it. NCAA rules disallow any college coach from endorsing a scouting service or their events.
Truth is we feel like we work for every college and every MLB scouting department. They use our information even if they didn't attend an event. Believe it or not, they know that we know which players they would like. So while there could be an event that has a few scouts and college coaches, the information on those players at the event is going to be seen by a very large number of decision makers.
I could give hundreds of examples, but here is one. One day at an indoor showcase in Cedar Rapids Iowa a kid from Wisconsin showed up. Nobody knew he was and he was already a senior. He was from very small town in Northern Wisconsin. He threw about 35 pitches and that was all it took. We wrote him up. The Recruiter from Clemson called me up and asked about him. That coach is now the head coach at Florida. Anyway, he told me they had lost a pitcher and needed to replace him and wanted to know if I thought this kid from Wisconsin would be good enough for Clemson. I told him the kid is talented enough to pitch at any college including Clemson. The recruiter had not seen the kid pitch, called him up and the next thing you know he was committed to Clemson. His name is Jason Berken and if my memory serves correct, he became a freshman All American. After Clemson he pitched some in the Big leagues.
These kind of discussions are common around here. And I sure can understand why people might want to know which colleges are going to be at an event. But lots of times recruiters and MLB scouts are busy working and even though they might be friendly they prefer to get their work done. As hard is might be to hear, they know who and what they want. They really don't want to hear from every player and parent that was at the same event. It just takes time away from them being successful. However, some, not all, DIII coaches aren't so selective and the more people interested in their school the better it is. Especially if they know the player's academics match their college.
Nice story Jerry about DKs teammate. Berken would have been a very early draft pick his Junior season but needed TJS. I believe as a senior they were pretty disappointed when he was taken in the 6th? round but he spent quite a few years in MLB.
BTW Berken is still in the game.
In the off season he runs a very successful camp program in Wisconsin.
Another factor in your decision making may be timing. As I have commented previously, it is a huge bummer to my 2017 that the PG Academic Showcase is on an academic weekend! The timing is exactly the same time as all of the SAT Subject Tests. Most high academic schools "strongly recommend" taking 2 of these, some schools like Georgetown ask for 3. Some of the subject tests are not offered every sitting, including many of the languages. So the timing of the PG National Academic Showcase is exactly when many many juniors are sitting for these tests, including mine. Of course it is also final exams for some too.
Twoboys posted:Another factor in your decision making may be timing. As I have commented previously, it is a huge bummer to my 2017 that the PG Academic Showcase is on an academic weekend! The timing is exactly the same time as all of the SAT Subject Tests. Most high academic schools "strongly recommend" taking 2 of these, some schools like Georgetown ask for 3. Some of the subject tests are not offered every sitting, including many of the languages. So the timing of the PG National Academic Showcase is exactly when many many juniors are sitting for these tests, including mine. Of course it is also final exams for some too.
We were considering the PG Academic for our son as well, but similar conflict.
Gov posted:Twoboys posted:Another factor in your decision making may be timing. As I have commented previously, it is a huge bummer to my 2017 that the PG Academic Showcase is on an academic weekend! The timing is exactly the same time as all of the SAT Subject Tests. Most high academic schools "strongly recommend" taking 2 of these, some schools like Georgetown ask for 3. Some of the subject tests are not offered every sitting, including many of the languages. So the timing of the PG National Academic Showcase is exactly when many many juniors are sitting for these tests, including mine. Of course it is also final exams for some too.
We were considering the PG Academic for our son as well, but similar conflict.
Same here. Maybe Jerry can influence the future dates of the event?
Besides the PG National Academic showcase, there's also a new "PG West Academic Showcase" this year. Jul 23-24 2016. It's new, though, so even less info on which school may show up.
Yes that was a big mistake in scheduling on our part. Wish I had a better excuse.
Sorry that I'm late to this thread. Jerry, your staff has probably already taken care of this, but for future reference, ACT has their test dates set through June 2017, and SAT actually has their test dates set through June 2019.
Academic showcase? Is there a minimum gpa or ACT to get in?
I have never seen anything published as far as minimum GPA but have heard player should be at min 3.4 for most of these to be worth the time and money....have not heard anything on test scores. If anyone knows specifically please post. Thanks!
I'm going to guess the participation fee is not insignificant (I checked PG website briefly but it was not readily apparent. I'd guess the usual $600) and therefore going to guess that helps you decide if your kid is "academic" enough to attend.
I believe HF and their $900+ registration fee also helps folks figure out if their kid has the academics to attend a showcase geared toward high academic kids and colleges.
Louise asks the question on minimum GPA. Some showcases and camps provide recommendations, and the best answer is "it depends".
In our experience with a 2012 and 2016, we found that ACT or SAT scores were far more important to college coaches, at least initially, than GPA or curriculum. The standardized test scores were considered comparable nationwide for all players and typically provided the initial academic hurdle for whether a coach/school was interested. GPAs and curriculum vary...a 3.4 somewhere isn't considered equal to a 3.4 somewhere else.
The requirements vary by school of course too. The Ivies had a higher academic hurdle (test scores, GPA, curriculum, etc.) than most schools in the Centennial Conference or Patriot League.
And despite all the above, if a player is a stud, that player gets more leeway academically than a player who has lesser skills. That's true at the Ivies (my 2012 wasn't close to average ACT/SAT or GPA but he threw in the 90's) and most everywhere else. My 2012 had a 3.08 GPA. He was "offered" by all the Ivies, Patriot, and a bunch of other places. My 2016 has a 3.6 GPA. He wasn't offered by any of them.
sounds like there is a direct correlation between being qualified as "academically sound" and the velocity of your fastball.
I actually asked HF about 2016s GPA and test scores before we signed him up and they gave me the go ahead. I think it's safe to say that GPAs need to be over 3.0. How far over will depend on your position, what school you want to attend and how you perform at the showcase. One coach of a travel team told me he would never recommend an academic showcase (like HF) unless the player had a 3.5 or over and I saw the 3.4 comment above. 2016 wasn't at that level but he killed it in his 2 innings pitching at HF on day 1 and got a lot of interest.
What I find intresting is that he had interest from 3 Centennial Conf schools and two of them had very clear outlines of academic money available for his GPA/test score level and sent us countless mailings/emails about it completely separate from baseball. So clearly 2016s GPA was fine for an academic showcase even without baseball for some of the schools there. He also had interest from a school that just based on what we know about it would seem like he would never get in - which we did not pursue. In the end he picked a school where we really worried about him getting in but the coaches said "he's right where we need him" grades wise.
I'm not totally sure if it's even possible to draw conclusions from one players situation (as you can tell from my rambling post) but the conclusion I came up with is not to be scared away by the "academic" label.
I'll make the point again that a kid's academic makeup is only as viable as mom and dad's willingness to fork out the $600-$1000 in showcase fees. In other words, we wouldn't be having this discussion if "Academic Showcases" were going on every weekend in every state for $200.
The catch is two of the most notable academic showcases (HF and PG) are in fairly obscure locations for their national draw, for only about 10-days per year, and they ain't $200. So the question is, "Is this worth my money?" If you think it is then go. If your gut says your kid's academic record won't stand, then save your money.
I have to put my 2 cents in about the price of these HF, PG, etc showcases. My question has been and still is "what about kids whose parents cannot afford to spend that kind of money on these events?" While this is not a major issue for us, we still have to pick and choose where we spend the money. With summer team costing $2000 +, travel costs and then costs of these camps. Is it also a good idea to just give the coaches the player's summer schedule and if they can make it, they do, if not, then so be it. There are plenty of tournaments that are played where coaches attend. Especially if they are within driving distance. Any input is appreciated.
Thanks for the responses. I guess from this thread and others, the main difference is PG gives a seal of approval on a stat line, while the others are about getting front of targeted coaches. Is this a fair conclusion? I am also concluding that if a player is academically oriented, go to PG to provide a filter for level of play and work from there. Would you agree with this conclusion as well?
LHPParent,
Players that participate in the PG National Academic Showcase will receive a rating from PG. Each players tools, not stat line, will be assessed by PG. No seal of approval...it's a rating, though some players will be named "top prospects" or receive other accolades. And no assessment of the stat line from any games that get played at the showcase.
And there will be coaches at the showcase. Are these the "right" coaches for your player? That depends as has been discussed in this thread.
Going to a PG showcase and getting that rating, will give you PG's very experienced assessment of a player. Yes, that can help guide you with what your player's "level of play" is. It will be one, very experienced opinion.
Do you need that opinion to provide the "filter for level of play"? If so, then by all means go. I would encourage getting multiple opinions, but PG's will be pretty darned good.
Those opinions (plus the opinions of academic/college advisors) will help your player fish in the right pond. Your family can build a vetted list of schools that is the intersection of potentially where your player can play and where they can be admitted. Then I recommend the player goes where the coaches on his vetted list will be, e.g., other showcases, camps, etc. And there's a bunch of other things a player will do to demonstrate interest in the schools on their list, e.g., visit admissions, visit coaches, fill out admissions and baseball profiles, send video, communicate frequently, etc.
Good luck!