Perfect Game Bulletin Board

Thanks very much.  I've heard such mixed reports about this topic.  Sometimes kids will sub on a team and hardly ever play.

I've also heard that this is mostly effective for pitchers.  That it is less likely for position players to find a spot where they will play...

I will agree 3and2Fastball.  Both of my sons were picked up as LHP.  But I will say that it was great for us.  They both ended up hitting and in every situation played every game for a minimal to no fee.  Normally the draw is teams needing pitching for the big events.  The team from New Jersey had an unreal amount of injuries two weeks before the event and we were going to be in Atlanta.  They wanted him to stay the rest of the tournament but we had other plans.  The team from California needed pitching but my son hit a homerun the first game while he was pitching and he batted every game after.  The team from South Carolina was actually coached by a former coach of my older son but did not realize my younger son was his brother.  We played for California and South Carolina for two years each.  Built some great relationships and is now interesting since we have moved to South Carolina.  Again, I say you have to ask questions.  A friend ours did it and is also hooked up with the team that he has played with for two years out of the bulletin board.  I have also had to turn some down because of cost or not assuring me of playing time.  There are teams out there that will try to add pitchers just in case without guaranteeing any playing time.  I will also say that you need to be honest, if you do not have a PG profile, on ability.  If you get there and are not who you say you are it could get ugly.

We have also been contacted by many of the pay to play teams which will work for some but I've never heard anyone personally who enjoyed that.  As in life, ask questions and be honest.

Thanks for sharing your story.  We were surprised when last year a travel team from TX offered to pay the airfare for our son to fly from NY to CA for the UA SW national championships.  Only thing we needed was to pay the hotels and food.  Ultimately it didn't work because the offer came just a week in advance and he was already scheduled for a camp at a school of interest that we had already paid for.

This year his primary team will be a team from NJ, but thanks to the PG bulletin board we were also able to add a tourney in FL with a FL team and one in SC with a SC team.  Watching him play is entertainment for us and we don't mind the extended road trips and travel demand.  We also like to hear his reports from inside the dugout on the varying cultures of the teams he plays on, and the coaching.

One thing that really struck him last summer, while participating in college camps in the Houston area, was just how different the coaching demeanor was.  In TX, compared to camps he did in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the coaching staffs were much more no-nonsense, even borderline militaristic, not really friendly.  He said it felt as if the presumption was that the kids at these camps weren't serious and needed to be made to be, whereas on the Atlantic coast, there was a much greater initial respect for the participants and spirit of friendliness.  We reminded him of course that our sample size was limited, so it's hard to know if this regional difference can be more broadly applied.  But this summer maybe we'll add some more data points to our discussions.  

I'll look forward to sharing our experiences on this topic three months from now!

JeffnNYC posted:

Thanks for sharing your story.  We were surprised when last year a travel team from TX offered to pay the airfare for our son to fly from NY to CA for the UA SW national championships.  Only thing we needed was to pay the hotels and food.  Ultimately it didn't work because the offer came just a week in advance and he was already scheduled for a camp at a school of interest that we had already paid for.

This year his primary team will be a team from NJ, but thanks to the PG bulletin board we were also able to add a tourney in FL with a FL team and one in SC with a SC team.  Watching him play is entertainment for us and we don't mind the extended road trips and travel demand.  We also like to hear his reports from inside the dugout on the varying cultures of the teams he plays on, and the coaching.

One thing that really struck him last summer, while participating in college camps in the Houston area, was just how different the coaching demeanor was.  In TX, compared to camps he did in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the coaching staffs were much more no-nonsense, even borderline militaristic, not really friendly.  He said it felt as if the presumption was that the kids at these camps weren't serious and needed to be made to be, whereas on the Atlantic coast, there was a much greater initial respect for the participants and spirit of friendliness.  We reminded him of course that our sample size was limited, so it's hard to know if this regional difference can be more broadly applied.  But this summer maybe we'll add some more data points to our discussions.  

I'll look forward to sharing our experiences on this topic three months from now!

What SC team is he playing with and where?

it is interesting playing with people you do not know.  The New Jersey team was interesting because he was 14 playing WWBA 17U and looked very much 14.  There were a great number of scouts there because the team we were playing was projected to win and did.  The scouts asked the New Jersey parents for more info on the kid on the mound and they said we don't even know that kid.  One pointed at me and said I think that is his dad.  The scouts wanted to know how a 14 year old kid from Missouri ended up on a 17U team from New Jersey.  Interestingly, my son walked away that night only knowing one kid's name.  He said they just did not talk to him.  Back then he just did his thing.  Now he is a little more socialable.

I would imagine that position players with a good grade from a Perfect Game showcase would have a much better chance of landing a spot, same with pitchers with verifiable velocity readings.