Perfect Game grades....

top of each reports page has this chart, not sure if that's what you are looking for

I was recently looking through 2014 prospects and came across a catcher with a grade of 10. To my surprise, a little research revealed he was the son of an old girlfriend of mine.  We got in touch, and when I expressed that this was quite an accomplishment, she told me that in her meetings with scouts, they told her they pay no attention at all to that score. That took me a little by surprise. I'm sure that it draws attention, though, regardless of what they say.

I love the "1" I've never even seen a 2 or 3. I wonder if they've ever issued a 1.

I would love to hear from LH and PG Staff in regard to what she expressed!

 I saw a sophomore post a 9 at PG and within a week his dad received 2 E-Mails from advisers, I know that's a little different but somebody thinks that the score has some value. 

I'll hit a few points here.

First off, I think a lot of people overvalue a PG grade. I've seen many instances where a player and/or parent act as though a PG grade is the be-all and end-all form of determining their future(s) in baseball. PG events aren't an absolute necessity for getting recruited or scouted.

With that being said, PG is an absolutely outstanding venue for such exposure, and is easily at or near the top of the "game" in doing so. Going to a PG event, if capable, is a very good experience and often times will lead to exposure. I am very much a fan of PG events and I know that many college coaches and professional scouts attend several of them as well.

I can't speak for other talent evaluators, but I consider a PG grade a good piece of information on a player. I wouldn't evaluate a player based off of another person's evaluation. I trust my evaluation skills more than anyone else's evaluation skills, simply due to the fact that it is my name going on that evaluation.

PG is a very good resource and the people running the events do have a good sense of talent. If I see a player with a grade of 10, I will probably glance through that player's profile page and get a little more information about him. Same with a player that has a 9, 8, 7, 6, etc. I have been to PG events and seen a player with a 10 and felt as though that player was not a pro prospect, and I have been to events where a player has received a 7 and I thought he was a pro prospect. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

So, take this with a grain of salt. PG evaluations and grades are a nice tool. I consider them a snapshot of a player's abilities, with an evaluation to project a player's future tools from someone who has seen a lot of players and has a good sense of what they're looking at. I would never turn down information about a player, and PG provides a lot of information on a lot of players. I wouldn't evaluate a player based on another person's word, regardless of who that person is.

Never been to a PG event but we sure want to (come to Hawaii please). From everything i have read on them it seems to be a first class operation run by people who love baseball. My son is constantly on the site watching videos of his peers and actually using some of them as learning tools.

What i don't understand fully is how the state rankings shape out, looking at Hawaii alone as an example it seems that only a handful of kids even have profiles and yet some without are ranked high in State (and i can confirm that some of those players should not be ranked at all after playing against them for years). Gives plenty of hope to my son if we could ever get to an event.

I happily subscribed for the information that they offer.  

They pay attention like JH says, it might get you a look but not more, then it's up to you.  My son had a 9.5 last summer and his email and our mailbox blew up.  However not a single offer can without a coach seeing him.  The pro guys filmed sent questionnaires and recently filmed him, but no way they take it more than a tool.  They trust "their" eyes.  That said when we toured campus they had his profile up on every computer in the offices, kind of a nice touch I thought.

Does anyone know why a lot of the profiles on PG do not have grades?  Many do have grades but I've noticed even more without one.  Are those without a grade not talented enough to get rated or maybe I need more than the free subscription level?

I believe that means that they participated in a PG tourny but have not yet participated in a PG Showcase

The PG grade is nothing more than our opinion of a player.  

Most often college recruiters and MLB scouts will form their own opinion of a player.

often these opinions differ from one pro scout or college recruiter to another scout or recruiter.  

However, those that say they pay no attention are very rare and they are playing with fire If that were true.

I was at an event talking about players with a MLB Scouting Director.  I brought up a name and showed him our profile on a certain player we had ranked fairly high.  He checked and found out his area scout had not turned the player in.  This scout is no longer employed and the player we talked about went in the third round. Maybe that scout should have paid attention. Had he paid attention he would have made it a point to see the player and most scouts aren't going to miss turning in a guy that ends up going in the 3rd round.  And he might still be employed!

So they can ignore if they want or they can pay attention and gather any worthwhile information and do there job.  Truth is, most that say they pay no attention to rankings and grades are simply saying they make up their own mind.  It doesn't mean they ignore the information.

Think about it... Over 80% of all players drafted the past 6 or 7 years have attended these events.  Over 600 have played in the Big Leagues.  Countless players at the top college programs in the country.  Anyone (Even Us) that sees that many players with that kind of talent over a long period of time tends to get pretty good at evaluating talent. Why on earth would anyone ignore that?

I know we pay close attention to any information we get from reliable sources.  Lots of that info comes from college coaches and scouts.  It doesn't mean we would always agree with what we hear. It just means we want to see that player and form our own opinion.  Works that way for most everyone.

You don't have to sell me. Just to clarify, my point was that this was that I believe scouts (and this was mostly one in particular) would say this, but I don't believe it's true. It seems maybe they would want to perhaps, I don't know, hold expectations down a bit? PG is at the top of their game, but I am sure a scout wouldn't want it to seem that he was using someone else's evaluation for any purpose whatsoever. Hell, if you gave my kid a 10, everyone I ever met would know about it.

roothog,

I'm really not trying to sell anything.  Sometimes it's hard to make an honest reply without it looking like your trying to sell something.  I have absolutely no interest in pulling the wool over someone's eyes.  

I appreciate your response and I did understand what you first posted.  BTW, it's not the first time I've heard about a scout saying that.  So I did feel like addressing that. Bottom line is that "good" scouts don't ignore information coming from credible sources. I believe PG is considered a very credible source by college recruiters and MLB scouting departments, based on a very long track record. Still in the end, what we think is not as important as what they think! It just so happens that most all the time we think very closely when it comes to evaluation.

It has been my experience that pro scouts, when they engage you, will downplay their interest in a player or in any plaudits the player may have gotten, so as to avoid throwing gasoline on the fire that is the helicopter parent and/or the player's ego.

I suspect the pro scout who claimed not to pay attention to PG grades was deflecting the entire discussion, not necessarily telling the truth.

Pro scouts are trained and paid to do their own evaluations.  But they can't go around evaluating anyone and everyone.  They do look at grades and rankings, etc., if only to get some idea of what players they should be looking at, at least for starters.  And if their evaluation is under a PG grade, they might look more than once to make sure they didn't catch the kid on a day when he had the flu or something.  Because no one wants to miss a top kid.

Midlo brings up a good point, not only hat no one wants to miss a top player, but MLB scouts absolutely can't miss a top player and stay employed.

All opinions from people we know have seen a lot of talent is important to us.  It doesn't mean we will end up sharing the same opinion after seeing the player.  

I was once asked if college recruiters tell us about an outstanding player they have seen. I said, yes, we get lots of information from college coaches.  The person asked why they would give us information rather than just keep it a secret For their own good. Well that good player is only going to attend one college.  If it's not your college and if he is truly that good, why not get him in front of the scouting community? It's amazing how much we hear college recruiters brag up the kid that has decided on a college in their same conference. Also amazing how often college coaches call and ask where we think one of their recruits will go in the draft.

It's simple, if I want to know who the best young players are in Virginia, I contact Midlo or someone else like him who would likely know and I can trust.  For that matter we talk to Brian O'Connor and his staff a lot.  It's all about gathering information, after awhile you build a list of people you can trust and those that you can't trust.  Everyone that is any good at finding talent does this.  It is impossible for any one person to discover all the talent without utilizing information provided by others.

Its interesting to see - after all these years - that this topic continues to come up.

My advice to parents - and the players - is this:

1) Understand the facts first. Fact - Perfect Game is - by far - the best talent evaluation organization.

2) Perfect Game's evaluations do matter. If a coach takes the time to ask them about a player - it matters. Automatically. The go - no go decision will still be made by the person requesting Perfect Game's opinion - but if they ask - it matters. Whether you agree with it or not.

3) If you are lucky enough to get invited to a Perfect Game event - and you dont like the feedback - strive to get better. Its that simple. Any other alternative is similar to spitting into the wind in my opinion.

I admire Jerry (and the organization he has developed) for many things - including the way he has dealt with these questions over the years. Patience - honesty - professionalism - and a persistent belief in what he - and his organization does for young players.

After a recent, exhaustive, conversation with a scout I found that some truly do pay attention to the PG grades sometimes to his detriment. I was telling him about a kid that got missed in HS, which his reply was, "We don't miss players". I went on to tell him the kids numbers, which a couple are above average, his reply to me was that the PG grade said he was a 7. I wish I had been in person with him because I would have had to laugh in his face. I told him that the numbers he was looking at was from when the kid was in the tenth grade. The kid is in college now. After our conversation I did find out that he is actually no longer a scout at all. I wonder why?

 If D1 schools like to brag on their website after they land a kid that PG has ranked fairly high, that means people look, listen, and like the whole Perfect Game format.

after about 6 years i found out that my Neighbor was an mlb scout for years and his son is something else in the business, not sure if he is a scout or some sort of intermediary between players and colleges. One of the more interesting things i have learned from them (only see the son a few times a year) is that both used and use PG as a tool, what i found most interesting is that they apparently get much more satisfaction from finding that "guy" that never attended an event and was an unknown to the scouting world which makes sense if that's your job. 

My son is really looking forward to attending a PG event, just wish there was one in Hawaii :}