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SomeBaseballDad posted:
PABaseball posted:
GaryMe posted:

IF PG were listening and decided to "regionalize" the WWBA event (Southeast, Northeast, Mid Atlanta, Central Plains, West Coast/Rocky Mtn States) they would get far more teams to participate because the travel would not be as prohibitive. Then they could hold a "WWBA World Championship" for say the top 10 teams at each event at a premium venue.  

I don't think this is true. The original idea behind the WWBA was to get the top talent in one centralized location. I still think that is true now, even if 100 of the 400 teams stink, the top talent is still there. If you had regionals, the top schools and MLB scouts are still going to head to the Georgia. They might get more teams and more $$$, but the whole premise behind all these teams flocking to Lake Point is the idea that scouts will be there. There is a guarantee scouts will be in Georgia, no guarantee they'll be in MD or NJ.

I'm also not sure it is possible with all the kids playing on teams from all over the country. 

If we're talking about MLB scouts only, they're everywhere, at least at the lower levels. I can think of 4 or 5 just in the area I live in, and that's the ones I know about. My son got to know a very high-level scout well. Helped him chose a college. When the kid asked about exposer the guy told him, "if you're good it doesn't matter where you go, we'll find you". 

The issue with the last sentence is too many players and their parents don’t understand a scout’s definition of good.

RJM posted:
SomeBaseballDad posted:
PABaseball posted:
GaryMe posted:

IF PG were listening and decided to "regionalize" the WWBA event (Southeast, Northeast, Mid Atlanta, Central Plains, West Coast/Rocky Mtn States) they would get far more teams to participate because the travel would not be as prohibitive. Then they could hold a "WWBA World Championship" for say the top 10 teams at each event at a premium venue.  

I don't think this is true. The original idea behind the WWBA was to get the top talent in one centralized location. I still think that is true now, even if 100 of the 400 teams stink, the top talent is still there. If you had regionals, the top schools and MLB scouts are still going to head to the Georgia. They might get more teams and more $$$, but the whole premise behind all these teams flocking to Lake Point is the idea that scouts will be there. There is a guarantee scouts will be in Georgia, no guarantee they'll be in MD or NJ.

I'm also not sure it is possible with all the kids playing on teams from all over the country. 

If we're talking about MLB scouts only, they're everywhere, at least at the lower levels. I can think of 4 or 5 just in the area I live in, and that's the ones I know about. My son got to know a very high-level scout well. Helped him chose a college. When the kid asked about exposer the guy told him, "if you're good it doesn't matter where you go, we'll find you". 

The issue with the last sentence is too many players and their parents don’t understand a scout’s definition of good.

Of the 135K or seniors playing high school varsity baseball, only about 300-400 are "good" by that standard.

GaryMe posted:
RJM posted:
SomeBaseballDad posted:
PABaseball posted:
GaryMe posted:

IF PG were listening and decided to "regionalize" the WWBA event (Southeast, Northeast, Mid Atlanta, Central Plains, West Coast/Rocky Mtn States) they would get far more teams to participate because the travel would not be as prohibitive. Then they could hold a "WWBA World Championship" for say the top 10 teams at each event at a premium venue.  

I don't think this is true. The original idea behind the WWBA was to get the top talent in one centralized location. I still think that is true now, even if 100 of the 400 teams stink, the top talent is still there. If you had regionals, the top schools and MLB scouts are still going to head to the Georgia. They might get more teams and more $$$, but the whole premise behind all these teams flocking to Lake Point is the idea that scouts will be there. There is a guarantee scouts will be in Georgia, no guarantee they'll be in MD or NJ.

I'm also not sure it is possible with all the kids playing on teams from all over the country. 

If we're talking about MLB scouts only, they're everywhere, at least at the lower levels. I can think of 4 or 5 just in the area I live in, and that's the ones I know about. My son got to know a very high-level scout well. Helped him chose a college. When the kid asked about exposer the guy told him, "if you're good it doesn't matter where you go, we'll find you". 

The issue with the last sentence is too many players and their parents don’t understand a scout’s definition of good.

Of the 135K or seniors playing high school varsity baseball, only about 300-400 are "good" by that standard.

Most players recruited by P5’s and other top programs are potential pro prospects at some level between rounds 1-40. A good percentage prove in college ball they’re not. So heading at the high school, heading to college ball level the number is more like 750-1000.

I keep trying to keep this discussion on topic but it keeps veering off... Interesting discussion though...  I hear the feedback on Atlanta and it stings bec I've grown very fond of this place.  But the feedback are mostly valid, especially with regards to traffic (the new express toll road is helping a lot though).  Living in LakePoint's backyard, I hate to see PG leave though so I'm hoping the rumors are false or that it's just PG's negotiating tactic.  Last I heard though, it's almost a done deal and LakePoint is looking to start and organize their own travel ball tournaments.

Shoveit4Ks posted:

I would like to submit the option to anyone who hates Atlanta traffic to never, and I mean EVERRRRRR (to quote JR) move here. 

Thank you,

Shove

In Atlanta there is a vortex every Friday afternoon.  It sometimes take you 2 hours to cover 25 miles!  Some scientist should really study this phenomenon known as Atlanta Friday Traffic. (because it wasn't bad enough the other days of the week!)

atlnon posted:

I keep trying to keep this discussion on topic but it keeps veering off... Interesting discussion though...  I hear the feedback on Atlanta and it stings bec I've grown very fond of this place.  But the feedback are mostly valid, especially with regards to traffic (the new express toll road is helping a lot though).  Living in LakePoint's backyard, I hate to see PG leave though so I'm hoping the rumors are false or that it's just PG's negotiating tactic.  Last I heard though, it's almost a done deal and LakePoint is looking to start and organize their own travel ball tournaments.

I don't know of any rumors, but they don't have the WWBAs in their calendar yet and there is nothing scheduled in 2019 for Lake Point which is interesting. If they were to move I would assume they would head to a spring training facility in Fl. There would obviously be scheduling obstacles (MiLB is in season and WWBA is right when draftees start reporting). I highly doubt PG would move it to Alabama as some have mentioned, but I could see FL happening. 

Could we all pool our money and do it.  I have the land about 30 Mins from Charlotte airport.  No traffic, but no motels either.  We could build our own motels, restaurants, fields, etc.  We could call it Mountpoint.  Just saying.  With all the people here and resources available we could make a bid to PG. 

Or we could build it in California .  My sons are done so I don't care where it goes.  Will be interesting though.  I asked a friend who is highly connected with PG and he said they are silent right now but he suspects something since there is no chatter about next year's schedules.

2019Dad posted:

Saw this announcement: https://www.prepbaseballreport...urnaments-1320569874

I'm not familiar with Bullpen Tournaments, but perhaps there is some competition coming on the tournament front?

That's Grand Park in Westfield, IN outside of Indy. Run by the Indiana Bulls hence the Bullpen Tournaments. Impressive place about 45 min from my house. Indiana PBR has a lot of their events there also.

Grand Park

Last edited by SomeBaseballDad
2019Dad posted:

Saw this announcement: https://www.prepbaseballreport...urnaments-1320569874

I'm not familiar with Bullpen Tournaments, but perhaps there is some competition coming on the tournament front?

There is no competition from anybody when it comes to tournaments. PBR takes some money away from PG when it comes to showcasing and camps but they are realistically about 10 years behind PG right now.

I also found it interesting that PBR was covering Jupiter WWBA, a PG event. Fairly heavily too 

2019Dad posted:

Saw this announcement: https://www.prepbaseballreport...urnaments-1320569874

I'm not familiar with Bullpen Tournaments, but perhaps there is some competition coming on the tournament front?

They play a lot of there tournaments out of Grand Park in Indiana first class tournaments very comparable to PG although not as big! 44s team played in the Midwest Prospect League tourney and it was heavily recruited by a lot of D1 schools

 

Wow...that's huge news.  I gotta admit, playing in mid-July in Iowa is a heck of a lot more comfortable than playing in GA.   I saw yesterday that Berliner Park in Columbus OH is turfing all of their full size fields this spring.  Seems a lot of places "up north" may be trying to cash in on the youth baseball movement instead of letting GA, the Carolinas and FL have it all.   Maybe some of that "southern $$$" will come up here to the Midwest for a change....we've all been spending it down there for years lol

Interesting. I always thought the WWBA and other top tournaments were so popular because much of the talent was in GA and FL. Easily accessible for the top players, minimal travel, costs low, etc. 

I guess having it in GA helped get it off the ground, now that they have established the brand they can put it anywhere. I'd rather head to Iowa than Georgia anyway.

I suspect this will increase the PG presence in the Midwest. The biggest winners in all this will be the Big 12 and the Big 10. 

The article said they were looking for their own place in GA....not that they were leaving.  

They are exploring a national footprint.  They want their own complexes across the country, rather than renting.  This makes sense if you have ever counted the amount of "PG sucks because they charge for_____" and the reply was "that's not us that is lakepoint."

CaCO3Girl posted:

The article said they were looking for their own place in GA....not that they were leaving.  

They are exploring a national footprint.  They want their own complexes across the country, rather than renting.  This makes sense if you have ever counted the amount of "PG sucks because they charge for_____" and the reply was "that's not us that is lakepoint."

Agreed. It makes no sense to abandon Georgia or the Southeast. It's a great market for amateur baseball. But it does make sense to expand nationally.

I wonder if it's possible that PG will end up with a stake in LakePoint....or even buy out the baseball portion?   Seems like that may be an easier route than trying to start from scratch.  It is a good location, just seems like LakePoint got too big too fast and maybe revenue couldn't keep up with the costs to build the place

Cobb county, technically west cobb lost the original bid for PG and LP years ago and the coalition from Emerson stepped up and Bartow "won" it. I wonder if Cobb will make a play for it again? Back in the day the politicians didn't see fit to give away the funds to attract the complex, wonder if that will change?

 

https://www.mdjonline.com/news...ee-e0311fe030ec.html

Last edited by Shoveit4Ks
Shoveit4Ks posted:

Cobb county, technically west cobb lost the original bid for PG and LP years ago and the coalition from Emerson stepped up and Bartow "won" it. I wonder if Cobb will make a play for it again? Back in the day the politicians didn't see fit to give away the funds to attract the complex, wonder if that will change?

A new place closer to East Cobb would be great....a lot of fields all closer together.  LakePoint was great, but man it's a drive to most of the other fields they used, though for us "northerners" coming down LakePoint being outside of Atlanta and right off of I-75 was in a perfect location....that and the rentals available on Lake Allatoona made for a great week.

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