Perfect Game Top Prospect Showcase

My 2016 got an invite to the Sunshine West Showcase, but the cost was too much and did not fit within my budget this summer. I hear PG does a nice job. 

Still hoping somebody will weigh in on whether it's worth the extra expense to do the PG TOP Prospect Showcase, on top of the Golden West.   

I understand that the Top Prospect Showcase has somewhat or slightly (don't know how much) stringent conditions on invites.  Does that mean that it is a higher visibility event?  More competition so that doing well matters more?  Or is it just another way to spend more money that doesn't deliver much additional bang for the buck?

SluggerDad,

The Top Prospect Showcases are in fact more select. Some of the others are open to anyone.  Often we will see a player at an underclass or "open" event and try to get him to a higher level event. The better any player does at an event with more talent, the more likely he will create interest.

The "bang for the buck" is an individual thing.  If the player does well he will be happy he attended.  If the player doesn't show any talent, the "buck" won't get much "bang".

That said,  a player can attend the lowest level event and if he shows high level tools and potential.  He would get the same grade we would give him at the very highest level event.  Example... If a pitcher shows up at any event we do and throws low 90s with a good breaking ball, everyone involved in scouting or recruiting will know who he is within one week. Same goes for a position player who stands out. So, you could say, mission accomplished,  or you could try to build on that and move up even farther.

Truth is... We do want your money! But we want you to be happy you spent it. So we only want the money if you have next level talent. If a player lacks next level talent, we are probably a waste of time and money. It's just that we don't always know ahead of time how much bang for the buck there will be. It changes from Mike Trout and Justin Upton to the average high school player.

Thanks a lot for the info.    I guess we will do the Top Prospect thing, then.  Always best to measure yourself against the best.    We were already signed up for the Sunshine Golden Wes long time ago. My guy did decent but not outstanding on the two earlier  events he did. (Made national and state "Follow" lists)  I think mainly because his "measurables" were lower than they now are. He's  been working his butt off,since then.  So  we're hoping and expecting him to show better.  We thought the Sunshine event would be great cause it comes right at the beginning of the summer.  Didn't know about the Top Prospect thing at  the time.  Might have skipped the sunshine and just opted for the Top Prospect.   Ah, well.  He's also playing in the PG/WWBA 18U championship in late June/early July.  So we'll be doing a lot of PG this summer.   But hey, you guys put on great events, well worth the dough. 

SluggerDad,

I don't want to mislead you.  The Sunshine West will have a lot of talent, it always does. It will also have more participants than the Top Prospect event.  It's possible the top 10 there could be better than the top 10 at the other.  We actually select some of the best players from the Sunshines for our National Showcase, which is the best one by far.

You can look at the showcase schedule and click on that event to see the names of players that have attended that event.  Same thing for the National Showcase, the list of names there will amaze you.

Not trying to tell you which one is best to attend.  I just didn't realize you were talking about the Sunshine events.  Those are usually very good, lots of talent!

Sorry, I should have read what you posted a little closer.

Hi PG Staff

Thanks for the honesty.

Does make it sound like we should maybe hold off on registering for the Top Prospect.  See how the Sunshine goes and also maybe how the PG/WWBA tournament goes.  I assume doing well at those two events will carry some weight in terms of getting noticed.

Yes and I hope your son does well.

Because of the kid's extensive downtime from baseball the last 6 weeks or so  (first playing time issues, then back issues) we're thinking he needs to fully heal and also get some reps against live pitching before doing a PG event.  I know you guys have a no refund policy, but how about a transfer policy?   Can he transfer his registration for the Sunshine West event over to the No Cal Top Prospect event later in the summer, when he'll be more up to full speed?  

Yes they will...you basically have a "credit".  Ran into a similar scenario last year where my son couldn't attend an event he registered for.  I sent PG an email, and they said no problem, then we attended a different event at the end of the summer.

Great to hear there's a precedent for this.   Sent them an e-mail last night.   Hopefully, we will hear back from them soon.  

Kid really wants to show his best in front of them and just isn't all the way back yet. 

They did it for us.  Great and efficient organization that Perfect Game.  

 +1 and totally agree.  Son had to bail on Academic this coming weekend due to HS playoff run.  No worries at all.  FWIW, likely best to direct the email to Jim Arp.  His contact info is on the website.

I called the # on website and had it done for us. Very accomodating

We're all set.  They were super accommodating. Love Perfect Game.  

Instead of playing in the Sunshine West,  he'll play in the No Cal Top Prospect in late July.  July will now be a busy baseball month.    Now the kid can just train and play a couple of local events before having to head off to Georgia  for his  first "big stage"  event of the summer the PG/WWBA 18U National Championship. July will definitely be an intense month though.  He gets  back from Georgia then in a couple of weeks, toward the middle of the month,  it's  BAWS, followed by PG Top Prospect, followed by The Team One Under Armour 18U Southwest Championship. Should be fun, but will definitely be an intense July for for him.  Of course, by skipping the Sunshine West,  he'll miss out on any  chance of being invited to the National.  But since he's not 100% right now anyway, and since the chances of that were already slim, that's  not a real loss.  

Any idea which colleges will be at the 2014 West Coast Top Prospect Showcase?