Perfect Game Top Prospects

If you are going to a PG event with the goal of going to the National, save your money and don't go. Very few get to go and in many cases it is the kids who have been to several events so they have a better chance of grading the few invitees.

What??? That is not accurate.

BOF, seeing you're from California, here are some players that we first saw for the first time at the Sunshine West and invited to the PG National.

Gerritt Cole, Will Swanner, Justin Bellez, Nick Romero, Jasom Stoffel, Ryan O'Sullivan, Kyle Skipworth, Thomas Pham, Matthew hall, Ryan Babineau, and many others.

One year we selected around 20 players just from the Sunshine East. Here is a few of those from Sunshine East events.... Joey Votto, Andrew Miller, Yasmani Grandal, among many others.

Every year we leave at least 40 PG National roster spots open for the top players at the Sunshine events. This has worked out very well.

If a player is good enough and we see it, they will be invited to the PG National. Some of them we have even selected to play in the Aflac Game.

PGStaff,

Thank you for responding. Obviously you are the right person to ask about the PG Showcases. The crux of my question is this: Is there a certain velocity you have to pitch, sixty time you have to run, outfield/infield throw or batting statistic you have to show in order to get invited to the PG National? Do you take a certain number from every showcase? Does it depend on the talent level/number of kids at a particular showcase?

I agree with BOF in a sense. A PG showcase is a very worthwhile event! We've done it twice, and I can't say enough good about Jupiter! What a great place for a player to show how hard he has worked since the last PG showcase.

However, if a player who has never been to a PG showcase and seen the talent there goes with the primary goal to make the top prospect team and getting to PG national, he may be setting himself up for disappointment. This player may in fact be that good, and if he is, that is fantastic! But you don't know until you get there, and I think one should think very carefully about these kinds of goals that a player can't himself control.

To be rated by PG as a 9 or 10 and to be named a top prospect or All-American is great. Definitely something to be proud of. But a rating, whether 6 or 10, or a Top Prospect nomination, does not define a player. It is but one piece of the puzzle.

My thinking is that a player should attend ANY showcase with just one thing in mind: do the best job he can and not worry about things he cannot control---if he gets named to a top propsect team etc so be it--the key is to impress coaches and scouts---just go on the field and do your best--if you have the talent the other things will fall into place.

Novicemom,

When RR23JR did his first PG Underclass showcase Session last year as a sophomore, the goal was to see where he is at that point. He had fun, did his thing and got his rating eventually. He was not in the Top Prospect team that was published in the web page.

Fast Forward 1 year, Played 1 game in the PG Evoshields Nationals Upperclass ( had previous commitments for his scout team who I have highly recommended to definitely enter next year). Got the free PG brochure and was pleasantly surprised to find RR23Jr's name in the
TOP Prospects/Participants from the Underclass Showcase a year ago. Not sure if he will be added to the website for that session eventually but definitely placed a smile on his face.

Bottomline, just prepare, be healthy, do his thing and enjoy the moment.

RR23

PG maybe I was not clear, and TR was a little bit more succinct. You don’t go to any event with the explicit goal to being invited to the next level event. If it happens, it happens but you are setting yourself up for failure with this expectation.

quote:

Is there a certain velocity you have to pitch, sixty time you have to run, outfield/infield throw or batting statistic you have to show in order to get invited to the PG National? Do you take a certain number from every showcase? Does it depend on the talent level/number of kids at a particular showcase?

novice mom,

There is no certain velocity, running time required, we are looking for the top 200 or more HS prospects in the country as well as Latin America and Canada.

Typically these would be pitchers who can throw 90 or better. But we have invited pitchers who don't throw 90, they just have to be exceptional.

The fastest runners are often invited, but we have invited not so fast runners.

I think the best way to research this might be to go here... PG National

Scroll down the page and you will see many players listed as draft picks from past PG Nationals. You can click on their names and see their profile. This might be helpful.

Here is a link showing all the players from 2006 and the college commited to. Obviously some of these players didn't go to college. Some are already playing in the Major Leagues. 2006 PG National Once again you can click on the players name and see profile.

Also, there are many players who attended the Sunshine events who were not selected for the National that went on to be draft picks and high level DI recruits. Also many that we ended up ranking higher than those who were selected.

I will say that we look for those players, that for whatever reason, we think will create the most scouting and recruiting attention.

6 players off my son's 2008 Sunshine West team attended the PG National. Most of them had lots of showcasing behind them but so did a lot of the kids who didn't get selected including an eventual 15th rounder. It wasn't hard to figure out which ones had a good shot at being invited. Not surprisingly there were quite a few scouts and coaches at their games that year. It was pretty clear from listening to the scouts talk that some of them got invited primarily because of their performance at that showcase.

88 seemed to be the velocity number but those guys could also hit more than a bit.

I'm assuming my son was the bubble guy.

Actually we were very happy with how well he did at that showcase but we didn't have any illusions about him being invited to the National having seen just how good some of the other players were. He did do well enough that we were hoping, not expecting, he might be named to the top prospect team but when the list came out and he wasn't on it, it just turned out to be a pretty elite group and there wasn't anybody on there who didn't deserve it.

Oops, they've updated the format since then and he does show up on the list without a numerical ranking. Whaddya know? That and $1.85 will get a cup of coffee at Starbucks but it is still nice to know.

Novice mom,
Thanks for starting this thread. I'd never have checked that otherwise.

I don't need to look to know that 2B isn't on any top prospect or all-American list, but it doesn't matter at all. Things are still looking pretty good for him to wear a college uniform next year.

So assuming that the PG National may be too lofty of a goal to start with, would you recommend the underclass showcases or the sunshine showcases as a first step?

No goal is too lofty, but generally speaking one has to be seen performing very well to get invited to the PG National.

An underclass showcase in December or January and one of the Sunshine showcases around June is a typical approach. The invite to the PG National will take care of itself one way or the other.

The one thing I would recommend longer term is getting involved with a team that plays in some of the WWBA tournaments. Coaches identify kids at showcases, but they get a chance to see them perform in a more true to life situation at the tournaments and are more likely to make offers based on the tournaments.

Does it matter if son attends a PG "Nationals" vs. local "Underclass" or "Sunshine" event? I thought they all evaluate the the same way at any PG event.Is one really better than the other?I assumed just about everyone could get an invite. Kind of getting nervous now....

THE PG National is an invitation only tournament held a week or so after the Sunshine showcases.

That is different from the various national underclass, etc. showcases which players can request invites to. The national showcases are usually a bit stronger than the regional ones but you have to pay attention to quiet periods, dead periods, etc. when considering which showcase will get your player the most exposure to college coaches. You are also a bit more likely to get exposure to colleges in your area at a local showcase.