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The biggest problem with PG & PBR events IMO is that there are 2 distinct categories of players that attend : a) those that belong, and b) those that don’t.  The ones that belong at those events (meaning their talent and/or achievements support their presence) can benefit greatly from participating. However, this group is the vast minority of the players that attend. The other side of the equation muddies the water for everyone involved - and this is the vast majority of players at MOST events. Some of them may eventually be recruitable players but they attend events prematurely hoping that magic will happen and it seldom does. It doesn’t help matters that PG & PBR are all about the money grab and will allow most anyone to attend. Back in the day, MLB teams used to hold invitation only tryouts. Everyone that attended belonged there and college coaches would show up to recruit. Archaic system because nobody was getting rich from it. But it provided a clear line of delineation to players (and parents) as to who the elite players were and weren’t - and it was an unbiased source that nobody was paying for.

My son was HS class 2014, so my opinion is dated and PBR wasn't on my radar (so no educated opinion on PBR).

I do know that every coach (juco-D1) my son interacted with while looking for a home looked at his PG profile. If your son is shoving high 80's and above, has elite bat speed or elite speed down the line then getting that documented at PG doesn't hurt. We never paid for a video, but he played in (and enjoyed) 3 or 4 PG events.

Conversely, I don't think documenting average or below average stats does anything but hurt, because from my experience the coaches will check.

If your kid is truly elite (my son was not in high school) then do an area code games tryout. I think the best kids are invited, but I believe you can try out if you meet the minimum requirements. www.areacodebaseball.com

I don’t think many coaches or recruiters look at box scores of PG events. They are looking at non subjective metrics – Height, weight, fb velo, exit velo and infield velo. PG does a nice job of capturing that info without paying for the extra packages. Coaches and recruiters are looking for the tools they believe they can mold into what they want.

My son’s juco freshman season line was W-0, L-1, IP-12.1, ERA-6.57, H-9, R-9, BB-10, SO-19, and he touched 93 mph. First year of converting from a HS corner guy to pitcher, so the 93 got him some minor interest but nothing concrete. He came in the first week of his sophomore year hung a few 97’s in a scouted intra-squad game and signed a commitment to Razorbacks the next week. Arkansas didn’t care about last season’s results or how he’d do as a sophomore (he did well), being 6’ 5”, touching 97, and liking him during his visit was enough.  

As for the b) kids that don’t belong at PG events, I think that’s BS. We initially went to PG events because my son enjoyed them. The last time he went was to specifically bump his fb metric as a HS senior. If your son wants to do a PG event then go for it, the great thing about baseball is that improbable happens all the time. Improbably, my son was rule 5’d by the Indians this season, stuck all year and pitched 63 innings in the MLB.

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