PG Grade (Not Ranking)

I feel the same positive way about Perfect Game as many others do.

It wasn't as complicated as it is now but I am not sure if son would have gotten the opportunity he did if not for the one showcase he attended.

That was the best decision that we ever made.

We knew what we buying with PG. We enjoyed the AA and the National. Cool to see your kid in a major league stadium on the big screen and to be playing against a lot of 1st and 2nd rounders. No regrets.

As someone who has not invested in PG, but will this summer (due to son's travel team competing in the WWBA) I find PG and PBR to be organizations that coaches do trust when it comes to measurables. It is interesting how they only grade those that attend a PG Showcase. The ranking is something I also find useful, but most certainly with caution. I know initially my son was disappointed that he wasn't ranked, but then he realized the majority of those ranked had attended a PG event or were already "known" talented ball players. I doubt PG will even get an EV of my OF son while he's at the WWBA, but it would be nice because I'm not sure coaches trust his EV (we've gotten measurements from Hittrax, Pocket Radar, and Rapsodo) since it's self reported. We've seen firsthand of a player promoting his 101EV, yet his recent attendance at a PG Showcase had him at 77EV. I know if I were a coach I'd trust the PG number instead of the self reported number.

The unfortunate downside to PG is the expense. Probably why others invest in PBR.  My son has also not participated in any PBR event. I'm at a point now that I'm thinking I might have to breakdown and pay into one of these monopoly organizations just so my son can have a trusted 3rd party verification of his measureables. Too bad dishonest self promoting and even dishonest promoting by others has fueled the need for PG and PBR to get away with charging so much.

PG is a business like any other.  They take care of the kids that pay their showcase fees.  Granted, it is pretty comical to look at the rankings for a certain state and they have a kid in the top 5 who sitting on absolutely ZERO offers from any division.

I am a fan of PG from our perspective, which is different than many.  We only paid twice to play in PG events.  It goes back to supply and demand.  I had 2 LHP's that teams wanted to play for them.  We used the find a team/player aspect of PG for many events.  That I found out about on this site 17 year ago.  Middle son played in a ton of PG events and never went to a showcase.  Got offers from half of SEC and half of ACC but chose to go to a mid-major.  Youngest son played in every PG WWBA event that is offered and actually did 14U through 18U in one summer.  He played as a guest in all 5 events that summer and got a ton of attention.  The only cost for playing in them for us was a small fee to one team to buy jersey and cap.  He helped the teams he was playing with and so both got what they wanted.  In the 18U, his brother was coaching the team, and he pitched 1 no hit inning in relief against the team that would win it and actually struck out a #1 pick that summer.  He pitched 6 innings of 1 hit shutout against the team that won 17U and got a ton of attention for himself but also a team from New Jersey that he had never met.  They had 3 guys get offers that night because he drew so much attention being 14 and shutting out the powerhouse and hitting a 2 run homer.  They lost because he pulled son in the 7th for his ace who got shelled.  I could not tell a single player on that team or the coach's name but it was a good night for son and his temporary team.  He finished third one year with his local team that he grew up playing with and might have won but ran out of pitching.  11/13 players pitched that week.  You can't win with only 13 players.  I say all this to say that PG was very good to our family.  It is expensive for the teams and I would say half the teams that are there should not be at PG big events but it is their money to spend.  Was it worth it for the team from New Jersey?  Absolutely for the 3 that got major offers that night.  Is it worth it for the players who go on teams that have no shot?  I can't answer that but I've seen guys have incredible appearances against great teams and jump on the scene.  Like anything else in life,  you don't know what you are getting until the journey is over.

As I shared in other threads, my son got "discovered" by the school he committed to in a national PG tournament last fall in Jupiter.

To me, there is value that PG brings.

1. Organizes national tournament that draws the best teams across the country.  This gives the opportunity to play against the best players and see where you stand, and concentrated (fewer) tournaments that MLB and college scouts can go to see the best of the best and how they fare against each other.  It's one thing for a kid to have 0.400 BA and 1.2 OPS if they are facing bad teams.  It's another for a kid to have those metrics while facing really good pitchers and defense.
2. Trusted 3rd party to collect/measure metrics.
3. Centralize DB of HS players and info about them (grad year, HS, club team, etc.), and metrics (if any).  PG is my go to when I want to know more about a baseball player (i.e. when researching HS teams we are going to play or seeing the type of kids that commits or recruited to other colleges).  I also go to PBR, as some kids have metrics in PBR but not in PG.  But PG is my first "go to".

Where PG is not a good value:

1. Getting measured is expensive.  I don't see the showcases where they collect your metrics and have a couple of scrimmages for around $750 yo $800 to be of good value.  All you really need are the metrics.  I don't see the point of the scrimmages if you are already participating in the big national PG tournaments.  Scouts can get a better idea watching you play in live games than in scrimmages anyway.  Just get measured in the WWBA workouts for $400 to $500.  If you are a catcher, you may sometimes get a special discounted offer as they may have too many pitchers registered for the workouts but not enough catchers.
2. The metrics (and grade) can be a gateway drug that makes the kids want to keep chasing better numbers/grades.  Make a decision to go to only 1 PG showcase a year (and maybe another PBR one), and don't fall into the trap of chasing numbers.  Go to a cheap local showcase first to see if you have numbers to show.  If you go to a PG showcase and have bad numbers, it is very tempting to keep going to more PG showcases to improve the bad number.
3. Don't waste time and money and go to a national PG tournament if you are not at that level (or have the right expectation).  Not saying "don't go".  If you go, don't complain that there were no scouts that watched your game, that you didn't play at the main field (in East Cobb), and/or you get bounced from the tournament early.  If you know you can't compete, you can still go just to give yourself and your team (players and parents) a reality check of how far (or close) the boys are to the best of the best.  But don't go expecting to get recruited and be offered.
4. Outside of the top 100 ranked kids and PG grade of 10s, I don't take the rankings and grades seriously.  I'll look at the grade when scouting an opponent but I take that just as a starting point.  I've known kids who can't crack the HS varsity starting lineup ranked an 8 or 9.  There are kids that have really good metrics but don't produce in the games (showcase kids) that gets high grades.  From my experience, kids can inflate their grades by going to a lot of showcases.  I have not figured out if this is an issue with PG (as in they use this to get more revenue), or a natural byproduct of getting better in showcases (i.e. learning the tricks of increasing your metrics that may not reflect your true skillset such as having a running start in the 60 yd, being in a position to throw before you even get the ball in pop time measurement, or throwing the ball to the ground to increase velo readings).  Also, I've been told that PG doesn't really give grades below 7 (translation: almost everyone is a college prospect and possible future draft pick with development).

Re scores under seven. Anyone scoring seven or under shouldn’t be there. But,  a player can request their score not be public.

@atlnon thanks for the tip about PG WWBA workouts being cheaper. That's a much more palatable price considering all I'd be interested in is PG verified measurables for him to have in his profile. Would participation in this one provide an individual with a "grade"?

@Momball11 posted:

@atlnon thanks for the tip about PG WWBA workouts being cheaper. That's a much more palatable price considering all I'd be interested in is PG verified measurables for him to have in his profile. Would participation in this one provide an individual with a "grade"?

Yes, they do.  You can see the description for the next event.  https://www.perfectgame.org/Ev...ult.aspx?event=72000

As a clarification, per the WWBA workouts event description, they don't evaluate pitchers.  So it's prob not an option to update pitching metrics.  In reviewing my emails, my son got the discounted offer for a normal showcase (full showcase with scrimmage) for 50% off bec they need catchers.  He also got an invite for one of the WWBA workouts for free several weeks after that.  I'm not sure if it's bec he attended a showcase or not (that showcase where he got 50% off).

Actually, the way it worked out is that I reached out to PG to clarify if I would get the same metrics in a WWBA workout that I would get for a showcase.  PG guy said yes, except you have the additional scrimmages.  Several days later, the PG guy reached out with the 50% discount and said that this will actually make the showcase cheaper than the WWBA workout so we did that.  Then several weeks after the showcase, he got another email saying "We enjoyed seeing your kid in the XXX showcase.  We would like to extend a special offer for your son to attend any of the WWBA workout bet X date and X date for free so that he can update his metrics."