PG NW showcase

Bogeypar, thanks for sharing your experience.  I think there are many good take-aways for readers here.

Perfect Game showcases are touted as high level events and rightfully so.  They are not cheap but are worth while.  PG is never shy about stating that you shouldn't go if you don't yet have something to show.  I know, when son was quite young and we first considered attending, PG personnel were up front about this and quite helpful when consulting via phone.  So when, for example, a 2020 who throws 65 decides to attend, this is a mistake (aside from a harsh lesson that they are not remotely close to being ready yet).  Same goes for a hitter who can't catch up to decent velo.  Also if the younger and/or less talented were grouped together, they wouldn't really learn where they stack up.

These showcases are serious baseball events.  Good fields, I'm sure, are an important factor.  Access to wifi so one can get a football score, probably not so much.  That said, I do appreciate the level of dedication and passion of you Hawks fans

Good advice CabbageDad. My 2018 received an invite to the PG NW showcase. He chose not to attend because we didn't think he was ready to showcase at that level yet, especially for the price. He needs to gain a few more mph to really be relevant. I did look at the roster ahead of time and noticed that the teams were combined by year, but didn't think too much of the consequences. Baseball Northwest does the same thing at their player evaluation camps. 

I wasn't aware that PG doesn't list coaches/scouts in attendance. That is good information to store away for future reference.

So, Bogey how did your son feel after the weekend was over?  I'm always curious about the kid's perspective.

Oh, one more "suggestion" is that the timing of the event seems to be off by a few months. By now, most northwest kids have finished their baseball season for a couple of months. My son loved the event, but his biggest complaint is that he's not in the best baseball shape. He's been practicing and playing golf everyday for his high school team in the past two months. When he picked up the bat, he's like "oh this feels so heavy."

For pitchers, I agree with your decision. If you don't pitch mid to upper 80s, there's no point going to these events.

Again, perspective and another learning point... most who are serious enough about their recruiting efforts to shell out $6-800 for a top shelf showcase are also involved in a competitive summer travel program.  So, this is the perfect time for an event.  Also, if you are not in good baseball playing shape, it is counterproductive to attend these events if looking to impress colleges.

Sorry, Bogeypar, didn't mean to turn this into a "learn by mistakes" thing but it is sort of evolving.  I take it your HS golf season is fall?

We are certainly just starting to learn the process. This forum helps a lot, but still we have to figure things out by ourselves.

I think in California or Texas, baseball is a year around sport. In the Northwest, baseball season is pretty much March-July. Summer travel teams mostly finish by early August. There are very few fall ball leagues, and the quality of fall ball is pretty low. And once past Oct., it's pretty much raining everyday until next spring.

Yes, golf season here is in the fall, and conveniently, half of the kids on the golf team are from the baseball team.

PGStaff posted on another thread last summer that the don't post scouts/colleges attending because they don't necessarily know who is or will be in attendance.  They don't charge admission to their showcase events.  As such, anyone is free to come and go.  They don't require any registration of scouts or recruiters, so they can't publish that list.

As for the "colleges interested in" question.  When you create your account for the PG site, you can associate your player with your login, giving you control over certain aspects of his profile.  You can complete his profile with contact numbers, height, weight, etc., etc., including which colleges he's specifically interested in attending.

I agree Bogey that baseball in the PNW is different than many other parts of the country. My son played his last summer ball game in July and was basically shut down until fall ball started in mid-September. He just does his own workouts during that down time. Fall ball is very laid back around here too, unless you get yourself on a scout team. And, in our area, high school age travel/club/showcase teams are hard to come by. It has been a struggle trying to figure out the best path for development and recruitment when our options are so limited. But, I feel like we are at least a step ahead of most people in the area since we found this site. I am constantly amazed by the people who still think their child will be found playing just HS baseball. They think scouts just randomly show up to games and their high school coach is the only person they need to get their son recruited.