Shout out to PG!
Local player committed to a D1 this week. Head coach told him he never saw/looked at his performance during High School. His decision was made based on his performance during PG events.
Take it for what it’s worth.
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Can you elaborate on how often and which events he attended?
He played in approximately four PG tournaments per summer (last summer and current summer) in Ft Myers, FL and Marietta, GA.
He also participated in two PG showcases (Ft Myers and Minneapolis).
So he received a lot of exposure. Was he nationally ranked?
Congratulations, Nole44.
If he was in Minneapolis there is no doubt he has a lot of talent. Almost everyone that was there will end up committing to a DI school. The combination of the showcases and tournaments give recruiters most everything they need to see. Some seem to think you can just send an email and recruiters should get excited.
I will post more detail later but I for this thread I completely agree that PG opens up a lot of opportunity for players. This is especially true for players in rural areas, such as Montana, where we live. My son committed to his top choice D-1 school today and I believe that PG gave him opportunities for exposure that he never would have received elsewhere.
I'll throw another shout out for a different reason...
Son just returned from doing the 14U WWBA and BCS tourneys back to back in Ft. Myers. Despite terrible weather, the PG staff still managed to get most games in, and the fields were in surprisingly good shape. We were quite happy with our first PG experience, and will certainly be back for more.
Speaking of rankings, how important are they really? 2014 is ranked 5th in TN and 213 for RHP's nationally
Just went to PG tournament recently and scouts seemed to be there to look at specific players. They usu left after fourth inning. Numbers were deceiving. iF times were velocity only. Kids were purposrely throwing wildly as long as speed was only factor. Only saw a few good power hitters. Kids played two game total w three at bats each. So u got 6 at bats to show your stuff. No walks for pitchers so they seemed to try for velocity rather than location. Interesting experience but not really worth $600. They never really talked with group about recruiting or any other subjects. Guess u have no choice-have to start process somewhere.
Plan on doing few local college showcases this fall for sometdiffdiff
Meant PG showcase not tourn.
IMHO you don't go to a PG showcase to be seen that very day by college coaches. It might happen, but those numbers pale in comparison to those who can view your PG web profile and the video clips posted there. Those aspects of the PG showcase experience are why they dominate the market for showcases. No one else is doing what they do, not even close. The "bang for the buck" factor is not even comparable.
FYI, the showcase games are used primarily to gauge the pitchers. It's nice if you rake the ball in your few AB's, of course, but your batting evaluation is done in a BP setting. Similarly, you can play a whole game and never have a ball hit to you on defense, so it's during the defensive workouts that you get your principal defensive evaluation.
While IF/OF/C throwing velocity or catcher pop times are all both important and also capable of being objectively measured, that doesn't mean no one is paying attention to fielding techniques or throwing accuracy, all of which are duly noted in the subjective scouting reports. And the scouts are professionally trained in order to make those reports worthwhile and reliable.
To me the main value of the showcase is in having something to point to for its positive points (you hope) as a door opener. College coaches get all the e-mails they can handle from players talking about how they were all district or had a high batting average, etc. Everyone jokes about the kid who says he throws 88 but when they go to see him he's 82. There are literally a thousand of those every year.
But if PG says you threw 88, it's credible, and including a link to your profile page where that info is found can help separate your e-mail from those whose claims are strictly their own.
I don't think anyone recruits anyone on PG's report alone. But it can lead someone to make the time and effort to come see you in person. And if they come to see that specific person, they may stay if someone else at that game/event opens their eyes. But if no one else stands out, they may well leave when they think they've seen enough. (Wouldn't you?)
So if someone went to a PG event and the scouts left too early to suit you, I would say you missed your chance to stand out and catch their eye. The events are, after all, an OPPORTUNITY. No one guarantees you results. Results you have to earn for yourself, through performance.
In the same vein, you'll regularly hear from people who went to a PG showcase and found that nothing really changed for them. But you read the player's profile and find out that was because the skill set just isn't there.
As a former travel coach of my son's likes to say, when you go seeking exposure, sometimes you get exposure and sometimes you get exposed. The world is full of people who dream of playing at a level they aren't capable of, and who even often delude themselves into thinking that they reason they are falling short is because of some injustice in the universe. If you have the talent and show it, exposure works wonders. If you're a dreamer with delusions, exposure might well help put you on the right path for you, but it might be the path that leads you out of baseball, quite rightly, so that you move on to other things that might be a better use of your time.
In the meantime, I do applaud the OP's attitude. And if you just plain love baseball and accept that you may not be intercollegiate caliber, I have to tell you I know all sorts of kids who've kept playing through club teams and have absolutely loved the experience. Go for it!
What part of scouts leaving early did u not understand. They did not hang around long enough to see the talent. They were there w paperwork and only watched two kids for 3 innings and left. All 15 kids batted so it took forever to get around again. If u got single hit and were fifth player at bat u did not get to run bases/steal because they switched. Not played like real game. I saw playing to get numbers for profile.
There were no defensive drills done. First night kids got a few throws to show speed. My son did very well in that area, but kid w highest speed threw into stands. No way he was that bad he was doing it to get high number and he looks great on profile. Saw some kids with high numbers make very bad throws in game but hey they look good on number profile.
Saw two really good players who were already comitted. Other than that no real chance to show talent. sons "coach" seemed bored to be there and never really talked w them but saw others interacting w their kids. Also saw one team who came from out of state and stayed and played together as a team. Seemed strange -all others were mixed up.
To say a kid missed chance to stand out is silly when I'm saying PG showcases r not set up that way. Kids just need to know that before they go. Glad we went but know now what to tell others if they ask.
Our experience was closer to playballs. Also think videos can be helpful.