PG STATE RANKINGS

By backwards do you mean that there are kids who aren't showing up in the PG rankings who are committed to better programs than the guys who are ranked?  I would say that that's been the case for as long as I've followed the rankings because obviously PG can't see every kid in every state.  I will say however that the top guys are the normally the top guys.  Depending on where you live, the top players tend to gravitate to PG tourneys/showcases at some point because that's where the most coaches/scouts are.  I'm sure there can be some kids who aren't ranked that may be better than some that are, but to say they are backwards isn't what we've seen.

I think it's definitely regional as well. PG isn't as utilized in our state as in other areas - meaning that not very many kids travel to their showcases or play in their tournaments. although I think the number is steadily increasing. When I was looking at the roster of one of the D1 schools in our area, I could barely find 2 kids with PG profiles or rankings.

There is a local catcher who has been verbally committed to the top baseball program in our state (actually in the country right now ) since he was an 8th or 9th grader. I think the consensus of the local HS coaches and parents who follow baseball is that he isn't even the best catcher in his league, let alone the best catcher in the state or anybody that you would see committed to such a great program.  But, he went to PG tournaments and showcases when he was younger. Other catchers just haven't done that, so they don't have the exposure. And I don't think it's just PG. Our local paper just put out a who's who in hs baseball for 2017. One of the top pitchers they listed is in our league. I would place him as the 3rd best pitcher in our league, not one of the top in the state, but nobody asked for my opinion  

I disagree that players who attend PG events will be ranked higher than those who don't. My son has what I would consider to be a pretty strong ranking in Iowa (PG's home state, BTW), although he hasn't yet attended one of their events. My assumption is that it's due to being named all conference and all district as a sophomore, to his record, which is available on QuikStats, and to what he's done at other showcases and events. And guessing it's entirely possible someone from PG has seen him at other events since he's been to a few camps over in their neck of the woods.

Seems like here at least they do their best to include all players, regardless of what events they attend. I would think that their credibility with coaches would depend on that.

When ever someone tries to put together a "best in state" or "best in region" ranking at the HS level (like what Kandfunk describes with the local paper's effort), it usually comes with a great deal of flaws in the methodology.  Nature of the beast.  Just no way to factor in all the variables and really be reasonably intimate with a broad cross-section of players (unless it's a really small or sparsely populated state, I suppose) . 

From recollection, I seem to recall PG saying they don't rate players they haven't seen (by someone actually grading out players for PG).  So, when you think about it, it's really flipping amazing how accurate PG is.  I know a lot of people question the rankings because they don't account for some of the projecting or evaluation of tools that PG does.  They just look at performance results.  That's not what PG ratings are about.

Many kids get entered into the PG database when they are on a travel team that plays in one of their tournament type events.  Then there is a different set of kids who get into the database by signing up for a PG showcase.  Some kids do both--play for a travel team first, then seek the more specific scouting and drills that come with the showcase.  And then as others note, some players never do either but are well known from scouts through things like Area Code games and MLB scout teams.  Frankly, a kid who plays on one of the strongest travel teams or plays at a high level baseball program in high school can be presumed to be a fairly highly ranked player.  That may not always be right, but it is a reliable indicator since these teams are trying to field the best team with the best talent they can.

I believe PG tries to rank based on all of the information they have available to them.  Clearly they are more confident ranking a kid they have seen for themselves and can rely on the metrics like FB velocity, catcher POP times, etc.  I do not believe that they "favor" kids who have done their events but rather they are more confident rating and ranking them over a kid who may have played a few days in a tournament and did nothing of note.

Speaking from the SoCal perspective, I think their rankings seem pretty solid.  Certainly the top 50 or so are all legit and will be on D1 programs.  Like all scouting, some kids may get overlooked while others show lots of raw tools that never develop.  In the end, it is all about what the college coaches see with their own eyes anyway and how they project a player's skills and fit with their program.

I have seen players with the X factor get overlooked.  Those players that parents know are really good but don't necessarily have the top measurables, velocity, etc., but I guess how could scouts know those things. Conversely, I have seen kids ranked really high who have great numbers, but in a game they struggle.  Its imperfect but I am guessing projection is a part of the rank.

We can not speak for PG obviously but he is on record about this type of things many times here.  Of course it is about projection.  For example we have a kid on our travel team.  One of the better hitters for average against mediocre pitching.  Hits it even better than the legit hitters.  But when we face good pitching he disappears.  He is bailing and flailing.  When the year is over his numbers overall are good.  But he will never make it at the next level.  How do you rank someone like that?  Low.  The whole idea of a service like PG is to identify those that can succeed beyond where they currently play.  High school statistics are mostly meaningless and their job is to wade through it, lay eyes on them and make a judgement about their ability to play at the next level.  So it is entirely possible for the .300 hitter in high school to be a better prospect than the .400 hitter.  And even more so with pitching.  The number one presumably is pitching against better competition all the time.  so the number three who is pitching against the little sisters of the poor all the time may in fact have better numbers than the one!  High school is not like the MLB where even the bad teams are great.  When you play a bad high school team they are truly awful.  Any success against that team is largely meaningless.  What if you are on the team with the best pitching in the state?  The fact you dont have to face your own pitchers and the rest of your conference does is a huge advantage in a short high school season.  Are there times the scouts are wrong and the parents are right?  Probably.  But I will bet all I own and all I could borrow it is much more often the other way around.  

I wouldn't have thought ranking is based on high school anyway.  It seems to all come from the summer/travel teams.

2020 is spot on. I would say don't waste time and money chasing rankings. Especially if you are a player without the wow showcase numbers. Spend your money and time getting faster, stronger, more agile, and flexible and then play the games.  If you can play and you are more athletic than the next guy you will get noticed. I am always amazed of the amount athleticism HS athletes in any sport have these days, let alone at the next level. I would worry about competing with that and not my ranking. The amount of work to compete and excel is way more than when I played HS sports in the mid 80s.

If a player has a good game at a PG tourney it could be enough to get ranked by PG.  A lot of these same  players haven't even been to a PG showcase - no measurables, other than a FB speed (which could be notable).  

I promised myself I would stay away from responding to ranking questions after replying so often in the past.

First of all, perfection NEVER exists in rankings.  Look at any preseason rankings if you don't believe that. 

PG rankings are based on talent and projection.  we cannot rank a player we have not heard of let alone seen perform.  We actually have the largest scouting staff of anyone in baseball, that includes the MLB organizations.  We have a very large number of trusted contacts all over the country, many that work for MLB organizations and top colleges.  Over the years it has been proven the very best talent comes from very good travel teams.

Statistics are important, but not as important as tools.  Sometimes there is a big difference between the most productive player and the best prospect.  We are stronger in some parts of the country than others because some parts of the country produce much more talent than others. 

Almost every year about this time there are people questioning the rankings.  I've always responded by saying, wait and see how things workout.  For many years we have done a very large preseason All American and All Region list.  People can check out these lists from previous years very easily by going to the bottom of the PG homepage and clicking on to preseason All American teams.  Past years will show the results for those players we listed.  I think those lists will prove a few different things.  1. Just how accurate they were. 2. 100% accuracy is impossible.  3. Very few of the top players got missed.

Please understand that we are not perfect.  College recruiters and MLB scouting departments are not perfect.  Scouting is not a perfect science.  It doesn't matter if you attend a PG event or not, but it should be obvious that we would know more about those that do.  This year there will be over 1,000 that did attend PG events and ended up playing in the Big Leagues.  So we have seen the very best of the best HS players for many years. It would be hard to name a young MLB star that did not attend a PG event when he was younger.  But there are a few.

There would be stupid for us to say we are the smartest when it comes to anything.  We are just, by far, the most experienced.  The more times you have seen future MLB players, the more likely you are to notice the next prospect.  We don't just pick names out of a hat.  We know that decision makers in both Pro and college see the lists, so that makes the lists important. That is the way we try to treat the lists.

Bottomline, no one needs to tell us that we have the rankings wrong in some state.  We already know that we have the rankings wrong in every state. There is no perfection!  The actual MLB draft is never even close to perfect.  And for sure there is no parent that would get it perfect either. I doubt if some parents even know what to look for. But I someone feels we are incorrect they should contact us... staff@perfectgame.org

We have contacts most everywhere and have the ability to check most everything.