Was wondering when we can expect PG to be posting grades and comments from this showcase.
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Just a suggestion for the good folks at Perfect Game:
I understand your contractual obligation to Baseball America, but you have a few hundred anxious players and parents (since early June), most now checking your web site a few times a day to see if reports are up. Couldn't you write into your contract that reports will be e-mailed to the individual players prior to being published on your web site but not released en mass to the public until Baseball America has done their thing? Seems to me this serves BA's needs and gets the info to the folks that paid for it; and yes I know the scouting reports are for BA and the colleges, but the guys being evaluated have paid for that evaluation so it'd be nice to get it to them earlier.
Just a suggestion..........
I understand your contractual obligation to Baseball America, but you have a few hundred anxious players and parents (since early June), most now checking your web site a few times a day to see if reports are up. Couldn't you write into your contract that reports will be e-mailed to the individual players prior to being published on your web site but not released en mass to the public until Baseball America has done their thing? Seems to me this serves BA's needs and gets the info to the folks that paid for it; and yes I know the scouting reports are for BA and the colleges, but the guys being evaluated have paid for that evaluation so it'd be nice to get it to them earlier.
Just a suggestion..........
Here is a reply I just made to basically the same question on our messageboard.
You've made some very good suggestions.
Please understand that our major goal is to give players the best, and most equal, possible exposure. In this case, that is exactly what we feel we are doing by placing all their information in Prospects Plus.
For example, before we were not allowed to post contact information on our website. This contact information is most valuable to scouts and college recruiters.
We have always been limited in the number of players listed in Prospects Plus. Our contract with Baseball America forbids us from posting the same info on these players on our website. This creates problems with the scouts and college coaches who subscribe to Prospects Plus.
If we were to take the highest ranked players and place them in Prospects Plus and placed all the other players on our website, we'd actually be segregating the players. We do not want to do that. If the player is highest level DI or lowest level DIII he deserves to be found in the same list. The very best list is Prospects Plus.
Your idea regarding sending info to the player is a good one. We will check into our contractual obligations and see if it's possible to do that. Please feel free to offer suggestions because this is a very difficult situation for us.
We are not interested in breaking off our long standing relationship with Baseball America. And we certainly are interested in PG players receiving every possible advantage when it comes to exposure. There just isn't any exposure better than Prospects Plus. People used to get mad at us because we couldn't get their kids listed in Prospects Plus.
Maybe we can come up with a solution. Right now we are sitting on a lot of reports and the whole program that Baseball America has designed is still not quite ready. It's very complicated and I imagine costly too.
I would like to tell everyone to email me regarding this issue, but am afraid I'd get bombarded with so many emails that I wouldn't be able to reply to all of them. We already receive a "huge" amount of email every day. However, if any of our friends have ideas or suggestions email pgjerry@qwest.net
You've made some very good suggestions.
Please understand that our major goal is to give players the best, and most equal, possible exposure. In this case, that is exactly what we feel we are doing by placing all their information in Prospects Plus.
For example, before we were not allowed to post contact information on our website. This contact information is most valuable to scouts and college recruiters.
We have always been limited in the number of players listed in Prospects Plus. Our contract with Baseball America forbids us from posting the same info on these players on our website. This creates problems with the scouts and college coaches who subscribe to Prospects Plus.
If we were to take the highest ranked players and place them in Prospects Plus and placed all the other players on our website, we'd actually be segregating the players. We do not want to do that. If the player is highest level DI or lowest level DIII he deserves to be found in the same list. The very best list is Prospects Plus.
Your idea regarding sending info to the player is a good one. We will check into our contractual obligations and see if it's possible to do that. Please feel free to offer suggestions because this is a very difficult situation for us.
We are not interested in breaking off our long standing relationship with Baseball America. And we certainly are interested in PG players receiving every possible advantage when it comes to exposure. There just isn't any exposure better than Prospects Plus. People used to get mad at us because we couldn't get their kids listed in Prospects Plus.
Maybe we can come up with a solution. Right now we are sitting on a lot of reports and the whole program that Baseball America has designed is still not quite ready. It's very complicated and I imagine costly too.
I would like to tell everyone to email me regarding this issue, but am afraid I'd get bombarded with so many emails that I wouldn't be able to reply to all of them. We already receive a "huge" amount of email every day. However, if any of our friends have ideas or suggestions email pgjerry@qwest.net
TARatko,
Great suggestion on the confidential email for the players evaluations and grades. I know from my own personal experience, my son keeps asking if anything has been posted yet. I agree that having these reports on prospect plus is definetly a great benefit, however I do believe providing these results also to the showcase particpants is a motivational tool to encourage them to continue to develop their skills.
Great suggestion on the confidential email for the players evaluations and grades. I know from my own personal experience, my son keeps asking if anything has been posted yet. I agree that having these reports on prospect plus is definetly a great benefit, however I do believe providing these results also to the showcase particpants is a motivational tool to encourage them to continue to develop their skills.
Understand the problems, but as a parent who paid $500.00 for a package that included an evaluation....I'm not happy at all about this situation. My son was looking forward to the information and working with it this summer to assist him in getting better....he's now back in school....very disappointing.
PGStaff and other posters, I understand now, that there is something else at work here. PG's obligation to BA should not, I believe, supercede its's obligation to the players and their families. It is difficult to stare every day at new invitations for upcoming PG events, go over the costs and logistics in getting to the events when the results and grading of an event held in June are still not available to the boys. It is supposed to be about them, correct? Thank you.
arizonared,
I don't want to make any excuses and I'm also disturbed by this situation. Now we've been told it will be another couple weeks before the entire Prospects Plus site is ready. We are baseball people rather than big business people. Unfortunately we have a contract to abide by and we truly feel this is a big advantage to PG players.
Please take this the right way... We are not in the evaluation business for players and parents. College camps do evaluations for the players and parents, we do scouting evaluations for scouts and college coaches. Our purpose is to report what we see to major league scouting departments and college programs.
On most all our literature these are the things usually listed that Perfect Game provides:
* Good Competition
* Internet page devoted to showcase participants
* Exposure to Prospects Plus - Top scouting service in baseball
* Professional filming by Skillshow
* Jerseys and Hats
* Scouting evaluation by Perfect Game
While we have given a lot of friendly advice to players on how to improve their game, that's not our business. People need to ask for that type of information. It is not the reason we hold events. We do what we do so that talented players have every opportunity to get to the next level... be it pro ball or college ball. In that respect we have the best track record in baseball.
Once again, I apologize to those that are unhappy. I truly understand why you are upset. We would be more than happy to send you our notes regarding your son, if you think it would somehow help him. My email address has been listed many times in the past. pgjerry@qwest.net
I don't want to make any excuses and I'm also disturbed by this situation. Now we've been told it will be another couple weeks before the entire Prospects Plus site is ready. We are baseball people rather than big business people. Unfortunately we have a contract to abide by and we truly feel this is a big advantage to PG players.
Please take this the right way... We are not in the evaluation business for players and parents. College camps do evaluations for the players and parents, we do scouting evaluations for scouts and college coaches. Our purpose is to report what we see to major league scouting departments and college programs.
On most all our literature these are the things usually listed that Perfect Game provides:
* Good Competition
* Internet page devoted to showcase participants
* Exposure to Prospects Plus - Top scouting service in baseball
* Professional filming by Skillshow
* Jerseys and Hats
* Scouting evaluation by Perfect Game
While we have given a lot of friendly advice to players on how to improve their game, that's not our business. People need to ask for that type of information. It is not the reason we hold events. We do what we do so that talented players have every opportunity to get to the next level... be it pro ball or college ball. In that respect we have the best track record in baseball.
Once again, I apologize to those that are unhappy. I truly understand why you are upset. We would be more than happy to send you our notes regarding your son, if you think it would somehow help him. My email address has been listed many times in the past. pgjerry@qwest.net
My son (entering freshman year now) went to a PG ID event this summer. It took awhile for the info to go up, but only about six weeks. However, I know that some of you attended showcases BEFORE my son's event and are still waiting! If my son was an '05 or '06, I would definitely be more than a little perturbed. I hope between the paying customer and the contractual demands Baseball America has made, that PG can find a happy middle-ground for everyone. I think the suggestions posted above are excellent.
It is amazing what a report from a 'real baseball scout' can do for a player's motivation, so I agree that the paying family should be able to receive a private, written evaluation within a few weeks of the event. We had a great PG experience and definitely want to do more. Let's see how this unfolds!!
It is amazing what a report from a 'real baseball scout' can do for a player's motivation, so I agree that the paying family should be able to receive a private, written evaluation within a few weeks of the event. We had a great PG experience and definitely want to do more. Let's see how this unfolds!!
itsrosy,
Please allow me to respond with a couple questions.
What is our obligation to the players and the parents? Wouldn't these players being listed in Baseball America's Scouting Service be an advantage. I can't tell you how many phone calls we've received, in the past, from parents wanting to get their son listed in Prospects Plus. At that time we could not do it. Our obligation to Baseball America is all about benifitting talented players. It is about them! In fact, if we were to get bombarded by people who want us to end our relationship with Baseball America, we would certainly have to look at that. However, I don't think that is in the interest of the kids.
Why is it so difficult to stare (every day?) at new invitations? It means we saw enough in your son to invite him again. If you don't feel it is worthwhile, you sure are not obligated to attend.
Listen, I'm not trying to be combative or defensive. I understand your concerns. I'm really hoping that in the end most everyone will be happy. However, I also know that it is impossible to make everyone happy.
My email address - pgjerry@qwest.net
quote:
PGStaff and other posters, I understand now, that there is something else at work here. PG's obligation to BA should not, I believe, supercede its's obligation to the players and their families. It is difficult to stare every day at new invitations for upcoming PG events, go over the costs and logistics in getting to the events when the results and grading of an event held in June are still not available to the boys. It is supposed to be about them, correct? Thank you.
Please allow me to respond with a couple questions.
What is our obligation to the players and the parents? Wouldn't these players being listed in Baseball America's Scouting Service be an advantage. I can't tell you how many phone calls we've received, in the past, from parents wanting to get their son listed in Prospects Plus. At that time we could not do it. Our obligation to Baseball America is all about benifitting talented players. It is about them! In fact, if we were to get bombarded by people who want us to end our relationship with Baseball America, we would certainly have to look at that. However, I don't think that is in the interest of the kids.
Why is it so difficult to stare (every day?) at new invitations? It means we saw enough in your son to invite him again. If you don't feel it is worthwhile, you sure are not obligated to attend.
Listen, I'm not trying to be combative or defensive. I understand your concerns. I'm really hoping that in the end most everyone will be happy. However, I also know that it is impossible to make everyone happy.
My email address - pgjerry@qwest.net
Dear Mr. Ford, Your prompt and incisive reply is appreciated. I can see that there are some facets of your business that I previously didn't understand and now have a better grasp of what PG is trying to do, and as for the actual showcases that we have attended they have been first rate and I have nothing but kudos for you and your staff.
I won't bother to ask for a personal e-mail at this time but we'll try patiently to wait for the process to play itself through. Thank you.
I won't bother to ask for a personal e-mail at this time but we'll try patiently to wait for the process to play itself through. Thank you.
PGStaff, don't take this wrong, but we truly feel, despite reading all your responses, that somethings still wrong here....but thank you.
I'm going to post this on our site too, because it is a topic of discussion there, too.
As hard as all this is to deal with, I really appreciate all the suggestions. We can use all the input we can get because we have reached a fork in the road. For those of you who have posted kind words, thank you so much, it means a lot! I've been trying to tell people for a long time now, we are far from perfect, we are not business experts, we are simply a bunch of people that have been deeply involved in baseball, nearly all our lives.
The Grades and reports for the June events have been done a long time ago. We simply can not do anything with them until Prospects Plus is ready. There is an extremely large amount of information that needs to be transfered. There is even some important information that I can not release, at this time, regarding the Prospects Plus scouting service. The good thing is that once the Prospects Plus system is operative, we will be able to file all scouting information no later than two weeks after an event has ended. This will be an obvious improvement.
The bottom line is this.... We can legally break off our agreement and partnership with Baseball America and do as we please. We could easily start our own web service for scouts and college coaches and make much more money. In fact, we use to publish the "Scouting Report" long before we partnered with Baseball America. We had been doing National and State by State rankings for a long time before partnering with BA. Perhaps, breaking off the partnership with BA, is what many folks would desire, but is it in the best interest of the players?
Or we can go in the direction we are headed which is to continue working with Baseball America. I can't even explain, in a short amount of time, how beneficial this can be to those who are the top players. Baseball America is now targeting the small college programs because they now offer a valuable service to those small colleges. Not all our players will get drafted or attend DI powerhouse programs.
People sometimes think we just cater to those who are going to be early draft picks. Allow me to say, nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the very best friends I have made since starting PG are parents and players who have ended up playing in small colleges. Yes, There are those first round guys who we really like a lot, but there are first round guys we don't like at all. Guess you could say being a first rounder don't mean enough in some cases. I'm much more impressed with a young guy who works his butt off to get as good as "he" can be. However, we are involved in scouting and take pride in being as accurate, and more importantly, honest as possible. Often the small college guy is the better man, but the first rounder has more ability. Too bad it can't be the other way around sometimes. Sometimes we over estimate players and sometimes we under estimate players. It's still a great amount of enjoyment to see PG players we under estimated having great success in professional or college baseball. We are honest, but not always perfectly accurate. You will find that to hold true even in the highest levels of scouting.
The truth is we do care, we care a lot, and we are going to listen to what all PG parents and players have to say. We have learned that we can't satisfy everyone. It seems the bigger we get the more some people want to tear us down. I hope they, the naysayers, fail because we've helped a lot of deserving players and we plan to help many more.
We are going to take a real good look at this entire situation and do what we determine is the best for everyone concerned. Feel free to email - pgjerry@qwest.net
Thank you
As hard as all this is to deal with, I really appreciate all the suggestions. We can use all the input we can get because we have reached a fork in the road. For those of you who have posted kind words, thank you so much, it means a lot! I've been trying to tell people for a long time now, we are far from perfect, we are not business experts, we are simply a bunch of people that have been deeply involved in baseball, nearly all our lives.
The Grades and reports for the June events have been done a long time ago. We simply can not do anything with them until Prospects Plus is ready. There is an extremely large amount of information that needs to be transfered. There is even some important information that I can not release, at this time, regarding the Prospects Plus scouting service. The good thing is that once the Prospects Plus system is operative, we will be able to file all scouting information no later than two weeks after an event has ended. This will be an obvious improvement.
The bottom line is this.... We can legally break off our agreement and partnership with Baseball America and do as we please. We could easily start our own web service for scouts and college coaches and make much more money. In fact, we use to publish the "Scouting Report" long before we partnered with Baseball America. We had been doing National and State by State rankings for a long time before partnering with BA. Perhaps, breaking off the partnership with BA, is what many folks would desire, but is it in the best interest of the players?
Or we can go in the direction we are headed which is to continue working with Baseball America. I can't even explain, in a short amount of time, how beneficial this can be to those who are the top players. Baseball America is now targeting the small college programs because they now offer a valuable service to those small colleges. Not all our players will get drafted or attend DI powerhouse programs.
People sometimes think we just cater to those who are going to be early draft picks. Allow me to say, nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the very best friends I have made since starting PG are parents and players who have ended up playing in small colleges. Yes, There are those first round guys who we really like a lot, but there are first round guys we don't like at all. Guess you could say being a first rounder don't mean enough in some cases. I'm much more impressed with a young guy who works his butt off to get as good as "he" can be. However, we are involved in scouting and take pride in being as accurate, and more importantly, honest as possible. Often the small college guy is the better man, but the first rounder has more ability. Too bad it can't be the other way around sometimes. Sometimes we over estimate players and sometimes we under estimate players. It's still a great amount of enjoyment to see PG players we under estimated having great success in professional or college baseball. We are honest, but not always perfectly accurate. You will find that to hold true even in the highest levels of scouting.
The truth is we do care, we care a lot, and we are going to listen to what all PG parents and players have to say. We have learned that we can't satisfy everyone. It seems the bigger we get the more some people want to tear us down. I hope they, the naysayers, fail because we've helped a lot of deserving players and we plan to help many more.
We are going to take a real good look at this entire situation and do what we determine is the best for everyone concerned. Feel free to email - pgjerry@qwest.net
Thank you
Mr Ford,
I respect the time you are spending in informing people of what's happening at PG. I appreciate the 'growing pains' currently being experienced by your organization.
Folks, in the end, PG ratings and write-ups, Prospects Plus, showcases, etc are each only a piece of the puzzle. A kid who is truly determined to play ball in college and of course displays some modicum of talent for the game, will find SOMEplace to play - I firmly believe that.
But people need to realize that a showcase evaluation and 'score' is not the be-all and end-all of a player's future. Despite that belief, I'm looking forward to participating in as many PG events for my boys as time and money allow over the next 4-7 years. I like the way they're run, I love seeing the good talent that comes out, and it just makes for a good fun day at the ballpark for the player and the family. Anything that might come out of it after the fact is gravy.
All IMHO!!
I respect the time you are spending in informing people of what's happening at PG. I appreciate the 'growing pains' currently being experienced by your organization.
Folks, in the end, PG ratings and write-ups, Prospects Plus, showcases, etc are each only a piece of the puzzle. A kid who is truly determined to play ball in college and of course displays some modicum of talent for the game, will find SOMEplace to play - I firmly believe that.
But people need to realize that a showcase evaluation and 'score' is not the be-all and end-all of a player's future. Despite that belief, I'm looking forward to participating in as many PG events for my boys as time and money allow over the next 4-7 years. I like the way they're run, I love seeing the good talent that comes out, and it just makes for a good fun day at the ballpark for the player and the family. Anything that might come out of it after the fact is gravy.
All IMHO!!
I do not normally post on this board either in favor of or in opposition to PG or other similar organizations. If I have anything negative to say I generally keep it to myself knowing that, while I may have been unhappy with an event run by "XYZ", someone else may realize great benefits from the same event. I don't place lengthy posts of praise here for PG because: 1) Enough people do that already, and that's fine 2) I live in a very small town so when I post here PG knows who I am, and I don't want the folks at PG or anybody else to think that I'm lavishing PG with praise in hopes of something in return, which isn't the case.
I don't have a grand solution for the problem, only a few thoughts for other parents, and an opinion for PG (you said you wanted opinions, and I didn't want to email you again)
For those of you that have only been to one PG event:
My son has been to 4 PG events, 1 WWBA event, and recently missed another PG event due to an injury, so I have a fair amount of experience with PG. My son is not a first rounder, he'll be lucky to be a 40th rounder, so obviously that's not why he attends PG events. He likes the great competition, enjoys playing in a different setting, sees areas he needs to improve in, makes friends that we then keep up with like Taratko's son, and he looks forward to seeing some members of the PG staff that he really likes and has the utmost respect for.
Let me also say that we had what I considered to be a problem at a PG event, so I've had some experience with that as well. Folks, I know for a fact that Jerry Ford is a man of his word, and he & the folks at PG will do anything they can to help your son. They have for my son and as I said, he's no first rounder. Jerry and his people have done things to help my son that they don't even know that I'm aware of. That's the kind of people they are.
Do I want to see my son's evaluation? Absolutely. Does my son want to see it? Of course, any player with an ounce of pride and drive wants to see it. Is 3 months too long to wait for the reports? Yes. But do keep in mind that a coach or scout can call PG to get info on your son, I had a coach tell me that he talked with someone at PG.
For Mr. Ford:
I know you worry about complaints, and I know that you want to make people happy. You write scouting reports for scouts and coaches, but parents are the true customers. Without parents and their kids attending your events, you wouldn't have anyone to scout. In my opinion, you must do what you feel is best for the kids in the long run. That's what you really want, what's best for the kids. And that's what we parents want too, what's best for our kids. Taratko made some similar comments in his last post, but I'll tell you what, I'll bet that a lot of parents will agree to do this: We'll trust you to do what you think is best for the kids, and we'll try to be patient while you work on getting reports out quicker by some means. And anyway, if you don't do what you think is best for the kids, you'll never be happy with your decision.
I don't have a grand solution for the problem, only a few thoughts for other parents, and an opinion for PG (you said you wanted opinions, and I didn't want to email you again)
For those of you that have only been to one PG event:
My son has been to 4 PG events, 1 WWBA event, and recently missed another PG event due to an injury, so I have a fair amount of experience with PG. My son is not a first rounder, he'll be lucky to be a 40th rounder, so obviously that's not why he attends PG events. He likes the great competition, enjoys playing in a different setting, sees areas he needs to improve in, makes friends that we then keep up with like Taratko's son, and he looks forward to seeing some members of the PG staff that he really likes and has the utmost respect for.
Let me also say that we had what I considered to be a problem at a PG event, so I've had some experience with that as well. Folks, I know for a fact that Jerry Ford is a man of his word, and he & the folks at PG will do anything they can to help your son. They have for my son and as I said, he's no first rounder. Jerry and his people have done things to help my son that they don't even know that I'm aware of. That's the kind of people they are.
Do I want to see my son's evaluation? Absolutely. Does my son want to see it? Of course, any player with an ounce of pride and drive wants to see it. Is 3 months too long to wait for the reports? Yes. But do keep in mind that a coach or scout can call PG to get info on your son, I had a coach tell me that he talked with someone at PG.
For Mr. Ford:
I know you worry about complaints, and I know that you want to make people happy. You write scouting reports for scouts and coaches, but parents are the true customers. Without parents and their kids attending your events, you wouldn't have anyone to scout. In my opinion, you must do what you feel is best for the kids in the long run. That's what you really want, what's best for the kids. And that's what we parents want too, what's best for our kids. Taratko made some similar comments in his last post, but I'll tell you what, I'll bet that a lot of parents will agree to do this: We'll trust you to do what you think is best for the kids, and we'll try to be patient while you work on getting reports out quicker by some means. And anyway, if you don't do what you think is best for the kids, you'll never be happy with your decision.
