PG WWBA Underclass World Championship Recruiting

Thanks for sharing the experience.  I'm shocked at the number of teams attending and I keep wondering about where the games are played to get them played in one day.  I had no idea it was such a heavy scout attended event.

 

We were at the PG Kernels Championship in Cedar Rapids last weekend and the scout attendance was really weak.

 

We're hoping our 2018 team can play next year.

Cool stuff!

If I have learned anything here is find a good travel team and a coach that is a big advocate for the boys and then go to the big national PG tournaments in Atlanta, Ft. Myers, and Jupiter tournaments specifically. It is loaded with scouts but you still need to let those target schools that your son is interested in know that he will be playing. Make sure that HE emails them, not you. Though I must say, a school that we had not targeted took a liking to my son, a good academic D1 too, and we are now seriously considering them too. He had just happened to be watching. Add a couple of camps for a target school and that should take your son "over the top" in terms of doing everything that you could have done for your son to get him seen. This website is priceless! 

ABSOLUTELY agree!!! Just returned from the event - I was blown away!  My son emailed coaches before we flew to FL and it was great to see so many coaches there! One head coach responded by email within 12 hours asking for copy of transcripts!  PG WWBA was a phenomenal event!!

2018 just attended the PG World Underclass.... He plays on a travel team from Va.  When he pitched there were every ACC and SEC team in attendance expect Texas A&M

 

I cannot go into details due to being a 2018 , but three top 10 ranked college programs have contacted  travel coach with serious interest.  This was one of the better events I have been to.  He goes to Jupiter in 10 days .....

Just got back yesterday with my 2017, had a great trip. Very well run event, ridiculous amounts of talent there. it is certainly an eye opener.

 

my take is for at least half probably more the like 60 or 65% of the kids there it is a waste of time and money for the baseball. I am well aware I didn't see every school or every player but what I did see was mostly (vast majority) D1 and higher level D1 schools, the majority of the kids I was watching are not that. My son actually competed very well and "got some attention" but I am telling you it was marginal for even him and he was certainly in the upper 50%. IMO if you aren't being thought of as D1 on your local level walking in you are wasting your time.

 

If you are a marginal D1 kid or lower and you don't mind spending some time and money traveling it is an amazing event, quality fields, excellent competition, many many outstanding other teams to watch between games, a bit of summer in the fall - money very well spent just for the quality time with my son!! Already looking forward to going to Jupiter next year and I am sure he will be committed before then!!

Old School,
While I ageee with 99% of what you said, I must believe that there were other schools in attendance than just D1 schools. There's only 295 D1 college baseball programs and approximately 1500 scouting packets issued our coach said. I gotta believe there were plenty of d2 and d3 scouts there. Im excited to say that my son got his first d1 official visit invite phone call last night from the event. Maybe someone from Perfect Game can detail how many from a D2 and D3 schools were in attendance. Personally, and please I dont mean to sound arrogant, they were not at our game. But I gotta believe they were there!

maybe but I didn't see them.

How big is your son?  LHP or RHP?

Velocity?

I would assume big kid w velo....

Thanks

I pretty much agree with old_school's assessment. My 2017 catcher was there and he was very middle-of-the pack in terms of performance so it did not particularly help his recruitment.

 

I did see plenty of non-D1 colleges, most of which I had never heard of. But D1s predominated as expected. Great event, very well organized, but travel, lodging, and food made it very expensive. But I knew it would be,

 

(I will say that we drew the eventual WWBA winner and held them to 0-0 through the 5th, but then...)

In a perfect world every player that attends an event would create interest.  We don't live in a perfect world. In fact, among the many players in attendance, someone always gets over looked.  I mean very good players can have a below average performance and go unnoticed.  

 

For any HS player that hopes to play at the next level, I think this is a great event.  It is for underclassmen that still have some time to develop their skills.  It can be very beneficial to see and compete with many of the most talented kids from all over the country.

 

I do believe that most every kid in that tournament has a chance to play some level of college baseball.  I think every kid should mention to colleges that he played in that event.  Also, at some point, there will be memories.  We hear about them a lot, things like, "I remember hitting against Clayton Kershaw or Zach Greinke or I pitched to Bryce Harper or Mike Trout". Might not seem very important now, but at some point it might be quite a memory.

 

Hope this doesn't sound like a sales pitch.  It doesn't matter if a player decides to play or not play in this event.  We know there will be a ton of talent.  Everyone knows that! We know there will be a lot of decision makers. Most everyone knows that.  We also know it might rain and cause problems or worse yet, someone will suffer a serious injury. There  is no need to sell anything to anyone. We just hope it turns out to be worthwhile for every player, but we know it won't for some.

 

 

So instead of jumping right back into work today I was thinking about the weekend. One thing I really enjoy is watching people at large events...if you sit in the back and just watch it is amazing what is there to be seen.

 

We are playing our consolation game on Sunday, there is one coach there from a particular D1 school. I don't know why or who he was there to watch. Over the course of the game I see him taking quite a few notes, my son has an excellent game. More then once I see him make a note after a play my son makes. After the game the boys are shaking up, cleaning up and the coach walks around past our bench, sits on a table where our team has to walk right past him to get to the parking lot.

 

As the boys are ready to go I get up and walk with my boy to the lot, as we pass the coach he is obviously staring right us, he has been watching my son during his entire walk...I mean beyond a shadow of a doubt. No words were exchanged and we continue on, just a head nod between us as we made direct eye contact from 6 feet away. I look back over my shoulder and he is walking away to another field.

 

So I assume he wanted to size him up in person, probably me as well if possible...and reading his mind. He was thinking I wish the kid was little taller and faster...boy he has a good stroke...I really wish he was taller... What this coach doesn't know is we have heard those exact comments from 2 other schools in his league...LOL I already know what he is thinking!

 

So maybe over the winter or the summer as things cycle out he will reach out or reappear, honestly I don't care due to several reason but that would be the boys choice not mine. The boy says to me in the car, "was it just me or was the guy from X staring at us as we walked away? I thought for sure he was going to say something to us."

 

It just made me laugh how we obsess over things that we have no control of! I also learned the boy is paying attention to little things while observing his surroundings!

Since 2011  have been to the PG underclass event every year, the WWBA in Atlanta many times...  3-4  times at the Jupiter event.  I few things that I noticed.  There is a ton of good talent and there are a great deal of college recruiters. Last Saturday my youngest son was pitching in front of 40-45 recruiters. He is very talented, he plays for a high end travel organization.  I am certain that he will get a chance to play for a top 20 college program as will many on his team.  Some will turn pro and not attend college. For these types of players they are going to get the lion share of the attention.... From the 40 or so recruiters in attendance 25 were from schools that will not attempt to recruit him. They realize they have little chance to compete with the larger schools. BUT they might have noticed a player on his team of the other team that they do feel they can land.  So while son and his teammates may be drawing the recruiters, there are benefits for the other players as well.  Another thing to consider is while this year said recruiter from Big U might not be able to recruit an average player next year he could very well be the pitching coach or head coach at a low D1 , D2, NAIA and now for his new program he can recruit that player. I have seen in the last 8 years many recruiters change schools, levels, jobs, etc... Recruiters, advisors, coaches talk every day all day.


Say you have two former college teammates, one is at Big U and has the travel budget one is at another school say a D2 with little travel budget.. but these two guys played together in college.  I can promise you even though Big U recruiter cannot take the above average player he WILL tell his buddy at the D2 school....


Not to mention the chance that your player has a good game and gets a PG write-up, and stats posted. There are so many positives and very few negatives.


In my opinion it is going to be a plus for 99% of the players to attend the event. Even if you do not receive an offer, or big interest, the thrill of playing at the Jet Blue complex, Hammond Field, Terry Park can be worth attending.

IT's great that you guys are sharing your experiences with this event.  Hopefully my 2018 will get there next year.

 

Thank you

My son is a 2018 and has played in this tournament the last 2 years. I can't wait for next year so he isn't one of the youngest players on the field. He has gained great experience and confidence pitching there the last 2 years. It is a great tournament playing on nice fields with quality umpires.

We've been to 4 PG WWBA tournaments. It's good competition, but in our experience unless your player is either A - already committed, or B - on a big deal team already loaded with commits, your team and players will get very little attention. PG is very pitcher focused; 90% of the write-ups focus on pitchers and already committed players, which seems counter-intuitive to me.  Unless your team is highly ranked or stacked with commits, you will probably play at some far away field or park, and you may get to play one pool game at the primary Spring training facility where most of the scouts/coaches tend to huddle.  If your team can make it to Sunday bracket play, or is good enough to make it to Monday play then your players will get seen by a bunch of scouts/coaches. Then the level of competition is VERY HIGH, and the teams that make it to the Monday games are usually, not always, but usually loaded with highly ranked players in their respective states and have already usually either committed or at least been written about already. So, don't get me wrong, PG puts on great tournaments and the competition is good, but it just seems like they serve players who already have 'buzz' and don't do a whole lot for players who could use a 'boost' when they perform well at PG events. Why continue to write about players who are already committed? Why not write about players who aren't yet committed and players who play other positions besides pitcher?  Just as an aside - my player is already committed and we will continue to play PG events b/c our team has players looking to try to earn scholarships. 

I actually think our guys do a nice job with their player comments.  We only started doing this a few years ago, before then there was nothing written, notes were just entered in our database.

 

In the interest of truth....

 

I think anytime your going to highlight some players, you will end up with a lot of pitching performances.   We are a scouting service and scouts and recruiters pay special attention to pitching.  That said, I have to disagree that 90% of the comments are about pitchers.  Also have to disagree about only those already committed players being all that are noted. Also, those teams playing on the last day will tell you the last day is when the "fewest" amount of scouts and recruiters are around at every event. Lastly the recruiters go where they want and the event is for them to see a lot of players.  They are looking for talent and don't depend on just reading our scout blogs. Same goes for us, we are looking for talent and we find lots of it because we are at every single game. Some is written about in the scout blogs, the rest is entered in our database.

 

Here are a couple daily reports from last weekends WWBA tournament.  I would like to hear what people think.  However, usually we just hear complaints from those that have a personal interest in one player that they think was slighted.  In some cases they have a good point, they just don't understand there are 3,000 or more kids playing that day.

 

Anyway, we are always looking for ways to improve.   So look at these and comment if you see a problem or something we could do better.

 

PG I think it was great event, there is a tremendous amount of info captured, I have run many tournaments over the years in various sports, the logistics of organizing this event are huge. Great job.

 

That being said I don't think there is any doubt PG skews to name brands, I am not saying it is wrong, it is ultimately a business decision and probably the right one. I know one of the players you guys mentioned in your daily updates very well, the kid is a great player(big rep and early commit), I checked his stats...he was 1 for the weekend. Maybe be hit a few balls hard maybe he didn't but having your name out there early certainly doesn't hurt you at all!

 

That being said as I posted earlier in this thread, it is a great event and we are looking forward to being in Jupiter next year!

Why doesn't your son "reach out" to RC?  Speaking from the comfort of my armchair, I believe the recruiting effort by any RC can be made 50% easier if the player shows an interest in RC's school.  Don't see how it can hurt?

PGStaff - we're local in Ga, and fortunate to have all the PG events at Lakepoint.  I enjoy and appreciate the write-up's your staff does, and the effort they put into it.

 

Your post/comment is right on time as another parent and I talked about this last night while my son was working with his trainer.  Honest, this question is from another parent,  Mine has done well & had success at PG events, but physically isn't as mature as the other kids.  We are realistic, and understand its about putting in the work, and about the journey & where ya end up (vs this years team).

 

Both of our kids play for one of the larger programs that consistently has players highlighted (as old_school noted), and she asked....  how are the players selected for the daily notes?

 

Her question was - Is coaches input to your staff on which kids to feature in the daily posts?  or is it really based on what your staff see's that day?

 

With regard to ways to improve, I'm at risk of being transparent with this one.  A large % of kids attending PG events are not top prospects - could your staff also include a 'under the radar' kid (or 2) in the daily notes/reports that may have impressed them by their skills/play?

 

Always appreciate your input here.  Thanks for all your staff does!

To those noting that players are getting glowing reviews while their tourney stats show otherwise, there is a lot more to the evaluation process than raw numbers. Last week my 2018 played at the AZ Fall Classic. His team carries two first basemen, one is a 6'3" 200lb man-child, smooth hands, great footwork, lots of power - a very solid player. The other is a 5'7" 125lb lefty who is generously on the team due to his pops ability to generate amazing memorabilia for team fundraisers & silent auctions through his job. He went 2-27 on his frosh team if that gives you an indication as to his skill set. 

 

Guess what? Man-child went 2-12 in the tourney. The fields played 340 down the line and 410 to center. He hit four balls 350+ into the alleys that were caught, he also hit a double and a triple about 370', driving in four key runs. All of that against the other teams #1 starter. Man-child "hit" only .167 in the tourney though. 

 

Lefty had a swinging bunt that was a bang-bang play, a duck fart that the second baseman lost in the sun, and a soft pop fly into the bermuda triangle. Lefty "hit" .500 (3 for 6). He struck out the other three times and had no prayer. All of that against the other teams #3 or #4 pitcher. 

 

Who deserves the better write up, .167 or .500? Who deserves the scouts attention? Who has a future at the next level? And yes, of course Lefty's dad complained that everyone paid attention to Man-child while his kid "outhit him in the tournament". 

I have gone back and forth about whether to post this reply.  I will appologize for the length up front.  Jerry, I just don't know how you do it.  I am sure you read some of these post and want to just bang your head against the wall.  I'm certain you would like to say some things that you don't say because they would be bad for business.  So I will say it for you.  First off, understand that PG is a business organization that is a for profit venture.  Obviously, everything they do has a cost associated with it and therefore they have to charge money to cover those costs.  For those of you that question if PG staffers are at every game, do you go to the games?  Do you pay attention at all?  There is a table set up behind home plate at every PG event my son ever participated.  There was always a staffer, usually two sitting at the table recording velocities and making notes.  I saw this at EVERY game, no matter if we were playing at a high school in middle of nowhere.  The PG scouts are human, and therefore they make mistakes.  I'm sure some velocities have been recorded wrong.  I have seen numbers and write ups given to the wrong kid.  Do you really think that was intentional?  

 

You can't get from more small town than my kid came from.  NOBODY knew my kid prior to his sophomore year of high school.  He was seen at a PG event in Atlanta the summer between his freshman and sophomore year by a mid major D1.  They were there to see a pitcher they had been following, not my son.  My son came in to pitch the last inning, and their exact words were, "who is this kid?".  On our way back to our hotel, son's coach calls me and says "coach X from Y university wants you to call him".  Obviously we were both excited as this was our very first contact of any kind from a college coach.  He invited son to one of their camps so the HC could see son throw.  It just so happened son had been invited the week prior to an event on that school's campus.  I told the PC about this and he said that would be perfect, but that they could not talk to son until after the event.  Son threw 2 or 3 innings at that event.  I think he hit 87 on the gun.  Well my phone started blowing up.  While we are sitting in a room with the HC and PC of the mid-major, I get a text from son's coach that HC from major D1 wants son to call him.  After we left the campus, son calls that HC.  He was not at the event, but obviously had "eyes" there because he was very impressed with my kid and wanted to get him on campus for a visit.  By the time we got home to small town USA, I had received a call from the coach of one of the elite travel teams in GA and the USA offering my kid a spot on the team.  When I asked the coach how he knew my son, he told my he had been called by a couple of college coaches, including the HC from the major D1, and a couple other scouts that highly recommended my son.  From that point, the course of my kid's baseball future changed.  He went on to pitch for the very high profile team for the next 1 1/2 years.  We played many PG events in Atlanta, Ft. Myers and Jupiter.  This team was full of major D1 recruits.  The only team I knew that had more big time recruits was the Evosheild Canes.  All 8 defensive starters were verballed to SEC or ACC schools.  My son and a 3 or 4 other pitcher were verballed to SEC, ACC or PAC-12 schools.  In this past MLB draft, at least 6, maybe 7 players were drafted.  I know 5 signed, 3 of which were in the first 3 rounds.  My point is, there was a TON of talent on that team.  I say all of this, not to pat myself on the back or brag on my son, but to try and explain why scouts go where they go.  If you were a scout, would you go to a field and watch one or two prospects, or would go see a team like the Evosheild Canes that had 17-20 D1 commits?  I know where I would be.  Now different events are scouted differently.  Some events you see more college coaches, and then some events you see more pro guys.  I can tell you when son's team played, there were always pro and major college scouts present.  It didn't matter if we were playing at Lakepoint or Cartersville.  The TALENT is going to bring the scouts/recruiters.  PG has nothing to do or say about which teams/games the scouts go and watch.  Why are people constantly giving PG Staff grief that the recruiters only show up to watch the name brand teams?  He/they have no control over that.  If your son plays multiple PG events, it is very hard for me to believe that you have never seen scouts/recruiters at your son's games.  Maybe it wasn't the specific school that you wanted to see.  What did you do?  Did your son email the coach at his school of interest to let them know his schedule?  It's up to you to be proactive, unless you are fortunate enough to play on one of these high profile teams that everyone wants to see.  Why would PG staffers write up blogs on kids that weren't the best?  Since when did average results deserve to be focused on?  I agree it does appear that the top kids that have an offer are the ones that are usually in the write ups.  Do you wonder why that is so?  They are the best.  Maybe they did have one bad day or tournament.  Does that take away from that kid's ability?  Most of these kids have been seen multiple times over multiple seasons.  That is the reason they have a scholarship offer as a sophomore or junior.  College coaches don't give money to average players at that stage of the recruiting process.  They are paid to win and they are going after the best of the best.  Would you do it any different if you were in their position?  The problem is we, as parents, have a VERY difficult time evaluating our players.  As hard as we try, we will always be partial to our kid, as we should be.  The people that make those decisions are impartial, and it really doesn't matter what we think.  If you are taking your son to these elite events over multiple years and they aren't getting the love or attention you think they deserve, maybe the evaluators are not the problem.  I know that sounds harsh, but I don't mean it to be.  Sometimes truth is hard.  I just get tired of seeing PG Staff get beat up on (at least that is the way it appears to me)  I no longer have a dog in the fight.  I don't know PG Staff personally, but I do know that the opportunities his organization gave my son, words just cannot express or do justice.

 

I'm sure Jerry will chime back in and answer some of these issues.  He is always kind enough to respond to most any questions or comments.  I just wanted to say some things that he can't say because he will come off looking badly no matter what he says.  Some will say he is self-promoting and some see him as the bad guy.  I see PG as business organization that brings together talented players and talent evaluators in one location.  This benefits both greatly!!  I will get off my soap box now.

I'm confused by the rabid defense of PG on this thread (specifically).  I haven't seen any posts here that list anything other than honest questions and/or statements about their experience at PG events and how players are picked for write ups.  Am I missing something?   The initial post started "I absolutely cant say enough good things about how well run this tournament is in terms of organization and just the sheer amount of scouts in attendance" and then everyone else seems to chime in and say positive things and some also had questions.  A few mentioned that you need to be on a really great team to play at the main site (for most of your games) instead of offsite and a few mentioned that it would be tough to get attention if you weren't one of the top players (which is true at most events in sports, school, work, etc).  I can understand that in past threads some posters may have been overly negative towards PG (I haven't been here that long but I think I remember one poster) but this really doesn't seem like one of them.  

 

I don't know PG or any of the other posters on this thread - just writing what I'm seeing.  My son has done PG events, has played at the main and remote field locations and we saw PG staff and multiple scouts at every location.  For every poster here whose son was on a top team and played in front of 20 scouts at every game there is another poster whose son played on an OK team, who played at the main site only once and didn't see many scouts or pay attention to the PG staff behind home plate - and they may have questions.  I appreciate that PG is nice enough to answer all of them. 

Younggun, you are right in your assessment that PG cannot control where the Coaches/Scouts go and who they want to recruit. That is out of their control and it is up to our kids to play their best and up to us to put them in the best possible position to be recruited.

 

Golden Sombrero you also make an excellent point about averages based on competition and potential.

 

I knew my comments would appear whiny and that wasn't my intent. PG does run an amazing tournament and I do understand the cluster of logistics it takes to run an organization of that size - I've put on tournaments myself and realize you can't please everyone.

 

As I go back over my comments and read everyone else's, I guess at the heart of my frustration is that there may be write ups on my player, but I can't see them b/c they may be scouting notes and I don't have access. Because he isn't one of the 75 or so kids out of 3000 mentioned in the Day 1, 2 3 or 4 notes (again primarily written about pitchers) or special team articles written, I have no idea what is being written about his performance - other than stats I can see on Gamechanger. And his listings on the daily leader boards.

 

So, to the question what can we do better - how about a spotlight on outfielders or middleinfielders or catchers or corners?

 

As I said before, PG continues to be the gold standard for the level we play in and we will continue to attend tournaments. Our players are generating interest from colleges while there so it's worth going. And, we love to play the brand name teams b/c we know there will be scouts/recruiters watching their players, which means they will see our players too.

 

Thanks everyone for your input.

PGStaff - I do have one question - how do the rankings work?

 

How does a player become ranked in the PG system?

 

Does the ranking come after the college commitment or is it based on their performance in multiple PG showcases?

bballcares, my post was not targeted at you specifically.  MK baseballdad, I can only give you my reason for defending PG.  They don't need my defense and I'm sure PG Staff has thick enough skin that he lets most of this roll off his back.  I just know that the PG organization does a lot and is by far the best in amateur baseball.  Area Code games are great, East Coast Pro is great.  Those events are invite only.  I'm sure there are other organizations in other parts of the country that do a good job.  Just in the southeast, PG is THE place to play if you have a talented son and you want him seen.  There just seems to be a lot of negativity toward PG.  I can understand people having questions and there is nothing wrong with asking.  But there are a lot of people with axes to grind as well.  Those are the comments I was addressing.  Again, I am just a dad.  No more no less.  I am not an expert in ANY stretch of the imagination, but I have watched lots of baseball over the past 15 years and I like to think I have a pretty good eye for talent.  I didn't mean to attack anyone personally as this is just a message board with people's opinions.  Everyone has a right to their own opinion, even PG Staff.  If a PG evaluator doesn't see things the way you do, you are free to not go back to any PG event.  I just know that if you go back and look at the draft or the players on the top 25 type college programs, I think you will see how good PG is at his job.

I am also a bit perplexed at the excessive protection/explanations provided for PG. They criticisms, mine included, are very mild, couched positively, and surrounded by praise.

Take this for what it's worth...  2018 plays for the Evoshield Canes.... he was in Ft. Myers and there were at least 40 recruiters when he threw at Terry Park....  He threw well, 87-89 and made the day three notes... he's 6'2 175 and projectable...  He is a very lucky kid.... and he realizes it.

 

After his game we went to Florida SW field to see his buddy's team.., nice field, the two teams playing had no commits and no one throwing over 83-84.... there were no recruiters there....

 

That's life.... it's not Perfect Games fault. they cannot control who comes to see what game... Now 2018 did not always played for this team, he had a try out and made the team.

 

I think sometimes the travel coaches make the parents feel that PG is a must, and maybe lead the parents into feeling that in order to get a baseball deal they have to attend... The parents spend the money only to find out that baseball at this level and beyond is going to be a tough business to be in.  In hind sight, and I have been to more PG events than 80% of the parents on this board.... go to a PG showcase and get a ranking.... see how you stack up... try out for good travel teams... and take your shot.... but have a plan.... if you realize that johnny is likely D2 or Juco  then spend the money going to those camps... call the coaches of the schools you would like to attend.... I mean there is so much you can do besides attending a PG event and thinking that its going to fall in your lap.... I have 4 sons... One is palying D1, one is playing D3 and one is playing Juco... and then 2018..... I have seen it all in terms of recruiting, and what level kids should be at... and when I see the Juco son pitch... I am just as thrilled as when I see the D1 or the D3 or the HS son.... enjoy it.... whatever level you end up at.

I think bballcares offers some areas where PG can improve. Nothing wrong with that. 

PG Staff welcomes it and always asks for opinions to improve.

It is a stage for the best and not so best. But all very good.

Everyday 2016 has been to 6 events.

Unfortunately his team has lacked pitching over the years and seldom saw as many scouts as we would have liked, except when playing at the main complex or facing a stud team.

Usually played .500 or better.

However, while we didn't get any write-ups, two major D1 coaches did stroll over to a dad on our team and asked where we were from, and say your SS is really good. 

They do make their own notes.

I didn't look at this thread as though someone was picking on us for no reason.  I just responded to some comments that I disagreed with. I still disagree with!

 

If we look at scouting from the scout or recruiters standpoint, the number one interest is usually pitching.  At tournaments it is also the most obvious thing.  Tournaments are different than showcases where we get running times, watch BP, watch fielding drills and gun throwing arms.  We don't always get enough scouting info during a tournament game.  However, when something really standsout, our people write it up.  The bigger the tournament the more writing, but also the more players that don't get a write up.  Yes, even well deserving big time prospects have gone without mention in the scouts blogs.

 

I truly appreciate all the nice things people say.  To be honest, I'm happy their are people like "younggun" that support what we do.  I also know we are far from perfect, we make mistakes and we can do better.  At the same time are take a lot of pride in what we do and we have no interest in being second best.  We have a very large staff that is extremely talented and qualified.

 

And I can't ever recall, not even once, any college coach telling us what to post on our website or to give special attention to their recruits or their program. Through our site we are telling them what we think, often they call for additional information.  They seldom tell us what they think. Same goes for professional scouts.

 

To answer the question about rankings...  We rank players based on what we see.  We don't even consider whether they have committed to a college.  For those that actually see the rankings, surely you have noticed uncommitted players.  

 

So why are so many ranked players listed with a commitment?  Shouldn't that be obvious?  Often we have a player ranked very high and every college in America knows it.  What do you suppose happens to that player.  It should be clear that college recruiters pay close attention and trust our judgement.  So typically uncommitted playerup that are among the highest ranked players end up being committed.  The same thing could be said about the MLB draft every June.  Look at past PG HS or draft rankings.  Oddly enough someone might assume we only rank those that got drafted.  Truth is we ranked them before they got drafted.

 

So if you see the rankings and see a lot of committed players, what is the surprise. In many cases wouldn't the best prospects become the most sought after recruits?  We could care less even if our number one ranked player was committed or uncommitted.  Justin Upton was our #1 ranked player in his HS class for over two years.  He didn't make a college commitment until well into his senior year. In fact, those that are ranked the highest we don't even consider college because we think they will be first round picks.

 

I do think that sometimes people are trying to get a clearer picture of how these things work.  I understand why it might be confusing to some and have no problem with that.  But I assure you, we rank based on what we "see", our opinion only.  If we hear about an outstanding prospect from another source, we make sure we get to see him and then we rank him accordingly.

 

Once again,  I know people have lots of questions.  I really wish I could answer all of those questions.  We do things a certain way for a reason.  There is no politics or favoritism involved.  Then again I guess one xould say that there is always some politics and favoritism involved in everthing.  We do favor the best players I guess.  We certainly  don't want to harm any young player.  I truly wish we could help every player we see realize his dreams.  We simply cannot do that.  

Well, I've got nothing but good things to say about our experience at The WWBA World in Ft Myers. My son plays on a very reputable team in our area but certainly not a Evo Canes or CBA Marucci type. We played at a high school in the Ft Myers area and there were scouts in attendance. But again our head coach has a great reputation and is a huge advocate for our boys. Makes a lot of phone calls. He is brutally honest with our parents because he knows if he isn't, he isn't doing the boy any favors and he certainly cannot and does not deceive the scouts. There is no better venue that what we experienced. He has fielded phone calls every night since we have gotten home except for Monday night. Even one of the service academies called. He is so proud he can't stand it and that makes me very happy.

young gun - paragraphs are your friend!! LOL you had many good points but my eyes hurt!!

Sorry.  English was my least favorite subject in school.  

Two guys start new companies in the same industry at the same time.

 

Both asked around to find out how to sell new products within that industry and everyone said, "You gotta have an exhibit at the blankety blank trade show!"

 

So they both bought floor space at the blankety blank trade show, displayed their wares, and eagerly waited for the expo hall to open its doors to all the industry's buyers.

 

After the trade show, both went to the hotel bar.

 

One guy said, "The blankety blank trade show is nothing but a big rip off. I spent 25 grand on my booth. They stuck me in a corner. Hardly any buyers came by, and they hardly even slowed down on their way past. What a waste!"

 

The other guy said, "The blankety blank trade show is the best marketing money I ever spent!  I told the buyers I thought might like my product where to find my little booth. They came by, they loved my product, and I booked three major orders. I gotta go home and get busy ramping up production, because now I have to deliver."

 

Such are the discussions of PG events on this site. If you tell the most likely coaches and scouts when and where you're playing, and you bring the game and grades they're looking for, these events will open doors.  If you don't, well, at least you get to play baseball against good teams in nice venues in well-run tournaments.  

 

Saw with the Ft. Myers tournament that pitchers can be scheduled for games in advance, including more than one pitcher.  Is this a new thing for all all tournaments or is this limited to certain tournaments?

 

Saw plenty of teams where no pitcher(s) were listed - maybe too new for some coaches to know about.  I realize a call/text to coaches is still the way to go, but thought this addition on the website was pretty cool.

We have always done that.  We encourage teams to do it.  We do not force teams to do It.  They should though, once they know who will be pitching.  It helps scouts and recruiters more than anything else. Some teams do it, others don't.

We were there. My .02...

 

Event was well run. Fields were nice. Lots of scouts.

 

First, my son plays on a team that is mostly a showcase team. By that I mean they put a scout's wants over the team. Meaning if scout x says I want to see player y play third they do so, even if it hurts the team.

 

 So we're not Evo. So we win our pool. First elimination game the ump is calling strikes that are so far outside they are simply unhittable. It was very apparent we were in the way of the big boys and our game needed moved along. It is what it is. But scouts were there to watch my kid and having his bat taken out of his hands for expediences sake was disappointing.

 

As to a player and recruiting. It does help if your kid is on the radar before he goes there. 260+ teams equals a lot of players, easy to be overlooked.

SomeBaseballDad,

 

That is quite an accusation.  We usually get many compliments about how good the umpiring is at all our events. While it is always possible for any umpire to miss some calls, you are claiming that they just wanted to get your team out of the way.  That is something we simply would not allow to happen. No one other than the teams playing care about who wins or loses in the tournament. Actually we kind of get a bit excited when an unexpected team does well in the playoffs.

 

What I am saying is, it's possible that an umpire had a bad game, but it wasn't because of which team is playing.  We didn't get this far by playing those silly games.  Besides that, every scout or college recruiter I have ever known can easily see if a hitter was rung up on a pitch a foot outside. 

 

BTW, I doubt if anyone is harder to umpire for than us.  Every umpire we have is a qualified HS, College, even some professional, umpires.  MLB head of umpires actually holds clinics and training, sessions for these guys. Our director of umpiring even makes sure all the umpires understand our expectations.  That would include treating people the right way. When we have problems with an umpire, we get rid of him.  That hasn't happened very often.

 

Sorry, but coming on here and complaining about an umpire robbing your son is kind of ridiculous. In case you haven't been watching they miss calls in the Big Leagues.

 "So we're not Evo. So we win our pool. First elimination game the ump is calling strikes that are so far outside they are simply unhittable. It was very apparent we were in the way of the big boys and our game needed moved along. It is what it is. But scouts were there to watch my kid and having his bat taken out of his hands for expediences sake was disappointing."

 

I was not at your game but I have a hard time believing this was a conscience effort to move a game along. I have seen on a few occasions in a lop sided game...but never at a PG event.

 

2018 pitched today in a big game for him, came in with the bases loaded and no outs with a team that just ripped the prior pitcher.... tough situation, he gave up a hit down the line that could have been ruled a foul ball.  this umpire I felt was extremely tight by the number of walks handed out to both teams....

 

I told 2018 to immediately learn the umpire and make adjustments... the one that can will end up winning.  the next two innings were scoreless... it was not his best day... it happens.

Ok, so you hire incompetent umps or there is a policy to move games along. When a strike is being called well into the opposite batters box what would you expect one to think? 

 

And I know this is done. Not at PG firsthand, but I know at large venues with lots of teams it can be a policy.