I'll go first!
2017 is an outfielder, awaiting ED decision at academic D3.
Two Headfirsts (Jupiter, Jr. year; Sacramento, summer before Sr. year)
Stanford Future Stars before Jr. year
Stanford All Star 1 camp before Sr. Year
Arizona Fall Classic, Junior and Senior year, with Academic game tryouts each year (but was not selected to Academic games)
Johns Hopkins camp before Sr. Year
Replies sorted oldest to newest
2018
stanford future stars before junior year
Headfirst (Long Island) before junior year
Next?
2018 MIF
PG Showcase/Camp: Winter of Sophomore year (should've waited on this one-really wanted the professional video done to get the process rolling)
ASU Individual Camp: Winter of Sophomore year
Showball National Camp (CA): Summer after Sophomore year
UNR Individual Camp: Summer after Sophomore year
SDSU Individual Camp: Summer after Sophomore year
Rising Prospects Nat'l Camp (CA): Fall of Jr. year
NMSU & PLNU Individual Camps (upcoming): Winter of Jr. year
AZ Fall Classic's mixed in each year
Hopefully no more mega Nat'l showcases......Hoping for invites to Sun Belt, Jupiter & Area Code, etc. this upcoming summer (need a monster HS season this spring) & maybe a few more Indy's after this HS season and we'll be done? <fingers crossed>
PBR local event just after end od freshman yr. PBR future games team Il. member summer of soph. yr. Recieved an offer day before future games. accepted @ a month later.
PG Showcase Soph year just to get in their database and see where he stood relative to the competition. First event. Ranked a 7.5, which of course I thought was low at the time. 
PG National (West Coast) 2X with travel team
USA National 16U Championships. (pick up team that placed fourth beating a ton of National teams)
Arizona Fall Classic (Jr/Sr & both Academic games)
Area Code tryouts Jr/Sr years (did not make teams)
Stanford Camp Sr year.
Scout league 2x in fall (Jr/Sr yr)
Connie Mack team both summers Jr/Sr, which also entered various tournaments in the LA area.
Did two on campus events, one at UC Davis and the other at Cal Poly. Not random as both were actively following him at the time.
Ended up playing for the #1 D3 in the country (Trinity TX...go Tigers!) Had a nice journeyman career as a two way. Won his league 3x's, 4 Regionals, one CWS, and also got a great education in the process. (Eng. degree)
What would we do different? 1) Trim back summer ball a little and do more training. (Driveline/Wolforth/Cressy stuff) 2. Explore D3 programs more aggressively. (on a good day a top D3 team can beat any team in the country, which at the time I had no idea)
Must do events: 1) Area Code 2) Academic games 3) Stanford camp 4) Scout league.... however teams saw him multiple times at multiple events so he kept moving up their draft board the more they saw him.
2018 MIF
Feb - Freshman year: PBR showcase (wish we knew about having a standout measurable, would have held off till Soph year, Exit velo - 79, IF velo - 76
August - Soph year: Duke Camp & PG Showcase (we knew it was for experience, but if we did it again I'd wait until son had at least one big measurable vs just being an excellent player with avg measurables)
Feb - Soph year: PBR showcase (Exit velo 84 & IF velo 84 put him as a top 5 prospect at the event)
July - Rising Junior summer: Stanford All Star Camp (performed well, had Baylor coach confirming D1 glove, but limited conversations and chances for coaches to see him play)
Fall Junior year: club team didn't have enough pitching, so 2018 rested, refined his skills to prepare for AZ Fall Classic and HF Jupiter. Exit velo up to 89, IF velo up to 88 now.
Oct - Junior year: AZ Fall Junior Classic All Academic tryout and game ( played well, made all academic team to play at evening game, at least 40 coaches watching, but focus was on pitching, SS son stuck at 3rd with only a pop fly)
Nov - Junior year: HF Jupiter (played very well, nice conversations with coaches he's communicated with) Unfortunate error by HF put son's 60 time at 7.8 vs his actual time; runner next to him had the 7.8. HF has since corrected and notified all coaches who attended HF Jupiter, but we felt major loss of opportunity to get noticed, it seemed he moved down the list with a few coaches because they never came around to watch, but those coaches that did see him play made very nice comments on his play and son know's he's on their "boards", where, who knows.
Future plan's: IVY camp Feb, PG Indoor Showcase Feb to get his PG grade bumped up, PG Academic Showcase in June (will be his rising senior summer), HF Sacramento in June. Hopefully he'll then have traction with a few schools.
Any suggested alternative routes?
2017 Outfielder
1 camp at Pitt during Christmas break his freshman year.
1 pro workout that the rockies put on every year in Pittsburgh- invite only- summer after freshman year
1 camp after he received offer summer before his junior year at school he ended up committing to- basically just to see the school, get to know the coaches and see if it felt right to him. he committed on the drive home, so that cut short the process.
we were fortunate that he plays on a summer team that is well known and heavily scouted in the area- and he was noticed early on by the area scouts, so his name was out there in our area.
2017 catcher (who wants to play club ball at Virginia Tech or James Madison and turned down a very good D3 option)
PG WWBA, a few local PG tournaments, 2 PBR showcases with video and metrics, 2 Dynamic combines (metrics). College camps: George Mason, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Catholic, Shenandoah. Junior and Senior years and summers.
High/low-lights: At PG WWBA 2015, drew the ultimate winning team first game of the event, and due to localized rain, started game after 11pm (which sucked). Incredible to see so many colleges, but after the first game, nada for coaches. SO MANY TEAMS and players that unless throwing gas or serious raking, seemed impossible to get any recognition = just a numbers game.
MWU camp was a joke, and I mean that in the worst way possible. CNU was outstanding. PBR events were well run but lacking in college coaches.
What would I do differently? Generally, less summer and fall baseball and more training. Playing great but meaningless games is fun but not recruiting!
Our 2017 did very little, comparatively, but it worked out in what I think is the best way possible for him.
Trosky Camp (local Cal event) - fall of Jr. year. Got only camp invites out of it. One was very personal, but from a D2 he wasn't much interested in.
AZ Jr Fall Classic - fall of Jr. year. Went with a very well established team, also did All Academic tryout. From that tryout mostly, I believe, he got on the radar of several high academic D3's and a couple Ivy's.
NorCal World Series - right after Jr year. Got contacted by a few D1 and several D3's, including school he committed to.
Head First Sacramento - July. Serious interest from many D3 coaches, and one Ivy.
Stanford 2 - July. Lots of camp invites, and a few D3 calls, but kind of irrelevant as he was 90% decided on where he was going before the camp.
Had he not made up his mind on a D3, there were a couple of D1 camps we were considering, and I still wish a coaching snafu hadn't cost him a trip to a PG tournament during Jr. year, but overall I would not do anything differently. Whether not not he would have done anything differently is a question for another thread.
Result: waiting for E.D. at high academic D3.
2017 MIF
November 2015: Arizona Junior Fall Classic
November 2015: Rising Prospects National Camp San Bernadino
June 2016: Prospectwire East v West 17u Los Angeles
July 2016: USD Team Camp
July 2016: UCSB Individual Camp
July 2016: Showball Showcase Los Angeles
July 2016: Under Armour Southwest Championships 17u
August 2016: Baseball Northwest Senior Championships Seattle
August 2016: Pacific Northwest Regional Games Seattle
September: Local Scout Ball games
October: Arizona Senior Fall Classic
October: PG WWBA Jupiter
D1 I ended up commiting to was at Prospectwire, Showball (would not recommend though), Under Armour Southwest Championships, and Arizona Senior Fall Classic
I would highly recommend the fall classics, east v west (only 10 teams), under armour, baseball nw if you live in the nw, and Jupiter because there is no better baseball experience.
2010 SS/P
*Trosky Camp
NorCal World Series
Arizona Fall Classic
East Cobb Wood Bat Tournament
Stanford Camp
Scout Team
Area Codes
Central Coast Section HS Baseball Championship
These were the primary events son attended other than some summer tournaments his travel team participated in. And these are pretty much those involved in the recruiting process.
*. . . .except for the Trosky Camp. It was a small local event, with a few local college HCs and recruiters, at the time and son was a Sophomore and invited. We decided to go as it was for Juniors and Seniors and son wanted to see how he might stack up at a higher level.
None
2014 MIF
SelectFest showcase
Atlantic 100 showcase
PG East Cobb tournament
PG Fort Myers tournament
PG Northeast tournament
TPX96 Ohio tournament
Super 17s tournament - Diamond Nation NJ
Cary, NC tournament - can't remember the name
Was scheduled for HeadFirst but was injured
2018 RHP
2016 LHP
2017 attended two, one day catching camps at two different universities his sophomore year. Attended a PG showcase after sophomore year. Tried out for Area Code after sophomore and Jr seasons. Did not make AC team. Offered D1 after sophomore year, committed after his Jr. season, signed last month.
Although my son's list of events is short, the AC tryouts were very well attended by schools in our region and generated 90% of his recruiting interest.
On a side note, he did attend the WWBA 17U this past October. He isn't getting drafted so improving draft stock wasn't the reason for going and he was firm on his commitment. Going to that event was sort of a bucket list item for him, just wanted to experience that circus and it definitely lived up to the hype. If your son gets the opportunity to play in the WWBA....go!
Nothing as FR/SO. No travel. No showcases. No off-season pitching or training.
JR year:
- One complete game at WWBA 17U (not in the main complex)
- 20-30 pitches at a State HS showcase
- Played 2 pickup games on a showcase travel team (one was WWBA above)
He got D1 offers based on these two events plus scouts at HS games.
Probably only pitchers can get away with the light showcase schedule.
Side note: he ended up with TJ 2 years later, even after being careful with the arm. /sad
2017 LHP did the following:
Sophomore year:
Summer between Soph. and Jr years:
Summer between Jr and Sr.
** High School team participates in CCS tourney (CIF-CCS) regularly and also attend well recruited events like the Boras Classic.
2018 C/IF
Oct 2015- Sophomore Classic
Jan 2016- Baseball Factory
Jun 2016- Area Code Tryouts
Aug 2016- Prospect Camp
Oct 2016- Jr All-Academic and Fall Classic
Nov 2016- ACBTC
Jun 2017- E vs W showcase, Area Code Tryouts
Aug 2017- Prospect Camp
Sep 2017- NYY Scout Team (AZ JUCO Fall league)
Oct 2017- Sr All-Academic and Fall Classic
MAM, I know your son's destination is in your profile but I think it would help the value of this thread if results were included in each post along with the lists - this applies to everyone else as well, of course.
I think 2012 went to a Cal Poly camp as an 8 y.o. (hehe)
DeMarini Top 96
PG Sunshine West
SoCal Scout League
A few college camps
Most activity was between junior and senior year, some between soph and junior year. He was plenty strong to contribute at HS between soph and junior but not nearly strong enough to show colleges anything. For him, that was too early and a waste from an exposure standpoint. It was only valuable for getting familiar and comfortable with the format, getting a better picture of what he was up against and in some cases, playing against good competition. A HS senior season injury resulted in steering him the JC route. Ended up JC to D2 and transferred for final year at an NAIA.
Cabbage Dad, I agree that posting results would be really helpful. I hesitated to ask for that because we're in the middle of ED admissions season for 2017s. But I could have simply asked the results for those who have completed the college admissions process. Thanks for the suggestion.
2016 RHP
Fresh/Soph Year - none
Summer between Soph and Jr year (attended as infielder and pitcher):
Local showcase set up by his summer team as part of a tournament - mostly local schools (northeast)
Played in PG WWBA at Lakepoint
PG Northeast in Aug
Fordham Camp in Sept
Franklin & Marshall Camp in Oct
Summer between Jr and Sr year (as a PO):
Marist camp - July
Quinnipiac Camp - July
Headfirst Camp on Long Island - Aug
Result - ED1 to Centennial Conf D3 school as a result of HF on LI.
If I had to do it over again I would not have had him go to the PG Showcase in Aug after a very long summer season. His arm was dead and it showed. Also, knowing what I know now I would not have had him do the F&M Camp as a Jr as the coaches were primarily interested/looking at Seniors at that camp.
Wow...I thought we did a lot but just two Headfirsts (between So and Jr year and Jr and Sr year) plus Stanford once, Naval Academy and one Top96. Goal has always been DIII high academic and no question in my mind Headfirst between Jr and Sr year is all you need to do. Could have saved some money! Did Navy as a way to visit and see if that was a possibility with or without baseball. Headfirst between Jr and Sr year resulted in at least 10 opportunities. Son doing ED at one - fingers crossed!!!
2016 RHP
One PG showcase following ninth grade year. Rated a 7. Mainly due to primary catcher at the time. Primary pitcher started that fall based on interest by D1 Pitching coach he is enrolled at now.
Lots of PG events. WWBA 4 or maybe 5 time, 2x BCS, 2x PG WS, Jupiter fall of his senior year, MLK event in AZ
Committed right before junior year started. Only two camps at schools and one was at current school. Played in Jr. Sun Belt for TX (unique event and several of his teammates on that team this event is where the majority of their recruitment started)
Early commitment worked great for son. He could pick and choose where and who he pitched for. Pitched in lots of great events post commitment and scaled back a lot in the fall. Allowed for lots of training time.
Solid freshman fall, but even with all of the great competition in PG events and Junior Sunbelt, nothing comparable to what he faced in fall vs. his new teammates.
Every journey is different: I highlighted those with greatest impact- to no surprise those were during junior year.
Freshman Year: Baseball Factory "Tryout" /BF Summer Program & 2 PG Showcases
Sophomore Year: BF Showcase
Colonial League School Specific Camp
Showball MEGA Camp
Ivy League Winter Camp (School Specific)
Tops 96 Showcase
Headfirst Camp (Summer- Long Island)
Junior Year Ivy League (School Specific) Camp
Patriot League (School Specific Camp)
Showcase MEGA Camp- (ran a camp best 6.40 60 which caught notice)
2 Junior Days (each school specific)
Ivy League School Specific Camp (Son would commit here)--run by school's RC
Patriot League School Specific Camp
American Legion Futures Showcase- much interest here based on times clocked HTF in skills
set, HTF on a bunt and steal of second base in game
Top 96 Academic- 2 of son's top three schools offered soon after showcase
4 PG tournament events ( 2 summer after freshman year playing 17u as 15 yo)
1 Dynamic baseball showcase summer after freshman year ( 8 pitches 3 ground balls didn't show much here)
1 fall college camp that turned out to end in a verbal Commit to sons #1 dream school D1
just learning the recruiting ropes and walked into the right opportunity at the right time! Cancelled a 2nd college camp that was scheduled. College camp was a late add to our roadmap during fall of sophomore year
Only including showcases and camps here (also attended PG summer tournaments, USA baseball national team championships, and AZ fall classics):
Freshman Year:
Stanford Pitching Camp
PG Sunshine West Showcase
Sophomore Year:
Stanford Pitching Camp
PG Sunshine West Showcase
Stanford All Star Camp
PG All American Games
USA Baseball 16U NTIS
Under Armour/BF Team One Futures Game
Junior Year:
Under Armour/BF Pre-Season All American Games
MLB Scouting Bureau Underclass Invitational
PG Sunshine West Showcase
PG National Showcase
Under Armour/BF Team One National Showcase
Area Code Games
Cabbage Dad -- Happy to add to my post with the result... Barring anything massively surprising, my son should be attending Grinnell. Lot of zigs and zags in this journey and a bunch of money spent figuring out the destination. Not sure anything was a waste but Stanford and HeadFirst were the best month spent with the best return
Son is a RHP.
Freshman/Sophomore years did nothing.
Fall of Junior year - East Cobb Academic Showcase - One school that wasn't a fit at all (and not really his idea of an academic) showed interest.
Junior year spring/summer began directly targeting schools of interest and generating some modest interest from PG tournament appearances locally (ATL). Top 96 Academic showcase in July where a large number of schools on a list he'd targeted with whom he'd been corresponding attended. Along with a couple of campus visits associated with that trip, ended up with varying levels of interest from ~10-12 schools in which he also had varying levels of interest. Subsequent visits to some of those schools resulted in 3 outright offers, though several others he had ruled out for various reasons also expressed similar levels of interest without a visit/offer, so he likely would have had other options as well. Committed to ED at a high academic DIII in September, accepted in December.
Other factors potentially of note, played travel with his age throughout HS (2016 who turned 18 after graduating) due largely to desire to play with/for specific coaches. Played in a 6A (largest at the time, now 7A) HS program but didn't make Varsity as a junior and elected not to play HS ball (did play 17U travel with ECB) his senior year after committing (with college coach's blessing). ACT 30/SAT 1960 (didn't submit SAT score), median ACT/SAT 32/2120 at his college, but also a National AP Scholar with a weighted GPA above 4.4, and college coach never expressed concern about his ability to get accepted on his academic merits or that coach would need to short-list him (though he may have, I don't know). Interviewed at the school he's attending (and a couple of others) and we maintained cautious optimism at the time of application that he'd get in.
Good stuff from all of you. What positions do your sons play?
Enjoying the Ride posted:Only including showcases and camps here (also attended PG summer tournaments, USA baseball national team championships, and AZ fall classics):
Freshman Year:
Stanford Pitching Camp
PG Sunshine West Showcase
Sophomore Year:
Stanford Pitching Camp
PG Sunshine West Showcase
Stanford All Star Camp
PG All American Games
USA Baseball 16U NTIS
Under Armour/BF Team One Futures Game
Junior Year:
Under Armour/BF Pre-Season All American Games
MLB Scouting Bureau Underclass Invitational
PG Sunshine West Showcase
PG National Showcase
Under Armour/BF Team One National Showcase
Area Code Games
RHP
Son is a Freshman RHP at a mid major D-1.
Attended the East Coast Baseball camp in 2013 and 2014
Participated in 2 showcases that were put on by his travel organization in 2014
Played in the South Atlantic Border Battle Showcase in 2014
Attended a Scout Day that was put on by an MLB Area Scout in 2015
2014 RHP/UTIL
Soph summer -- Texas A&M one day camp
Junior year winter -- Cisco college showcase
Senior Fall -- The Complete Showcase
Recruited by a D2 juco as a RHP/Util 2 states away. He is no a junior at a D1 school as a 1b.
You just never know the journey.
