Poor showing at key showcase

A great outing will get him on the radar, a bad outing will mean little other than he will have to show his stuff again later. College coaches are more concerned about "stuff" than results anyway.

Very true. Make sure you tell him that it's all good and no worries. The most important question is....how did he handle himself when the wheels were coming off? That's what the recruiting directors really like. A good friend of mine had his son recruited based on how he handled himself on the field during a train wreck performance.

As to performance, I heard a recruiting director say...I could care less if a kid goes 4-4 at the plate if they were bleeders and seeing-eye singles. I want to see a kid take cuts.

What was his velocity? The coaches are going to look at the whole package but velocity is one of the biggest factors along with movement. Our HS is in one of the best conferences in the country and the league wins the conference relatively often so it is probably one of the best leagues in the country. The league has had quite a few pitchers drafted with a couple drafted in the second round over the last few years. This year the league had their most successful pitcher in terms of winning and all those intangibles. He outpitched several pitchers who were drafted or will be drafted along the way to winning the top division in SoCal. He wasn't drafted and wasn't signed at a D1. I put that in there because you noted a HS era of 2.02. Sorry, but it means very little.

My son was a SS/pitcher in HS and that's how he went to showcases. He was on the recruiting radar for a few schools who were going to be at his first big showcase. He did fine at short but had a really awful outing on the mound. After the showcase one coach told him "You will never be a pitcher at the next level" and talked to him briefly about SS. Another coach said "I like you, lets see how you develop as a pitcher". Rightyshortsop said "I'm not really planning to be a pitcher at the next level". Coach says "Son, first thing to learn about showcases is that skills don't hide. You either have them or you don't and its never a mystery".

Well, he got recruited by the shortstop liking coaches and now he is a full time pitcher in college.

Maclefty

The experience we gained thru the process was be prepared for a roller coaster ride...The key is never get to high with the high or too low with the lows.

My son was able to make a local high school all star tournament in his soph year that along with a good outing at a head first show case the summer before his junior year put him on a lot of radars....First high

Then he attended some regional showcases after his spring junior season...another good outing...some more highs

July 1st comes and the phone rings all day long with teams expressing interest in him....another high

Then we head to East Cobb and has same kind of issue..velocity still there but has control problems...low time

Follow up with a local showcase....same issues...anther low..

Attends a more regional showcase...gets it all back together...another high

Ends up with 5 offers to choose from and committs before the start of his senior year.

One interesting aspect...was one school was real hot on him and when he had his rough spot...they dropped him real quick...then they saw him again doing well and guess who was interested again?

Told my son, you might use that into a window on he might be treated if he went to that school....a couple of bad outings and is the coach going to forget about him?

I will tell you it is not a death nail and he can recover.....there will be coaches out there that will understand that he can not be perfect all the time....my POV those are the ones you want to play for anyway

Good luck and let us know how it all turns out.

So how do you get junior prepared for the next showcase after a less than stellar outing?

What a great and timely topic. My son could not hit anything at PG East Cobb last week, but played well defensively and did not get too upset. Hoping for better results in the future. For now we are enjoying the attention of other boys on the team, including a 2014 that hit 92 this week in Minnesota.

If the scout/recruiter is any good he knows baseball players will have bad games. I think a good scout/recruiter looks at projectability and will need see a player a few times in action to make a reasonable evaluation.

Talent has to be there but it takes more than that. Especially when scholarships are very limited a recruiter must look at intangibles such as work ethic, coachability and personality.

All you can do is put a poor performance in the rear view mirror. Nothing can change what has happened it is in the past. This has happened to my 2013 more than a couple of times. Focus on working hard and preparing for the next one. It is defintiely a "roller coaster" ride with these kids and all we can do as parents is point them in the right direction and support them with our time and wallets...

quote:

Originally posted by leftyshortstop:
My son was a SS/pitcher in HS and that's how he went to showcases. He was on the recruiting radar for a few schools who were going to be at his first big showcase. He did fine at short but had a really awful outing on the mound. After the showcase one coach told him "You will never be a pitcher at the next level" and talked to him briefly about SS. Another coach said "I like you, lets see how you develop as a pitcher". Rightyshortsop said "I'm not really planning to be a pitcher at the next level". Coach says "Son, first thing to learn about showcases is that skills don't hide. You either have them or you don't and its never a mystery".

Well, he got recruited by the shortstop liking coaches and now he is a full time pitcher in college.

I love this. A former roomate of mine was recuited for his hitting. He ended up being a pitcher for the school and they told him to never pick up a bat again. Go figure.

Some good advice being given above. Main thing now is to figure out ways to not let your son put too much pressure on himself next outing. When we went through the showcase thing and pitching in front of college coaches with my 2 sons, I really never said much of anything to them. If I knew a college coach was coming to their HS game, I didn't even tell them. Sure, I was nervous as heck, but I just let them be them...and they always seemed to be fine. So maybe 'less is more?'

Also, maybe I wouldn't be too quick to head to the next one...or maybe let your son pick when and where he will be ready to do it again?

dad43, please don't think I'm nitpicking your post...it was a really good one! This line caught my eye...

quote:

Told my son, you might use that into a window on he might be treated if he went to that school....a couple of bad outings and is the coach going to forget about him?

My observation through 2 sons is that for all but a very few players on nearly every college team...a couple of bad outings will indeed get you 'forgot about' for at least a little while. College is all about winning, and sometimes you gotta work hard, get yourself ready and wait for your chance to come back around...not too much different than the OP's question.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
..Our HS is in one of the best conferences in the country and the league wins the conference relatively often so it is probably one of the best leagues in the country….

What the heck is a “CONFERENCE”? I’ve been familiar with most CIF jargon for about 15 years now, and I’ve heard of Divisions, Sections, and Leagues, but never conferences.

quote:

Originally posted by Stats4Gnats:

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
..Our HS is in one of the best conferences in the country and the league wins the conference relatively often so it is probably one of the best leagues in the country….

What the heck is a “CONFERENCE”? I’ve been familiar with most CIF jargon for about 15 years now, and I’ve heard of Divisions, Sections, and Leagues, but never conferences.

You're in California, what does the "C" in PAC 12 stand for?

Anyway, we have conferences here in Missouri. Son is in a 7 team conference and you play each once and have a conference champion. Then each Class divided up in 16 districts that go for the state championship. Of the 7 teams in his district two others are in his conference. Winning your confernce does nothing as far as playoffs go, but it will give you a higher seed come district playoff time.

quote:

You're in California, what does the "C" in PAC 12 stand for? Smile

This could evolve into a whole lotta fun discussion itself. But Pac12 generally is short for 'Pacific 12 Conference' and thus, the "c" in Pac is merely the 3rd letter in Pacific!

(I think! ).

Wikipedia says...

.

It's also the seventh letter. And I don't blame the powers that be for dropping 'ific' from Pacific.



.

I thought it was the PAC 12 as in

Pacific
Athletic
Conference

Kinda like

South
Eastern
Conference

But what do I know.