Prospect Camps: Money or Recruiting?

Hello-

This is Jalal Leach of the Baseball Mentoring Program in Sacramento, California.

If you guys are looking for a program that will help promote your son to various college, please check us out at baseball mentoring program.

Regards,

Jalal Leach
CEO Baseball Mentoring Program Inc.

MTBaseball, Are they doing it for the money is a good question. Are they charging a fee?

Fungo

Interesting question.

$300

Seems a bit spendy which is why I posted this message.

MTBaseball,
This whole thing is very simple and at the same time is very complicated. Understand that it is a business if they charge a fee --- and most do. Let me give you the simple part of this scenario first. Most parents should “buy” a certain amount of exposure for their sons as a guarantee that his talent can be evaluated in order for college coaches to “offer” him a spot on their college roster. The complicated aspect of it is that most that market “exposure” do it for money just like every other business and deny vehemently that they do so. However, we don’t necessarily have to determine what motivates the promoters to have an “exposure business” to determine whether it is good for our sons. Instead we should look at it from a selfish standpoint and evaluate it based on what your son receives for the money you spent. Remember this is a business decision on your part just like it is on the promoter’s part unless you get $300 worth of pleasure watching your son throw 20 pitches, hit 20 baseballs and run the 60. I don’t succumb to advertising and people “hawking” products. I receive flyers in the mail where businesses are trying to sell me a product. I get a lot from Ford Motor Company. I have two Ford products simply because I needed two vehicles they fit my needs and I felt as if I was getting my money’s worth when I bought them. Just because Ford was having a “sale” and they “selected” me to participate in their sale did not factor into my decision to purchase. The same should go for showcases and prospect camps.

If you can find the time read the “spoof” by our own Bama Bomber on his showcase.
Here’s a link to:
Bubba's Baseball Bashers Bonanza
Southern Recruiting & Showcase Service

Link

Probably the second most important document on this website.................

MTBaseball, You've just gotten your answer from THE man of HSBBW! However, I do want to remind you that recruiting does go on between early signing period and late signing period. Recruiting can be very heavy actually because programs are going after needs they didn't fill and great players that didn't sign during the early period.

I posted this in another thread. My son got a hand signed letter and invitation for a national showcase/camp a couple of weeks ago. "You've been recommended by one of more of these coaches...." and had your major DIs listed. My son is a college sophomore. Either one of those schools wasn't too interested in my son since they didn't know he was already in college or the camp itself is very disorganized! Your son will need to target any camp or showcase activity he does very carefully. Don't get caught up in any praise for $ camps. Good luck!

A few weeks ago my son 2007 received a phone call inviting him to a showcase that was to be held several days later. They told him that four colleges had requested that he be there so they could see him. Luckily my son had been corresponding with one of the mentioned schools. He emailed the coach to check it out and he told him that he had not requeted that he be there, in fact they were not even going to be at the showcase!

We have picked college showcase/camps that he has been invited if they are at schools that he is interested in or if coaches from other schools of interest are there to get him some exposure. He has heard from schools based on his performance at the camps.

It's all about MONEY. Some are better than others, but if your son does not run a sub-6.7 60 or thow in the upper 80s -low 90s or gap or fence about every ball he hits in BP, or better yet, a combination of the above - I'm talking about the kid whose skills are so far and away superior to all the other kids present that he just sticks out like a sore thumb above all the rest [in which event he would have long ago been "seen" anyway] showcases are an absolute waste of time if being "seen" by that dream college coach / pro scout is the purpose.

If you want to go out and put the kid in a pressure situation to see how he performs, or just see how he stacks up, fine, it's good expreience. But unless your kid can be among the best one or two kids at the camp AND if the camp is actually attended by real, live scouts and coaches anywhere near what the marketing materials suggest, take a shot. Otherwise, spend your time and money doing something else.

I have been to a pay-to-play showcase attended by over 100 kids where only one D-1 coach was there (and a couple of "associate scouts") and to a college-hosted "prospect camp" where only the director of baseball operations, the G.A. and one, count-it, one juco coach were present.

ASK QUESTIONS and only deal with the most reputable sponsors & schools, if at all.

Personally, I don't mind my kid trying and failing or falling short - it happens. BUT, getting taken by people who only want mom and dad's money - that's something that the sport would be best rid of.

BUYER BEWARE.

During December of his junior year in high school, my son used a college's 3-day camp (mainly) as an opportunity to meet and get to know the coaches and players of a school that had sent quite a bit of personalized correspondence his way (and seemed like a school he'd be interested in attending, otherwise); but, about whom he knew relatively little. As it turned out, it was a good idea; as both sides came away favorably impressed. The school ended up being his second choice.

(By the way, they charged a fee and probably (gasp) made money.)

PREP

What I cannot understand is why some people begrudge these colleges making a few bucks on the camps--- It is not like they are making a million bucks a year in salary

I'm with Prepster on this one.

As Yogi Berra is famously quoted, "You can observe a lot just by watching." We've been to a few of these camps and we're heading to a few more. I've learned a lot about the schools and the baseball programs at these. Sometimes I learn good stuff, sometimes I learn bad stuff. But I have yet to come away thinking I wasted my money.

In many ways, eliminating a school from consideration is just as valuable, or perhaps more valuable, than deciding who's on the short list.

And Prepster, we're still heading to Chapel Hill come December!

It is interesting to read the various viewpoints about college camps. There are a few things that stand out to me:

1. Some parents/players are using these as a way of evaluating the colleges and even more specifically the coaching staffs and practice facilities.

2. Some parents/players are hoping that their attendance will perhaps get them recruited at the colleges or at others whose coaches are present.

3. My son attended two college camps, both during his junior year of high school. The only thing I and he were interested in was that he was getting instruction and that he could take that instruction and use it for improvement.

Are the schools/coaches making some money? Yes. If there are 100 players attending, chances are only a very small percentage of them, if any, will actually be recruited by the school.

Each kid, along with his family, should determine what is desired out of attending these camps, and accept the fact that there is a small chance it will lead to a scholarship.

I understand that some camps are called prospect camps. If a kid doesn't learn anything that can make him better though, in my opinion, then it is not beneficial to attend.

TR and Grateful, Those are great points obviously! Many camps are ran purely for instructional purposes and fulfill that expectation very well. Obviously the folks that do that should earn something for their efforts.

I think people's frustrations come from the Prospect Campbs, because we (parents) look at those letters that say our son is a top prospect and they need to come to their camp and be seen. We start to have a fantasy of Junior being singled out and given offer on the spot. It's easy to allow yourself to feel your son has been mislead. What we (parents) often forget is that every good HS player may be a prospect to them.

I have to agree with Lafmom, many HS baseball players are potential prospects!

My son went to one camp,same reason as Prepster's. It is one of the most famous camps in the country. It was a skills camp, most of the campers were younger players, we sent son because it was #1 on his list. He also went because he was being recruited (he was a junior). For us, it was a worthwhile experience (and worth every penny) because he didn't care much for the facilities or staff. #1 school began to slip down the list. It helped alot in his decision. In fact, after the camp, he decided the following year not to take an officiial visit.
So we fall into #1 on gratefuls above list.

Of course most (if not all) college camps are mainly to make money! They use the camp to show off their current players, their facilities and staff and the really good ones take time to work with each player. In the meantime, they are earning money to help fund their program, pay for assistant coaches expenses (they don't get paid) and whatever else they need it for. If the coach owns the camp, it is his $$$$$. Many good camp programs also use it as a recruiting tool.

Some camps are designed for the "older" player, thus prospect camps. I am not sure if I would send mine to a "prospect camp" unless I knew who was running it or asked someone who has attended.

In response to the question asked in the initial post, senior prospects have from November to April and summer to sign. When do you think they should hold the camp?
College camps are not run in the spring, coaches have other things on their minds.

If you choose wisely, the camp/showcase can benefit you in a number of ways. Son has attended two "prospect camps" in the past 9 months at one D1 school he is very interested in. He did the first one as a sophomore and got a lot of very helpful instruction, including a lengthy video analysis of his swing. He also received a sheet at the end rating him on various skills. It was helpful to know where he stacked up in their minds so he could know what areas to work on. He attended the second showcase last month as a rising junior and this event was in our opinion over-crowded. However, he has already received two contacts (one from a JUCO and one from a top level D1 school) from coaches who were helping at the showcase, and these contacts seemed to be much more specific than the generic sort.

Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few camps that live up to their billing in every way. The full coaching staff is there, if they promise scouts and jucos, they are there, too., and the kids get good work and lots of positive feedback. The fact that some otherwise underpaid, overworked asst. coaches make some money in the process is a good thing, not a bad thing.

My problem is with the very misleading way in which quite a few programs market these so-called prospect camps. Very misleading letters, even the occaisional "we love you and gotta see you" emails to kids in whom they never have and never will have any real interest. The schools who rarely, if ever, sign a kid out of one of their camps, those whose recruiting guys don't even show their face at a camp, etc. - those give the rest [not to mention their own insitutions] a black eye.

Why mislead a gullible 16-17 yr old kid that way? What is to be gained? A little more truth in advertising, especially when dealing with a bunch of pretty impressionable kids, would be a nice thing for college baseball, not to mention the private promoters, which is a whole 'nother subject.

Had a great situation for camps at our sons HS--- a HS alumni had left an endowment for the best JV player each coming up to varsity each year to attend a week long camp at a major Division I school.

My son was to become the CF as a soph on the varsity and he was sent to this camp to do nothing but hit and learn how play center field. As a frosh on the JV he was the starting SS

He enjoyed it so much he asked to return in the summer between his junior and senior HS years.

Funny sidebar here which shows how small the baseball world is---last summer I get a call from an ASST College Coach regarding a few players of ours---as we are talking about them Coach says to me "Hey you are related to -------?" --I said yes I was and he continues to tell me he remembered my son from the camp--

Some of these camps and such really are bogus though. I myself attended 2 Perfect Game showcases and 1 Bluechip Prospects showcase. I have been contacted by DI and DII schools from the Perfect Game showcase that rated me a 9 out of 10 (DI prospect). I also attended the Bluechip showcase that scored me as barely DIII and I recieved 1 DIII letter from a college from that showcase. In my opinion the Perfect Game showcases are worth the money if you preform at your top on the day of the event. I wouldn't waste my time with Bluechip.