Puma Pre Season All American

Not to put any of these players down but....

Unfortunately... the Puma All-american award is more about how much money you've spent with Baseball factory than talent...

The local kids in my area who have been named to this list, havent' even been full-time starters on their varsity team, which means there are, probably, at least 9 kids at their OWN school better than they are....

Thanks SDBB for being diplomatic about that, I was having a hard time thinking of a pc response.

I have no dog in the hunt or on the list. The list has at least one real player from Central FL. All-Everything catcher who can actually play. There is also a 2008 player committed to FSU. Not unheard of to skip Sr. year but I wonder if Coach Shoupe at FSU is aware of that.......

The list is of dubious origins to say the very least.

PRE-SEASON ALL-AMERICA FACTS

Pre-season All-Americans actually showcase and compete against each other, it is the only “non paper” All-American honor.

Pre-season All-Americans are scouted and selected by Baseball Factory scouts and/or Team One Baseball scouts, along with certain scouts from Major League organizations.

The format of the 2007 Pre-Season All-America Tournament will feature approximately 200 high school players in a 12 team wood bat tournament. Teams will be broken up by region to compete for the All-America Tournament championship. Additionally, players will rotate amongst stations that include pro-style workouts, video and instruction.

It looks like invites also went out to some of the folks who had attended Team One events as well.

It looked like it used to pull some of the top players in the past when Baseball Factory and Team One used to have their own events, but it has really fallen off when Baseball Factory and Team One combined and the recruiting periods changed and it continues to be held during the quite period.

There are only about a dozen players committed to a 4 year school and it looks like maybe three are ranked in the top 500 of PGCrosschecker's player rankings, so it is not really a Pro Scouting event either.

Isn't it possible that there are some good ballplayers out there that don't have the PG mark of approval? My son has a D-1 offer and a lot of interest from a couple of very good D-3 schools. We're still searching for the best possible offer. Quite frankly the D-1 offer he has is from a school that will require a lot more money than I am capable of putting out. Very select school. He has never been to PG because when it came around, didn't have the extra money. On the other hand, his position at school is the only position to consistently produce D-1 players every year he has been there and acouple before he got there. So he has paid his dues. This should be his year. We never did an event with either of these companies till this tryout. They recognized him and invited him. He was thrilled at being asked to attend and I was able to make it happen for him this time. He may not be a blue chip player who is going to be waiting by the phone in June, but he is my son and I'm very proud of him. Both on and off the field. Everyone can think of players who nobody counted on or noone thought could play the game. That's what it is all about. Kids who never quit, who never listened to what people said who didn't believe. Sorry if I offended anyone, as that is not my intent. Just 2 cents from someone who is tired of hearing about "blue chip players" or PG ranked players. The college rosters are full of players who weren't ranked. I hope all the boys going to the All-American have a great time and a safe trip.

At least one player from that team did not even make first team all conference last year. Solid player? Yes, but not all-american material.

My son recieved a letter from the baseball factory saying he had been selected as a Pre Season All American by the Baseball Factory and Team One. He then was sent a package in the mail saying that this has earned him the right to come and participate in the event earlier mentioned. It was very very expensive and very far away for us. So we decided not to attend. Im not sure how many other kids were named Pre Season All Americans that decided to not attend as well. I do not know the other players listed so I can not speak of their ability. My son was invited because one week end his showcase team was off and they had a Puma Tryout near us. It was a pro style tryout and was ran very well. Like alot of lists Im sure there are some kids on it that are not the best players. And Im sure there are some very talented players in it as well.

There is a kid on there that won't even start for his team this year as a Senior. Puleeeezeeee.

no-e2,

Congrats and good luck to your son.

quote:

Originally posted by KellerDad:
There is a kid on there that won't even start for his team this year as a Senior. Puleeeezeeee.

That is unfortunate; well we have invitations for the last three years. In the past they used to include a "certificate" of being an All-American, this year they did not. Bummer!

We have friends that excelled at the first event in AZ and got write-ups for their performance, but could not even get a sniff for a D1 school. That was when they actually had D1 schools attend and had many high visibility players attend.

My son also was invited to the PUMA Pre-Season All-American Showcase. He attended the tryouts here in Tampa. Arizona is just a long way to go for a short weekend,so we decided not to attend.There'sabout 60 kids at the tryout, but i dont know how many got invitations?? The rating he received from Baseball Factory is pretty consistant with his Perfect Game rating.

Let me tell you about Baseball Factory. It was started by a guy from my high school in Columbia, MD. He graduated a couple years behind me and went on to play ball at U. of Penn. He is a good guy, and a very good business man. Asked me to get involved in his business when he first started it up over 13 years ago. I told him I felt like all recruiting services were businesses that preyed upon parent's emotions, and that I couldn't look myself in the mirror doing that to people. They are a business, people are informed more than they ever have been these days, so I doubt anybody goes into these things blindly. They do a lot of community service work here in the Baltimore area, if that means anything...

Our experience has also been that it is almost exclusively tied to participation with baseball factory, or their affiliates. We've had a number of kids from our summer program who've been invited to try out, and none were selected except for one kid who'd played for the local affiliate of BBfactory. We've seen players selected in the past who weren't nearly the talent as some who were passed over.

We were warned away from it by the parent of a terrific shortstop at our high school, who paid the money and then was disappointed at the hype, although he ended up at a Pac10 D1. His family could not afford it, but put up the money to do what they thought was best for their son. However, I sense a well-cultivated air of superiority in the many posters who turn up their noses at the Puma All-America list. Yes, it was an attempt by some parents to "buy" their way into some recruiting advantage, but not every kid on that list should therefore be condemned as "unworthy," nor can every parent be put down for their lack of baseball knowledge. Let's use a gentler hand in our critique and help others learn.

brod,

If you search the archives, this topic is brought up every year around this time. After commenting on it for 3-4 years, there are only so many ways to be "gentle" about it. It has nothing to do with an air of superiority.

quote:

Originally posted by brod:
We were warned away from it by the parent of a terrific shortstop at our high school, who paid the money and then was disappointed at the hype, although he ended up at a Pac10 D1. His family could not afford it, but put up the money to do what they thought was best for their son. However, I sense a well-cultivated air of superiority in the many posters who turn up their noses at the Puma All-America list. Yes, it was an attempt by some parents to "buy" their way into some recruiting advantage, but not every kid on that list should therefore be condemned as "unworthy," nor can every parent be put down for their lack of baseball knowledge. Let's use a gentler hand in our critique and help others learn.

Brod, Did your shortstop get his Pac 10 ride due to attending the Puma All American or did he already have it secured?

The Baseball Factory is heavy into marketing their recruiting program and their tournament teams, they list players on their web site who have commitments to schools, but they may have attended a Team One event and had to attend a marketing presentation on Baseball Factory's college placement program, but to allude that Baseball Factory had anything to do with them getting their exposure to is an overstatement.

Team One used to be one of the key showcases that you would want to attend, but that has lost their luster since being taken over by Baseball Factory, in fact, since they had been taken over, they actually had taken off all their player performance comments to their past showcases and now they have the player call one of their representatives to receive their feedback, as well as, another marketing pitch from their representative for their expensive recruiting program and/or tournament team.

Team One used to have ratings from their showcases of what they thought the player’s professional or collegiate possibilities were, and they no longer do that.

Let see, you pay perfect Game for the right to be listed in their top players list. You pay BBF to be listed in PUMA.

Is there any honest scouting left?
Why did Baseball America end it alliance with PG and go to BBF?

This is all about getting your name on list, so a coach can speak with you. The ranking in PG do not make sense either... If I go to an event in CA and then a event in MA they rank you differently it all about the money. Why did Blaine Clemens leave BBF to go to PG, did he not do the same thing at both companies. Is he better at his job at PG?

Just some thoughts if you can play you will be found and it really does not matter what services you’re a part of get yourself in front of a Coaches that you want to play for if they like what they see they will talk to you but you have to market yourself..

I have a funny feeling that all the nasty comments are from angry players parents that missed the tryouts or were not invited. Please the next time Puma or Team One has a tryout in your area, take your superstar there and see for yourself how professional and well organized the staff is.

Then just maybe, if your son gets selected because at the Irvine tryout we seen very talented players, you will change your tune. My son has played P.G,Area Code camps, ect. I have seen a lot of great kids within the last two years and the All American will be no different. All I know is we will have a good time on Jan 13th & 14th playing Baseball at Kino in beautiful Arizona.