re: Baseball Showcases: A Great Way to Waste Money and Get Injured

Why would you come to a board where the objective is to get advice on getting to college ball and post this? I'm guessing 85% of college players participated in showcases. Your post is not educational. It's very trollish behavior. Besides, Legion ball sucks in the area my son grew up. It's JV equivalent ball.

The last article you posted was mostly BS and lies. My kids grew up that area. Legion was always looking for ways to discredit travel. Most of the names mentioned as getting to college ball through Legion I recognized and know they participated in showcases too. Another poster found most of them in the Perfect Game database. There is misinformation in this article as well.

I do think a pitcher who attends winter showcases, and not in pitching condition is open for potential injury.  Having said that, I am gaining quite tired of folks posting links to individuals that because they have a "name" in the industry should go unchallenged.....Cressey is one of those.  So just because Cressey, or Wolforth, or Strom, or House, or "insert expect here" writes an article based on "opinion", folks run with it.

Here's a thought related to Cressey's article, which implies that pitchers who throw more are susceptible to injury at higher rates than others, and cite "portions" of studies to support it.  For every "cited excerpt" there are contradicted studies implying the opposite.  I am not saying that overuse injuries do not exist, of course they do, however there is a trending theme that maybe the increase injuries are due to not training the body to handle the workload, i.e. we don't throw enough.  Just the other night on MLB Network, Mitch Williams was talking about Tanaka, and his high pitch counts in Japan not being a big thing, since they train for it...most Japanese pitchers throw a lot more than MLB....they even throw in between innings.  Look at the pitch counts from the Bob Gibson era, the starting pitchers finished games.

I don't get the point of the OP copying and pasting without much else via dialogue or input, but it gets me that folks give carte blanche to very manipulated "scientific studies" to support ones views.  Let's face it if House, Cressey, Wolforth, Nyman did not differ with each other at least a little bit, how could they sell their services.  I don't dislike what the aforementioned advocate necessarily, but I do take with a grain of salt, and hate that some folks believe them as gospel.

Showcases are not for everyone, and sometimes I see kid's who simply have no business being there. But I think kid's that are seeking the next level and are attending event's are also aware of their bodies and know if they are in good enough condition to attend no matter what time of year it is.  And if the kid isn't, I believe most parent's should be. I once made a very unpopular decision to not let some softball teams travel to a indoor winter tournament/showcase. They had not been practicing, our really good catcher was not quite healed from the fall, and both pitchers were in the middle of their shut down time. Someone had to see the big picture, and on that day it happened to be me. I think that a kid could be successful at a showcase by showing he has correct mechanics, and doing the right things on the field more times than not.  Maxing out and  injuring your arm is not necessary to get on someones radar. 

 When someone makes these type of statement's I always Wonder what type of angle are they taking. Is it money? are they mad at someone?

Showcases are not for everyone!  Pitching can be hard on the arm!  Pitchers need to be ready if they plan to attend a showcase.

I have never understood why some seem to blame showcases for arm injuries.  I understand that in the case where a pitcher is not in pitching condition.  

I guess something has to take the blame.  What about the obvious... Over Use and improper recovery time.  These are the major issues involving abuse to a pitcher and neither of those should ever take place at a showcase where a pitcher is throwing two or three innings.  However, this does take place all over with pitchers being used by teams.

so what is it? The two or three innings or the 150 innings that is most dangerous?

A few years ago the American Legion World Series was held in our hometown, Cedar Rapids, IA.  A team from Virginia was in the finals and their top pitcher was a college freshman.  We all watched him pitch his butt off during the tournament and were shocked to see him take the mound in the champonship game.  Once again he gave it everything he had until finally he fell down grabbing his arm in pain.  He had TJ surgery, but I haven't heard of him since.  I checked our database to see if we had him listed. It looked like he had never attended a showcase or travel tournament.  But I will never forget the picture of him laying on the mound in serious pain.

Everytime a pitcher takes the mound there is a certain amount of risk.  I have seen pitchers put at great risk in high school, travel ball, college, and even professional baseball.  I have never seen that at a showcase, that I can remember.

RJM estimated 85% of college players have attended showcases.  I actually think it is a higher %.  More than 85% of American professional players have attended showcases.  

I also read where no one has ever been discovered at a showcase.  That is so far from true!  I could give thousands of examples!  Baseball America once did a great story but it no longer exists on there site.  However, here is another story about the same player. He became a first round pick and it just wasn't ever going to happen except he was discovered at a showcase. Here is the link...

http://www.unionleader.com/app...mp;template=printart

My son has been to several showcases over the years.  He attended one in December that had several D1 schools from around the Midwest.  He has pitched quite a bit in the past....but really not much at all this past year....2 innings in HS and a dozen or so this summer.  He pitched at the showcase....just because he didn't feel like sitting around between the outfield and infield portions.  He threw well....and a week later got an email from a D1 recruiting coordinator asking him to call.  He did and we're planning a visit soon.  Maybe something will come from it...maybe not...but I can assure you that this showcase was what got him noticed as I can guarantee that this coach had never seen him pitch before.

I will point out that Cressey is an advocate of pitchers taking 10-12 weeks off a year which I happen to agree with.  I will also say that this article was written in 2010.  Much has changed at a rapid pace IMO with the cream of the crop being signed more early on all positions. . Pitching is a differing animal and not a 1 size fits all where you can make a blanket statement like Cressey has.  Most of us here have kids and/or may have learned where we need to draw the line with respect to showcases.  Like anything you need to balance out what your SONS goals are and know his limitations and whether doing these showcases are actually worth the time and risk if your kids is not in shape to do so.  Adjust a throwing schedule in regards to ramping up as needed.  Like most areas we have a ton of camps around here in the Midwest, most in Jan.  My kid wanted to go to a couple of places, even the PG Indoor this weekend,  But he's not in shape yet and needs a few more bull pens.  I WILL NOT push him and it's not wise to do so as HE is not ready to throw at the level he expects.  He was invited to throw on 2/17 and will be prepared. My point is you have to prepare accordingly.  Cressey is well respected in the pitching community, prob. seen numerous kids blow there arms up trying to impress when they're not ready to do so. 

Is that the showcase fault or those that write the check so there kid can attend one.

Great post!!!

What gets me is the title of the topic, meant to create negativity.  As pointed out, this article was written 4 years ago and much has changed, but to be honest, I think the OP is still living back in the days when Legion ruled.

TW,

Don't you ever read anything here, or do you just post your BS??  There has been so many topics on showcases here, with using common sense always the theme. And your new topic discredits a really great guy who does great stuff for many. (JMO)

You singularly have given Legion ball a very bad impression. Your posts here have done the organization more harm than good!

Buckeye good luck to your son,

 I still don't get the part about nobody has ever been recruited from a showcase.

BTW, showcases and camps are for everyone, but it is up to the player and his folks who write to check to decide which would be BEST for that particular player!

The problem usually is, too many feel that they might be missing out on something if they don't schlep their players to every one of them!!!

I just thought of an interesting recruiting angle. As summer wore on a friend of my son wasn't drawing interest from any of his target schools at showcases. At the end of July the coach at one of his target schools resigned. His travel coach got the job and took the kid along.

My 2016 attended a D3 Prospect Showcase in the fall after not pitching for two months just to get a taste of what a showcase was. Since it was a smaller school I was hoping it wouldn't be crowded, instead they had their largest showcase ever with more than 70, although he was one of 6 -2016s there. He didn't go all out because he had not pitched in awhile part of the reason was to protect his arm. What he found most valuable was the written evaluation at the end.

A self-serving post from a recruiting service.

THAT'S a shocker!!!!