Recruiters and PG rankings/grades

johnj314,

Could you PM me some examples of 9.5 and 10s that you have seen struggle getting college offers? I can't think of any. The draft is a different thing all together. Buster Posey was a 10 and was drafted in the 50th round out of high school. Matt Wieters wasn't drafted at all.

It is true that lots of 8s and 9s get drafted. No matter how much any one might value the rankings and grades, they are impossble to ignore as a point of identification. Actual value can differ from one scout/recruiter to another.

PGStaff- This is my first attempt at a PM. Can you please confirm receipt?

johnj,

Yes, I got it. Without using any names, I will reply here because it might help someone else.

The first player you mentioned we graded a 9.5 when we first saw him and a 9 the last time we graded him. He is a sub 6-0 RHP who we have seen throw 90 with a very good breaking ball. He went to a good Juco. There are many reasons why top players go Juco, so it is hard to speculate in his case. Many 9s and 10s have gone to Junior Colleges for a variety of reasons.

The second player mentioned... We grade on talent, however, same as above, grades can play an important role when it comes to DI scholarships. Also as a 2012 grad things can still happen quickly. It's too soon to call in his case. He's a pitcher we have seen throw 90 with good life and 2 other good pitches. Also he is a two-way prospect. I have no doubt that this is a high level pitcher and that DI schools have considered him.

Regarding the other players you mentioned. It is always possible we didn't see them so we wouldn't have graded them or ranked them. It's also possible they could be recruited walk ons. Actually we have seen two of the three players you mentiond, but have not graded them yet. There will always be players that we don't have ranked going to DI schools. There are more DI roster spots than the number of kids we rank. We don't see them all!

Also remember that our grading system is an either/or. Some kids grade out better as a pro prospect while others might grade better for college. This is because of projection playing a major role in grading.

Professional baseball... How good in 4 or 5 years?
College baseball... How good now and in the next year or two?

Remeber this, thre is nothing scientific about this stuff. First time we saw Prince Fielder our guys gave him a 6.5 and we were asked to delete it. Two years later we gave him a 10.

To answer your original question... Yes many decision makers look at our grades and rankings. However, that doesn't mean they agree with our opinion on every player.

Best of luck to your son.

PG... How much does the bloodline of a player play into the projection of that player. In other words, if a kid is a descendent to a hall of famer say a great uncle, how much does that influence the ratings of the particular player?

It can't be ignored. Too many cases of success to ignore. However, it's an added consideration in projection rather than the more important other things.

I think the closer the relative (father rather than great uncle) the more it means. I'm not sure of that though! We have seen many outstanding son's of former star athletes and we seen even more that don't have outstanding ability.

PG Staff- one more question for you regarding the rankings. If a pitcher had attained a certain velocity in your events over the summer and as a result was ranked would a lower velocity performance (-5 mph) in a fall event like the Kernals and Underclass result in a lower ranking when the new rankings come out? With football it is just hard to maintain the same level of baseball practice and training in the fall and it might be better to skip the events if it is going to hurt his ranking.

Rankings should never be the primary reason for attending or skipping an event. That said we know it is a reason players attend.

We have had football players play baseball in the fall. Not sure what to think about that. I sure can understand why a football player would want to concentrate on football during football season.

On the other hand, it does tend to impress scouts, recruiters, and us when football players continue to play baseball in the fall. Everyone knows how difficult it is to do both.

Play or not play, it's an individual choice. But not playing because of concern about someone hurting their ranking is not something anyone wants to hear about a good prospect. However, maybe the 5 mph drop would be a good reason.

PGStaff..I sent you a pm

My son (2012 grad) earned a pretty high grade at the Sunshine South Showcase in Houston at the beginning of June. Right now as we are heading into the Fall season we are trying to figure out what to do with it.

He has been with a very good select program this summer and fall so I am hoping the grade translates to some more notice. Any ideas out there?

PG, do you get a rating by playing in your tournaments like the WWBA or must you attend a showcase?

RAB90,

Not sure what you mean by a high grade and "what to do with it". You don't really need to do much with a high grade, but maybe tell coaches that might not know. Sounds like the grade along with playing on a high level summer team should help you a lot.

More important than any grade is what you do the next time you take the field and every time after that.

calisportsfan,

I think sometimes people get grades or ratings mixed up with player rankings. To be ranked a player doesn't have to attend any showcases, we just need to see them play. To be graded we need to see a player in some type of a showcase or workout setting.

Tournaments/games do not always provide enough data in order to grade a player. Can't always get an exact reading on things like speed, fielding ability, power potential, etc. watching a game. The various skills are all much easier to evaluate at a showcase or workout.

That said we do see players that are definite 10 on PG scale at tounaments. In other words we have seen enough to know Byron Buxton (GA) is a 10. However he has never attended a PG showcase. We don't have him listed as a 10 but we have him ranked in the top 10 in the country. Guess you could say that would make him an easy 10 grade.

He was graded 8.5 at that showcase, which I know is good. :-)

As far as "what to do with it", I am just not sure if there is any extra marketing out there for us to do. He plays with the Houston Banditos, but just joined them this summer so I think he is still a little under the radar. He will be with them again this fall and hopefully will go to Jupiter with them in Oct. I know they do a good job of marketing their kids, but I am just not sure if there is something else that we can be doing. Basically it is sometimes hard to be patient.

RAB90..just my 2 cents.

I know the Banditos too well from when my son played in Houston. Great organization that will help in any way. My question is do you have a list of schools that he is looking at? Have you all reached out to these programs with your schedule so they know when your son is playing? Also ask the Banditos coaches about these schools and they may call them as well.

Good luck

RAB90,

Has your son contacted his colleges of interests and has he followed up with colleges interested in him?

RR23

PS I think Wbethea13 and I were thinking and writing at same time..

RAB90,

I understand it is hard to be patient. You're not alone, that's for sure.

I know who your son is and he's a very good player. Personally I think his #1 tool is hitting and that is always something college coaches have to see. He does run well and is a good all around player and it looks like he is a very good student, so he is going to play at the next level.

Everyone thinks that kids from California, Texas, Florida, etc., have it made when it comes to recruiting. Truth is it can be very difficult in those areas because of the great amount of talented players. Sometimes extremely talented kids end up getting more interest from out of state schools. Too many good players can be a problem. I bet if he were from Iowa he would have committed already.

I hope your son makes that trip to Jupiter and performs well there. Best of luck!

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:

Sometimes extremely talented kids end up getting more interest from out of state schools. Too many good players can be a problem. I bet if he were from Iowa he would have committed already.

You know PG, I never thought about that. Now that you've said it I can see that if you're in a "hotbed" part of the country where there may be day in and day out tons of talent that it would be "challenging" to be seen and recruited.

One could almost say that being from Podunk, Montana and being a stand out could be a good thing!

Not sure if Podunk, Montana would be a good thing. You are from one of the very top hotbeds. There are easily hundreds of DI prospects in that area every year. If you were the hundreth top prospect, the state schools may look right past you. However, the same player can be a high priority for schools from other states that lack a large number of talented kids.

Because of the state grant, Georgia players have a difficult decision. Once U of Georgia and Tech pick their 30 or so players, other schools still can load up. Kennesaw State for one! Also, there are definite DI quality players in parts of Georgia and Florida that never end up at a DI.

Thanks for the advice guys!

I have "verballed" his top choices to the Banditos guy, but he can be a little hard to pin down at times. I just need to have a sit-down with him real soon.

PGStaff, thanks for the good word on him. That is the strange thing about this process... you don't know who knows what. That is an interesting take about "hotbeds". My son came on the scene literally this spring with a very good Jr. season, so I feel that he has been a little bit behind others so we are trying to play catch up! :-)

RAB90, it is a very positive sign that PGStaff knows your son. He is a good guy that not only knows people in the baseball circles but most impressive knows and cares about the players themselves. Good luck to your son and enjoy these years while you can.