Recruiting for Juniors and Seniors

Table 46;

Very interesting report. Did you son play on a Summer Team? Was his Coach agreeable to the time "away" from the TEAM.

Bob

I'm looking at a PG Showcase coming up in my area next month - cost is $769, with an option for a $275 video package and $99 hitting development plan.

@Table46  is that about what you paid for each of the 3 PG showcases your son attended?

@SpeedDemon. Yes, that’s what they all are now for PG.  I would do your best to go to a showcase that is on turf.  First one we went to was grass.  We did not do the $99 hitting development plan, that is a new thing this year.

@Consultant. Yes, plays travel.  We scheduled the camps around the travel tournaments.  The travel coach did a good job scheduling tournaments to coordinate the college prospect camps.  We actually had others from the team go as well, and the coach showed up to watch/support.

There was another one he received this morning, coming up in December.

https://milliganbuffs.com/camp...r_Prospect_Camp_2022

There are almost as many avenues to the finish line as their are prospects. No one path is right. No one path is wrong. Everyone has to figure out their own path. I want to comment on PG events. Full disclosure, my son did East Cobb, Fort Myers and Cape Cod PG tournaments. He never did a PG showcase. I’m not sure if the Cape Cod event exists anymore.

The level of competition at PG events is great. But PG is not necessary for recruiting. The top shelf studs are going to be found quickly regardless. Most players will play college ball regionally. Regional events are more likely to provide the proper exposure without the distraction of every top shelf stud in the country

The colleges most interested in my son were at the PG events. But they had already “discovered” him in more regional events. I placed discovered in parenthesis because he wasn’t discovered. His travel coaching staff contacted the colleges ahead of time and promoted him as a fit to be evaluated. His travel team coaching staff were his advocates. Outside top shelf studs colleges can’t miss players need advocates.

The more local events he participated required a scout’s recommendation. It didn’t mean he was going to be drafted. It meant he had the potential and was likely a D1 prospect.

What my son got from PG tournaments more than anything was the personal feedback he could hang on the field with anyone.

For anyone that thinks that attending PG events is necessary to get recruited I would encourage you to do this. Spend some time on Twitter and read the comments on this subject. And notice who those comments are from. You may get some balance to your perspective. It’s high time that PG is publicly called out for their business practices.

@adbono posted:

For anyone that thinks that attending PG events is necessary to get recruited I would encourage you to do this. Spend some time on Twitter and read the comments on this subject. And notice who those comments are from. You may get some balance to your perspective. It’s high time that PG is publicly called out for their business practices.

I agree with you that PG is not necessary, but baseball twitter is a dumpster fire.....on all sides. But to your point, you're probably talking about people like Frye who goes hard against all of this, but also has no issue shaming HS and younger kids in his posts when trying to make a point.

@nycdad posted:

I agree with you that PG is not necessary, but baseball twitter is a dumpster fire.....on all sides. But to your point, you're probably talking about people like Frye who goes hard against all of this, but also has no issue shaming HS and younger kids in his posts when trying to make a point.

You have to weed thru a lot of nonsense on baseball Twitter. No doubt about that. But IF you can discern the good from the bad it’s not a waste of time. Frye is very straightforward about his beliefs. Agree or not, at least you know where he stands. He calls out garbage instructors and the over obsession with metrics, so I give him credit for that.

@adbono posted:

You have to weed thru a lot of nonsense on baseball Twitter. No doubt about that. But IF you can discern the good from the bad it’s not a waste of time. Frye is very straightforward about his beliefs. Agree or not, at least you know where he stands. He calls out garbage instructors and the over obsession with metrics, so I give him credit for that.

That is true, and I generally don't feel like he's trying to sell me something.

Table46, welcome to the site, and thanks for posting about your experience, which seems to confirm that most recruiting is local. Is your son going to one of the schools you mentioned? Did you find that the PG showcases had an impact in his recruiting (meaning, did any coaches mention it)?  They are just so expensive, and finding new ways to monetize every day.

In our experience, if you are interested in high academic schools nationally, Headfirst or Showball really work because coaches are there watching.  Otherwise, stay local - school camps, state PBR, local showcases - or go to camps at targeted schools, as long as you have the skills to play there.

@anotherparent thank you for the welcome… hasn’t signed yet, but headed that direction quickly, I’ll let you know after he signs 😉 I think the big PG Showcase in FT Myers was really helpful, you’ve got players from all over the country, Puerto Rico, etc.  I think it really lets a kid know where they stand, and after you’ve been to that one and seen and competed with that talent, it makes everything after that easier, and seemingly on a smaller stage.  It was a big difference in exposure at pg tournaments from the pg scout.  It seems that if you do well at a showcase, they find you at the tournaments, shoot video, and post it to social media.  The PG showcase was good to prepare for the ones at the colleges.  The college coaches look to see if you have a PG profile, they’ve mentioned it, it’s definitely helped him at college showcases.  They’re expensive, there are things that are not ideal about them, but I’d say at the end of the day, going to 1 per year is worth it.  We try to make a fun trip out of it, Florida in Dec. Jan. Then Atlanta last year during the mlb playoffs.  Wouldn’t trade those weekends with my boys for anything.  
Once you get the routine down of a showcase, they seem to become second nature, the first one can be intimidating, that’s why we did 2 back to back, within 30 days.  That really worked for us.  Have done 1 per year since, 4 total.

Table 46

Was your son invited to a Area Code tryout?

Bob

Any insight if PG showcases are worth spending the extra money over PBR?

PBR is only $300 vs the $800 for PG, and PBR includes a video. My 2024 Junior has only done PBR, and his numbers are posted. He has a PG profile from tourneys he's done, but no numbers are shown. I'd think if a coach searches a player on PBR, he also checks PBR, especially if numbers aren't listed.

PG showcases are very little help to most in recruiting. As mentioned above, Headfirst and Showball are much more bang for your buck if you’re targeting smaller or high academic schools. There are actual coaches there watching where PG showcases are often held during dead periods. If you’re just looking to get some numbers up then PBR is a much better option.

And as many here have said before, no need to showcase until you have something to show.

We have had a few college coaches tell us that they don’t go to normal PG tournaments in Atlanta because everything is so spread out and it is so watered down.  They do go to WWBA (Atlanta), and PBR tournaments (Lakepoint), they also went to WWBA in Jupiter, FL.  My observation is that the teams with more highly ranked (PG) players tend to have more games at East Cobb complex lately.  We almost always see college coaches walking around at the East Cobb complex, but never at the high school fields, that are all an hour apart from each other.  Again, I by no means have all the answers and am not suggesting the way we’ve done it is the best way.  I will say, the big PG Showcase in Ft Myers in December was very impressive, players flying in from all over the place, hundreds of players, many high level commits... and it was a nice break from the cold in late December, LOL
The other PG showcases have been much smaller, well under 100. I know our coaches are looking to go more PBR and NetElite heavy, and only go to WWBA for PG.  NetElite tournaments have been really impressive, almost all of the tournaments are played at college fields, with the college coaches there.  They’ve played at: UT (Lindsay Nelson), ETSU, Tusculum, Walters State, Carson Newman, Tennessee Wesleyan, Maryville, Montreat, UNC Asheville, and a few others.  Almost always the head and asst. coaches, along with some players are hanging around, they take care of the field etc. during the tournament.  It’s very grassroots, but it really seems to be effective for exposure.

The founder of Perfect Game posted on this site until 2018.  He was sometimes defensive, but usually offered a lot of really useful information.  On the subject of PG's showcases, he would always state that they were not for everyone.

I post a few of these links, not because I'm a PG advocate (my son never did their showcase), but because he brought a unique perspective:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...54#43811915980749354

https://community.hsbaseballwe...9#40152106543472529:  "Don't spend money on Perfect Game Showcases unless you have something to show.  Have at least one skill, run, throw, field, hit, hit with power.  If you can't do at least one of those things well, you have no reason to attend any showcase and especially not a Perfect Game showcase.  A player that has excellent ability in one or more of the tools... That is the player that ends up being happy he came to a Perfect Game Showcase."

@Table46 posted:

@Consultant  I honestly don’t know if he’s been invited to Area Code.  He gets calls, texts and emails, if he’s interested, he lets me know.  We definitely don’t have all the answers, and will adjust for my younger one based on what we’ve learned and input from others.  We were pretty limited early on with options for showcases due to Covid, so spent a lot of time in Florida, where it seems to be PG heavy.

You would know if you got invited to an Area Code Tryout and that is one you would definitely want to attend.  There's no charge to attend, but very select invites.

another parent - I have not been around this site for many years but admire the way you think about life and baseball.  I knew Jerry Ford and still sometimes correspond with him once and a while via email.  People thought he was using the site to promote his business and I saw it quite the opposite.  He was one our greatest resources (along with bbscout RIP).  He told stories of how his son (Andy I believe) grinded his way to the big leagues and his first shot was a start at Yankees stadium pitching for the Yankees.  He talked about how excited he and his wife were to be in attendance that day.  Unfortunately, the young man got hit hard and did not pitch well.  The Yankees fans booed him unmercifully as the manager took him out.  To say the least, Jerry and his wife were devastated.  What baseball parent cannot relate to that?  Jerry talked about how he never thought his big league son would ever succeed at baseball let alone make it to the big leagues.  He talked about how his older boy was the one who had all the talent yet never amounted to much as a baseball player.  Jerry is considered one of the top baseball experts in the country and his estimates of his own sons were wrong.  What no one can measure, is the inner spirit that comes from God.  Some kids try harder than others even though they are not the most physically talented.  Jerry helped hundreds if not thousands of people without them ever attending one of his events.  If people want to attend PG events, God bless them.  If they want to try it other ways, God bless them too.  It was a sad day for all of us when Jerry stopped posting here.

There are many people who receive invites to Area Code that do not attend.  They have gotten so big and the process is so drawn out that it interferes with a lot of summer ball.  The ones son was invited to would have caused him to miss several big PG events so we chose not to attend and he had already gotten lots of interest.  It is a great opportunity but I do not think it is valuable unless you are one that will be selected to attend the final event.  Just going to the local or second round events will not get you seen.  When Consultant started it, it was a limited process but now it has become a much bigger process which I understand.  Middle son was invited but it also did not work in conjunction with his football season and he had already been recruited by then.  A lot of the big time events are scheduled around full-time baseball players not the athletes that play multiple sports.

@baseballmom01 posted:

You would know if you got invited to an Area Code Tryout and that is one you would definitely want to attend.  There's no charge to attend, but very select invites.

When a kid gets invited to Area Code tryouts it's not information they hold back.

When I sold the AC games in 2004, few understood the process. The Pro Scouts, Scouting Directors and Tommy were my advisors. I attended every tryout and interviewed the parents, players and local scouts and College Coaches.

Many College Coaches arranged their summer travel around the AC tryouts. EARLY August was my window for the football players to attend the games.

Players paid no fee to play in the games or attend the tryouts. Players receive "free" Nike shoes. Our Clinics included Dusty Baker, Eric Davis. Each year Area Code players average $30 million in signing bonus.

"Different times"

Bob

@Consultant posted:

When I sold the AC games in 2004, few understood the process. The Pro Scouts, Scouting Directors and Tommy were my advisors. I attended every tryout and interviewed the parents, players and local scouts and College Coaches.

Many College Coaches arranged their summer travel around the AC tryouts. EARLY August was my window for the football players to attend the games.

Players paid no fee to play in the games or attend the tryouts. Players receive "free" Nike shoes. Our Clinics included Dusty Baker, Eric Davis. Each year Area Code players average $30 million in signing bonus.

"Different times"

Bob

Hi Bob. What impact do you think moving the draft to early July has had on the Games? Thanks.

Speed;

good question. Our tryouts were always scheduled 5 days before or 5 days after the draft for the benefit of the Pro Scouts and College Coaches.

The most important issue now would be the "reduction" in draft rounds. Scouts are now leaning to the more experienced College players. The importance of the strong College Summer Leagues is a factor in efficient scouting.

At several Area Code games in the 90's, I included the Australia National Team, a team from Mexico selected by the Dodger Scout, Mike Brito with the radar gun and Panama hat.

"Pioneering is the advantage of independence"!

Bob

There’s some good info tucked in thread, but I’m not sure I agree with all of it. My son did several PG events (tournaments), but I never paid for anything beyond games. If your kid is in the 80% or higher at anything they measure in the games (especially velo for the pitcher) then I think it’s a great value. Even Arkansas will reference PG grading in their bios or welcome tweets, there’s no doubt it’s looked at (Trev was in the top 1000, and it was mentioned). However, the best part of the experience was that we had fun – we fished, we checked out the areas, we had a blast and made some great memories.

Picking some realistic colleges, going to the camps, and creating relationships – teaching your son how to best present himself in these situations – this is the best most effective method from my perspective.

AC games – are you kidding me! You need to be in the top 90% to get an invite or get in the door, and you’ll know your kids a legitimate stud long before you get an invite (we never got one, but I sure knew what in meant if he had). I’m guessing that 95% of the kids that get an invite will have the opportunity to be a D1 commit.

We did a lot of traveling and tournaments around the country – it was a blast and that’s why we did it (college wasn’t a thought until the end of his junior year). We did the Cooperstown Dream Park thing at 12U – what a blast! Spent a week afterword driving though the upper northeast, it was an amazing family vacation and adventure.

Check out the alum from the WS, based on this maybe fun is important...  

@947 posted:

Any insight if PG showcases are worth spending the extra money over PBR?

PBR is only $300 vs the $800 for PG, and PBR includes a video. My 2024 Junior has only done PBR, and his numbers are posted. He has a PG profile from tourneys he's done, but no numbers are shown. I'd think if a coach searches a player on PBR, he also checks PBR, especially if numbers aren't listed.

I guess everyone's experience is different.   My 2024 just received his first D1 offer.  The coaches that offered him, and two others that have not offered but have spoken with him multiple times have all referenced information on his PG profile.   I think that PG and PBR are simply tools that coaches use in their evaluation process.   

In my son's recruiting experience it was his PG tournament performances and his PG ranking that he used to get coaches attention with his emails.   He played in the Jupiter tournament and gathered some fantastic stats, and in the November re-rankings from perfect game he moved into the top 150 for his position.   He took that information and used it to advertise himself to coaches via email.   Probably if he didn't have that PG information then coaches would have passed over his emails with very little interest. 

@Ster posted:

I guess everyone's experience is different.   My 2024 just received his first D1 offer.  The coaches that offered him, and two others that have not offered but have spoken with him multiple times have all referenced information on his PG profile.   I think that PG and PBR are simply tools that coaches use in their evaluation process.   

In my son's recruiting experience it was his PG tournament performances and his PG ranking that he used to get coaches attention with his emails.   He played in the Jupiter tournament and gathered some fantastic stats, and in the November re-rankings from perfect game he moved into the top 150 for his position.   He took that information and used it to advertise himself to coaches via email.   Probably if he didn't have that PG information then coaches would have passed over his emails with very little interest.

That's just fantastic.  Congratulations to your son and family!  I suspect that most people who are negative about the value of PG metrics and rankings still secretly make it a point to check out a players profile before making an opinion on a players abilities.   Would you be willing to share some insight on your son's strategy to manage offers?  Sounds like he'll get a bunch.  What kind of messaging did he give the offering coaches in response ("thank you, I'll consider this carefully but I'm not ready to make a decision")?   Did you get deadlines from them?  Thank you.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

That's just fantastic.  Congratulations to your son and family!  I suspect that most people who are negative about the value of PG metrics and rankings still secretly make it a point to check out a players profile before making an opinion on a players abilities.   Would you be willing to share some insight on your son's strategy to manage offers?  Sounds like he'll get a bunch.  What kind of messaging did he give the offering coaches in response ("thank you, I'll consider this carefully but I'm not ready to make a decision")?   Did you get deadlines from them?  Thank you.

Well, currently he has 4 Juco offers, one D1 offer from a mid major program, and has two D3 schools that I guess don't have anything to offer in the form of athletic scholarship.   However, the D3 schools did guarantee him admission and have said that they want him on their baseball team, so I guess those would be considered offers/opportunities.  There are some other D1 programs that he has spoken with, but haven't offered.   Also, there was another D1 program that told him that they have offered other players already, but that he was next on their list.

None of the programs that have offered have given him a deadline.   I think that the Juco schools have the impression that he will not be signing with them, but he hasn't told them that.    For the most part, he has told all of the programs that "this has all happened so quickly, I don't think that I am prepared to make a decision right now."  The D1 school that offered him, he has never even seen their campus, but has plans to do so within the next month.   I am sure that once he visits the campus then they will probably start to put more pressure on him etc...   

I will add that the D1 school that offered him, offered 50%, and the assistant coach stated that they believe more D1 offers are coming.  However, they haven't given him a deadline or anything.   I suspect that my 2024 is going to try to not think much about recruiting and concentrate on his spring high school season.  They are favored to win the State Championship this year so that will probably get all of his focus.

As far as his strategy for being recruited.   The Juco schools are all within our state and knew about him from their own scouting and baseball circles within our state.  All but one of them offered him at the end of the Spring 10th grade season.   The D3 and D1 programs that have shown interest were a result of his email message that he sent them with stats, videos, PG profile link etc...  We did spend the money to have a NCSA account.   The advantage we found with that account is that the coaches seemed to be very responsive with emails that came through that account.   When my son would email a coach from his personal email account he wouldn't get any response.  The same email message sent through NCSA would result in coaches emailing him back.  No this isn't a plug for NCSA, I'm just passing along what seemed to work for my son.

Ster - nice posts and congrats to your son.  The NCSA nugget was one I have not seen before and you have tested out both emailing techniques so I may possibly consider that in the future.  Obviously, your son is quite the player to receive an offer like that.

I was not concerned with a program's tag as a mid major but rather their culture of winning.  For example, Kent State is a mid major here in Ohio but found themselves in the College World Series a few years back.  They also had a very famous alumni in Thrurman Munson and I am sure there are others.  My son went to Coastal Carolina and they are tagged as a mid major although given their reputation, that tag probably does not mean that much anymore.  Also, look at the schedule the schools play.  Many schools play a powerhouse schedule (against elite D1 schools) even though they have the mid major tag. 

You can't can't throw out the line about State Championships and not tell us the state.  If it is Ohio, well you never know, maybe, maybe, maybe, you and I might cross paths some day.

All the best to your son and your family!

I find this site a tremendous resource for recruiting info and hope to help others with my son’s experience. He is a 2024 who received multiple D1 offers (mid to low major programs) and had others on the way until he committed to the school that was always his top choice from the start (high profile academics). This literally came out of nowhere after a tremendous summer season. Our goal was always a D3 high academic school.

For him it wasn’t tools like PG or NCSA that got college coaches’ attention - it was his travel coach/program that facilitated the connections. To me, the travel coach is a far better tool than something like a NCSA membership or entrance fee to a showcase. I think the reputation and reach of a travel coach is the best tool your son can use. Unless he is a stud who doesn’t need an intermediary.

His scholarship offers were 60%. Ironically the hardest part for this process was my son calling the coaches to say “no” to them. Some were professional hearing the info, others weren’t. One in particular who wasn’t professional served as a a good sign for my son not to pick that school.

Others have written this and I can’t agree more - go where you are loved.

Committing early should be good for HS ball and travel moving forward. The recruiting and decisions were becoming a burden for him. Ultimately, be honest with yourself and your kid - pick a school for academics and a good social fit.

We definitely looked at the schools’ roster size and the amount of transfers on rosters. A priority when analyzing schools.

Other recruiting notes we came across. Two high profile schools showed a lot of interest but weren’t going to offer unless he had 1 more MPH pitching. Crazy they would make that distinction. But also a bad sign to me. They are looking at kids based on numbers and will look at a lot of kids who get to that plateau. There you are a number not a player.

The other top choice for my son showed interest- texted and called him. But we’re slow doing so and that’s a big sign. He was probably on the B list. This school also has a lot of transfers.

Bottom line - don’t wait if someone makes your son on their A list.

Other recruiting notes to pass along. The 2024s that caught coaches attention this past summer season were Ps, SSs and very fast kids. Kids playing other positions didn’t get the same attention (even the Cs). The 2023s playing the other positions saw the vast majority of the attention over the summer during the tournaments we played. So don’t be disappointed if your 2024 didn’t get an offer - the time will be this upcoming summer.

Another point to share and hopefully can help others. As I wrote earlier, D3 was always top priority. My son emailed those coaches a ton this past summer. It became disheartening not to hear much of a response. However, the D3s are not recruiting basically at all during the summer before the Jr year. Even when my son reached out with interest (and good numbers), they didn’t engage.

We found out the D3s don’t want to invest time to a kid until his D1 chances are over. Ultimately those coaches were correct about my son who decided D1, BUT if one of those D3 schools took his bait early he likely would have “committed” to them.

Bottom line - be patient with the D3 interest.

Our experience was a little different.  Doesn't mean our path was right as my son didn't get a lot of offers.  We relied on his travel team for his exposure.  He did go to several PG and PBR showcase.  His travel team primarily play in local PG tournaments (there's a lot of opportunities as we live in Atlanta).  They travel to Hoover AL, Ft Myers and Jupiter for the bigger PG tournaments (WWBA and PG Nationals).  Did just a few PBR tournaments (wished we did more of those).

Unlike the OP, I stayed away from colleges camps and showcases as I was under the perception that those are all money makers with only the volunteer assistants showing up, and that you should only go to those events if you are personally invited by the coach, or your travel coach specifically told you to go (he called the coach ahead, and/or knows they have a need for your position).

I think the PG and PBR showcases are valuable as most (if not all) of the college coach that approached my son mentioned they looked at PG/PBR profile to do further research and flag the kids they are interested in.  But there is no point in going to a showcase if you have nothing to show yet (in fact it may hurt you more), and you only need to do once a year at most.  And don't ever do a showcase in the middle of winter when it's freezing cold (learned that the hard way).  I think we wasted money on 1 or 2 showcase that I believe my son didn't need.  For PG showcase, I find that the half day workout showcase add on to a WWBA tournament the best value.  You only get the numbers updated, no scrimmage.  The idea being that we play in PG tournaments a lot anyway so coach can see my son in real game situation rather than in a scrimmage.

The big PG tournaments are fun (WWBA or PG Nationals).  There's no point going to the small PG tournaments unless you live local like we do.  The coach from the college that my son finally committed to saw him play in WWBA at Jupiter.  As far as I know, there were no contact before that game.  I don't think his travel coach reached out to him either.  Not sure if he looked at the PG profile first and list of uncommitted 2023s and ID'd my son there first and then went to watch him play.  The first college that was very interested in him (and later went cold) told us that one of their coach saw him play in the local end of the season HS all star game.  The other coach from the same college was looking at the list of uncommitted 2023s and circling kids with the metrics they are interested in.  They compared notes and my son was in both list.  So they went to watch him play in one of the local PG tournaments.

We only went to 5 college showcase/camps.  4 of the camps we went to based on his travel coach recommendation.  The 5th camp we went to was the college that saw him in Jupiter and asked him to come up there to attend a camp so that the other coaches can see him.  Nothing serious or meaningful came out of those camps.

Again, not saying our path was the best.  Maybe if we went to more college camps/showcases, my son would have gotten more interests.  It's just that I've always been told that showing up to these college camps/showcases w/o a personal invite or arranged by your travel coach is a waste of money - much like going to all these PG showcases w/ nothing to show, or going to a lot of PG showcases to chase numbers.

Your situation is one of the best reasons to read this board. It highlights how there are so many different routes for these kids to take to go from HS to college. There is definitely not one key to success. It’s all about taking anecdotal evidence and trying to help your son with it.

But there is one aspect I think that is universal- being realistic with expectations and goals. That is where the travel coach is so important.

For example, no matter what my son tried to do - showcases, camps, etc. - none of it would have worked if he tried to catch the eye of a P5 school. So it’s not about the techniques to get the coaches attentions - it is about if you are trying to get the RIGHT coaches attention.

My son had HA mid majors in mind. That is who his coach reached out to and he went to their camps. That worked well for him. If he went to the Arkansas camp nothing he did prior would work.

The camps on campus are good if your player wants to go to that school. It shows the school he is interested in them and they might not need to spend  $ to recruit him.

The larger showcases  atlnon mentioned are likely not worth it. I95 is one. Just look at the coaches attending. If they are all lower level coaches then there isn’t much progress made. That low level coach then needs to tell the HC and RC to come see the kid.

Why not just go directly to the team camp ?

Back to being realistic - parents and kids need to find the right school for them not the “best” whatever that may be.

I think there is a big difference between showcases and camps as far as value. College camp = money maker (unless personally invited). Showcase = opportunity to gain exposure to a number of schools at the same time. Every showcase this summer resulted in multiple offers for my son ranging from D1 - D3. You need to do your homework on the showcase to determine if it is the right fit. There are some great regional showcases that will pull a bunch of schools from a specific area where other showcases are more of a national reach. There are some showcases that are a complete waste of time and money from a recruiting standpoint.

I get the impression that the camps and showcases in college campus are normally only staffed and attended by volunteer coaches who gets most of their income from running these showcases.  But I may just be too cynical.  Even the PG/PBR showcases, I look at it at obtaining verified metrics and published in an area that college coaches use as reference.  I don't expect college coaches to watch my son in the PG/PBR showcases.  And my son will never impress with numbers or during the few events they do in camps.  He's the type of kid that will only impress if they watch him play in multiple games.

@atlnon posted:

I get the impression that the camps and showcases in college campus are normally only staffed and attended by volunteer coaches who gets most of their income from running these showcases.  But I may just be too cynical.  Even the PG/PBR showcases, I look at it at obtaining verified metrics and published in an area that college coaches use as reference.  I don't expect college coaches to watch my son in the PG/PBR showcases.  And my son will never impress with numbers or during the few events they do in camps.  He's the type of kid that will only impress if they watch him play in multiple games.

  Most college coaches only look at a kids PG profile AFTER he has been called to their attention by a text or a phone call. Same for verified metrics. It’s just a point of reference.
  Tbh almost all position players fit the description of your son. It’s rare that one just jumps off the field at you. And the ones that do are easily identified by anyone familiar with the game of baseball. Recruiting position players isn’t easy and it’s not an exact science.

@adbono posted:

  Most college coaches only look at a kids PG profile AFTER he has been called to their attention by a text or a phone call. Same for verified metrics. It’s just a point of reference.
  Tbh almost all position players fit the description of your son. It’s rare that one just jumps off the field at you. And the ones that do are easily identified by anyone familiar with the game of baseball. Recruiting position players isn’t easy and it’s not an exact science.

Very much agreed.  In this case, for typical position players, can they really see something in the college camps/showcases?  The ones I've been to are ran like the PG/PBR showcases (the standard hitting, fielding, running, catching, pitching stations), then maybe some scrimmage games.  In fact, almost all of the college camps we've been to doesn't even have scrimmage.  At most, they had live hitting from pitchers who are at the camp.  I understand it if you are already in their radar and they saw you already in live tournament games, and then invite you to their camp for their other coaches to see (and combine that with a campus visit).

Middle son went to a juco/Braves showcase and hit 10/10 out of the park.  The problem for him was everyone was looking at him as PO at the time.  But you talk about turning heads.   Every player, parent, and scout was watching after about 4 in a row.  By the time he got to the 7th, the other players were out of the dugout cheering for him.  When he hit the 10th one, they rushed the plate and these were kids who did not even know him.  It was crazy.  Point is you have to do something extraordinary to get noticed most times when hitting.