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Has anyone had any success with the Showball Showcase Camps?  My 2024 son is starting his recruiting with school specific showcases at the end of the summer and into his junior year.     We’re in Florida and the opportunity to be seen by the northern schools is compelling,  but so much of this stuff seems to be a money grab.  My son is also high academic, 3.7, 3.96 weighted so the focus on higher academics is also a selling point.

Thanks in advance for your input.  

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My son went the summer of his HS Junior year and got two D1 nibbles but nothing materialized, both for 1B interestingly enough.  He went back the summer before senior year and the D3s were all over him.  He is a big LHP and had perfect D3 metrics.  He targeted about 5 colleges heading into the senior summer showcase.  He reached out via email and expressed his interest in those colleges.   Got replies I think on 4 of 5 and those 4 came to see him.  He is currently a Junior at his top choice so it worked out great.  Just needs to recover from Labrum surgery. He's making progress.

Just attended Showball here in NorCal this week. It’s the same format as Head First  - college coaches performing the baseball-related activities, while SB employees keep things running. Camp is organized and well run. Lots of opportunities to impress.

Day 1 is measurement, testing and BP, along with a meet and great midday where players and coaches mingle.

Day 2 is live play, batters start with 1-1 count, pitchers evaluated. One 12-14 inning game. Pitchers guaranteed 3, some pitch 4.

My son is a 2024 PO. We checked in on the first day, got the hat and t-shirt, then left. Luckily we live 25 mins from the field. There is nothing for POs on the first day except check in and meet and greet, which we did not attend.

Teams are assigned and designated by shirt color, with different color caps for each grad year.  

Son got to pitch 3 innings on Day 2. (Stay flexible; the number of pitchers per team was imbalanced and he wound up pitching with a different team at a later slot but it worked out.) He shut everyone down and Showball tweeted about him, with video.

About 30 coaches in attendance, we’ve already heard from 4 D3 schools and the one Ivy Coach in the dugout with the players told him between innings he wanted him.

All players go down the baseline and get verbal 1:1 feedback from a coach before leaving. Son was told he was a good candidate to play college ball, and that he should go where he’s wanted.  

Head First has a very similar format.

But Showball seems to have cut a deal with all 8 Ivy head coaches during the pandemic.  The quality of coaches at SB was significantly better than at HF, which had a camp nearby on the same dates. Some of the coaches that HF advertised (Duke) wound up coming to SB. Oregon (unadvertised) also made an appearance at SB.  

Given the presence of all 8 Ivies (actually 7, Yale just got a new coach this week, they were not in attendance) I think the momentum has shifted towards SB, so would recommend that over HF. But both are well run and deliver what they promise, albeit at super high prices.

My daughter was recruited into the UAA as a pitcher out of a HF camp. She also got a couple NESCAC offers.

video from this week attached

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Last edited by SpeedDemon

We had a great experience with Headfirst, but I think Showball would have been the same.  They are expensive, so you have to know your timing.

I echo Gunner: if your son is of interest to Ivies and other HA D1s, it makes some sense to go in the summer before junior year (16U) or the fall of junior year.  If your son will be of interest to D3s, the time to go summer before senior year (17U).

D3s are not going to be recruiting much before 17U summer.  Aside from anything else, their top candidates are the almost-Ivy players, so they wait until the Ivy process plays out (as late as June of 17U, at least back in 2018), then go after the rejects as their first choices.

We didn't know any of this; we just knew that my son was being watched by Ivies in 17U summer tournaments, but ultimately they didn't want him, so we figured, why not go to Headfirst in August.  He got serious post-camp contact/offers from about 20 D3 schools, only a few of which had seen him before.  So it definitely was not just a money grab (although expensive).  Ironically, he ended up at a school that had been interested in him before Headfirst, but this was the first time their (assistant) coaches had seen him.

Showball advertises the whole head coach thing - maybe it matters, I don't know.  My son got serious D3 offers from schools that only had assistant coaches at Headfirst.  He also talked while there to a head coach who was supposed to be at Showball that day, down the road.  Headfirst makes video of all players available to all the schools who are there.

Thanks for the feedback.  I understand they are expensive, but I’ve spent substantially more for my sons summer so far that consists purely of of PG’s.  I have yet to see any scouts at any games regardless of class or program.  Just not seeing the value in what we are doing.  If I had it to do over again, probably would have just stayed home, trained more consistently and played local.  

Thus far my son attended one multi school showcase to get his feet wet and it was not as advertised.  There were “scouts” there, but it wasn’t very well organized and they weren’t really paying attention to any of the players.  Kind of left a bad taste.  


@SpeedDemon @anotherparent Out of curiosity, did your son do any pre contact for schools he was interested in?  Email, phone call, video submission or anything like that prior to the showcase?  

He had emailed a few schools back in the spring (who said they would not be at any tournaments, but come to our camp), had been to one camp at a fairly nearby school, and he had been in contact with some other local schools after a PBR showcase.  He had some pre-reads underway, with schools who were then at Headfirst.  He didn't particularly contact anyone else right before Headfirst.

Headfirst is very well organized, the coaches are really there, in the dugouts and on the field, they really do talk to players (and to each other), and players can make an impression if they do well.

Did HF last summer as a rising junior and SB a few weeks ago in Chicago. HF seemed better run and a better experience. Although some it it may just be fluff to make you feel good. They are both definitely geared more towards the pitchers. The BP rounds are very fast paced. A lot of the college coaches weren’t paying much attention. Then in the scrimmage if the P had stuff warming up they watched. If not they were on their phones and chatting with other coaches.

As stated above, there are better coaches at SB. However, that could be different for your son. Not all HA’s are created equal. You need to see where his test score will work. The top “elite” HA D3 schools will require a 1500 SAT (some higher). Ivies can go much lower for the right player.

I know your son is a C/P like mine. The feedback from his SB eval was he had the best C arm there, bat that will play at D1, needs to work on footwork on his transfer, great stuff on the mound and if he is recruited at a D1 would likely be as a P. This feedback came at the camp from a P5 coach that followed up after. Got a couple other D1 calls about pitching. 2 D3’s said they would like to see him do both and a couple others want to see him again before making that determination. The D1 coaches are going to come watch him in Atlanta in a couple weeks.

I would not go into these showcases as a rising junior and expect results. These schools don’t really start heavy recruiting until May/June after your junior year.

@Nick0977 posted:

Thanks for the feedback.  I understand they are expensive, but I’ve spent substantially more for my sons summer so far that consists purely of of PG’s.  I have yet to see any scouts at any games regardless of class or program.  Just not seeing the value in what we are doing.  If I had it to do over again, probably would have just stayed home, trained more consistently and played local.  

Thus far my son attended one multi school showcase to get his feet wet and it was not as advertised.  There were “scouts” there, but it wasn’t very well organized and they weren’t really paying attention to any of the players.  Kind of left a bad taste.  


@SpeedDemon @anotherparent Out of curiosity, did your son do any pre contact for schools he was interested in?  Email, phone call, video submission or anything like that prior to the showcase?  

Tend to agree. Playing locally, hitting the weight room, and attending camps for the schools he’s most interested in + HF/SB for additional exposure is a solid strategy IMO.  Very few schools or scouts at anything but the most high-level tournaments looking for rising juniors, sophomores, and freshman.

Did HF last summer as a rising junior and SB a few weeks ago in Chicago. HF seemed better run and a better experience. Although some it it may just be fluff to make you feel good. They are both definitely geared more towards the pitchers. The BP rounds are very fast paced. A lot of the college coaches weren’t paying much attention. Then in the scrimmage if the P had stuff warming up they watched. If not they were on their phones and chatting with other coaches.

As stated above, there are better coaches at SB. However, that could be different for your son. Not all HA’s are created equal. You need to see where his test score will work. The top “elite” HA D3 schools will require a 1500 SAT (some higher). Ivies can go much lower for the right player.

I know your son is a C/P like mine. The feedback from his SB eval was he had the best C arm there, bat that will play at D1, needs to work on footwork on his transfer, great stuff on the mound and if he is recruited at a D1 would likely be as a P. This feedback came at the camp from a P5 coach that followed up after. Got a couple other D1 calls about pitching. 2 D3’s said they would like to see him do both and a couple others want to see him again before making that determination. The D1 coaches are going to come watch him in Atlanta in a couple weeks.

I would not go into these showcases as a rising junior and expect results. These schools don’t really start heavy recruiting until May/June after your junior year.

Just gonna put it out there, not trying to be a jerk or create hard feelings:

The more skilled your son is, the lower his test scores and grades can be (although there are limits) even for the highest academic schools, and if he projects elite he’ll have offers while an underclassman in HS.

Last edited by SpeedDemon
@SpeedDemon posted:

Just gonna put it out there, not trying to be a jerk or create hard feelings:

The more skilled your son is, the lower his test scores and grades can be (although there are limits) even for the highest academic schools, and if he projects elite he’ll have offers while an underclassman in HS.

You are 100% correct. However, there are a handful of D3 HA schools that are not able to bend. The coach can put his stamp on a kid, but he will still need the 1500+ SAT and super high GPA.

Most of the kids you’re probably referring to are likely not considering D3. The Ivies do get some stud players that committed as juniors. Heck, maybe even sophomores.

Like I mentioned previously, some might consider Patriot League schools HA while others are thinking Caltech, Chicago, MIT. Is Stanford HA? Yep! They commit kids as underclassmen and they have some academic flexibly. A kid good enough for Stanford isn’t going to look at Caltech. Schools like Duke, UVA, Stanford, etc. do not need to wait until after the junior year like others do. If a kid projects at that level he will get offers from them.

A former pro that worked with my son in the past said something to me years ago that has stuck with me.  “It’s not enough to be good.  At the higher levels of baseball, everyone is good.  You have to be good and you have to be lucky.”  


My kid will turn 16 the week before his junior year of high school.  He’s undersized for his primary position and while all of his metrics are good, none of those scouted are exceptional.  The one metric that doesn’t fit nicely into a box is drive.  

Yesterday was supposed to be an easy day.  A little arm care and a bullpen.  In and out and on our way.  His trainer asked if he would be willing to catch a pen for one of his college guys.  That turned into two hours of lives with a bunch of his college guys in a non air conditioned warehouse in the Florida summer heat.  Then he did his pitching work and as we were about to leave, a couple of pitchers came in to do their training.  He asked if he could stay to get some more receiving work and catch them.  I left to find air conditioning and food for us both.  When I retuned I quickly ushered him out before anyone else came in. One hour of work turned into six. This is not the exception, this is the norm for my son.  He’s working his butt off to be good.  Now I’m in search for places where my son might get lucky.

If I’m a coach and my livelihood is dependent upon production, I too would probably go for the kid that hits 105 off a tee or throws 92 off the bump, but I have to believe that somewhere there is still value in the kid that will sacrifice everything to help his team win.  We don’t need buyin from everyone.  A lot of baseball is played between 105 and 92.  

This forum offers little value to the sure fire D1 or draft pick, but it offers a ton for the kid on the bubble of playing his last game of organized baseball his senior year of high school.

My first post on this site was met with a lot of criticism after my sons freshman year.  Fast forward a year later and he was named second team all county and defensive player of the year by his high school as a sophomore.  Not a huge deal, but it’s a start.  Meanwhile, his former coach was investigated for ethics violations and the use of racial slurs from what I hear.  I would just caution against too much editorializing.  We all know how hard and what a privilege it is to be part of the 6%.

My son has been given the green light to explore options for college baseball by people that know him well and that I trust.  Now I’m just looking for opportunities where my son might get lucky.  

I know that there are zero college scouts sitting on my couch or attending Thursday morning games at PG tournaments.  If you have any ideas or experiences that may prove helpful, they would be appreciated.  

Thanks again to all that have provided insight into your son’s experiences.  I truly appreciate it.  I’ll look into them to see if they are a fit.  

@Nick0977 posted:


My kid will turn 16 the week before his junior year of high school.  He’s undersized for his primary position and while all of his metrics are good, none of those scouted are exceptional.  The one metric that doesn’t fit nicely into a box is drive.  



My son has been given the green light to explore options for college baseball by people that know him well and that I trust.  Now I’m just looking for opportunities where my son might get lucky.  



What do you mean your son has been given the green light to explore options?  I think you are saying evaluators are saying he will be good enough to play in college somewhere?   

You should drop talking about age in your posts or more importantly if you are talking to coaches about your son and bring up his age.   Forget it, it's not relevant. My son is a Junior in college now and a few Freshmen coming in are older, age does not matter, you are the grade you are unless you take gap years or switch schools and stay back a year.  I was once talking to a new pitching coach about how my son was young for his grade (younger than yours for his grade by the way) and that coach very politely and correctly put me in my place (D1 pitching coach). 

Congrats on the good year for your son and good luck on your journey.

@Gunner Mack Jr. Thanks for the well wishes.  Same to you and yours.

As far as the age thing is concerned, it is absolutely relevant.  Scouting is about the ability of the prospect to be projected against others in their class and the likelihood of success at the next level.  If you have two kids and both are 6’ 180 lbs and both throw 85. One is 16 and one is 18 and all other things held constant for the same class, you’re saying there is no difference?  Physical and emotional maturity comes with age.  If it didn’t matter DOB, height and weight wouldn’t be included on every recruiting or showcase questionnaire or be the basis for prospect screening.

I personally won’t be talking to coaches unless it is necessary and requested by them, but they will know your sons age and mine.  There is also a context factor.  I can say with absolute certainty that high levels of commitment and dedication are uncommon in 15 year olds otherwise everyone would have a 4.0 gpa and goal focus.  If you point is that a 17/18 year old will be competing against grown men 18-26 for a roster spot and playing time, you are absolutely correct and both of our sons have a couple of years to prepare for it.  Like it or not, our sons are faced with different transfer rules, the age of the reclass and Covid fallout.  What worked before might not be the best course of action moving forward.  

@Nick0977 posted:

@Gunner Mack Jr. Thanks for the well wishes.  Same to you and yours.

As far as the age thing is concerned, it is absolutely relevant.  Scouting is about the ability of the prospect to be projected against others in their class and the likelihood of success at the next level.  If you have two kids and both are 6’ 180 lbs and both throw 85. One is 16 and one is 18 and all other things held constant for the same class, you’re saying there is no difference?  Physical and emotional maturity comes with age.  If it didn’t matter DOB, height and weight wouldn’t be included on every recruiting or showcase questionnaire or be the basis for prospect screening.

I personally won’t be talking to coaches unless it is necessary and requested by them, but they will know your sons age and mine.  There is also a context factor.  I can say with absolute certainty that high levels of commitment and dedication are uncommon in 15 year olds otherwise everyone would have a 4.0 gpa and goal focus.  If you point is that a 17/18 year old will be competing against grown men 18-26 for a roster spot and playing time, you are absolutely correct and both of our sons have a couple of years to prepare for it.  Like it or not, our sons are faced with different transfer rules, the age of the reclass and Covid fallout.  What worked before might not be the best course of action moving forward.  

Good luck to your son Nick.  FYI - my son is a Junior in college already so he's been through the recruiting process and has had to compete against Men.  Coaches don't care though about age, they only care about ability.  I get you are talking about projection and I understand your point.  Good that you won't be talking to coaches.

Some players are beasts in HS and others need time to fill in. This is very much taken into consideration for each player as to each program. 15,16 year olds are committing to the P5 programs for a reason, they have the physical projection but also possess mad skills that will only improve with  instruction.

I know it's an expense but I always suggest a qualified showcase, where the player will be evaluated by people who know nothing about the player. The evaluation is based upon future projection not current.  I know people don't like PG, but I think that they offer the best evaluation for the $$$.

Attend a prospect camp at a local program, there are plenty of them in FL. Some programs won't even consider the player in attending their prospect camp. D2's have JV programs. Excellent JUCOS but not easy to get into their baseball programs as they are feeders to the 4 year programs.

A 16 year old should be concentrating on training and getting stronger, not so much playing, unless he is a stud. Also should have a qualified instructor for each specialty but I don't believe in wasting time working on being a 2 way player because very rarely these days will you find 2 way players.

These are some suggestions, but my strongest one is this one. Put aside the stuff that doesn't matter, concentrate on the stuff that does.

Good luck to your son.

PM if you have any questions.

@TPM  My son is doing all of the things you recommend.  Works with position specialists and trains quite a bit.  The feedback on this site was that the game will let you know.  It hasn’t yet, so he’s working on multiple skill sets.  

He did a PG showcase before the spring season but it was literally the perfect storm.  Just recovered from Covid and still a little weak.  The conditions were about as bad as you could ask for in Florida.  40 degrees with 20 mph winds and 30 mph gusts.  Pop times were recorded on a field with direct headwinds in the 25-30 mph range.  Most of the catchers were wearing hoodies under their jerseys because of the cold and the wind so needless to say, the times were not what the boys are capable of.  Still posted top 10 pop time and IF velo so I guess that would be a positive.  Conditions were much better the next day for the games hit .400,  pitched well and threw out a couple of runners catching.  They gave him a write up, but it was pretty generic and not really helpful.  “Long limbs… smooth swing…” yada yada.  He’s set to do a new one next month just so he has some updated third party numbers to report.  

I’ve scheduled some college camps at a couple of D2’s in Florida.  Haven’t come across any restrictions there and hopefully he’ll get some honest feedback from the coaching staff that he can work with.   At the very least, maybe he’ll make a connection that might be helpful down the road.  It’s my understanding that a lot of the coaches talk to each other and maybe something comes out of it that way.  Also need to see if he likes the staff and schools too.  

If his high school coach is cool with it, the plan is to take the fall off and train.  I talked to @TerribleBPthrower a while back and his son had huge success bulking and training his fall season so we are leaning that direction.  Maybe sprinkle in a few more school visits on weekends if the others go well.  I honestly don’t see the harm.  So many on here are very pro wait on everything.  Seems like a different environment given transfer portal, Covid.  I can’t see a coach saying we’re not interested a year later when a kid comes back bigger and stronger and does something with the feedback.  Seems like a positive to me.  

So many people these days are D1 or bust.  If he got the opportunity to play anywhere that would be a win in both of our books.  D2, D3, NAIA, Juco whatever.  It’s still college baseball and a special experience.  

Thanks for the input.  

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