So you think showcase events are worth it?

As usual, another good post by Coach May. I certainly do not disagree with anything he says. But the post raises several questions. If he played for the the premier NC travel team, Impact/Dirtbags, why wasn't he noticed before now? Apparently that $50 was better spent than the big bucks spent on the travel team. (TFIC, Tongue Firmly In Cheek). Was this the first time Wingate saw him, or did this just seal the deal?

But seriously, I think the morals of this story are: (1)there is no telling when or where a kid will be noticed, (2) you should avail yourself of every oppurtunity that presents itself, and (3) travel teams are not always the answer.

My son plays for a good travel team for the most part to get better, and because he enjoys it. Playing with high level comp. will make one better. Of course, if he gets noticed it is a bonus.

There are many opportunities for a player to be noticed ---- travel teams, national tournaments such as PG's, showcases, maybe even hs games. There is no way to predict which is going to be the key.

Being a good catcher (for example) and being seen by 100 coaches could be meaningless if none of those 100 coaches are in the market for a catcher. Conversely, one coach could stop by a game and that catcher coud be exactly who he's looking for.

This is one of the many reasons to do your homework: what schools fit your son's academic needs, your family's geographic and financial considerations, and who is in need of a player at your son's position. Find out where those coaches go 'shopping' and be there.

Travel teams against quality competition work to hone players' skills; they are not solely a means to be seen.

I do! I'm not advertising for any particular organization but would like to respond here commenting on Perfect Game. As many of you know, my school is in a baseball hotbed here in the Metro East part of the State of Illinois. We compete against great baseball schools that have a lot of tradition and who routinely make it to the state tournament. However, I just could not seem to get many college coaches at any of our games. Ironically, the college coach that has made it to our games the most, Coach Callahan from SIUC, has not signed one of our players as of yet. I do respect him A LOT for trying to make it to high school games. He must be real tired while he is IN SEASON. I know I also work real hard but just can't seem to get the job done marketing my kids with D-1 schools. The Perfect Game offered exposure to one of my kids a couple of years ago and sure enough, he was able to sign with a D-1 school. During the process, BTW, I also need to include that he played on a team that made it to several exposure tournaments, I felt that Perfect Game included me in the process including but not limited to contacts via this website. In short, they helped my player A LOT!!!

I have another young man siging his letter this afternoon. Again, showcase events helped. His family understood that we are a small school with good baseball and yet, they needed to do more. They took it upon themselves to get their kid out there. In doing so, he ran some incrediable times, showed great hands and good pop in his bat and will sign today with a very good baseball school in the MVC.

You have to be selective, check out references to some of these events and realize that you have to market your kid. My role, as a high school coach, is to coach that kid, teach fundamentals, inspire, support, do my best to get college coaches to see him, and then support that family any way that I can to help him get to play in college.

One futher note, my child just turned 13 this past summer. At the age of 12, we took her to a showcase. She was by far the youngest kid there. She more than held her own and now, she is ready to attend another one this winter. We have to market our child just as some of my baseball parents have done. JMHO!

CoachB25

A young lady from another small school is signing today with my sons school with some pretty nice stats as a pitcher;

quote:

Brignac led John Curtis to its fourth straight state title last spring, going 30-1 with a perfect 0.00 ERA. In her 31 appearances she threw 11 no-hitters - nine of them perfect games - and 18 one-hitters.
She struck out 491 of the 639 batters she faced as a junior, allowing only 26 hits and 19 walks in 196 innings in recording 26 shutouts. Her lone loss came against five-time Class 5A state champion St. Amant.

Brignac also hit .442 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI to go with 18 stolen bases.

Ashley

Dad04, WOW! My girl is not in that class yet. However, she is a good girl and works hard at playing softball. Recently, she surpassed her 100th game for the year. She will play at least 2 tournaments this winter in Peoria which is pretty far from our home. She has been invited by coaches from the St. Louis area to go up there on "All-Star Teams." She will be playing at least one of those tournaments in 16U. I love reading articles such as the one you provided. That young lady seems well grounded! Thanks!

Yeah, those are crazy stats. Enjoy your childs accomplishments and help them with their stuggles. They are all growed up before you know it...........

The Dirtbags have three teams. The "Dirtbags" The 18u Dirtbags and the 17u Dirtbags. This young man played on the 18u Dirtbags. He was seen several times during the summer and fall. I cant tell you why no one offered or offered what he wanted to take. The "Dirtbags" team had 18 07 players and 4 08 players on the roster. Everyone of the 07 players have committed to a D-1 school. The 18u team consisted of only 07 players. So far many of them have committed to college programs. The 17u team consisted of all 08 players and 2 09 players. My point was getting seen at these events can really help a kid. Maybe the right people had just not seen him yet. Anyway congrats to Matt Crump Catcher 07 class Charlotte Butler HS.

My son went to two PG events and played in Jupiter in '05, then played on very good summer and fall teams this year (he's an '07). While the experience of playing against great competition was good, he may have been better served going to more showcases this summer and fall instead of the travel teams. On each team he played well but apparantly did not stand out enough, which is especially hard when there are hundreds of players to see at events such as Jupiter & E. Cobb. Thinking it over, I feel that he would have had a better chance of standing out and showing his skills at camps and showcases. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. We have to live with it and hope that he garners some interest after the early signing period and into the spring.

Was attending a JUCO showcase with my son a few weeks back. Cost of the showcase,... a whopping $30 and a tank of gas.

Sat next to a lady who's son was a 07' pitcher. He had pitched at the showcase the day before. By the time they drove home that night they received THREE calls from colleges her son was interested in attending! They were exstatic!!

She said that it was the best $30 they had ever spent!....sometimes diamonds can be found in the puddles! Ya just never know. I was soo excited for her and her son! This showcase was the turning point for her son's baseball college path! Who woulda thunk?

Duffman: Agree with you completely...For a Junior in the summer between his Junior and Senior year, showcases are the key, NOT the expensive travel team. You need a tournament to keep sharp and a few games inbetween, but PG, Area Codes, and college camps offer direct exposure. Will say that the "name" of an elite travel team will open the door and does have some cachet. The problem is finding a summer team flexible enough and "kid oriented" enough to allow your son some leeway.

PG had several showcases in January 2006. You might see if you can get your player into one in early '07.

quote:

Originally posted by brod:
Duffman: Agree with you completely...For a Junior in the summer between his Junior and Senior year, showcases are the key, NOT the expensive travel team. You need a tournament to keep sharp and a few games inbetween, but PG, Area Codes, and college camps offer direct exposure. Will say that the "name" of an elite travel team will open the door and does have some cachet. The problem is finding a summer team flexible enough and "kid oriented" enough to allow your son some leeway.

There is a balance of going to a couple of high visibility showcases and being on a travel team that does well and goes to high visibility tournaments which both have coaches and scouts that attend and watch the players.

Going around the country, there are some elite teams which the schools will follow them around at the tournamants and pick off their players.

School camps are tricky, where some really want true prospects to attend and they recruit from. We attended to a camp in So Cal and they made offers to players from the camp (even some 08's already), but looking at a lot of the commitments from Northern Calif, they never attended a "camp" at the school they are committing to, but were seen at a Tournament or workout.

Three of the eight players from our summer teams who just signed NLI's last night, signed with schools where they had attended camps. I know for a fact that at least two of those boys wouldn't have received offers from the schools they signed with if they hadn't attended the camp. That is where they sold the school on their ability.

06catcherdad - If you were to guess, how many camps were attended by your players that they did not receive offers?

I am a supporter of some camps where if you are really serious about the school and they are on your short list and you want to work with the coaches, find out more about the school, play on the field, and want to be seen again, then for all means go to a school camp where they are specifically looking for you.

I would not attend a camp where you are not being specifically recruited or unless you are going to stand out, but then again if you stand out they most likely know you anyway....

My sons attended school camps where it was uncomfortable because they were getting extra reps in BP and on the field, it was obvious that they were being looked at and it was obvious that others were put into other groups.

Homerun, why were they uncomfortable? If, by their extra BP reps and field work it became obvious that they were being looked at, I would think that they'd be ecstatic.

quote:

Originally posted by Infield08:
Homerun, why were they uncomfortable? If, by their extra BP reps and field work it became obvious that they were being looked at, I would think that they'd be ecstatic.

Infield08 - It was about being humble....but many times I think it has hurt them in marketing themsleves.

There have been plenty of kids who play with us that have gone to college camps where nothing in the way of an offer has resulted, I assure you. However, most of those camps have either been really big ones like Stanford ( which I strongly recommend any top level player who is also a good student try to get into) to camps that were at schools which are a level the kid isn't ready to play at, to camps that are really more about making some extra money for the assistant coaches.

If you target your time and money to camps where the school is of a level that you're capable of possibly playing at, you have a reasonable chance of making a strong impression. That might result in an offer. I can assure you that the boys who signed last night are very grateful of having gotten the opportunity they did, that came about because of attending the camps they did.