I have a 17 year old Sophomore (catcher) who is wanting to do more showcases , along with camps or try outs. We live in a small town outside of Tulsa OK. Neither of which have many, if any . I don't know where else to look for showcases,evals, or camps other then a few sites. He has done only a few due to lack of knowing about any more. Can anyone tell me sites I can check? Or have any suggestions about where to start? !! Thanks for any help anyone may have.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
PG https://www.perfectgame.org/Showcases/
Headfirst: https://www.headfirsthonorroll...ball-showcase-camps/
PBR (I think they're horrible) https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/showcases
Why a showcase or camp unless it's at a school he's interested in seeing/getting on radar.
Camps are mostly money makers for the volunteer coaches. A great way to get in front of coaches if you don't have a travel ball team you can play on that will be at an event.
If he has good metrics and videos you could recruit yourself to some of the better travel teams that go to events to be seen.
Not sure what a 17U sophomore plays so here's the link. https://www.perfectgame.org/Ra...aspx?R=272&T=reg
Find teams in your region or nationally to compete.
What is his objective? Does he have a business plan? Or is he throwing spaghetti off the wall to see what sticks?
He wants to improve what potential coach's for college or MLB see that others may not.He is getting several invites, questioners and prospect follows from about 12 colleges now, but wants to try and fine tune or improve skills to give himself as many options as he can with the things he can control. Plus any extra opportunities to get his name out is a good thing when your high school is real small and more then likely not a stop many recruiters make . I think it's a way for him to be proactive in his future behind the plate after high school is what he sees it as.
And because of where his bday falls he has the option to play up to 18U (which is what he normally plays or he can play down at 16U because he is a sophomore
RJM posted:What is his objective? Does he have a business plan? Or is he throwing spaghetti off the wall to see what sticks?
Throwing spaghetti? Is this a new velocity protocol we need to include in our training? (Kidding)
Maybe that's what he's missing in his profile ....he's been eating all the spaghetti not throwing it ....problem solved.I'll let him know how he can up his game, this wont make him very happy since he likes to eat, but a good chance for him to learn sacrifice for goals set. ( hahaha)
I would use caution on that throwing program. If not taught correctly, one could start throwing meatballs
sorry had to add that one in, lol
I know most people on here will say that showcases and camps are a waste of time, but we didn't play for a power team because my son wanted to play with friends. We used showcases and camps exclusively and it worked out well. When he committed, he was talking to or had offers from about 15 P5 schools. It just depends on the path you want to take. We knew 2 kids who didn't even play summer ball, only did showcases and both committed to P5 schools before junior year. We just did PG and PBR, and then camps for schools my son was interested in. In the end, it probably not much more expensive than playing travel ball with flights, hotels, etc.
That said, our plan was for recruiting. If you ask 15 different people what you need to work on, you will probably get 15 different answers and a kid that is in his head way too much.
ROGERS3-
Now that we’ve straightened the error you’ve been making with spaghetti out....I’m still not sure why your son feels he needs to get more showcases in? College baseball is in season and yes there is some recruiting going on but it’s not the pace it was a month ago. Do you mean showcase tournament’s? Those will ramp up in the summer. RJM is right. You need a goal and then a roadmap to that goal. There are a lot of resources on this site that can help. Now is a great time to get organized for this summer, it’s a big summer for D1 caliber sophomores. Your focus should be getting on a team that will help your son be seen. (IMO) and getting colleges excited about seeing him at those tournaments by having your son (with your help) send introductory emails with metrics and video. There are also a bunch of threads that talk about west coast kids getting seen on the east coast and vice versa. Even though you’re in the middle, I think those principals apply to you.
Make sure to stress to your player that doing work on the field and in the classroom is truly the most important thing at this moment.
Also, because you brought it up. Might want to talk to someone about how his age and the draft impact how colleges see him? He’s significantly older than the majority of sophomores. I don’t know if schools will care that he’s eligible in his sophomore college year.
Don't play 18U until after graduation. Scouts do not show up for 18U tournaments/showcases. 18U teams are normally made up of guys who have graduated from HS already so coaches don't go. He needs to play 16U tournaments. Is he on a top level tournament team in the area, which there are a lot?
He was a pick up player last summer for a couple traveling teams , he wants to find a tournament team for this Spring/Summer season but the 5 teams we have found around us are maxed and not adding to the roster.(we found out alot of those teams have played together for years) but they all told him he is on their list to pick up if they need a fill in player. i'd like to find a team very soon even if its a little farther out from us , but Im stumped on where to look.
Rogers3 posted:He was a pick up player last summer for a couple traveling teams , he wants to find a tournament team for this Spring/Summer season but the 5 teams we have found around us are maxed and not adding to the roster.(we found out alot of those teams have played together for years) but they all told him he is on their list to pick up if they need a fill in player. i'd like to find a team very soon even if its a little farther out from us , but Im stumped on where to look.
Go to the registered teams list for the must do tournaments. Start sending emails. I’m in CA and our big events are mostly in AZ. Because of the heat a lot of teams pick up an extra catcher for the long summer tournaments. I would guess the same happens on the ECoast? Unlike emails to college coaches, you can do those.
Wanting instruction is different than wanting exposure. If he wants instruction, go to cheap, local college camps.
For exposure, keep this in mind: top D1s recruit starting in freshman year (or earlier!), but you have to have the measureable numbers that they want. Mid-major D1s might or might not recruit early; every other level recruits the summer after junior year. So, if as a soph he has D1 numbers, then go to showcases now; if not, wait.
For a catcher, the numbers they want to know are his pop time and his batting exit velocity. They also want to know whether he can catch and hit high-level pitchers. So, playing on a summer team that has good pitchers and plays high-level teams is important.
Do you know the pop time and EV already? If not, before you go to any showcase, you should measure those yourself now, and see if they are D1 numbers. If they are, then yes, showcase now. If not, save your time and money and don't go until his numbers are there, or spring/summer after junior year.
There are showcases (PBR, PG) where they put your numbers into their system and on their website. If your numbers aren't that great, they will be available to the world until you do another one of their showcases. PG is very expensive, PBR less so. There are other showcases out there (including Headfirst for high academic schools, plus many local ones) that are just "whoever is there will see you". Those are useful if you have something to impress whoever is watching.
PBR varies from state to state; you can look at OK and see if what they say about players in your state makes sense:
Might be a dumb question, but I'm still confused on the options for a Soph 17 year old. I get being able to play down to 16 due to having the right birth-date, but what happens next year when he is a 18 year old Junior?
I guess I might be overthinking it and he would just play as a 2022?
Yes, he would just play with 2022s. We had a kid who turned 19 a month into school, senior year. He played with his graduation year the summer before. In terms of the draft, it didn't hurt him, he was taken top of the first round out of HS.
In terms of summer team, you might look at the Royals Scout team. I know they pay for almost everything and although a lot of their boys are from Kansas or Missouri, they do have players from other areas. I've heard good things and there are some people on here who have played for them. The other scout teams might be following suit in the way they run the teams, but I don't know that.
The objective shouldn’t be to attempt to accumulate college baseball offers. The objective should be to obtain offers that are an educational, baseball, financial, social and cultural fit.
A player should sit down with a parent(s) and define the potential college conference level he can compete. This isn’t about wishing. It’s about being realistic. Then from those conferences decide which schools fit. Then target those schools. Email coaches and find out where to get in front of them. Don’t do camps unless they’ve seen you and invite you to a legitimate prospect camp.
Despite what most D1 players think going in (they’re going on to pro ball) most will play four years of college ball and hit the real world. Education and becoming prepared for the real world needs to be an important part of the college decision making process.
The Royals Scout Team is a definite option if he is a top caliber player. I can get you contact info. I would also contact FiveTool.org and ask about teams or look at the teams that play in their midwest tournaments and contact those teams.
PitchingFan posted:The Royals Scout Team is a definite option if he is a top caliber player. I can get you contact info. I would also contact FiveTool.org and ask about teams or look at the teams that play in their midwest tournaments and contact those teams.
He's a solid catcher , his pop time was timed by a college that held a evaluation and he had a constant 1.8. Even in a game situation. Best time at the eval. If you dont mind giving me the contact information that would be great. Ive also contacted fivetool after reading your reply. I appreciate a point in the right direction.
Avoid PBR Texas, it’s a train wreck. PBR PA is amazing.
FiveTool is great about blowing up Twitter with videos. Not sure about the scout draw like PG.
Go here and check national or regional travel teams rankings, reach out and see if you can find a spot. That’s what we did and it worked
https://www.perfectgame.org/Ra...aspx?R=272&T=reg
Is this just since The new director because I can’t say enough good things about Bicknell the last two years. The events were good and he went above and beyond for kids.
baseballhs posted:Is this just since The new director because I can’t say enough good things about Bicknell the last two years. The events were good and he went above and beyond for kids.
Showcases were a joke. Run poorly. UH location. Hurry up and pitch 10 and be done. They got the types of pitch wrong. My son felt rushed. He’s only there to pitch.
Another showcase at A&M pitchers were supposed to show at 1:15, we got there early at 12 and they started pitchers at 12:20. They sent out a public tweet, not an email to the attendees, a tweet. I don’t check twitter when driving so we were thankful we were early. Others weren’t as lucky.
They don’t use or update pitch speeds accurately even though I had video which included their radar and Shooter even tweeted the speeds in his post about my son at the PBR Tourney at UH. Emailed director video and shooter’s tweet and nothing.
@22and25 posted an even worse review of PBR Texas.
I won’t go into other reasons publicly as I’m sure certain people are on here. Needless to say I’m, and many others, are not fans and won’t go to anything in Texas.
PBR NY and PA Director is awesome. Great guy to follow and I hear their events are much better.
Maybe bickell had “the outs” this summer but it was bad. Really bad.
Glad your situation and experience was better.
RJM posted:The objective shouldn’t be to attempt to accumulate college baseball offers. The objective should be to obtain offers that are an educational, baseball, financial, social and cultural fit.
A player should sit down with a parent(s) and define the potential college conference level he can compete. This isn’t about wishing. It’s about being realistic. Then from those conferences decide which schools fit. Then target those schools. Email coaches and find out where to get in front of them. Don’t do camps unless they’ve seen you and invite you to a legitimate prospect camp.
Despite what most D1 players think going in (they’re going on to pro ball) most will play four years of college ball and hit the real world. Education and becoming prepared for the real world needs to be an important part of the college decision making process.
Rogers3 - I'm a big believer in what RJM is saying here. You and your son have to have a general idea of what he wants to do during his 4 years of college and 40+ years out of college. You asked for a starting point, there it is. Once you have a handle on that, then figure out how baseball & education is going to fit into your son's future plans. Create a list of schools that meet his requirements then cross-reference with available showcases, tournaments, camps. Once your son begins attending these showcases, camps, etc...he will get a feel of where he fits and most importantly where he is wanted. If you are like most people compromise between athletic/academic/financial factors will be part of this search, but don't get ahead of yourself by compromising before you start the process. You want targeted showcases, tournaments, camps that meet your son's goals. These baseball events are very expensive which is another reason you want to target these events that matter to you and your son. EOKERHOLM listed a handful of showcases. There are many more showcase & events that you will be able to identify once your son can clearly tell you what he wants for college baseball and what degree he wants to pursue. Help him learn about different schools, conferences, NCAA Division levels and education options then he'll be better prepared to answer the question. Small steps....this is a process that starts and ends with your son.
As always, JMO.
He has a list of schools he would like to attend for his degree as a Sports Physician. I didn't realize that he could email coaches to at least put his name out there, I was under the understanding they had to contact either the player or parent showing interest from either profiles or showcases or camps he had been to. I now know alot more then I did 3 days ago. All of which is VERY HELPFUL in me helping him find a good match. Because after all is said and done his Education comes first, and he knows that too. There is no point in going to a school he is miserable at it would show in every aspect of his performance. So I think between not knowing alot about how all this works , we came up with cast the net as far as he could and see what comes up and decide from there. Thank you all for the information! Im always open to new thoughts or little things that have been learned along journeys that have already been done..
Eokerholm posted:baseballhs posted:Is this just since The new director because I can’t say enough good things about Bicknell the last two years. The events were good and he went above and beyond for kids.
Showcases were a joke. Run poorly. UH location. Hurry up and pitch 10 and be done. They got the types of pitch wrong. My son felt rushed. He’s only there to pitch.
Another showcase at A&M pitchers were supposed to show at 1:15, we got there early at 12 and they started pitchers at 12:20. They sent out a public tweet, not an email to the attendees, a tweet. I don’t check twitter when driving so we were thankful we were early. Others weren’t as lucky.
They don’t use or update pitch speeds accurately even though I had video which included their radar and Shooter even tweeted the speeds in his post about my son at the PBR Tourney at UH. Emailed director video and shooter’s tweet and nothing.
@22and25 posted an even worse review of PBR Texas.
I won’t go into other reasons publicly as I’m sure certain people are on here. Needless to say I’m, and many others, are not fans and won’t go to anything in Texas.
PBR NY and PA Director is awesome. Great guy to follow and I hear their events are much better.
Maybe bickell had “the outs” this summer but it was bad. Really bad.
Glad your situation and experience was better.
Re: PBR NY, I agree my kids have done their events going on 3 years. Dan who ran NY took over PA I believe. He's still involved in NY though.
Rogers3 posted:He has a list of schools he would like to attend for his degree as a Sports Physician. I didn't realize that he could email coaches to at least put his name out there, I was under the understanding they had to contact either the player or parent showing interest from either profiles or showcases or camps he had been to. I now know alot more then I did 3 days ago. All of which is VERY HELPFUL in me helping him find a good match. Because after all is said and done his Education comes first, and he knows that too. There is no point in going to a school he is miserable at it would show in every aspect of his performance. So I think between not knowing alot about how all this works , we came up with cast the net as far as he could and see what comes up and decide from there. Thank you all for the information! Im always open to new thoughts or little things that have been learned along journeys that have already been done..
At the D1 level pre-med is going to be difficult if not impossible. Be prepared for push back. My son was considering ATC and eventually PT. while the HC/RC on his visit were potentially ok with it on his recruiting visit, turned when talking to the head of the department it would almost be impossible. My son then researched salaries out of school for those and decided he didn't want to do them ;-)..
Agree with NYCDAD, Pre-Med is not going to be an option. Depending on the program they will limit or mandate the amount of classes and hours taken. So will their schedule. UVA mandated 15 hrs/semester and you must graduate in 4 years. GT is only 12 hrs/semester. Pre-Med in either scenario will be difficult, especially with the schedule and travel constraints. When you get to it, you should ask the coach on a visit how many days of school they miss a season.....Some schools are affected by travel more than others. You'll want to know.
My son (PO) sent videos, tweets, and his baseball profile to the top PG rated National Travel programs in the fall in order to get on a team that was going to WWBA in Ft Meyers for his grade (2021) and WWBA in Jupiter (2020 to play up).
Showcasing is fine to get you the PG grade and be seen by area scouts, if you're spreading the wealth and traveling to different region showcases. But like others have said. The BIG events are what is going to draw the most coaches/scouts.
College camp evals usually suck and are equivalent to a paper napkin review. We ponied up for the $100 pitching evaluation at Duke and that was really good and informative.
We enjoyed our local travel team, but they didn't get outside of Texas much and my son wanted to go East. So we had to go East. We did a few camps that helped open his eyes. But getting on East Cobb in the fall and his performance at both events is what really exploded his recruitment and he committed within 3 weeks of Jupiter after flying all over the country.
Getting exposure on a top team will grease the skids for you a lot more than individual showcases, in my opinion. Most of these top tier travel coaches have colleges programs on speed dial and can go to bat for your son to help him get seen/recruited.
Make sure when you travel to these various showcases you get on campuses. That is really important for him to get the look and feel of the campus and city to make sure he still wants to go there.
You also need to check with schools to see what majors they have and don't have. My son was big on Vandy for some time. Went to their 5 day camp (AMAZING!!) but upon further research we found out that they don't have business or finance, so that dropped them down on his list. Though we LOVE LOVE LOVE Nashville and the area.
Other programs quickly dropped to the bottom as soon as my son stepped foot on campus or saw they city they were in. Others immediately rose to the top. All based on getting on campus.
Virtual tours help to in order to whittle down the list, but they're only going to show you their best stuff.....
That really helped shuffle and then solidify schools on my son's top 10+ target list.
Your situation may be different but for our son, his mom and I assured him that he was going to a good school to play baseball. Not a crappy school with a good baseball team.
Check out some sites and do your research
https://www.collegefactual.com/tools/college-combat/ is a great one to compare schools head to head on a lot of different factors. You can toggle them if they don't apply to get a more accurate comparison.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges search for the school and see how they compare....you'll be shocked...
Other things like business school or engineering school rankings, etc.
A lot has happened since your original post, but you have to have a plan and work the plan. This is a grind and you need to stay on top and ahead of it when you can.
Summer showcases are going to be packed this summer given no HS season and dead period. Get on a good national/regional travel team if you can. Assuming we have summer travel season....
Do whatever you have to do to get to WWBA (July) and definitely the 2 in the Fall for the most/best exposure....
