Summer Leagues tidbits

Hokieone,  Do you have anymore info on these tournaments?   I would be interested in watching some of those games too.

MLB and the leagues are still working on sites and details; I don't think they are ready to announce locations yet. My impression is that the Valley League team will be at a site  with perhaps as many as 4-5 other leagues, probably in North Carolina. Mid-July is the general time-frame.

That would suit me just fine as I am in North Carolina.  Please try to update this thread as information comes available.

Is/Will this be at the players expense?

Hokie,

Sent you a PM

Expenses- MLB gave our league more money this year, which we said we'd use to cover the expenses-the first increase in MLB's payment in many many years. Not sure about other leagues. There will be 5 leagues playing at our same site.

hokieone posted:

Expenses- MLB gave our league more money this year, which we said we'd use to cover the expenses-the first increase in MLB's payment in many many years. Not sure about other leagues. There will be 5 leagues playing at our same site.

There go the MiLB raises for 2017

This maybe a good place to see a lot of talent but MLB may miss out on a lot of talent as well.  What happens to the kid who hits the ball hard every time but can 't seem to find a gap or hits directly at someone for a period at the beginning of the season?  What happens to the top defensive skilled catcher who may not have the offensive numbers that summer to make the team?  What happens to the pitcher who has a losing record with decent Ratio and Ks that doesn't make the team?

You get my point.  Hopefully this doesn't  lessen the amount of travel a scout does to see talent that may not play in the All Stare round robin.

JABMK posted:

This maybe a good place to see a lot of talent but MLB may miss out on a lot of talent as well.  What happens to the kid who hits the ball hard every time but can 't seem to find a gap or hits directly at someone for a period at the beginning of the season?  What happens to the top defensive skilled catcher who may not have the offensive numbers that summer to make the team?  What happens to the pitcher who has a losing record with decent Ratio and Ks that doesn't make the team?

You get my point.  Hopefully this doesn't  lessen the amount of travel a scout does to see talent that may not play in the All Stare round robin.

.....Or, in Keewartson's case, his college team makes it to regionals and therefore doesn't get to his summer team until 2 weeks in to the schedule.  When all-stars are selected the first part of July, he doesn't have the minimum ABs to qualify (nor did the LHP throwing 96).   The owner came up to us and basically apologized in a round-a-bout way.  Sometimes you will miss a few.....

More details on  the "2017 Southeast Collegiate Showcase".    Games will be July 15 and 16 at White Sox MiLB park in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Leagues playing will be Valley, Florida, Southern, Sunbelt, and Ripken. Saturday games at 1, 4, 7, Sunday games at 10, 1,4. Valley and Sunbelt play 3 games, other 3 play 2.    Regarding selection, the Valley League intends to try to select the best team possible, not worrying about whether all teams are represented, etc.  We'll sort out next month what we do with the rest of our league for those days...THAT should be a lot of fun. 

Is there a definitive schedule for the showcase yet, as to the time slots and the specific teams playing in each game?  I have not been able to find anything on the web to this point besides a few tidbits on a few of the
league websites that are short on details.

Southeastern Collegiate Prospect Showcase

Kannapolis Intimidators Stadium

2888 Moose Rd, Kannapolis, NC 28083

Friday, July 14

4:00 – 7:00 Pro-style workout (Southern, Valley, Florida)

7:30 – 9:00 BBQ welcome dinner at the field

 Saturday, July 15

 1:00 Valley vs. Southern (Game 1)

4:00 Florida vs. Sunbelt (Game 2)

7:00 Ripken vs. Winner of Game 1 (Game 3)

 Sunday, July 16

 10:00 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

1:00 Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 (Potential 3^rd game for Winner Game 1)

4:00 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 1 (3^rd game for Loser Game 1)

    Not sure how well run this thing will be; we're  told there will be no visual or audio broadcast, no on line stats available.  The expenses are considerably more than expected-each league is being charged a $1000 "stadium fee" for example.    Our league schedule will continue unchanged so not many VBL folks will be able to make the  trip except the players and coaches.   Hopeful for a good event-and it's taking away for 3 games my top pitcher and top hitter leading  the  VBL in home runs, so I hope it is worth it.      

Thank you very much for the background info.  Fingers crossed that the event is successful. 

They are running on line stats. Valley League beat Southern League, 6-0 yesterday. VBL pitchers carried a perfect game into the 5th. VBL plays Cal Ripken League at 10:30 a.m.; starting pitcher is our (Strasburg Express) ace, Zach Peek from Winthrop, a very talented freshman, already fielding Cape offers for next summer. Somebody up there (Cape) keeps an eye on the VBL as every year, quite a few guys have Cape commitments for the next summer before the season's end.   I was pleased this showcase didn't diminish the number of scouts at the VBL All Star game last week. (We had around 25-30 pro scouts present). 

Valley League topped Cal Ripken League, 3-2. Weather created havoc with the schedule so there was no "championship" game, but the teams got a lot of exposure in front of lots of scouts.  Valley League appeared to have the strongest pitching per one pro scout. When told there were several arms just as deserving but they brought 16 pitchers, he indicated they should be scouting the Valley more. Sounds good to me.

Son is coaching in a summer league.  It has been a good experience.  One of the secondary factors that had him choosing one team/league over a few others is that this league ends earlier than others and would allow him to spend a little time at home with family and friends prior to heading back to school in the fall to finish up some classwork.

They just won their last two games against the team they were competing with for the final playoff spot.  Hahaha...  so much for ending early.  Summer college playoffs is not always the desired result of many of these worn out players and coaches.  We have all heard these stories before.  But I found it particularly intriguing that two teams were facing each other for the right to ...  A) extend the summer season, possibly win the league playoffs, play against the #1 seed (who has lost just 3 games all summer) in extreme heat for a chance to extend summer yet longer.  or...  B) finally go home for a few weeks after going at it full speed since the beginning of last fall.

Hmmmm....  competitive nature and pride vs a whole lot of other things... head to head..  sorta wish I could have been at that last game to see how all these guys were approaching it.

Other summer stories, anyone?

Cabbage;

one year in Canada when the season was over, we all planned our journey back from Edmonton to the midwest and east coast. One of our players a Tigers LHP prospect, actually "robbed" a bank on his way home.

Bob

cabbagedad posted:

 

Hmmmm....  competitive nature and pride vs a whole lot of other things... head to head..  sorta wish I could have been at that last game to see how all these guys were approaching it.

Other summer stories, anyone?

Son's team is in the final week of regular season. Five teams in the division, and all five still alive for 2 playoff spots. It's a very odd dynamic. I think pretty much everyone on the team is ready to go home and enjoy some time off in August, but when they hit the field they still play 100% to win. I guess it's a "no lose" situation. They'll be happy to play for the championship if they make it, but they'll be happy to head home if they don't.

Consultant posted:

Cabbage;

one year in Canada when the season was over, we all planned our journey back from Edmonton to the midwest and east coast. One of our players a Tigers LHP prospect, actually "robbed" a bank on his way home.

Bob

Geez, Bob, what kind of players are you recruiting     Wow.   

cabbagedad posted:

Consultant posted:

Cabbage;

one year in Canada when the season was over, we all planned our journey back from Edmonton to the midwest and east coast. One of our players a Tigers LHP prospect, actually "robbed" a bank on his way home.

Bob

Geez, Bob, what kind of players are you recruiting     Wow.   

Good question!  And is there a difference between "robbed" a bank and robbed a bank?

Interesting dynamics-the Valley League starts playoffs Saturday and they go pretty quickly-usually wrapped up in a week. Last night we played Covington, the team with the least wins in the league. They traveled 2 1/2 hours to get to Strasburg, after playing 2 games the day before, involving even longer travel, getting home around 3 in the morning...yet they gave us all we could handle, had lots of pep and life, and looked to be having fun-a huge testament to their coaches and organization.     Some players are just plain stupid-I know of a couple kids in the league that had scouts specifically come to see them last week-only to learn they had gone home-just because they wanted to go home. One scout said, "That makes my job easy-scratch scratch".       Another said that if a kid can't handle a 2 month summer season, he sure can't handle the minors....

Hokieone;

Do you know Wayne Brittan? Players and parents do not understand the "eyes" of the pro scout. Not only the 5 tools are evaluated, but the 6th tool.

Bob