Summer Travel Teams - Who's playing for whom?

quote:

Originally posted by deucedoc:
SIU,

Good call on the Statesman, we played that team at 15 and met them in the CABA 17u state championship as 16's. Greg is a guy you can only like. Good man doing good things down there. I remember a real good LHP .

It was probably Connor Sestack who has signed with Purdue.

Mr. Deucedoc:

I honestly don't know who you are, what organization or team you coach with/for. I'm not sure how I set you off, as you previously stated. Actually, I never addressed anyone in my seemingly benign statement (which, for the record, was the only time I chimed in on this thread). If I inflamed you, I apologize, with my 1983 Sox hat in my hand. I am just kind of curious as to what you actually took umbrage to? Was it the word "proclamation"? If so, the word was not intended to be used as a weapon, or to stir anything up. Next time -- if there is a next time -- I will chose my words more prudently.

Anyway, my apologies again. By the way, what team are you with?

Sean

Mr PBR,

I must commend you on your vocabulary, the words seem to roll off. In fact, if I didnt have a webster next to me, I wouldnt get through your posts. Like I said once, I simply anwered a question on who is playing for who. Listed what I thought to be the majority of my team. Wished all the other teams a heart felt good luck and went on. Then , I see that my current roster is a proclamation . Then I read on to see that I am marketing my team. In fact I am not much different from your group. I want to put out a good team, play hard,teach them something, and have some fun. Thats all.

I do wish you and your guys much success. What you are doing for the HS kids in this area is wonderful. There should be a whole bunch more like you.
Since I stated who my team was and you responded to my post , I assummed you read it. I have the Illinois Orioles. We are an 18u team .

Deuce,
First of all good luck to you this weekend. And second of all you still have time to get out~!! Bill, you are a good coach and you have some talented kids, I don't think PBR does anything but help promote baseball in our area and he does an excellent job. Everybody is jacked up about the upcoming season and winter time is for teaching. Go on your honeymoon and enjoy being away for a while. You'll want to be working out for 23 of 24 hours everyday after next weekend anyway. if you get my drift.... anyway I am new to this web site and iI enjoy reading everybodies remarks. You know where I live and where my son goes to high school. The program here in La Grange "ain't" to shabby. See Ya over the spring and again good luck OLD man. tom

deucedoc:

Sounds like you're getting married: congrats and good luck. You've got much bigger fish to fry than this. Again, sorry if I rattled the bear cage. It honestly was not intended. My momma always told me that message boards can only get me in trouble. It goes to show that momma is, and always will be, correct.

Congrats again. Best wishes.

Sweaty ,

Thanks a lot on the weekend. I feel like the non hitting pitcher whos on deck and the oppossing pitcher is chunkin it 95 with a hammer. Just kind of waiting I guess.
Tom , good luck to you and Dan, he will be a welcome sight for coach Brownlee down there. You guys will be real tough again this year , especially with leadership like Danny.

PBR, thank you, hopefully we can meet and you can see that we are in this for simalar reasons. We both love the game.

Good luck and thanksi

Illinois Orioles will look like this ,so far.

OF- Joey Dispensa St Rita
OF-rhp-Billy Boockford Glenbard West
OF- Andrew Hagins OPRF
OF-Lhp- Mike Kazmarek Andrew 07
INF- Louie Johanns Naperville Central
INF-rhp- Lennell Mcgee Mt Carmael
INF- Brian Lambert Pontiac
INF- David Reynolds Carl Sandburg
INF- Devon Foreman Hales Fran
INF- Scott Sexton Oak Lawn 07
C- Tyson Blazer Rockridge
C- ??
Pitchers
Cedric Redmond Joliet Township
Seth Blair 07 Rock Falls
Steve Crnkovich Downers South
Pat Kirchoffer Wheaton North
???? This is as close as we can get for now...

An impressive proclamation!!!!

(joke)

Oh We have GOT to play each other this year. Before our boys go off to college we need to play a series. It would be fun and some good ball players would be playing against each other for the last time as high school students.

Sweaty has got something here….

How about it coaches??? What would it take to put together a Chicago Metro Boys of Summer Tourney? You could even include our brothers from down state. Duce and PBR could get it started. Hey, I'll sell the peanuts and Cracker Jack!

Sweaty, missed you at the OPRF home game rubber match. I thought we were going to pace the outfield fence together.

I think it would be good for the kids in all the programs, and its just plain good for our area. Do it at Triton, UIC, and Norhtern over a the course of a week or a weekend.

Top Tier
Norwood
Lombards
Orioles
Illinois North Stars
Magic
Sparks 17s
Top Tier 17s
Humbolt Park
Cougars
Mchenry Hurricanes

Very realistic and a good idea..

SIU Bullet,
Just heard from another SIU bound player who will help Cal in a hurry. Tommy Cerven is an Oriole this Summer...

AND THE SOX ACADEMY, sorry sweaty.

OK Guys, I will throw this out to you. Midwest Sports Group, was going to host a major showcase event this summer at Hap Bruno Stadium in Chicago Heights. Most of the top 17s rostered on these teams mentioned would be invited. Instead, we can host a weekend wood bat tourney, which would be heavily scouted. 18u teams mentioned above would be invited as long as they have some 17u on the rosters. Let me know who is interested. We would do it mid-June after state playoffs. You can email me with your thoughts at midwestsportsgroup@yahoo.com. Coaches only!

Keep the Playball team in the back of your mind for this showdown -- they might be interested if they get their guys together soon.

duecedoc

Cerven is a solid pickup for SIU..i'm glad that it worked out for him. hes got a really nice arm and can hit the ball a mile..hes a well put together kid. he should have a good season this spring..

Deuce,
I was wondering why Cerven wasnt on your first roster post. He will be good for them at SIU and will have a few Bullets as future battery mates.
SI

Bullet,

He may not jump right in and catch but he will jump right in and swing it a bit. I am sure he cant wait to meet them Bullets. Johanns with me is also headed there.

Indians OF
The one thing I noticed about Tommy was he is
a leader in the dugout and plays the game so hard. He will have some small adjustments but he will be fine.

looking through this thread, I have noticed only a few team have communicated their rosters to-date. where are the others?

As I look at that list of team the top tier, ws academy and hurricanes being included, are they the same teams that were only in the consolation bracket at east cobb caba last year. Would they stack up against the norwood team, orioles or ls cardinals? Sorry if it sounds like I am knocking them I jus looked up there record at caba. I also saw that tt went on to a win down in Florida but was that tt or a combination of teams.

I beleive our roster is on http://www.eteamz.com/whitesoxacademy I'm no wiz on the computer but try it anyway.
White Sox 18's will look like this next year...
Kyle Williams ASU
Colin Bates UNC
Tim Harvey
Matt Abraham
Kenny Hanold U of Evansville
Danny Weston Il St
Max Hanner
Seth Hudelson
Matt Zicher
Nick Morreale
Drake Chillman
Ryan Hopp
Jordan Backes Quincy
Mike Kubo
Giovanni Cantwell UIC
and we are going to add 2 more over the winter

I would love to do a local tourney with any of those teams but, NO wood bat, it takes away from the game. It doesn't make any sense. They aren't going to use it(most of them if not all of them)for at least 4 years. Play the games the way we normally play all summer long. Most of the guys have decided on colleges already and with a small exception St. Joe's is the only one I know that uses them. So, whoever wants to put it together, that would be real cool to see. Our Coach is Austin Rappe and he can reached via e-mail at fallbaseball@hotmail.com thanks and I look forward to seeing some more posts on this and hopefully we can put it together. btw is top tier something special that I don't know about? Everybody talks about them like they're God or some higher power than the rest of us losers. Well let's find out the right way. And send these kids off to college the right way. With some lasting memories of playing against the best players in the COUNTRY right here in the midwest.

Lineshot

The White Sox Academy 17's went to Myrtle Beach last year and won the national vs the Arsenal 18's from new jersey , we did not go to East Cobb.

Sweaty, why "NO wood bat"? If these players are going to play in college, then they most likely will be using wood bats during the "summers" of thier college years. "Takes away from the game"? What does it take away, besides cheap hits? I would have to disagree with you on these comments. Why then does Cape Cod, CICL, and many, many more college summmer leagues use wood if it doesn't make any sense!

Wood or aluminum, it would be great to get all these teams together?

If there is enough interest from the area teams I can get some fields. I don't care if we use wiffle ball bats. Good Competition and less travel sounds good to me.

Only problem is that teams are probably just about done getting there schedules complete.. Most weekends are shot already.

For the 18's I think something during the course of the week might work, but that would take out the 17's, because of the HS schedule, and thats who the Schools would want to see.

Any suggestions on the matter? Does anyone know when the Stevenson JR showcase that Harvey Foster puts on is this year? Or Plainfields? I know they are mid june, and those days would be no good also.
If there are coaches out there who might like this idea contact me at duecedoc24@aol.com , or call 630 546-3304 and let me know. If not, good luck to all. How about a fourth of July
Holiday College Showcase Tourny in our area?
I know there are a few good tournys at this time but if the right guys get in the mix this could turn out to be a good thing for the kids looking to play at the next level. We have the teams , and the scouts will come.
We will have to move quick so get busy coaches.

Deuce

Sweaty I was asking about last years 16's since I thought you were mainly talking about next years 17's

Mr. Lineshot,

I believe that Top Tier's 17U roster will be finalized by December 1. When it is available why don't you scrutinize it and let us know if you think that team could compete against the teams you highlighted. Thanks for the warning 'cause I'm sure they wouldn't want to be overmatched.

rosy, I didn't mean to knock any program or offend anyone that is associated with a program. I just asked about the results at the caba tournament which suprised me after reading all the things on this board. I did watch the tt team lasy year at bourbanais and I think Kenosha or racine. It doesn't matter if I think they can compete, I have no special interest in any of the teams. After looking at the results from caba last year I thought it was a reasonable question. It also brings us back to question that has been raised here numerous times, are the travel teams training or just spending time and energy recruiting. Thanks Mr. Rosy.

Coaches - I have a couple of players who you may want to take a look at for the summer. Send me a note and I can fill in the details if you are interested.

These summer travel teams always make everyone so touchy. The thing to realize is that there are too many good players around here to think that one team will monopolize on the talent. Add to that the fact that some kids are improving and some may have already reached their peak relative to others in their age group it is very difficult to predict ahead of time who will be stronger than the others.

Lineshot, having been around the TT Team a bit last year (my son played in 3 tourneys with them) I can tell you they will be very good, the disapointment at East Cobb not withstanding. There was a lot of talent there last year and my understanding is that more is being added. I also saw them at Bourbanais and even though they didn't play great baseball they still managed to win it. I also heard that the Hurricanes have lost some players so they may not be as strong next summer....but then again who knows what new talent they may bring in. I can also tell you that TT didn't just recruit they spend a lot of time in the winter working out and getting better. At least in the case of the TT 16's last year energy was spent on the players as well as recruiting.

fastball, Didn't try to make it a touchy subject as I just asked a question about results at caba. It seems like a lot of self promotion here from time to time. I do realize there are many good players out ther from many areas, I think I have named a few from time to time. As far as there workouts over the winter fball do they show up a a facility and softtoss each other and throw each other bp or are they working with coaches that watch what they are doing and have a specific plan to improve during the off season as this is one of the benefits of living in the great white north. I watched a practice last week that consisted of 1 coach with 15 players none of which were being corrected as one coach just couldn't cover all the players. Travel team, profesionally coached and all that. Again I think rosy took it presonally but I just was curious how the program was run, you never know maybe I will learn something even with my hard head.

Lineshot,

Fastballdad is correct. Here we are in November arguing semantics about teams that won't get together and play games until June. I can only speak for the team that my son played for last summer, and hopefully again this summer. Their workouts together during the winter months are very well organized and in a 2 hour period there is much accomplished. Lineshot, as for being accused of having a hard head, I'm right there with you.

fastball,

what players did the hurricanes lose?

Very well put FBDAD,

We have plenty of good kids in the area to put together all these good teams. The thing i would like to see is our Traveling coaches staying in our area so our Colleges and pro scouts can see them. The problem is getting good dedicated coaches to run the programs. Seems here in the past 2-3 years , we are getting it. Take advantage of it. Pick your spots when you must travel out, make sure its an event that is worth it $$ .
I dont think it should be about who is the best, we are in an area where it should be who is the best this year. Thats how close these teams can be. And most importantly , its for the kids on these teams not the coaches on these teams. Just look at the kids from our area on all these teams, the kids going on to school are going on to schools mainly in the midwest. That should tell you something. Certainly Perfect game events work because its another time that our Midwest guys see you. Plus the competition level is where the Division 1 kids should be playing agaist.
In my opinion, which means absolutly nothing, we as Summer coaches should realize that it would benefit the guys if we coaches started working together, and creating a good , competitive baseball environment, right here
where we live. Maybe everyone else likes spending a ton of money driving,flying, all over Gods creation to play the same game that could be taking place in our back yards. Not me.
Top Tier, White Sox, Norwood, Lombard, Orioles, Sparks, Magic, Playball USA, Kenosha, Seminoles, Cougars, Illinois Northstars, and on and on, lets get together and start making this area what it used to be in the Summer.
Whats better than a Oriole /Top Tier game, can't tell you because we are both busy running around playing out. I can tell you this, you take those two teams and you have what it supposed to be. Highly competitive and fun baseball. There would be a couple scouts there too.

Many of the comments are well documented. There is a ton of talent throughout the area that is now filtered to the many quality programs in the area. Coaches should band together and put their feelings aside. It is not about you, but it is about the kids. They are the ones who play the game and make the decision who and where they play for. Establishing relationships with the area colleges is a great idea. This is where a majority of these kids are going to play and what not a better forum for these kids to get exposure.

Does anyone know who has committed to the Blues program? I see all these list of players from the various elite programs, but nothing from that organization.

duecedoc:

You present some very good ideas. I've always thought that there is lots of high quality competition right here in our fairly large backyard of Northern Illinois.

You are correct in that most players, but not all, will remain in the region to play college ball and therefore strengthening the 'local' relationships is important.

Competing outside of the region is also important because some players are looking to play outside of the region. Nonetheless it is good to be exposed to competition and to receive exposure outside of our area.

What you propose makes alot of baseball and budget sense. Keep working towards this goal.

Gotwood,

We will definitly go out a bit. We will pick and choose and try to put the kids in the best situation. I just think some of the local coaches need to get on the same page and work to the same goal. We will lose an occasional player or even a handful of players every year to the South, thats ok and great for that kid, but the facts are the facts, our boys will for the most part be around here, (ILL,IA,IND, NEB,OH) Happens every year.

My son is years away but isn't it most important, to get the kids in front of college scouts? How does what you propose to do, compare against a Perfect Games event in terms of the # of college scouts attending, quality of schools represented, etc.? Additionally, I heard one of the best opportunities for our boys is to get them to a college's summer camp the summer before their senior year. Any comment on that as summer team coaches.

I can tell you as a father of a senior in H S those college camps to me were a way for the college coaches to raise revenue for there clubs and not much more. To me, they seem to invite the kids they want to look at and then everyone else. Missouri for sure did it that way in my opinion. It is a toss up on whether it is worth it or not. The funny thing is as you get those letters in the mail and you start to compare them the first thing that pops out is the COST. My lord they range from 50.00 to 250.00 it is a joke. I mean the field is free,they own it, and the coaches are already getting paid so....what could the major dollar difference be? We had 20 players drafted over the last 5 years, we had 16 players drafted in the first four rounds over 2 years and so on..... It is a marketing ploy for them to use to intice you and your son to go there. But, if your son is not getting enough exposure from his High School program then by all means do what you have to to get him exposure. It was the most brutal time in OUR families life over the last 6 months. It is a business for these people and you get played if your not careful. Be aggressive and be smart. Do your homework on the schools your kids are looking at. First thing to do is check the website and look at the rosters and see if they are concentrated from an area or if they are all over the map. I hope this little tid bit helps all who are frustrated and still searching. Good Luck and good baseball. Let the summer begin boys. It would be fun to see those boys together, we can use all our connections to get the word out there. Let's do it.

Tuzigoot:

I am not a summer team coach but what has been discussed recently on this thread is an attempt for area summer coaches to agree to schedule games or tournaments locally with good local talent instead of chasing all over the country...that can become quite expensive...right guys?

Travel outside of the area would certainly continue but the amount could be reduced and goals could be accomplished locally...the talent exists here. College scouts would seek out this collection of talent.

In regards to Perfect Game showcases and other events, including chosen college camps, no one has suggested that these go by the wayside...these are important now and will remain so.

sweaty:

Couldn't say that I disagree with anything you've said...I would add that some college camps are better than others but I would strongly agree with you that some (most?) really are intent on looking at recruits that they have already identified.

Doing your homework first on those schools you have an interest in is absolutely sound advice! Checking the website and roster can be very revealing.