adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
Well that's f"ing cool man. Then let's just let those top 40 teams show up and watch it die.
SomeBaseballDad posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
Well that's f"ing cool man. Then let's just let those top 40 teams show up and watch it die.
That’s a great idea
adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
I would change that to: the vast majority of kids who play for a travel program that doesn't have tons of connections with college coaches (& doesn't work those connections) are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure.
I know of dozens of kids who ended up at mid majors and lower D1's as well as D2's that were scouted and discovered at WWBA in the last 6-7 years just from my home state, but 95% of them had a travel director who was working those connections on their behalf.
I guess there are two ways you can look at an "unfair advantage." If there are 17U players dominating in a 15U tournament (and your son is playing against them) then if he does well against superior competition then that is something that college scouts would notice. And while your son might, on the other hand, excel against an average 15U team, that is not something that most scouts would pay much attention to. But I understand what you are saying... when my son was playing coach pitch and maybe early kid pitch, some of the kids and teams really did seem to look much older than the other teams, but as you get to high school things seem to even out. Playing against better players really does make you better,
SomeBaseballDad posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
Well that's f"ing cool man. Then let's just let those top 40 teams show up and watch it die.
That's what the WWBA always was. It has only become a monster 400 team tournament in the past 5 or so years. Even 7/8 years ago there were only 200 teams. The 50 best teams were always going down there. There was a travel ball explosion and everybody wanted in when they saw all these former PG tournament players getting drafted. That was also when PG was still on a need to know basis. Now I see random 4th graders wearing the hat or a tournament t-shirt. They'll never turn down money but they can get very similar results from a baseball standpoint with just the top 40 or so teams.
The WWBA is an open tournament. It’s like the US Open in golf except without the qualifiers to play in the main event. That’s what makes it fun in a lot of ways. Anybody can go and get matched up with a great team if they are willing to show up. It probably makes sense to have regional qualifiers to pair down the teams in qualifying events (like the US Open) but then the argument of quality teams argument would just shift down to the qualifying events but maybe that’s ok.
There are still some events that are restricted to 32-40 of the top teams but these are invitation only events. PG has the World Series for 16 and under. They had their inaugural 17U WWBA Elite Championship this year. PBR had their inaugural National Program Invitational this year. I’m sure there are others.
also keep in mind that as you transition from 15U to 16U and above, its more about showcasing players than winning the tournament. Yes... all teams are trying to win but often coaches make playing decisions more on location of the game than the opponent. The older players playing are trying to find their place in the college baseball world like all the other players. College coaches know players' ages and adjust projections accordingly.
3and2Fastball posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
I would change that to: the vast majority of kids who play for a travel program that doesn't have tons of connections with college coaches (& doesn't work those connections) are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure.
I know of dozens of kids who ended up at mid majors and lower D1's as well as D2's that were scouted and discovered at WWBA in the last 6-7 years just from my home state, but 95% of them had a travel director who was working those connections on their behalf.
Very few players are “discovered” at WWBA or similar high profile events. The players that are scouted at these events are almost always known by the schools scouting them well before the event takes place. You are correct that this often occurs as a result of a good travel ball coach and/or program. Point being, coaches and scouts arrive at WWBA with a list of players in hand to look at. Very seldom does a player turn a coaches head if he wasn’t already on the radar. It happens - but not very often. Recruiting is about playing the odds so IMHO the first thing you should do is figure out how high the stakes of the game should be. And the determining factor for that should be the talent level of the player. With over 400 teams attending WWBA it is no stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of the players on those 400 teams will never play baseball at a top 50 D1 program. Those players don’t have enough talent to benefit (from a recruiting standpoint) from participating in WWBA. And you can get to lower level D1, D2, D3, NAIA & JuCo without spending the money required to attend events like that. If you want to go for fun or the experience that’s fine by me. But it’s not a good use of your money if the goal is exposure. The odds are stacked against you in a big way. Most people should be playing the $1 a hand poker game not the $100 a hand game.
adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
I would change that to: the vast majority of kids who play for a travel program that doesn't have tons of connections with college coaches (& doesn't work those connections) are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure.
I know of dozens of kids who ended up at mid majors and lower D1's as well as D2's that were scouted and discovered at WWBA in the last 6-7 years just from my home state, but 95% of them had a travel director who was working those connections on their behalf.
Very few players are “discovered” at WWBA or similar high profile events. The players that are scouted at these events are almost always known by the schools scouting them well before the event takes place. You are correct that this often occurs as a result of a good travel ball coach and/or program. Point being, coaches and scouts arrive at WWBA with a list of players in hand to look at. Very seldom does a player turn a coaches head if he wasn’t already on the radar. It happens - but not very often. Recruiting is about playing the odds so IMHO the first thing you should do is figure out how high the stakes of the game should be. And the determining factor for that should be the talent level of the player. With over 400 teams attending WWBA it is no stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of the players on those 400 teams will never play baseball at a top 50 D1 program. Those players don’t have enough talent to benefit (from a recruiting standpoint) from participating in WWBA. And you can get to lower level D1, D2, D3, NAIA & JuCo without spending the money required to attend events like that. If you want to go for fun or the experience that’s fine by me. But it’s not a good use of your money if the goal is exposure. The odds are stacked against you in a big way. Most people should be playing the $1 a hand poker game not the $100 a hand game.
My son begs to differ. He pitched against an elite team at the 16U WWBA last year that had 30 scouts there to watch their pitcher and ended up with two offers based off of that game. Happens all the time.
My only real point in replying to this thread is to say beware the poster who makes statements in absolute terms. They are very rarely correct.
Not WWBA related but still along the unfair gripe. Around here teams really churn at 15u. We went to several of these try outs. Mostly so my sons could see what they were up against.
We would here players from the top teams at 14U complain, about how there son did not make the 15U team. That these teams had no loyalty, That Their son had played with the top team since 9U. Now the team was bringing on a player that took their sons spot. How unfair it was. They had dedicated their summers to this program and that was the thanks they get.
At 15U there is such a huge disparity in size and athleticism. And the goals are changing. Some players just have not matured yet, compared to others.
My advice to those parents. Have there son keep plugging away and if they grow and get good enough the team will want them back.
Our son never played for these elite teams until they were Junior or Senior in HS. He was a very good player but did not physically mature enough. But when he was, boy did they want him.
SSBuckeye posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
I would change that to: the vast majority of kids who play for a travel program that doesn't have tons of connections with college coaches (& doesn't work those connections) are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure.
I know of dozens of kids who ended up at mid majors and lower D1's as well as D2's that were scouted and discovered at WWBA in the last 6-7 years just from my home state, but 95% of them had a travel director who was working those connections on their behalf.
Very few players are “discovered” at WWBA or similar high profile events. The players that are scouted at these events are almost always known by the schools scouting them well before the event takes place. You are correct that this often occurs as a result of a good travel ball coach and/or program. Point being, coaches and scouts arrive at WWBA with a list of players in hand to look at. Very seldom does a player turn a coaches head if he wasn’t already on the radar. It happens - but not very often. Recruiting is about playing the odds so IMHO the first thing you should do is figure out how high the stakes of the game should be. And the determining factor for that should be the talent level of the player. With over 400 teams attending WWBA it is no stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of the players on those 400 teams will never play baseball at a top 50 D1 program. Those players don’t have enough talent to benefit (from a recruiting standpoint) from participating in WWBA. And you can get to lower level D1, D2, D3, NAIA & JuCo without spending the money required to attend events like that. If you want to go for fun or the experience that’s fine by me. But it’s not a good use of your money if the goal is exposure. The odds are stacked against you in a big way. Most people should be playing the $1 a hand poker game not the $100 a hand game.
My son begs to differ. He pitched against an elite team at the 16U WWBA last year that had 30 scouts there to watch their pitcher and ended up with two offers based off of that game. Happens all the time.
My only real point in replying to this thread is to say beware the poster who makes statements in absolute terms. They are very rarely correct.
There was nothing absolute in my post.
Maybe you should read it more closely.
BishopLeftiesDad posted:Not WWBA related but still along the unfair gripe. Around here teams really churn at 15u. We went to several of these try outs. Mostly so my sons could see what they were up against.
We would here players from the top teams at 14U complain, about how there son did not make the 15U team. That these teams had no loyalty, That Their son had played with the top team since 9U. Now the team was bringing on a player that took their sons spot. How unfair it was. They had dedicated their summers to this program and that was the thanks they get.
At 15U there is such a huge disparity in size and athleticism. And the goals are changing. Some players just have not matured yet, compared to others.
My advice to those parents. Have there son keep plugging away and if they grow and get good enough the team will want them back.
Our son never played for these elite teams until they were Junior or Senior in HS. He was a very good player but did not physically mature enough. But when he was, boy did they want him.
Over the years with two kids I often heard parents who believed their kids would play for the 17u program and then college ball because they were tenured and heavily invested in the program.
I got to know a dad with a son playing for Arsenal from playing against my son so many times. He told me only four from the 13u team made the 17u team.
From 9u to 15u academies will take your money and create A, B and C teams. Even Arsenal had B and C teams. At 16u and 17u it’s about talent and winning.
I would say the phrase "very few players are discovered" would be the statement that is being referred to as absolute. I would agree with this statement to some extent. But I believe the numbers are greater that players are on a list but may not be considered a high consideration at the time going into WWBA who make a great jump because of how they perform. I would agree that I believe there are very few players who are unknown by coaches who walk into WWBA and perform and all the sudden are at the top of someone's list. There are always those guys who have a great week/game and jump up the list. That is the neat part of big tournaments. My sons had some great outings hitting and pitching at WWBA that moved them up lists and made them high prospects but I don't know that they were never on the list and jumped to the top. I will say that when my youngest son was 14 and played a great game against winner in 17U wwba, he may have got on some lists but it was because of his age. He was not on a list because he was only 14. At that point, they just went "he had a great game, let's watch him."
So both of you are right to some extent. But adbono, I will disagree it does not happen all the time that a player has one great game and gets offers. Very rarely does a college coach make an offer after one great game unless they were already watching or the kid throws 95. it is a process.
A pitcher will occasionally get an offer after one great outing. It happened to a teammate of my son's a couple months ago. Kid hardly saw the mound all season but pitched his ass off in JuCo national championship game and got a big offer from Creighton. Very unlikely for that to happen to a position player.
It may be rare, but we saw it play out this summer at 17U WWBA. Our right fielder hit a bomb into the trees at LP against another good team in our pool. He had immediate interest, mid major offers and was committed within a few weeks. Well-deserved. You never know who is watching.
So my question would be, had either of these guys been seen by the ones who made the offers or were they truly see once and sign guys. I know it happens but it is very rare. My son got his offer from three great games back to back to back at WWBA 17U and 16U but he was on the radars. These games just pushed him to the top.
In the case of the kid I mentioned, I don’t think Creighton had ever seen him before. He was a freshman and hadn’t pitched enough innings to be on anybody’s radar. Got the start in National Championship Game cuz he was the only option they had
Good for him. Those are why the no name teams go to places like WWBA is the hope. It is also why we tell kids do your best every time because you never know who is watching. I know the kid who picked up on a team and had never played travel ball. Went to a tournament at a school and the team needed pitching. I gave his name to them and said he will burn you innings and won't get killed. He pitched a great game and got an offer from a small school which fit him and his parents pocketbook. I don't think he would have ever been seen if he had not gone to that tournament. Only tournament he played in and only game he ever played in and he got an offer from it. Most families would have laughed at the offer and the school that offered but it was a good fit, only fit for him. Probably would not have gone to college if it had not happened.
There are 392 teams with 15+ players on each roster. Even if 100 of them get discovered by performing well against the good teams or when scouts are there to see others - that would still be very rare considering about 8k kids play at the tournament for a week.
PABaseball posted:There are 392 teams with 15+ players on each roster. Even if 100 of them get discovered by performing well against the good teams or when scouts are there to see others - that would still be very rare considering about 8k kids play at the tournament for a week.
Bingo! My point exactly. It’s all about probabilities. It pays off for some but for the vast majority it doesn’t.
adbono posted:A pitcher will occasionally get an offer after one great outing. It happened to a teammate of my son's a couple months ago. Kid hardly saw the mound all season but pitched his ass off in JuCo national championship game and got a big offer from Creighton. Very unlikely for that to happen to a position player.
There’s a lot of subjectivity to judging hitting. For pitching it’s all about a number on a gun. I have a friend who had one kid in track and another a position playing baseball player. He would comment there’s nothing subjective about track. What does the stopwatch tell you?
My son was down at the 17U and 16U WWBA. Pitched at Lakepoint during 16U. Because of a confluence of events, ended up being quite a few coaches watching him. Did well, hit 89 and 90. While he didn't get direct offers out of it. His performance got back to the schools he was in conversations with and it seemed to push things along.
RJM posted:adbono posted:A pitcher will occasionally get an offer after one great outing. It happened to a teammate of my son's a couple months ago. Kid hardly saw the mound all season but pitched his ass off in JuCo national championship game and got a big offer from Creighton. Very unlikely for that to happen to a position player.
There’s a lot of subjectivity to judging hitting. For pitching it’s all about a number on a gun. I have a friend who had one kid in track and another a position playing baseball player. He would comment there’s nothing subjective about track. What does the stopwatch tell you?
I would agree with you as a general statement but in this specific case it wasn’t about a reading on a radar gun. Kid is slight of build and topped out at 90. But has exceptional secondary stuff.
I remember when all my son’s teammates/friends hit their stride around 12-13 and he didn’t. It mattered so much at the time. He struggled and the dimensions radically affected his performance as a position player/hitter. That’s when he started focusing on pitching.
Fast forward through high school and college where bigger is always better and he became an all American as a 5’10” RHP.
i believe he has always been the shortest pitcher on ever single team he’s played on.
there are SO many obstacles along the way, focus on reducing those and getting better and improving your son’s physical and mental approach in/on the game.
What I thought was insurmountable at 12-13 due to his smaller size and struggles compared to others became the driving force to be better and go further for him. He has a chip on his shoulder and it’s huge. He isn’t projectable, never has been, often called a hard thrower versus and pitcher and summarily dismissed due to his diminutive stature compared to his piers and all i can is it compels him to work harder than anyone.
I hear what your saying about parents who hold their sons back a year. As an educator I had a student this year (sophomore) who was the MVP on freshman year. Magna cum laude student with around a 90 for the year in my honors class. He's a MI whose dimensions 5'10" 165 are similar to sons at the time and probably 20 pounds heavier. In the parent-teacher conference "reclass" came up as he has an "early birthday." Reasons were totally athletic (a year stronger, more arm strength, etc). Hated to see it as I filled out the form to the "prep" school. I see that happen more in hockey with students (2 of my better hockey students were in same situation).
Son and I also looked at Perfect Game's ranking for state during son's graduation year. We sort of checked names we knew were a year older than him and like the OP thought they had an "advantage." But once you get to college, you are not competing against kids a year older--you are vying for playing time against players 3-4 years older. In preparing for college, son actually benefited the other way, playing up. He was the SS when ace pitched, and I think CF or 2B when ace played shortstop on a U17 team, when son was a rising 8th grader. I used to tell him that the field won't get bigger, and that his throws from SS to 1B will keep getting better (less time on throw, more direct on a line). The pitchers were faster too than he was accustomed to.
So it is funny that we sense that college "prefer" the older stronger kids, but at draft time there is an attraction for younger players.
I have told this before, however lots of new people here. My son has a Birthday in Sept. He started school what many consider very early. We knew he had good hand/eye coordination, but had no idea what an athlete he would turn into.
As he progressed through the school system he was also identified as Gifted by third grade. Once he started playing baseball in middle school, we found out many of the kids a year behind him in school were a year older than he was. Many of the parents started their kids a year late. Mostly for athletics. Son, was always well adjusted, made good grades, and got along well with his peers. As high school got closer people started asking us if we were going to hold him back, since he was smaller that his peers.
We never considered it. He did very well athletically and academically. Plus later we learned when another parent tried it, that the school system in no uncertain terms would allow it. To repeat a year he would need to go to another school system. And we really liked his public school. And it has a great reputation, with colleges.
So we kept him there and he went on to play in college in a D3 conference. Started all four years. Most of the players in the class behind him either chose to not play in college or were never recruited.
Over all I would probably make the same decisions. I do not think the extra year would have made him a D1 player.
adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:adbono posted:3and2Fastball posted:The WWBA is definitely not only for Power 5 prospects
The vast majority of teams (and players) that go to WWBA are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure. Only exception would be a hard throwing pitcher.
I would change that to: the vast majority of kids who play for a travel program that doesn't have tons of connections with college coaches (& doesn't work those connections) are wasting their time and money if the goal is exposure.
I know of dozens of kids who ended up at mid majors and lower D1's as well as D2's that were scouted and discovered at WWBA in the last 6-7 years just from my home state, but 95% of them had a travel director who was working those connections on their behalf.
Very few players are “discovered” at WWBA or similar high profile events. The players that are scouted at these events are almost always known by the schools scouting them well before the event takes place. You are correct that this often occurs as a result of a good travel ball coach and/or program. Point being, coaches and scouts arrive at WWBA with a list of players in hand to look at. Very seldom does a player turn a coaches head if he wasn’t already on the radar. It happens - but not very often. Recruiting is about playing the odds so IMHO the first thing you should do is figure out how high the stakes of the game should be. And the determining factor for that should be the talent level of the player. With over 400 teams attending WWBA it is no stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of the players on those 400 teams will never play baseball at a top 50 D1 program. Those players don’t have enough talent to benefit (from a recruiting standpoint) from participating in WWBA. And you can get to lower level D1, D2, D3, NAIA & JuCo without spending the money required to attend events like that. If you want to go for fun or the experience that’s fine by me. But it’s not a good use of your money if the goal is exposure. The odds are stacked against you in a big way. Most people should be playing the $1 a hand poker game not the $100 a hand game.
So, I agree with both of you. 3and2Fastball - I agree that it is very dependent on the travel team and the travel teams coaching connections. My son's travel coach reached out to a college coach he had no history with, and convinced that coach to come see my son pitch and demonstrated he was a good fit for that school (very strict admissions requirements. They stayed in touch and recruited him over 12 months (this D1 school offers no athletic scholarship) . Adbono - I agree. Very few are discovered at huge events like PG WWBA. There has to be a connection made either by the travel coach or the player. Look at it from the perspective of a college recruiting coach. You only have so much time to see the players you've already prequalified or that have been recommended to you. These coaches work very, very hard but there is only 24 hours in a day. They don't have time to "discover" recruits unless it is unplanned
From the players perspective, quickly you get a sense of how many really talented players there are at PG WWBA which was only outdone by PG Jupiter which had more scouts in golfcarts per square inch than anywhere in the world. My son and I watched a young man throw a bullpen for scouts and hit 100mph. It was ridiculous. At that point in time, my son figured out that his 90mph arm wasn't going to get him a top tier athletic scholarship. Humbling, most certainly but he quickly realized he had other ways to get where he wanted to be. For us, participating in a top tier event like PG WWBA was priceless for the experience and perspective....it told us where not to focus. We left that event ( a long drive home) with a clear strategy and plan to focus on schools that would value a 90mph fastball and strong academics. For us, it was worth it.
My son left high level travel ball at 14 and didn't return until 16, so he was not really on anyone's radar this summer. When his 16u team played in the 17u WWBA in June, the team did not fare so well (not surprising given they were all 16), but my son did very well, including in a game against one of the teams that made it to the final four. It will be interesting to see if his performance got him noticed by anyone other than his parents and coaches. I suppose if it did, we will hear about it in September. Not really sure anyone else was watching though.
That said, I think it can be good to go to one of these huge tournaments before it really matters, if just to make it less intimidating when it does really matter.
Trying to synthesize all of this, I think the original point was that for the very high prestige/top prospect tournaments, you really have to have Top 5-10% stuff if you anticipate anything happening. I like to think of this as "getting a tap on the shoulder" type level. Most likely you are already on lists, and at this point is a matter of verification and not discovery. Yes, there will be outliers as some have highlighted on this tread, but for the most part those tourneys are not set up for those odds.
Conversely, there are quite a few tournaments that ARE set up for discovery. Perhaps a majority of them. I just attended at HeadFirst Honor Roll camp, and from talking to coaches for the 2021's it's the first time a lot of them were learning about what talent was out there. They recruit later, so the focus has been on discerning, tracking and now signing 2020's. So for that type of tournament, if your kid is throwing low-mid 80's, hell get attention. As opposed to the premiere tourney where he'd never be noticed.
This takes both research and a realistic assessment of where your son is at. If he's 88-90 RHP, then by all means hit that Top Prospect tourney. If below that, be realistic and target tourney's where the odds are more in his favor. And then put in the work in the offseason to get all the metrics up, in both the gym and the classroom.
BishopLeftiesDad posted:I have told this before, however lots of new people here. My son has a Birthday in Sept. He started school what many consider very early. We knew he had good hand/eye coordination, but had no idea what an athlete he would turn into.
As he progressed through the school system he was also identified as Gifted by third grade. Once he started playing baseball in middle school, we found out many of the kids a year behind him in school were a year older than he was. Many of the parents started their kids a year late. Mostly for athletics. Son, was always well adjusted, made good grades, and got along well with his peers. As high school got closer people started asking us if we were going to hold him back, since he was smaller that his peers.
We never considered it. He did very well athletically and academically. Plus later we learned when another parent tried it, that the school system in no uncertain terms would allow it. To repeat a year he would need to go to another school system. And we really liked his public school. And it has a great reputation, with colleges.
So we kept him there and he went on to play in college in a D3 conference. Started all four years. Most of the players in the class behind him either chose to not play in college or were never recruited.
Over all I would probably make the same decisions. I do not think the extra year would have made him a D1 player.
My son has a May birthday. Plus he was a physical late bloomer. But he was athletic and strong for his size. His sister went from 5’ 2” to 5’10” in sixteen months in 8th and 9th grade. It’s late growing for girls.
When he was 5’4” 120 in 8th grade people starting asking if I would hold him back for athletic reasons. I wasn’t going to hold back a top student who was in the gifted program. I told people if there would be a benefit I would PG him on the backside. Besides, his sister went from good player to college prospect (softball) in one year after growing.
When he graduated he was 6’2” 175. He gained 20 pounds in college. Being smaller from LL through 8th grade made him work harder. He didn’t want size to be a factor in anyone being better. Sure, some players could hit the ball further until he grew. But he could hit with them. Freshman year he started to grow. He was 5’11” 135. I told him if it got windy hold on to another player.
Wechson posted:Trying to synthesize all of this, I think the original point was that for the very high prestige/top prospect tournaments, you really have to have Top 5-10% stuff if you anticipate anything happening. I like to think of this as "getting a tap on the shoulder" type level. Most likely you are already on lists, and at this point is a matter of verification and not discovery. Yes, there will be outliers as some have highlighted on this tread, but for the most part those tourneys are not set up for those odds.
Conversely, there are quite a few tournaments that ARE set up for discovery. Perhaps a majority of them. I just attended at HeadFirst Honor Roll camp, and from talking to coaches for the 2021's it's the first time a lot of them were learning about what talent was out there. They recruit later, so the focus has been on discerning, tracking and now signing 2020's. So for that type of tournament, if your kid is throwing low-mid 80's, hell get attention. As opposed to the premiere tourney where he'd never be noticed.
This takes both research and a realistic assessment of where your son is at. If he's 88-90 RHP, then by all means hit that Top Prospect tourney. If below that, be realistic and target tourney's where the odds are more in his favor. And then put in the work in the offseason to get all the metrics up, in both the gym and the classroom.
Wechson - Take your point a step further. Now imagine that kid who was throwing 88-90mph at that Top Prospect tourney (PG WWBA) who is NOT standing out, and put him (a couple weeks later) at HeadFirst where he will get significant immediate phone calls and emails. This was my point, and this is where my son's recruiting story ended....D1 HA mid-majors and D3 HAs.
fenwaysouth posted:Wechson - Take your point a step further. Now imagine that kid who was throwing 88-90mph at that Top Prospect tourney (PG WWBA) who is NOT standing out, and put him (a couple weeks later) at HeadFirst where he will get significant immediate phone calls and emails. This was my point, and this is where my son's recruiting story ended....D1 HA mid-majors and D3 HAs.
My son's heading to Head First in Florida next month, and boy it would be a dream come true if something like this could happen for him. Trying to manage our expectations.
