USA 17u tournament is pretty lame..

Sorry to hear you are having a bad experience. Our son is playing the 17u tourney in FL. Despite the weather, he is having a blast. He has stated there have been many scouts at the venues they are playing. I know there arent as many teams as the tournament there but from all accounts he is having a great experience except for eating something bad and having to stay in his hotel room for half a day.

At the complex yesterday there were 8 of the top teams playing and I think I counted 6 whole recruiters/scouts in total.

Sorry you are having a bad time out there. Nice to get some feedback though. I don’t feel so bad about passing up an opportunity to go with a 15U team .

Three years ago we had completely the opposite experience. (other than the fields are hard and it is hotter than h e l l...it is Arizona ) My son was not on a well known “academy” team but was on a regional team that had very high quality players on it. (We ended up being one of the last 4 teams playing on the final day) The coach did the advance homework and had a profile for the team that he sent to college coaches in advance as well as USA baseball. Our team was scouted by colleges and USA baseball and nearly every kid that was on the team is now playing in college somewhere.

This is why it is important to go with a high quality team to any event and make sure the homework is done in advance. If you just show up and expect to be seen you will be disappointed. It is also a national level tournament and should be a good barometer for any player to see how he stands up against the top 16U talent in the country.

BOF - Very true. The team and how it is ran, really makes a difference. Something I have learned along the way, and really glad I learned early! It is often forgot, overlooked, or just downright ignored when the mystic allure of a grandiose tournament is waived in front of your face.

Disclaimer - Skylark, I am replying to BOF and by no meens implying your on a poorly managed team/organization.

I will be honest, I believe there is room for lots of improvement by the USA staff.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
Three years ago we had completely the opposite experience. (other than the fields are hard and it is hotter than h e l l...it is Arizona ) My son was not on a well known “academy” team but was on a regional team that had very high quality players on it. (We ended up being one of the last 4 teams playing on the final day) The coach did the advance homework and had a profile for the team that he sent to college coaches in advance as well as USA baseball. Our team was scouted by colleges and USA baseball and nearly every kid that was on the team is now playing in college somewhere.

This is why it is important to go with a high quality team to any event and make sure the homework is done in advance. If you just show up and expect to be seen you will be disappointed. It is also a national level tournament and should be a good barometer for any player to see how he stands up against the top 16U talent in the country.

I don't remember seeing lots of scouts (other than from USA) or college coaches, but then son was just going into sophmore year and this was just like any other tourney and we were pretty oblivious to that stuff as there are always scouts somewhere on a ballfield in FL. But as you said, as with any tourney, the closer you get to the championship the better looks you get. We were on a pretty strong FL team and we had the most picks for tryouts than any other team there or in AZ at the time, this is typically what happens in any event such as this. The longer you play the more you get looked at.

The path for players to team USA has changed dramatically since son played and made tryouts. I agree that you have to understand what it is, what to expect and if the trip is worth the expense.
I don't know anyone who was disappointed, except those that felt their sons were better than they got respect for.Here in jupiter they play on the backfields at Roger Dean, the conditions are fair, these are practice fields. Is it the same in Peoria?

Seeing the product that they usually end up with after the selection seems to me that they know what they were doing. Just about every player in sons final tryout is playing professional ball (or did at some point).

Baseball dad and TPM etal,

I agree and we really did not go expecting to be "seen" as this was our first experience at a national level event. I remember walking around thinking where did all of these 6'2" 200lb 16 YO baseball players come from? Very humbling and exciting experience for us, particularly for a "pick up" team to go in a beat a whole bunch of "academy" teams. The more talent your team has and the farther it goes the more looks you get.

BTW there are a number of teams there that are a year younger and are there not to win or be seen, but to get the experience of competing against the best players at the 16U level.

The field quality at the complexes were nice. There was a change in age format with it now 15U and 17U. We have attended the past 11 years and coaches said it went well. I am guessing expectations can be a factor on what each person experience it at the tournament. There may have been a kid throwing 90+ but if the pitcher was a senior and a college commit no need to watch him and would not be eligible for any USA type stuff. Most of the top 2013s were at the Tournament of Stars in Cary. There are varying factors on what will bring a colleges to a game. WHich program, did the program send out rotations, did program send player info before the event? I know I had calls from quite a few schools on players. I think this was a transition year with the new age format. I am pleased that we won the 15U championship this year defeating our friends from NorCal baseball.