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Value of "Showcase Circuit" Events?

kb2610kb2610100+ posts
I've seen a few discussions here that touched upon the extent to which the "showcase circuit" events are valued by MLB scouts and/or college recruiters. In that vein, I thought the following was interesting, which I received as part of a "mass mailing" from my youngest son's summer team coach:


This is a scouting report in Baseball America. I thought it would be important to show the how important the showcase circuit is.

Preston Mattingly, ss, low Class A Great Lakes (Dodgers).

The Dodgers knew that Mattingly would have a rough adjustment to full-season ball because he's a high school sign who didn't play the showcase circuit. Those expectations are being met. There's a lot not to like in his early season stats, from the 15-0 strikeouts-to-walks to the .150/.143/.225 overall numbers. He's struggled defensively at shortstop as well.
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P PGStaff10,000+ posts
Preston Mattingly is a talented player and it is correct that he did not do the Showcase stuff. It was pretty hard to get a good read on him.

That said, Preston is not your typical kid who can slip through the cracks. He is the son of NY Yankee great Don Mattingly (Donnie Baseball). The word we got was the Dodgers liked him, but not as high as they picked him. They (the Dodgers) felt that the Yankees would select Mattingly's kid before the Dodgers could get him in the round they wanted him, so they went ahead and took a flyer. Don Mattingly is the hitting coach for the Yankees.
kb2610kb2610100+ posts
PG,

I recognized the last name, of course, but didn't know if there was any relation to Don Mattingly. As you say, due to his father's fame, he wasn't likely to "slip through the cracks"...I guess he rightly supposed he didn't really NEED the showcase events to make himself known.

I just thought it was interesting that his LACK of a showcase background was specifically mentioned. Individuals w/o that type of name-recognition can draw their own conclusions...
B brod100+ posts
Excuse me for stating the obvious, but doesn't the scouting report suggest that by not playing against the best players available in "showcase events" it was hard to judge the kid's talent?

By comparison, it is interesting that in football some agents will hold their players out of combine workouts in order to enhance their value, or host private workouts for their player. It reminds me of Kid Nebraska in the movie, The Scout.
kb2610kb2610100+ posts
Brod,

Because the report references,

quote:
a rough adjustment to full-season ball


I took it to mean that he didn't play ENOUGH high-level ball and would find the pro's "full season" pretty gruelling. However, inasmuch as his stats are described as "early season" (presumably, before the length of the season takes its toll) what you say may also be true.

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