Having a daughter who is a junior and who is being recruited buy several D1 schools for softball I know the value of playing for a top TB organization. It opens doors without any doubt.
Recently I took my son to a tryout for what is considered one of the top TB organization in our state. I came away thinking he would have shown better if he was a track stud than a baseball player. There was no evaluation of his ball playing skills. Other than his pop time which is quite good for a kid coming out of the 8th grad there was no evaluation of his framing, his setup or anyting else connected with his catching. Also, no attempt was made to evaluate his ability to take a pitch, work the count and get a good pitch to hit. As I watched the coaches the only thing that got their attention while the kids were batting was seemingly how far a kid hit the ball. This was the case with all the kids there not just mine.
My question is this typical of top flight travel organizations on the baseball side? Are they all "buying blue jeans" as Billy Beane might say? Does a kid who has been taught BASEBALL but who is not a knock your socks off athlete have a chance to cut through the clutter?
I have a friend, a former major leaguer, who is still on the coaching side give me the "raw" numbers that they look for in a catcher. My son is already within those cutoffs as a rising freshman. He also told me and I quote: "we dont care what a catchers H to 1st time is".
I would appreciate any advice from those of you who have been down this road might... especially TB organizations in the mid atlantic or SE that want ballplayers first and raw athletes second.
Thank you
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