What is your experience with Summer Leagues?

Good Knight;

that is outstanding group of players who will benefit from a "Pro Style" Summer program. I would advise each player to keep a diary [book] of the "opposing" players as he will compete against the players next Spring.

The "book" will serve as his personal scouting report.

Bob

Consultant

Excellent advice Bob!

Good knight!!

It works. During my 4 years in the Basin League [South Dakota/Nebraska], the majority of the players were from the Big 10, Florida and California. Each team also employed 3-4 former Pro players.

During the Big 10 Championship game MSU & Ohio State, their 3b who also played in the Basin called "time out" and ran to the mound to tell the Ohio State pitcher "how to pitch me".

I could read the words "curve ball"! The next pitch was a "hanging" curve and the ball disappeared over the LF fence.

MSU won the game and the invitation to the College World Series.

"true story"

Bob

Love your stories Bob.

But you don't have to tell me "true story". I believe you.

@Good Knight posted:

Love your stories Bob.

But you don't have to tell me "true story". I believe you.

It's sort of like Walter Cronkite signing off with "And that's the way it is"

I think Bob was playing when Jesus invented the sacrifice. So I believe anything Bob says. He’s seen it all.

Experience with summer leagues - maybe it's the cynic in me, maybe I don't know enough about the pro circuit, but it seems like if you're not in a top summer league it's pretty useless, at least in regards to your draft status.

For reps, work, etc sure. But I don't think playing in a random middle of the road summer league is going to do much. Especially if the league is mostly players at or below the player's school level.

Mine was supposed to go to Alaska last year, with Covid it didn't happen. He was then assigned to a decent league that was a mixed bag (high D1 bench players to guys at random D2s) of players a few hours away from school since at the time they didn't know what was going to happen with covid again. He decided 57 games in 65 days wasn't worth it and decided to just workout and make some money over the summer. Can't say I blame him for said decision. His teammates are there right now and the "fun" of it is wearing off and they want to go home

Son played 3 years in the Great Lakes league.....had a championship, a second place and a third.  Team had everyone from a few local NAIA guys to SEC players over his 3 years.  His team has a great relationship with UAB so it almost always had 4 kids from there on the team.  Mid-Majors, B1G.  It definitely helped him as a pitcher, but he also got to bat quite a bit (team was local and they knew him from his HS days).  It ended up working out great as his senior year in college he didn't pitch due to injury and moved to 1B/DH.  Ended up leading the team in average, hits and rbi after not having seen any "real" college AB's his first 3 seasons....though he did get to bat during garbage time a few times. 

My son has a few Minnesota guys on his team. One has become a good friend.  He plays for St Cloud.

@PABaseball posted:

Experience with summer leagues - maybe it's the cynic in me, maybe I don't know enough about the pro circuit, but it seems like if you're not in a top summer league it's pretty useless, at least in regards to your draft status.

For reps, work, etc sure. But I don't think playing in a random middle of the road summer league is going to do much. Especially if the league is mostly players at or below the player's school level.

Mine was supposed to go to Alaska last year, with Covid it didn't happen. He was then assigned to a decent league that was a mixed bag (high D1 bench players to guys at random D2s) of players a few hours away from school since at the time they didn't know what was going to happen with covid again. He decided 57 games in 65 days wasn't worth it and decided to just workout and make some money over the summer. Can't say I blame him for said decision. His teammates are there right now and the "fun" of it is wearing off and they want to go home

I agree.  Especially if the team has has 3 or 4 kids splitting time at a position.

It's an interesting debate - train at a top notch facility over the summer versus play summer ball.

I've heard all kinds of stories about lowlife host families, brutal travel arrangements, and inferior nutrition that comes with summer ball.

But, on the flip side, it's reps and the chance to make more connections, relationships, experiences and impressions.

Which route benefits you more, makes you better, and assists with putting you in an excellent position to impress your coaches in the fall?

Might be one of those no wrong answer situations.

For my son, it was clear this offseason he needed to get innings in.

@Francis7 posted:

But, on the flip side, it's reps and the chance to make more connections, relationships, experiences and impressions.

If you get good reps than it's good.  I know kids who get a couple innings and maybe 1 at-bat per game or every other game, all the while spending hours per day on the road in what amounts to a colossal waste or time.

Just trying to see what he missed this Summer. IOWA has bb all Summer so he has 44 games, pitches lots of games and plays SS along with lots of AB"s.

It is important to ask the right questions. Who placed the player, you or the College Coach?

Your College Coach can assist in the questions. His objective is to improve his team for the next year. If you are a pitcher he may request a limit on innings, pitch count. If you are a position player he will check the roster for his player's PT.

The Summer team coach will measure his "lineup" on the ability of each player to produce "on the field"! For the stronger Summer Leagues it is a business. In the Northwoods League the teams average 5,000 fans each games and the franchise sell for $1 million each.

It is a "fine" balance between development and winning.

Bob

Thanks Bob. As always I learned things.

Minnesota coaches ask each player in the Spring where they prefer to play and then I do not know how it is done.

Good insights.

Son was sent to Hyannis summer after sophomore year, started one game…didn’t make through 3 as he was knocked down off the mound from a line drive to the chest. Ended up okay, Tram USA called and he left for Cary a few days later. His host family was awesome, kept the car and started and drove it occasionally for him while he played USA ball. Friends had son who was played in Northwoods and he loved it! Ended up transferring there to MN State and I think he’s still there.

To Bob's first point:

One of my son's summers at Chatham in the Cape League, his consistent battery mate at catcher was from Mississippi State. Now, fast forward to the following season's College World Series. Guess which team my son's team faced first in Omaha?

Yep. Mississippi State!!

As you might imagine, there wasn't much about my son's repertoire that the Mississippi State sluggers didn't know and weren't planning for. The consequence? One of my son's 5 losses in his college career. If memory serves correctly, I don't think he made it out of the 3rd inning.

Fortunately, because of his relatively low pitch count from the first day, he was able to rebound against Rice later in the week and have a productive start. Evidently, no one from Rice had played for Chatham the summer before!

I don't know whether the Mississippi State catcher kept a diary or not; but, he certainly had the "book" on my son!

Prepster:

a perfect example of "advance" scouting. What adjustments did he make?

When a player is traded in MLB, he is questioned as to his knowledge of his former teammates.

When I had "easy" access to Candlestick Park I often sat behind home plate with the professional scouts. The info collected would be later reported to the Scout's team.

On several occasions, I would be asked my views and what my eyes viewed.

Good Knight: can you imagine the information collected by the Minnesota Coaches after each summer. Their players are assigned to six different leagues. Six leagues times 60 teams X 20 players = 7,200 players. ADVANCE SCOUTING!!!

BOB

Love your insights Bob. Stuff that never occurs to me.

Good Knight

I had great teachers, Willie Mays, Sam Jones and Earl Morrall. Common tread, observe and evaluate.

Bob