What to expect at Ft. Myers?

We were there in 2005 and 2006, but not since. We saw some pro scouts (some of whom may have just been curious Red Sox staffers, since a lot of the games were at their facilities) and all the PG guys, but not much in the way of college scouts.

I would expect that to change as the recruiting time table continues to accelerate from year to year, with earlier and earlier commitments being made. But I can't say whether or not that's happening yet.

I do think it's a great place to play games, build your PG profile, and prepare yourself for the big show in Jupiter when the time comes. Ideally a junior year player should go to both Ft. Myers and Jupiter if you can swing it.

We took a team to Ft. Myers in 2005 and had the pleasure of having Midlo Son play with us. We had a pretty talented roster that generated a lot of interest. I think that 6-7 of the players ended up committing to a D-1 school and 2 of the players ended up making the AFLAC Game. Although the number of scouts at the games wasn't overwhelming like say Jupiter, there were a lot of scouts there. Because I communicate with a lot of college coaches via email/phone calls and post a lot of info on message boards (rosters, game highlights, tournament results/stats, etc) numerous college coaches who did not attend the event still were able to "hear" about players and contacted either me or them after the event. College coaches do read message boards!

We did not take a team to Ft. Myers in '06, but we are headed back there this year. I believe that our roster is again very talented and will definitely generate a lot of interest (by both college coaches at the event and coaches who "hear" about players). We have 16 players from 6 different states this year! In addition the trend of players committing to schools earlier and earlier has lead to the growing presence of college coaches at the younger events. Judging by the phone calls and emails I have already received by college coaches in regards to our team for this years Underclass event I would assume that the tournament will be very well scouted.

It should be a great event and I am looking forward to it this coming weekend!

Trombly Baseball

#1 Rock Rucker-OF/P ('12 Blessed Trinity-GA)
#3 Trent Zaks-SS ('10 Cypress/UC Irvine)
#5 Jake Cole-RHP/C (Sahuaro-AZ)
#11 Gaston Escudero-SS/2B (’10 Santa Margarita)
#16 TJ Kendzora-RHP (’10 El Toro)
#17 Patrick Gonzalez-INF/P ('11 Riverside Christian)
#19 Colby Neal-Tan-OF ('10 Tesoro)
#23 Reece Pettersen-2B ('10 Temecula Valley)
#27 Brandon Flippen-1B/3B ('10 Franklin-TN)
#33 Zach Verlaan-3B (’10 Orange Lutheran)
#35 Cody Yates-RHP/1B (’10 Riverside Christian)
#36 James Hood-C/P ('10 Holden-MO)
#37 Jonathan Kennedy-OF (’10 El Toro)
#39 Marsalis Holloway-OF ('10 Our Lady of Mary-GA)
#41 Will Abbott-RHP/1B ('10 Coppell-TX)

Coaches:
Steve Trombly
Dave Yates

------------------------------------

Schedule/Pitching Rotation


---Oct 10th (Fri)---

7:00 pm vs Nova Davie Titans
Mack @ Terry Park
Starting Pitcher: Jake Cole
Relief Pitchers: TJ Kendzora, Will Abbott

---Oct 11th (Sat)---

2:00 pm vs Florida Hardballers 17U
Field 2 @ Lee County Sports Complex (Twins)
Starting Pitcher: TJ Kendzora
Relief Pitchers: Cody Yates


---Oct 12th (Sun)---

8:00 am vs Florida Combers Red
Brett @ Terry Park
Starting Pitcher: Will Abbott
Relief Pitchers: Jake Cole


10:30 am vs Farrah Builders '10
Brett @ Terry Park
Starting Pitcher: Cody Yates
Relief Pitchers: Patrick Gonzalez, Rock Rucker

OK posters, for those of you who went to WWBA Underclass tournament, How was it? How did your team or son do? Bragging on this site is appreciated and expected, so let's hear how it went.
Not sure if I should have asked on the tournament site but this was already here???

Had a blast! We just love Ft. Myers and the weather was perfect. The fields were well-kept and beautiful.
Our team struggled a little bit, went 2-2, but our son had a great weekend, batting .455 for the tournament. I'd recommend the trip for anyone considering it next year. And for the rest of you moms...the Miromar Outlet Mall is about 20 minutes south on I-75 and well worth the time.
That said, I'll let you know later if it was worth the effort on the recruiting front!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vabaseballmom:
Had a blast!

And for the rest of you moms...the Miromar Outlet Mall is about 20 minutes south on I-75 and well worth the time.
[QUOTE]

Could be an expensive trip in more ways than one!

As usual I had a blast. Heck anytime I am at or on the baseball field I am having a blast. The tourney was the same old same old WWBA event. Outstanding fields , outstanding hosts at each field , outstanding competition in each game and oustanding attendance by college coaches.

I coached the Dirtbags team with the younger guys on it. We went 2-2 with a very tough 2-1 loss. Several of our guys def made a name for themsleves over the course of the weekend. Our older team went 4-0 in pool play and then lost their first game in the elimination round. They borrowed one of my 2011's to pitch in their last pool game and he was outstanding for them. Thats what it is all about. Giving the kids a chance to be seen and the opportunity to compete.

PG - Did I set a record in our last game? I threw 9 different pitchers in a 6 inning game. Several of the boys had only pitched a couple of innings over the weekend. I gave the starter 2 2/3's and then rotated 8 guys over the course of the rest of the game to give each one , one last chance to pitch.

It was a great time for everyone and I met alot of very nice folks. From the Old Hickory vendor that gave me a free T-Shirt that said "Its not steroids its the Bat." Maybe because I decided to give a player of the game in each of our games a wood bat. I met several great families that were soaking it all in and having a great time. I got some free Gatorade from one concession stand. That was nice. I rode back to Charlotte on a connector flight with a college coach and we had a great time talking about players the recruiting process and baseball in general. Overall it was once again a great baseball experience.

By the way if you ever go back you have to go to Stevie Tomatoes Spots Page Bar. Great wings , pizza etc. My players had a great time and so did the parents. One of the kids that started out the fall on the bottom of the "roster" so to speak just kept getting better every weekend. He topped it off with a great performance this weekend. Now he is def on the radar of many college coaches. Its the same kid that always warmed up the outfielder between innings. Always accepted whatever role he had with a "Yes Sir" and worked hard at working on the things he was told he needed to work on.

I could go on for a long time. The bottom line was it was the same old thing. A great experience and a great opportunity for the players. Thanks to PG once again for putting on a wonderful event.

First time to Ft. Myers and as others have stated it was an excellent tournament. Fields were great and competition was good.

My sons team went 2-2 with a lot of sophomores on the team. We got to see alot of very talented players.

Coach May, we stayed at the Comfort Inn right next door to Stevie Tomatoes and I agree it is a nice spot to eat, drink and watch a game.
I think I saw you talking to my son's coach. I was going to introduce myself but didn't want to bother you. Maybe next time.

Tri State Arsenal? If so yes that was me. I wish you had introduced yourself. I aint gettin any yunger!

Yes Tri State Arsenal. Joe and Bob were there having dinner. My son plays for Joe's 16U team.

They both speak highly of your organization, always challenging the kids to compete with the Dirtbags, East Cobb, Norcal and other elite programs.
Next time I see a "young guy" in Dirtbag coaches shorts I'll say hey!!

I had you pegged as a Shoeless Joe's kind of guy myself.

My son was at the tournament. His team finished 2-2 and didn't make it out of pool play but he had a good time. He played on the Trombly Baseball team and was really impressed with Steve's approach and knowledge of the game.

He didn't do as well as he'd expected but he did hit some balls hard which I suppose is better than not hitting them at all.

I put my time in there as well Midlo. Great place. It just happened that where we stayed was right next door to Stevie Tomatoes. I still got to ask that guy whats up with that name.

Did I mention how much I hate airports? I had to take a connector flight from Greensboro to Charlotte. Its about a 2 hour drive. The actual flight lasted 20 minutes. How about it taking us 45 minutes to board. 30 minutes on the tarmac. 25 min in the air. 20 more min on the tarmac. And then 20 minutes to get off! It took less time to get to Ft Meyers from Charlotte than it did from Greensboro to Charlotte. If I had not made that God forsaken drive before I would have done it this time.

Sorry I missed most of you at Ft. Myers. We only made it down for one game on Sunday. Good to see our Arsenal team did well and got a chance to meet fillsfan in person.

Coach May, I asked about you but one of the coaches on the older Dirtbags team said you had already headed out. PG, you must have been in an air conditioned room somewhere because I didn't see you running around as well.

Sounds like it was a great weekend for everyone. Now if I could find a good excuse to go to Jupiter...

A big thank you to the veterans who recommended the Best Western Waterfront. Not only did we get to enjoy some adult beverages at the Crab Shack by the river in the evenings after the games-great oysters too!- but number one son had a blast sitting on the pier catching catfish.

As mentioned above, our team finished 2-2 and I think it was a very successful trip. We had a great group of guys, with 15 players from 6 different states. It was great watching these guys play and just as much fun as the baseball games were, I enjoyed meeting so many new players and their families. I know have several more players to root on as they continue to chase their dreams. I am honored that many of these players and their families made the decision to participate with us, allowing me to be a part of the process.

Our team pitched really well, but we never got the bats going. You gotta tip your cap to the opposing teams and pitchers sometimes. Even though our offensive stats weren't as impressive as they could have been, I saw a lot of promise from these young men. We hit a lot of balls hard which may not have shown up in the boxscores, but the scouts in attendance surely took notice of the way our guys played and their abilities. It will be fun to look back at our roster in a few years and see where these guys end up because our guys were talented and have a bright future.

One player who deserves some credit for his performance is Jake Cole-RHP/C (Sahuaro-AZ).

Jake threw 4 innings on Friday and 3 innings on Sunday for us and picked up both of our wins.

Here are his stats:

IP-7
W-2
L-0
ERA-0.00
R-0
ER-0
H-1
K-14
BB-0