Will they really been seen if they are good no matter where they play?

Is the travel team he is considering playing on going to the large tournaments?

I believe that you need to do the Travel Ball circut, but don't necessarilly need to play on a high profile team. The most important thing is playing time in your position.

Yes they can but it sure helps to play the big WWBA events and the like if you do well.

I think it all depends on where the player wants to play in the future. If he is looking to play in college, in another region of the country, then Yes a travel team will get him the exposure he needs. As long as the travel team plays in large tournaments where many colleges and scouts are.
If the player is looking to play baseball for an in state college, then I think if he contacted that school and attended one of their camps and also had the academics then he could probably promote himself.
You have to consider that the money paid to a travel team covers, ...travel expenses, hotel, tournament fees, umpires, balls, insurance...etc..what is invested in a travel team, may in the end land the player a scholarship and that is worth more than the money spent on the team.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make any noise?

Players who feel that they have talent that is worth money (scholarships, draft bonuses, or just being drafted) need exposure to the people offering the money.

There must still be teams who pay the whole way for the talented players they have heard of.

MLB has the RBI program that is looking to promote baseball to black youth.

Various Latin products such as GOYA are known to pay the full way for teams they sponsor .

MLB has baseball farms in Latin America that send the better players to US high schools in their sophomore and junior years. (I never thought I'd see a high school ball player needing an interpreter for an interview with the local paper.)

There must be other philanthrophic groups who pay the way without regard to ethnicity for talented players.

It isn't enough to have talent. You have to sell it somehow or hope that someone is looking to make a buck off of it.

quote:

The Coach even went so far as to tell a mom she was failing her son if he didn't play for them. They are a costly team.

That's because travelball is big biz and these guys want your loot. Of course a coach will say to somebody they're fauling their son. It's a way to sell the program.

However, with these expensive travelball teams, players are getting more exposure.

Is that good or bad? Who knows....It's probably good for exposure but IMO, I think over-exposure is no good because for example, in our area, there's a ton of D1 signees. It's not like our area became a hotbed for baseball all of a sudden. Some may have had one good tournament and got on somebody's radar, They're getting more exposure by travelling out of state to big venues which cost a lot of loot. I think this gives parents a false sense of hope that their kid will make it on the D1 level and will shell out tens of thousands of bucks into these travel programs and academies to try and buy their kid talent and make the show.

Just look at what over-exposure dine to MLB. With expansion and more players in the majoers, you got a lot of AAA level players on major league rosters because they can be had on the cheap (relatively speaking) and the pitching is watered down throughout the league.

The real test is if all these signees are really that good and not just happen to catch the eye of some scout when they had one good tournament, become productive and can really hack it at the next level.

At the end of the day, those who are gonna make real money playing baseball are the top, elite athletes and no matter where they play, they'll be found. And if they do play on these travel teams, they won't be paying because of the free publicity a high profile athlete with high potential brings, which means more $$$$$ from the rest of the players who realistically have no shot of making it big time but may play some college ball and get a few bucks from scholarships, but at a high price.

Gamers?

Zoombywoof said it in a nutshell.

Quote: At the end of the day, those who are gonna make real money playing baseball are the top, elite athletes and no matter where they play, they'll be found. And if they do play on these travel teams, they won't be paying because of the free publicity a high profile athlete with high potential brings, which means more $$$$$ from the rest of the players who realistically have no shot of making it big time but may play some college ball and get a few bucks from scholarships, but at a high price. End Quote.

That is our son. While no one did the pressure sales on our son, he essentially was considered a roster filler for his summer team, and because he was a catcher, got plenty of play time. If he would have been a position player maybe not. From the travel team he did all the right tournaments, Area Code included. He got a scholarship for tuition from JC. After two years we may break even. You have to be sure your son is a true blue chipper for it to pay off.

Save the money for tuition at a smaller school.