If it were me, & clearly it is NOT me. I would do this: Cut out the section in front of the rubber. Just a rectangle 2' 4" (rubber = 2" either side) wide by X 4" deep or so & replace that with a more solid plug that does not have the soft pellet / sand under that shreds so easily. Have a retractable handle or little strap underneath the turf where you can just lift it out & replace if needed. Same for the landing area, just a slightly bigger section. No ruts, better surface & less maintenance. If the area gets bad, just bring in a new set of plugs & roll on. Better than cutting out the massive section they do now & WAY less time & effort. Just a thought.
On a positive note... we just got back home from a rain battered tournament. What a relief...
We dealt with our fair share of angst over scheduling and delays. A lot of ticked off people in Atlanta at the time, and at times, in the faces of PG staff. The PG staff we dealt with were courteous, friendly and willing to help to find an answer. Hats off to the PG employees.
I'm sure there were a lot of lessons learned on behalf of parents, coaches, players, and PG staff.
My 2018 didn't have the hottest bat, but he had a hot glove and arm and picked up attention from colleges. Next.
Steve A. posted:PGStaff posted:No doubt that there are times when the turf needs to be repaired. It appears that many here on the HSBBW have had a bad experience, which seems odd. When I hear about pitchers that have lost velocity because of the conditions I have to wonder how we end up with the following numbers from those same LP mounds. Most of these pitchers we have seen before on dirt mounds and they were at or above their previous peak velocity.
Anyway, I prefer dirt/clay mounds also. That was my recommendation at the start. The original plans called for 16 fields, but colleges with all turf fields told us we would be crazy to put dirt mounds in. Dirt mounds can deteriate quickly when this many games are played each day., The turf mounds stay exactly the same all the time unless they need to be repaired. They are actually more consistent. The other problem is they leak into the turf creating a somewhat ugly appearance that can only be improved at the end of the day.
That said, just like many of you, I still prefer dirt mounds. But everyone prefers playing at LP rather than the other fields with dirt mounds. I know we have told people if they prefer we can schedule all their games away from LP and the all turf fields. We actually had one team do that a couple years ago.
Regarding colleges... hasn't anyone noticed the large number of colleges switching to all turf fields? If the trend continues it will be hard to avoid them at the major college division.
My advise... pitchers should tell umpires while they are warming up if there is any problem with the mound. If something happens to the mound during live play they should immediately inform the umpire. None of our umpires will allow a pitcher to throw on an unsafe mound. We do not want any pitchers to throw on an unsafe mound. Mounds are checked after every game and if they cant be fixed immediately they are repaired over night for the next days play.
Once again, if anyone has a concern or complaint about anything please contact staff@perfectgame.org
I am the only PG person that is involved here at the HSBBW. I try to respond as much as possible, but to be honest it seems like a bit much sometimes.
Kumar Rocker
98 Ethan Hankins 97 Mason Denaburg 97 Slade Cecconi 96 JT Ginn 95 Alberto Gonzalez 95 Tyler Ras 94 Austin Becker 94 Bo Blessie 94 Brandon Birdsell 94 Luke Bartnicki 94 Matt Rudis 94 Joseph Menefee 94 Ryan Cusick 94 Ethan Smith 94 Joseph Charles 93 Kolby Kubichek 93 Brandon Neeck 93 Stephen Pelli 93 Cooper Stinson 93 Patrick Halligan 93 Brandon Smith 93 Wade Beasley 93 Marcelo Perez 93 Carter Raffield 93 Simeon Woods-Richardson 93 Justin Jarvis 93 Mitchel Megias 92 Aj Stinson 92 Cort Roedig 92 Blake Dockery 92 Mason Pelio 92 Benjamin Specht 92 Jonathan Childress 92 Hunter Barco 92 Jonathan Jones 92 Gunnar Hoglund 92 Matt Rudis 92 Anderson Needham 92 Thanks for the reply & clarifying. There is no easy answer & I basically told our guys to suck it up & deal with it as others were clearly not having an issue (as you illustrate above). But for those that did have an issue, in short, the experience was not good & did not reflect their ability. We did report the issue to the grounds crew & some guy came out with a broom & swept little rubber pellets into a 3" divot which was basically useless as would be expected after about 4 warm ups they were out of the hole & you were down to the concrete base again.
I was not even aware that others had an issue & would not have even mentioned it until I saw these posts so clearly it is not good but there are mound issues wherever you go & you have to find a way. That's the bottom line.
Imagine you had the same issue in the batters box & every player had to have the same stance. There would be wailing & gnashing of teeth. Some guys are wide, some narrow, some front, some back, some no stride, short, long. Now make them all stand the same spread & stride the same & you would have major issues. This is what these mounds are like when they get run down. You have 2 options. Pitch from the hole & land in the common hole, or extend about 4" off the side of the rubber & land & push from solid ground. we tried option #2 & the second batter took 1 in the ear hole about 82 Right on right from a kid who generally has great command.
PS: I'm the guy you see out after the game with the rake packing the mound back as nobody else seems to care so I am clearly biased here.
Field 12, the umpires were told of the issue and stopped play only after the tumble where the exposed concrete/turf unraveled. The repair was dumping rubber granules into the spot/hole in the turf. He was allowed to pitch completely away from the rubber....the equivalent of a flat ground at that point. If the area is maintained by a repair instead of a band aid, none of this would have occurred, as it's obviously been an issue with the facility/grounds crews in the past.
He still pitched a very good game, spotted and dominated without being grounded with his backside but that's not the point. NOBODY should ever need or want a playing surface repaired ( I know things happen). If you back your vehicle into something, bust your tail light, do you put red tape over it and call it good? NO, you get a new one! You run over a nail, do you put duct tape on the tire? NO, you have it properly repaired! Why is repairing turf properly such a big issue??........granules are not the answer!
I've stated nothing negative about PG or the event. I'm concurring what the others have echoed and seems to be a long standing issue.........as one other poster stated the need for an entire thread dedicated to the protocol needed to keep it from happening in the future. We see where that lead.
This will not have any lasting impression on my player/pitcher, it was merely his experience at LP. It was his first event, he's already committed and fits well into your list of names, albeit the bottom 12. Life and baseball goes on!
As a business owner myself there is sometimes a need to do my own investigation into situations, such as this, as my name is on their check!
Jerry, you've been a leader and an innovator in amateur baseball.......this is a very small detail in your many accomplishments.
My son's college team played there in the Spring of 2016. The weekend series (late Feb) was supposed to be at Eastern KY. Both teams decided it was better to get a series in than not play at all, so they both bussed down to LakePoint and got a 3 game series in in 70 degree weather as opposed to the 30 degrees and ice/snow they'd have had in KY. Does anyone want to consider what would have happened last week and a half if the tourney(s) didn't have LakePoint? You'd all have gotten 2 games in and gone home extremely disappointed. Of course everyone would love to play on grass/dirt.....that's baseball. But it's not like you can just reschedule your game until tomorrow or next week when it rains like you can for a regular season HS/College game.....teams have spent 1000's of dollars and travelled 1000's of miles. They want/need to play NOW!!! It's not a perfect situation, but as I sit here watching it rain in Ohio and know what the fields around here will look like in another couple hours, it's pretty darned close to perfect down there.
Steve A. posted:If it were me, & clearly it is NOT me. I would do this: Cut out the section in front of the rubber. Just a rectangle 2' 4" (rubber = 2" either side) wide by X 4" deep or so & replace that with a more solid plug that does not have the soft pellet / sand under that shreds so easily. Have a retractable handle or little strap underneath the turf where you can just lift it out & replace if needed. Same for the landing area, just a slightly bigger section. No ruts, better surface & less maintenance. If the area gets bad, just bring in a new set of plugs & roll on. Better than cutting out the massive section they do now & WAY less time & effort. Just a thought.
That's what I'm talking about! American Ingenuity! We see a need, we figure it out!
It's safe to say, what's in use currently has it's flaws...........there's always a better mouse trap!
Steve A. posted:If it were me, & clearly it is NOT me. I would do this: Cut out the section in front of the rubber. Just a rectangle 2' 4" (rubber = 2" either side) wide by X 4" deep or so & replace that with a more solid plug that does not have the soft pellet / sand under that shreds so easily. Have a retractable handle or little strap underneath the turf where you can just lift it out & replace if needed. Same for the landing area, just a slightly bigger section. No ruts, better surface & less maintenance. If the area gets bad, just bring in a new set of plugs & roll on. Better than cutting out the massive section they do now & WAY less time & effort. Just a thought.
That's an interesting concept really. I think the trick would be to figure out a way that the plug section stays stable. (Doesn't move a little when the stride foot lands for example.)
Rob T posted:Steve A. posted:If it were me, & clearly it is NOT me. I would do this: Cut out the section in front of the rubber. Just a rectangle 2' 4" (rubber = 2" either side) wide by X 4" deep or so & replace that with a more solid plug that does not have the soft pellet / sand under that shreds so easily. Have a retractable handle or little strap underneath the turf where you can just lift it out & replace if needed. Same for the landing area, just a slightly bigger section. No ruts, better surface & less maintenance. If the area gets bad, just bring in a new set of plugs & roll on. Better than cutting out the massive section they do now & WAY less time & effort. Just a thought.
That's an interesting concept really. I think the trick would be to figure out a way that the plug section stays stable. (Doesn't move a little when the stride foot lands for example.)
I'm no engineer but I have had to "engineer" my way through many scenarios. Couple ways I would think. #1: The retractable slab would have a solid (maybe PT 4" 
base that fits into a concrete slot, carpet glued on top or velcro. Like a key sitting in a lock. Or: #2: Super mac daddy Velcro thick carpet slab. Just peel it up & replace. You have pre fab units ready to roll & just replace the thick carpet on top of the "key" & keep the wood base. If Velcro would work it would be the way to go.
You could also have anchor bolts in the base that secure it with slots in the bottom of the slab to prevent slippage. These slightly angled towards the pitcher to resist momentum.
Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Gator, with all respect it is not PG's job to monitor or schedule games around your sons driving status. Surely he could have hooked on with another teammate or acted otherwise given the circumstances. Frankly your complaint is nonsense.
Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Is this a joke?
Steve A. posted:Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Gator, with all respect it is not PG's job to monitor or schedule games around your sons driving status. Surely he could have hooked on with another teammate or acted otherwise given the circumstances. Frankly your complaint is nonsense.
You're opinion and that's fine. Mine is that PG has at least some duty towards looking out for the kids. I'm not saying they did anything intentionally. I just think they should be aware of other things. My son was 35 minutes south of LP, so I guess he could've left his car there and rode home with someone and then driven back the 35 minutes to get the car. But he is 17 and their minds don't work like that. They're invincible.
Elijah posted:Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Is this a joke?
No joke. I care about my son and his safety. I don't care that PG wanted to get in one more game that night.
Gatornate posted:Elijah posted:Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Is this a joke?
No joke. I care about my son and his safety. I don't care that PG wanted to get in one more game that night.
You should just find a way to travel with your son or set up something with another parent. He is 17. You should know the drill.
Oy vey!
Yes, my regrets. PG should have full time Uber drivers & Psycho Analysts on call just in case your child needs a ride or counseling after a tough beat down. Look in the mirror & tell yourself " I am why people in management never answer the phone."
It is true that a 17 year old can't drive at night legally. It is true that PG can schedule a game at 8am or 3am and the team is expected to show up. It's also true my 10th grader has an Uber account for all of these reasons.
They really can't win and I know Mr. Ford knows this and he still tries to explain. Yes 1am game is a tough draw, yet I bet more than one of those players are saying "sweet, we are going to get a game in and it's at Lakepoint!"
Gatornate posted:Elijah posted:Gatornate posted:Let me add a frustration as a parent. I sent my 2018 (17 year old) up from Florida with his team and he drove himself. The rain caused one of his games to START at 12:15 a.m. and end at 2:30 a.m. on July 4th/5th. After the game, he has to drive himself back to the rented house.
Two things VERY wrong with this. One, it's actually against GA law, I'm told, for him to be driving past midnight. And two, most importantly, my son was driving on wet roads at 3 am in the morning. I don't know if PG realized the harm they could've potentially be putting people in.
Is this a joke?
No joke. I care about my son and his safety. I don't care that PG wanted to get in one more game that night.
No joke! I believe you! You are not alone.
Scouts and coaches dont like watching games at 3 am either!
Look, I don't proclaim to be the smartest man in the world and Lord knows that I pray I'm not the dumbest (for those who know me - I heard that)...but it seems obvious that if the PG folks only cared about the money, they wouldn't work so diligently to reschedule a gazillion games.
Wouldn't it be much easier to say "sorry folks but we can't do anything about the rain. Have a safe trip home!" Think about that for a moment.
I live in GA but saw the same effort from the PG guys this week at the BCS in Ft. Myers. It rained a ton more than the normal afternoon shower but they got it done.
Lastly, I don't know Jerry Ford personally although I have met him once. Some very well-respected baseball guys that I know have brought his name up in conversations and I happened to be in their presence. I feel very strongly after hearing some things that his heart is in the right place.
That's my $0.02!
Well said shu!!
hshuler posted:Look, I don't proclaim to be the smartest man in the world and Lord knows that I pray I'm not the dumbest (for those who know me - I heard that)...but it seems obvious that if the PG folks only cared about the money, they wouldn't work so diligently to reschedule a gazillion games.
Wouldn't it be much easier to say "sorry folks but we can't do anything about the rain. Have a safe trip home!" Think about that for a moment.
I live in GA but saw the same effort from the PG guys this week at the BCS in Ft. Myers. It rained a ton more than the normal afternoon shower but they got it done.
Lastly, I don't know Jerry Ford personally although I have met him once. Some very well-respected baseball guys that I know have brought his name up in conversations and I happened to be in their presence. I feel very strongly after hearing some things that his heart is in the right place.
That's my $0.02!
+1 on that!
My son pitched a solid 4 innings at LP this week in the rain and didn't complain about the mound or rain. Got in the truck to head home and he said, "dad I was pitching off of concrete today... wonder what the other mounds were like?" I said doesn't matter, you did good and I'm sure they will fix them.
Well it sounds like they haven't fixed them, so guess he'll get to pitch off concrete again this week for the 16U? He'll be fine, because he's knows how to adapt to any situation!
I like everything about PG, but this isn't a PG problem, it's a LP problem. LP, please reevaluate your maintenance crews and have them fix your pretty turf fields... mainly the mounds and batters box!!! These 2 areas of turf are ate up and need some attention ASAP!!!
Thanks in advance,
hshuler posted:Look, I don't proclaim to be the smartest man in the world and Lord knows that I pray I'm not the dumbest (for those who know me - I heard that)...but it seems obvious that if the PG folks only cared about the money, they wouldn't work so diligently to reschedule a gazillion games.
Wouldn't it be much easier to say "sorry folks but we can't do anything about the rain. Have a safe trip home!" Think about that for a moment.
I live in GA but saw the same effort from the PG guys this week at the BCS in Ft. Myers. It rained a ton more than the normal afternoon shower but they got it done.
Lastly, I don't know Jerry Ford personally although I have met him once. Some very well-respected baseball guys that I know have brought his name up in conversations and I happened to be in their presence. I feel very strongly after hearing some things that his heart is in the right place.
That's my $0.02!
I'd think you'd have to be pretty smart to be a congressman.
I wish you had to be smart!
All of my "former" friends have confirmed that I'm definitely not the smartest.
Lol, I wasn't referring to you but I have a long list of your former colleagues I could... and most of them have made it their lifelong career!
JLC. I was making a little HSBW joke that goes back to the screen-name thread from a few weeks ago. There, some of us mentioned that HShuler made us quickly think of the old UT quarterback, Heath Shuler, who is now a congressman. Ole "H" is not the same Shuler. But, I've heard that he's played him on TV.
BTW. Our leaders are most all pretty smart people. They simply lack other important qualities. You are welcome to fill in the blanks...
hshuler posted:Look, I don't proclaim to be the smartest man in the world and Lord knows that I pray I'm not the dumbest (for those who know me - I heard that)...but it seems obvious that if the PG folks only cared about the money, they wouldn't work so diligently to reschedule a gazillion games.
Wouldn't it be much easier to say "sorry folks but we can't do anything about the rain. Have a safe trip home!" Think about that for a moment.
I live in GA but saw the same effort from the PG guys this week at the BCS in Ft. Myers. It rained a ton more than the normal afternoon shower but they got it done.
Lastly, I don't know Jerry Ford personally although I have met him once. Some very well-respected baseball guys that I know have brought his name up in conversations and I happened to be in their presence. I feel very strongly after hearing some things that his heart is in the right place.
That's my $0.02!
Anyone who has ever played in a Cincinnati Flames tourney knows exactly what you're talking about lol. "Sorry folks, we have every field in a 100 mile radius booked for this tourney and we just can't find a way to reschedule....enjoy your 2 games....bye" 
Very tough situation in Georgia for sure.
Drove ten hours with son to play games with and against some of the best players in the country. Got in 5 games in 6 days including a DH day. Rain outs and cancellations galore. We had three days that we could play and it wasnt raining but we got our games cancelled because other teams had not played as many games as our team played. We sat for two straight days with sunny weather and had to hit the pool and sight see around Georgia. It was not a good week but my son got a few offers and we will move on to another tournament this weekend. No one could have predicted the rain day after day.
Hard to deal with the large number of teams and games they had to reschedule....
So taking a look at the 17U PG World Series in Arizona that started today . . . certainly not the biggest tournament, but there was a comment above that the WWBA was the best tournament in the country. It seems to me that the quality of the teams at the World Series is significantly higher, on average, than the WWBA (just based on average number of D1 commits per team).
Maybe that's the way it's supposed to work -- I have zero knowledge of PG's various tournaments and how they inter-relate -- but I found it interesting after hearing so much about the WWBA.
Definitely a much smaller amount of teams and not as many East Coast power teams in the World Series. Looks to be more of a West Coast tournament. Maybe the concentration of teams makes for the better D1 commit ratio you speak of at the World Series event.
There are some teams at the WWBA that are not as loaded with D1 commits but the players are D1 hopefuls and will commit after the event. Players went without commits and began or furthered their discussions with schools from their performances there. I certainly saw a few teams cut thru the playoffs with just a couple of D1s and beat teams with double or more the amount of D1s. Some teams with D1s didnt make it out of the pool play.
My son attended WWBA last year and this year and not the World Series so I cant speak to the talent level out there. I hope you and your son are there enjoying the competition and the experience, because we did. Nothing beats playing against good competition in a playoff setting.
At this year's tourney. looking at velocity - some 250+ pitchers topped 90 mph. Jeez.
I must admit that during the 17U WWBA I almost posted on here because we were just as frustrated as everyone else. But when my son was fortunate enough to hit a bomb at LP with half of the SEC and ACC behind home plate and then come back the next day and hit 88 on the radar gun all of that frustration went away. I do have a question how the speed on the scoreboard and the speed on diamondkast and under the player's best could be three different speeds. The scoreboard showed 87.9, diamondkast showed 86 and the fastest speed showed 85. And my son is one of those who hates pitching at LP but would not give it up to go anywhere else because of the scouts. But all of that aside the coaches still want it and the teams still want it. There will be no shortage of teams next year.
BTW, he played in the 16U the next week and started their first game at 12:21 in the morning and there were 35 major D1 coaches behind home plate and at least 2 ACC and 3 SEC coaches stayed the entire game. So, PGStaff and PG thanks. I went from frustrated to elated in a 5 day span.
BTW, someone once said, if you build it they will come.
2019 got a great SEC offer from the 17U and conversations are still coming.
PitchingFan posted:I must admit that during the 17U WWBA I almost posted on here because we were just as frustrated as everyone else. But when my son was fortunate enough to hit a bomb at LP with half of the SEC and ACC behind home plate and then come back the next day and hit 88 on the radar gun all of that frustration went away. I do have a question how the speed on the scoreboard and the speed on diamondkast and under the player's best could be three different speeds. The scoreboard showed 87.9, diamondkast showed 86 and the fastest speed showed 85. And my son is one of those who hates pitching at LP but would not give it up to go anywhere else because of the scouts. But all of that aside the coaches still want it and the teams still want it. There will be no shortage of teams next year.
BTW, he played in the 16U the next week and started their first game at 12:21 in the morning and there were 35 major D1 coaches behind home plate and at least 2 ACC and 3 SEC coaches stayed the entire game. So, PGStaff and PG thanks. I went from frustrated to elated in a 5 day span.
BTW, someone once said, if you build it they will come.
2019 got a great SEC offer from the 17U and conversations are still coming.
Congrats to your son. An eerily similar story to my son's. Enjoy the rest of the ride and buckle your seatbelt because that performance will most likely open more doors than you ever imagined.
PITCHINGFAN,
I'm happy for your son, that is what it's all about. Also share your frustration with the weather and rescheduling.
I would definitely contact staff@perfectgame.org regarding the velocity readings. We can double check the results to make sure we have the right velocity listed.