Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

It is a great experience! Make sure to have your son reach out to schools he may be interested in (if he even has that figured out at this age) and let them know what team he will be playing for and the schedule so they can see him. If he sees a coach there, have him talk to them and at least introduce himself.  Just builds awareness since he's really young and new to the process.

Just know that because of his age a coach legally cannot talk to him at that event.  They will be cordial but not strike up a long conversation but he still needs to do it.  It is one of the toughest parts of teh recruiting process.  Most of our young men are not great at talking to strange older men about life.  ( A friend says it is our fault because all of their lives we have told them not to talk to strangers, especially older men asking a lot of questions.)  That makes sense to me.  I made mine talk to men at church, in town, and other places just to get used to introducing himself and being able to say things to them.  Our rule was you can never answer a question with less than 7 words.  None of the yes sir, no sir, or maybe stuff.

TerribleBPthrower posted:

Thanks for the tips! I didn't even think about that stuff. I was just excited he would be playing. He will most likely be going the HA route. We are still working on building that list. I think it will be good for him either way though to get in the practice of introducing himself and talking with coaches.

If your son wants to go the HA route he's about 2.5 years away. But the grades need to happen first before you determine any of that. Can't base his college choice on academics as a freshman, middle school grades mean nothing. Unless your kid is a big time stud, it probably won't be a valuable event for anything other than the experience. 

TerribleBPthrower posted:

Anybody here going to this next weekend or that has been to it previously? My son is a 2023 and was asked to play with a 2022 team for the weekend. I've heard it has been a really good tournament the past 2 years. Tons of talent and lots of college coaches there to recruit/scout.

“Go for the Experience” is kind of a broad, generic statement. If you think your son may be good, go to where the talent is and find out. 

In my son’s journey, starting at about freshman age, we decided to use the level of talent/level of competition as the guide for his schedule. He never went to a showcase, very few camps, never chased a tournament because “XYZ” University might be there. 

Hope you go, it will be a great “experience”!

TerribleBPThrower,

If your son wants to experience a top flight tournament, he picked a good one.  Agree with Go44Dad to use this as a guide for future showcases, tournaments, etc...  Yes there will lots of recruiters and scouts, however most are not going to engage your son in conversation....this isn't a local showcase.   If there is any level of interest they will reach out to the travel coach.   I think (parents and players)  have to see the amount of talent at events like this to get the big picture.   This is a baseball supermarket and the coaches are doing the shopping.

Also, you mentioned HA schools.  Not sure what your definition of HA is, but when my son went to PG WWBA and events like this there were extremely few HA schools.    Again, if you plan to go use this as a future guide.

Good luck!

Thanks guys. We were looking at it as another opportunity to play against great talent that is a year older. Getting a preview of what it will be like for him in a year or so will be a big plus. He has a few 2023 friends/teammates that have P5 D1 offers, but he isn't at that level yet. He's excited about being behind the dish for a couple kids in the high 80's. 

We don't expect there to be many of the schools he'll eventually be interested in. His goal is Ivy, whether he plays baseball or not. However, baseball will be the easiest way to gain acceptance into one of these schools. I'm also trying to open his eyes to non-Ivy HA's. He is wicked smart, but there are thousands of wicked smart kids applying and being rejected from the same schools. 

Just looked over the schedule and the rosters. It is very eye opening at how many great players there are and what the competition will be like to play in college. Of the 3 teams my son's team plays, there are 5 players total that have a velo listed below 80. One team has 6 committed D1 players and another team is mostly a 2023 but they finished in the top 4 of every major event they played this summer. 

My son's team has some very talented freshman and 4 or 5 good sophomores. I think they'll be competitive but still a little to young to hang with the teams they are playing. It looks like the coach is also entering the team into the Freshman WWBA and adding a couple more freshman for that event. 

Well the good news if the top you are playing only 6 committed you didn't draw any of the top contenders...in the few minutes I looked at the field it appears to be a solid list but not a top list. There are many national powers that aren't there. If you haven't been to one of the top events before you have a hard time understanding what is out there. 

TerribleBPthrower posted:

We don't expect there to be many of the schools he'll eventually be interested in. His goal is Ivy, whether he plays baseball or not. However, baseball will be the easiest way to gain acceptance into one of these schools. I'm also trying to open his eyes to non-Ivy HA's. He is wicked smart, but there are thousands of wicked smart kids applying and being rejected from the same schools. 

I am guessing you are from Massachusetts...

old_school posted:

Well the good news if the top you are playing only 6 committed you didn't draw any of the top contenders...in the few minutes I looked at the field it appears to be a solid list but not a top list. There are many national powers that aren't there. If you haven't been to one of the top events before you have a hard time understanding what is out there. 

My son started playing PG events last fall. This is probably the most competitive tournament he's played in, but we watched one of his friends in one of the World Series events this summer. His friend's dad had told me about it, but seeing it in person made it really sink in. The friend is a top 100 player overall for 2023 and one of the top pitchers. And...there were two kids that were better pitchers on his team.

I'm looking forward to a great weekend of baseball and super hot Ft. Myers weather. 

 

Was there a big presence of college scouting? Not to offend anyone, my kid refused to interupt his lifting schedule to attend this event as he felt maybe there were less than a dozen really good teams and the exposure would not be there. I thought it was a wise decision as he has not picked up a baseball since the last week of July and he did not want to kill 2 weeks to ramp up his arm.

2022NYC posted:

Was there a big presence of college scouting? Not to offend anyone, my kid refused to interupt his lifting schedule to attend this event as he felt maybe there were less than a dozen really good teams and the exposure would not be there. I thought it was a wise decision as he has not picked up a baseball since the last week of July and he did not want to kill 2 weeks to ramp up his arm.

Tons of scouts. Right in front of me; UM, FSU, UCF, USF, Stetson, and another guy I can’t see the logo without looking like a stalker

It's going to depend on what schools your son is interested in. For example for us, a lot of the NE schools my 2022 has contacted are not down there. Most actually aren't really recruiting their 2022 class yet. Some will be there next week for the underclassman WS.

I generally think blindly showing up at any of these WWBA events without a plan/contact with schools, hoping to be discovered is al long shot at best unless you're an absolute stud.

We're not making any trips this fall 2022 had mono in June at the end of the schools year, if he misses class for baseball his school will not be thrilled....

I'm trying to be nice about this.  People say they want their kid recruited but then don't go to the events.  The fall is one of the best times to go because the number of players are lower.  The coaches are still there at the big PG events in the fall.  Why would you take off when the scouts are still there?  Now, if you are not a D1 player then there is no reason to go to these big events in the fall.  The smaller schools do not go to Florida for the big events because most of them are looking regionally but if you are a D1 prospect the Florida tournaments in the fall are the big time.  And to assume they are not recruiting 2023 is silly.  Look at the number of SEC/P5 schools that already have 8-10 2023's on their recruiting commit list.  Again, I will say that if you are not a D1 prospect there is no reason to go and spend this money but if you are the scouts will definitely be at the big events in Florida in the fall.

Just got home. We had a consolation game in the morning. It was a great experience. Pretty much every team I watched was really good. Our second game yesterday was against a mid-west team and there were 10 or so schools watching them from that area. One of the 2023’s on my son’s team was getting their attention and a couple of the coaches got our coach’s info (i’m Assuming to talk about that kid). I heard one of them complement my son after he threw out his second runner of the game. 

this morning there had to be 50-60 scouts in a group before the 8am games started. They were from every part of the country. 

 

Well, in a funny surprise, a somewhat HA D1 school from the northeast contacted my son’s coach about him this morning. They saw him catch a game and throw a few kids out and also blocked a ton. They are going to also be at the WWBA and freshman WWBA and want to know when he’s catching/pitching. 

The funny thing is he wasn’t even supposed to catch that game but the other catcher had a sore arm. They were there watching a couple kids on the other team. Crazy how things work out.

TerribleBPthrower posted:

Well, in a funny surprise, a somewhat HA D1 school from the northeast contacted my son’s coach about him this morning. They saw him catch a game and throw a few kids out and also blocked a ton. They are going to also be at the WWBA and freshman WWBA and want to know when he’s catching/pitching. 

The funny thing is he wasn’t even supposed to catch that game but the other catcher had a sore arm. They were there watching a couple kids on the other team. Crazy how things work out.

Every parent of a kid who wants to play in college needs to copy this post and show it to their son.   It's happened a lot to people on here.  You never know when you'll do something to catch a coach's eye....even if he's not there to see you.   Play every game like you know you have your dream school's RC watching. 

TerribleBPthrower posted:

 

The funny thing is he wasn’t even supposed to catch that game but the other catcher had a sore arm. They were there watching a couple kids on the other team. Crazy how things work out.

This reminds me of a showcase (game) my 2015(MI/CF, now MI) attended. He was always one to be the first to PR when the bench coach wanted to create a situation (runner on 1 out, e.g.). One inning the team was short an OF, I think the RF was now on the mound. Son noticed 8 on field and he asked mgr if they need someone to play right field. Coach said , " Yeah hurry out."  With two out and runner on second, batter hits grounder to 3rd, who promptly airmails ball past first. Son (from RF) was backing up first. Runner from second nearly " broke ankle" rounding third--was frozen as son had ball on overthrow. Runner would have been out at home by 2-3 feet.  Enjoyed watching different coaches notetaking  at their clipboards after that play he should not have been anywhere near. You never know....

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×