My son is a Junior RHP at a AA HS in SC. We are planning his summer and keep going back and forth between Legion and a Travel Showcase Team. The pros to Legion are that he will probably be the #1 pitcher with ample playing time, the Legion team is good with a strong shot at State this year. The cons are visibility - how much to Legion players get seen?
The cons to the Showcase team (in addition to cost) are that he may or may not get much play time.
Our other plans are to attend the PG SE Showcase and an ID camp for Impact.
Thoughts??
PS - I wish I had found this site long ago!!!

Truly good select teams often are pretty equitable with regard to playing time. If a player isn't good enough to earn playing time, they don't take him. If he was good enough to make the team, then he is good enough to play as much as the rest.

Depends upon the particulars of the situation.

Another factor for my son ('08)is that most of his high school teammates play on the legion team. The competition is usually stiff and he gets the advantage of playing with his friends one last summer. I think we are going to play Legion, target a showcase or two and try one College Camp.

Double Eagle,
That is pretty much the way we are leaning.
The Travel Team is pretty much made up of players from another town. While that isn't the determining factor, I wonder if it came to a Showcase with more scouts would they tend to want to show off the hometown players more.

My son played legion with a bunch of guys in the same boat...and a good number of players off that team played or are playing ball from D3 to D1. The ONLY time we saw a scout (college or pro) was at the state and regional legion tournies...
...but the experience of playing that year was worth NOT going the showcase team route. However, you might want to think about a FALL showcase team in your area.

I think that the region you play in has a lot to do with the determination

You are EXTREMELY correct TR!

'EXTREMELY' ---what does that mean?

EXTREMELY to me means the idiot TV shows


We are talking HS baseball here

TR,..I simply meant I agree extremely with your statement. It really depends on the region where one plays. That is all I meant TR.
I was agreeing with you.
In our area we had to go outside of our area Legion team inorder to find serious competitve ball where there might be a scout or two. We have lived in other states where Legion ball was where the competitive action was at. Just depends.

Idiot tv shows??? Believe it or not TR, I may be from Kansas,...but I do have a brain and I do know what subject we are talking about.

ex·treme - adjective,

1. of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average

2. exceedingly great in degree

3. an idiot who critizes someone for agreeing with him



hope that helps, it's 3rd grade stuff

The summer travel program in my area costs over 3000 to play on. If you are having fun and getting a lot of playing time on your legion team, you can better use that money for showcases, college camps, and quality instruction. Just MHO

There is also the factor that is very common in this area, almost all of the legion temas are coached by the HS coaches, and they have a very good memory when it comes down to who stayed with the team and who didn't. I have heard threats ranging from "if you don't play legion ball don't even bother comming to tryouts next year" to a baseball/football coach who tells his players that if they don'/t play legion ball they won't start in football either.

I do think that the fall travel team is a good idea though

quote:

by spinedoc: The summer travel program in my area costs over 3000 to play on.

son, meet your new coach




c'mon now, that gives a new meaning to your tag line


Hank Aaron "It took me seventeen years to get to three thousand"

Spinedoc "17 yrs?? I can do it with a stroke of my pen"

Bee
What are you trying to say. You don't believe that there are travel programs that cost this much. I have seen programs for 10 year olds that cost this much, and I have seen programs that cost twice as much.

And by the way, the personal attack on my opinion is pretty laughable. nothing better to do I see.

Spinedoc, I agree with you on the cost factor. That is why we were leaning toward doing individual showcases during the summer, playing Legion ball and then trying out for a Travel team for the Fall. One problem I have run across is one travel team didn't want to sign him last fall unless he would be playing on the summer team. (Yes he told me that directly).

bhs,

My son had the same choice this year. He is a 17 y.o. Jr. LHP. He chose the travel team that is scheduling games against JC players. The team has cherry-picked the best players in our area.

And yes, the cost is about $3,000 per player. But much if this is offset by team and individual fundraising.

For me, the decision came down to quality of instruction. The travel team had a first-rate Winter conditioning program while Legion ball here has rules against that..

..it is a personal decision, with no wrong or right answer.

(Shortstop mom, I guess no good deed goes unpunished. Ignore that man behind the curtain!)

quote:

by spinedoc: And by the way, the personal attack on my opinion is pretty laughable

sorry, I mighta missed something .. your opinion on fall baseball I happen to agree with -
and I can also back you up on your observations regarding summer hs coaches threatening & intimidating

if referring to my good-natured jab at a $3000+ summer travel team,
well I'm still shaking my head in disbelief

bee>

Bee
I have no problem with good natured jabs, I just didn't feel like it was very good natured. The "one stroke of a pen" comment infers that you feel I am making something up.

It is also obvious that most other posters agree with my cost assessment, which makes me wonder why there was any need for it. But it truly is no big deal, amd I apologize if I read it the wrong way.

BHS,

I'm gonna try to give you another SC perspective. The exposure would PROBABLY be better with a travel team, BUT it depends on the team. If you're talking one of the first tier teams like the Diamond Devils or Sand Gnats you will probably have good exposure in the summer. Fall exposure is usually not as good with any team, but would still be better with one of the older programs. Some of the second tier teams can also give you good exposure if they play the right tournaments.

Exposure in Legion ball is limited, although it will pick up substantially if you make the State Tournament. Of course, if a school is already interested in him they might well come out to a legion game to watch him.

For travel ball in the summer in SC with one of the bigger name teams you're probably looking at $1400 to $2500 in team fees, plus all the money you spend on travel, rooms, food, etc.

SUPPOSEDLY the state directors for Legion in SC have voted to allow kids to play Legion and travel ball up until the playoffs start. Although, this is probably not a good option for pitchers.

I strongly recommend the Diamond Prospects showcase in the summer. www.thediamondprospects.com. My son did it last year and it really helped to get his name out there. Lots of good exposure. Probably 30-40 scouts last year. Since he is a junior he should also do the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association showcase. See wwwscbca.net. I think the DP showcase was around $125 last year, but they'll probably go up this year. I think the SCBCA showcase is usually around $75. There are usually a lot of Legion players at both events.

What to do also depends on how much money you have/want to spend. If you're primarily interested in SC schools both of the above options would be better bets than Impact or Perfect Game. If you want to take a hard look at NC schools Impact would be good. Perfect Game, of course, could expose him to a much larger audience.

Let me know if I can help.

quote:

Originally posted by bhs:
My son is a Junior RHP at a AA HS in SC. We are planning his summer and keep going back and forth between Legion and a Travel Showcase Team. The pros to Legion are that he will probably be the #1 pitcher with ample playing time, the Legion team is good with a strong shot at State this year. The cons are visibility - how much to Legion players get seen?
The cons to the Showcase team (in addition to cost) are that he may or may not get much play time.
Our other plans are to attend the PG SE Showcase and an ID camp for Impact.
Thoughts??
PS - I wish I had found this site long ago!!!

quote:

Originally posted by spinedoc:
But it truly is no big deal, amd I apologize if I read it the wrong way.

Spinedoc - Reread what bee wrote. I do think you read it the wrong way. I think it was written as a dialog between you and Hank Aaron:

Hank Aaron "It took me seventeen years to get to three thousand"

Spinedoc "17 yrs?? I can do it with a stroke of my pen"

MTH, thanks for the input. I checked on the DP Showcase and the information isn't listed yet, also it doesn't state whether it will be invitational or open registration. We went to one DP showcase last year, I was a little disappointed in the pitching aspect. PM me and I can get into details. But that doesn't mean I would rule out one of their showcases.
Yes, the Legion has decided that players can play Legion and travel until the playoffs. But his HS coach is really deterring him from that. A position player can handle multiple games but he would be limited as a pitcher.