My 15 year old son just received an "official invitation" in the mail for the underclass showcase this Novemeber 1-2 in Mesa, AZ, Dec 28-30 in Ft Myers, Fla, or Jan 3-4 Ft Myers. Do these go to everyone who attended the perfect game wood bat tournament in East Cobb this summer? It's a lot of $$. I don't mind sending him if I received this because they saw something in him, but don't want to waste the $$ if it is just a solicitation.

Also, it says the registration fees have to be paid by Oct 18th. The mail man just delivered this today Oct. 21st.

The link below will take you to their site where they advise that the deadlines for the Underclass events have been 'lifted.'

http://perfectgame.org/stories/08_10_09_deadline_extended/index.aspx

As far as why you're receiving them, I don't know! Sorry.

URXLNC,
I also recieved this same letter (invite). Im a high school junior. But I personally think many people recieved this. Perfect Game has never seen me as I have never been to one of their events.

My son is a sophomore catcher that got an invitation to FT. Myers. We just attended the Arizona fall classic is this worth sending him or is this just a money maker for them. Seems like it would be better to wait until next year when he is a Junior. Any advise will help

Vdad:

4thGen attended both the AZ Fall Classic and the PG uncommitted event that was here in Mesa. They are very different. My son is an 09 so he played in the Sr Classic. He was seen by some of the schools that have been recruiting him and a couple of other schools that saw him have started to express interest. That is what your looking for in the Classic. There are a ton of coaches, but there are lots of games to see and unless they are looking for you the chances for a kid to be seen by his dream school is small. PG had very few coaches in attendance but that is not the point. The level of competition was good and what you are getting is an objective evaluation and entrance into a national database of potential college players. That allows you and your son to be proactive, to offer schools he believes might be of interest to him a chance to see him and see PG's evaluation of him. He would then have the opportunity to improve his measurables and rating.

Sorry, makes no sense. You could have contacted the coaches that were going to be in AZ for that event and had your son looked at in person. You then paid alot of money to go to something that didn't have many coaches at all but you're going into a database that you think will be of value to coaches even though they didn't see you?
If they were that interested in that database, don't you think they woud have just attended that event?

Finally, you're going to advise somebody in Washington to go across the country in the dead of winter (probably not in great game shape to rate high) to attend an event (albeit a very good one talent-wise) during a period that coaches cannot attend? I don't think that's great advice. Sorry.

quote:

Originally posted by 3rdgenerationnation:
Vdad:

4thGen attended both the AZ Fall Classic and the PG uncommitted event that was here in Mesa. They are very different. My son is an 09 so he played in the Sr Classic. He was seen by some of the schools that have been recruiting him and a couple of other schools that saw him have started to express interest. That is what your looking for in the Classic. There are a ton of coaches, but there are lots of games to see and unless they are looking for you the chances for a kid to be seen by his dream school is small. PG had very few coaches in attendance but that is not the point. The level of competition was good and what you are getting is an objective evaluation and entrance into a national database of potential college players. That allows you and your son to be proactive, to offer schools he believes might be of interest to him a chance to see him and see PG's evaluation of him. He would then have the opportunity to improve his measurables and rating.

Thanks for the feedback, it was advertized when we signed up for the AZ Sophomore fall Classic that there would be people there looking at kids for the future. There was not any one there to look at anyone, it felt like it was a money maker event for atleast the team we went with. This is good info. for parents to have prior to going to certain events, dont get me wrong going from Wash. to AZ during this time was great my son and I had a great time. My son will get the chance to play at the next level, I just want to open as many doors as possible.

Beisbol:

I think maybe I didn't express what I wanted to say very well. I understood the question to be; "should I have my son go to next years' Fall Classic in AZ or to a PG event?"

Having attended both recently I think they were worthwhile. The difference and why I'd favor the PG if forced to choose, is that you can then direct coaches that would not have seen the player at the Classic to the video and evaluation.


I would also tell Vikingdad that there is a larger # of coaches at the Jr. Classic and many more at the Sr. classic. That is verifiable.

quote:

The difference and why I'd favor the PG if forced to choose, is that you can then direct coaches that would not have seen the player at the Classic to the video and evaluation

This thinking is bassackwards.
First off, the purpose of the vid (regardless of who shoots it)is to hopefully illustrate some tools that a particular coach may be interested in. It is a teaser, if you will, to hopefully get a player a legitimate look from a coach. As beisbol rightfully points out, you communicate in advance, and try your best to make sure you are at the tournament to be scouted...not discovered. There is a huge difference here.
As far as the eval, you live in a town with arguably more quality baseball evaluators per capita than anywhere in the country between former players, area guys, cross checkers and scouting directors. Getting a reliable evaluation here is really not a problem if you seek out the right people.
Most college coaches (at least the D1/D2 guys) will want to see a player in person..and ultimately they will make their own, final evaluation.

rbinaz:

I'd be glad to discuss this with you in person next time we're at a AZ baseball event together. Since you are at all of them, I'm sure it will be soon :-) For the purposes of this thread I was trying to address things from the perspective of a parent with a 2011 kid that lives in WA. I loved the Sr Fall Classic, but you're right, there were not a lot of schools discovering kids they were not looking for. That's why I'm suggesting that if VikingSon were to attend a PG event he'd have video and an objective evaluation he could use to get schools interested enough to want to find out what his schedule was going to be so they could see him in person. I also believe that technology will be served and that web enabled recruiting will become an even bigger part of the equation. It has happened with most everything else in modern life. I know you recognize that because your helping lots of kids make connections with schools and scouts via the web.

I'm also in your camp in regards to the amount of exposure AZ kids get to scouts, former players and college coaches. Some parts of the country may not be so lucky. One on going concern I have is that the showcase and to a lesser degree, the showcase tournament, does not seem to always reflect if a kid can play the game over the course of a season. They provide snap shots rather then a movie showing what direction a kid is taking. They can show tools, but may not show how a kid uses them to contribute to a team.

quote:

One on going concern I have is that the showcase and to a lesser degree, the showcase tournament, does not seem to always reflect if a kid can play the game over the course of a season.

No doubt this is an issue, but if so, how do you think attending a weekend showcase event and being evaluated by someone who has never seen you before and will likely never see you again solve this?
This snapshot view allows one to get a read on tools... period.

quote:

Originally posted by beisbol:
Sorry, makes no sense. You could have contacted the coaches that were going to be in AZ for that event and had your son looked at in person. You then paid alot of money to go to something that didn't have many coaches at all but you're going into a database that you think will be of value to coaches even though they didn't see you?
If they were that interested in that database, don't you think they woud have just attended that event?

Finally, you're going to advise somebody in Washington to go across the country in the dead of winter (probably not in great game shape to rate high) to attend an event (albeit a very good one talent-wise) during a period that coaches cannot attend? I don't think that's great advice. Sorry.

beisbol, that's pretty much exactly what my son did.. except he was in good shape!.. and it paid off through added exposure. It is not for everyone, as your son should be a true college prospect to make it worthwhile.

You'd be surprised how many college coaches look up PG's ratings.

Our approach has been to try and cover all of the bases. We have tried to make it easy for the schools my son was interested in. He's attended showcases, showcase tournaments and camps along with making videos and evaluations available. At the same time he's tried to retain the initiative, that is let coaches know where he was going to be so they could see him in person. He's let them know he was interested in their program and where they could see him on video to evaluate him against their needs. He also has an advisor that is able to provide evaluations to programs. It takes a lot of work and can be expensive. Rbinaz points out that any one exposure from a showcase or one evaluation is not likely to provide a good match. In fact, a number of programs that we have not proactively targeted have seen him at events and expressed interest, but they have just not been a good fit at all.

I don't know, given the current state of college recruiting, how we could better distribute the kids that want to play college baseball. There is a high probability my son from AZ is going to find his best fit at a high academic school on the east coast. He had to let them know he was interested, that he would go to a cold weather school, and that he had the baseball tools they needed. So in trying to draw from my son's experience to come up with advice for VikingSon, I suggested he consider both the PG database approach and a highly attended showcase like the Fall Classic. Recruiting seems to me to be an inside out process. The kid needs to get clear on where he wants to go and then figure out if and how he fits in at those schools.

Bum- I respect your opinion but have a tough time justifying spending that amount of money on an event that has no college coaches. While a coach might peruse the PG lists, the ones I know don't rely on somebody else to form their opinions on a player. This is not an indictment on PG- good for them. I just don't think you can compare going to an event with 150 colleges present (many schools have 2 guys there) and one that had very few coaches or one that is run in a dead period with no D1 coaches allowed.

If you are going to pick an event, pick one with live coaches attending. Pick one preferably in your area because recruiting in baseball is very "regional".

Bum, I am not discounting that going all the way to FLA in the dead of winter didn't help your son. That said, going to the PG regional in June would have done the same thing. We are in a time in our history where most people need to make smart decisions fiscally. You have to get the biggest bang for your buck. That includes the best way to get the proper exposure for student-athletes.

quote:

Originally posted by Bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beisbol:
Sorry, makes no sense. You could have contacted the coaches that were going to be in AZ for that event and had your son looked at in person. You then paid alot of money to go to something that didn't have many coaches at all but you're going into a database that you think will be of value to coaches even though they didn't see you?
If they were that interested in that database, don't you think they woud have just attended that event?

Finally, you're going to advise somebody in Washington to go across the country in the dead of winter (probably not in great game shape to rate high) to attend an event (albeit a very good one talent-wise) during a period that coaches cannot attend? I don't think that's great advice. Sorry.

beisbol, that's pretty much exactly what my son did.. except he was in good shape!.. and it paid off through added exposure. It is not for everyone, as your son should be a true college prospect to make it worthwhile.

You'd be surprised how many college coaches look up PG's ratings.

Although Perfect Game events are pricy, many student-athletes get recruited as a result of attending their events, but many don't. Each athlete is different and you have to 1) consider their current skill level and, 2) can you afford it. As parents, you know your son better than anyone and it is a difficult decision to determine if he is ready before you spend that kind of money, especially if you have to travel. Maybe you could also get the advise of his HS or travel coach.

If your son is younger, you may want to try some local college camps and get him evaluated by college coaches. This should help you determine where he is at athletically.

= Deleted advertising =

Beisbol, the decision to go to the PG World Showcase--all the way from Washington to Florida--was mostly a hunch based on two thoughts: 1) My son was already committed D1 but I wanted him to get some pro exposure after a big jump in the offseason. He did well, was scouted the following Spring, and was drafted, so it definitely paid off. 2) He had done a PG showcase earlier when he wasn't exactly ready. I figured the followup showcase was in order.

But you're right.. it's definitely not for most.

It helped I had some airline miles built up.

When PG does its evaluations and assigns a rating, is it entirely based on the performance at the event or do they investigate further into a player by calling high school coaches, travel coaches, or scouts for input?

Basically they rate them on just their performance at that camp, but if a pitcher is throwing hard, 87+, doesn't make much difference on how they actually do, they will be rated a little higher than a pitcher who throws 80-83 but gets everybody out. It's based on projections for the future.

PG does a fabulous job of organizing and running these events. They offer alot of opportunity for players to be rated (if not actually seen). However, as with art, the ratings are SUBJECTIVE. That is fine, but it is worth knowing this reality going in. If you think there is any sort of objectivity to this process, you are crazy. This is true with any such event, from Baseball Factory/Underarmour to Blue-Gray to PG. It is not "bad." It just is.

PG tries to rate somewhat according to numbers, but that fails in many cases. The raw numbers simply do not reveal enough about players. Infield throwing velocity, time in a 60, and a few swings in BP and games reveals very little in many cases. I have been to several of these events and have taken my own notes then checked them against PG's ratings. In the obvious cases, we are in agreement, whether good or bad. But the middle 80% is pure subjectivity.

My son received an invitation as well. We are struggling with whether it's worth squeezing in the trip from Atlanta to Ft. Myers, or waiting for an event closer to home. We live within 10 miles from East Cobb Baseball, in Marietta. My son, hasn't been in baseball mode since early October so there's some concern about his ability to bring his 'A' game.