I am looking at one of the PG Sunshine Showcases for my 09 son to attend this summer.

Is there an advantages/disadvantages when comparing different events?

Do both qualify you for the National Top Prospects and Regional Top Prospect events IF you are named as a top prospect at the Sunshine or another Event?

Thank you for your help.

IMO - Pick one - do really well - and it wont matter which venue it was.

You will be noticed.

The best money I ever spent for my son in baseball was taking him to his first PG event. I could spend several minutes here typing many pages on why but I wont. The fact is there are so many reasons to go and the only way to truly understand is to just do it.

Dont worry about the cost. Dont worry about the travel. Dont worry about what you have to do to make it happen. You will not regret it. You may or may not like what you learn. But you will not regret it.

Do you remember that old commercial? I forget the company but I'll change the line..

..when Coach May talks, people listen.

There are so many reasons to go to a PG showcase, and very few reasons not to go. You might not be the stud at the event, but maybe there's a small college coach watching. You might go 0 for 7, but he'll like your swing. You'll find out "what's out there" and ask yourself, can I get to that level with hard work?

And most importantly, when your kid is 30 y.o. and married with three kids, he'll know his pop did all he can.

Jim Arp with PG told me that top prospects from all of the Sunshine events are invited to go to PG's National Showcase. He didn't say anything about the Academic showcase.

My son was named to the top prospect list at a Sunshine showcase, but did not receive an invitation to the National Showcase, so getting named as a top prospect at an event like this isn't a guarantee.

Thank you for your responses.

We definitely plan to send him to a PG event, just trying to identify which event would be most appropriate for him.

Infield - thank you for the info on your personal experience.

quote:

You may or may not like what you learn.

I think this is the key for most people. There's a lot of value to be gained in getting a rating and report from PG, whatever it says, even if it isn't quite what you were hoping for. It really can help in setting goals and managing expectations without dashing dreams.

People see players with 9 or 10 ratings at these events and think that lower ratings than that are poor ratings. That just isn't the case. A lot lower ratings than 9 or 10 are going to start generating interest from college coaches.

Sorry if I got a bit off topic.