My son recently attended a local tryout/showcase. After the warm up and timed running, the pitchers were broken out in groups of 6 to throw bull pens. Before the first pitch was thrown, the host of the event announced that the scouts and coaches were not looking for speed. He said to concentrate on location and ball movement. None of the observers had a radar gun out. My husband said one of the kids finally let one fly and one guy was trying to get his gun out to clock him, but it was the last pitch for that kid. I am confused by this format and I wonder if any of you have ever encountered the same. By the way - it was a free event - so maybe we got what we paid for.

Interesting. We have only been to 3 showcases this year but all coaches had guns. That is kind of different looking for location and ball movement.

That's better than a situation we were recently in. The coach suggested that the kids not throw hard if they hadn't been playing and then they brought out the guns and evaluated the kids on speed.

Just look at who signs. Its the guys with high speed fastballs. It is very hard to determine speed without the gun. Most really fast pitchers are smooth and have little wasted motion and normally concentrate on the fastball so they don't have a lot of movement in HS because they don't need it. I would say the showcase was a money maker. I was to a showcase where they told the players that they were looking for location and movement. They did allow guns though and the guys they showed all the interest to were the ones in the high 80's and 90. I honestly think showcases are a way for schools to get your name and sell you on their camp. If I had to do the process over I would go to 2 and just focus on going to schools before the players can sign and meeting the coaches, building a relationship, playing politics with them etc etc.

Does not sound like a very well run showcase.

Pitchers should throw in the game against live hitters and radar gunned.

Well - it wasn't a money maker as there was no fee. Very different from what we have been to before.

It may sound weird, in fact it does, but most college coaches and scouts are pretty darned good at estimating velocity, within 2-3 mph. If a guy was truly bringing it, they knew...

Baller26,

Not sure I would "play politics" with the coaches. Real baseball guys are going to put their best players on the field. Besides, if politics gets you into the door, politics will get you quickly on the bench when the Provost's kid is of signing age.