We're back home, very little thanks to our wonderful airline companies, except for actually arriving, nothing else went right.

Now to the showcase.

I’ll break down my review into categories, I think that is the fair way to review it:

Facilities: A, the Astro’s facility is a quality place to play ball, could have used some shade and better seating, would be my only negative comments

Tournament management: B+, few minor inconveniences such as overprice refreshments and the last day it wasn’t clear when and where the teams played.

Umpiring: B+ - A-, you get some, you’re on the wrong side of some.

Scout Exposure: D-, I may be generous and give it a C- because you can’t always tell who’s a scout. I will add that we missed the Friday games, thanks to Airtran, so if the scouts attended day one I wouldn’t have seen them. Overall, I would say that I saw, maybe 12, I can’t say for sure. While I did see someone from Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina, the rest were probably from small Florida schools, I didn’t recognize any of the school names on the shirts, and all of these folks seemed to be following the Florida kids. I saw only a couple of radar guns most of them just carried the team roster sheets and a pen.

Talent: C, which may be why there so few scouts. My son’s team averaged 5 errors a game and we weren’t the worst (finished tied for 3rd). I do have to add that someone recommended a kid to the showcase that has only been playing ball for two years and is a sophomore. This kid is hugh but doesn't have 20 % of the skills a baseball player should have. What a waste of a roster spot.

Summary; my son enjoyed playing and meeting kids from other states. He pitched 9 innings in two days and gave up 1 run to what was maybe the two best teams there. If you noticed, I said teams. I guess that the tournament directors decided the best way to fill the event was to let Select/Travel teams enter and play together, one team had three of their own coaches, everyone else had one guy furnished by the event. I know in one case, a couple of kids were added to one of the select team’s roster, but it was very obvious that these guys were a team. I expect that the team that won it all was a select team. If you want to take a team to an event, play some ball in a woodbat tournament and possible win a ring, this may be for you, but as a SHOWCASE, it ain’t.

According to their web site, these are the scouts present at the event:

http://www.impactprospects.com/colleges06states3.htm

29 colleges
5 pros

I'm a little surprised; there wasn't that big of a crowd in my opinion. I know that some of the coaches were from colleges and like I said, maybe they were there Friday and we missed them.

We got a call on Tuesday before the event asking if my son wanted to attend. That is also not a good indicator. We had the same experience in 2005 at their Tampa/St. Pete event. I would agree with your grades. We decided to never attend another because of the "exposure" grade.

quote:

Summary; my son enjoyed playing and meeting kids from other states. He pitched 9 innings in two days and gave up 1 run to what was maybe the two best teams there. If you noticed, I said teams. I guess that the tournament directors decided the best way to fill the event was to let Select/Travel teams enter and play together, one team had three of their own coaches, everyone else had one guy furnished by the event. I know in one case, a couple of kids were added to one of the select team’s roster, but it was very obvious that these guys were a team. I expect that the team that won it all was a select team. If you want to take a team to an event, play some ball in a woodbat tournament and possible win a ring, this may be for you, but as a SHOWCASE, it ain’t.

This seems to be a recurring theme...

Can anyone say whether this is indicative of the BG event at Wake Forest?

My twin sons went to the William and Mary shocase in 2005. Had over 35 colleges and some pro scouts. Lots of action followed and both sons decided on James Madison University. Only one is playing now due to an injury. The Blue Grey Classic was exactly what we needed.

My son went to the Blue Grey Classic at Wake Forest last year had just about every college in NC, SC, and VA was there. After the event, he got recruited by over a dozen schools. As far as the event itself, the family dinner was a blast and the staff was great. We could not have been happier. My son got a great deal from High Point University where he will be playing next year.

Our Blue-Grey experience is a little dated as my sons are in college now, but both went to BG-William and Mary, friends had sons go to BG-Wake Forest, and on the "circuit", I've spoken to lots of Dads about their experience. The sum and substance of all this is that Wake Forest is clearly seen as BG's best event, William and Mary has been real good, but scout numbers seemed to have dropped some in recent years, likley because there are far more showcases around now than there were only 5-6 years ago. Gus Bell, BG's director, is a wonderful guy, but the Showcase business has gotten competitive in its own right, and they do have some events that don't seem to draw much scout attention.

Going to a showcase is a great experience as a kid gets a feel for how things work, sees other talent, and meets players from all over. My sons still are running into kids in college ball that they met at showcases. Pretty careful research needs to go into just how well scouted events actually are, and be selective, unless your budget is unlimited. It's true that you only need to impress one guy at the right time, but careful research can help your chances.

There are a lot of posters on this board that have been around for quite a few years, so this is a good place to ask questions about showcases, camps, elite team tryouts, etc. (I just heard this week of a pitcher, great physical potential but not a true high school standout, that tried out for an elite team, don't know if he made it, but an ACC school was there watching, liked the gun reading, liked his size, and took a chance on him. It does happen.)

If you have "target" schools, and never be too selective too early, a simple call or e-mail to the staff can find out what showcases/camps/tryouts they scout.