JerseyCoach,

It does appear that your agenda on our forums is something other than to inquire and discuss. Maybe you are here to try to discredit a respected baseball organization, or maybe to promote some other organization. I don't know, maybe you just don't have very good manners!

But please take a few minutes to read our Board Manners page and then feel free to contact me via the system notification I just sent to you.

Thank you,

Julie

MN-Mom,

Feel free to close this thread. I was done with JerseyCoach a few pages ago. Keeping it open only serves to show how much he/she doesn't know and doesn't want to learn.

quote:

My son received video, instruction, tournament play, Under Armour gear, and a great baseball experience.

Not sure how much you paid to receive all of the above, but when we were contacted, the price tag was around $3,500.00+,...plus airfare. The video was an additional cost.

You admitted it yourself:

quote:

Obviously, the term "All-America" is a marketing tool.

You call it a marketing tool.
I call it " questionable " and even possibly " misleading ".

I dont think the criticism is directed at the quality of the tournament, but rather to the " name " of the tournament.

Why not just call it the " Under Armour Baseball Classic " ?
That way no " marketing tool " is necessary and the reputation ( along with the cost of the tournament ),
can stand on its own two feet.[/QUOTE]
1) Not all players invited had to pay the fees, but travel was definitely at the players' expense.
2) All "All-America", "All-State", all-whatever are full of hype and marketing. That goes without saying. It's business and media.

At the risk of re-igniting this thread, I hate to tell you, but the price WE were quoted was under $1,000.

I wonder why it's more expensive for some than for others?

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
I wonder why it's more expensive for some than for others?

My guess is that the sponsors are interested in revenue so the more people they charge that come, the more revenue they will receive. On the other hand, they are also interested in quality, so they may offer "free" passes in some cases.

Good grief.

The title includes "All America" not All-American"

There is a world of difference that most high school graduates should understand.

Here's the question. I have searched and read the forum about Basball Factory. Took my 2011 6'4 190lb freshman pitcher to the UA tryout - and received the call that he was selected to the BF USA baseball Jr Olympic Team in Jupiter. I get that the UA/baseball factory tournaments are selected from those who attend their tryouts - BUT is it worth the $$$$$ to send him to the JOs in Jupiter on the BF Seleft team?? BFactory was VERY clear - they are not out to win. They will give equal playing time to players - they are offering exposure and a spot on the team to compete in the best tournament for 16U guys.

Thoughts? It's a lot of cash, but, if the tournament is all that it's cracked up to be, does it matter if it's a Baseball Factory team?

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:
Good grief.

The title includes "All America" not All-American"

There is a world of difference that most high school graduates should understand.

LOL

Just too much!

LOL

Gamefan,

JO's is a great event. (At least if you're talking about the USA Baseball events in FL and AZ in June, those are the ones I have experience with.)

I have no idea what fee they are requesting. I've heard tell of some teams (NOT BF!!!) charging as much as $2,500/player, which is absurd for a single tournament. $250 is enough unless they are covering your travel expenses.

If you don't already have a team to go with, BF is certainly a reputable enough organization to go with. I'm not too keen on the UA event, but other than that I have no problems with BF generally.

With any "cameo appearance", though, I recommend you ask pointed questions about how many players are coming, and exactly how much playing time your son can expect. It's one thing to take 3 MIF's for a tourney, another to take 5 if you get my drift. Find out which it's going to be. It's sad to go to these tournaments and see kids who were promised the moon who barely get on the field all week.

Just a note on the JO's tournament. Just give you an idea of what the fee for the JO's is for some teams. We charge $250.00 a player to cover the cost of the tournament($2000), coaches hotel for 10 days and transportation. That seems to be the going rate here in SoCal unless someone has found a sponsor to help cover costs. I have heard of teams charging $500 to attend JO's.

sgvbaseball.com

There are two important things regarding the USA JO events.

1 - If you are one of the better players in the nation, it is possible to make the USA team

2 - It's good competition for that age bracket.

It is not a place to go for great exposure purposes. We have scouted the tournaments for many years, even before there were one on each coast. We do donate guns and timing equipment to the events, but most often, we were the only scouts in attendance at games. However, now days, the way college recruiting is changing, college recruiters are paying a lot closer attention to younger players. MLB scouts are way too busy at this time of year to scout 16 and under players as it is shortly after the draft. Most of the scouts and recruiters we have seen are there because they have a son participating.

We actually had a team entered a couple times. The fee was "free"! We loaded up with top players and the last year we had a team 7 or 8 of the players actually made the USA cuts. One that didn't make the cut is now in the Major Leagues. We finished second to Chet Lemon's Juice... Got robbed by the UMPS!

Bottom line... Outstanding events for players 16U. And it could lead to something big for the very best players who attend. Not sure if it is possible to research which teams the top players played for in past years. I mean the players who were selected to play for USA youth national team!

Also, we have no idea how much teams charge players to attend. I would imagine there is a wide range starting at nothing up to ????. Many are teams that actually play together all year.

If your a 16U player with some ability... It's a good place to be!

PG Staff - This was an incredibly informative post. We have come to the conclusion that we HAVE to send our kid to this tournament - seems like our only venue is through BF. It is incredibly expensive, but unless there is a PG team for free (even 500 -- even 1,000!) we are paying BF for the opportunity.

Does he have a chance for the USA team? Only one way to find out.

In the meantime, we will make a family vacation out of it and hope it is a VISA moment - priceless!

BTW, he is signed up for a PG showcase in October. We have only heard great things about PG and look forward to that!

Anyone looking for a P/1B for the tournament????

gamefan,

I would like to help you, but sometimes it gets hard to speak freely without coming across the wrong way.

Sorry, we no longer sponsor teams in that event. When we did there was no fee to the players. Of course, we went after the best players we knew of in the country. However, I'm sure there must be teams in the tournament that could use an extra talented player. Especially if your son can pitch and you are willing to pay what you mentioned.

We have all we can handle trying to see as many of the players as possible in both Arizona and Florida. There are many teams in the tournament, including some from Virginia. Evidently you must not have an opportunity to hook up with any of those teams. I would call USA Baseball and tell them your exact situation. They have some very good people and might have a suggestion once they understand the decision you're faced with.

I do agree that if your son is talented he should go if possible. But if he has talent, there are many other opportunities also. So don't feel that any one thing is mandatory or a can’t miss and that includes Perfect Game events.

Best of luck

PGStaff makes a good point. In the West, there are teams looking to add a player quite often. If you can get the list of teams from the East JO's email the coaches to see if a team might need an extra players. USA baseball might provide the list for you. It is a great event for 16U players. 72 teams going at it will all the got. This will be our 7th year attending and it has changed quite a bit since we first attended. As PGStaff stated with college recruiting going the way it is more colleges will be attending. Last year, there was quite a few at the event. I believe more will be attending this year as colleges have let is know they would attend when they haven't in the past.

As PG events go..I would recommend them to everyone. I had to good fortune of flying in from SoCal and assisting a team in last year's PG National Showcase. The talent there was truly amazing. Everyone one I met there was top notch.

If you're a solid pitcher there will always be teams who'll offer you one start. Look for a team with solid defense, especially at catcher, to help your son do well.

For position players it can be more dicey. Often you end up as a bench/insurance player with very little playing time. Position players have to be very careful with the "cameo appearance" with a standing team.

quote:

For position players it can be more dicey. Often you end up as a bench/insurance player with very little playing time. Position players have to be very careful with the "cameo appearance" with a standing team.

thanks everyone. In spite of the $$$$$$ we are going to send him with BF. Midlo, your post is right on. When our son when to Cooperstown, we ended up taking a bench/insurance player on our team, and the kid was promised some playing time. Sure messed up the politics of everyone who had been a long term commitment. At least the BF showcase, everyone starts out equal. We expect to find out if our son has what it takes to stand out on a team with non biased coaches and a level playing field. Big investment - but I anticipate an honest assessment of his abilities. We have been pleased with BF in this process, $$ aside.

Gamefan,

What is the cost?

Hey, I saw my name mentioned earlier. Sorry I missed all of the fun.

One of the posts mentioned how much money is spent on events in relation to the scholarship money one gets back. Now that we know my son's situation, I can provide a relative update on how it turned out for us. My son only has played local Little League, American Legion, and High School baseball before going to two BF events. I am excluding the equipment costs (since he would have to have that anyway) and the travel to the one non-local BF event (as we take a summer vacation anyway and the cost for this travel was normal). So, I am just including participation fees (and only in relative terms). Also, I am assuming for these purposes that he holds his scholarship money for all 4 years.

So, if the local baseball costs over 12 years = X, then the two BF events cost = 8X, his athletic scholarship is 32X, and his total non-loan financial aid package is 100X. So, I don't think we were totally killed by the costs. Part of this is that we didn't go to lots of outside events/showcases/travel ball, just the two BF events.

A less tangible result has been his maturing as a player and I believe getting out of the "local" box was a big part of that. Our experience was based on a lot of hard work that kind of went in this order:

1) Son goes to BF tryout and gets a mixed review with specific things to work on.
2) Son and I work almost daily for two months to correct the issues.
3) Son experiences (important word) a good level of instruction, camaraderie, and playing at BF tournament/camp. Revised review reflects his hard work and improvement.

His two baseball experiences since then have been very positive. The first was at his college workout, where he did very well and seemed well-prepared for the requirements.

The second has been the high-school season. We have short seasons here (weather). Last year he was a good player that played his role well on a 6-12 team (15R, 3 HR, 14 RBI, .349 AVG, .382 OBP, .556 SLG). This year, he is one of the best hitters in our area and a leader on a 10-4 team that may make the playoffs if we finish well (17R. 8 HR, 37 RBI, .543 AVG, .596 OBP, 1.130 SLG).

This isn't all because of BF events, but the experience was very valuable and we are still happy with what we got. I think we hashed out a lot of this in the other thread, so I know there are other ways to go and things don't always turn out the same for everyone. This is just what happened with us.

quote:

Originally posted by infidel_08:
How do you describe an All-American?

To me an All-American would be the best of the best, a select few. It is a term that is earned not bought. I think that was the biggest complaint about the UA title. You could be an All-American simply by playing (and paying) for BaseballFactory or whoever was the organizer.......

Sorry to tell you this, but there are multiple All-America and World Championship teams, events, etc. Are the words hyped for marketing purposes? Yes. That's the way its always been, for more than just baseball. Regardless, All-America, Academic All-America, All-Conference, All-District, all- whatever, etc. are honors for the people involved. There is no need to knock that.

I am new here and found this post first (and was intrigued) and had to respond. My son has attended the BF PreSeason All American this last Jan. As well as, 2 years at the 16 J.O. in Jupiter. Here is my take from those experiences. The BF called to congratulate us on being selected as an All American (which at the time was just 180 Baseball players invited) we took the bait and by the time we paid and bought airfare and hotel, there were over 200 in attendance. I noticed that the BF had about 20 kids (from there exclusive program) who were "scouted" and reported on frequently, as well as a few kids who were not of the BF Program but had already had commitments. The rest of the boys were just the finacial backing for the scheme. They sure patted themselves on the back listing the names of boys who were accepted to college but from what I could see these boys were already accepted before this tournament even started.

As for the J.O. I did not see a large number of scouting going on, not until the final games were played. If you are going to be seen at the J.O. It is because you are already being looked at and your name is out there. It does help to be on a Large Nationally known team as well.

I want to make sure and say that we all had great vacations amd my son loved playing ball and I am not bitter about either experience, I am just wiser now. I will be more selective for my other boys in the future.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! Whew I din't realize it was in there!