My son is 15 going to this tourney with some 16/17 year olds and is very anxious to get there. I am just wanting to hear from anyone thats been there what he (and I as his father) should expect to see, hear while there. I have read a lot and suspect a lot of scouts will be there, are they allowed to talk to you or is that not allowed?
Any other hints or things to think about while there? Any insight will be appreciated!

I suspect we will be there, too. 2B just turned 16 and will play for the 17U team after two very fun falls and summers at 16U.

We haven't been to this tournament before, but we've been to several events in Ft. Myers - 16U BCS qualifier and finals last year in 08, plus the PG underclass showcase last December. If you haven't been there, it's a nice venue - both Terry Park and the Red Sox complex. Plus - you never know who you might see at the Ft. Myers Ale House! Last year, the celebrity was Fat Joe and the Terror Squad.

One thing that some of our parents always got confused about was the location of the Red Sox venue. Don't go to the stadium downtown - go to the Player Development Complex. They are on opposite ends of the same street.

Scouts can't talk to the boys, and if parents talk to scouts, it can come across as kind of dorky (at best). If they like your son, they'll contact the coach, and the questionnaires will start coming in the mail.

2B played in the big 16U tournaments last year at the tender age of 14, and this year at 15. I am sure he would tell your son to relax, be himself, and have fun. The rest will come. He is only 15, so there is no pressure. If he doesn't do as well as he wants, well, he's only 15 and there is plenty of time. If he does great - wow!

Good luck, and have fun!

Thanks for the insight!!!

I could use some insight here. We live in Ga and we just got a call from a team in Louisiana (Marucci Elite) to invite son to come play in this with them. Son is a 16 yr old pitcher. Have no idea how coach knows of us. I have not called him back yet. I would like a better idea in my mind if it would be worth it before I call him.

I would just like an idea how beneficial this would be for a 16 yr old sophmore. Are there a good number of scouts there? Is it good to get on the radar already? How do you deal with missing two days of school? I feel honored that he would get the call, but don't know if it's something we would benefit from doing or if we should say thank you but we pass. Thanks ahead for your opinions.

Myself being part of a showcase program and with teams in 2010, 2011, & 2012 and doing some scouting for a scouting service, I can tell you it's never too early to expose a player to scouts & recruiters.

Unfortunatly the reality is that pretty soon what happened with high school basketball with Summer AAU is going to happen to high school baseball.

I tip my hat off to every high school coach because first of all it doesnt pay well and after you do the math your working for change on the hour but its because we love what we do that we continue to go out there. But the reality is that more and more scouts spend more time at these showcase events like PG and less time attending hs games.

Our program will be sending a 2011/2012 team to the Underclass Championships and it will not only be a great experience but a great opportunity to expose yourself to the college coaches. You must keep in mind that this upcoming spring season they are already recruiting for 2011 and verrrrry few 2010 therefore this event is a really big deal for the 2011 class.

PG does a great job of exposing players to both college and pro scouts and some PG events are a must for your recruitment advantage.

I have heard Marucci Elite and have played against them in East-Cobb but it will be your decision if you want to play for them or not.

If you are that interested in attending post an announcement on this site and see who will reply and weigh your options.

Good Luck..

FDP Baseball Club
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Their are a fair amount of scouts at this tournament. Son went last year and we saw about 10-15 schools represented. Their could have been more that I didn't notice. It seems to be a good place for an underclassmen to be noticed, as the name suggests.

If your son does well he can receive some personalized letters from schools. IMO since it is not as big as the 15 or 16u tournaments at Marietta kids have a better chance of being noticed.

I have been led to believe there is over 140 college scouts and a rep from each MLB team going to be there, could that be accurate?

Most likely you are referring to the Jupiter tournament which is two weeks after Ft. Myers.

Fillsfan, thanks for the info....

Actually that would be quite an understatement for the Jupiter turnout.

I've often wondered, as the recruiting timetable keeps moving up -- appropos of another thread I saw today about HS juniors increasingly getting offers right now -- whether Ft. Myers might grow to be a larger recruiting event than Jupiter. It seems that increasingly, the guys you see at Jupiter have already committed.

Midlo, that is what I was thinking about kids already committed that would be in that tourney in Jupiter. The younger kids I would suspect would be getting a stronger presence of scouts in Ft.Myers (at least I hope so, LOL)

So that no one is confused...

The Underclass in Ft Myers has seen a big increase in college coaches over the years. Not sure how many will be there, but there will be many including some of the top programs in college baseball.

The Jupiter Tournament will have at least 600 scouts and college coaches. Most MLB clubs have already registered early for scout packets. They will send anywhere from 10 to 17 scouts each. That adds up to 300 to 500 MLB scouts plus the Major League Scouting Bureau and other MLB executives. By the time you add 2 coaches from some 150 to 200 or more college programs, there are not enough golf carts in the county to handle all the requests. Also, pretty much all the big sports agencies are there as well. It's really the most "unusual" setting in amateur baseball!

PG, in my investigating, correct me if I am wrong, the Jupiter one is for current Seniors as well as anyone younger correct?

Eric,

The one in Ft Myers is for underclassmen only. Our goal is to find the most talented underclassmen in the country.

The one in Jupiter is for the very best players in the country with a heavy emphasis on next year’s draft class. However, there are some outstanding underclassmen in that tournament. There will be a few players participating in both. In fact, some of the Jupiter teams scout the underclass tournament to search for talent. Sometimes these players are added to the Jupiter roster.

Both tournaments are loaded with talent. It's amazing how many kids we see each year that we didn't know about, or enough about, before these events.

The very best we see at the Underclass tournament are usually invited to the Underclass Showcase at the end of the year. FWIW, Over the past several years many of the very best draft and college prospects have attended one or both of these events.

I try to stay away from commenting too much about PG stuff at this site. I really don't want to give the perception of wanting to sell anyone anything. People need to investigate on their own. All the necessary information is out there with a little research.

If someone really wants information they should email staff@perfectgame.org

Alright, we decided to go. Apparently, the coach found out about son from Perfect Game. Not totally clear if he asked about son based on the blog for the game he pitched or if he just asked for a good pitcher and PG recommended him. Sounded like the later from what he said. Only the basic stats are out on the showcase he went to. No full write up yet (SE Underclass). Anyway, looking forward to it.

See you there!

What team does 2B play for?

Looks like a great chance we will have on our Phoenix Bat roster the Team USA MVP Austin Cousino. Look forward to my son playing WITH him as he has only played against him in years past in our local travel ball!!!

As a follow up to this, I did see a lot of scouts at this event. Every field we played at, there were at least a couple of scouts. One game we played, there were probably 10-12 scouts from various colleges there to start the game. I was very impressed.

We played in the 16u WWBA at East Cobb in July and I really did not see any scouts there. There may have been a few, but it was not noticible. This event, it was obvious there were a lot there.

I will add, it was a very well run event. Everything on time, fields not too far from each other, umpires were very good. Hardly ever heard complaints about calls - how unusual is that!! PG bookkeepers/evaluators at every game. I would highly recommend this event. Well worth the time and money.

Actually we were a little dissapointed in the college turnout. Not so much in the number of college coaches, but the fact that some of those we would have expected to be there weren't there. At least, we didn't see them there. There were well over 50 DI schools in Ft Myers. There were also some MLB scouts and of course many agents. Nowhere near the total that we will see in Jupiter later this month, but very impressive for a strict underclassmen event.

Here are some of the DIs who were there, nearly all of these had two coaches in attendance...

Florida
LSU
Virginia
North Carolina
Miami
Florida State
Ga Tech
Alabama
Tulane
Clemson
Louisville
South Carolina
Tennessee
Georgia
Maryland
Boston College
Duke
Auburn
Wake Forest
Va Tech
East Carolina
Notre Dame
Michigan
St. Johns
Army
Pittsburgh
UCF
South Alabama
Southern Miss
Seton Hall
Stetson
Fl Atlantic
College of Charleston
Western KY
FL Gulf Coast
Elon
Long Island
Northeastern
William & Mary
There were others, but the list above is who we were able to identify. There was no sign in sheet or registration.

We identified 18 schools from either the ACC or SEC. This without a single 2010 grad playing.

2 weeks earlier many of the top colleges in the West attended the PG National Championships in AZ. Recruiting sure has changed!