How political is this thing? I reviewed some of the players from their Undergrad showacse held in January and was a bit confused. A friend sent his son as a C and felt he got a raw deal. I went and reviewed a bunch of the C's on their website and would have to agree. This kid had pop times of 1.95 and was 16th out of 500 kids in the 60 ( 7.2 I think) and did not make the "elite" teams. How come? One of their C's had pop times of 2.07 and ran the 60 in over 8 sec., yet he made the team.

I'm thinking of sending my son, but I want to make sure this is an honest deal and not alot of politics as it appears to be.

Anyone have any comments for me?

Paul...Best organization of its kind in America and very objective. They have no reason not to be. Their growth speaks for itself.

Quality and now quantity combined.

Sounds like your friend has had sour grapes for breakfast. Same catcher could be 1.95 at one time and then 2.07 the next throw. Running doesn't matter much to a catcher.

7.2 is not likely #16 out of 500 at a PG showcase.

If you have it, spend a few bucks and see. If your son can play, he'll be rewarded. If not, he'll make excuses and you'll hear the mom and dad "bit.." about PG. Happens all the time.

Our experience has been PG is very above board and professional. But we've never attended a "tryout" for anything.
What immediately comes to mind though is: What else did the kid do? Can he hit? Can he catch? Pop times and speed are great, but there's more too it than that. If he has a bunch of holes in his swing, or can't block a ball....?????? Or maybe someone had all those tools and he lacked in some area????

I'll tell you another thing, based on our experience. If you keep trying to figure out the "why did they pick this kid over that kid" or "why is this kid rated higher than this kid?" you'll drive yourself CRAZY
Believe me I know! The advice I've gotten on this site helped me see that and how futile it is to go down that path.
(Sometimes I start to go there, and I'm gently slapped back into the right frame of mind )
These people, coaches, scouts, PG, Team One, College Select, are in the baseball business. I don't think they're going to select or promote or "overrate" anyone just because of politics. If they did, they wouldn't enjoy the excellent reputations they do. (Or credibility either)
Just my 3 cents

_______________________
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

As far as the 7.2 goes, I guess they noted it was a slow track. SOme kids were over 8, so I assume it was real slow. I would guess this kid usually runs around 7.0. He said he didn't hit great in the games, but hit well in practice, so I assume that was why he was didn't make the elite team. But any C with a pop time over 2 has no business being there either unless they want him to play 1B!!

I'd like my son to go one of these, but the $s is a factor, and I just wanted some feedback on these things. I had another friend send his kid and he loved it. Had nothing but good things to say about it.

PG is the real deal. They'll evaluate and give their objective opinion. You may not like their evaluation and you'll have to be ready for that. I've never seen them evaluate in a hurtful way...that is they do look for the positives. I have seen no evidence whatsoever of politics playing into their evaluations. They don't claim to be "perfect," but they're pretty darn good at what they do. And as others have stated, they're well regarded by both the pro and college scouts.

I dont mean to have this sound like I am being negative towards "parents" in general so don't take this wrong.

Most (probably 75%) of parents do not understand what is envolved in the evaluation process. There is more to an evaluation than pop times and 60 times and mph readings. Those things are used as references.

I still to this day hear parents tell me, his times were off, the track was slow, they only checked his velocity for 1 inning....stuff like that.

An evaluation or at least a good one takes experience and an understanding of what is expected at the next level (college or pro). An evaluator attempts to project a players potential down the road in realation to where he is right now. Perfect Game does an outstanding job of this evaluation process. I have watched them since they started and believe me you will here Jerry say this a lot. We are not perfect, but they are close enough with their accuracy that both Professional and Collegiate Scouts consider their opinion on players when deciding to track a player for their team or organization.

What I am saying is that there are no specific rules for evaluating. You have to have a nack at it and they (PG) have a pretty good sense when it comes to evaluating players. They put an incredible amount of effort into their evaluations, it is definitely not "political". This is not mommie and daddy ball on a local level at all.

I watched every single pop time and recorded every single pop time during the Underclassman from behind home plate...just for my consideration as we were looking for a catcher for our summer team. There were only 4 catchers, thats right only 4 in my opinion that were sound fundmentaly in all areas of footwork and making throws. In fact a catcher that I knew was good had only 1 time below 2 (a 1.97) during the pop time sessions. This same player, threw a 1.87 in a game later that night with a left handed batter and on a curveball.

There are ways to understand the game and one of them is applying what you see in games rather than what you see in stagged situations like pop time throws and 60yard dashes. The obvious question is .... so why do they do the staged stuff. Again, that is for reference only. They look at that only as a reference to what they see in games.

I hope I have helped everyone understand that there is more to an evaluation than 60 yd dashes, pop times, and mph. I have been at this a long time and can tell you that nearly every time there is a complaint it is directly related to jelousy or insecurity.

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"The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards!" - PAUL BEAR BRYANT

Very, VERY well put TFusa20.

Our son went to an ID showcase in November, and I thought their evaluation of my son was pretty accurate. It also helped us in the fact that it told us what he needs to work on, and at the same time gave us hope that he was indeed a good player. Or at least, could be there in the near future with a little tweaking. I'd spend the money. We've been to numerous camps trying to find out what he needs to do, and the Perfect Game people were the first ones to really put it in black and white for us. I'd rather have someone break it down to me so I know what to fix, than for someone to blow sunshine up my behind and I have no clue what he needs to work on.

Paul,

How ya doing? I use to converse with you over at InfoSports as BigDS several years ago.

I have faith in PG! They evaluate on what potential they see, not necessarily on that day's performance. They know what they are looking for and understand a good player can have a bad day or a bad player with poor mechanics can have a good day. They look past that and try to evaluate potential for growth.

If you can afford it I would go.

BTW, we are looking to send my youngest son to a College Select Showcase in your neck of the woods (Binghamton)in August, You might also consider sending your son there too.

Play every game as if it were your last

BigWI,

We are most likely going to do College selct in August as well, so we'll have to get together. I think this PG thing is going to be right for him. Sounds like pretty no-nonsense stuff.

Just to confirm the previous posts, my son has been to one Perfect Game event, and they are a first class organization, very well respected by pro scouts and college coaches. My son is not a top prospect, but we thought they accurately judged both the things he needs to work on, and some areas of strength or projectability.

Also, as mentioned above, Perfect Game selects a list of "Top Prospects" from each event ... not always the players who had the best performance TODAY, but those who are prospects for the next level.

PAul,

Which PG event are you looking at?

Yeah we'll have to get together in Binghamton. That would be cool, after all these years.

Play every game as if it were your last

Paul,

A suggestion - dont worry about the pop times and the speed and the 90 MPH nonsense.

Have your kid ready to go - and attend a top notch event - like PG - among others. Thats it.

Dont get caught up in the carnival act of who can hit the clown head the highest up the bar - if you know what I mean. That is alot of what some of the showcases have become. Has absolutely nothing to do with actually playing the game.

There are a ton of kids who flash great 60's - but have no clue how to run the bases. There are a ton of kids that put on a great show in BP - but absolutely stink at the plate in a game. And there are a ton of guys that throw 85 mph across the infield - but have no clue how to play in a game situation.

Dont get caught up in the numbers. Just have your kid ready to go - and ready to show that he can play the game.

Good luck.

I agree with its on this...my analogy has always been ...there are those that can do the mulitiplication tables by heart but when it comes to solving the problem they are clueless...there are those that can run, hit, and throw great but when it comes to putting it all together they falter...just my observation

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

PG saw things I and my son did not see. After pitching in a game on Saturday my son and I agreed that he was not a top prospect, and decided to go home Saturday afternoon. Imagine our surprise a couple of weeks later when we saw on the PG web site that he had been selected for the prospect games on Sunday.
Botom line parents and players don't always see objectively.

The dollars spent are well worth it. Perfect Game Scouts are very good. We are committed to Perfect Game as the Premier Tournament Host and Scouting Service. Parents evaluate their kids, they don't evaluate thousands of kids. Perfect Game does and they know what they are doing. Go, it will be beneficial. Then get your son on a team that goes to Perfect Game Tournaments and you will see why it's a very good organization.

PFBear -

Perfect Game is a great tool for your son and your family to help you through the PROCESS of being recruited for baseball after high school. Their evaluations are honest, and help the athlete know what kind of future he may have and at what level.

They expertly recognize good fundamentals and know how to evaluate the tools a player needs to play at every level.

(The player you are talking about may have better speed or pop time but may be lacking in another area that they see as important to college of pro ball. - Only PG can tell you)

The Top Prospect Showcases are VERY well attended by coaches from all areas and all divisions, Ivy league, JUCO, etc. If your son is a junior in HS and does well - be prepared for your phone to start ringing on July 1 !!

I highly recommend that you take the opportunity to go to a PG event. Have your son mentally and physically ready to do his best and if your son loves baseball..........he'll enjoy it!

There are a lot more things that go into a player evaluation other than pop times and sixty. The key ingrediants are ability to hit and play defense.

My son attended Western Regional Underclass Showcase and I found it to be very worthwhile. I think that evaluations were fair and reasonable and very reflective of players performance during three day event.

One thing to remember is that evaluations are based on projections of how player fits into next level.

I for one would encourage you to attend. I am taking my son to Perfect Game National Underclass Showcase

All great points here. As a parent whose son is ready to go to the "next level", he may not have gotten there without the help of PG.
I know so many kids who have attended their events, and after reading their evaluations, I would say that PG is 99% accurate.
Very important thing to remember if you attend, evaluation is, as stated in this topic, based on the next level. One needs to forget about the pop times, yard times, walks, strikeouts, etc. Some parents use the evaluation as a tool to help the player work on specific areas, and appreciate the feedback. Others just can't accept that their player, when compared with his peers from ALL over the country, are not a 9 OR 10.

PG IS A CLASS ORGANIZATION
The only thing I would recomend to whoever is going to any of their showcases is to be ready to play and not to came up with excuses. Kids will soon find out how they are is relation to other players around the country.