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biged
198 Posts |
 Posted - 11/08/2010 : 09:48:22
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| Thinking about going to the PG Show case Dec 28-30 in ft. Myers, Fl. Don't know if this a good event. That time of year may be slow as far as college scouting. Any suggestions? |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2010 : 11:06:53
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I believe that this is during the dead period for college coaches, so there probably won't be many if any there. However, the PG showcases are for more than playing in front of scouts. You will be graded and a profile posted on the PG website with your son's information. This would include his 60 time, infield/outfield velocity, pitching velocity as well as a write up on what the PG scouts saw in your son. He will also be assigned a grade usually ranging from 5 to 10. It is a really good thing. It is something you can post a link to on another website or put a link to it in an email to a college coach.
My son has been to one of the PG showcases back in September of 2009. We are considering going to this one as well as it is really the last one in the southeast until next September. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2010 : 12:00:58
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| FYI, this dead period applies only to DI coaches, not to DII, DIII, JuCo, or NAIA. All those coaches can attend. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2010 : 15:47:21
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biged,
What school year is your son? |
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2010 : 18:13:27
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| alter-ego, he is a sophomore 2013 |
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Gold Glove
129 Posts |
Posted - 11/10/2010 : 15:12:52
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quote:
Originally posted by biged
Thinking about going to the PG Show case Dec 28-30 in ft. Myers, Fl. Don't know if this a good event. That time of year may be slow as far as college scouting. Any suggestions?
Unless you are going for vacation, spend the same amount of maoney and go to 4-5 winter camps at the colleges your son is interested in. More time spent with the coaches, more visiability and if he has a bad day it's only one school seeing it. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2010 : 10:17:33
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College camps are a good thing, but I think it may still be a little early to start going to them just being a sophomore. If your kid is good, I would suggest going to PG. If he is very good, go to the Main Event in December. If he is pretty good, you may want to wait until the PG Underclass or Top Prospect that is usually held here at ECB in September. I only say that because my understanding is that the Main Event will have lots of top talent from a large area. Like I said, the PG showcases are good because it gets a pretty good evaluation of your son available to the general public including college coaches. Believe me, they know to look there. It is also something that you can use as an independent evaluation of your son's talent to send to schools you may be interested in.
I think the college camps should be saved until fall of Junior year. JMHO. Also, I would only go to the camps of the schools your son is interested in going to. If he has no interest in going to the school, it is basically a waste of money because the coaches of that school are the only ones who will see him. |
Edited by - bballman on 11/11/2010 10:19:47 |
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2010 : 14:47:16
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| Ok, I see some of the pros and cons of doing the big PG showcase. Any opinions on the small Kennesaw state showcase in December? Anyone go? Any good? |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 09:32:10
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I agree with bballman. The National Underclassman showcase in Dec is an expensive venture ($575 for player registration plus gas, food, and lodging. Probably $1200 by the time you are finished.) for it to be your "Just trying to get comfortable with the process" event. Like bballman, I would suggest attending the SE Underclassman showcase in Sept at EC. It is local so you save a lot of money and get to see the process, not to mention be evaluated with a smaller geographic region. Going to Ft. Myers in Dec and coming back with a 7 or 7.5 (out of 10) did not benefit a player in the eyes of recruiting. It may have gotten you in the PG database, but if you have played WWBA tournaments, you are already in there.
If we could rewind to early fall, I would have recommended going to one college camp this fall, preferably the college your son is most interested in. That is where bballman and I differ a little. I think it is good for the college coaches to see you at their camp during your sophomore and junior years so they can see your development and become more familiar with you. Especially if you don't have a good camp the first year, you have another one to go to.
I don't think there is a complete right answer for everyone. You have to see what is best for your kid.
On the flip side, I have friends that have waited too late and start trying to attend showcases their senior year and have to scramble. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2010 : 10:58:39
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I don't think it is a terrible thing to go to a college camp your sophomore year. I just know that 16 is just on the verge of college coaches looking at you. If you are a big 16 year old, or if your talents are outstanding and you can compete with the big guys, then it would be OK. If you are smaller and maybe only played freshman or JV and didn't have much varsity experience, then I'm not sure you want to give a bad impression or get scratched off their list yet. When you go to these camps, you will be competing against juniors and seniors. My opinion is that you need to be able to hang with them. Like I said, it is just my opinion. I have been known to be wrong. It may also depend on what school you are looking to go to, although to play at any level of college, you really have to be pretty good. If you are a pitcher and interested in going to a UGA camp and currently throw mid 70's, you are not going to make much of an impression. You may be there with guys throwing 88-90.
I don't know. I guess it really couldn't hurt to go and go back the next year much improved like Alter says. I do agree with Alter that you don't want to wait till your senior year. Summer after your sophomore year and fall of your junior year are huge to start getting on the radar. Then really impress in HS during your junior year and the summer following. That is when most of the mortal kids will get their offers.
To answer your other question Big Ed, I don't know anything about the Kennesaw State Showcase. I do know they have a very good baseball program and their coaches are top notch. I would find out if there will be representatives from any other schools present and make a decision from there. |
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PowerAlley
6 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2010 : 20:17:36
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My son has been to the KSU showcase twice: once this year and once last year. Overall, it’s a good showcase. Instead of breaking the players out into teams and playing multiple games, they play one long game, and everybody who wants to pitch gets a chance. My son went as a MIF and pitcher both times: got several innings on the field at each showcase, at least four at-bats, and got to pitch one inning (believe four batters each time). My son thought they spent too much time on stretching (complains that too much stretching slows his 60 time), but it’s probably better to be well stretched than pull a muscle. The only negative thing I can say is that there doesn’t seem to be much to do for PO’s…but if you want to pitch or play for KSU, I would definitely attend one of their showcases. The entire coaching was on the field the entire day and made an effort to get to know everybody.
As far as attending showcases your sophomore year or early, I think it’s a good idea for three reasons: to get familiar with the showcase format, to deal with some of the nerves that new comers may experience, and most importantly, to see where you stack up to the competition (and what you need to improve on). Even if your son isn’t a stud, you will be surprised how much the coaches attending showcase pay attention to.
My son did his 1st showcase between his freshman and sophomore years. We went for the reasons I listed above, with no hopes anybody would notice him. During the course of the showcase, four of the coaches on the field took my son aside and spent several minutes talking to him about baseball, where he went to high school, where he wanted to go to college, etc. I didn’t think much about it, but a year later my son was at another showcase, and three coaches from his 1st showcase recognized him and made a point to talk to him. One of the coaches told him that he recognized my son, by of all things, the swing of his bat. All three of these coaches were in the stands and watched him play ball this summer at the WWBA Championships at EC.
Having said all of this, don’t expect any real interest or offers until after your junior year…there are just too may variables impacting a college’s decision on which players they make offers to and for players, what colleges they want to attend. Getting out and getting noticed early, however, can’t hurt you.
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Edited by - PowerAlley on 11/16/2010 20:42:26 |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2010 : 16:28:13
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| Just as a followup to this, we decided to attend. If anyone here is going - don't know what you decided BigEd - PM me and we'll try and hook up with you down there. |
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SouthSide24
44 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2010 : 18:40:28
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| I live down here in Ft. Myers area if anyone needs any tips or questions, be glad to help out. |
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2010 : 21:00:22
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| bballman, just saw your post tonight. If I had seen it earlier, I would have seeked you out. My son really got a lot out of this showcase. We are both very glad we went. I think the biggest thing we got out of it is that my son feels that he can compete. Also, he got some good tips about hitting and learned a few cool infielder drills. Price wasn't too bad either. I really think one would get more bang for the buck going to several college showcases rather then the big one. I simply can't see how one can objectively evaluate 1 player out of 500+ kids. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2010 : 22:48:44
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Biged, are you saying you guys went to the PG showcase in Ft. Myers? I thought you were asking if was a good one to go to. We decided to go because my son is a 2012 and this is probably the last one he can go to while it really counts. Next one he would be able to go to is next September at East Cobb. That would be the beginning of his senior year. We went to the Underclass at East Cobb last year (start of his sophomore year). He actually scored pretty good. His fastball is up a couple mph since then, so I figured we'd get it in while it could still have a positive impact.
Of course it is hard to grade 500 kids, but they have been doing this for quite a while and are actually pretty good at it. They have a ton of staff at all of the activities and usually 2 evaluators at each game. One of the good things about the PG showcases is that they post a public profile of your evaluation. They give throwing velocities, 60 times, a grade and a pretty good evaluation of the player's skills. College coaches will often go to the website looking for information on potential players and you can send a link to coaches for them to see the player profile. It really is pretty good.
Maybe you were talking about the KSU camp. Not sure. I was talking about the PG in Ft. Myers. My offer still stands. |
Edited by - bballman on 12/05/2010 23:00:57 |
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2010 : 13:34:57
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| bballman, I was referring to the KSU. We may go to the perfect game event next year as a junior. If it is one of those "must go" events, then we are in. We go to Miami every Christmas, so Ft. Myers isn't too far out of the way. |
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PG Show Case Dec
