ESPN article on "elite travel ball"

While I read this board pretty regularly I don't usually engage, but this appears to be an attack not on the process, but on a particular organization by someone who wants to publicly chastise something they have no idea about while hiding behind a screen name and an avatar.

This board has an objective of staying positive and promoting the game and the players in the area and yet the vast majority of AKrules posts slant to the negative. Lack of knowledge about programs and process always shows itself in a negative way and frankly comes across like a jealous, jilted lover. The "real" baseball people in this community have no reason to hide behind their screen names as we all know who is who on here, and it is those people who come on here with the right purpose in mind.

All that being said, there are multiple top notch baseball people and organizations in this region who fit the description you provide above including Impact, Diamond Prospects, Perfect Game, and Prospect Wire.

I know which one you are calling out as you make it obvious. So, I invite you to come out from behind the anonymity that makes you so bullet proof and bold and meet with me so that I can help educate you on a process you have proven to have no understanding of. I am pretty sure that Andy Partin, Austin Alexander, Matt Bomeisl and others would be happy to sit down with you as well.

Let me know when we can meet. Also let me know which college coach you would like for me to reach out to help you understand just how they rate and project players and I will be sure to invite them to participate.

In the meantime I will be on a message board about commercial real estate, slamming the companies who are in that business with all of the deep seeded knowledge I garnered from leasing a building.

You had no idea how ironic your subject line would become.

Jeff Schaefer
[email protected]

 

Thank you! I was getting tired of reading constantly negative and all knowing posts from the bitter pill!

 

"Have your son evaluated by a professional that doesn't have an ulterior motive; One that won't sugarcoat his evaluation."

great advice... problem is for some its like going to the Dr for a checkup. They think something might be wrong but dont want to hear the bad news so they don't go.

and if you dont like the diagnosis feel free to get a second opinion.


"The fact is, laying back, playing 6 months of the year, saying "if you're good enough, people will find you" is not longer valid in this day of youth sorts. You have to be active and it's going to take alot of time and money." TOTALLY agree... only works if you are Josh Hamilton in training wheels...

 

But sports isn't like a disease. There are plenty of kids who don't have it at 14 but turn in to players at 18. And plenty 6' 0", 80 mph 12 years olds who turn in to 6' 0", 80 mph 18 years olds.

So the diagnosis should be about potential, not whether someone thinks a kid is a player now. It takes a smart baseball eye to see this....not a dad. The rub comes when a smart baseball guy also has a business and maybe that blurs his objectivity. But that's true in all business, you gotta find trustworthy people, they are out there no question.

 

After having been involved in "travel ball" for almost 10 years they certainly share a number of the same symptoms.

 

Withh regards to Mr. Schaefer - whom I do not know, but have heard good things about personally and organizationally - I would have to agree with the overall commentary of the ESPN piece. that said, I am not delving in to the particulars of organizations here in North Carolina. However, again, the overall climate of the travel/showcase/select/elite youth sports culture is hideous.

This stuff has crippled local youth leagues, and, in part, torn at the fabric of entire communities. (OK, not those in Rowan Co. or Cherryvul...) But hey, times change, right? I mean, the automobile industry backed out on Detroit... All I know is that I have personally fought team chemistry problems at least stemming from the culture of travel ball on many occasions. I had one father tell me a few years back he," wished his son never had to play another day of HS ball again." That he was sure he could," get his scholarship," just from the summer travel/showcase. While I'm sure he was right to an extent, we mended that fence, and I believe we became better men for it. But the comment itself, to me, a high school coach, is problematic.

All I can say is that for the very few instances of "travel ball" helping get one of my kids to the next level, there are literally - yes I said and mean literally - dozens of stories of overblown parents and under-developed kids with half-baked ideas on playing ablility who have met me in the parking lot, or sent ugly emails, or shouted from the stands, or called me in front of the principal. Further, there are quite a few examples of players who did benefit from this avenue (ie scholarships after being "seen" in showcase), quite possibly because they (parents) could afford all the price tags, only to flop at the collegiate level. Again, lots flop, even without travel ball, so maybe that's not a fair knock.

Finally, without naming names or causing direct divides betweeen college coaches and travel/showcase guys (because I'm really not a faction/divisive person by nature) I can say without hesitation that no less than 4 in-state college coaches made disparaging remarks about showcase/travel ball at the winter NCBCA convention in Charlotte. They were just little quips, but they were clearly stated. The general attitude seems to be," hey, showcase is the cheapest, most time efficient way for us to see players, so we're kind of prisoner to it." Again, that's cool. I personally can't offer a college coach the opportunity to see 4 or 5 88 mph arms, 2 or 3 6.7 60 runners, 2 different 1.8 poptimes, 9 all-conferencers and 6 all-staters, ALL while sitting in stadium chair seating,. Not at my little old high school park.

Hey, I'm sure their are some great folks in it. Heck, I know there are. But overall it is a monster.

My apologies to any offended, with deference that I do not know the so-called monster from the inside out and thus could be wrong in some points. All of this IMHO, as they say...

In Christ and baseball,
Coach John Fowler, Glenn High

 

Not my intent

It was not my intent start a thread on the one-upsmanship or call out specific baseball organizations. I should have redirected the thread right after AKrule's first post, but didn't. (my bad)

 

I feel I can be unbiased, yet informative opinion of many of the showcase organizations across the state. I feel I have a relationship with most of them after 9 years. What I have found is that they all have a service that is unique from each other.

On Deck has always been about player development. They design year long programs for each player emphasizing the areas for improvement. They hire excellent coaches that are qualified to help in their development. On Deck has never been about wins/losses or trophy collecting (outside of the PG special events.) Their intent is to make their players better and to get them to the next level. Believe me if any of the Hill's call a college coach that coach is listening.

South Charlotte Panther's, Don Hutchins, is wanting the best talented player, but he insists on players with great grades. His belief is he can't promote a player if he doesn't have the grades- college coaches won't waste their time recruiting them. So Don has turned down some quality players for this reason.

CBC is different than them all. Yes, they are combined with On Deck, but they have always had a different philosophy than others. Schaef doesn't care where other kids play; but he wants to help all of them. Quite frankly, he may love having teams because it gets him back on the field, but if you ask him his true love, he would tell you it's being involved with all of the players that come into the facility. He doesn't care if it's a Dirtbag, SCP, MegaStars, Cubs or anyone else. He doesn't care who they play for, he just wants to help make them better players. This is why CBC is involved with so many things. They are always looking for opportunities out there that they judge would benefit the youth to HS baseball age player. Rarely are decisions made contingent on what's best for CBC...that's not Schaef's style. He ain't a businessman; he's a baseball man.

I don't owe any of these guys anything--well, Hutchins I do, but I've always respected him anyway. I'm never going to bash a coach (outside of one college coach) on TBR. If I don't like someone, I don't respond or volunteer information about them, but I'm not going to bash them. However, there are a some people that have earned my respect because they have shown consistency in their character. Schaef is one of those men. We are very fortunate to have a person like him in our area. It was not always the case.

So when you read that CBC is sponsoring tryouts for USA trials or all of the other things they are involved with that are outside of showcase baseball teams keep in mind two things:

- One they invest their own money to get involved. They don't get a financial profit in doing so...and

- They provide services and a facility that is the best bar none in this area...and maybe the state. Too bad it was not here 10 years ago.

But the bottom line is they are about developing your son, my son or your grandson. They don't care who it is or what team he plays for...and they don't care who takes the credit. Good grief, they have some talented coaches at their place. It's amazing to me the opportunities the players have now....and for many, it's right down the street.

 

I heard a stat called the "rule of 5"....it says that only 5% of all HS baseball players will play in college, and only 5% of college players will play professionally, and only 5% of those will make it to the major leagues. Don't know how accurate that is but it illustrates a point: Spending a lot of money in today's dollar-driven baseball culture is a long shot. It's still a lot of fun and viewing it as a family experience made it so much better for us (just like making a decision to blow money at Disneyworld or some other vacation). I know my son enjoyed most of his teammates and all of his coaches, and the competition and venues were fantastic. Sure there were some long weekends, but those are hard to remember now, but the memories of great plays and great games are still fresh. In our situation, getting under the eyes of the decision-maker at a school camp was a difference maker, but I know others may have a different experience. I will say that following the camp that led to his college opportunity, one of the assistants said they only had a need for a middle infielder and a lefty pitcher. I guess the 100+ attendees knew they all couldn't come to school there.

If we were doing it all over, I would still support playing showcase, but I would invest in some camps at select (preferred) schools earlier. That said, his summer Legion experience was as much fun as he has had playing baseball outside of HS ball....I know that because he told me so.

 

I thought the article was reasonably accurate. A quick look down the list of threads and you'll find somebody looking for 8 year old players. Really....do you think 8 year olds want to play 2 double headers in 95 degree heat on back to back days? This isn't about the 8 year old....draw your own conclusion as to what you think it's about.

Travel ball has had a detrimental effect on the local rec leagues. Within the one league my boys played rec ball in (t-ball through 12 year old), the "better" players have left the rec ball setting to play double headers on Sat and Sun. The problem is, unless they are playing at the "elite" level, they are still playing against teams that do not have a high level of talent.

6 years ago, all of the top level players in our community played LL. From our one league, the players my son played "majors" with... at least 10 have signed with D-1 teams to play baseball at schools like...UNC, UVA, NC State, Gardner Webb, Wingate, ect. Others have signed with D-2 and D-3 schools to continue playing.

My youngest son played his last year of LL this year. Of the kids who played All-Star ball, NONE would have been considered, had the players who are now playing travel ball stayed to play LL. Our league lost 45 players (who would be 11 or 12 this season) and 28 coaches to travel ball that I am aware of, that played LL in our association. Several of the parents said their reason was better competition and "trying to get a scholly". The reality is.....they would see better competition in our rec league (had the mass exedus not taken place) than in the "Select" division of the local travel ball circuit. Most of these fathers, have drank the kool-aid and believe that if their kid isn't on a travel ball team at 12, he'll have less of a chance to play at the next level.

I think travel ball has a place.....at the upper levels. Not at the 8-12 year old level. My opinion is that at the younger age groups, it's less about the kid and more about the prestige of saying "my son plays travel ball".

For the record... My HS senior plays Showcase. My 12 year old does not.