Nineteen year old legion players

Close, Braves!

Zach Ward had an outstanding summer this year playing for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League. His outstanding performance won him a spot in "Baseball America's" list of "Top 30 Prospects from the Cape Cod League." Over 42.2 innings, his ERA was only 1.05. He struck out 57 and walked only 22.

 

I agree with you 100%. The key phrase here though is, "to watch". My son played 4 summers of legion and he wouldn't trade those summers for all the showcase ball that could be played. Why would he say that......especially when he also played showcase ball in the fall. Simple.......there is no "team" in showcase ball, at least not like legion. In legion ball all the players are bonded together by 1 commom goal....win a state championship or maybe a WS. The best players are put on the field almost every night with that goal in mind. Your best pitchers are put on the mound to go as long as they can in an effort to give the team it's best chance of winning. In showcase ball....well.....it's name actually pretty much defines it. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is certainly different. It's about getting seen by that one perfect match college recruiter that will help further one's opportunities to play baseball at the next level. So there is a little more individualism involved with showcase ball.

The other thing I heard from him that he didn't like about showcase ball was "they don't play to win". Now I suppose that there may be exceptions to this but the team he played on was that way. It was more important to get all the players in the game than it was to win. In showcase ball that's the way it should be, but it just wasn't his style. He would tell me "If you don't play to win, why play at all". One of his favorite quotes was,"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". As you can imagine, it took a lot of pushing to get him to play what little showcase ball he played and it was equally difficult to keep him playing, especially after he verbally comitted in Sept.

In closing, there is a place for both legion and showcase baseball, each player has to decide what is more important to him. Or do both as the time allows. As far as watching a game.....this fan will take legion ball over showcase ball anytime.

 

I dunno rc...I can think of many talented, team oriented summer and fall showcase teams that would take issue with your characterization of their teams. On Deck O's, Megastars, Diamond Devils to name a few. These teams play every game to win, but more importantly they play to develop the skills of their players.

 

Legion baseball is no doubt the best to play and watch.Read the salisbury paper they had a real good article about the shortstop from kannapolis who had given up playing legion ball until this summer he said it was dissapointing to win all of those showcase tournaments look up in the stands and see a few parents and no fans. He said showcase is more individual. so don't forget that baseball is a team sport .so that 1 player that wants looked at by scouts needs to know it takes 8 more to go with him.

 

Most players want to play Legion, but many college calibre don't until their senior season. I'm sure Brett liked seeing "real" fans at the Legion games, but I also bet he didn't mind going to those showcases and looking out at the stands and seeing 500+ scouts attending i.e. Perfect Games WWBA Championship in Jupiter....different atmospheres but both pretty exciting

 

Its possible for young players to play both legion ball and do showcases too. You just have to do it according to legion rules, as we've already discussed on another recent issue.

The problem is that some communities don't support the local legion teams enough, and/or for whatever reason legion ball simply isn't popular enough in certain areas so the better ballplayers don't even consider playing legion ball, they go out and try to get on a traveling team to keep playing. And its also possible that (in popular legion communities) you have many excellent legion players that simply don't have the contacts or information to get involved in showcase ball.

Neither is better than the other,,, theres room for both. Each gives you different rewards.

 

what not 19 years olds play???

younger players can play jr legion

 

This debate is old news now since the AL season is over today...but my son played 4 years of Legion & just finished his first year of Wood Bat Collegiate ball. His experience was extremely successful & fulfilling. His team finished 2nd in his league & won 2 tournaments.

But there is no comparison between Legion & Wood bat. Yes...Wood bat is far more talented. But Legion ball is by far more fun & exciting & fulfilling. You are playing with friends & carrying the community banner. Wood bat is full of long trips & staying away from home (for most players). And Wood bat is all about self improvement, which is a good thing...But 'team' is a wonderful word.

So I say let the freshmen college players (19 & under) come home & enjoy one more summer eating Mom's cooking & renewing friendships & playing for the hometown team. It's good for the kid...good for Legion ball...good for younger players who aspire to play at the next level...& good for the fans. Everyone wins.

 

Ward was drafted to the reds and just got traded yesterday to the Twins organization.

 

Don't play to Win??

If what RCBBFAN means is they don't bunt runners over often, then I agree with him. Most showcase team coaches understand that coaches or scouts want to see the batters taking hacks, hence that team might lose an opportunity to put a runner in scoring position.

RCBBFAN, I think Braves is correct in saying

I can only speak for the Copperhead showcase teams, and it is true that they seldom bunted - and when they did often it was not called, it happened to be a batters decision based on the depth of fielders, etc. that led them to try to bunt for a hit.