Showcase Teams Galore

In case anyone is keeping track....I count 98 showcase teams playing this weekend. This is harder to keep up with than the Kardashians!

 

Big business

 

Lot's of daddy coaches trying to keep the dream alive...

And plenty of organizations willing to take their money...

And 95% of the kids are not showcase level players....

 

While I understand the desire to "play the best and get better in the process" mentality, there is a huge number of the players on "Showcase" teams who would be much better served playing in more local type leagues....Babe Ruth for instance. The reality is most of the players are not "playing the best". They are playing average to below average talent just like their team. Playing all over the entire state at remote HS fields is nothing more than wasting money. If the players talent level is not premier, someone should have a heart to heart conversation with him. Play the game because you love it. If your playing merely for the potential of playing college ball, your in it for the wrong reasons anyway. But, if you have more dream than ability, someone will be available to profit from it.

 

Excellent!

 

Does the responsibility to "clean up" showcase baseball fall on the parents, coaches or tournament organizers? I don't know many organizations that will turn the money away if they can put together enough players to form one more team. And the number of teams formed has pushed games to so many remote venues that even college coaches can not effectively recruit anymore. The level of competition is many times hit or miss which again makes it difficult to recruit the top players against quality competition. It is all a business - as with travel ball in the day. Should there be a method of "qualifying" to be considered "showcase" status for these newly formed teams? Without some form of guidelines, or governing body this too will continue to grow until it loses its effectiveness. It may already be there...but for the sake of the players, I hope not.

 

Today's market, Showcase baseball is a misnomer. There are very few teams that fit this category. If one enjoys traveling across the state(s) and playing competition outside of your area, then that is called travel ball. It's kinda pricey, but can be a lot of fun.

Showcase baseball was designed for the "elite" players that scouts are interested in recruiting. If a family is joining a startup team that is playing in some of those showcase tournaments; please understand that it is a travel ball team...period! Do not have a preconceived notion that because your son's team may be participating in a tournament that "may" host some college coaches that they are there to watch your son's team.

There is nothing wrong in playing in those tournaments. In fact it can be a great experience. But don't let your expectations exceed their limit. The scouts are not there to watch your team play. In fact they aren't there to watch any team play. They are there to watch a particular player(s) who happen to be on a particular team.

If the price is reasonable and the expectations are understood, then travel ball can be rewarding. If your intentions is to parlay that experience into a college offer....well, it is extremely rare, but it does happen. But, quite frankly, the player that is discovered on one of those travel teams is scooped up by one of those "elite" teams....and that's when he is directly on someone's radar.

 

Here's another example of how a player gets recruited at a school. First understand that the player is very talented and is successful academically. If he is not strong academically, then forget NCAA Division baseball. The coaches won't waste their time.

However, assuming that johnnie (AGYN's favorite player) is strong athletically and academically, the best way he can get recruited is by connections....and that's what separates johnnie from others. When a successful coach from an elite showcase team calls a college coach, his phone call is returned. When a Freddy Suggs or Kenny May call a coach, they call him right back..why? Because they trust them. Connections and credibility with the scouts is the name of the game. Some of it can be done for free...while others join a particular team and get promoted. But I have personally witnessed over and over a player being recruited because a particular person placed a call.

So do you have to play showcase baseball to be "scouted."...heavens, no. All you have to be is extremely talented and place importance on education. I know if it was me deciding between two players with virtually equal talent, I am always choosing the stronger student. Recruiters are on a managed budget and great students save them money---to apply to other players. And that other player might be your son.

 

As a former Small college head coach i can PROMISE you that there are better more cost effective ways to get a kid seen as a player. Look at your kid as a business that requires advertising now we have all seen business that can advertise on the Super Bowl at millions of dollars per second. Most of us CANNOT. What you can assume is that for the average cost of a "showcase" team you can buy personal instruction and strength coaches, that investment, the actual work ethic evolved in honing your craft is many times what a Coach would rather see. Id assume that 85% of college coaches are better served to have a kid that works and knows the meaning of WORK. Than a kid who has been courted by umpteen thousand "showcase" guys that promise a pitcher he will get his 4 innings or batter his 2 AB's. show me a kid that is gritting it out playing to WIN a game every time they grab their glove and that kid is an asset to a team. Kids that play enough "showcase/Travel" ball have lost the concept of "if we don't win here we go home and stay home". Because they are just gonna play next Saturday and their parents are gonna hangout in the stands and at the hotel after the game. Parents spend money wisely if your kid has a chance go to an invite workout or 2 do it make contacts see what schools logos you see and email these guys that you have interest in them, but don't drop 6 months worth of house payments to play for a team that is going to earn your kid a $300 book scholarship at a $40k school (My two cents).

 

Rj72cuda.......you make some good points (I think......)
.......But your grammar makes reading difficult....come on, sir, where did you go to school? I need to be sure my nephew isn't interested in attending there.