Anonymous wrote:Some of these private coaches are terrible too. They sell you a bill of goods like Pitchers Edge so you keep paying for their overpriced lessons when they know you are not going to get recruited. It's all for $$$.

Anyone have insight/thoughts on Advanced Baseball?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The advice we got is to play for your high school, skip the travel teams, train at the facility of your choice and go to Headfirst Honor Roll camps.

This is the ideal strategy for a pitcher - especially D3 HA.

Showball has exclusive deals with a bunch of coaches, so you'll have to go there too if the school of choice doesn't attend HF.

Position players, hope you have a good day at the plate and can manage the weird 1-1 count.

It's really only going to work for D3. Even Ivy D1 barely is recruiting any kids from Headfirst and Showball these days, unless they saw you play somewhere already and want to take a closer look. The flip side is you attend the summer after sophomore year and they start looking at you closer...this I recommend...but no D1 is much recruiting the Summer after junior year anymore since they have nearly entirely filled that class around June. They didn't use to recruit as much like the top D1s...but now they do. Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Columbia and Yale were very aggressive at the GA tournaments...Brown relies mainly on their own camps (but again, you want to attend as a rising junior or Fall junior year and be at a level of interest to them).

The more competitive academic D3 programs (Emory, Chicago, JHU, etc.) are also going to be quirky in their own way. As an example...and no surprise...Emory spends quite a bit of time scouting the East Cobb and Lakepoint GA tournaments because it's super efficient for them. That said, they still are usually only coming out to view kids already on their radar that at least on paper are strong enough students.

The Prospect Select Boston tournament is always basically the same time as the Showball camp at Tufts (tournament is weekend before and then Showball has two camps during the week). Again, that's a popular paring of tournament and Showball for evaluating kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The advice we got is to play for your high school, skip the travel teams, train at the facility of your choice and go to Headfirst Honor Roll camps.

That's only for really smart kid, right?

No, they have a wide range of schools. Highly recommend it. Great opportunity to connect with all the coaches and chances to show one’s skills. Last year they had one at Patriot Park. Much better than showball (much more limited opportunity and much less coach interaction). The best thing to do is start a Twitter and have good video with metrics (from PBR or prospect select). Email coaches and only go to school’s camps where there is serious interest in recruiting your son. I have seen so many kids go to school camps where there is no chance the coach is interested.

In my opinion, the tournaments in the south are not worth it for the time and money. Games are frequently delayed because of storms. You can spend a week in a crappy hotel playing just a game or two and who knows if the coach you are interested in will be there.

Anonymous wrote:The advice we got is to play for your high school, skip the travel teams, train at the facility of your choice and go to Headfirst Honor Roll camps.

This is the ideal strategy for a pitcher - especially D3 HA.

Showball has exclusive deals with a bunch of coaches, so you'll have to go there too if the school of choice doesn't attend HF.

Position players, hope you have a good day at the plate and can manage the weird 1-1 count.

Anonymous wrote:The advice we got is to play for your high school, skip the travel teams, train at the facility of your choice and go to Headfirst Honor Roll camps.

That's only for really smart kid, right?

The advice we got is to play for your high school, skip the travel teams, train at the facility of your choice and go to Headfirst Honor Roll camps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Select one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Agree with all of the above. Certain PG/PBR tourneys are crawling with recruiters and it's easy to have a conversation with a college coach. Those two showcases are worth the hefty price tag. But even if a kid shines in those venues, they still want you to show up on campus for their camp. It's expensive, exhausting and time consuming.

My kid was scouted at one of the Atlanta tournaments, invited to campus for individual tour/overnight and given an offer...no college-specific camp required. This required travel coach having a strong relationship with this college and coordinating that my kid would pitch during the game this coach could attend. It's really important your travel coach cares about winning only in the context of always trying to win even though the kid that that Harvard coach is scouting isn't nearly the ability of the kid the UNC coach is scouting. If the Harvard coach can only attend a game against one of the top ranked national teams, so be it.

As in all of life, if your kid is strong enough and there are multiple offers (or the thinking there will be), then you can circumvent the process.

Great, if the coach happens to see your kid on the main fields, or if they are already aware of the kid and drive for 90 minutes to see them at some random field.

And yes, best way to get on the radar is to have a connected travel coach weigh in.

For everyone else whose travel coach doesn’t have a relationship with the dream school, and they’re not a draft prospect, go to the camp.

You have to understand, for every 100 college camp attendees...only 5 are being watched by the coaches. This is by design as college camps are the #1 way for poorly paid assistants to augment their income. They are sending spam emails all over the place trying to get every random kid to register.

You need to be on their radar before you set foot on campus. It's very difficult to get "discovered" out of the blue at a prospect camp...especially a D1 prospect camp.

I am the pp and I agree.

However, I do think it is easier for the travel coach to make the phone call ahead of a college camp vs ahead of a major tournament. Going out of the way to see a kid play a game is a much bigger ask than to pay attention to the kid at their camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Slect one in Boston is also a good tourney.

With 400+ teams in Georgia each week over the summer the “vast majority” of kids won’t get seem. It’s just logistically impossible. However if your kid is really elite and gets asked to attend the invite events separate from his travel team, then sure, there will be eyeballs. For the “vast majority” of kids they need to attend a coach camp or get seen by local college at local tournaments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Select one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Agree with all of the above. Certain PG/PBR tourneys are crawling with recruiters and it's easy to have a conversation with a college coach. Those two showcases are worth the hefty price tag. But even if a kid shines in those venues, they still want you to show up on campus for their camp. It's expensive, exhausting and time consuming.

My kid was scouted at one of the Atlanta tournaments, invited to campus for individual tour/overnight and given an offer...no college-specific camp required. This required travel coach having a strong relationship with this college and coordinating that my kid would pitch during the game this coach could attend. It's really important your travel coach cares about winning only in the context of always trying to win even though the kid that that Harvard coach is scouting isn't nearly the ability of the kid the UNC coach is scouting. If the Harvard coach can only attend a game against one of the top ranked national teams, so be it.

As in all of life, if your kid is strong enough and there are multiple offers (or the thinking there will be), then you can circumvent the process.

Great, if the coach happens to see your kid on the main fields, or if they are already aware of the kid and drive for 90 minutes to see them at some random field.

And yes, best way to get on the radar is to have a connected travel coach weigh in.

For everyone else whose travel coach doesn’t have a relationship with the dream school, and they’re not a draft prospect, go to the camp.

You have to understand, for every 100 college camp attendees...only 5 are being watched by the coaches. This is by design as college camps are the #1 way for poorly paid assistants to augment their income. They are sending spam emails all over the place trying to get every random kid to register.

You need to be on their radar before you set foot on campus. It's very difficult to get "discovered" out of the blue at a prospect camp...especially a D1 prospect camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Select one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Agree with all of the above. Certain PG/PBR tourneys are crawling with recruiters and it's easy to have a conversation with a college coach. Those two showcases are worth the hefty price tag. But even if a kid shines in those venues, they still want you to show up on campus for their camp. It's expensive, exhausting and time consuming.

My kid was scouted at one of the Atlanta tournaments, invited to campus for individual tour/overnight and given an offer...no college-specific camp required. This required travel coach having a strong relationship with this college and coordinating that my kid would pitch during the game this coach could attend. It's really important your travel coach cares about winning only in the context of always trying to win even though the kid that that Harvard coach is scouting isn't nearly the ability of the kid the UNC coach is scouting. If the Harvard coach can only attend a game against one of the top ranked national teams, so be it.

As in all of life, if your kid is strong enough and there are multiple offers (or the thinking there will be), then you can circumvent the process.

Great, if the coach happens to see your kid on the main fields, or if they are already aware of the kid and drive for 90 minutes to see them at some random field.

And yes, best way to get on the radar is to have a connected travel coach weigh in.

For everyone else whose travel coach doesn’t have a relationship with the dream school, and they’re not a draft prospect, go to the camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Select one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Agree with all of the above. Certain PG/PBR tourneys are crawling with recruiters and it's easy to have a conversation with a college coach. Those two showcases are worth the hefty price tag. But even if a kid shines in those venues, they still want you to show up on campus for their camp. It's expensive, exhausting and time consuming.

My kid was scouted at one of the Atlanta tournaments, invited to campus for individual tour/overnight and given an offer...no college-specific camp required. This required travel coach having a strong relationship with this college and coordinating that my kid would pitch during the game this coach could attend. It's really important your travel coach cares about winning only in the context of always trying to win even though the kid that that Harvard coach is scouting isn't nearly the ability of the kid the UNC coach is scouting. If the Harvard coach can only attend a game against one of the top ranked national teams, so be it.

As in all of life, if your kid is strong enough and there are multiple offers (or the thinking there will be), then you can circumvent the process.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Select one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Agree with all of the above. Certain PG/PBR tourneys are crawling with recruiters and it's easy to have a conversation with a college coach. Those two showcases are worth the hefty price tag. But even if a kid shines in those venues, they still want you to show up on campus for their camp. It's expensive, exhausting and time consuming.

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

If you really know what schools you want to attend…the specific camps are good. Headfirst and Showball showcase camps are good.

I disagree on the PG/PBR tournaments…the PG tourney in FL in early October is still loaded with coaches, as well as the PG tourney in Atlanta, the PG tourney in Hoover and the PBR tourney in LakePoint. All three were loaded with coaches this past Summer

However, that’s kind of it. The Prospect Slect one in Boston is also a good tourney.

Anonymous wrote:The PG and Prep Baseball tournaments are not what they once were. Because of the portal and other NCAA changes colleges have moved their recruiting resources to the summer college leagues. For the vast majority of players you are better off going to specific college coach camps.

+1
They don’t care what you do at tournaments, even the big ones like wwba, they don’t care if you tore it up in hs or were terrible. They care about metrics and their camps.

Also, with the transfer portal, D3 serves as a defacto minor leagues for D1 programs, especially for late bloomers.

Or kids stay D3 and get drafted anyways.

So many collegiate summer leagues these days too. Lots of ways to develop.