Crack of the Bat
By David Rawnsley
National Underclass Showcase
The largest and perhaps most important showcase that Perfect Game holds each year is coming up this December 28-30 at the Boston Red Sox 5-plex and Terry Park in Fort Myers, Florida.
The National Underclass Showcase has featured over 1,000 combined prospects over the last two years and is expected to break all attendance records this year. It wouldn't be surprising to see some 500 of the finest young baseball players in the country in Fort Myers.
What makes this event so important to Perfect Game is that it's the first opportunity we get to see the vast majority of these players perform in a showcase environment, or in many cases, at all. The PG rankings list swells significantly as the scouting information is processed and ideas for major events for the following summer, such as the 2006 PG National Showcase, begin to take shape.
And don't think that there aren't hundreds of college coaches and like numbers of professional scouts and advisors that aren't waiting anxiously for the top prospect lists and reports to be published.
As mentioned, this will be the first time that many of these young players will have participated in a PG showcase. Here is a list of some unofficial "Do's" and "Don'ts" of the showcase if you are a player, broken down by different parts of the event. There may even be a bit of advice or two for parents as well.
Primary Rule #1: Have Fun! You're all very good baseball players and the Perfect Game professionals watching and evaluating you are all very good at what they do. Relax, enjoy yourselves and show us your skills and tools.
Primary Rule #2: Always Be Early! A Perfect Game Showcase is a finely tuned event and, weather permitting, can be run with clockwork type precision. Last year we ran 20 teams of batting practice on one field on one day at this event and finished 2 minutes late. That's 6 seconds per team late, over 10 hours. Be ready and be early.
Sign In
Team rosters by team color will be posted on the PG website prior to the event. Style conscious players (or parents) can make sure that they color coordinate their socks/pants, etc. if they'd like.
There will be an opportunity to sign in at the PG hotel (details to be announced) the night of the 27th. You will pick up your jersey and schedule information at this time. If you can't make it the night before, show up early the next morning at the announced time. Stretching and announcements start around 9:30 and drills/60/etc. start very promptly at 10:00 am.
Make a good first impression if you sign up the night before. You're at a baseball event, not hanging out with your buddies back home.
60
Make sure you get good and loose. If you have a pre-existing leg injury, Please Don't Run! It won't be held against you if you say "My hamstring is really tight....." If you run when injured you could seriously impact your performance the rest of the showcase.
Primary pitchers can run or not run as they see fit. If you don't run, no one will think twice about it.
The most important part of any "race" is the start. Be ready. Things move quickly once we get going.
Run all the way through the finish. You'd be amazed at the number of players who ease up at the end. What's a couple more steps!
Outfield Drills
1 throw to second base, 2 throws to third base and 2 throws to home. All throws are radar gunned and the top throw listed. Scouts watch for actions, hands, approach to the ball, release, accuracy, etc., so it's not just measuring arm strength.
If you are a primary pitcher, strongly consider not taking outfield or infield drills. You're there, mainly, to be evaluated on your pitching ability. Don't potentially weaken your arm in the short term by going all out in a drill. We'll see your arm strength well enough on the mound.
Infield Drills
All infielders except first baseman take ground balls at shortstop. If you are a primary third or second baseman, that's noted on the roster and will probably be evident by your skills/tools as well.
First baseman: Take the throws from your teammates, i.e. Navy 1B with Navy IF, Teal 1B with Teal IF. This makes it easier to evaluate first base defensive skills.
Same routine as Outfield Drills. Players are being evaluated on much more than arm strength. Also, same advice to primary pitchers. Strongly consider saving your arm for the mound.
Catching Drills
4 throws to second base. Best velocity and best pop time (even if separate) are what's recorded.
We don't adjust times for catchers who are obviously "cheating" (standing up early, crouching in a turned and loaded position, jumping out in front of the plate early) but we do make note of it and it is factored into the overall evaluation.
Dads: Our pop times are correct. You'd be amazed how often we have dads tell us that our times are slow. They seem slow sometimes because they are being done properly. But if you put 2 experienced scouts together with 2 watches they will be within .05 sec. almost every throw.
NOTE: All drills require the help of other players to catch throws, shag balls, etc. Trust us, we remember who the players are who want to help, hustle and are enthusiastic. If you want to learn a couple of "off the record" things, try and be the guy who shags for the fungo hitter with a couple of scouts standing around.
Batting Practice
Batting practice is one of the most important things you will do at the showcase, so don't underestimate its importance. Be loose and ready and have a plan! You've all taken a ton of BP before, so don't act like it's something new.
Each hitter will get 10 swings. Switch hitters need to announce themselves to the staff member running BP and will get 6 swings from each side.
Pitchers can choose to hit or not hit depending on their own desires. We do reserve the right to save our BP pitchers a few throws if it is too obvious a young man's baseball future does not involve a bat.
Before the last swing, the staff member will announce "Coming Out". Run out the next swing hard to first base so we can get a home to first time, regardless of where your hit goes.
Players, don't judge your BP performance on how far you hit the ball. We're looking at far, far more than where the ball lands. In fact, most times we don't even watch to see where it lands. Seriously.
Parents: Please, do not talk to the PG scouts who are taking notes and evaluating the hitters under any circumstances. Each hitter deserves 100% concentration on every pitch, just as your son does.
Games
See Primary Rule #2 above. If a game ends early, we'll be trying to start the next game early.
The games are obviously vitally important for the pitchers, so pitchers need to do everything possible to properly prepare for their innings. Each showcase team has a PG staff member coach. That coach has a pitching rotation and batting order that is determined prior to the event. Pitchers should consult with their coach as soon as possible on when he will be pitching.
Stats are not important in the evaluation process. It's far, far too small a sampling to have any validity. A player who goes 0-3 can be much, much more impressive as a prospect than a player who goes 3-3. A shortstop who boots 2 balls and throws another into the dugout can evaluate much higher than a player who makes every play cleanly for 1 game. That's part of scouting. The same thought applies for pitchers. So don't get hung up on short term performance.
Same thing with the Umpires. All the umps have done PG showcases before, most of them many, many events. They know the events are for the players and the scouts. Don't get excited about any particular call or non-call because it's just not that important.
Please become familiar with the Showcase Game Rules in the program. Maximum 6 hitters per inning. No base on walks or HBP. All fastballs after a BB/HBP. Most games are 10 innings, depending on the availability of pitchers.
We're always amused when well meaning parents ask the PG scorekeeper/scouts what the score is. Technically we could figure it out, but we are definitely not paying attention.
PLAY BALL!