By David Yorke
Senior Advisor,Victory Collegiate Consulting

Baseball showcases and tournaments will give college coaches a first-hand look at a prospect that can offer a more genuine evaluation. Choosing the most “strategic” venues is crucial, but knowing how to streamline your effort will help you focus on the quality of showcase events rather than the quantity.

One of the primary recruiting areas that college coaches focus on is the evaluation of raw baseball talent of prospects that are listed in their active recruiting file. If a prospect chooses a popular tournament that may result in a weekend of success and none of the college coaches on his A list are in attendance, it may not have been worth the effort.

Dave Yorke is a former 12 year college baseball coach and current senior baseball advisor with Victory Collegiate Consulting. Dave provides individual advisement for families and prospects in navigating the college search.

College showcases defined

The first and most common type of showcase is referred to as a baseball combine. Anywhere from 30 to 200 recruits will be in attendance and college coaches on site will receive a packet of pertinent academic, athletic and contact information. Typically the players will be timed in the 40-yard dash by showcase officials. The pitchers will then be sent to the bullpen where they will throw a short bullpen session with coaches watching and radar guns as far as the eye can see.

The position players will be put through several position specific defensive drills followed by a round of batting practice (usually between 12 and 15 swings).

Although these showcases are attended by hundreds of college coaches, these events are not ideal venues where coaches can get a read on a player. After a showcase, a good college coach will assemble a list of players that potentially fit both academically and “position specific” into their program. Coach will email those players and determine when and where they will be playing future games.

The second type of showcase is a showcase tournament. This is the preferred method of recruiting for college coaches and for good reason. We are baseball coaches and we like to watch baseball games! Coaches can look at 40-yard dash times and radar gun readings all day long, but players never run a 40-yard dash in a baseball game. Showcase tournaments give coaches a feel for how you play the game, how you respond to success and more importantly, how you react to failure.

Prospects attend these showcase tournaments with a local travel team. The larger and well known tournaments will attract members of the coaching staff from nearly every college baseball program in the county.

The downside of the showcase tournaments is that not every player in high school is asked to play for these teams. That said the combine model could be the starting point for the player who wants to begin the recruiting process.

Determining events to participate

This is a very important area that requires research, along with a team approach with your club and or high school coach. Firstly, you want to determine which events are most popular and attract a higher volume of athletes from a diverse geographic region. A great start to locate showcases in your region is to do a quick google search. Secondly, you want to get an historical perspective of the event and determine past attendance by college coaches and more specifically who attended.

College coaches will make every effort to attend off campus tournaments, but they cannot attend them all. Coaches strongly value “economy of time and effort” and will look to attend tournaments where numerous “active prospects” will be in the same tournament. Since college coaches are bound by strict contact rules, I suggest the prospect or parent call the college coach directly and determine which future events he/she plan to attend.

Communication

You might have a great experience at a particular showcase, but if your aim is to give college coaches the opportunity to evaluate your talent and they don’t get a chance to watch you play, it can be all for naught. Contacting the coaches and providing them with detailed information (date, time, location of games) and encouraging them to evaluate you is a strong start. Consider asking your travel coach to follow-up with a select number of college coaches on your A list. This approach can lend grip and credibility to your request.

It’s important to have a backup plan for college coaches who do not have the opportunity to watch you play. Videotape your tournament play and identify “standout” moments of the tournament. Develop a seamless post-tournament highlight video and upload it to YouTube. Develop a recap email for all coaches on your list and include the link to your highlight video. The coaches will appreciate you effort.

College showcases are exciting events that provide prospects the opportunity to display their talent to college coaches. Working in concert with your parents, high school coach and advisor to analyze your recruiting goals and determine the type of showcases to attend is imperative. Two of common missteps parents and high school players make is attending too many or the wrong showcases. Considering the volume of prospects, college coaches are evaluating they need to streamline recruiting to a fine art and narrow down the quantity of showcases they attend.

Prospects, parents and travel coaches should take equal care in identifying showcases to attend. More is not necessarily better and the prospect that does his homework and makes a proactive effort to organize and manage the college search will position him best. For example, assembling a realistic group of potential colleges that match the prospective student-athlete and determining if the coaches from these schools will be in attendance at certain events is a great start. In any case, prepare for the college search well, make good informed decisions and stick to your game plan and you will have the best chance to make the showcase circuit work best for your needs.

Dave Yorke is a former 12 year college baseball coach and current senior baseball advisor with Victory Collegiate Consulting. Dave provides individual advisement for families and prospects in navigating the college search.

For further information visit: www.victoryrecruiting.com.

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