(Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series that examines the expanding role Perfect Game is playing in promoting the game of baseball).
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – At the conclusion of the 2015 MLB season, which came after the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets in Game 5 of the World Series at Citi Field, 792 alumni of Perfect Game events dating back to 1999 had made their Major League Baseball debuts. According to the Website Rosterresource.com, another 14 PG alumni are on MLB Opening Day rosters, making it likely that number has already exceeded 800.
PG tournaments and showcases have become extremely important events for members of MLB scouting departments and front office personnel to attend, as well as coaches and recruiters at all levels of the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA.
“Perfect Game is a leading resource for anyone interested in amateur baseball, running top-notch events throughout the year which are followed closely by our scouts,” New York Yankees Sr. Vice President and General Manager Brian M. Cashman said. “Organized and efficient, Perfect Game is on top of its game. Perfect Game player information and rankings are a valuable resource for us.”
PG’s Ford appreciates that the company's efforts are recognized: “It has always amazed me how much support we have from college coaches and MLB scouting departments,” he said. “The young men we see that play in college, get drafted or even make it to the major leagues is very rewarding, but it is just as rewarding when we see these kids be successful at other things.”
The long list of positives that can be taken away from PG events in terms of the high level of competition and the high level of exposure provided isn’t lost on the players or their parents. The Perfect Game World Showcase, PG’s longest running national event held in Fort Myers, Fla., annually in the days following the New Year’s Day holiday, provides young pitching prospects an opportunity to get back out on the mound after being shut-down for the previous two or three months.
One of those pitchers in attendance at this year’s PG World was Florida right-hander Conner Nurse, a young 2017 who admitted he was hoping to see an increase in his fastball velocity from the 92 mph he had thrown in late October. But he was being smart about it.
“I was thinking the other day that (my velocity increases) have been moderate. I haven’t jumped a crazy amount at all, and I’m OK with that,” he said while in Fort Myers. “I think you can build slow and steady and then you don’t have any injuries. I think it’s better to work hard to an extent but you don’t want to push yourself too hard to the point where you’re going to get hurt; I think that’s key at a younger age.”
Conner’s father, John Nurse, had no problem with his 16-year-old son coming out and getting in a couple of innings of work in early January. Conner Nurse has already committed to Liberty University so John only wanted to make sure his son made the PG World Showcase experience a positive one.
“I just want him to get to know the other players that are his caliber and enjoy what he’s doing, enjoy being around the other kids and just enjoy the game,” John Nurse said. “That’s what it’s all about, to let him have fun and enjoy what he’s doing, and I know he respects PG. … I tell him all the time, ‘You’re young, don’t stress this stuff and everything will come as long as you work hard and do what you’ve got to do.
“I always said if I could be out here in the warm weather and just watch him play every day I would, and I look forward to being able to do that as he develops and moves onto the next level.”
The next level. It’s the dream of every kid that has ever picked up a ball or a bat or a glove and reaching it often becomes an obsession to the most devoted among them. Of course, “next level” can mean different things to individual players, even those on the same high school team.
The pitcher may be entertaining thoughts of being an early round draft pick and starting a professional career at age 18. The left-fielder, on the other hand, couldn’t be any happier with the letter-of-intent he signed with his hometown junior college, knowing that he will be playing the game he loves at a competitive level for at least two more years.
But when a kid is just getting started, say he’s in sixth grade, and discovers he has a flair for this very difficult game, it won’t be long before he starts thinking about being a big-leaguer. Most will crash back to earth by the time they receive their high school diplomas but others will realize that dream – a select few at the highest of all levels. And with each passing year, it can be said that Perfect Game played a role in helping some of Major League Baseball’s brightest stars reach the biggest stages.
The 2015 MLB All-Star Game was played at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, and the American and National League dugouts were filled with 37 players that had participated in Perfect Game events during their high school years.
Four PG alumni were position-player starters on the victorious AL squad, five on the NL side. Seven AL All-Star pitchers were PG veterans, as were another seven of the NL All-Star hurlers. It is worth noting that of those 14 All-Star pitchers with PG backgrounds, 13 had never undergone Tommy John surgery.
That list included the Yankees’ Dellin Betances, the A’s Sonny Gray, the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner and the Pirates’ Gerrit Cole, all of whom performed at both the PG National Showcase and the PG All-American Classic the summer before their senior years in high school. It also included former Cy Young Award winners David Price, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.
"I went to the (2006 PG National Showcase) down in Arkansas and that was my first time ever doing anything like that," Bumgarner told PG in 2013. "I was playing high school ball and (American) Legion ball, and then I went to do that. It was a different experience and it was a lot of fun, especially getting to see all the different talent that they had there. It's a good thing to get you out there and get you exposed and let all the scouts get to see you. That was the first time I got to do that."
His next stop that summer was the PG All-American Classic, played at Tony Gwynn Stadium on the campus of San Diego State University: "I was honored and humbled to get a chance to go to that one," Bumgarner said. "It was fun and I was thankful for the opportunity. I'd love to be able to something like that again, but that's a one-time deal."
In 2015, Perfect Game alumni Josh Donaldson from the Blue Jays and Bryce Harper from the Nationals won the American League and National League Most Valuable Player Awards, respectively (Harper was at the 2009 PG A-A Classic); the Astros’ Carlos Correa and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant – both alumni of the PG National and the PG A-A Classic – were the respective recipients of AL and NL Rookie of the Year Awards.
That was just last season. Past PG MLB MVP winners include Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, Joey Votto and Mike Trout (3-time AL MVP runner-up). Posey, Trout, Harper, Correa and Bryant are joined by Geovany Soto, Jeremy Hellickson, Jose Fernandez and Wil Myers as former MLB ROY Award winners with PG histories.
Former PG players have never been shy about expressing their appreciation for the experiences they enjoyed. The Astros’ Correa, who at age 21 is already recognized as one of the top shortstops in the game, is ready to join his early to mid-20s peers and PG alumni Trout, Harper, Gray, Fernandez, Bumgarner, Bryant, Cole, Manny Machado, Anthony Rizzo and Nolan Arenado as the next generation of superstars in the game.
In October 2014, Correa returned to Terry Park in Fort Myers with his parents to watch his younger brother Jean Carlos Correa play in the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship. A native Puerto Rican, Carlos Correa was basically “discovered” on Terry Park’s fields while participating in the 2011 PG World Showcase. He later performed at both the 2011 PG National Showcase and the 2011 PG All-American Classic and then returned to the PG World Showcase in early January, 2012.
“It’s emotional, man. It’s very emotional,” he said in reference to his return to Terry Park. “I was telling my parents that the first showcase I had here (2011) and the last showcase that I had here (2012) were the ones that made me, being here with the top players in Perfect Game. It’s emotional to be out here. I still remember the home run that I hit here a couple of months before the (2012) draft.” The Astros made Correa the No. 1 overall pick in that 2012 draft.
The official 2016 PG tournament schedule for high school-aged athletes is set to kick-off in late May over the long Memorial Day weekend at sites in Fort Myers, Fla., Cartersville, Ga., and Glendale, Ariz. PG is the major tenant at the LakePoint Sports Complex in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, and the eight, all-artificial turf, state of the art regulation-sized baseball fields provide the centerpiece of the attraction.
Ned Yost, the manager of the World Champion Kansas City Royals, was among the early backers of the LakePoint project as part of a group that included current and former Atlanta Braves’ managers Fredi Gonzalez and Bobby Cox.
Perfect Game Park South, the baseball portion of the expansive complex that also includes, or soon will include, soccer and lacrosse fields, outdoor and indoor volleyball courts, indoor basketball courts, an aquatic center and a golf course, is LakePoint’s centerpiece.
“What makes this work is the strength of Perfect Game. It’s hard to produce that type of facility and then just hope somebody (shows up),” Yost said last month from the Royals’ spring training complex in Surprise, Ariz. “What makes that facility work for us is our partnership with Perfect Game. They just keep bringing in extremely talented young men to LakePoint to showcase their talents and abilities daily; it’s a great thing.
“It’s good for everybody when you can provide a place like that,” he continued. “When I sit back and I look at my career, I’ve been so lucky to be able to play baseball and to experience success, and you kind of want the same chance for everybody else. You want them to have the same opportunity, and to provide a facility like LakePoint for people to try to accomplish their dreams is very, very special to me.”
Perfect Game Park South and other locations in the Atlanta and Fort Myers, Fla., area will also be hosting dozens of PG Youth tournaments this spring and summer for young players in the 9u to 14u age groups.
PG’s continuing efforts to make available to today’s youngsters the opportunity to learn how to play the game correctly, competitively and, most of all, safely can be seen in in its support of the PG Super25 and PG Series endeavors.
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Opening Day! PG out-front technologically, philanthropically
It’s Opening Day 2016, and the game of baseball continues to evolve and become more of a presence in two segments of American society that benefit everyone: technological advances and philanthropic endeavors. Perfect Game’s partnerships with progressive technological companies like Trackman and Zepp have enhanced PG’s prospect scouting reports, combining various data with the first-hand observations of PG’s impeccable scouting staff.
In a nutshell, Trackman tracks, measures and quantifies 27 data points per play using advanced radar technology; the data it accumulates involves the speed, spin and movement of pitched and batted balls. Zepp technology provides precise swing analysis, recording bat speed, hand speed, time to impact and bat angles.
“Perfect Game will continue to evolve with technology to assist in the assessment, education, player development and health of the prospects we serve,” PG Vice President of Business Development Brad Clement said. “We’re excited to partner with existing and emerging technology companies that provide valuable information about these key components to help improve the play, health and enjoyment of the game in various ways for our consumers.”
All of the data generated by the Trackman and Zepp technologies is now displayed on every prospect’s PG Player Profile Page, website pages that are also going to be expanded and become more detailed in 2016. With enhanced technological advances seeming to arrive almost daily at the speed of a fastball up and in, it is certain PG will be working to provide even more analytic tools in the very near future.
Although not necessarily technology based, Perfect Game also takes a great deal of pride in its partnerships with Rawlings, Nike Baseball, EvoShield, New Era, Gatorade and Leaf Trading Cards. Rawlings recently agreed to become PG’s official equipment provider for the foreseeable future.
In 2009, the Perfect Game All-American Classic was played at Petco Park in downtown San Diego, the beautiful home of the National League’s Padres. The 2006 and 2007 Classics had been played at SDU’s Tony Gwynn Stadium, so PG had been made to feel quite at home within the San Diego community.
During those early years, PG also formed a partnership with San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital, and all proceeds from the Classic went to benefit Rady’s pediatric cancer research center, known as the Peckham Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders.
In recent years, the 50 or so top prospects selected to play in the Classic have been involved in fund-raising of their own to supplement the funds generated from the game itself; more than $900,000 has been raised for pediatric cancer research since PG began its efforts with the All-American Classic.
Just last month, PG became officially involved with the effort to promote awareness of and research efforts for autism by becoming the title sponsor for the Perfect Game Swings for Autism golf event held at the Mesa (Ariz.) Country Club.
The event is organized by PG National Spokesperson Daron Sutton (it was formerly known as Sutton’s Strokes for Little Folks) and proceeds benefit the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC), which serves the state of Arizona.
“We are incredibly grateful for Perfect Game because of the attention they draw to the event and the funding they help raise to support SARRC’s mission to advance research and provide a lifetime of support for individuals with autism and their families,” SARRC President and CEO Daniel Openden said. “… Perfect Game is helping us build a more inclusive community and giving children with autism the opportunity to learn from and interact with their peers.”
There are discussions being held to expand the event into other markets like Atlanta and Fort Myers where PG also has a large presence.
“Our mission is to run the highest quality amateur events possible and that will always be at our core,” PG’s Clement said the day of the event at MCC. “But for any good and growing organization, it’s much bigger than that. Pediatric cancer continues to be our overall largest cause that we do at the All-American Classic … and It’s just great that we can reach out and help people that are less fortunate than most of the players that come to our events. … Quite simply, our goal is to help those in need who are dealing with very significant issues.”
In a move that further cements PG’s commitment to helping fund pediatric cancer research, a partnership is being forged between Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to help raise much-needed research dollars. Travel ball teams that play in certain events at PG Park South will be given the opportunity raise money that benefit St. Jude’s pediatric cancer center, with PG also contributing.
Additionally, PG is set to formerly announce a partnership with Pitch In For Baseball (PIFB), and will assist PIFB in its endeavor to collect and provide new or slightly used baseball equipment to players in different parts of the world so they can play and enjoy the game. Although Perfect Game represents just a small sliver of the world-wide baseball industry it is thrilled to have found its niche and will continue to promote the game at all levels.