The annual Perfect Game Pre-Draft
Showcase is held during mid to late May in Cedar Rapids, Iowa a
couple of weeks before the June Professional Draft. The original
purpose of the showcase was to give the necessary exposure to the
top kids in the Upper Midwest, most of whom either don't have a
spring high school season (Iowa and Wisconsin) or have abbreviated
high school seasons and may have been missed by the professional
scouts. In fact, the invite lists for this event are generated in
large part from feedback from scouts who feel they need to get a
look at certain players.
The Pre-Draft Showcase has since expanded
to include premium players from across the country. If it weren't
for the complication of unfinished high school seasons, the event
could grow significantly from it's current 40-50 prospects. The
goal, however, is to help the professional scouts who do so much to
help Perfect Game during the rest of the year get a read on some top
prospects at an important time of the year for them.
One example of a player benefiting from
the Pre-Draft was Tampa Bay Devil Rays CF Carl Crawford. Crawford
got on a plane the day after his high school season ended in 1999 to
come to Cedar Rapids. Many scouting directors were wary of
Crawford's signability, as he was committed to attend Nebraska as a
highly touted quarterback. Although Crawford didn't especially
shine on the field that day, his mere presence told the Devil Rays
that baseball was his priority and they were able to steal
Crawford in the 2nd round with a $1.5M dual sport
contract signing bonus that pales in comparison to his recent $15M+
contract.
Recent Pre-Draft showcases have benefited
Upper Midwest prospects such as OF Alex Diaz (Mets), RHP Thomas
Diamond (Rangers), OF Ryan Sweeney (White Sox), RHP Zach Hammes
(Dodgers), RHP Eric Cordier (Royals), RHP Joel Hanrahan (Dodgers),
OF Nathan Panther (Indians) and C Jeff Clement (USC).
But just in the past few years, dozens of
scouting directors and countless scouts have traveled to Cedar
Rapids to see players from Florida (Jon Arencibia, Darin Downs,
Tyler Clippard), Georgia (Brian McCann, D.T. McDowell), Texas (Wade
Townsend, Seth Garrison, Charles Benoit, Lance Broadway, Tony
Langford), Louisiana (Matt Walker), Oklahoma (Brandon Weeden) and
many more states and even Canada perform for the last time before
making their draft decisions.
This year's Perfect Game Pre-Draft
Showcase will be held on Tuesday, May 17 at Memorial Stadium, home
of the Midwest League Cedar Rapids Kernals.
