FORT MYERS, Fla. – This has been a pretty good spring to be a young professional baseball prospect and an alumnus of the Perfect Game National Showcase between 2008 and 2011. Twelve prospects that attended the prestigious event in one of those four years have made their major league debuts in the first three months of the 2015 season.
That’s a sizable number but not a surprising development. Since the first PG National Showcase was staged at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., in June 2001, 206 alumni of the event have become members of the Major League Baseball fraternity. It is what every player that has been drafted after attending the PG National – and there have been 1,764 of them after last week's MLB June Amateur Draft – aspires to, and this year will be no different.
The 15th annual Perfect Game National Showcase begins its record six-day run Wednesday (June 17) and concludes Monday (June 22) at the JetBlue Player Development Complex, the Grapefruit League home of the Boston Red Sox. More than 310 of the top incoming seniors from the class of 2016 will be in attendance, including a substantial number that are in top-50 in PG’s 2016 national prospect rankings.
Each of the prospects comes into the event eager to get their senior-to-be summer off to a strong start in front of hundreds of scouts and college recruiters/coaches. Now that the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft is in the books, the 30 MLB scouting departments have switched gears and will concentrate more fully on the prospects eligible for the 2016 MLB Draft.
During last week’s draft, major league ball clubs made seven alumni of the 2014 PG National Showcase first-round picks – including No. 3 overall Brendan Rodgers, No. 5 Kyle Tucker and No. 10 Cornelius Randolph – and another six first-round compensation selections. Forty-two 2014 alumni were selected in the draft’s first 10 rounds.
It is also noteworthy that the majority of the 50-plus prospects selected to play in this summer’s Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park in San Diego earn that invitation based on their performances at the PG National.
The top-end of the 2016 class is heavy with pitching, which in the collective eyes of the scouting community is never a bad thing. As of late last week, four of the class’s most highly regarded left-handed pitchers – all ranked in the top 10 overall nationally – were scheduled to throw: No. 4 Jason Groome from Barnegat, N.J.; No. 6 Jeff Belge from Syracuse, N.Y.; No. 9 Cole Ragans from Crawfordville, Fla., and No. 10 Braxton Garrett from Florence, Ala.
Groome plays his summer ball with the Tri-State Arsenal and has committed to Vanderbilt; Belge is with Baseball U and is a St. John’s commit; Ragans performs for the Orlando Scorpions and has committed to Florida State, and Garrett is with the East Cobb Astros and is also a Vanderbilt commit.
There will be even more highly ranked and highly regarded right-handers in attendance, including No. 1-ranked Riley Pint from Lenexa, Kan. Pint, who also plays both corner-infield positions, is with the Mac N Seitz organization – he is expected to pitch in at least one event his summer with the EvoShield Canes – and has committed to Louisiana State.
Five other primary right-handers come into the PG National ranked in the top 20 overall and two other prospects ranked in the top 21 are not listed as primary pitchers, but armed with fastballs that reach the mid-90s will most certainly pitch.
This group of righties is led by No. 11 Anthony Molina (Pembroke Pines, Fla., Elite Squad, uncommitted); No. 13 Charles King (Coppell, Tex., Dallas Tigers, Texas Christian); No. 16 Reggie Lawson (Adelento, Calif., CBA, Arizona State); No. 19 Todd Peterson (Lake Mary, Fla., Orlando Scorpions, Louisiana State), and No. 20 Kevin Gowdy (Santa Barbara, Calif., GBG Marucci, UCLA).
The two two-way guys are No. 12 Seth Beer (Suwanee, Ga., EvoShield Canes, Clemson), listed as a primary outfielder, and No. 21 Gregory Veliz (Key West, Fla., Elite Squad, Miami), listed as a primary shortstop.
Three primary catchers will be among the most highly ranked position players in attendance. The group is led by No. 5 Herbert Iser (Miami, Fla., FTB Tucci, U of Miami), who can also play third base. The others are No. 8 T.J. Collett (Terre Haute, Ind., Indiana Bulls, Kentucky), a secondary first baseman, and Thomas Dillard (Oxford, Miss., Dulins Dodgers, Ole Miss), who is also listed as a utility player.
Shortstop Nicholas Quintana from Las Vegas, Nev., is ranked No. 7 nationally and is another prominent member of the powerhouse EvoShield Canes; he has committed to Southern California.
Each one of those prospects – and the other 300 or more in attendance – comes into the event with their minds set not only on earning an invitation to the PG All-American Classic and presumptive collegiate careers, but also on the 2016 MLB Draft. After being drafted, the logical sequence of events would be to one day play in the big leagues.
Four alumni of the 2011 PG National are among the 12 to debut this spring: Carlos Correa (Astros), Lance McCullers (Astros), Addison Russell (Cubs) and Joey Gallo (Rangers). Four graduates of the 2010 PG National also debuted: Joe Ross (Nationals), Blake Swihart (Red Sox), Austin Hedges (Padres) and Francisco Lindor (Indians).
Not to be outdone, there are also three 2009s that started big-league careers in the last three months: Kris Bryant (Cubs), Michael Lorenzen (Reds) and Andrew Cole (Nationals). 2008 National alumnus Slade Heathcott made his debut with the Yankees.
Prominent PG National alumni that have reached MVP, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and MLB All-Star status in the big-leagues include Eric Hosmer (2007, Royals), Madison Bumgarner (2006, Giants), Andrew McCutchen (2004, Pirates), Buster Posey (2004, Giants), Justin Upton (2003-04, Padres) and Prince Fielder (2001, Rangers).
Six PG National Showcase alumni have been selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB June Amateur First-Year Player Draft: Upton (2003-04) in 2005; Tim Beckham (2007) in 2008; Gerrit Cole (2007) in 2011; Correa (2011) in 2012, and Mark Appel (2008) in 2013.
In all, 239 alumni have been either first-round or first-round compensation picks and over 1,700 former participants have been drafted since the 2002 MLB draft. More than 3,100 former National players made college commitments.