CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – More than 150 budding prospects playing in six indoor facilities from one end of the country to the other will complete the regular season of the 2015 Perfect Game National Indoor League (PGNIL) Session I next week, and expectations for Session II are already running high.
Players in age-groups 12u, 14u, 16u and 18u took part in regular season PGNIL games at Perfect Game Headquarters (PG) in Cedar Rapids and South Jersey Bullpen (SJB) in Mickleton, N.J.; 12u, 14u and 16u at Bo Jackson Elite Sports (BJES) in Lockport, Ill.; 14u and 16u at Baseball Mentoring Program (BMP) in Sacramento, Calif.; 16u and 18u at Golden Triangle Sports Academy (GTSA) in Beaumont, Texas; and 18u only at Kirkland Sports Performance (KSP) in Dothan, Ala.
The involvement of six facilities is an increase 100 percent over the three that participated in the PGNIL’s trial run last January and February; Session II is looking to be bigger still.
“It has been fun having more locations,” said PG National Headquarters Facility Programming and Operations Director Kevin Schuver, who also oversees the PGNIL’s national operation. “We’ve kind of have each corner (of the country) covered now, and that makes it fun for the kids who are competing.”
The PGNIL Session I regular season concludes on Dec. 12, at which point each team should have played two games a week for six weeks. Team rosters are usually only three or four players to maximize the number of at-bats in a seven-inning, half-hour game.
The postseason begins immediately on Dec. 13 with the Regional Playoffs where the players will be able to compete against teams from other facilities for the first time. The National Playoffs are scheduled for Dec. 27-30.
As first reported at perfectgame.org late last winter, all of this made possible by HitTrax, a baseball simulator with remarkable patent-pending technology that, according to the company’s website, delivers a “powerful combination of analytics and entertainment” never before available.
Its features, according to hittraxbaseball.com, include:
- Real-time statistics with visual feedback
- In-depth reporting module for hitters and pitchers
- Remote access to statistics via our HitTrax StatsCenter website
- Player rankings (local and national)
- Adaptable to all skill levels: Little League to Professional
- Gaming module and home run derby contests
The PGNIL web page provides links to rosters, records, schedules and scores and pool standings, along with a link to HitTrax leaderboard and stats. While the technology measures components like launch angles, batting average, on-base plus slugging percentage and average exit velocity, the most telling stat – the one scouts or college coaches might be most inclined to look at – is maximum exit velocity.
Some of the maximum exit recorded during Session I are definitely eye-opening, especially in the 16u division: Timothy Butler from BMP Navy 16u recorded a league-wide high laser of 99.9 mph; Gregory Creamer Jr. from BMP Steel 16u launched a 96.6 mph rocket; Noah Dellutri from BJES Black 16u delivered a 94.7 mph rope.
Ramiro Sanchez from GTSA Black 18u had one leave his bat at 95.5 mph, while 14u participants Konstantinos Papazoglou from PG Black 14u and Jimmy Rybarczyk from BJES White 14u rocketed balls off the bat at 92.8 mph and 94.7 mph, respectively.
Those velos are true and they provide a young player the opportunity to compare themselves with their age-group peers from all across the country. The people running the league at all six facilities can use the Perfect Game brand to promote that state vs. state factor to their players, which further adds to everyone’s enjoyment.
“The feedback that I’m getting from the kids is once they play it, they have a blast,” Schuver said. “It’s really one of those things with the kids where once they play it they get hooked.”
Another bonus is that is starting to resonate with the participants is that they will have their own PG Player Profile Page created once they are added to a league team’s roster. That profile puts the players in the same expansive PG prospect database that includes the likes of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen, among thousands of others.
The facility directors are moving ahead with the signup period for PGNIL Session II, which runs for six weeks in January and February 2016 at potentially as many as 18 facilities in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
Regular Season:
Saturday, Jan. 9 - Friday, Feb. 19 (12 games)
Regional Playoffs: Friday, Feb. 20 - Wednesday, Feb. 24
National Playoffs: Thursday, Feb. 25 - Monday, Feb. 29
Age Groups:
18u, 16u Wood Bat
14u, 12u Metal Bat
What Players Receive:
• Six-week competitive regular season
• Single elimination Regional and National playoffs for qualifying teams
• Regional/National player and team awards
• National player exposure on the Perfect Game website
• Perfect Game player profile
Schuver anticipates a big jump in the number of participants in the northern states during with kids eager to get inside and get to work during the worst winter weather months. Even the kids down south can look forward to getting their swings in in the weeks ahead of the start of their high school seasons.