CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The first weekend in January following the New Year’s holiday has been a draw for Perfect Game showcase aspirants for the last 20 years, and that draw is stronger than ever thanks to a change in the 2018 PG showcase schedule.
The 2018 PG National Underclass West Showcase and the PG West Uncommitted Showcase will be held Jan. 6-7 at the Maryville Baseball Park complex in Phoenix, the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Those two showcase events had been held the first weekend in December at the Camelback Ranch complex in Glendale, Ariz., since 2014.
The Jan. 6-7, 2018 weekend will now feature five major PG showcases, including the 21st annual PG World Showcase at the Terry Park complex in Fort Myers, Fla. The World Showcase, which has seen 125 of its alumni make their Major League Baseball debuts, is PG’s longest running national showcase event.
The PG World Uncommitted Showcase (2004 debut) and the PG National Underclass East Showcase (2008) will run concurrently with the PG World, also at Terry Park.
With the two West showcases added to the same dates, it is expected that close to 600 high school seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen – both national and international prospects – will put their talents on display in Fort Myers and Phoenix that weekend.
Those five showcases will be held just one week after the 2017 PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event completes its three-day run (Dec. 28-30) at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex in Fort Myers. That showcase – which first took on the Main Event name in 2008 – is annually PG’s largest in terms of the number of the participants; 430 players were at the 2016 Underclass-Main Event.
The late December-early January dates are perfect for the majority of young prospects who shut their games down in November and December. It gives them an opportunity to stretch themselves out ahead of their 2018 high school seasons, which begin as early as January in states like Florida, Arizona and California.
Prospects attending the “Uncommitted” showcases can benefit by getting out in front of a swarm of Perfect Game scouts who will be in attendance and ready to document their every move. College coaches who cannot be at the events in person can access written reports, videos and written and taped pieces that feature many of the more prominent prospects at www.perfectgame.org.
These events provide the underclassmen – especially those in the class of 2019 – with an excellent opportunity to make a good impression in front of the PG scouts months before they begin what will be a very important summer of play leading into their senior year.
Those early impressions can factor-in heavily when decisions are made as to who receives an invitation to the 2018 PG National Showcase and, ultimately, the 2018 PG All-American Classic.
The PG National Underclass South, PG South Uncommitted, PG California Underclass and PG California Uncommitted showcases are also part of this network. They were held in Tomball, Texas, and Monterey Park, Calif., respectively, on Nov. 4-5.