If you are planning on attending a Perfect Game Showcase or a Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau (MLSB) Camp and you want to put up some Top Prospect numbers in your evaluation then here are the top 10 ways you can enhance your player profile Kenny Powers style. Ok, I decided to NOT do it Kenny Powers style because of the use of drugs and alcohol, instead we are going the legal route, TopVelocity style. This is for all position players, including pitchers and catchers.
Using scouting services that record player profiles like Perfect Game or Tryout Camps for the Major Leagues like the MLSB, are not necessary when it comes to playing at the next level but they can help increase your value with scouts. If you feel that you can be evaluated in the top 10% of your recruiting class then it is highly valuable for you to use a scouting services like Perfect Game or even the MLSB. If you fall into the average and are evaluated in the bottom 75% of your recruiting class then this is a big waste of your money and time and the only reason you would want to put your player profile in the public domain with a scouting service like Perfect Game is to show a significant improvement the following year. Caution is advised for those who are going to Perfect Game Showcases or MLSB Tryouts if you fall into the bottom 75% of your recruiting class. This is why you need to read and follow through with these Top 10 Ways to Enhance Your Player Profile.
In this article, I why define the evaluation protocol of organizations like Perfect Game and the MLSB and how you can significantly improve your evaluation and move into the top 10% of your recruiting class. So, drop all of what you have been told or you believe is your road to success in this game at the door and let's develop that Top Prospect Player Profile that you have dreamed of!
Perfect Game & MLSB Player Profile Evaluation Protocol
When being evaluated in a Perfect Game or MLSB evaluation they are mainly looking for athleticism. I know we get caught up in the mechanics of throwing, pitching, hitting and fielding but pure raw athletic ability is really what these scouts are looking for. Here is the actually protocol for the Perfect Game evaluation as posted on their FAQ section on their website.
Q. What is evaluated at a Perfect Game Showcase?
A. The most important things to evaluate on any player are his physical tools. For a position player, that is his hitting ability, fielding ability, speed/range, power potential and arm strength. For a pitcher, it is evaluating his delivery and arm action, along with his selection of pitches (i.e. fastball, curveball, changeup, etc.). A scout is also evaluating how much better he thinks a player is getting with normal growth and hard work (i.e. his projectability) for his body type and athleticism. Attention is definitely paid to a player’s intangibles as much as possible (i.e. hustle, character on and off the field, etc.). One thing that is not especially important is performance, because anything can happen at a short showcase event.
It is important to point out the last sentence:
One thing that is not especially important is performance, because anything can happen at a short showcase event.
This is proof that they are really looking for the athlete and n0t the better baseball performance. They also used the word athleticism as a main category of their protocol as what makes the player "projectable." If we cut through the BS what we get is a scouting service that requires you to have the skill set of hitting, fielding, running and throwing but performance is not the determining factor. At the end of the day the determining factor is pure body type and athleticism!
This means you could walk out on the field at a Perfect Game event and fly out every at bat, launch the ball into the bleachers from the outfield and then if you run a 6.2 60 yard dash you are listed as highly projectable! This is in contrast to walking out on the field at a Perfect Game event and going 3 for 3 with a throw out at the plate and then running a 7.9 60 yard dash and you are listed as average. For example, Carlos Williams is the #1 Top 60 Yard Dash Performer for 2013 with a 6.18 60 time. His outfield velocity was also recorded below average at 83mph which had a very little impact on his projectability which was graded at a 9.5 out of 10.
So, let's cut through the BS and develop what really matters at these events and that is what builds a Top Prospect Player Profile. Here is the Top 10 List!
Top Ten Ways to Enhance Player Profile for Perfect Game and MLSB
This list is not your conventional wisdom of this game. It pushes way out of the box and is becoming the new culture of baseball. This means if you do not marry this approach to your career you will eventually be left behind with the "old schoolers."
- Enhance Force Production - Athleticism in this game and any other power sport is based on force production. All force production comes first through your interaction with gravity and the ground. You can take the best power athlete in the world and when you put him in space he is powerless. Better athletes/ball players not only can produce more ground reaction forces than the average but they can multiply this force up the body into the ball. Training your body to produce more force both muscularly and neurologically is the key to enhancing force production.
- Develop an Elite Power to Weight Ratio - To more effectively enhance force production you must develop an elite power to weight ratio. The best power to weight ratios come from Olympic Lifters. They can push over two times their body weight off the ground in an explosive interval. They also have extremely high vertical jumps because of this as well. From 1.5 times your body weight to 2 times is considered an elite power to weight ratio. This will give any baseball player the ability to generate high ball, bat and sprint speed with a good understanding of proper technique.
- Learn Better Sprinting Technique - Once you have developed an elite power to weight ratio then converting this into sprint speed requires the technique of how to move the body efficiently and effectively to run a low 6 second 60 yard dash. You will need to break up the sprint in a sequence of events all with different mechanics and movements to produce the fastest time possible. We have mapped out this sequence of events for the 60 yard sprint in the 2X Velocity Program. You can learn the basics of this approach in the 3 Part Series on 30 Days to a Top Prospect Player Profile so sign up TODAY!
- Train Better Sprint Technique - Once you learn the 2X Sprint Mechanics to improving your 60 yard sprint time then you will need a training program to help you benefit from the approach. This will involve practicing the motor control of the 2X Sprint Mechanics in segmented parts of the 60 sprint with reps and then training muscular power in a strength and conditioning program along with speed and agility in an anaerobic conditioning program to enhance force production. All of this is laid out in the 2X Velocity Program.
- Learn Better Throwing Mechanics - The same approach is also used with throwing velocity. The position player must learn an efficient and effective way to move the body to generate and multiply forces into the ball. Without these proper mechanics the baseball player is wasting and not converting his efforts into maximum performance.
- Train Better Throwing Mechanics - The approach to training these mechanics like with the 2X Mechanics or the 3X Mechanics for pitchers is with a set of drills that force the position player or pitcher to move force up the kinetic chain (The body) and simplifies the process with smaller movement patterns. On top of the motor coordination training the baseball player must also develop maximum muscular power and endurance to have the athletic ability to perform the movement within the drills effectively.
- Use Video Analysis - If you are going to effectively implement better motor coordination then you must use video analysis to help you measure progress. The body movements of hitting, throwing and sprinting happen quicker than a blink of an eye. This means you need to film the movement and then slow it down so you can actually see what movements are or are not occurring effectively. Developing better mechanics without video analysis is like shooting from the hip.
- Use a Cyclical Periodized Performance Enhancement Program that Measures Progress - When training to enhance motor control, muscular power output and energy systems it is most effective in a program that is segmented into periods that cycle and measure progress. This has been proven the most effective way to produce gains and break plateaus. Following a general baseball training program that is not periodized, cyclical or maximizes power output with an Olympic Style approach is a total waste of time. You are better off just playing another sport like recreational basketball.
- Train in Groups and Compete with One Another - It is great that you are disciplined enough to follow a program like the 2X Velocity Program on your own but you will never work as hard or be held as accountable when training in groups of your peers who are all working towards the same goals. This means find some guys who you know can push you and make you better and challenge them to follow the program with you.
- Attend a 2X VCamp as a Prep Before The Perfect Game Event - There are a lot of training programs out there that promote themselves as baseball programs or are ran by ex-baseball players but very few of them have the science and are advanced enough to build the Top Prospect Player Profile. If you are really serious about becoming an elite ball player and playing at the top level, you really need to consider a 2X Velocity Camp or 3X Velocity Camp!
Player Profile Enhancement Programs for Baseball
If you do not put yourself into a program that is as advanced and as effective as the 2X or 3X programs then you will find yourself dissatisfied with your career in the end. You will live with the question, "What if?" This kind of dissatisfaction is what leads many to cheat in this game with illegal substances. Very few athletes in this game can follow a quick program and get big results. If what God gave you isn't going to get you that D1 scholarship or that big league contract then what are you going to do about it? Are you going to join all of the general baseball training programs out there, are you going to throw a bunch of weighted balls against your garage door, are you going to expect your coach to take you to the promise land, or are you going to build yourself like a high performance machine with an Olympic Style strength and conditioning program to enhance performance along with science based throwing/sprint velocity drills to convert your elite muscular power into ball and sprint speed?
I believe now that you know what it takes to develop a Top Prospect Player Profile and hopefully it isn't Kenny Powers style. We all know how it turned out for him!