Legion helps baseball players get discovered

The American Legion and Baseball Factory have created a first-time partnership that will give Legion players and others an extraordinary opportunity to achieve their dreams of playing college baseball. Between Aug. 1-4 in six states (Calif., Conn., Illl., Mo., Pa., Wash.), the Legion and Baseball Factory present College Prep Super Regional, an on-field workout that gives players a chance to be evaluated by professional scouts.

Since 1994, Baseball Factory has helped more than 30,000 high school players make their dreams of playing college baseball a reality. The organization hosts about 280 events a year consisting of baseball tryouts, showcases and training camps. Baseball Factory has also helped amateur athletes attain $500 million in college scholarships.

Each College Prep Super Regional will offer a 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. session where participating players will perform in an on-field professional workout in front of Baseball Factory coaches, as well as college scouts. During the extensive workout, each player will be evaluated on speed, pitching, hitting, defense and arm strength.

Within 72 hours after the professional workout, each player will receive a verbal evaluation of their performance over the phone from Baseball Factory coaches. The evaluation will reveal college potential, areas for improvement and rank among high school baseball players across the country. Players will also be notified if they have been selected to join the Under Armor® Baseball Factory National Tournament Team or participate in an Under Armor® Baseball Factory National Training Camp.

In addition, each player's evaluation will be added to Baseball Factory's online database called Point, Click & Recruit - a free database located on Baseball Factory's Web site (www.baseballfactory.com) to help college recruiters fill empty spots on their baseball rosters. More than 1,100 college coaches have recruited players from the online database in the past six months.

"With these one-day events, we really wanted to do something special for Legion baseball players in their recruiting search," said Jason Budden, senior vice president of operations and marketing at Baseball Factory. "It's a great tool to help players gain exposure as coaches are able to go to our online database and search for players."

Once the on-field workout is complete, Jim Gemler, operations director for Baseball Factory, will conduct a college recruiting seminar for players and their parents. The seminar will outline the do's and don'ts of the college recruiting process, along with steps players need to adhere to in order to play baseball at a higher level.

"The recruiting process in general can be confusing and overwhelming for families," said Gemler. "With all of the scouting and number of players we have seen nationwide, we have the knowledge to give players an understanding of the type of college they should be pursuing (e.g., Division 1 or 2) and targeting their energy toward."

The overall cost for the College Prep Super Regional is $199, but American Legion Baseball players receive a $50 discount. To register as a Legion player, call (800) 641-4487 or visit www.baseballfactory.com/ourprograms/americanlegion/ and use promotional code ALB2010 to receive the discounted price of $149.