National Showcase Sets the Tone

Jheremy Brown

We're on the eve of the biggest showcase event on the national circuit as nearly every top player in the country will descend upon Phoenix, Arizona with the 2024 National Showcase set to kick off, a showcase that has produced nearly 3,000 MLB Draft picks as the stands will be packed with pro scouts from each of the 30 MLB clubs.

From July 1st to the 5th, roughly 330 of the top players from the class of 2025 will be broken up into three sessions where they'll all showcase their skills from running the 60, to defensive works and BP where we'll see if anybody can splashdown in the pool out in right field, or eclipse the moon shot off the bat of Aiden Harris during last year's event deep out to left field.

Dating all the way back to the first National Showcase in 2001, over 600 MLB players have gone through the same drills as what the next wave is about to experience this upcoming week, from Buster Posey and Freddie Freeman to Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler. The National also serves as an important step in the evaluation process for assembling the PG All-American Classic rosters, a premier event which returns to Chase Field on August 18th.

The VP of Scouting Operations for Perfect Game, Jered Goodwin, has attended his fair share of National Showcases and when asked why the National is so high coveted he responded: “The National Showcase is such a unique event when you look at the amount of tremendous players, from all different areas, that come play together on a major league field. The history of talented players is incredible. Looking back at my first National Showcase, I got to see Christian Yelich, Kris Bryant, and Manny Machado all compete on the same field as High School players. The depth of the talent has escalated each year from that point on.”

Every year players come from around the country to make a statement, not only that they belong in the same breath of being amongst the best at their age, but that their talents deserve to be on the radar of every professional team, something made possible throughout the National Showcase as teams are typically out in full force, evaluating every aspect of the week. The rosters are absolutely loaded this year as well, featuring nearly every player within the top 100, though it's the players who are on the outside looking in that'll come with an extra bit of fire to break in and jump themselves towards the top of the rankings, looking for one of those roster spots for a return trip to Phoenix.

Catching up with Perfect Game's Scouting Director Vinnie Cervino, he had this to say about the National Showcase and the importance of the event: “The National Showcase allows our staff, along with hundreds of pro scouts, get a showcase setting to see the top high school players for the upcoming draft class. It also allows us to see first hand the players we will be selecting for the Perfect Game All-American Classic”

Led by the No. 1 overall player Ethan Holliday, the top 10 of the class has some serious West Coast flavor as he's followed by No. 2 Seth Hernandez (California), No. 3 Quentin Young (California), No. 4 Xavier Neyens (Washington), No. 5 Dean Moss (California), No. 6 Billy Carlson (California), No. 7 Sean Gamble (Iowa), No. 8 Brady Ebel (California) and No. 10 Kayson Cunningham (Texas) with the lone East Coast representative coming from North Carolina in No. 9 Coy James.

Speaking of No. 1 overall ranked players, Cervino brought up the performance he took in from Bobby Witt Jr., one of the most exciting players in all of baseball right now for the Kansas City Royals. “Bobby Witt Jr. had long been the No. 1 prospect in the 2019 class but at National he made everything look effortless. The speed, defense, the swing; he looked like a pro already playing as a rising high school senior.”

Safe to say some things simply don't change as Witt Jr. is doing it at the highest possible level right now and continues to make the game look easy while becoming one of the faces of the league.

The memories are endless and you could go around the stadium this week, asking different scouts and Perfect Game staff alike and no two answers may be identical. It's easy to take things in hindsight after classes graduate on to the draft and ultimately pro ball, but some moments are nearly timeless and two in particular truly stood out to Goodwin.

“This comes down to two times for me. The 2011 National Showcase Home Run derby was the first real moment for me that I realized how special this event was. A big crowd came back to watch, I got to throw the Derby, and Alex Bregman put on one of the best shows I can remember. He launched balls with unreal consistency. Getting to know him a little bit those three days I realized I threw to a future super-star. The second was seven years later when I was reminded how special the event is. June 14, 2018 was a unique schedule of smaller workouts followed by games for six teams. There was absolutely no breaks on a day and it was electric. Bobby Witt Jr, Riley Greene, Michael Harris II, CJ Abrams, Gunnar Henderson, Corbin Carroll, and Anthony Volpe all on the same day on the same field. The workout was unbelievably fun. Then CJ Abrams took the very first pitch of the event and sent a loud triple into the gap. Sometimes scouting is easy and you just put the pen down and enjoy the next generation of baseball as they take center stage."

Which players are going to seize the moment and catapult themselves up the national rankings and into the preference lists of MLB teams across the board?

Tune in to PerfectGame.TV to follow along with all the actions from the moment the event kicks off July 1st with a 9 AM workouts for players rostered on teams 1-4. As always, the scouting staff will be posting endless videos on X via the @PerfectGameUSA handle as well as across all other major social media platforms.

PERFECTGAME.TV

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