Talent Identification in Baseball: Beyond $howcases. The Flatground App
Part V: Inspired by Ch 20 of Unhittable
[This is the fifth blog based on the book Unhittable by Rob Friedman, the PitchingNinja] - Highly recommended!!
Back in the day - circa 1987 - there wasn’t much of a focus on travel ball or showcases, etc. At least not on the barren plains of North Dakota. And quite frankly, NoDak was not a hotbed for baseball talent.
But I recall getting a letter from USA Baseball (it was actually called U.S. Baseball Federation) that I was nominated to possibly participate for junior national team. Unfortunately I did not save the letter - and we all know that today it would be a social media post! - so the exact details are sketchy.
I do vividly remember filling out a survey that included stats (batting average, HRs, etc.), honors and also numbers for home-to-first, bench press and squat, vertical jump etc.
On a school day morning, I met my coach in the gym to collect the performance data to include in the survey. We mapped out 90 feet for the run. Completed the vertical jump with the ruler marks on the wall. And then during study hall, I think a buddy spotted me on the bench press and hip sled leg press. That afternoon I mailed in the packet with the hopes of just being invited to the tryout camp in Millington, Tennessee where selections would be made. The outcome. No invite, but that summer I was named the runner-up as State Player of the Year (now Gatorade Player of the Year). A little web surfing on baseball-reference.com showed that the 1988 USA team beat Cuba 8-1 to win the World Junior Championship.
The Landscape of Talent Identification in Baseball
Today, the landscape of talent identification in baseball in the U.S. has changed dramatically. Surveys have been replaced with showcase events and third party organizations like Perfect Game and Prep baseball Reports that are part of the $40 billion dollar youth sports business.
As part of another project that I am doing on pitcher development, I have been spending some time on the Perfect Game website. Many of these young prospects attend several PG events per year starting in early teens. And there are recruiting services such as NCSA (Next College Student Athlete), among others.
In terms of making the USA Baseball National Team, there is now a U12 team that I have shown both the relative age effect and maturity bias along with other developmental pipelines programs.
However, despite the ample opportunities with travel ball, showcases, private lessons and social media, the cost (thousands of dollars) of getting noticed proves to be a barrier for some young athletes. As Rob Friedman writes in Unhittable “the system favor the wealthy and punishes everyone else.”
In addition, he writes “Overlooked arms (pitchers), late bloomers and small-school standouts often vanish in a world that rewards connections over raw abilitities.”
And furthermore, geography plays a huge role. As Friedman writes “if no one sees it, does it even happen?”
Wow, that really brought me back to sitting at my kitchen table as a 17 year old completing a survey in 1987.
The FlatgroundApp
Again, flash forward to 2018 when Friedman, who had established a prolific following on Twitter with the Pitching Ninja account, launched #Flatground. The mission. Help pitchers showcase their skills and talent through a free social media platform, democratizing access to baseball opportunities.
FlatgroundApp can be found on Instagram, X and YouTube | Link to Forbes article shown above.
There are several success stories that have resulted from the Flatground project. And, the Pitching Ninja certainly deserves a tip of the cap. And personally, from a boy who grew up on the lone prairies of the Great Plains dreaming of getting a chance, and who now focuses on optimizing youth athletic development - thank you.
Other blogs related to the book Unhittable
Preface: This Season’s Read: Unhittable, Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance
Part II: The Rise of Third-Party Facilities and Fastball Velocity
Part III: Unhittable? Not If You’re Injured
Part IV: The Rotational Revolution: How Paul Nyman Re-Engineered Pitching
Other blogs on Talent Identification in Baseball
Then and Now: How Two 12-Year-Olds Became MLB Stars—For Different Reasons
👉🏾 Don’t forget to check out all the baseball-related content in The Baseball Notebook.
Other podcasts on Talent Identification
The Tyranny of Talent: An Audio Overview
Fair Play: Overcoming Bias in Youth Sports Talent Identification - An Audio Overview
Or just buy me a single cup of coffee ☕️ There is a cool site which allows people to ‘tip’ or get me a cup of Joe! Click here: https://ko-fi.com/joeeisenmann
Friedman's "if no one sees it, does it even happen?" is the exact problem I put $100K of my own money into solving with VFIT — verified youth performance data, because a kid on the plains shouldn't need a $3K showcase circuit to prove his 60 time. Flatground nailed the insight: the fix isn't more events, it's cheaper proof.