One of USA Baseball’s core values is providing the opportunity for players to represent their country through the game of baseball on the international stage. Within those opportunities to make a national team, the organization takes pride in creating ways for players to develop their skills in order to compete at the highest level of the game.
Most of those opportunities come from developmental programs held at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, like the 13U/14U Athlete Development Program, 16U/17U National Team Development Program, and Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) League. Others come from various joint events with Major League Baseball throughout the country like the Breakthrough and Trailblazer Series.
This offseason, though, USA Baseball has taken it a step further in the opportunity to play for Team USA with the Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) Winter Camps. Through these camps, players who have previously been involved in a USA Baseball or MLB Develops event get a unique offseason developmental experience while continuing to build a relationship with coaches and staff members.
“The crux of these winter camps is that we wanted to create continuity,” said USA Baseball Director of Player Development Jim Koerner. “In the past, we would work with players throughout the summer but wouldn’t have any touch points with them in the wintertime. These camps allow us to stay in contact and to continue the relationship-building process in preparation for the following summers with training camps, national tournaments, and World Cups.”
The organization held four camps: three for male prospects in December in Los Angeles, Houston, and West Palm Beach, Florida, and one in January for female prospects in Phoenix. Each of them was a three-day camp comprised of 20-30 players and consisted of high-level instruction on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
Some of the topics covered were base-running, base-stealing, position-specific defensive instruction, hitting development, and scrimmaging in a controlled environment to execute those specific skills.
“We were able to put these players in a competitive environment with high-level coaching where we can challenge them and put them in a position of vulnerability,” added Koerner. “The upside to these camps was that they didn't have to have an immediate worry about making a national team or a ranking, and we could truly be hands-on with their development as a baseball player.”
USA Baseball put a lot of thought into the makeup of the coaching staff for each of these four camps in an effort to provide the best possible experience to the athletes in attendance. Four to five coaches were present at each event, and all of them have had some sort of connection to USA Baseball. Former MLB player and Olympic gold medalist Mike Kincade, two-time Women’s National Team manager and Coordinator of Player Development for the Oakland Athletics Veronica Alvarez, and multi-time Team USA player, coach, and Board of Directors member Ernie Young are just a few of the many names who were present at these camps.
Most of the coaches in attendance additionally have experience at the minor and/or major league levels. Several others have had incredible success on the high school and collegiate stages of the game, like Southlake Carroll High School (Texas) coach Larry Vucan, who was recently named the 2022 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) National High School Coach of the Year.
“At these events, you’re getting high-level instruction. We have coaches from professional organizations and people who have been on past national team staffs, so you’re getting a lot of wonderful information and attention to detail,” said Alvarez, who was a part of the staffs in Los Angeles and Phoenix. “At these camps, we’re focusing on the details that make big differences, so, as a young player, you’re going to learn a lot of information that you have maybe never heard before from people who have been in the game for a long time.”
In addition to the high-level developmental instruction that these players received, they also were allowed to take part in a series of assessments. These assessments, which measure cognitive skills, speed of processing, athletic performance, and on-field talent, provide an additional resource for data comparison as they work towards a future national team program. Additionally, the results of these tests are distributed to the 30 professional Clubs in preparation for the MLB Draft and USA Baseball for national team identification.
“All of the athletes who were in attendance went through a PDP Performance Assessment, which mirrored the same assessment that they went through in the summer with us. It allowed us to track additional information on the athletes and find some insights that we don't always get to see,” explained USA Baseball Senior Director of Technology Russell Hartford.
“When we test these athletes in the summer, they can be fatigued from the busy schedules they have, and we can see it in the data. When we get to assess them in the winter when their schedules aren’t as packed, we can see if there is a difference in their performance, how well their offseason training regiments are actually working, and if they are improving strength, speed, and agility and in the ways that they want to. We quantify all that information, take objective measurements on their athletic performance, and create some longitudinal data for the athletes to create a strong development plan for them.”
Between the performance assessments and high-level instruction, the PDP Winter Camp experience is unmatched. For the players who attended one of the four camps, it was evident that they were eager to gain as much knowledge as they could from the available resources in an effort to reach the goal of making a future national team.
“Being able to have access to a lot of the metrics through Rapsodo and get valuable feedback from the coaches and PDP staff was awesome. Looking over the measurements, being able to take the time to really talk through them, and then apply it in the cages or on the mound was very helpful,” said seven-time alumna and 2022 USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year Kelsie Whitmore, who attended the women’s camp earlier this month.
“This is probably the first event we’ve ever had this much data available for us. I’ve heard of all of these technologies and worked a little bit with them, but having people who work with it every day at the camps and being able to pick their brains and get the feedback right on the spot was incredible. To be able to work in such depth was really cool, and I’m thankful that so many people were willing to take the time to do that.”
The intimacy of these PDP Winter Camps not only allows coaches and staff members to evaluate the nation’s best talent but also helps these players to know how valuable of a role they play in the grand scheme of representing Team USA and competing for gold medals.
The relationship-building aspect with USA Baseball, and one-on-one attention from the coaches, is an experience that is far and few between for athletes who are looking to prepare for the next level in their careers.
“I think it's important to let these players know that USA Baseball is invested in their developmental process and that we want to see them succeed individually and collectively,” said Koerner. “From our perspective, we want to see the players who are also invested in USA Baseball. We want players who are coachable, want instruction, and are going to be able to adjust to high-pressure situations, whether it's in a camp setting or a national tournament. By having these one-on-one conversations and these intimate types of development camps, were really able to get a handle on who is really bought into this process. Overall, this process plays a role in the success of the organization and winning gold medals.”
