Area Code Games Not Overlooking Underclassmen

LONG BEACH, Calif.—As he watched the beginning of the team’s Area Code Games tryout at Vanderbilt on June 24, Nationals’ crosschecker and Area Code Games manager Jimmy Gonzalez was struck in particular by two things. The first was that, out of the roughly 100 invited prospects in attendance, the vast majority were underclassmen. And the second realization was that Gonzalez barely knew who any of those prospects were.

“We sent out almost the same number of invitations to upperclassmen, it just so happens that more of the younger kids accepted that invitation,” Gonzalez said. “All of sudden we have guys from the Class of 2019 and 2020 out there mixed in with the upperclassmen and I am looking down the list and I don’t even recognize their names.”

Gonzalez isn’t complaining, however, and he shouldn’t be complaining either; he knows he brought this upon himself. In 2014, in an effort to grow the Area Code Games and its brand, Student Sports decided to add a number of underclass teams to the traditional eight teams of upperclassmen. Unsure of how the decision to add teams would play out, Student Sports decided to limit the initial expansion to just three underclass teams. In 2015, a fourth underclass team was added. Unfortunately for Gonzalez and the Nationals, they were not given an underclass team to run.

Instead, Gonzalez got to watch firsthand as other organizations such as the Brewers and White Sox fielded underclass teams and then successfully lured many of those players back the next year to play on the upperclass team. Gonzalez quickly recognized that giving the younger players a chance to experience the Area Code Games as underclassmen was a powerful recruiting tool to use when it came time to convince some of the same kids to come back the next year and play for the upperclassmen teams. He began lobbying for the Nationals to get their own underclassmen team and this year, he got his wish.

“We are picking players primarily from the Southeast and for some, trying to convince them to travel across the country on their own dime with school right around the corner is asking a lot,” Gonzalez said. “But if kids get a chance to experience the atmosphere and the competition as underclassmen, they are more likely to go home and tell their family and their teammates what a great event it is, which will make my job easier the next year.”

Gonzalez is hardly the only MLB scout associated with the Area Code Games who sees the benefit of having an underclass team. Student Sports’ baseball director Kirsten Leetch said that some scouts were skeptical after the first year but by 2015, everyone was on board. She backed that observation up by pointing out that in 2015, there was exactly one tryout specifically for underclassmen. This year there were four tryouts.

For Gonzalez and White Sox Area Code Games coach Clay Overcash, who has run an underclass team since 2014, picking another 25 players is definitely a lot of work. But both say that the sacrifice is worth it if it means getting an early chance to evaluate 30-40 of the underclassmen in their region. In an age where scouting services in all major sports are regularly evaluating and ranking players as young as 12, managing an underclass team means that these scouts get an unparalleled opportunity to evaluate these players in a more intimate environment.

“Personally, I love the design,” said Overcash, who scouts the Midwest. “I’ve said this every year but there is really no substitute for spending five days with these players. These kids wake up, go take batting practice, take infield and then play a game. For many of the younger kids, this will be there first experience with that type of professional setting. For us, it is great, because we get to learn a lot about the makeup and character of a kid just by watching to see how he handles the adversity and the long days.”

The underclass teams also make it easier on the coaches when it comes time to pick the upperclass team. Overcash estimates that more than 50 percent of the kids from his first two underclass teams went on to play for his upperclass team. For example, in 2014, Overcash uncovered a relatively unknown shortstop from Wisconsin and put him on the White Sox underclass team. Fast forward two years and that player, shortstop Gavin Lux, was popped in the first round by the Dodgers. Along with Lux, 2016 high-profile draftees such as No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak, first-rounder Delvin Perez and fourth-rounder Colton Welker all played in the first underclassmen games in 2014.

It is likely that all of those players would have been top prospects even without their early audition at the Area Code Underclass Games. But with MLB teams regularly shelling out six-figure bonuses, the ability to get an extended look at some of these players makes scouts significantly more comfortable about the investment.

“Until this year, I couldn’t have cared less about the Class of 2018 if we are being honest,” Gonzalez said. “Now, if I have a Class of 2018 player on my underclass team, then I will likely follow him during the spring, then he will hopefully play on my upperclass team the next season. If I don’t know what type of player he is by that point, then I probably shouldn’t be scouting.”