Flosoft ranking the 2021 class

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Jan 4, 2015
48
8
Just wanted to get the opinions of those on the forum in regards to the player (and team) rankings at Flosoft.com. They are currently doing the 2021 (just finished 8th grade) class. I know a few of the players on the list and they are really really good, but I wonder about how impossible of a task it must be to be accurate (or even reasonably accurate) with something like this. Thoughts?
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
Flosoftball would rate 3rd graders if they thought it would increase their number of subscribers...
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
I'm sure the players on the list are very good or they would not have gotten the recommendation, but some of them I can guarantee are absolutely not among the top 100 players in the country. I've know some who've made it. I know 2 in particular from a couple of years ago who might not be top 50 in their own state. One has had an article in Flosoft and sounds really good on paper, but isn't in person, so that might explain some of it.

I suspect that the lists are compiled by someone who exchanges a bunch of emails with coaches from organizations that send their team to PGF nationals and other ''national'' events. If you don't play with those teams and org's, you're not going to make it. I doubt those compiling the lists do much if any in-person scouting, or watch much video, etc. If so, only to confirm what a coach recommended.

Softball is a very difficult sport to scout accurately because there are no reliable measurements in travel ball. These aren't swimmers and sprinters that can be timed, or tennis players or golfers whose scores speak for themselves. And you really have to observe most softball players over a long period of time to really know how good (or bad) some of them are.

Ranking 8th graders in this sport just adds unnecessary hype and pressure, IMO. I'll bet that no more than half of this top 100 winds up starting in Power Five conferences. The rest will have been overrated and wind up mid-major (not that there's anything wrong with that), sitting on P5 benches or quitting.
 
Oct 2, 2015
615
18
JAD...great call...
Here's my naive view point....
With all of this early recruitment and rankings being shown, we as parents literally feel obligated to dedicate every penny of our money, and every second of our time to get our DD recruited and seen by college coaches...
Starting at the ripe old age of 13-14...or 8th grade
But many colleges don't do verbals, and the signings don't happen until after 11th grade...
Only being 1 full year into this roller coaster of Travel Ball and recruitment, I'm starting to wonder if this a huge money grab by a lot of the parties involved...
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
It is 100% to sell subscriptions. They got my $19 for this month simply because this is my DD's class and I know so many of the girls on this list so I was curious. It was worth it for me but you have to take it with a grain of salt. I am not downing any of the girls because a lot of them are the best of the best and have been since we were 8yo. When you have kids in the 200's that are obviously better than kids in the top 50 it tells me it's more about who you play for and who hypes you. There is still a pitcher that hasn't appeared that just dominated in the second largest class of HS in the state and was 2nd or 3rd in HR's for the season so she can hit as well. She plays for a good travel team and competes at the biggest events yet she isn't in the top 400 so far?

Honestly they do not have much to go off of now so I figure the list will get better in a couple of years.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
JAD...great call...
Here's my naive view point....
With all of this early recruitment and rankings being shown, we as parents literally feel obligated to dedicate every penny of our money, and every second of our time to get our DD recruited and seen by college coaches...
Starting at the ripe old age of 13-14...or 8th grade
But many colleges don't do verbals, and the signings don't happen until after 11th grade...
Only being 1 full year into this roller coaster of Travel Ball and recruitment, I'm starting to wonder if this a huge money grab by a lot of the parties involved...

Girls need to play softball for the love of the game and families needs to do it because of the time they get to spend together. If families are doing it for a college scholarship, put the money they planned to spend on TB into a good 529-savings plan and some tutoring - there is a 98.2% chance their DD will come out ahead if they do.
 
Last edited:

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
It is 100% to sell subscriptions. They got my $19 for this month simply because this is my DD's class and I know so many of the girls on this list so I was curious. It was worth it for me but you have to take it with a grain of salt. I am not downing any of the girls because a lot of them are the best of the best and have been since we were 8yo. When you have kids in the 200's that are obviously better than kids in the top 50 it tells me it's more about who you play for and who hypes you. There is still a pitcher that hasn't appeared that just dominated in the second largest class of HS in the state and was 2nd or 3rd in HR's for the season so she can hit as well. She plays for a good travel team and competes at the biggest events yet she isn't in the top 400 so far?

Honestly they do not have much to go off of now so I figure the list will get better in a couple of years.

I have not checked the listings in awhile, but to the best of my knowledge my DD is not listed, and the funny part is there is a player in the Top-100 who transferred high schools because she did not want to be the #2 pitcher on DD's team...and NO, I did not coach my DD's HS team!
 
Oct 2, 2015
615
18
Your DD needs to play softball for the love of the game, and your family needs to love it because of the time you get to spend together doing it. If you are doing it for a college scholarship, put the money you would have spent on TB into a good 529-savings plan and some tutoring - there is a 98.2% chance your DD will come out ahead if you do.

You're pointing the finger at the wrong guy...
My DD is playing for the love of the game.
After seeing what we did last summer and fall in travel ball, she found the best fit for a college, and chose that one.
Flying across the country to play in front of Super Awesome U., to try to get a scholarship and her name on a ranking list...never happened.

I know of several families that have spent many times more than we have, and their return on investment was laughable, scary and downright sad.
Instead of spending every last dime and second of time trying to get on the best college team, one of them still ended up on one of the closest college teams to their hometown.

Some say it was worth the price...others have said exactly what you said...Invest the money...

The sad part is that there are probably many girls out there that truly deserve to be on one of those lists (not my DDs), but since they don't have the cash to get onto the high dollar travel teams, they stay as relative unknowns.
 

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