Freshwater Storm – Summer 2024

We are a nationally-ranked organization (on PG) that has been helping players since 2007.
Our 2024 summer teams will have teams in the following age groups: 2024-2028.
Here are some highlights about us, followed by a detailed breakdown of what we’re all about.

• Recruiting Video – Each of our players will have a recruiting video done that we can both use to get in front of college coaches.
• Freshwater Storm Kickoff Event – All of our players will begin summer by playing games directly in front of several colleges.
• Recruiting – Relationships with college coaches matter. See some here:  https://baseballprospectconnect.com/coach-interactions/
• Social Media– Follow us on Twitter, where 200+ college coaches follow us looking for players: https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports
• Strong Schedule – We will play six of the best tournaments in the state of Florida and do not leave the state to play.
• Competitive Cost: Just $1,600 for position players and $750 for POs. There are no tryout fees and no uniform packages.
• Former Players– Many of our former players have had a lot of success. See here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/ex-players/
• Extra Work – Our high school-aged teams do not practice as a team but will have optional weekly live AB sessions.
• Small Rosters – Typical roster size: 12/13 position players and 3-4 POs.
• You can read some testimonials from parents by clicking here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/storm-testimonials/

Read on to learn all about the Freshwater Storm. If you’re interested in playing, please contact Mike Bakas (mikebakas81@gmail.com).

Talk a little about the Freshwater Storm history and background.
We are a central Florida-based travel ball organization that started back in 2007. We have teams in various age groups, ranging from graduating seniors (2024 grads) all the way down to incoming freshmen (2028 grads). We’ve had multiple nationally-ranked teams on Perfect Game in recent years and our primary goal is to provide a competitive opportunity for players who may want to play college baseball one day.

What’s it like playing for the Freshwater Storm?
Click HERE to read through a large number of testimonials from parents of several of our players.

How much emphasis do you put on the recruiting process for your players?
It’s as important as anything we do. It’s a major priority for us and always has been. We promote our players in the following ways:
1) Video: every player in our organization will be given a recruiting video. Video is a huge part of the evaluation process for college coaches. Good video is often the first step in getting the attention of a college coach. All our players will have a recruiting video they can use to show college coaches. Even if other organizations provide these, please check to see if they’re edited. Posting a video where a player misplays a ground ball or can’t throw a strike or is fouling off pitches during BP doesn’t help much. We edit 100% of our videos to make sure the skillset of our players is on full display. All of our player recruiting videos will be posted on our Twitter so that college coaches can easily access them.
2) Getting the information on our players in front of college coaches: We send a spreadsheet of our players to every school east of the Mississippi River. It’s simply all the facts (and videos) on all of our players.
3) Helping players sort through which camps and showcases to attend. You’re probably getting invited to a lot of them. It can be overwhelming choosing which ones to attend. We will help our players navigate through this to help make sure they’re not going to the wrong events.
4) Social Media – see below.

How important is promotion of players on social media
It’s huge. So much of the college baseball recruiting process is done virtually now. Every college baseball program in America has a coach on its staff that is active there and one of the biggest reasons is that it’s a great recruiting tool that can be done virtually. We are very active on Twitter promoting our players. We do not post about political stuff. We do not post about what we had for lunch. We promote our players and it’s a big reason why you’ll see close to 250 college coaches (from UF all the way down to Junior College programs in the Northeast) following us on there. We post all our recruiting videos on there. We always post when our pitchers are scheduled to throw so college coaches have this information in advance (ex: https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports/status/1677080504615460864).
We also promote strong individual performances after each day of games for all our teams (ex: https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports/status/1675330319698763777).
You can see all of the ways we promote our players here: https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports

What are some schools you have connections with?
We have sent players to schools at every level. Some of our former players were 1st and 2nd round draft picks. Some were 4-year college starters. Some were able to get degrees from big time academic institutions for next to nothing because of baseball. Some were able to stay in Florida. Some left the state to play and ended up becoming college coaches at the school they played at. Every player has a unique situation and we understand and respect that. What might be a good fit for one kid might not be for another. We had 10 college coaches from schools all over the state at our November showcase. You can see a sampling of our connections here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/coach-interactions/

How can someone try out for the 2024 summer season?
We identify players in one of three ways.
1) Any returning player in 2023 who is offered the opportunity to play with us again in 2024 does not need to try out.
2) For new players, tryouts are happening all the time. We don’t believe in a single day/weekend tryout like a lot of other organizations. We feel like a lot of really good players get overlooked at those events with 100+ players. It’s very difficult to get a really good evaluation of every player in that setting.  Instead, we prefer doing more private workouts with a handful players at a time. It allows us a chance to get a really good evaluation of the player and for the player to see what it’s like being on the field with us. Plus, it allows us a chance to meet and spend time with the parents. These private workouts are no cost to the player.
3) We feel like one of the best ways to evaluate a player is in-game so we will be out recruiting all through the spring high school season. Watching players during the high school season is a great way to identify and evaluate players and meet their parents.

Talk about the different teams in your organization.
We will have teams in each age group this summer.
15u (primarily 27 with some 28 grads)
16u (primarily 2026 grads)
17u (primarily 2025 grads)
18u (primarily 2024 grads with some 25 grads mixed in)
We don’t have “scout teams” in our organization. We understand being able to play with some of your friends from your same high school is important to you, as it should be. There are times we try keeping specific players together on the same team (often at the request of the parents for travel purposes).
The bottom line is that all of our teams have had success and we play in the same events.

Tell us about your tournament schedule:
All of our teams will play a very competitive schedule. We believe it’s very important to play in the right events where our players can be challenged on the field and get in front of college coaches at the same time. Below are the tournaments our teams will play in 2024:
Perfect Game – The king of travel ball events, our teams play more PG events than anything else.
Prospect Wire – We’re the only travel ball organization that has been playing in PW events since they started hosting tournaments over a dozen years ago. They do an outstanding job promoting their teams and players.
IBC Baseball – Also known as World Amateur Baseball Association, they’re the king when it comes to hosting Junior College events in front of NCAA and MLB scouts. They do a great job with their high school division and we’ve been playing in their events since we started in 2007.
Our teams played at 9 (NINE) different Major League Baseball Complexes at various tournaments around the state of Florida in 2023 and we think that provided a really cool and unique experience for our players and their families.

What is the Freshwater Storm Kickoff Event?
That’s a one-day event that will be held in New Smyrna Beach. Each of our teams will play a full game against each other and directly in front of several college coaches. We had 10 college coaches from schools all over the state at our last event in November so it will be something similar. We often hear parents talk about playing travel ball and not seeing college coaches there. This allows our players to get directly in front of coaches and allows the coaches a chance to figure out which of our players they will be following throughout the summer. It’s a fun, exciting, and very powerful recruiting event for all our players to kick off their summer.

Why do you guys not leave the state to play in tournaments?
Most of our players want to play college baseball here in Florida so that’s where we choose to play all of our tournaments. It’s much more cost-efficient for the players and their families as well. We used to travel to Atlanta to play a big event every summer but stopped doing that when we realized we could play excellent events here in the state during that time.

Have your teams had a lot of success?
Yes. In fact, we’ve been a nationally-ranked organization on Perfect Game in each of the last 4 summers with no plans of slowing down anytime soon. We win a lot of games and events but far more important to us is creating a culture that our players will enjoy and helping create opportunities for them to play baseball in college for those who choose to do so.

How are pitcher onlys treated in your organization?
There are a few very important things to know here:
1) our pitching rotations are set as soon as the schedule for each event is released. As soon as we get it from the tournament directors, our coaches work on it and send it out to players. That’s very important for pitchers who have a routine or would like to get the information out to college coaches well in advance. It’s always fascinating to us how many pitchers do not know when they’re pitching when going into the start of a tournament.
2) Our POs are only required to be at the games they’re scheduled to pitch in. If a PO throws the first day of a tournament (let’s say Thursday), he does not need to be at the remaining games of the event (until he’s scheduled to pitch again, if that happens). Although all of our players are absolutely invited to be at every game, this helps cut down on travel costs for our pitchers.

What’s a typical roster size for a Freshwater Storm team?
The exact answer to that question often varies depending on how many two-way players we have on each roster but the ideal number is between 15-17 with 12 or being position players and 2-4 being POs. There have been times the number of position players is 12 (which means we have fewer two-ways) or 12 (which means we have more two-ways). The bottom line is this – if you’re coming to play for the Freshwater Storm, be prepared to play a lot. Feel free to look at some of our team photos and you can count the players. We will put the size of our rosters up against anyone else.

Do your teams practice?
We do not have any mandatory practices. We will have a workout/parent meeting the weekend prior to our first event and then after that we trust our players to put in the work on their own to be ready to play at a high level in tournaments. We will provide optional mid-week live AB sessions where players can come and get some additional work in to help prepare for the next tournament.

Tell us about your coaches.
Mike Bakas, a New Smyrna Beach resident, runs the organization (in addition to a private scouting company called Prospect Connect) and has since he started it 17 years ago. All of our coaches played in the organization when they were in high school and went on to play in college. It’s common to see travel ball coaches bounce around from organization to organization but we take a lot of pride in the fact that our coaches have been loyal to us since their playing days in high school. Our coaches provide an excellent mix of experience – from pitchers to position players and from guys who played at different levels in college to guys who played professionally.

How is playing time determined?
We will provide equal playing time to the best of our ability during pool play games (guaranteed games). The most productive and reliable players will tend to play more in elimination games because they will have earned it. We carry small rosters compared to most of our competition so if you’re coming to play for us, get ready to play a lot.

How do you guys communicate with players and parents during the summer?
Each coach will have a group chat with the players. That will allow him to send out weather updates, field changes, or any other important information. Mike Bakas will send out all emails to parents, keeping them updated on everything they need to know about each event. We are always a call, text, or email away from answering any questions you may have.

Who are some of your former players?
There’s a long list of them and we are super proud of every single one of them who helped make our organization what it is today. Here’s a partial list of them: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/ex-players/