- We will never ask our players to miss school or any high school baseball-related activities in the fall. We only play weekends (Friday night – Sunday) so everyone is available.
- We are a nationally-ranked organization (on PG) that has been helping players since 2007. Our 2023 fall teams will have teams in the following age groups: 2024-2027.
- Each of our players will have a recruiting video done that we can both use to get in front of college coaches. This is a huge part of the recruiting process today and a great way for players to use to make introductions to college coaches.
- Relationships with college coaches matter. You can see some of our connections here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/coach-interactions/
- Social Media is a powerful recruiting tool. Follow us on Twitter, where close to 300 college coaches (at every level of college baseball) follow us looking to identify players. https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports
- We will play four of the best tournaments in the state of Florida and do not leave the state to play (since the majority of our players want to play college baseball in their home state).
- Cost: Just $1,000 for position players and $500 for POs. Jersey is included and there is no uniform package purchase required.
- A long list of our former players have had success in college and in the pros. You can see a list of them here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/ex-players/
- Our high school-aged teams do not practice as a team but we will provide them with opportunities for live ABs on off weekends.
- Typical roster size: 12 position players and 3-4 POs.
Read on to learn all about the Freshwater Storm. If you’re interested in playing, please contact Mike Bakas (mikebakas81@gmail.com).
About the Freshwater Storm:
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 seniors (2024 grads) all the way down to incoming freshmen (2027 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. A very high percentage of our former players have gone on to play college baseball at various levels – and some have even played professionally.
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. 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 there 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 300 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/1682499727605022727).
We also promote strong individual performances after each day of games for all our teams (ex: https://twitter.com/PrspCntSports/status/1677744897791516673).
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. We had a former player selected in the 4th round of this year’s MLB Draft. 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 several college coaches from schools all over the state at our summer showcase. You can see a sampling of our connections here: https://baseballprospectconnect.com/coach-interactions/
Talk about the different teams in your organization.
We will have teams in each age group this fall: 2024-2027.
The fall tournaments are a bit different than the summer.
The travel ball calendar resets in August so here is the breakdown for fall:
2024 grads – 18u
2025 grads – 17u
2026 grads – 16u
2027 grads – 15u
* Note: Tournament organizations typically combine 17u and 18u into one division for the fall season.
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 2023:
Perfect Game – The king of travel ball events, our teams play more PG events than anything else.
Prospect Wire – We’re actually 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.
World Amateur Baseball Association/IBC Baseball – Also known as Waba, 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.
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 3 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. 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 always 16 with 12 being position players and 4 being POs. There have been times the number of position players is 11 (which means we have fewer two-ways) or 13 (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 offer live ABs/scrimmages for our teams on some off weekends but those are always optional and simply a way for players to get more work in if they choose to.
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 16 years ago. All of our coaches played in the organization when they were in high school. 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?
If you choose to play in our organization, it means we believe you can help us so you’re going to play a good amount. Obviously the more productive players for us will play more than the least productive ones (just like any other organization) but oftentimes it’s far more in-depth than that. If a player becomes unreliable (showing up late, missing games without telling his coaches, and other signs that he’s not being a good teammate) then that’s a good way to lose playing time to players who may not be quite as productive on the stat sheet.
How do you guys communicate with players and parents during the fall?
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/
We were offered to play for the Freshwater Storm but want to consider a few other organizations. Is there a deadline on your offer for us to play?
There is not a deadline on our offer. We want you to see what else is out there because we are confident in what we offer. However, just like if your son received a college offer, please know that we will be out actively recruiting for our teams until all the rosters are full. We don’t know when that will be. It could be a few days after your offer or a few weeks after. That’s outside of our control but we are getting out and seeing new players all the time. If you get an offer and you’re considering other teams, please communicate that with us.
What about uniforms?
We are a bit old school in this regard – we will provide a jersey and an opportunity. Please understand that some organizations will charge more for a “uniform package” than we do for our POs. That may be hard to believe but it’s true and something for you to consider. In our 16 years of doing this, we’ve never had a college coach make a decision on a player because of how fancy his uniform was. In 16 years, we’ve never had a player throw harder or run faster or catch more barrels because of how fancy his uniform was.
What’s the cost to play and what all is included?
The cost for position players is just $1,000 and the cost for POs is just $500.
That includes a jersey, a recruiting video, four of the best tournaments you can play in the state of Florida, and being actively promoted to college coaches from all over for as long as you’re with us. We will absolutely put the combination of all of these things and our cost up against anyone.
How can someone try out for the Freshwater Storm?
We do private tryouts with a small number of players. We will run them through a pro style workout and get a chance to know them and meet their parents. Unlike most of our competition, we never charge for tryouts and they’re always in small groups. Returning players from the summer season who get invited back for the fall do not need to try out. Please contact us to schedule one.
This all sounds great but what’s a typical experience like when playing for the Freshwater Storm?
We’re not perfect but we put a lot of emphasis on making sure our players and their families enjoy their experience with us. Feel free to see for yourself by reading some of the testimonies from parents in our organization from the summer season. CLICK HERE to read some.
If you’re interested in playing with the Freshwater Storm this summer, please contact Mike Bakas (mikebakas81@gmail.com).
