Baseball Factory Announces Launch of The New Under Armour Baseball Factory College PREP Program
Factory Athletics is proud to announce the launch of the new Under Armour Baseball Factory College PREP Program – previously the Premium Video Program (PVP) – in an initiative to continue pushing the pace with player development and the mission to help student-athletes reach their full potential, both on and off the field.
The signature program for Factory Athletics sports (Baseball, Softball and Volleyball) is designed to help players successfully navigate the college recruiting process. For the last 21 years, Baseball Factory has been the top organization for marketing players to college coaches.
Baseball Factory recently sat down with Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Baseball Factory, Steve Sclafani to talk about the launch of the new program and his thoughts on player development and what it means to the company.
Baseball Factory: In the mission to continue pushing Factory Athletics further now with player development, why will the Factory continue to be the leader in player development with the launch of the College PREP Program?
Steve Sclafani: At Factory Athletics, player development is a huge piece of what we do. One of the reasons we launched “College PREP” (formerly known as PVP) is that name is indicative of what we’re doing. We’re preparing these kids for college, helping market and guide them and providing them the skills to eventually market themselves.
Our “system to greatness” is based on a three-pronged approach: First, we give parents a realistic idea of where their children stand through our evaluation and tryout programs. Second, we provide world-class instruction and life-changing experiences through our player development programs. And finally, we guide them through the college recruiting process.
This approach has really separated our company in helping kids get the most out of their skills at the highest levels of the game.
In essence, we’re offering through the College PREP Program, a true premium service for them. After 21 years, our evaluations are recognized as the Gold Standard in the industry, and, trusted by college coaches and parents across the country. Our evaluators know what coaches are looking for and how to help kids get the most out of their ability. The results do matter and we have the best results in the country with helping kids find colleges.
At the end of the day, its a program where there’s so much more to it than one day on the field, the guidance and the mentoring of these kids goes way beyond the one day they come out and get evaluated and video taped. We’re excited to move forward with that program and take it to new heights.
BF: One of the newer features within the College PREP Program is the Advanced Athletic Assessment. Talk about the role that it has into the re-introduction of the rebranding.
SS: The trick is trying to find the athlete who has the highest potential for greatness; not just who is the best right now, but the combination of the advanced Athletic Assessment test and the Baseball Factory skills evaluation helps give both players and parents the most accurate “reading” of where their sons stands today amongst his peers, what specifically he needs to work on and how he projects as a player in the future. The assessment features specific drills designed to show us your speed, quickness, explosiveness, and agility level. Grip strength, which really gives you a picture of a player’s raw power potential. Bat exit velocity which measures your bat head speed, in addition to how efficient and powerful your swing mechanics are.
BF: So it goes beyond just the physical skills that you can see with a player…
SS: It’s like this.. “is your son’s athleticism ahead of his baseball skills?” “Are his baseball skills more polished and he needs to work on his overall athleticism?” Both are equally important and not only can we tell you strength and weaknesses in both skill and athleticism but we can write you out a “prescription for success” to improve in both areas and reach your full potential that go beyond a normal evaluation.
Through the combination of our experience (21 years/most players drafted/college baseball) our experts in speed, strength, skill development and science bring you the most complete program in the U.S. designed to accelerate your sons game. The combo helps you get to the root of the problem and not just the symptom.
Traditional baseball training is no longer enough. There are smarter ways to train that offer greater benefits and that is what our opportunity offers as one of the critical elements in developing athletic greatness.
Advanced Athletic Assessment Testing + Skill Development Testing = the most complete accurate picture of the player possible.
BF: What other features help separate Baseball Factory’s evaluations from the competition..
SS: Our player pages have been redesigned, they’re easier to read, all the measurables are right on there and one of the things college coaches have commented on is how easy it is to see on the back end; whether on mobile or desktop, to search through our database for players based on SAT scores, grades, their 60-yard times, bat speed, etc, we’ve always been the spot for the college coaches to get the data quickly and to be able to recruit off of. We really are providing a second-to-none platform on our Factory recruits database. And also the kids are able to email out their clips or link to whatever other colleges they want to send them to.
By being able to hit the college coaches a few different ways, I think that’s one of the reasons that’s helped us have 100% of Division I colleges have at least one of our players on their rosters.
