From the moment Showtime Baseball was started back in 2000, Billy Hayes’ vision was to develop the complete player, both on the field and in the classroom.
17 years later, and neither of those ideals have ever wavered.
“We’ve seen it grow tenfold,” said Hayes of his Washington-based program. “As far as the talent, we’ve had some very talented teams and we’ve had kids drafted, but our goal is to assist getting kids an education through baseball. I’ve seen that come from the ground roots until now; the cumulative grade point average for our college prep team is a 3.65. All those kids will eventually sign a scholarship, I think 16 have so far. It’s come a long way. We have a good reputation with scouts and colleges.”
Showtime initially started with one team, and now has 23 between their two divisions; their North Division is based in Puyallup, while the South Division is out of their original site of Vancouver, Washington. The program competes nationally every year, and has done so quite successfully.
“We’ve travelled across the country through all our age groups,” Hayes said. “We’ve had several state champions, national champions. We seek out the competition. Where the best competition is, that’s where we go.”
Hayes, who will have two 2018 teams and a 2020 team at the New Balance Future Stars Series and Program 15 events down in Houston, has had countless players earn college scholarships out of Showtime, and saw Clint Coulter get drafted in the first round by the Milwaukee Brewers just five years ago.
This year, Isaiah Smith could follow suit. Considered one of the top prep prospects on the west coast, the Washington State University commit was listed among Baseball America’s Top 100 High School Prospects this year.
With Hayes and Showtime’s ability to cultivate that kind of talent and commitment to the classroom, his philosophies matched those of Program 15. Working together with NBFSS/P15 CEO Jeremy Booth and his All-Star staff made too much sense to not make it happen.
“I think the system he’s put together, the package with the combines and getting the word out on our players as far as the reports on each player, I think that’s valuable to the player and it’s valuable to our program,” Hayes said.
“The energy that’s behind it and the people that are behind it, in my eyes, it’s built for success. The first combine we had in the northwest kind of confirmed my beliefs on all that with Trenidad Hubbard, Benji Gil, Roberto Kelly, Butch (Baccala), Adam (Czajkowski)…the whole team, they were here. When you hear about something, that’s one thing, but when you see that action and see the results from it, it’s a whole different thing. It made me feel my decision to join Program 15 was more than justified.”
Booth is just as happy that Showtime is on board.
“Billy is a good human being and a baseball man who is all about what’s best for his players and the game as a whole,” he said. “He wants to be part of something bigger than him and his humility is staggering at times. We’re excited to have him as an anchor in the Northwest for 2017 and beyond.”
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