Longshots Baseball runs a fall program each year that begins around Labor Day and runs through mid-October.  The program is primarily designed for players on our summer teams, as part of our year-round schedule.  Our fall program is generally a little different than many of the other notable progams out there.  The program has a lot of purposes, but the primary goal is skill development.  With players playing high school ball in the spring and many playing high school summer ball, the fall is the best time of the year for outdoor teaching, instruction, and indivdual development.  The program holds fall weeknight workouts for all Senior Division players, focusing on a different area of the game each night.  We have pitching development sessions, outfield sessions, catching sessions, infield sessions, and baserunning and physical development sessions.

Our weekend sessions typically vary by age group.  The Senior class team has a number of development workouts on Saturdays and plays a number of games on Sundays.  The Senior class also plays in the Kernels Foundation Championship run by Perfect Swing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is the largest fall tournament in the Midwest.  In addition to development, a primary goal of the Senior fall is to continue to focus on college exposure for our uncommited players and pro exposure for our potential draft picks.

The Junior and Sophomore class teams are generally very focused skill development on Saturdays. Then, on most Sundays, these groups go to play at NCAA Division I schools within couple hours' drive.  These trips serve many purposes - they allow players to play games, they allow families to start to get a feel for different schools in the area as they start to think about colleges, and they expose our players to the college coaching staffs at the schools we go to.  Many schools are glad to get the opportunity to have our program come to them and invite us back every year, as they know they want to be sure to see the players in the Longshots program.  Trips in 2011 likely include UIC, Illinois State, Illinois, Purdue, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.  We have also visited Northern Illinois, Bradley, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and Michigan State in the past.  Additionally, we send our Junior class teams to the Fall World Wood Bat Association Championship run by Perfect Game in Ft. Myers, Florida.  This tournament is the most prestigous fall underclassman tournament in the country and is the single largest college exposure event of the fall.

The Freshman class teams are also focused on skill development on Saturdays and play some external games on Sundays.  One of the primary goals of the fall is to get the freshmen integrated into the Senior Division, and to start to help them understand the level of baseball expected and required to play at a high level.  By working with the older classes in the program, the Freshmen get a great example of how hard they need to work and how to develop themselves.  We typically see great growth in the Freshmen group from the beginning of the fall to the end of the fall.

Many other fall programs out there focus on gameplay and prospect exposure.  These programs are also good and have a great place in Chicago-area baseball.  We're a little different - as we are not a business, our program cost tends to be lower (sometimes significantly so).  Exposure is great, and we do quite a bit of it - when the players are ready to be seen.  Our exposure plan tends to be very targeted, based on years of experience and feedback.  Longshots Baseball is all about skill development and training.  Our past experience shows us that this works, and players improve significantly over time in our program - this is part of how we differentiate ourselves.  As part of our skill development approach, we tend to focus more on this in the fall than other programs.  Many of our past players and college contacts have told us that the fall development approach plays a significant role in the overall development of our players.