Bill Bavasi, Long-time Major League Baseball Executive Joins Perfect Game

Highly Respected MLB Executive Joins Perfect Game (PG) Leadership Team

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Jan 28, 2021, 11:17 ET

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Perfect Game President Jerry Ford has announced that highly respected former MLB executive Bill Bavasi has joined the company's Leadership Team.

Bavasi's 40+ year tenure in MLB most recently included managing MLB's Arizona Fall League which is designed to be a finishing school for the game's top minor league players and a senior role in MLB's Office of the Commissioner in their Baseball & Softball Development department.

Bill Bavasi, Long-time Major League Baseball Executive Joins Perfect Game

Prior to that appointment, Bill supervised MLB's Scouting Bureau and was vice president of scouting, player development and international operations for the Cincinnati Reds. He formerly served as executive vice president and general manager of both the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where he spent 20 years. During his time with the Angels, Bill first served as an administrator in player development then as the farm director before spending the last six years as general manager.

Bill also served as the farm director of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began his baseball management career in 1974 with the San Diego Padres.

Bill has been co-chair of the U.S. Baseball Olympic Steering Committee, co-general manager of the 2000 gold medal winning Olympic team and a member of a variety of influential Major League Baseball industry committees.

"We are honored and excited that Bill has chosen to work alongside us as we continue our mission to grow the game of baseball and softball. Bill works with Major League Baseball officials at all levels of team and league operations. He has long-standing associations with officials in the major domestic professional, amateur and collegiate sports. As well, Bill works closely with administrators and officials in the often-complex environment of international sports. Bill provides an experienced perspective and a unique understanding of the business of baseball at all operational levels and will be in an incredible asset to the expansion of our organization. Bill's experience in scouting and development will be extremely important. He is simply one of the most well respected and knowledgeable people in all of baseball." said Jerry Ford, founder and President of Perfect Game.

Bill Bavasi said, "Like a lot of people within Major League Baseball, I have developed some dear friendships with a lot of the leadership at Perfect Game. Through mutual friends in Cedar Rapids, I came to know Jerry Ford over the past decade as somebody trying to find more and better baseball opportunities in regions in which the game may have been forgotten. Brad Clement was always a joy to work with as the father of one of our Major League players. If I can be of some service in Perfect Game's quest to get meaningful baseball and softball into the lives of more kids or diverse backgrounds, I'll be thrilled."

About Perfect Game

Perfect Game is the world's largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, producing over 5,500+ tournaments, 40,000+ games, showcases and events each year across the country. Perfect Game is dedicated to giving amateur players exposure to take their game to the next level, whether that be in college or in the professional ranks. At Perfect Game events, players are performing with top-level competition in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from all over the country. Because of this, these events prove to be invaluable to the college coaches as well as Major League Baseball, as they can scout a large population of talented ballplayers in one location. To date, more than 1,400 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 12,776 Perfect Game alumni have been selected in the MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. In the 2020 Draft, for example, 93 percent of all players selected had played in Perfect Game events, and all but one player selected on the Draft's first day had previously attended Perfect Game events. And in the 2019 College World Series, every player on the roster of national champion Vanderbilt and all but one on the runner-up Michigan roster had played in a Perfect Game event.

Daron Sutton
602-769-5712
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SOURCE Perfect Game USA