The Things Baseball Scouts See
I went to The Baseball Bureau Scout School. These guys know stuff.
Hey high school dreamers,
Scouts are watching you before you even get in the batters box, or toe the rubber. The good scouts have arrived 30-45 minutes before the game and they are watching you walk from the bus, or they are walking behind you, and looking at the way you walk. Is there looseness to your stride? The scouts want to see that. It matters.
They are sizing up your body structure. How athletic are you? For pitchers, they are looking for a wide back and long arms.
If you see a scout in the stands in the first inning when you are hitting, and you don’t see him in the stands in the third inning, be careful how you act. He didn’t leave. He might have moved down the first base line to get another view of you.
I went to the Baseball Bureau Scout School to learn about things like “pitchability” and measuring “bat speed” with my bare eyes, not TrackMan. Bill Bavasi, Bob Fontaine, Rick Ingalls, Jack Uhey, Andy Campbell and Rodney Davis had me looking at the game a whole different way. They worked for the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, Reds, Padres, and others. They have gray beards and gray hair, or no hair, which means they were good enough to stay in the business a long time.
These guys signed the likes of Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn, Randy Johnson, Ozzie Guillen, John Kruk, among others.
You don’t have to feel left out. There is a Scout School Sept. 8-12. Check out the web site with the link above.
In the meantime, think about these things.
The scouts saw pitchers so devoted to their craft they were playing catch with their changeup. Just working on it.
The scouts know the difference between control and command and they are looking for it. Young hurlers have control; rarely have they developed command. If they have command lights and sirens go off.
Scouts can see a usable fastball and they can see control. The third thing they look for is movement. It can be taught. Remember that. It’s all about grip and arm angle and coaching. But the arm has to be “usable.” They use that term.
Scouts want to shake your hand, not just to be polite, but to judge your fingers for the ability to throw a power curve. That is the curve that they say “can break two planes.”
Here is the big one:
Don’t let performance sway your judgement. Consider the team that struck out 15 times against the pitcher you went to scout. How good, or bad, was that team? You might not be sure, so do not run off and file a report on a prospect based on performance.
Scouts are not just there to judge, they are there to project a player forward two to three years. The scout has to look at a guy and wonder how his fastball velocity will project with physical maturity.
And, by the way, can the pitcher throw 92 from the stretch as well as he can from the windup? What about the late life on the fastball, that late hop? Some kids have it and you don’t want to miss it.
Here is something else. Scouts have to get a good read on a player’s aptitude because baseball is a game of adjustments. If a player doesn’t understand the need, or how to make adjustments, he won’t make it.
And about those hitters. Does their top hand consistently get through the ball? How balanced are they? The upper cut, which is the collapsed back shoulder, is very difficult to correct in a young hitter. Another red flag is if they pull away from the ball. Could be a sign they are scared.
The million dollar question is always:
Will the player hit?
One thing I learned in scout school is hitting is the most sought after tool. It reminds me of a story. A scout stood under a Prospect Tree. He shook it. Nine gloves and one bat fell out. The bat is the rare skill.
Here are some other tidbits:
What does your prospect do when he is not involved in the play? Stand there. Better not.
Watch how he plays catch. Is it lazy, or purposeful?
Guys that love to run will show that off. Think Ronald Acuna, Jr.
Look for smooth stride when he runs. You don’t want a choppy stride. You’ll know it when you see it. How fast does he get to full stride?
“I love the way his feet work,” scouts will say
Break them down from the feet up.
Fontaine said this once, “Every time I went against instinct, I was wrong.”
Guys with big swings don’t get a fast break out of the box. So be careful with the stopwatch, home to first. If the guy you are timing has a big swing, and the time is slow, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is slow.
The best outfield arms finish their throws. They start over the top, arm up, and they get behind the ball, and they finish. What the scout is looking for is that take off when the ball hits the infield grass or dirt. That backspin that makes the ball just burst toward the base and the fielder ready to catch it.
That’s enough for now. That might 10 percent of what I learned. If you want me to throw some more scout stuff at you, send me an email.
Thank you for reading.