WHAT DO SCOUTS LOOK FOR?

In my 25 years of baseball scouting I was often asked, “What do scouts look for in evaluating players?” I could write a book on it to answer the question completely but will attempted to pass on the basic approach most scouts take. It can become very different for each scout and organization but will break it down it layman’s terms and present it in a simplified and basic way. I , of course, have very strong opinions on what a prospect looks like and what abilities the player needs to posses(as most scouts), but will just try and present a generic and understandable explanation that would be the baseline for most scouts to begin the process in evaluating players.

The basic job of a scout is to determine what players in his area can eventually play and contribute to a major league team. This is called “projection.” Take the current skills, physical attributes, athletic ability, and mental/emotional makeup of high school and college players and look in the crystal ball as to what they will look like and how much better will they get in 3-5 years as they develop in the minor leagues. This is obviously not an exact science but more of an educated guess.

Five basic “tools” or abilities are graded for position players. Those tools are (1) running speed, (2) arm strength or throwing ability, (3) fielding–defensive attributes at the players specific position, (4) hitting approach and skills, and (5) power in hitting. Each position on the field has its abilities that are most important for that specific position. An example—for a catcher—it is more important for him to have good arm strength rather than being able to run fast. It is most important for an outfielder to have speed over arm strength. Infielders need to have quick feet, soft hands, and good throwing actions. Those types of areas can be broken down for each position. Each position has what is called a “profile”—what skills specifically for that position are most important. Hitting is of course the most important area to evaluate but also the most difficult to “project”. Generally scouts look for in hitters are: balance, pitch recognition, bat speed/strength, adjustments to off-speed and breaking ball pitches, timing and rhythm, and the basic swing plane or bat path of the swing. This area of scouting has by far the most controversy and opinions. I would like to look at this more closely in a future article. This is the area most “mistakes” are made but also where the best scouts are successful. This is the area as one scout said to me one time—“it is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it”. I thought that was well stated. The power hitting evaluation tends to be “profiled” more for the “corner positions” (right and left field, and third and first base), and the middle infield, catching, and centerfield more “profiled” as defensive priority positions.

Evaluating pitchers is another unique challenge. The radar gun, obviously, gives scouts an “objective” reading—one of the few in scouting other than use of the stop watch for running speed. The radar gun is used for a mph number for all types of pitches. Arm strength or velocity grade is the first thing look for it evaluating pitchers—it is the area you can’t teach. Some pitchers pick up in velocity as they get older thru strength gains if they have good “actions” but some don’t. Velocity is not everything—scouts have a saying “if you live by the gun—you die by the gun.” Other areas that scout pay specific attention to in “projecting” on pitchers is: type and ease of arm action, consistency of release, balance, rhythm and direction of delivery, movement of fastball or “life” in arm, command of pitches, spin and shape of breaking ball, and ability to use off-speed pitches.

A grading number scale of 2 thru 8 (or 20-80) is used by most clubs to assign a current and future grade for each of the 5 tools, and other areas of evaluation that are different for each team. 5 or 50 is referred to as “major league average”, 2 or 20 being well below average, and 8 or 80 being the best in the major leagues. Generally to be a major league prospect—a player would need to be graded in at least 3 of these tools average or better. The best players end up with more on the upper end (6-8) of the scale. Of course, again, position specific evaluations come into play. By adding up the total numbers for each tool or area of evaluation and dividing by how many tools evaluated—the scout can come up with what is called an “overall future potential number” or OFP.

So a player could be a “55” or “65”. Generally players with larger OFP are drafted higher in the draft. Scouts also usually have the option to add or subtract 3-5 points to better reflect their “gut feeling” on a player or their opinion on whether the player can really live up to the physical numbers he has put on the player—this is where intuitiveness or instinct of a scout comes into play.

A typical teams report forms will have a section to grade tools in a current and future box and area where the scout can describe in more detail the player’s specific skills and abilities related to these areas. There is also a section for scout to describe the personality, or “makeup” of a player which refers to how he conducts himself on and off the field. Scouts usually will file a report each time they see a player in the spring. But they only report on, of course, on those players they which they recommend to draft.

That is a quick look at scouting—hope that helps you better understand when you see scouts at the games—just what they are looking at and thinking about—and just what are they writing down in those notebooks.

(this is an article written by the Baseball Northwest Director for ESPNRISE.com)

Jeff McKay
Baseball Northwest
www.baseballnorthwest.com
mckay@baseballnorthwest.com