quote:IS the recent popularity of summer/fall/wimter showcases and high profile tourneys changing how MLB teams structure their scouting departments - - IE - why do teams need all the area scouts/associate scouts they had in the past if other people (PG, T1, etc) can (probably more efficiently) IDENTIFY, EVALUATE, & GATHER talent into ONE place where a cross-checker/supervisor/GM can evaluate??
maybe PG or scout can comment
IMO - It would be interesting to hear bbscout's or PG's comments concerning if - and how - showcases/high profile tourneys are changing MLB scouting tactics. I personally havent a clue.
It is possible that BBScout would have a different perspective than I do.
Here’s how I see it:
MLB clubs still structure their scouting departments about the same as they did years ago. PG or anyone else cannot come close to replacing the area scouts.
Last year PG had the best year ever having over 800 players who had attended our events being selected in the draft. That’s a huge number, but it means 700 drafted players did not attend a PG event.
Someone needs to find and scout those 700 and for that matter someone needs to follow those 800 plus players that are identified by us and others.
The very best scouts will attend the events with lots of good players and continue trying to find those not at those events. The good area scout will know much more about the players in his own territory than Perfect Game does.
The best scouts will look at all the lists available of ranked players just to be sure he doesn’t miss someone. Those who do what we do, can help, but never replace the good MLB Scout!
It’s only the bad MLB Scouts that need to worry because we could possibly expose the bad ones. If we identify someone as a prospect and they blows it off… and the same identified prospect turns out to be the real deal… the scout that didn’t pay attention could have a problem. This is because every head of MLB scouting departments has access to our lists. We may not be right, but it would be foolish for a scout to not look at the lists or ignore them. Scouts get paid to gather accurate information. If we are wrong… we are wrong! If the MLB scout is wrong, very often, his job is in jeopardy.
High Level Showcases and Tournaments add value to the scouting community. They don’t replace the scouting community.
The best prospects need to be followed closely, there’s so much more to scouting than identifying the talent. In fact, identifying the talent is one of the easiest jobs for a MLB scout. I’m getting old and the eye sight isn’t as good as it used to be, but I can pick out the best talent in a hurry. This is not rocket science! The tough part is figuring out if that talent by itself is enough.
Someone has to figure out if that prospect will sign or what it will take for him to sign. Someone has to evaluate makeup and do the investigative work to make sure the organization is making a wise investment. There are area scouts who will watch a player many times before the draft. The crosschecker can’t replace the area scouts because they are responsible for covering too large an area. The crosscheckers are comparing the talent of the prospect from Washington to the prospect from Arizona.
I think showcase type events help the scouts and recruiters tremendously, those events help improve efficiency and even accuracy. I like to think what we do adds a lot and is important, but it will never replace the present system. Hope that never happens because I like the system as it is! Too many big mistakes would be made by MLB clubs if they replaced area scouts.
We find the best players we can and get them together and give our opinion. Then the scouting departments and recruiters watch them and determine the “value” of those players to their club or college. Our opinion does not always coincide with the final determined value.
