bloodlines

In a word...YES!

Yeah if you have some talent, but your bloodlines are that of a famous athlete, you are almost a shoo in.

PAmom,

And it is so well justified. After all the Babe's dad was an athlete. Errr, guess not. But his mom... Nope. Yeah but Gerhrig's dad was a pro ballplayer. Well, no he wasn't. Ummm. Sandy Koufax's dad was a MLB pitcher. No, guess not. A good LL pitcher? No, not even that either.

Hmmm..........

Texan,

No one said you had to be from successful parents to be successful, but you are in a dream world if you don't think scouts look at genetics when evaluating players.

Kind of like the "short vs tall" syndrome.

But, I like your thinking. One day maybe they will say, "but Josh's dad, no....".

Never said they don't look at it. Just amazes me at how flawed the approach is.

Without a doubt, it opens doors.

Sometimes, I think all you have to do is put yourself into the scouts shoes to answer these type of questions. If someone told you that was Willie Mays' grandkid over there warming up, I am guessing the natural human emotion would be to give that particular kid a look that otherwise might not be there. Baseball has a tradition with many blood lines i.e.; boone, bell, bonds, griffey, mathews,....

There are many things that will get onto the baseball field (including bloodlines)....but..... those are not the things that KEEP you on the field.
Fungo

Upton, Martinez, Drabek, Clemens, Williams, Murton, Lemon, Davis, Gibson, Alou, Rose, Yount, etc., etc., etc. It’s a very long list!

While there is no guarantee that everyone in the family will be a good baseball player, it is amazing how often they are. Bloodlines will not get a young man drafted, but there is good reason for all the interest. A scout would be foolish to ignore it.

Be it Grey hounds, horses or humans, blood lines need to be considered at least a little bit. There is an advantage, but not so big an advantage that it eliminates those that don’t have professional baseball blood lines.

There will always be more star players who don’t have dads or brothers who played professional baseball. After all, almost everyone did not play professional baseball, let alone play in the big leagues.

PG,

Did Ripken's father Cal Sr. make it to the big leagues? I am guessing any of Cal Jr.'s boys will be given every opportunity to make it in baseball.

quote:

Originally posted by PAmom:
In a word...YES!

Actually, I resent this type of comment very much. It insinuates that I would turn in a kid just because his Dad used to be a player. The son of an ex-big leaguer can get compared at age 17 to what his Dad was like in his prime, and that is very tough on the kid. If a kid has talent, I turn him in, if he does not have talent, I don't turn him in and it does not matter who his Dad is.

I don't think PaMom was referring to you BBScout

but bloodlines must run deep at times - - who do ya suppose turned in Carey Schuler?

REF" "Carey Schueler was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 43rd round in 1994. It must have been a proud day for White Sox GM Ron Schueler to select his daughter before some other team grabbed her."

bbscout,
I tend to agree with PG on this one. I think it makes sense to take a bit longer look at the players with good "bloodlines". Obviously there has to be some talent there. Delmon Young was going where he did in the draft regardless of who his brother was and a player who clearly doesn't have talent isn't going to get drafted no matter who their parents are. Some talented players might get a bit longer look especially if their parent was a late bloomer. If Clemens' kid was a pitcher and throwing in the mid-80s he might be worth a draft and follow just because his father was a bit of a late bloomer, although I believe Roger was on the radar well before his college career.

On the other hand, people need to realize that a scout's living is based on making the right calls on as many players as possible and that turning in players who don't have ability just because they are someone's relative would mean that a scout wasn't doing his job to the best of his ability and would probably lead to him losing that job.

Another aspect to consider is that some of these players with MLB parents or brothers have been exposed to the baseball lifestyle and may be a bit more likely to persevere through the minor league experience than some others with equal talent.

bbscout---

Sorry. I was abrupt because I was thinking of a very specific situation locally in which I KNOW that a young man got an opportunity in pro ball ONLY because his Dad is a former Major Leaguer. The player had no D-I offers out of high school, a catcher with no bat. He was a backup his entire D-II career. He batted 9th on my son's summer team. He was neither scouted nor drafted. But he signed a free agent contract with the organization his father played for and still works for. In this case, no question about "favors" in anyone's mind who has seen him play (including his coaches).

I didn't mean to imply that scouts would recommend a prospect simply because of who DAD is, but sometimes (and this is just one instance), you have to admit, the opportunity for a shot occurs simply for that reason. No scout turned in this young man's name...but DAD just pulled some strings with the front office.

Piazza and then Piazza again. One worked, one didn't.

From the writings on our family cave wall Grandpa Ug-Ug had a great arm and killed more rabbits with a stone than any other cave-jock in the village. How far back on the tree can you go?

And they say my family tree has no limbs!

I think the question has just as much to do about the mental aspect. If dad, mom, or uncle joe had athletic experiences it may be a good bet that Junior understands better what it takes to go to the next level. The physical genetic carryover is a crapshoot at best.

There is no doubt that if a player has a good "Bloodline" he will get at least a look where maybe another kid with the same tools might not. But I agree with Fungo it will not keep them looking if the talent is not there. No one is going to care what kind of "Bloodline" you have if you can flat out play. Do you think they are going to say "He can flat out play but his parents never played sports so there is no need to keep looking at this kid". I played football in college and both in HS. I was a good hitter but an average HS player in baseball. Both my kids are much better at sports than I ever was. I would never admit that to them at least not right now. I have two uncles that were minor league players back in the 50's. Does that mean anything as far as my kids are concerned? I dont think so. I see PG's point and it is well taken. I am right there with Fungo on this one.

PAMom - Know of very similar story this year. 40 something round, dad is a current coach with a club and was a player. The player is fast, but no bat, no glove (OF), no arm , and no college offers.