Anyone know what goes on at an MLB team pre-draft workout? What the format is? Do they just put the players through drills at their individual positions? Do they do any live game action?
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The ones we went to were drills. Pitchers did not throw to live batters and hitters did bp and position drills. At specific team things they also did testing. Grip, vertical, etc
@baseballhs posted:The ones we went to were drills. Pitchers did not throw to live batters and hitters did bp and position drills. At specific team things they also did testing. Grip, vertical, etc
Thanks for the info!
Request details from the pro scout who is your contact
Bob
How common is it for a high school player that is not in his draft year (current 2023 or 2024 HS grad) to get an invite to an MLB pre draft workout? Trying to evaluate and make sure it makes sense to attend or if there is some downside.
You just have to hear how it went for ptwood son! Maybe she will share.
@bruins11 posted:How common is it for a high school player that is not in his draft year (current 2023 or 2024 HS grad) to get an invite to an MLB pre draft workout? Trying to evaluate and make sure it makes sense to attend or if there is some downside.
My son is a 2023 and was invited to one that actually took place yesterday. I know another 2024 who was invited to the same one. We decided to pass on it due to several factors.
Hey guys. Just seeing this. James did not go to any pre-draft work outs until his draft year. He did a couple of local team work outs as an underclassman (e.g. a team came to a local HS and worked out 15 guys from the mid-Atlantic). After those he went to some BP sessions with some of the area scouts (all local/no cost). However, we didn’t go crazy—sometimes the answer was “not tonight. He has homework or basketball practice.” Closer to the draft, other than scouts going to his school to watch BP/practices/inter squads/games, he only went to individual work outs with teams (or they came to him). Different friends of his had different approaches with some of them going to a lot of group work outs or the combine. I think the key if you are not in a draft year is to recognize this is the beginning of a conversation that may or may not pan out depending on your son’s development trajectory so you do not want to invest a lot of $$ flying all over the place for MLB work outs if you are still years away. As you get closer to the draft, you really have to develop a strategy based on your son’s particular situation. Is he underexposed/overexposed? Does he have tools that haven’t been showcased yet? Would a bad showing hurt him more than a good showing would help him?
As for format, the early ones were very metrics based. Running 40s, 60s, standing high jump, throwing medicine balls, etc… True pre-draft work out were almost all BP with people like hitting coordinator, GM and Scouting Dir there telling him where to hit the ball and chatting with him to get to know him (context, all of his “home visits” were over Zoom so they really hadn’t gotten an opportunity to engage with him in person).
Hope that helps.
My son is set to graduate HS this year and received an invite to a teams development location from a team that has been in touch with and come to see him weekly throughout the season. He was told he'd do some basic drills and BP and then meet and chat with the head office personnel. My question is, do they put heavy pressure on the player to discuss what his number is? We've been advised not to discuss $ at all until he has been drafted.
It really depends on the team but most respect a well-crafted non-answer
PT
the word professional scout defines the philosophy of the interview. Information gathering. This is one of the objectives of the Area Code games. When players do not pay to play, the pressure to perform is less. It is a game. Enjoy the thrill of competition .
Bob