SPARQ

I'll let coaches and scouts speak for themselves. But in my humble opinion it is a side consideration, a tie-breaker, if that.

I think athleticism is a great "tie-breaker". Coaches love athletes. They are easy to work with, they are easy to coach. But I'm just not sure how much baseball-specific athleticism SPARQ measures. It seems like something that high school players and parents are caught up in right now more than anything else. It seems more useful for football.

Don't get me wrong, I love what they do. I'm all for modern advancements in scouting and technology. I love the idea of information overkill. I love the idea of trying to get a measureable value for baseball related skills. You can never have too much good information. So, I don't want my post to seem negative.

But baseball isn't like other sports. You need athleticism in football, which I think is the sport that SPARQ based it's program off of. You need that athleticism to run all over the field - play in and play out. To have that speed and explosiveness to cover another athlete, run him down, or run away from him.

But baseball is not the same. If you are a hitter...He who hits, PLAYS. If you can swing the bat, I don't care what your SPARQ score was, they will stick you somewhere on that field. If you have a quick bat, if you have a high ceiling, I don't care what your SPARQ score was.

If you are a pitcher... you need velocity and an ability to PITCH, change speeds and locate. I don't care what your SPARQ score was.

Infielders need soft hands, good arm strength, baseball instincts - among plenty of other things. Catchers need to catch and release, call a game, block and receive. Outfielders need to track them down and get them in.

These are the fundamentals of the game.

You cannot replace arm strength and hitting in the game of baseball. And to my knowledge, SPARQ doesnt really take any of the above fundamentals into account, except maybe INDIRECTLY. I'm sure David Wells SPARQ score would be low, but the guy had a good career getting hitters out. I'm sure David Ortiz's SPARQ score would be low, but he may be the most clutch hitter our game has ever seen.

So to make a long story longer, I think a coach or scout will look at a huge list of things before they determine what kind of baseball player you are and your SPARQ score is somewhere buried on the bottom of that list.

Rob Kremer:

First, there is an interesting discussion thread on the Tournaments & Showcases Forum involving SPARQ as it relates to the 30 yard dash v. the 60 yard dash and other related issues. You might enjoy reading that thread and adding to it.

Second, I believe that some, but certainly not all, college teams and, eventually, MLB organizations will pick up on this and some won't. Right now, SPARQ is most likely a 'side issue' with almost everyone. However, those teams that try to find "athletes" will become more interested in the SPARQ as time goes on [if the testers develop a baseball specific set of athletic skills that can be tested] and those more interested in finding "baseball players" will be less interested in SPARQ ratings unless they start to see a competitive edge to those organizations using it. JMHO of course.

TW344

The SPARQ change-in-direction component seems exceptionally unbaseball-like. Personally I'd really rather fish for the top 5% in visual acuity, but you can't test for that outside or en masse.

I'd expect that middle infielders, and perhaps a center fielder might be partially identified with SPARQ, but there is a baseball-specific version of agility/athleticism that is based more on exceptional balance and first step quickness than in the ability to quickly cover distance and/or change directions.

From what I understand, which might not be much seeing as I am still a highschool underclassmen, I think it is much closer to what Mr. Bomeisl said. I think that for example, if you seem completely equal to another prospective recruit, and the only difference is in the SPARQ rating, and its a very large difference, that might be the only situation where it might be helpful. It also might help with just getting a name "out there".

quote:

an electronically timed 30 and 60 yard sprints, 2) a "shuffle" (which involved running 10 feet left, touch the line, 20 feet right, touch the line, then back to the middle), 3) an electronically measured vertical jump from a standstill, and 4)a medicine ball throw, measured in feet.

While scanning English sat TV today it occurred to be that SPARQ is actually the perfect s****r predictor.

I don't see that SPARQ scores and baseball success have a one to one correlation. Someone is trying to make money off it. That's all. Pure athleticism is more important in football. Skill is more important in baseball and SPARQ doesn't measure skill. It really isn't that hard to tell who is a good athlete and who isn't. You don't need SPARQ.