quote:
Originally posted by PGStaff:
If you're a scout working for an MLB organization, your standards had better be in line with theirs. Turning in an 80 mph pitcher is a very quick way to return to score keeping!
I understand that, but I’m not a scout. But if I was and if the parent club wanted to fire me out of hand without even trying to see if I might be correct in my assessment, so be it, I’ve been fired before. Its not that I don’t think the scouts know what they’re doing or that the system doesn’t work at all. Its that I don’t believe the system is as efficient as it could be, and that the evaluation system in place could be better. Not much better maybe, but everything can be improved on.
quote:
BTW, Regarding Statistics! Surely you must know that there are many MLB clubs that have Statistical Analysis Departments these days. Sometimes the scouting department and statistical department disagrees. Both departments have made huge mistakes because no one can accurately predict the future. However, everyone wants as much information as they possibly can. Scouts do care about statistics, it's just that the statistics are secondary to other things.
Actually, I’ve wondered about that at some length, and even asked about it. So far, of the scouts I’ve talked to about it with, only 1 indicates that for HS there’s anything in place other than the scout himself looking at places like MaxPreps for whatever numbers they can dig up on a player. Granted its been a small sample so far, i.e. less than 10. But I do talk to them whenever I get the chance, and it helps to have a friend who was a pro player, a pro scout, and a ML coach as well. He keeps me on the straight and narrow, believe me. We also have an area scout who’s kid is on our team, and he’s been quite informative because he’s scouted for 2 different organizations.
My GUESS is, any statistical analysis if much more directed at players in the “system” and college players to some degree. I know the fellow who developed stat analysis software based on Stanford’s data that many colleges and some pro organizations used for a while, and may still use for all I know. Now if someone had access to the kind of data that thing kicks out, it could/would /should be very helpful to anyone looking for talent based on performance. But as for HS’s, the data scene is pretty bleak, and I know it.
quote:
Most often statistics can be a red flag. The best prospects are expected to have good HS statistics. Most often they dominate in HS.
If a scout is following a player he thinks has plus raw power and the statistics show that the player has no HRs in 25 high school games... Red Flag!
If a scout is following a pitcher that has a very good fastball and the statistics show that the pitcher has a low number of strike outs in HS... Red Flag!
It might not mean so much when a high school player is hitting .500... But its a Red Flag when someone considered a potentiial early draft pick is hitting .200 in HS and striking out a lot.
Statistics become more important at every higher level. [QUOTE]
I know that, and folks who understand the “system” do too, but that’s now what you read/hear on these discussion board. Most of the time stats are flatly dismissed without little explanation, but that doesn’t help the overall education of people about the game. And its why I get phone calls from parents asking me to send them Jr’s numbers so they can sent them to a college coach or hand them out at games to pro scouts, or an e-mail telling me Jr had 5 K’s instead of 4 in some relatively meaningless game in the middle of the season. I do my best to dissuade them from sending either hundreds of pages of numbers to anyone, and to tell them I had a typo and will gladly fix it, but its not going to mean the kid will sign a contract for $1.4M rather than $700K.
I try to be very realistic, and explain in any detail someone wants what any particular metric means and how it can be used, but most people are really stat ignorant, both in what the stat means, how its used, or how much it says about their kid’s future. The problem is, there’s two very different perspectives going on in the game.
One is what I’m interested in. I want to go watch kids play ball. That’s it. I don’t really care about what happens after they graduate, but am very happy for anyone that moves on. IOW, I’m interested in the here and now, much like the HS coach is, or it could be expressed as entertainment.
Then you’ve got the other perspective. That’s the world of the $$$$$. The pros and to a lesser degree the colleges, are concerned about 1 thing above all else. $$$ and bang for the $$$. Those two things are worlds apart.
[QUOTE]Very good point! There are scouts, just as there are others people, who talk too much or too loudly.
Very little of what’s said in those situations is said with malice, but it’s a very personal and hurtful thing for a parent or sibling to hear something derogatory said about their child or brother. Its just not a good situation for $$$$ to be so involved. That’s only my wretched opinion, but its an honest one.
