http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030213&content_id=199895&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null
Becoming a professional Baseball scout?
Most likely for a college league, what is the process of becoming a scout? What do college baseball teams look for in who they hire? I want a career in baseball, whether scouting or not, so if you have info on other baseball careers, that'd help. Thanks.
Ray asks
my response:
A scout must avoid lack of confidence, other organizations' scouts pumping him for information, having a favorite team or players which is a deterrence to objectivity, zero prospects which are prospects with an OFP of below 50, and choosing poor associate scouts in order to meet the number one goal of an organization...winning a world championship.
Once the prospect has been been graded, the scout should stand by his OFP and belief in the prospect and himself. The Scouting Bureau's report may not be as accurate as yours. I knew a scout that changed his report for that reason alone...the MLSB had this prospect graded 13 points higher. It turned out the prospect was just as he originally graded and reported. The Bureau had missed the mark, but this territorial scout didn't have conviction in his own abilities and changed his grade on a new report to match theirs. This is another one of the 90% failures because he had a lack of confidence in his scouting abilities. The other pitfall is the opposite extreme and giving out information to other scouts when they pump you for information. Besides being arrogant, this smells of a lack of loyalty to your own organization. The pitfall of having a favorite team or players falls into the category of "deterrence to objectivity" which was previously alluded to. The final pitfall for a scout has to be picking poor associate scouts. This happens, but not often. It did happen to a certain territorial scout that relied heavily on his associate scouts for reports in order to get more playing time on the golf course. I will say that he did put together a decent network of associate scouts overall, but a few turned out to be incompetent, and one, an M.D. in is day job, was brought to the attention of the MLB Commissioner's Office by a fairly well known collegiate coach for offering players PEDs and soliciting to be an agent for the prospects he carded. Both were brilliant men, but lacked common sense, good judgment, and moral ethics.
The goal of finding prospects that will help the organization to win championships has not changed, but the methods used to do so are in a continual change. The modern scout has to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, and bio-mechanics. All of these must be combined with the absolutes of scouting: being objectively subjective, aggressive, an ability to not pre-judge prospects, knowing the up-to-date needs of the organization, an unending patience and avoiding scouting pitfalls.
Time management includes more than just managing time in the scouting department and by each individual scout. The concept of business time management includes four functions and is already in use by some general managers. The functions are production, organizing, directing, and controlling when adopted by the scouting director can facilitate the organization's scouts to be more productive which as a result would reverse the past problem of only 10% of their scouts being successful.
Today's scout should be computer literate to help keep the flow of information moving. Being knowledgeable in computer applications should be a goal of the scouting department for each scouting director scout in the 21st century. The speed of communication necessary to build a successful, championship organization requires it. A wireless laptop and printer will soon become tools for the scout and will be as valuable as a radar gun and stopwatch.
Staying current in the latest thinking in sports psychology, strength training, flexibility, nutrition, and bio-mechanics are necessary for the scout of today. The need to provide correct information to prospects is now a part of the job. The old saying that "sports medicine changes every six weeks" also can apply to almost all areas of baseball and can become frustrating, but the modern scout must accept that staying current in his knowledge base is integral in helping his organization reach its yearly goal of winning a championship.
Not following the absolutes of scouting is why there is a 90% failure rate among scouts. A successful scout has to avoid being subjective without including objectivity. The two must go together 100% of the time to help make an accurate OFP and determine signability. That being said... a deterrence to objectivity is the scout allowing himself to pre-judge prospects because he reminds him of past unsuccessful prospect X, etc. The scout must eliminate the prejudice and rate tools with focus and not emotion.
Lack of patience can actually be lumped into the pitfalls found in scouting. It just happens to lead the pitfall league in problems that scouts must deal with. Impatience with the scouting director is one problem when there is a lack of interest in your prospect. If the prospect is drafted by your organization, then there can be impatience with the player development department in taking their time moving the prospect up the ladder, and if you are a successful scout, the lack of moving up the ladder in your own career can become a detriment. All the behaviors related to impatience are part of human nature and that a successful scout needs to overcome. To become a patient scout requires some stress management techniques or you'll never have peace of mind. Finding a healthy way to unwind and clear the mind, is key to surviving and thriving in the scouting world. Developing a hobby can be one process in helping you to relax and will take you a step closer to mastering patience.
Other potential pitfalls in scouting include marital stress, and signing immature prospects. As to marriage and marital stress, a scout must realize that he'll be on the road...often. Sometimes the time out away from home can be up to three weeks. From my experience, I know of many divorced scouts for just this reason. Maybe this is why for many years the average age of scouts was where they were in their sixties. In short, a scout need to be aware and should address this issue with his spouse and work at his marriage to maintain it. Wives can be understanding is the positive side of this issue.
The signing of immature players can be a pitfall, but usually doesn't happen often thankfully. I have seen a couple of players signed that had no business being signed due to poor make up. Sometimes players can have their attitude righted after signing, but I rarely see that with those that like to sip suds in high school, etc. A prospect that has a drinking or drug problem in high school is immature cannot handle the life and pressure of a minor league player. Point being- a scout must use common sense and good judgment as to what's best for the prospect and the organization.
In conclusion, baseball is a business...first and foremost. There is no room for thinking otherwise. Being a successful scout means that he's helping build championship teams by choosing championship caliber prospects objectively with all the tools available to him. That is the bottom line for a scout. If a scouting director requires his scouts to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, nutrition, bio-mechanics, and combine this with the absolutes of scouting, that scouting department, along with the organization's player development department, are well on their way to building a successful baseball franchise.
