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 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, signing immature prospects, lack of confidence, other organization's scouts pumping you for information, having a favorite team or players, and choosing poor associate scouts.
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. A prospect that has a drinking or drug problem in high school and is immature cannot handle the life of a minor league player. The scout knew the pressure the prospect would be facing, Yet, for whatever reason, the scout didn't relay the information to the scouting director and the team drafted him. In two years the prospect had drank himself out of baseball. Most people that knew this player, as well as coaches, anticipated this would happen to this prospect and were frustrated with the scout and still disdain the organization to this day. This is a little different scenario than when a prospect has a questionable work ethic, but will blossom once signed and realizes his career and future rests in his hands. Point being a scout must use common sense and good judgment as to what's best for the prospect.
A scout must avoid lack of confidence, other organization's scouts pumping him for information, having a favorite team or players, and choosing poor associate scouts. 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. From my experience, this happens much too often. The most extreme example that I am familiar with is a certain territorial scout that had a decent network of associate scouts, but a few turned out to questionable and one, an M.D., was nearly brought to the attention of the MLB Commissioner's Office. The medical doctor/associate scout gave players PEDs and offered to be an agent for his prospects...all very illegal and turned out to be a career killer for several individuals.
In conclusion, baseball is a business...first and foremost. To be a scout that helps build championship teams through helping choose championship caliber draft picks, that is the bottom line. If a modern scouting director requires his scouts to familialize 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 combines this with the absolutes of scouting...being objectively subjective, aggressive, free from pre-judging prospects, knowing the up-to-date needs of the organization, having patience and avoidance of pitfalls, is well on his way to helping build a successful baseball franchise.
