Have Gun - Will Travel
Who is the guy in the seats behind home plate with the radar gun? The most important person in baseball.

Brad DEL BARBA &
Johnny DiPRADO
MLNSportsZone.com

Look around the seats behind home plate, and you might spot one: Armed with radar guns, stopwatches and note cards, baseball scouts are the prophets of the game, possibly the most important people in the game, yet most fans don’t know much about what they do.

“Scouts are the most dedicated, loyal and unselfish people in baseball,” says scout Dave Yoakum of the Chicago White Sox. “They sacrifice time from their family life to devote themselves to their teams without seeking the recognition they deserve.”

Baseball scouts aren’t born, they evolve. Everyone from ex-players and college coaches to former teachers and even policemen have made the transition to a career of prognosticating players, finding the ones that have what it takes to make it to the major leagues.

These baseball fortune-tellers have one thing in common:  Since there is not a book or manual to study, they all draw from experiences in baseball that give them enough expertise to be of value to a major league club as a judge of talent.

Scouting is an ‘inexact science’ that blends technical knowledge with baseball instinct, and a little human psychology. Your picks and your pans both usually meet your expectations.  Occasionally a player will surprise you to the good or the bad.  You try very hard to avoid the latter, but in the end, you can call mechanics. Looking into the heart of an athlete, where their true greatness lies, is something that no scout or coach can predict with perfect accuracy.

THE JOB

Scouts are the advance men of the major league baseball clubs.  It is our job to find the players that will enter the minor league development system, or the major leagues of baseball.  We also evaluate talent in the farm systems of other clubs for potential trades, and scour professional baseball clubs around the world.

Long before their names grace the back of a professional uniform, scouts spend countless hours seeking out these players.  We travel to high schools, colleges, ball fields, empty lots, and farm fields where the word is out that someone can play.

While scouting isn’t fully regimented, like the classes of minor league ...

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