Scouting is a catch-all term for evaluating athletes. A scout’s job is to give a clear, full, and succinct description of what a player’s current and future value is.
The value of scouting lies in the critical thought that goes into a report, as a scout weighs personal experience, track record of similar players in baseball, the observed mechanics and movements of a player, and background information on what type of person the player is. While certain portions of scouting, such as fastball velocity, are objective, the overwhelming portion of it is subjective in nature. Teams pay scouts for those opinions and to look at players with a unique perspective and trained eye. Those subjective opinions must be backed by evidence and reasoning, but two scouts may see two very different outcomes when seeing the same player.
Being able to evaluate talent is critical to all departments in baseball. Even if an employee is not involved in acquiring players, having the ability to judge how a player’s skillset will play on a Major League field right now or in the future is the process for composing winning and championship rosters.
Summary
There is no true right or wrong blueprint. There’s no single way to write reports, and no single way to scout talent. Many teams scout players differently, and nearly every team’s scouting process differs in small or major ways. The goal of the scouting track will be to teach you a process for evaluating talent and to give you the resources necessary to think about players and the game in a different way. You may disagree with some of the information throughout this track, and that’s okay. The goal of a scout is to be able to stand behind your opinion and defend it with evidence and good baseball reasoning.
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