About Baseball Scouting Jobs

Significance

Finding new talent is the lifeblood of baseball. Every great baseball player in the major leagues was seen on a diamond at some other level of the game by a scout before he was drafted, signed or traded for. Scouts follow baseball players at the high school, college and American Legion level. They also scout international players and file reports to the teams that employ them about the prospects that they have seen. Team officials then read those reports and make evaluations of whether a player should be drafted.

Finding and recommending a great player can make a scout's career. A scout named Tom Greenwade found and recommended a young Oklahoma ball player named Mickey Mantle to the New York Yankees. Greenwade did not have the benefit of watching Mantle pull on his Yankee uniform, stride purposely to the plate and launch a ball into the upper reaches of Yankee Stadium. Instead, he saw a young and raw player in a careworn uniform step up to the plate in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and bash pitches high and far. Greenwade used this evaluation to recommend one of the game's greatest stars to theYankees. He also had a role in the Brooklyn Dodgers' decision to sign Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in major league history. When the Braves went to the postseason for 14 straight years, special recognition went to Paul Snyder, who signed many of the players that became stars. Scouts are the backbone of most successful teams.

Teams spend millions to find the next generation of talented players. Not only do they pay the salaries of their scouts in the United States, many teams also have scouting operations in Canada, Mexico, Central America and Asia. Japanese-born players are frequently found on major league rosters today, but just two decades ago that area was ignored by scouts. The business is constantly evolving, which means that teams often have to ask their scouts to cover areas that are two to three times larger than in past generations.

When a player has developed a reputation, the scout often has gotten reports on the player's strengths and weaknesses before he has seen him play in person. Once the scout knows who a player is, he usually likes to watch him in person two or three times before writing a report to his employers. A scout will generally spend hours away from the baseball diamond asking about a player's off-the-field reputation. He will speak with coaches, teachers and local officials to get a feel for the player, and he will also talk to the player himself. A good scout will spend at least a month considering a player's talent and personal characteristics before writing an evaluation.

There are two basic types of scouts: amateur and professional. Amateur scouts find the high school age and college age players and make recommendations to their employers. Professional scouts follow other big-league players and help their employers decide if they want to pursue those players in a trade or free agents. Pro scouts also follow other teams to get a read on their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. They write reports saying that a particular opponent may hit the "high fastball" very well and to avoid throwing that pitch. These scouting reports are particularly valuable when a team is ready to play an important series.