Baseball scouts help MLB teams find the best of the best baseball players. They are the eyes and ears of the teams, reporting back to the front office and their management what they see and feel in the local surroundings while interviewing those who are being scouted. Find out more about what a scout looks for in a baseball player below.
What is the Purpose of a Major League Baseball Scout?
The purpose of a scout is to discover untapped baseball players who can help an organization win baseball games. They typically go to high school, college baseball games, independent leagues, international games, and more to find players. And scout can mean minor league baseball as well.
What are Baseball Scouts Looking for in Baseball Players?
There are many things that a professional scout looks for in a player when scouting players for a Major League team. Typically speaking, scouts have their job from the General Manager of a professional baseball team telling them what they are looking for in players. For example, a group looking to rebuild their pitching staff in the minors might focus on finding pitching talent, while another organization is looking for a player in a specific position.
How Do you Become a Major League Scout?
This is how the scouting system works. You need to network and help out as a volunteer with high school players and their head coach. As you move up the ranks, you then join a paid program with a baseball team to collect additional scouting reports. For example, you might start following certain college players in a given area and making sure that your analysis stays consistent. Then, you can get promoted to a national cross-checker or an international job to help them discover top talent.
A major league scout uses an evaluation system to determine if a player will be drafted in or out of the draft.
What is an MLB Associate Scout?
An MLB-associated volunteer is an unpaid position that assists in gathering information for a baseball scout. The role of an MLB association can vary at times, however it typically keeps the volunteer in a specific location, helping gather data for a baseball scout. Generally speaking, a volunteer will only be able to work in the area or areas around where they live.
How Much Money Does a Baseball Scout Make?
The average salary of a baseball scout can range between $30k and $50k per year, according to eCityworks.com. Factors that go in to a Baseball Scout’s pay include years of experience and the team. Also, scouts’ pay can depend on more factors like working directly with the General Manager and data analytics team.
Where Do Scouts Sit During a Ballgame?
A scouting report is a detailed set of notes on the player with the intention of helping the team’s staff make better decisions in the draft. Scouting reports can contain everything from information on a player’s strengths to his weaknesses and even include personal comments on the players from the scout.
Do Scouts Scout out Different Teams?
Scouts can watch multiple players in a single game at once. If a scout is attending a game and another team they are observing plays a similar player, they can offer advice to their GM. If the scouts sees a player on a different team, they can relay that information to their GM to help them in their decision-making process.
Conclusion
While some scout evaluations are based on stats (and some are not), they all have the same goal, to gain as much information as possible regarding the prospect, in particular things that can’t be measured by the stats.
Scouting is not an exact science. A prospect’s chances of becoming an MLB player can be determined through an objective analysis based on the scout’s experience and knowledge of historical trends.
