FanPost

EXCLUSIVE: An MLB scout talks to Royals Review

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

I was recently presented with the opportunity to speak with a professional scout from the American League West.

This guy could have suggested that I instead go interview a nest of rattlesnakes or something, but he did not do that because he's a nice guy.

I want to thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to give thoughtful responses to my questions.

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Is it harder to scout hitters or pitchers?

The bat tool of a hitter is one of the most difficult things to predict in scouting, making hitters a tougher job than pitchers. For example: a pitcher in A-ball can face poor competition and still showcase the great sink on his fastball, a biting slider and nice body control throughout his delivery. Even if he's a little older for the league and mowing through innings, his age will matter a little less than the hitter because the quality of the pitches can hold true as he moves up. For a hitter though, who's at the lower levels and facing less velocity on a regular basis, fewer big league caliber breaking balls, and far less pitch execution...we'll see successful hitters who are actually light on bat speed or have holes in their swings that aren't being exploited just yet. And still just as challenging is the young hitter who has the bat speed, balance, and power. How can we be sure he'll adjust to the breaking pitches and learn to be passively aggressive enough at the plate to walk, hit and be a run producer?

What do you consider the most important qualities in a hitter?

Mechanically speaking, a cohesive, repeatable swing with bat speed. If you watch enough Major League games on TV you'll see a few hundred different stances every year, and personal style is great. A deeper look though, and you'll find nearly all of them get into a similar position at the end of their timing mechanism and a similar position at the point of contact. Now on the mental side of things, it would be great if a young hitter's bat path and mechanical strengths matched his hitting approach. Meaning a smaller guy who stays inside the ball is peppering the middle of the field all series and not trying to play the big man's game beyond the wall. Furthermore, there should be a sound approach and philosophy to the AB. This will vary because there are guys who can "situationally" hit, others are geared for power, and some can only handle one side of the strike zone. Which is another important quality: knowledge of the strike zone & how to maximize your strengths within it.

What would you call the most overrated qualities in a hitter? What about a pitcher?

Raw power for hitters. It's a nice tool to differentiate young players, but won't mean a hill of beans if he can't get on time under the lights.

For pitching it's velocity. There's so much of it now that hitters in the Major Leagues are capable of damaging the mid-90's mistakes. There needs to be some level of control, down angle, life, and all three of these would be something special!

What would you consider the most underrated qualities in hitters/pitchers?

Underrated is a difficult word--if I could use underdeveloped it might apply more directly. Because as scouts we're looking for all the pluses, and whether it's bat speed or hand/eye coordination we're going to try and value (rate) it accordingly. A few underdeveloped skills for young hitters would be zone awareness, pitch recognition, and a sound approach within the At Bat. Sometimes the physicality and bat speed can overshadow these finer aspects.

For pitchers: the ability to command their pitches. And quite frankly, for every type of player, if you guys can figure out a way to rate "resiliency" and the capacity to handle failure....please let me know! That type of info might just be invaluable.

How much do you consider a player's statistics when making an evaluation? Are they generally used to bolster a conclusion you've arrived at through watching him perform, or is a stat sometimes sufficiently persuasive in and of itself?

Great question. In an ideal world the player would have a chance to display his personal uniqueness (or lack thereof) to a scout before the stats are included. Reason being, we all have colleagues much more adept to numbers and production trends in our front offices. What they need from us is a scouting report: a thorough observation of how the player moves, looks, reacts, are there tools, skills to accompany them, an instinctual feel, etc. With that said, we don't rule out stats, but you'd prefer an acquaintance with the player before using them in a report. There are a couple stats that seem to tell a story, even at the lower levels: strikeouts and walks. For both hitters and pitchers these two numbers tend to magnify as they get closer to the Major Leagues. And it's safe to say a player's statistical production is more important and intrinsic to his evaluation the closer he gets to the majors.

Is it preferable for a player to have a spike curve or knuckle curve grip compared to a slow curve, or is the focus more on how effective the curve is within that pitcher's repertoire?

I've seen some of the data analysis on the benefits of a spike curve, and completely understand the logic of a better downward angle, less recognition time for the hitter and lower entry and exit points. Unfortunately it's not as simple as walking up to a guy and saying, "put your knuckle up like this, and throw that with conviction." Every pitcher is wired differently and levels of aptitude can range greatly. The most important thing is what you said: how effective is it for his repertoire. Then you can talk about any potential tweaks, but overhauls can be difficult.

Would you discourage young pitchers from using a cutter until they have a feel for their other pitches?

Yes. Learn to command your Fastball to both sides, slow down the hitter with a Change-up, and control a breaking pitch well enough to put it over the plate and expand below the zone. Then, if the hitters are sending out heaters faster than you're hurling them inward...they're telling you it's too flat, not quick enough, etc. Then you can add the Cutter and create some additional margin for error. Also, by this time the pitcher should have a repeatable delivery (considering he's throwing three pitches for a strike already) which won't force the young pitcher to manipulate or torque unnecessarily on the Cutter.

Lastly, for any youngsters reading this (or more importantly, their dads, uncles and cousins): try to master the 2-seam Fastball as soon as the 4-seam is under control. The lateral & vertical action is easier on the arm and just as valuable at the point of contact.

Is a prospect's injury history ever a significant aspect of his overall evaluation? Does injury history on its own ever dictate whether or not a player is worthy of your continued attention?

Medical reports are extremely important and they will effect the level of interest during trade talks, or even negate an amateur's signing bonus and take both sides back to the drawing board. A drastic example that jumped to mind while reading the question was R.A. Dickey.

In terms of the amateur player/Rule 4 draft, how do teams view high school players versus college players? Are college seniors getting more attention because of the new hard limits on salary cap space?

Each respective scouting director, his cross-checkers, and area scouts have meticulously worked to get the entire country into a preferred order. These guys aren't kidding when they say, "we took the best guy available on our board." It's the truth; they're prepared. And, of course it's true that senior signings can be part of a strategy to pay over slot on earlier picks without taking on the penalties. Every business is looking to maximize available opportunities, and baseball management is no different. Slot money has given small market teams a more predictable budget for the draft. In the past a high school phenom was able to set a high price on his head, so to speak, which could deter smaller markets from taking a risk on getting the negotiation inked. With a little more predictability in the current format, it would make sense to see some balance in the draft results.

It seems some organizations have been steering their scouting and development focus away from the traditional search for the holy grail known as The 5-Tool Player. It would stand to reason that smaller market teams would have trouble (and might be hurting themselves by) trying to retain such a player. Are "complete" players heading toward obsolescence in favor of those with more specialized skills who can be utilized to address specific needs and deficiencies more directly?

Well, 5-Tool players are typically dynamic producers and shouldn't be going out of style anytime soon. What we have is a group of small market, and even a couple mid-market teams, stretching a dollar. To be a success, clubs need a full roster of guys to bring some value to the bottom line: wins. When you're short on payroll, there's a big production difference between one player at $16M and 4 contributors averaging $4M apiece. It seems like the specialized rosters are more of a product of creative front offices than lack of taste for tooled-out talents.

How much communication is there between scouts and coaches/development guys in the MLB?

Within an organization there are a few 'delegates' from the scouting department who will be involved throughout the maturation process of a draft class. And the front office is constantly keeping their eye on the minor league system as a whole, both literally and statistically speaking. Player development staff have a demanding job, and their time is consumed by the team they're coaching. Their rigorous schedule requires the aforementioned representatives from the scouting department to visit the teams wherever they might be playing in order to communicate in person, although there's a variety of dialogue as well through nightly reports, periodic calls, emails, texts, & video analysis. Now as far as a competing scout speaking with the development staffers of say, the Royals minor league system--this is usually a personal relationship from the past, or possibly a genuine interest to meet & network with the coach. This type of interaction is truly case-by-case and there's no blueprint for the information shared or relationships built.

Regarding "Statcast"--MLB Advanced Media's 3D tracking system that will soon be implemented in all major league ballparks--to what degree do you think it will change the way baseball evaluates a player's defensive value?

Front offices are always looking for a more thorough valuation process, and this Statcast information will allow them new data points to work into their formulas. Most organizations are using the same PitchF/X data, video footage, etc. So the difference, as it typically is, will be how each respective front office decides to use this new information. I'd venture to say there will be players who are not traded (or vice versa, traded for) over the next couple of years because of their increased defensive value. Anytime we, as an industry, can quantify production, there's an opportunity to exploit any misconceptions.

Do the Royals have any particular reputation among baseball professionals with regard to scouting and player development? (Feel free to use acronyms like BFSITHOW [Best Farm System In The History Of Whatever] when referring to their legendary 2010 minor league class)

They have a strong reputation and rich baseball history in both respects. The famous Royals Academy in Florida during the 1970's was a poster child for spring training formats to come, and many of the Latin American academies established today. The current scouting department is full of greatly experienced evaluators--the front office personnel are some of the most approachable and courteous in the industry, an example established at the top with Dayton. Their player development has a plan of progression for its players, which is held firm and would be more than some organizations can claim.

When we're talking about prospects like the many publicized during those mentioned years, we can't forget the definition of the word 'prospect' or the fact that it's a hopeful analysis from a third party publication. There's no telling what the internal discussions were like during those years, but I will say this: the current Royals team is filled with players from the 2010-2011 lists, whether drafted, acquired for Grienke, or traded away. How about hitters first: Salvador, Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain, Escobar, Aoki (Will Smith). On the mound you have Yordano, Duffy, Herrera, Davis and Shields of course (Wil Myers). How about taking Holland from a $50K signee and developing him into the Royals all time single season Saves leader? You'd be hard pressed to find such a rich return within all the big league clubs. I'll ask you this--after reading these names, do you think the front office and player development did a good job building a divisional winner (which is looking possible)?

A lot of us at Royals Review were skeptical of Dayton Moore's acquisition of first Ervin Santana and then Jason Vargas. Those moves have proven to be extremely beneficial to the team. But were they savvy? Do you think Moore and his staff were exploiting the underrated reputation of these players? In other words, do you think it was determined that these pitchers were a good fit for the Royals' ballpark and above-average defense and would therefore be more valuable to the Royals than the dollars required to sign them?

The free agent market in baseball is similar to other economic markets. There's a limited number of available pitchers, a small group of potential investors, and everyone is working with a different budget. When we see the names from the previous question who were developed and are contributing, there's obviously been some discretionary income available for the Royals. Sure, they paid a premium for a couple guys in recent years, but like you said...it's been extremely beneficial, and hey...there's a winner in KC again!

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DISCLOSURE: I asked a few fellow seam-heads if there were any questions they thought I should include and they responded with what can only be described as a propulsive exuberance, so the ideas behind some of these questions did not spring forth from my innate inquisitive nature.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.