Signing
The basic core of scouting is getting to a ballpark, wherever that may be, watching players, and grading them out. The objective is to determine the maximum future potential of a player. If that potential is high enough, if the conditions are right within the organization, and if the kid is affordable, we make a move and try to sign him.
Signing is in my mind the best part of the job. It is the result of the long road trips, the debates with other scouts, the time spent watching and analyzing the single actions of a young man playing a game.
When I was 18 I used to dream that one day a scout would walk up to me and offer me something. I wrote letters to teams, offered to attend spring training paying for my own airfare and housing til I made the team or was released. I would have done anything to get a shot. Most of the kids I see claim to want the same opportunity.
Something along the way changes however. Kids get influenced by other scouts, parents, coaches, friends, agents etc...so the kid that wants nothing more than a chance to play starts believing he shouldn't sign unless he gets X amount of dollars. So he and his parents, both of whom know little about the professional baseball world begin educating themselves. They refer to other players who have signed and begin comparing themselves to see if they should get more or less money. They begin advertising that one team has offered, hoping that a second will follow and begin a bidding war. This ruins the purity of the whole operation.
When I get to know a player I try to get to know him and educate him on what it means to become a member of our organization. The idea for me is that this is a life decision that has more to do with his future than it does with current dollar amounts. Most of the time kids see and understand that we have a good situation and that the players future is in good hands with us. But then the money comes into question. We offer fair deals, but the market is so distorted it isn't even funny. Some teams will blow others out of the water on a player that frankly is often times not worth half of what he gets. So the kid and his parents wait and hunt for a team to step in and spew money at them like a benevolent ATM.
You can learn a lot about a kid through the signing process. More often than not however it turns a moment that is special and memorable into a nasty business. And this is the first step to becoming a major leaguer. It's a real nice way to leave adolescense.
Signing is in my mind the best part of the job. It is the result of the long road trips, the debates with other scouts, the time spent watching and analyzing the single actions of a young man playing a game.
When I was 18 I used to dream that one day a scout would walk up to me and offer me something. I wrote letters to teams, offered to attend spring training paying for my own airfare and housing til I made the team or was released. I would have done anything to get a shot. Most of the kids I see claim to want the same opportunity.
Something along the way changes however. Kids get influenced by other scouts, parents, coaches, friends, agents etc...so the kid that wants nothing more than a chance to play starts believing he shouldn't sign unless he gets X amount of dollars. So he and his parents, both of whom know little about the professional baseball world begin educating themselves. They refer to other players who have signed and begin comparing themselves to see if they should get more or less money. They begin advertising that one team has offered, hoping that a second will follow and begin a bidding war. This ruins the purity of the whole operation.
When I get to know a player I try to get to know him and educate him on what it means to become a member of our organization. The idea for me is that this is a life decision that has more to do with his future than it does with current dollar amounts. Most of the time kids see and understand that we have a good situation and that the players future is in good hands with us. But then the money comes into question. We offer fair deals, but the market is so distorted it isn't even funny. Some teams will blow others out of the water on a player that frankly is often times not worth half of what he gets. So the kid and his parents wait and hunt for a team to step in and spew money at them like a benevolent ATM.
You can learn a lot about a kid through the signing process. More often than not however it turns a moment that is special and memorable into a nasty business. And this is the first step to becoming a major leaguer. It's a real nice way to leave adolescense.
posted by Andy Johnson at 11:57 AM
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