OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Baltimore manager Buck Showalter receives regular calls from veteran, out-of-work scouts looking for jobs.
Many are longtime baseball men who once hit the road to major league cities ahead of their clubs to offer detailed insight of upcoming opponents. Now, advance scouting for many teams has turned to technology: video from every angle and situation, and analytics.
“Advance scouting by humans is history,” said Bay Area-based Mets scout Shooty Babitt, who also works as an analyst on Oakland Athletics broadcasts. “Thank goodness I’m a scout who evaluates talent. Advance guys prepare strategy.”
Showalter’s Orioles don’t have an advance scout working in the ballpark. Same goes for World Series champion Houston, Minnesota, the Angels, Oakland and others.
“I’d like to know how many clubs have a human being advance anymore,” Showalter said.
With the push of a button, a hitter can watch video of every 2-2 breaking pitch Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has tossed, or flame-throwing Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman’s tendencies with a man on base, or any other specific scenario that requires a closer look. Instead of hoping a scout saw that type of situation in the pitcher’s recent outings, there it is on a screen sometimes even up to the minute as teams do their own version of advance scouting during a game to gauge what a hitter might see in an upcoming at-bat.
Clubs like the A’s stopped using an advance scout on the road years ago as technology improved and so much data became readily available. While the cost savings might not be as significant as it would seem, many teams have used that money instead to invest in infrastructure, databases and other state-of-the-art systems to evaluate talent through strategic study.
Yet even with the trend toward video analysis, it doesn’t always provide a complete view of a player but rather glimpses of what he does.
When Im looking at a pitcher, Im just looking at clips and pitches. I dont see his body language in between, I dont see if he wants to work really fast, we need to slow this guy down, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. Theres some little, subtle things that you may not see. … But we can get a lot done on video.
San Diegos advance scouting department works from video, staying in-house.
We have advance scouts, not in the traditional sense, Padres manager Andy Green said. A lot (of teams) have migrated away from that traditional role. Theres so much video I can watch every single throw that every outfielder makes. Theres a camera angle on absolutely everything at this point in time. … You can see every single pitch from multiple camera angles, so you get a feel for a lot now that you didnt used to be able to get a feel for. There was a point in time where that advance scout was sitting on signs trying to decipher what the signs were for other teams. That doesnt happen as much anymore. Youre not finding them out that way.
Still, certain organizations have stuck to traditional methods.
The Marlins use a combination, with president of baseball operations Michael Hill noting Miami has a live advance scout to monitor things that the analytics dont capture.
Colorado manager Bud Black firmly believes in advance scouts and what they do to prepare a club one working at San Franciscos AT&T Park before the Rockies recent series.
In this ballpark, in the stadium, in a seat, and maybe walking around different viewpoints, too, Black said. I love the input from advance scouts.
