Professional baseball scouts see hundreds of games and thousands of players each year. Armed with a stopwatch, radar gun, and clipboard, these men make decisions on talent that will affect both your future and that of their employers. Evaluating current and potential superstars like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey jr., Billy Wagnor, and Roger Clemens is relatively easy. The great ones really stand out. They have good size, strength, and composure, and they score at the highest levels on most of the items on the scout's checklist.
The fact that most big-league rosters include only one or two superstars indicates that scouts see more average and above-average talent than exceptional talent. When scouting pitchers, they look for velocity, movement, and control. With position players they look for those who can run, hit for average, hit for power, field, and throw but not necessarily in that order.
Each player is evaluated on five different physical attributes, or tools, and given a score of 2 to 8 on each, with 5 being average and 8 being outstanding (see scouting report on left). Scouts evaluate players for both present status and their potential for future development. You don't have to be outstanding in all categories. If you did, no one would have taken a chance on Pete Rose or Mike Piazza. The table below list priorities the essential tools by position. The first two tools at each position are considered the dominant, or carrying, tools. The others are considered secondary. Shortstop has three dominant tools: fielding, throwing, and running. If a player does not rate at least average in the carrying tools for a particular position, it would be difficult to imagine him playing at the major-league level at that position. A catcher, for example, who rates a 4 for both catching and throwing but rates a 7 for batting would fit the profile for first base, not catcher.
So you see their are many things that go into a player making a big league roster or for that matter being viewed as a potential prospect. The game is built around failure for those that don't understand that it very simple, if you hit .300 in the pro's your making more than six figures. a .300 batting average simple states that you're successful 30% of the time plate, while the Gold Glove is given to, not the best player but simply the fielder that commits the least amount of errors.
With that being said, work hard and always allow yourself to continue to grow within the game and yourself.
TOOLS PRIORITIES BY POSITION
CATCHER FIRST BASE SECOND BASE SHORTSTOP
Catch Bat Bat Field
Throw Power Field Throw
Bat Field Run Run
Power Throw Power Bat
Run Run Throw Power
THIRD BASE LEFT FIELD CENTER FIELD RIGHT FIELD
Bat Bat Run Bat
Power Power Field Power
Field Run Bat Field
Throw Field Throw Throw
Run Throw Power Run
BOLD type indicates dominant tools at each position
