Crack of the Bat

by Blaine Clemmens

 

WWBA 17U – How PG scouts the WWBA events…

 

At the WWBA tournaments, each member of the PG scouting staff has “cross-checker” coverage of assigned fields.  Those of you who have been to Cobb County/Metro Atlanta area are aware that in addition to holding the WWBA tournaments at the East Cobb complex, we also use many fields in the surrounding area; including some very nice high school facilities, as well as Georgia Tech, and Southern Poly University. 

 

Each site has a primary scorer/scout that does the official scorebook for each game.  That scorebook also doubles as a scouting chart, complete with areas for scouting comments on each player and each player’s abilities.  The scouts at the fields are responsible not only for keeping an accurate book, which is important to the teams on the field and the integrity of each tournament, but they are also responsible for taking as many scouting notes as they can and reporting to their cross-checker.  We do not want to miss on a player that runs 4.05 down the line or that has a plus arm, etc.

 

You see, for tournaments that are as large as the WWBA tournaments (particularly the 17U and 18U), we draw so many good teams with many good players.  However, our full-time scouting staff is not large enough to cover each game at each site, so we have our game scouts, and beyond that, our full-time PG scouts serve as cross-checkers for 2-3 fields.

 

That is part of the beauty of teams playing in the WWBA and BCS tournaments… we see each and every player.  Better than that, multiple members of our staff gets to see each player, in game situations, rather than in showcases because the teams play at different locations during the tournament.  By the time a tourney like WWBA 17U is finished, we feel like we know who the top players were.

 

What that means is that when it comes time for creating our rankings, selecting players to invite to PG National, and ultimately selecting players for the highest amateur honor, the AFLAC All-American game, our scouts have so much history on the players and feel very comfortable with each player’s ability. 

 

At WWBA 17U I was assigned to three fields in north Cobb County… Kennesaw Mountain HS, North Cobb HS, and Dominion Christian HS.  Not every team came through my fields, so I did not get to see all the players.  Also, when you are cross-checking three fields you are driving back and forth between the locations and inevitably, you will miss some performances.  Either you sit on a game for awhile (maybe the one you have identified as the best of three going on at one time) until you get a call from your scout at one of the other fields, or you just roam between the three.

 

Usually it is better to sit on one game, at least for 1/3 to 1/2 the game, and then move on to other fields.  The first thing you want to do is get a handle on the pitchers.  First you bear down on the pitchers in the game you are watching, and you call the scouts at the other two fields to get a breakdown on the starting pitchers in those games.

 

Oh yes, you also want to make sure you look over the rosters of each upcoming game.  If there is a name on a roster that you are familiar with or have been given as a guy to see, but you cannot make it for part of that game, the cross-checker tells the game scout to keep a particularly watchful eye on so and so.

 

Now, another responsibility of the scouts at each location is to call the cross-checker when they feel they have a top player that our full-time PG scouts need to see.  Say a guy is running it up there in the low 90s or the starting SS has hit a dinger in his first at-bat, the scout would call the cross-checker and tell them they need to get over to that field.  Our game scouts are to PG like area scouts are to MLB.  It starts with them, and then moves on to the cross-checkers. 

 

Now, I am one that loves to see as many good players as I can, as all of our full-time scouts do.  That being said, it is a bummer when you get back to the East Cobb complex tower at the end of the day and everyone talks about the performances they saw at their fields and I learn that so and so was 92 with a wicked slider or that so and so was really raking.   I feel liked I missed out… but then realize that the other scouts did not get to see the top players that performed well at my fields that day.  I am sure they are equally bummed.

 

During a big event like WWBA 17U we keep a running log of the top players on each team.  That way, after a couple of days, we can pass out a list to each of our cross-checkers of the players to continue to keep an eye on, in addition to our continuing coverage of the games at our fields.  Say I saw a SS that intrigued me on the 5-Tool Nationals Red team.  I make sure his name is checked off on the game scorebook/scouting chart as a top player.  Then when that player is playing at another location, our cross-checker knows to keep an eye on him.

 

At the end of the day, all the game scorebook/scouting charts are gathered and then gone over.  A member of our staff (at WWBA 17U was Dave Rawnsley) combs over each one and pulls the names of the players with the check mark by their name for “top player.”  Those players then go on the list each of the cross-checkers gets as the tourney continues.

 

It also needs to be stated that our game scouts do a good job of identifying the top players at their fields.  Say one of the cross-checkers was not able to get a look at one of the three games going on at his fields.  Maybe he was one a game that had multiple top players and one pitcher after another that is a prospect.  He gets a call from one of the game scouts at one of the other fields because that scout likes the right-fielder.  It does not make sense to leave one game with many prospects to drive to another game to see that one, maybe two players.  In that time getting to another field you are not seeing anything, which is no good to anyone.

 

For that reason, we rely on our game scouts to have discerning scouting eyes and to not be conservative in checking off players they like as top players.  On the scorebook/scouting charts we get a physical description from our game scouts, as well as a breakdown of the positive attributes he saw in that player, running, hitting, power, arm, fielding, basically the tools and game playability of those players.

 

As an individual, each of our full-time scouts can’t see all the top players, particularly the pitchers.  However, the important thing, like with a MLB club, is that as an organization, we do see each of the top players.

 

In my next report I will give you my perspective on the top players I saw in my week at the three fields I covered.

 

This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.