By Chris Check
PBR Regional Scout
Associate Scout - Cleveland Indians

This is the time of year when many baseball players are either going to camps or showcases. They do so to be seen by college recruiters, learn skills, and get a gauge on their abilities and find where they may fit in moving forward in their academic/athletic career. 

Parents and athletes are not always comfortable in the highly competitive culture of college/professional evaluation and recruitment of athletic talent.  Many have never experienced the process and are stepping into uncharted waters.  Evaluation and exposure is the first part of the process.  Camps and showcases involving college coaches and pro scouts fill a good portion of this process during the winter months.  It gives the coach/scout an opportunity to evaluate and target players they would like to see more in the future and in game situations.

As a baseball coach/scout, my job is to constantly monitor and make decisions on numerous players’ talent development on many different levels.  Drafting/recruiting decisions of these players is made with the goal of forecasting potential playing time that will help a certain team at a certain level.  So many factors come into play as to making that decision, the priority of those factors may vary upon position, age, year in school, talent level of the player and the evaluator themselves.

Physical tangibles (foot speed, arm speed, bat speed, strength, etc) are measured in various ways at these events along with mechanical evaluations of skills (footwork, arm slot, transfer, bat path, torque, etc.)  Coaches evaluate their own players during practice and games everyday.  Coaches share a lot of the same knowledge, but each has his own priorities regarding evaluations and team needs. Most high school players do not excel in all areas, or even some of these areas.  The good news is that most college/pro players also have a long list of skills and traits on which they need to improve.  That day(s) at the camp/showcase is a snapshot of your overall performance at that particular time.  That performance is affected by your training up to that time, coaching, health, knowledge, anxiety level (many experience this at first showcase) and much more.  Your personal development encompasses much more than that one day.

Minor leaguers are given evaluations at the end of their particular seasons.  Included is a page of strengths and weaknesses.  Most have listed a few strengths and maybe more than a page of weaknesses.  This is done objectively and when discussed with coaches or player development staff it is emphasized that those weaknesses can be improved upon. That improvement is something that’s a positive and is beneficial to all on that team, school or organization. Your development does not stagnate at that one evaluation.  Many times, I have been pleasantly surprised by a player’s improvement from one year to the next in terms of size, speed, skills, strength and maturity.

So if you’re disappointed with a performance at one of these events, use it as feedback for you to use to prioritize your practice/training development of specific skills, physically and mentally.  The responsibility for improvement is up to the athlete to work, seek out knowledge, and train in a more effective way to reach their goals.  That training coupled with a positive attitude, character, and consistent effort will assist you in your pursuit of your athletic goals.

I will be addressing tangible and intangible traits both physically and mentally in the coming weeks as well as recruiting, scouting and player development insights.