What to Look For when Prospecting

Do the pitches come out of the same arm slot? Is the arm speed the same on all pitches or does it slow on secondaries? How complicated are the mechanics? Are there repeatability issues? How much effort is in the delivery. How many pitches does he have? Does he command all of them?

Hitters, I look at where the player loads his hands (high, low), do they come straight forward or does he pull them back? Is there a bat wrap? How is his back side? Does it collapse? How is his weight shift? Does he end up on his front foot before contact? What’s his timing mechanism? Toe tap? How many taps? Does he lift and plant? How does he handle/recognize various pitches?

with hitters, get out for BP to get a sense of their raw power, I generally like to see shorter swings with less moving parts and a good path to the ball, defensively and on the bases look at their first step and try to gauge overall athleticism and build (present and future)
for pitchers consistency, see if they can mantain their stuff as the game progresses, their repeortoire, basically try to see if the guy can be a starter long term, and I like to see guys compete out there.

on catching BP. There are a lot of guys who are BP wonders that can’t carry it to games, and it can be hard to tell if a guy is one of those or just having a bad day in limited viewings, but you’ll get a lot more swings to log.

To piggyback swami, the ability to compete is the sort of thing that gets derided as an intangible, but it is something that can be measured if you have enough viewings. Mound demeanor is something to pay attention to. Does the pitcher have bad body language when things go wrong? Does he show up his fielders when they make errors? What’s his facial expression under pressure? I just got a second look at a kid named Taylore Cherry this weekend (h.s. junior, RHP) who’s a UNC commit and a good bet for first round consideration in 2012, and both times his demeanor has been exemplary. His actiosn are measured and deliberate and he’s been on a completely even keel. He could give up a three-run homer or be pitching a perfect game and you’d never know the difference to look at him.

With hitters I tend to like guys with good hands and wrists. Eric Hosmer is a good current example of a guy who lets his hands and wrists provide the power. Joey Votto same thing. Both of these guys can drive the ball, and even their ground balls are hard hit because of their ability to roll their wrists at contact. They also tend to have better barrel awareness as Adam would say, and cover the plate better.