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Tournaments  | Story | 10/17/2005

The Importance of Roster Information

Patrick Ebert
In many of my interview features I have focused on the importance of Perfect Game showcase and tournament events for the players that attend the events and to the baseball personnel that scout and cover the events. While these events give young baseball players an unbelievable stage to showcase their talents in front of countless Major League scouts and college recruiters, there are many ways in which the players and the managers for the respective teams can improve the information provided to those that cover the events.

In fact, some teams aren't even taking the time to get their rosters in.

In this day and age of information, information is exactly what is important for so many scouts and recruiters that are watching the young, talented baseball players that take the field. Major League Baseball teams may be looking for certain qualities, while each and every college may have a different list of qualifications that they are looking to fill. Few programs have as stringent of requirements as the Harvard baseball program, and recently I was able to speak with Harvard Head Coach Joe Walsh about some of the things he looks for in particular while scouting such events. I also was able to speak with Braves Scouting Director Roy Clark on some of the specific information he looks to receive when scouting young players as well as the Head Coach of the Midwest Blazers, Andy Stack.

Recruiting young talent for arguably the most prestigious academic institution in Harvard University is no easy task. Anyone that intends to go to Harvard has to attain extremely high academic standards, and finding such a talented young mind that is also athletically inclined is no easy task, particularly when Harvard does not give out athletic scholarships.

Joe Walsh, the Head Coach at Harvard, is entering his 11th season for the Crimson, leading his team to five Ivy League titles. Walsh is a very active member of the coaching community, being involved with the college summer Cape Cod League since 1988, as well as conducting numerous baseball clinics and camps throughout New England. He is not only responsible for coaching the Harvard baseball team, but he is also responsible for recruiting the talent necessary to field a successful program. "In recruiting kids to play here at Harvard it's very difficult given the high academic expectations," Walsh said. "We don't have any scholarships to offer and there are not a lot of kids that qualify in the country that can play on the level that we want to."

To play on that level Coach Walsh has always made a point out of playing the best teams in the nation outside of his conference schedule. In recent years Harvard has played teams like UCLA, Stetson, Tulane, Oklahoma State, Rice, Ohio State and Michigan to make sure his players play against some of the best teams in the nation. "We've had some success, and our success can be measured by the strength of the teams that we've played," Walsh said.

Walsh has had several notable players play for him in recent years, including pitcher Ben Crockett, now with the Rockies organization, who was the starter for the Cape Cod League All-Star Game in 2001 and was among the league leaders in strikeouts during the summers of 2000 and 2001. John Birtwell was named the Tigers minor league pitcher of the year in 2002, while Trey Hendricks, a high school teammate of Josh Beckett, hit .296 in the Diamondbacks system during the 2005 season.

And the list isn't restricted to just players, but front office personnel. Former Harvard shortstop David Forst is currently Billy Beane's assistant general manager for the Oakland Athletics, and is one of the brightest young general manager candidates in the game. Peter Woodfork, who was Forst's double-play partner at Harvard, is the director of baseball operations for the Red Sox. Jeff Bridich, a member of the class of 2000, is the director of minor league operations for the Rockies. "We have a lot of recent alums that are working their way up on the administrative end of baseball that we're equally proud of," Walsh said in regards to the players that have passed through the Harvard baseball program. "We're talking about guys that are in their 20s that have jobs that a lot of guys haven't gotten until their 40s and 50s."

As the sole recruiter for Harvard, given the restrictions he has to work with, the information provided to him at various events. We have to cover the country. There could be a player in Utah that could help me playing in an event one weekend and a player from Southern California that could play for Harvard playing somewhere else the same weekend. I use the information to decide which players I should target and which events I should attend."

"Baseball is so difficult because a player could go 0 for 4 one day and not get a play in the field," Walsh continued. "I need to fish where the fish are, and big events are great because not only are they attracting a lot of kids from different areas to one location for us, but they really are good about getting the word out to the kids that they have some pretty good schools (recruiters) in attendance pushing for the need for ACT and SAT scores to be listed on the rosters."

And again, it's that information that Walsh uses to decide which players to target. "Sometimes it's the kids that don't list them (SAT/ACT scores) and that's their right," Walsh said. "When I'm out there it gives me a chance to know which players I should be focusing on. I don't have the time to watch kids not knowing what their academics are. I have to bear down on the players with the good, strong grades."

It makes Coach Walsh's job more difficult in that he is the primary recruiter for Harvard. He does typically bring an assistant coach with him to offer an extra set of eyes, but at the time of this interview, Coach Walsh was in the process of finding a new assistant coach. "This could be his baptismal right," Walsh said with a laugh, noting how such a coach would be thrown into to the fire while assisting him cover some big events.

"I'm not the only one there," Walsh continued. "I used to think that I was the only coach from the Ivy League that attended some of the big events. Now I'm shocked when there isn't an Ivy League school represented."

"And it's not just the Ivy League schools I'm competing with. For example, many of the southern schools that we're battling with for a player can get that player in on academic money."

Because of the competition for players and his nation-wide search for talent that can help the Harvard program be successful, Coach Walsh needs to rely heavily on the numerous contacts he has made over the years. "I can't tell you how many guys are on these AAU teams that have extended themselves to me." Walsh said. "They'll call me about a kid to fill me in, and quite often their grades may not be high enough. I welcome these calls, because even if a team doesn't have a player that qualifies to play at Harvard, having a relationship with that coach is so important because he's going to pick up the phone and call me the next time he does have a kid that qualifies."

Coach Walsh also relies on contacts from his college coaching peers and from the scouting community. "We can't be everywhere," Walsh added. "I use my vast contacts to get the necessary information on the players that I wanted to see that I couldn't due to other commitments. In return I will gladly reciprocate the sharing of information. If I get one good report on a player that could be a good fit at Harvard for every ten reports I share, I'll take that every time."

"While I'm looking for players to help me at Harvard, I'm really watching everyone."

It still comes back to grades when trying to find a player that fits with the Harvard baseball program. "The main thing are SAT and ACT scores," Walsh said. "Grade point average isn't a great indicator since certain schools may rank better as a whole. Adding rankings of players of where they rank in their respective class would make my life a lot easier."

It's up to the coaches of the teams that plan to attend these events and the players themselves to provide this information.

"Some of the coaches do a tremendous job of supplying information on their players," Walsh said. "They probably don't even realize how big of a service they're doing for those players."

"There are teams that don't get their (uniform) numbers right. There are always late scratches, with other players subbing in wearing the same number as the player previously listed on the roster. Not providing that updated information is a great disservice to the players in question."

Roy Clark, the Scouting Director for the Atlanta Braves, is a big part of the Braves success having won their 14th consecutive division title in 2005, an unprecedented run in the modern era that began back in 1991 when the Braves were still a member of the National League West before divisional realignment took place after the 1993 season. This year we saw just how much the Braves have relied on procuring their own Major League talent from within, with talented young stars such as Jeff Franceour, Brian McCann, Kyle Davies and Joey Devine being integral parts of the Braves success in 2005. In a previous interview with Clark, he expressed why he is such a big proponent of Perfect Game showcases and tournaments, and expressed his thoughts on the importance of updated roster information:

"I make sure that each one of our area supervisors has one of the books that Perfect Game provides. I do believe the more information we have on each kid helps us put that kid together. That's why we do so much extensive research, as we don't want any surprises after the draft. The more information we gather, the better, and it's just another tool that we use, and we rely on the accuracy of those reports."

Andy Stack is the Field Manager for the Midwest Blazers (formerly the Wisconsin Blazers), a traveling scout team based out of Southeastern Wisconsin. Stack, along with Blazers General Manager Kirk Gardner, who also serves as a regional supervisor for Perfect Game USA, are responsible for collecting the best talent in the Midwest, and in some instances, across the nation, as the Blazers travel to numerous tournament events around the nation to compete against the best teams, including their success at the WWBA Championship in Jupiter, Florida. Both Stack and Gardner are also associate scouts for big-league teams, Stack with the Reds and Gardner with the Braves, so they both recognize the importance of accumulating the most accurate player information as possible.

Andy Stack discusses the process of how he accumulates information on the players that play for him:

"As an associate scout for the Reds, I am able to gather lots of information on kids on the player info card that most clubs use. Obviously that only covers the players that might be potential professional prospects. For the rest of the guys I usually get their email and contact them from there. Once players have committed to us for the fall season, we have them fill in a player information sheet which is similar to the one Perfect Game uses for showcases, colleges use for recruiting, and some pro teams use to gather further information. This form also includes our parent and player release of liability so we make sure that no one steps on the field until it is filled out and turned in. We have our form in a PDF format so I can email it or players can download it and send it in. A lot of times I have their player info on file before the summer season is over. From there we put the important information into an Excel speadsheet and produce a scout packet to distribute when we travel.

"It can be a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time, but our guys know that without turning it in, they don't play, so they're good about getting it back to me.

"Teams that don't accumulate the necessary information on their players is a huge pet peeve of mine. Our program's #1 goal is to get kids in front of scouts and college coaches and provide the best opportunity to find a match. Many similar programs claim to have the same goal, but I've seen teams that don't even travel with rosters. How is that doing the most for your players? We try and go all out from the promotional end, with a website, scout packet and rosters. We will do whatever it takes. In the past we have paid $600.00 to have a professional style scout book printed with color profiles and all of the information a scout or recruiter could ask for.

"Perfect Game's tournaments are the best in that they have that great web-system set up for entering rosters and player info. Again, its a little time consuming but the rewards for doing a good job are tremendous. To me, nothing is more embarrassing than going to one of Perfect Game's high profile tournaments and seeing 'Roster not Available for Print' under your team name in the scout book. My advice is to get as much information into Perfect Game's system as possible. Big-league scouts and college recruiters recognize Perfect Game as the leader in knowing players and having information on them in their database, so they're going to check with them first. You might as well get your players into their system and let their giant network work for your kids. We have and it's always paid big dividends for our club."

Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.
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