Never let a scout leave without seeing your arm

On my most recent podcast episode called Seven habits of highly effective infielders, I mentioned a story about something a scout said to my father at one of my college games. I used the story as part of one of the seven habits I described. Here is the story for anyone who has not (yet!) heard the entire podcast.

My father was talking to a Pirates scout he knew during one of my games at Villanova. At some point in the game, my dad said something to the effect of, “I’d like to see Villanova get a rally here and score some runs.” The scout replied, “What I’d like to see is a ball hit deep in the hole so I can see your son’s arm.”

When my dad told me of that exchange after the game, I couldn’t help but wonder when that kind of play happened last. Was it last game? Last week? Last month? I couldn’t remember. And that was a problem.

It dawned on me that if the one scout said it, many others were probably were thinking it. I also wondered how many scouts had walked away from my games not knowing what my arm strength was? It bothered me so I did something about it.

From then on, no matter what level I played (college, Rookie Ball, A, AA, spring training, etc), I made it a point to show my full arm strength from the hole at shortstop at least once early on in the game. In college, it usually was at least once during pre-game infield practice when I’d get my one ball hit deep in the hole. I’d wait for it to reach the grass in the hole, I’d field it, and then totally air-out a throw to first base. In pro ball, when we rarely took a full pre-game infield/outfield practice, I would make it a point to make at least one of those throws during one of my pre-inning throws to first base. Maybe one before the first inning and maybe again before the 3rd or so in case someone missed the first one.

No matter what level you are on, there will always be someone watching you. If you play at the high school level on up, it may be college coaches, scouts, GM’s, minor league directors, and others who may be there specifically to see you.

This is why knowing what coaches and scouts are looking for can be very valuable. If you know what they want to see then you can figure out a way to show them. It would be great if they can see it in a real game situation but you have no control over that. I figured out a way to show them regardless of whether I got that type of play during a game. And so should every player!

Note: My next podcast is about the concept of “Pitchability.” A MUST listen to for pitchers! It will be available later this week!

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