One of the most important aspects in any organization is the amateur scouting department. That is especially important for a small market team like the Pirates, who need their star players to come from the farm system. Despite this importance, there is very little ever reported on the scouts, outside of when they enter and exit the organization.
Those of you who have been buying the Prospect Guide over the years (the 2016 book can be purchased here) know that we include the signing scout for every prospect in the farm system. That gives some sort of reference as to the performance of each scout, although it’s still not a lot of information.
The shortage of information is league-wide. Prospect coverage has just started to take off in the last few years, but even that coverage is limited. Take this site, for example. The Pirates are one of maybe five teams in baseball to have an independent full-time prospect site with writers providing live reports on the prospects. We’re not even to the point where every team has a site like this, and it may never get there. We’re also not to the point where those sites take the next step and start taking a deeper look at the scouting process.
We’ve scratched the surface of this by including scouting information in the books, but I wanted to take it a step further. I went through the 2016 Prospect Guide and tallied up the signings for each scout in the system. I gave them scores in two categories, trying to get some sort of view on how good the scouts have been. It’s definitely not a final grade by any means, but it’s a way to get things started.
Below is the table with the results, but first, a description of the process I used.
The Ratings
Grade Score – We give every prospect in the US part of the system a Grade ranging between 2-8. The scale is meant to replicate the 20-80 scale, and the grades represent the player’s likely upside (usually toned down a bit from their overall ceiling, to make the rating a bit more conservative). The Grade Score combines all of the grades for every player a scout signed. The disclaimer here is that I didn’t want organizational players (2.0 Grade) playing into the rankings, so I scaled every player down 2 points. A 2.0 rating is worth nothing. 3.0 is worth 1. And so on.
Top 50 Score – If a scout signed a player in the top 50, he gets points for that player, with the points going in inverse order of the rankings. Number one gets 50 points, number two gets 49, etc. For players who just missed the top 50, but were in the final tier, I awarded one point.
Players in System – This is how many players a scout had in the US portion of the system. This does not include guys who spent the 2015 season in the DSL.
Top 3 in System – The top three players currently in the system who each scout signed. Some scouts don’t have three. Again, this is only based on guys in the US, and doesn’t include 2015 DSL players.
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Before I break these results down further, I wanted to throw out a few disclaimers. First, it’s easy to present this information in “ranking” form, but this is not a ranking. The reason for this is that scouts who have been around for several years have an advantage over a good scout who has been around for just one year. As an example, Derrick Van Dusen had been in the system for one year, but signed Kevin Newman in his first draft. Meanwhile, Rick Allen signed Kevin Kramer this year, who is lower rated than Newman. But Allen ranks higher, because he has the best guy in the system under his belt, Tyler Glasnow. I don’t know if Van Dusen will follow the 2015 draft up with a lot of other top prospects, but if this were a ranking, he’d be at a disadvantage no matter what, due to just one year in the system.
I also want to point out that some of these scouts are no longer in the system, or at least no longer scouting in the system. Mike Leuzinger left after the 2012 season, but still has Josh Bell, Barrett Barnes, and Casey Sadler to his name. Larry Broadway was a scout briefly, before becoming the Director of Minor League Operations. During his scouting days, he signed Nick Kingham. Brian Selman is another guy who was a scout briefly and jumped to the Minor League Operations side, signing Chad Kuhl before he made the jump. Mike Steele was a pitching coach in the organization, became a scout for one year, signed Cole Tucker, then left to become an assistant coach at Long Beach State.
There’s also the disclaimer that by only including signed players, we don’t get the full scope of what a scout has done. The signed players don’t represent everyone a scout has looked at and recommended. Just the players who were actually drafted and actually signed. There could have been other players who either didn’t sign, or who the Pirates didn’t get a chance to select. The signed players also don’t give a complete picture, since some of those success stories can be chalked up to development, just as much as scouting. So overall, it’s extremely difficult to get a full evaluation of scouts, between the lack of information, and a difficult way to grade and evaluate their success and failures.
With all of that said, here are some notes and thoughts on the scouts who are still in the system.
The Scouts (US)
Trevor Haley – He’s been in the organization since 2008, and has a ton of signings in the top 50. He started his scouting career by signing Pedro Alvarez, and has since added Jameson Taillon, Tyler Eppler, the recently traded Trey Supak, and J.T. Brubaker. His top three above doesn’t include Supak, since he’s out of the system, although I included Supak in the rankings. Haley doesn’t really need it though. Outside of his top three (who are all in the top 31 prospects in the system), he’s got the following top 50 prospects: Cody Dickson, Wyatt Mathisen, and Erich Weiss. That gave him seven players in this year’s top 50 before the Supak trade. Based on the results, it looks like he does best bringing in pitching talent. He scouted Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Western PA, and Eastern Canada in 2015.
Darren Mazeroski – The son of Bill Mazeroski has been a scout since 2006, one of the few to remain from before Neal Huntington took over. Outside of his top three above (Clay Holmes, Adam Frazier, Casey Hughston), he has Logan Hill in the top 50, plus Taylor Gushue and Jacob Taylor just missing the cut. He also signed Alex Presley, Kyle McPherson, and Phil Irwin in the past. That last group didn’t do much collectively, but as far as prospects go, they were all late-round values. Logan Hill is my late round sleeper from the 2015 draft. It looks like there could be a trend here. Mazeroski scouted Alabama, Mississippi, and North Florida in 2015.
Rick Allen – He only has four players in the system right now, although one of them is the big one, with Tyler Glasnow being drafted in the fifth round in 2011. Even bigger than that, he claims Gerrit Cole from the same draft. So obviously he specializes in finding franchise changing aces. More recently, he has added 2015 second round pick Kevin Kramer and 12th round pick Ty Moore. He’s been a scout in the system since late-2006, and scouted Central California, Los Angeles, and Hawaii in 2015.
Jerry Jordan – He’s a long-time scout who has been with the organization since 2011. His first big pick in the organization was Alex Dickerson that year. He was also responsible for drafting former Pirates All-Star closer Mike Williams when he was a scout for the Phillies. More recently, he is responsible for Austin Meadows, Austin Coley, and Scooter Hightower. He scouted Georgia and Tennessee in 2015.
Nick Presto – He joined the Pirates at the end of 2011. His biggest pick so far has been Max Moroff, although he has some other interesting guys in the top 50 (Montana DuRapau) or just outside of the top 50 (Seth McGarry, John Sever, Michael Suchy). Looking at that list, he’s done a good job of finding relief prospects, with DuRapau being one of the top relievers in the system, Sever being a potential power lefty, and McGarry having late inning potential. Presto scouted Florida and Puerto Rico in 2015.
Max Kwan – Kwan has been a scout with the Pirates for the last two years, landing an interesting player in each draft. His first big pick was Gage Hinsz, who is one of the more interesting arms in the lower levels. In 2015, he added Mitchell Tolman, who showed a lot of promise with the bat in Morgantown and ended up just outside of our top 30. Kwan scouted Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and Western Canada in 2015.
Tyler Stohr – He’s no longer in the system, as he joined the Rays as a Professional Scout this off-season after his one year in the system. During that one year, he signed Ke’Bryan Hayes. He scouted Southern Louisiana and Southern Texas in 2015.
Derrick Van Dusen – He’s another scout who has been in the organization for a year, scouting Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Las Vegas, and El Paso in 2015. He signed the first round pick, Kevin Newman, along with Bret Helton and Chris Plitt. He pitched in the Pirates’ organization in 2005 with Lynchburg.
Matt Bimeal – He’s been in the system since at least 2007, and signed Jordy Mercer and Matt Hague in the 2008 draft. His more recent contributions have included Mitch Keller, Frank Duncan, and Chase Simpson. Bimeal scouted Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska in 2015. He pitched in the Pirates’ organization from 2003-2004.
Dan Radcliff – Radcliff is another guy who has been in the system for just one year, and the Pirates leaned on him quickly, taking four guys in 2015. The biggest one was Brandon Waddell, followed by Nathan Trevillian, Sean Keselica, and Shane Kemp. He scouted Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., Southern New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. He had previously scouted for the Angels, with one of his most notable signings being the late Nick Adenhart.
Brian Tracy – He’s the son of former Pirates’ manager Jim Tracy, and was drafted by the organization in 2007. He spent just one year in the minors, and became a scout with the Pirates in 2009. His highest profile pick was Stetson Allie, although his highest rated picks right now are Connor Joe and Billy Roth. He scouted Southern California in 2015.
Mike Sansoe – The Pirates brought him in at the end of 2011. His only three players in the system right now are Jordan Luplow, Tom Harlan, and Justin Maffei. He also signed Tyler Gaffney, who spent one season in the system, then went on to play college football, and later went to the NFL. Sansoe scouted Northern California and Nevada in 2015.
Anthony Wycklendt – He’s been a scout in the system since 2010, with his biggest signing being Mel Rojas Jr. He’s also added John Kuchno, Brett McKinney, and Ryan Nagle in recent years. In 2015, he scouted Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Sean Heffernan – The Pirates recently promoted Heffernan to a Regional Supervisor’s role, replacing Rodney Henderson in the Southeast Region after Henderson was promoted to a professional scouting role. Heffernan has been a scout in the organization for the last four seasons, with his highest ranked pick being Jacob Stallings. He also added James Marvel this year on an over-slot deal, with the college pitcher returning from Tommy John surgery. Heffernan scouted North Carolina and South Carolina in 2015.
Phil Huttmann – Huttmann was previously with the Royals, where he signed Alex Gordon. He also signed Erik Cordier and Adam Wilk, who later became Pirates’ minor league free agent signings, possibly due to his involvement with the team. He has been in the organization since late-2011, starting on the pro scouting side. His recent amateur picks have included Ike Schlabach and Jerrick Suiter. He scouted Northern Texas, Oklahoma, and Northern Louisiana in 2015.
Steve Skrinar – The Pirates added Skrinar at the end of 2013 as an area scout, after he was a scouting assistant in 2013. He has since signed Kevin Krause, Nicholas Economos, and Daniel Zamora. Krause was a top 50 prospect last year, but underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the 2015 season. Skrinar scouted Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Northern New Jersey in 2015.
The Scouts (International)
Rene Gayo – The one person on this list who doesn’t need an introduction is Rene Gayo. It’s no surprise that he finished with the highest score for each category, along with the most players in the system, as he’s the top signing scout for every Latin American signing in the system. He shares each signing with a local scout, and those scouts are also included in the rankings, and detailed below.
Juan Mercado – Mercado is the scouting supervisor in the Dominican Republic, which means he gets a lot of the top prospects. This includes 2015 breakout prospect Yeudy Garcia, along with recent big bonus players like Adrian Valerio and Michael De La Cruz. His signings also include Hector Garcia, Yoel Gonzalez, Sandy Santos, Edison Lantigua, and Raul Siri. Mercado has been in his role since the end of 2011.
Rodolfo Petit – He’s the scouting supervisor in Venezuela, which gives him all of the prospects who came from that area, such as Elias Diaz, Jose Osuna, and Elvis Escobar. He also signed Ramon Cabrera in the past, along with Exicardo Cayonez and Diego Moreno, who were traded for A.J. Burnett. I’m not sure how long he has been in the system, although I’ve seen signings that date back to 2004.
Orlando Covo – He’s the scouting supervisor in Colombia. The Pirates haven’t signed a lot of players from there, with just three currently in the system. The big one is Harold Ramirez, although Luis Escobar and Tito Polo are also breakout candidates in the back of our top 50. His biggest signing since joining the system was Dilson Herrera, who was the big key to the Marlon Byrd trade in 2013. He also had Yhonathan Barrios, who was traded this year for Aramis Ramirez. From what I can tell, Covo has been in the system since 2008.
Fu Chun Chiang – He’s not a member of the Latin American team, but scouts Taiwan. He’s been active there, getting Jin-De Jhang and Wei-Chung Wang in recent years, with Jhang currently sitting in the top 50 of the system. He’s been in the system since 2009.
Jesus Valdez – Also known as Jesus “Chino” Valdez, he’s the scouting supervisor in Mexico, which means his most notable signing has been Luis Heredia (although pretty much everyone in the organization was involved in that one). He also has Carlos Munoz to his name. I’ve seen his name linked to signings in the organization since 2006.
Cristino Valdez – He’s a scout in the Dominican Republic, although he doesn’t have as many signings as Mercado. His top guy is Clario Perez, followed by Edwin Espinal. He was listed as a signing scout for Samuel Inoa, who received one of the biggest bonuses on the international side this year. I’ve seen him mentioned in the system since 2008.
Victor Santana – Another scout in the Dominican Republic who doesn’t get attached to a lot of signings. In fact, his sole player in the US portion of the book is Yoel Gonzalez. He was listed as a signing scout for Kevin Sanchez, who was the top international signing by the Pirates this year. I’ve seen him mentioned in the system since 2012.
Tom Gillespie – Gillespie is the scout for Europe, although he also scouts Africa, as he recently signed Gift Ngoepe’s younger brother. His other signings are Vince Deyzel, also from South Africa, and Paul Brands from The Netherlands. He scouts areas where you don’t usually find baseball talent, so he’s not going to end up with many players, or many non-organizational players. He joined the Pirates for the 2012 season.
Tony Harris – He’s the scout in Australia, along with a manager in the Australian Baseball League. The Pirates have been active in the country in the past, although it hasn’t led to anything, and their signings from the area have cooled in recent years. Harris joined the organization in 2009.
