By Jay Weitzel
Northeast Area Scout
Minnesota Twins (15th year)

Through the Eyes of the Scout: Catchers
A breakdown of what professional scouts look for by position

As a professional scout, there are many things that I look for in a potential position player, but the most influential are the five tools of baseball: fielding, throwing, running speed, hitting for average, and hitting for power. While each of these tools are important, the position of the potential player dictates the order of importance of these tools. Remember, this is the template used to scout players and there are always exceptions.

Catcher: Catching is one of, if not the most important, defensive positions on the field. Players at this position must have strong fielding skills and a strong arm. This includes skills such as receiving pitches, blocking pitches, calling a good game, being a leader for his pitchers and throwing out base runners. Measuring the strength of a catcher’s arm is not easy, as many things come in to play for it: how hard he can throw, how quick his release is, how accurate his throws are, etc. One way that scouts measure arm strength is by his pop time. A pop time is how fast the catcher can get the ball to the second base bag, starting from the time it touches his glove. The major league average pop time in a game situation is 1.85 seconds. This is in a game, not in a workout with no batter or runner and a perfect pitch to throw on every time. The next tool looked for in a catcher is hitting for average and hitting for power. There is so much importance placed on the defense of catchers that not much is expected of them with the bat. While not asked to hit for a high average, scouts do like catchers that are able to control the ball with the bat, whether it be sacrifice bunting or hitting behind a runner. Any power that comes out of the catcher position is considered a bonus. The last tool that comes into play is running speed, and is basically seen as non-essential, although a plus is given when a catcher is a good base runner.