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

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 is 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.

Shortstop: One of, if not the most important defensive positions on the field, the two most important tools looked at by scouts are fielding and throwing. A good fielding shortstop must possess certain qualities, such as quick feet, soft hands, and a strong arm. Many times when going to see a shortstop, scouts will focus completely on their feet, because no matter what other tools a shortstop possesses, he cannot remain at the position if he does not have good feet. We then focus on how his hands work doing things like fielding ground balls and turning double plays.

A strong arm can really help a shortstop be elite, but a quick release will help someone without pure arm strength play the position. The next tool looked at by scouts is running speed. As mentioned before, the most important thing looked at with shortstops is their feet and agility. This usually correlates with good speed, but not always. Sometimes you will see a slow player who has exceptional feet, but that is rare.

The next two tools looked at for shortstops are hitting and hitting for power. This is a position that is defensive minded, and the offensive side is seen as a bonus. Although there has been a recent trend of offensive minded shortstops, it will always remain a defensive position. It takes someone with elite skills to play this position defensively. Most of the time, the best players are put at shortstop when they are younger, but must move to another position because of the extremely difficult nature of the position.