Does anyone have any insight on the Twins advance scouting? Do they use a service of some kind or do they employ their own staff? I may be grasping at straws, but it seems like we've been victim quite often to marginal pitchers shutting us down and average hitters lighting us up. I can't help but wonder if we're being consistently out thought, and if it isn't in part due to poor advance scouting.

 

Just curious if anyone has any opinion.

I don't know for sure, but I had heard that most MLB teams had moved away from advanced scouts. I think teams are relying more on video and other reports in place of the advance scouts these days.

I don't know for sure, but I had heard that most MLB teams had moved away from advanced scouts. I think teams are relying more on video and other reports in place of the advance scouts these days.

I'm not sure where, but I also remember reading the same thing.

 

EDIT: Found this article...Twins apparently still using advance scouts, at least as of last year.

 

http://onlineathens.com/sports/2012-03-23/braves-other-teams-replace-advance-scouts-technology

Edited July 5, 201412 yr by USAFChief

Chief's article didn't say the Twins don't use all of the technology, just that they employ an advance scout. As far as marginal pitchers go, are they pitchers they have seen before? You can know what a pitchers throws, but it generally helps to have seen the pitcher before. Of course it would help to not have some marginal hitters.

In today's game, I'm not sure why advance scouts are necessary. Video and advanced analytics (examined by a scout or trained professional) should be more consistent and nuanced.

In watching a game you can get a sense of the whole thing that you can not get with video.

In watching a game you can get a sense of the whole thing that you can not get with video.

 

Such as?

Such as?

 

Grit doesn't translate well to video.

Such as?

 

Such as how a pitcher is tipping his pitches, which might be visible only from certain angles?

The article also says you can catch some good scuttlebutt just hanging around a team and talking to people, stuff that might be useful. Whether the Twins are taking full advantage of their advance scouting is an open question though.

Such as how a pitcher is tipping his pitches, which might be visible only from certain angles?

 

Maybe i'm missing something, but if its not visible from the home plate angle, wouldn't it be pretty much useless to the hitter, since that is the angle the hitter is seeing from when he's batting?

Maybe i'm missing something, but if its not visible from the home plate angle, wouldn't it be pretty much useless to the hitter, since that is the angle the hitter is seeing from when he's batting?

 

Is there a camera that shows the pitch from that angle?

 

I have met a few scouts at games, but only when I was fortunate enough to be sitting close to the field, behind home plate.

Such as?

 

There are things better served by video, there are things one see by observing.

Shading the defense does in a bigger picture. Different ways they set up How a runner might time leaving a base with a pitch. You can see how they work a lot better ( Yep, sort of grit), what gets different people rattled, and watch the decision making process.

I think you can tell better how they make adjustments watching the game. I think they can get a better idea of tendencies of the other team.

It would be anything you can do to find an edge for your team. Anything to do with the human element

 

Maybe for some they don't see the game any differently when they watch it on television.

There are things better served by video, there are things one see by observing.

Shading the defense does in a bigger picture. Different ways they set up How a runner might time leaving a base with a pitch. You can see how they work a lot better ( Yep, sort of grit), what gets different people rattled, and watch the decision making process.

I think you can tell better how they make adjustments watching the game. I think they can get a better idea of tendencies of the other team.

It would be anything you can do to find an edge for your team. Anything to do with the human element

 

Maybe for some they don't see the game any differently when they watch it on television.

 

Honestly I think all of these things would translate just as well on video as they do in person. I think the idea you need to have someone there is just an antiquated, feel-good notion.

Grit doesn't translate well to video.

 

 

Well I thought it translated just fine

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Well I thought it translated just fine

 

That's true grit though, not the rhetorical variety.