5 Tool Talk - Feature: Tools of Abundance

Bruce Seid Interview

Special Interview conducted in my work with Perfect Game. Please visit the story on PG Crosschecker here.

The past several years we have seen how much young talent plays into the day and night success of individual ballclubs. From the Florida Marlins in 2003 to the Colorado Rockies in 2007 and the Tampa Bay Rays from a year ago, dramatic turnarounds often are due to the progression of young talent.

Few teams have developed as much in-house talent in recent years as the Milwaukee Brewers, and much of that talent procurement is due to the scouting under the leadership of former Scouting Director Jack Zduriencik. Zduriencik’s efforts were rewarded as he was plucked away from the Brewers and hired as the Seattle Mariners’ General Manager this past offseason.

Taking his place in Milwaukee is long-time Brewers scout and crosschecker Bruce Seid, who understands the importance of the efforts of his department to the entire organization and is eager to make his own mark. I recently spoke with Seid about his new responsibilities, his own approach to scouting and how he plans to continue the Brewers success at procuring young talent.

PG Crosschecker (PGX): What are some of the biggest adjustments you have had to make from being an area scout to a crosschecker to now serving as the scouting director for the Milwaukee Brewers?

Bruce Seid (BS): It’s definitely the travel. You have to stay ahead of the game and stay flexible, knowing you have options (of which players you want to see). I’m on the road every day.

PGX: What’s the typical travel week like for you, and how much are you at the mercy of planes, trains and automobiles?

BS: We’re going into the second half of the scouting season right now, but early on in the scouting season you want to spend time in certain areas, which I’ve done, spending five to six days, depending on how many players are in the area, not only learning about the players but spending time with the scouts since this is my first year. I want to learn about the players from them (the scouts) because they know the players the best. That’s when you start putting your list in order. The last two months you go back and see guys you saw before, and also see guys that you haven’t seen. You’re moving around on a daily basis.

Right now I am fortunate since I have been in the same spot for two days so I can get some things done and get some reports wrapped up. It’s a daily routine, and you need to be ready to move on a moment’s notice. There could be a pitcher that pops up in the Northeast, and if he’s not on your schedule and you’re in Texas, you have to find a way to get to the Northeast to make sure that guy’s been seen.

PGX: Is this the time of year you’re also starting to gauge signability?

BS: No, we’re always doing that. From the first day we’ve identified the potential prospect we need to know both their signability and their makeup. What does that mean? We won’t know the true signability until we get down to the last month or so, and sometimes when it gets to calling their name on draft day. Some players make it clear what they want to do and we have a very good idea of what it’s going to take to get that player. We’re continuously trying to learn about the player.

PGX: What are some of the things you like best about your job?

BS: The ability to help make the Milwaukee Brewers a championship organization. I’ve been with them for 12 years, and 2000 is the year when Jack came aboard. By a collective effort from our scouts and crosscheckers, we’ve had the chance to put some really good players into the system and we’re reaping those rewards right now. We set the standard (by making the playoffs in 2008), so my job is to make sure we’re making those standards even better.

PGX: Jack Zduriencik has told me in the past that a scout’s preparedness and organizational skills can be just as important as one’s ability to evaluate talent. What do you feel are the most important traits a scout must possess?

BS: First of all you have to be able to evaluate. You have to evaluate the tools a player shows in game situations to see if he can run, hit the ball far, have good bat speed, throws hard (etc.). You have to use your stopwatch to time foot speed, the radar gun for arm speed and your eyes to see how far they can go. The most important asset in evaluating is evaluating how tools will play at the Major League level. There are tools that play well, that make you go, ‘wow’. But the player needs the instincts or makeup to make those tools get better to use those tools at the Major League level.

PGX: Beyond the tools, such as the velocity and command, what are some of the things you’re looking for when you watch a guy pitch?

BS: You look for power stuff with the ability to pitch, those are the first things that get our attention. You want to see athleticism, you want to see how the arm works and you want to see the delivery. If there is something in the delivery or arm action that we think we can change, and we know he has the athleticism, the arm strength and he shows the ability to spin a breaking ball or have a feel for that pitch, now he has the opportunity to get better as he gets older in a system that can properly make the most of his potential. We’ve been able to do that in our system with our minor league personnel, and we feel very good when we send a player to our farm system that that player is going to get every opportunity to succeed and become the best player they can possibly be.

PGX: Similar question for positional players, are there any specific things you’re looking for in a hitter?

BS: The ability to hit. You can have all of the power you want, but if you can’t put the bat on the ball consistently, or identify certain pitches, then the chances are that player won’t have success. The ability to hit, the ability to identify the strike zone and the ability to do the little things at the plate if you aren’t a power guy -- make contact, move guys over, come up with the clutch hit -- things of that nature catch your eye. If you have the power and the bat speed and the athleticism, again, you go ‘wow’. Those are wow-type tools and you get excited seeing them. But again, you have to be able to do the other things to take those tools to become the best player you can possibly be.

PGX: Given the financial landscape of the game and the position teams like the Brewers, Twins and A’s are in, do you have to take a different approach to scouting to some of the so-called larger market organizations given the seemingly growing issue of signability?

BS: Our ownership as well as (General Manager) Doug (Melvin) and (Assistant GM) Gord (Ash) have always supported us. We haven’t done anything to try and save money in the draft, and we’ve never done anything to try and be conservative in the draft. All we try to do is get the best players and sign the best players to what we feel is market value, and we’ve done that successfully.

PGX: Do you have to take a different approach to make sure you’re always keeping the system full of talent since teams like the Brewers do have to make sure they’re continually developing talent from within?

BS: We’re looking for impact players. Everyone should be looking for impact players. We’re looking for guys that are difference makers, and we’re also looking for players that can help at the Major League level, whatever their role is. We’re not going to hit a grand slam in every round that we pick, that’s just not going to happen. There are guys we see that we think are fourth or fifth starters or could provide bullpen help, guys that are going to be utility players that can help us win at the Major League level. There’s a spot for those players in the draft. Of course you want to hit a grand slam every time, but sometimes that grand slam may be a 25th rounder like Taylor Green, a player who could be a steady big-leaguer and a player that could help a team win a championship.

PGX: Speaking of Taylor Green, a player you were directly responsible for adding to the Brewers’ system, who are some of the best players you have scouted during your career?

BS: The best player that I have scouted overall is Cole Hamels. To me he was a number one starter out of high school, and when I saw him I thought he was something special.

For the Brewers I signed Nick Neugebauer, who threw 100 but unfortunately his career ended prematurely. I recommended Gabe Kapler a year ago after Corey Rodriguez and myself worked him out. We felt he had some ability left in him to help in the big-leagues. Anthony Gwynn Jr. is a player we still feel has the opportunity to be a nice Major Leaguer. Adam Heether and Steve Hammond are guys that could be role-type players. Hammond we traded to get Ray Durham last year, so he was a piece to the puzzle.

There are always guys on your list that you don’t get, but if you can help in a way by adding parts to the puzzle, it’s always worthwhile. You always want to take the best player in the country no matter what. Sometimes it may not be in your area, but as a crosschecker the last two years we’ve been able to do some damage on the West Coast with (outfielders) Cutter Dykstra, Logan Schafer and Erik Komatsu. I think Evan Frederickson is eventually going to be a name people get excited about. Boy does he have a big arm.

PGX: While teams rarely draft for immediate need, do you ever instruct your scouts to focus on certain positions to address broad organizational needs from year-to-year?

BS: Unlike football and basketball, baseball doesn’t give you the opportunity to draft impact players of need. We would like to think that if we had a need at the Major League and there was someone we felt could help by the end of the year, yeah, you’re going to look at that. But in baseball there is a farm system, a time element involved, so you have to draft the best players you can get.

For instance, we took Matt LaPorta with the seventh pick (in 2007). Was that necessarily a need? Probably not, but he was the best player available at that situation and he helped bring CC Sabathia to us to help us get to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.

PGX: How difficult is it for you to gauge which players will be available at the positions you will have to make a selection, and does that increase the importance of having one big board of talent?

BS: I was just going over that with Ray Montgomery, our Assistant Scouting Director, this morning. You have to make sure you line them up right.

Let me put it this way: For all the right reasons we’re not picking fifth, seventh or eighth overall anymore. We’re picking deep in the draft now, which is a testament to what we have done as an organization. To be able to say, “so-and-so will be there at that draft slot,” is almost impossible. At 26, where we’re picking, we have to line up our board the best possible way we can from one down to whatever the last pick is and we need to make sure we have our i’s dotted and our t’s crossed so that when that slot comes we pick the right guy.

PGX: How beneficial are the showcase and tournament events that Perfect Game organizes to help you and your department make sure you have all your i’s dotted and t’s crossed?

BS: It’s good because we’re able to identify a lot of players in a short period of time on one field in a tournament setting against the best competition. It’s very beneficial, and we, like most organizations, highly regard these events and cover them very well. I like being involved because there’s no better way to get to know the players.

PGX: From video to digital databases, how much has technology helped the scouting industry in the past five to 10 years?

BS: It’s very important. You don’t want to scout off of the video, but you do want to identify certain things that may be helpful. You can see a tremendous amount with the naked eye, but sometimes there may be a little flaw that you noticed and on video you can go back, slow it down and say, “oh yes, there it is.” Whether a pitcher’s arm has a stab, you want to see how definite the stab is in back. With a hitter, you can go back and see if the approach has the type of fluidity that you like to see. There are a lot of things that you can go back on video and point out, whether it be a flaw or someone that does something extremely well. If a scout conveys to a crosschecker or the scouting director that a player has the ability to do certain things, he is able to do so right there on video.

PGX: It took Jack Zduriencik nine years to obtain extra, early compensation picks in the draft due to the free agency compensation process, and you have a couple of extra picks during your first year serving as Scouting Director. Does your approach change at all knowing that you may be able to take a risk you normally wouldn’t take with a player knowing you have a few other picks to potentially make up for that risk if it doesn’t work out?

BS: Some may think that we may be in a position to do that, but you want to make sure that when you draft a player, especially the players in the early rounds, that they have the best chance to become Major League Baseball players. That’s really our goal with every pick we make.

Dandy Dozen

SP	Tyler Matzek	Polished lefty with power arsenal
SP	Alex White	Second best college RHP to Strasburg
SP	Zack Wheeler	Rising draft boards with impressive FB/CB
UT	Brooks Raley	Smooth lefty leads A&M in ERA, BA
C	Luke Bailey	Baseball rat with compact build, swing
1B	Jonathan Singleton	Powerful prep slugger with big LH bat
IF	Ryan Jackson	Slick defender with questions about bat
3B	Jiovanni Mier	True SS with exciting tools
SS	Robbie Shields	2B/3B type with promising bat
OF	Tim Wheeler	Exciting blend of power & speed
OF	LeVon Washington	Blazing fast with exciting leadoff tools
OF	Everett Williams	Great athlete with tools galore

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Analyzing Amateur Baseball Talent as it pertains to the MLB Draft

Bruce Seid Interview

Dandy Dozen

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