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Here’s Looking At You, Kids
Rakeville hopes to continue their recent scouting excellence
By Aviator McShadeless / Rakeville Times
The nights have been long lately for Rusty Greer, the Rakeville Rockets minor league hitting instructor. Between sifting through minor league box scores and grilling scouts for information, Jack Reed’s point man for the 2006 EHCC minor league draft has been busy.
“We have three head scouts who I talk with every night,” said Greer. “These are the guys who are deeply involved with minor league ball. Sometimes I get overall breakdowns of specific leagues, or I have them do prospect reports or certain targets. They give me a clue as to who to look for. Then we have dozens of scouts, both major and minor, who catch games here and there. They give me quick impressions of the prospects. Between coordinating travel and talking to Jack (Reed), I am always on the phone or on the computer.”
The Rockets’ minor league scouting is deeper than some team’s major league scouting departments, with more prospects scouted in a week than some teams scout in a year. This has given Rakeville a huge advantage in their rebuilding efforts.
“It really began in 2002 when we drafted Josh Beckett,” said Reed. “A lot of people felt we overdrafted him in the third round, but our scouts said that he was a talent too good to pass up. As we began seeing results, we realized the advantage we had by getting to these guys before other teams had a clue.”
At the end of 2003, Rakeville minor league scouting would be put to the test as the team was swept out of the playoffs and in desperate need to get young.
“We went into that draft looking to the future,” said Reed, who drafted Joe Mauer in the first round and Miguel Cabrera in the second. “When you go young, you need to find stars. It takes years for players to reach their full potential, so if you don’t have the right ones then you make a terrible investment.”
The next wall for the scouts was the first every minor league draft.
“Our board had B.J. Upton as our first choice,” said Reed. Upton was taken first overall by the Bizton Markies. “Once he was gone, the clear second choice was Delmon Young.”
Reed was shocked to see the promising young prospect slip down the draft board.
“When it was our turn to pick at 11, we questioned our decision. Had we gotten our projections wrong? Why would a player like this slip to us?”
Hesitantly, Reed took Young, who is now widely regarded as the top prospect in baseball.
“After Young we had Felix Hernandez, who was drafted by Las Vegas and Jeff Francis, drafted by Weymouth. We were not surprised when both were taken.”
When it came to Rakeville again, picking 11th in the second round, they went with the next guy on their board, third baseman David Wright. The Las Vegas GM, Howe Dogg, openly mocked Reed, even using the word ‘meh’ to describe Wright’s talent. Midway through his rookie year with the Rockets, Wright is ranked in the top 100 players.
“With players like Young and Wright, the key is getting to them before they are dubbed prospects,” said Reed. “There is no way either would have slipped to the 11th pick this year. In fact, I doubt we could have gotten Young this year with the 3rd pick.”
So who are the Rockets looking at this year? That is a question many GM’s would like to know, but Reed isn’t talking. The team’s draft plans have already changed since a few weeks ago, when it was almost a given Dodger shortstop prospect Joel Guzman would be wearing red. The Rockets planned second round pick, Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen, was recently called up and thus loses his eligibility, leaving Greer with more work to do.
“It is ultimately Jack’s decision,” said Greer. “Now, I have got to get back to work.”
There are over 4,000 players in the minor leagues. Rumor has it, Reed knows them all by name.
Aviator McShadeless is a reporter for the Rakeville Times. If you ever need gum, he's your man. It's going to cost you, though.
