Baseball Showcases Skills for MLB Scouts
10/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 7, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama baseball team spent Thursday afternoon showcasing its talents for approximately 25 Major League Baseball scouts at the Crimson Tide's annual pro scout day.
The afternoon gave professional scouts the opportunity to visit with the Tide's draft-eligible players over lunch and then observe and scout the players through timed 60-yard sprints, batting practice and finally a full intra-squad scrimmage. With nearly every MLB club represented, the Tide was again able to provide its student-athletes with another grand stage to pursue the dream of playing professional baseball.
"Showcasing our talents is a great opportunity for us to get seen by these guys and have the opportunity to play professional baseball," UA junior outfielder Taylor Dugas said. "It's great for us because opportunities like this don't always happen and we're really excited about it."
While scout day is certainly a great opportunity to get noticed, both players and scouts agreed that playing at Alabama in the Southeastern Conference already affords the players a tremendous amount of exposure.
"Players from the SEC, whether Alabama or any of these schools, get tons of exposure," New York Yankees scout D.J. Svihlik said. "Major League clubs scout these schools heavily and they put a lot of stock in the fact that these players come to school to play in front of big crowds. They play in high-pressure and high-level situations so you know you get a kid that at the very least will come into professional baseball and be able to handle the grind and pressure that comes with professional baseball."
Svihlik signed former UA and current Yankees' standout David Robertson and like many of the scouts on hand, the rich tradition Alabama has developed in preparing players to play professional draws him to continue scouting the Tide's prospects heavily.
"Generally speaking, this program has been very rich in producing talent ever since Coach Wells took over and went to the College World Series and began pumping players into the big leagues," said Damon Iannelli of the Colorado Rockies. "I think as a scout, we know what programs are trying to be good and bring in the best players, so that's why this (Alabama) is kind of a hot spot for a lot of us. A common trait is these guys usually tend to be pretty hard nosed, play good clean baseball but play hard, and that's what attracts a lot of scouts to players from this program."
Iannelli compared his scouting approach to one of his favorite hobbies adding, "I like to fish and if I go fishing, I'm not going to go where there's no fish. I'm going to go where the big ones are and they have been pumping them out of here (Alabama)."
