What are your thoughts on the Moneyball philosophy of scouting based on statistics rather than tools?
Sabermetrics is useful for scouting minor leaguers, but you cannot draft just based on stats. The tools simply cannot be ignored. I saw David Beck (the pitcher known as “The Creature” in Moneyball whom Oakland signed sight unseen) pitch for Cumberland, and would never have drafted him. His fastball was well below MLB average and he didn’t have the arm speed needed to generate sharp breaking stuff. He was released the next year after getting knocked around, as he should have been based on how poor his stuff was. There is a lot of good work being done using sabermetrics, but I think it should be used to enhance the job of the scout.not replace him. Do you prefer college or high school players? I always wanted to get the college guys, but this is more of an organizational question really. Some organizations prefer college players because the risk is lower, yet others prefer high school players with higher ceilings. I personally prefer college guys because of the track record against bette
