What Scouts Look For When Evaluating Hitters by Ed Herrmann Scout-Coach-Tutor EVALUATING A HITTER Evaluating a hitter for professional baseball is very subjective to the person who is scouting, especially when evaluating a hitter using an aluminum bat. As we all know, wood bats are completely different from aluminum, so evaluating hitters can be tricky. Hitting styles are also very personal. You can examine all the great hitters in the Hall of Fame and see that each ballplayer had his own stance and style. A scout's job is to look past some of the hitting mechanics of a player and evaluate skills. There are some skills that can not be taught, such as raw power and hand-eye coordination, which great hitters are born with.
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A player can work to improve their power and hand-eye coordination, but players such as Alex Rodriguez and Bernie Williams have something extra that they are born with. The following is a list of criteria used to evaluate hitters: • Hand - Eye Coordination: This involves the ability to make contact with a pitched ball. A good hitter has to be able to track a ball with his eyes and have his hands go to the point of contact with the barrel of the bat - without thinking about it. A scout will look to see if you swing and miss a lot, or if you make contact almost every time you swing the bat. 'Barrel accuracy' is a term used to describe the ability to get the fat part of the bat, or the 'sweet spot', on the ball with consistency. If a hitter has good barrel accuracy, then he is hitting the ball hard and has good hand-eye coordination.
• Balance: This can be taught. If you watch a Major League hitter, you will notice that they rarely fall off-balance when they swing a bat. Ct post.
Balance also gives a hitter leverage to hit with more power. • Head Position: This too can be taught. A good hitter has his head in a position to track the ball with both eyes; they take their eyes to the ball. Your body and hands follow your head and eyes. Scouts will notice if a hitter consistently pulls his head and eyes off of a pitch, because that hitter will look off-balance and will have poor barrel accuracy. A good head position allows a hitter to remain balanced throughout the swing, regardless of the pitch being inside or away.
(A good head position for beginners is when you can look down while in your stance and see that your eyes and nose are slightly in front of your toes, and when you look up at the pitcher, you have both eyes locked on your target.) • Effort Level / Tension: Your best hitters look nice and easy with their swings; they look fluid and under control. When a hitter is smooth and easy with their approach, they see the ball better and can react more efficiently to breaking balls during a swing.