THE SCOUTING CLASSROOM Stories Behind the Report SEEING THE FLOCK BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE The Scout’s Eye, the Horizon, and the Conviction to Believe. One of the greatest scouting lessons I learned came from Sydnor W. “Syd” Thrift Jr., whose influence extended far beyond the players he evaluated. Thrift spent nearly 50 years in baseball as a scout, scouting director, innovator, and executive. He understood that scouting wasn’t simply about recognizing talent. It was about recognizing it before everyone else. A VISIONARY AHEAD OF HIS TIME In the early 1970s, Thrift founded the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy, an experimental program that produced 14 Major Leaguers, including Frank White. He later served as Oakland’s farm director and Pittsburgh’s general manager from 1985 to 1988. There, he hired Jim Leyland and helped rebuild a franchise that won three consecutive NL East titles in the early 1990s. He also worked with the Yankees, Cubs, and Orioles, blending traditional scouting instincts with progressive ideas about vision, measurement, and development. In 1990, he published The Game According to Syd. SCOUTING IS LIKE BIRD HUNTING Thrift once said: “Scoutin’s like bird-huntin’. Some guys see the birds, maybe, couple a hundred feet away. Some guys don’t see ’em till they’re right on top of ’em. Some don’t see ’em till they’re flyin’ away.” Think about that. The good scout sees the flock on the horizon. He points it out, but others can’t yet see what he’s seeing. Then the birds get closer. Eventually, they’re overhead, and suddenly everybody sees them. But the scout who spotted them early didn’t need the birds flying overhead to know they were there. THE LESSON THAT STAYED WITH ME As head baseball coach at Southern Utah University, I taught baseball theory using The Game According to Syd as our textbook. Thrift’s philosophy stayed with me throughout my 20 years scouting for the Angels and Brewers. I saw it play out with players whose names weren’t near the top of draft boards. Efren Navarro was a 50th-round Angels selection in 2007. I believed in his left-handed bat and defense when few others saw a future Major Leaguer. He eventually reached the big leagues. Dylan File was Milwaukee’s 21st-round selection in 2017. Two unfavorable Crosschecker reports created doubts, but years of history supported my evaluation. Three years later, Milwaukee protected him on its 40-man roster. Paxton Schultz was Milwaukee’s 14th-round selection in 2019. He continued developing and made his Major League debut with Toronto in 2025. Ryan Aguilar was my 31st-round selection with Milwaukee. He continued working his way through professional baseball and eventually reached the Major Leagues with the Angels. Different players. Different paths. None was an obvious first-round prospect. Each showed why scouting requires looking beyond where a player stands on draft day. Across my career, 11 players I drafted or helped identify reached the Major Leagues or earned 40-man roster spots. Not every evaluation was right. Nobody scouts for 20 years without making mistakes. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEEING AND RECOGNIZING There’s a difference between identifying a known prospect and recognizing ability that hasn’t fully developed. Anyone can see the flock overhead. The challenge is recognizing it on the horizon, understanding what you’re seeing, and having the conviction to put your name behind it. That’s what Syd Thrift taught me before I became a professional scout. MY SCOUTING PHILOSOPHY “The best scouts aren’t the ones who confirm what everyone else eventually sees. They’re the ones who can look out on the horizon, see the flock when it’s still distant, and have the conviction to trust what they see.” Jeff Scholzen Veteran MLB Scout | Author | Educator #BehindTheRadarGun 🔎

THE SCOUTING CLASSROOM Stories Behind the Report THE GAME YOU DIDN’T STAY TO FINISH Knowing When You’ve Seen Enough and When You Haven’t. One of the most overlooked skills in professional scouting has nothing to do with grading a fastball or projecting a player’s future. It’s knowing how to manage your time. An Area Scout covering multiple states can’t watch every player for nine innings. Games overlap, pitchers work on different schedules, and the next ballpark might be hundreds of miles away. The question isn’t simply, “Who should I see?” It’s “What information do I still need, and where can I get it?” EVERY LOOK NEEDS A PURPOSE Before arriving, I wanted to know why I was there. Was it an initial evaluation, a follow-up, a chance to verify a grade, or a look before bringing in a Crosschecker? A starting pitcher may require a complete outing. The first inning shows his stuff. The fifth or sixth can reveal whether he maintains velocity, repeats his delivery, commands his secondary pitches and adjusts as hitters see him again. With a position player, I might already have enough defensive history but need more plate appearances against quality pitching. Leaving after two at-bats could mean leaving the most important question unanswered. The key is knowing what you came to learn. THE COST OF STAYING Every inning has an opportunity cost. If I’ve answered my questions at one game, staying another three innings could mean missing a starting pitcher across town who won’t throw again for a week. In the Four Corners territory, that missed look could mean another long drive and an entirely different trip. That makes advance scheduling, communication with coaches and knowing pitching rotations part of the evaluation process. The work starts before the first pitch. DON’T CONFUSE ACTIVITY WITH PRODUCTIVITY A scout can attend five games and accomplish very little. Another can attend two and collect the information needed to move several players forward. The number of games on your schedule isn’t the measure of your work. Neither is the number of names in your notebook. What matters is whether your looks answered meaningful questions. KNOW WHEN TO STAY There’s a danger in leaving too early. A pitcher struggling with his breaking ball might show you more by adjusting in the fourth inning than he did throwing 94 in the first. A hitter who strikes out twice might reveal something important in his next at-bat. Sometimes the adjustment is the evaluation. There is no magic number of innings or plate appearances. The decision depends on the player, your history and what remains unknown. THE LESSON In 20 years with the Angels and Brewers, I covered a territory where schedules overlapped and ballparks were separated by hundreds of miles. I couldn’t see every inning, so I had to make each look count. An Area Scout’s job isn’t to collect games attended. It’s to collect reliable information that helps the organization make better decisions. The best scouts don’t necessarily see the most games. They know which games they cannot afford to miss, and when they’ve seen enough to move on. #BehindTheRadarGun 🔎