Thursday, April 16, 1998 | 6:54 a.m.
As much as any dirt infield or home-team dugout, major league scouts have become permanent fixtures on the Las Vegas prep baseball scene.
With a stopwatch in one hand and a radar gun in the other, they watch intently from behind the backstop, pausing occasionally to jot something into a notebook.
But while spotting scouts may be relatively easy, understanding what they're looking for can be quite another story for most parents, athletes and fans.
Is talent the key ingredient for a future in professional baseball? What about hard work, hustle and sheer determination? How does physical size factor into the equation? And how much can a bad outing with a scout watching from the stands hurt a player's chances?
According to Tom Valcke, who scouts Nevada and Central California for the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, a prospect's on-field performance always takes a back seat to his physical tools.
"We don't have a crystal ball," Valcke said. "So the only way we can make our projections is to have a foundation, and the foundation is physical maturity and mechanics.
"Whether a pitcher gives up a home run or throws a no-hitter when we see him is pretty much irrelevant to us. We want to know if he has the physical strength and the mechanics to play a 162-game schedule five years from now," Valcke added, referring to the average time it takes a player to work his way through the minor leagues.
Doug McMillan, a regional scout for the San Francisco Giants, echoed Valcke's assessment.
"We're not concentrating on performance," McMillan said. "A hitter might not have his best game when I'm there, but that doesn't bother me. You go by his actions at the plate. Good hitters just look like good hitters."
Just because a scout comes out to see a particular player doesn't mean he won't take notes on his teammates and opponents. Most scouts carry two sets of cards to their games: one to grade a team's entire lineup and another to evaluate a specific player.
"I like to say every kid is a prospect until I say they're not," Valcke said.
The magic number
After grading out every regular hitter and pitcher on a club, scouts set their sights on the cream of the crop and begin planning return visits to see athletes they think may deserve to be drafted.
McMillan said he likes to see top players at least twice during their senior season, and once or twice before that, whether it be in a high school or American Legion summer game.
"We're looking for some improvements," said McMillan, who sends his supervisor -- the Giants' West Coast scouting director -- to see a prospect he expects to be taken in the first 10 rounds.
Ultimately, all that work is done to give a player a rating, known as his "Overall Future Projection" (OFP), so he can be compared with his peers around the nation.
Players are rated in five categories: hitting ability, power, running speed, arm strength and fielding for position players and fastball, curveball, slider, other pitch and command for pitchers.
Based on those ratings, each player is assigned an OFP between zero and 80. By way of comparison, Bo Jackson is the only athlete ever to grade out at a perfect 80, while most first-round selections fall somewhere between 50 and 60.
What they watch
Contrary to what most people may think, scouts don't have to wait for a game to start to begin coming up with a players' rating. In fact, according to Valcke, a young athlete's pre-game routine can often speak volumes about his eventual professional value.
"I get there early and watch the kids get out of the bus," Valcke said. "You can see right away who has the right physique."
Infield practice, batting practice and routine catch-and-throw drills are all scrutinized thoroughly, with players who don't perform enthusiastically given low marks.
"You can almost do your whole job before the game even starts." Valcke said. "You've probably already narrowed it down to two or three guys who excite you."
Valcke warns young athletes not to try to impress scouts with "false hustle," which he said a trained eye can spot easily. He does like to see players perform at a high level when they know they're being scouted, however.
"The first time when a lot of scouts were looking at me, about 300 (radar) guns went up," recalled Green Valley pitcher Mike Nannini, who will likely be the area's first selection this June. "It was kind of overwhelming. I just tried to block it out, and now it's a good feeling when I see scouts. It pumps me up a little bit."
Once a game begins, scouts try to determine as much as possible about the intangibles -- a player's poise, aggressiveness and instincts. A hitter who doesn't run hard to first on a routine groundout hurts his chances, while a pitcher who responds to a home run with a strikeout helps his cause.
Off-the-field concerns
Of course, talent and size alone can't guarantee a high school prospect a phone call on draft day.
Before a scout recommends any player, a lengthy investigative process is required to increase a major league team's chances of getting a return on its investment.
Eye tests, medical questionares and background checks are all standard parts of a process designed to give general managers as much information as possible about their future players.
Previous injuries factor into the final equation, as do perceived attitude problems and run-ins with the law.
"When I come to a park to see a kid, I don't like to see earings or hats turned backwards when he knows I'm going to be there," McMillan said.
"It's not that we aren't going to draft a bad citizen, but we want to know if there are any red flags so he doesn't fall prey to temptation," Valcke said.
Scouts round out their evaluation with an in-home visit with a prospect and his parents, answering questions about the draft, giving the player a series of questionares and showing the family what a professional contract looks like.
To the average person, all of this may sound like a rigorous process. But to those whose fates and children's fates hang in the balance, it's all just part of a thrilling series of events they hope will culminate with a draft-day phone call.
"It's been exciting," said Mike Nannini, father of the Green Valley pitcher. "We get 10-to-15 phone calls a night from scouts, and they've come to our house to meet with us. Not many kids get this opportunity. It would be a beautiful event to get that call on June 2nd or 3rd."
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