Article: First, refresh your knowledge on the game of baseball if necessary. You need to have a strong understanding of the strategies and mechanics of the game. It is valuable for an associate scout to know as much as possible about playing the game of baseball so he can relate to prospects.. Baseball is in some ways a very technical sport, which means that baseball scouts need to have a keen eye and meticulous attention to detail. When you watch a game, practice the kind of behavior scouts do by paying attention to things like batting averages, running speeds, and pitching techniques. If you find it helpful, read up, both with books and online, on the strategies and mechanics of baseball, as well as the statistics and attributes that go into determining what separates a good player from a great player. Although there are plenty of scouts who have little experience actually playing the game, it can certainly help. Playing baseball gives you the kind of first hand experience with how the game is played and what makes a good player that you can't get from just watching. Any experience with the game from the player's perspective is going to give you a leg up when it comes to analyzing them from the other side. You don't need years of semi-professional experience or a college baseball career. Look for a recreational baseball group in your city, or put one together yourself. There exist courses that anyone can take that teach the foundations of how to be a scout. They are training programs designed specifically for a aspiring scouts. Search online to find scout courses near you. MLB has its own official scout school, but be aware that they only hold programs in a few states, and positions are limited. Scouting baseball isn't a particularly glamorous job. It involves constant traveling, long periods away from home, waking up early, and an exhausting amount of work. Scouts have a lot of information in their heads when they're out on the job, everything from the names of coaches and players in their area to batting averages and pitching speeds. As a scout, you'll see endless hotel rooms, high school and college games, plane flights and rental cars. Your tools are nothing more than a radar gun, a notepad, and a wealth of knowledge about the minute details of what makes a baseball player great. The most significant difference between scouting high school players and scouting college players is that with high school players, a scout needs to be able to project their skills farther into the future. College players will have already enhanced their speed, strength, and skill, thanks to both more experience and better, more specialized coaches. That being said, high school scouting is the more important of the two, because the players you'll be watching in college will be the ones you identified as worth watching in high school.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Watch baseball with a scouts eye. Play baseball. Take a course on scouting. Understand what it's like to be a scout. Know the differences between scouting different leagues.