The Art of Baseball Scouting

That's the reason for the extensive scouting and background checks on them. Scouts looks at every little detail when evaluating a pitcher. Scouts find out how tall the player's parents are and tries to project his size five years down the road. Scouts try to evaluate the health of the player and determine if he will be a candidate for Tommy John surgery in the near future. There's one factor that scouts drool over and that is how fast a pitcher can throw. Fastball velocity is determined by the MPH he registers on the radar gun. On a 20-80 scale, if a player is 98 MPH or better he receives an 80 grade. A pitcher that is consistently 98 MPH or better is usually in the bullpen as a closer or set-up man. If a player is 93-97 MPH, he will receive a 70-79 grade. This pitcher may be a starter and if he has another plus pitch is probably the ace of the staff. If a player throws 90-92 MPH, he will receive a 60-69 grade. A pitcher with this velocity isn't considered a power pitcher by today's standards but can still be effective in MLB. If a player throws 88-89 MPH, he will receive a 50-59 grade. This guy has to have excellent control and movement on his pitches to be affective. If a player throws 85-87 MPH, he will receive a 40-49 grade. This is usually a specialist out of the bullpen that throws sidearm with filthy movement. If a player throws 83-84 MPH, he will receive a 30-39 grade. This is your average high school pitcher who thinks he throws ninety. Any fastball velocity below that will be in between a 20-29 grade. This is the position player on the bench that the coach brings in because the game is too far gone to put in a legit pitcher.
             Pitchers are also graded on their movement of each pitch in their arsenal. The fastball is specifically evaluated on its run and sink. The curveball will be evaluated on its tight spin and downward movement. The most important pitch in baseball (aka the changeup) will be evaluated on its decrease in MPH compared to the fastball.