MLB Authorizes Resumption Of Scouting Activities

Scouts are dusting off their radar guns this morning. Major League Baseball has authorized a resumption of amateur scouting with some ongoing limitations, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com reports on Twitter.

Baseball’s eyes and ears are typically grinding out hours on the road this time of year. But they’ve been on ice along with the rest of the sport since mid-March.

For most fans, the real key here is that there’s baseball activity worthy of scouting at all. As McDaniel notes, the Perfect Game showcase schedule is slated to kick off this week. No doubt there’ll be hardball played around the country this summer, though some major events — among them, the Cape Cod League — have already been stricken from the calendar.

At the moment, teams won’t be permitted to assign more than a trio of scouts to any given event. Presumably, the primary concern isn’t with limiting large gatherings so much as preventing a scouting arms race.

International scouting is still not allowed, McDaniel adds on Twitter, though that could resume soon as well. Teams will now be allowed to comb through new video and data in assessing players abroad.

Despite those limitations, there’s loads of potential for teams willing to expend resources to get more and longer looks at potential targets. Much like the shakeup of the recent draft and post-draft signing period, the newly uncertain cost/reward structure of scouting in the coronavirus era will open opportunities for those clubs that best adapt.