On Baseball » Podcasts

What Do Baseball Scouts Look For?

joejanish — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:10:41 +0000

Cleveland Indians scout Tyrone Brooks talks about what he looks for in an amateur baseball player and how you can attract and impress a pro scout.

Tyrone formerly held several front office positions in the Atlanta Braves organization — including Director of Baseball Operations and Director of Baseball Administration — before joining the Cleveland Indians in the role of professional scout.

In our conversation, Tyrone explains how a scout evaluates a ballplayer, what he looks for beyond a player’s baseball skills, how an amateur player can approach a scout, the different types of scouts you may encounter (they’re not all the same!), and many other aspects of the player-scout relationship. In addition, Tyrone also tells the secret of why Ryan Howard fell below the radar as a college junior and slipped to the fifth round of the June 2001 draft.

Listen to the conversation below. You can also subscribe to the OnBaseball.com podcast through iTunes.

Fritz Peterson On Pitching

joejanish — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:53:33 +0000

A baseball conversation with Fritz Peterson, former 20-game winner, All-Star, and owner of the lowest ERA in the history of the old Yankee Stadium.

Fritz was known for his outstanding control and quick pace, teaming with Mel Stottlemyre in the mid-1960s to early-1970s to anchor the top of the New York Yankees’ rotation. Fritz was the last Major League pitcher to throw 270+ innings and post a WHIP of under 1.00 (272 IP, 0.996 WHIP in 1969). He also remains the all-time (since 1900) best lefthanded control pitcher — he allowed a scant 1.7 walks per nine innings through over 2200 career innings pitched. He reveals some of the secrets to that great control in this podcast.

Fritz recently published a book called Mickey Mantle is Going to Heaven, which is available through MintPros, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble

Listen to the conversation below. You can also subscribe to the OnBaseball.com podcast through iTunes.

Mental Prep for Baseball with Jim Fannin

joejanish — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:18:06 +0000

How does a Major League Baseball player prepare — mentally — for a big game or a postseason series?

I had the opportunity to discuss that topic and many others related to mental preparation for baseball with one of the leading experts on the subject, Jim Fannin.

Jim’s worked with 24 All-Stars over the years, including Alex Rodriguez, Casey Blake, Barry Zito, Carlos Delgado, Jim Thome, Orel Hershiser, Frank Thomas, Alex Cora, and many others.

You can learn more about Jim Fannin and the services he provides by visiting his website, JimFannin.com.

Listen to the conversation below. You can also subscribe to the OnBaseball.com podcast through iTunes.