Yes, scouts will still be scouting in the future, while their GM’s may carry universal scouting devices in their pockets.
The art of the scout is also seeing the future, beyond the numbers.
After technology measures everything it can measure, what still need to be factored into the equation are the intangibles of the athlete – drive, dedication, competitiveness and clutch-play. We call it the player’s ‘make-up.’ Over162 games the Home Run and ERA statistics may be the headlines, but in a one game playoff or a seven game series, it’s often the clutch hit or the unlikely heroics of the unsung that makes history and crowns the champions.
Could Mickey & Roger’s Yankees have won the 1960 World Series without Bobby Richardson’s 12 hits and 11 RBI’s? Actually, the Yankees ‘lost’ that series when Pirates second baseman, Bill Mazeroski, hit the first ever, game seven, walk-off HR in the bottom of the ninth to win the final game10-9… and Bobby Richardson became the only ‘losing team player’ ever named World Series MVP.
Nothing in Bill Mazeroski’s file could have calibrated the odds of that historic HR. Bill’s scout likely said, ‘I knew he had it in him.’