When watching a game....

Instinct

I have been hearing more and more coaches/recruiters talking about "baseball instict". I talked to one a couple weeks ago that told me about recruiting a kid strictly on tools and how big of a mistake that was. You can have all the tools in the world but still be average because you don't have instinct. How many high school teams have taken a guy from the track squad to run the bases and the guy still gets thrown out alot because he doesn't have the instincts to get a good jump.

 

Instinct vs Tools

I can tell you from experience that recruiters give lip service to being able to play the game while hunting out the pure athletes with all the tools. My son and I are getting fairly frustrated watching the scouts pour out of the stadium when he comes on to pitch after the gas-thrower has hit the showers. The results at the showcase level have been just as good they were in HS but the big boys just don't seem to be interested in a kid that can just pitch but can't light up the gun.

 

I was referring more to the recruiting of position players. I do agree with you, I think recruiting pitchers is a different story.