Pro Scouts Remain In Limbo As 2021 Spring Training Approaches

Everything seems to be in place for spring training. All 30 clubs have dates for pitchers and catchers to report, their first full-squad workout, and the opening of their Grapefruit and Cactus League seasons.

All the health and safety protocols are in place, too, as announced by Major League Baseball. We know that games played before March 13 can be shortened to as few as five innings, and as few as seven innings after that date. We also know that managers can end an inning after 20 pitches if they choose.

What we do not know, however, is whether pro scouts will be able to attend the games.

Three pro scouting directors who spoke to Baseball America said they had not heard anything one way or another about whether they will be allowed to send their scouts to games in either the Grapefruit or Cactus Leagues.

Some expressed optimism that in-person scouting would be allowed, but nobody knew for certain when a final decision would be reached.

Since the sport shut down on March 12, 2020, the only domestic in-person work professional scouts (those who typically scout MLB and MiLB games) has been at non-MLB sanctioned games (independent leagues) and instructional league. And instructional league scouting was hit or miss.

Teams were allowed to bar opposing scouts from their minor league complexes, albeit at the expense of being unable to send their scouts to watch any other teams. A few teams, including the Giants and Twins, made this choice.

Amateur scouts (those who cover college and high school players in advance of the draft) have been allowed to do in-person work since shortly after the 2020 draft. International scouts can do in-person work as well, though there are limits on who can and cannot be at official team academies in the Dominican Republic.

Pro scouts, however, did mostly video work of big league games and from teams’ alternate training sites (though not all of the 30 teams provided video from their ATS).

With less than three weeks before the first games in Arizona and Florida, pro scouts are left waiting and wondering when they will be allowed to do their jobs in person instead of in front of a video screen.