Hello everyone, I’m Hagiko Yamamoto and I love baseball. In professional baseball, each team is gearing up for the next pennant race. Every year, I look at the news of new players joining the team with a smile, and all of them are players who joined the team through the draft. And who guided them into the professional world? So, today I would like to talk about the job of “scout”.
Many of the players who enter the world of professional baseball through the draft are elite players who have known their names since they were young. However, there are some players who were completely unknown during their school days. For example, Sota Takano, who was drafted by Yakult in second place in last year’s draft, comes from a public high school in Shimane Prefecture that has never produced a professional baseball player. According to an article in a sports magazine, he caught the attention of a scout who happened to be visiting another player.
It is said that scouts really go everywhere. He also goes to see the players he has high expectations for as many times as he wants. A friend of mine who loves college baseball said, “Before I knew it, I remembered the faces of the team scouts who always came to watch games.”
Previously, in this series, I introduced a manga called “Draft King”. The realistic image of a scout man who flies around Japan, using his legs like sticks to search for “original stones,” is faithfully depicted based on detailed research.
Of course, it’s a manga, so there are parts of it that are fictional, but I’m impressed by how the scouts don’t miss out on even the smallest information, and how many connections he has that other teams don’t know about is what makes a good player. I learned that this is the key to whether or not I can get it.
What left an impression on me in the manga is the scene where a player who has decided to retire informs the main character, a scout, over the phone of his retirement before anyone else. The main character remembers the player’s performance over the entire season, and the baseball player is very moved when he learns this.
Being a scout means being responsible for someone’s life. He is someone who changes the lives of baseball players, and he is probably always concerned about the players he works with. They not only help students move into the dormitory, but also take care of them until they find employment after they retire.
I’m sorry to tell you a personal story, but it was also a “coincidence” that led me to the entertainment industry. I accidentally got on the wrong bus that I don’t usually take, and someone from my current office happened to be on the ride with me, and he approached me. It’s with deep emotion that I think that if I hadn’t had that encounter, I wouldn’t have been writing about baseball like this. The person who first laid eyes on me is still a special person to this day, and if I ever retire from the entertainment industry, I’m sure he’ll be the first to tell me. Truly the “father of the entertainment industry.” I’m sure scouts are like parents to baseball players.
I would like to interview a scout someday…
What all scouts have in common is the desire to make their team stronger. I also hope that the players will live a happy baseball career until the end.
There are teams like Softbank that have appointed a lot of development players and produced catcher Takuya Kai and pitcher Kodai Senga (Mets) (I would like to call it the “Ooku system”), but many teams Since we don’t have that much money, we are limited in the number of players we can recruit.
There are team circumstances such as having a position that is understaffed, and there are also connections. Even so, it is probably because they are confident that “my team can help you grow the most” that they are prepared to approach the players. Teams that don’t have a lot of money can definitely enjoy using their wits to acquire good players.
Pitcher Chiga, who signed a training contract with Softbank for 2.4 million yen, is now a major leaguer with an annual salary of over 2 billion yen, but it was a local member of the public who created a foothold for Chiga, who was an unknown pitcher, to become a professional pitcher. It is a well-known story that the owner of a local sports store, who was knowledgeable about amateur baseball, caught the attention of scouts by pushing the team’s officials.
Pitcher Kazuki Yabuta (Oisix Niigata Albirex), who was active in Hiroshima, did not catch the attention of scouts because he had pitcher Yasuaki Yamazaki (DeNA) at Asia University at the same time and was injured. . However, when her mother, who was working as a taxi driver, happened to give a ride to the president of a Hiroshima baseball team, she announced, “Her son drives 150km,” and that’s how she got listed by scouts. And.
In other words, somewhere in this world, a scout is always keeping an eye out. Isn’t this a story that gives you some hope? Or you may become a future star scout yourself. The day may come when you will find a future star among the elementary school students living on the riverbed.
See you soon.
★Yamamoto Shuko
Born October 2, 1996, from Kanagawa Prefecture. Free caster. He grew up in a family that loved baseball, and before he knew it, he became a baseball freak.
For five years starting in 2019, he served as a caster for “Warspo x MLB” (NHK BS1).His cat’s name is Valentin
★Hagiko Yamamoto’s “Waiting for 6-4-3” is updated every Friday morning!
2024-01-12 00:16:52
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