I don’t think there has been a baseball movie made that didn’t feature some weathered old guy seated in the bleachers somewhere. He usually utters undecipherable baseball jargon while taking copious notes. This, dear reader, is the baseball scout, who used to be how talent was discovered. If you’ve seen or read Moneyball, you know that the scout is an endangered species. This article from USA Today last week talks about how many pro scouts are still unemployed one month before the start of spring training. The reason? Data.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Baseball is in the throes of the Moneyball movement. Teams have been laying off scouts and turning to sabermetrics, which Wikipedia defines as the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Baseball has fallen in love with data. Maybe your business has too.
Here is the problem, both for you and for baseball. There are certain things that don’t show up in data. A player’s leadership qualities in the dugout aren’t quantifiable. Potential can often be visible but not measurable. That’s true in your office as well. The data may show you what it happening but it’s hard for it to show you what could be happening. That requires humans: scouts.
We all need scouts. We need people who use the data as a tool but who also have the experience and wisdom to know when the data is missing something. That doesn’t mean projecting one’s wishes into the numbers nor distorting the story those numbers tell. It is, however, an acknowledgment that there is often a bigger picture than what’s inside the frame.
Here is a quote from a scout:
I’ve got 23 years in the business,’’ Wren said, “and now clubs don’t want that experience? I look at teams now, and they’re hiring guys who aren’t really scouts. They’re sabermetric guys from the office, and they put them in the field like they’re scouts, just to give them a consensus of opinion.
That’s dangerous for a baseball team. It could be fatal for you. You’re up!
