Chew On This

Hardballtalk's post on the facial surgery that Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn went under can seem like an incident more isolated to baseballs view on harmful substances, but it is in fact much more, this has a direct relation to the change in views (or lack thereof) on baseball statistics.

There was a time when tobacco products were believed to have little adverse effects on a human’s well-being.  Sure, you may get some coughs or do some nerve damage but no one really thought much of it.  That was back in the day, before advances in modern science had revealed just how harmful they are, but we still seem to use these substances.

Now I am not the biggest fan of trying to make myself sick, and I am not the biggest fan of losing either.  So then, why do scouts not listen to times and change their technique.  They have their job because they need to find the player that wins, not because they do well at following what is normal.  This is synonymous with the old-timer scouts in Moneyball; it is something that has been done in the past in baseball, so it is obviously right. Obviously not. The scouts inability to change to the times and conform to a more accurate and efficient way of scouting is just as cancerous to the prosperity of baseball.

When a pretty face and potential mean more than a solid OPS clearly there is a problem either in the talent pool or in the office.  Since there is potentially a limitless talent pool, the fault is on the scouts. There is surely talent left untouched, talent left to rot and never allowed to flower, it is an epidemic that is stopping baseball from becoming more.

The current scouting method from statistics is becoming more and more popular; the appeal has spread through more and more organizations.  However, certain we may be about tobacco having its health problems, we are also certain about the positive effects real statistics can have on showing a players talent. Unfortunately, the malignant cancer that the Tony Gwynn had has the potential to spread to more places. However, thankfully, his operation went well and it was stopped.  Hopefully baseball associations and scouts can do the same and continue to eradicate this less effective way of scouting players, so that baseball does not solely become about potential and a pretty face.

Tony Gwynn had facial nerve removed in 14-hour surgery for cancerous tumor