Billy Beane
Excellent piece in this week's Sports Illustrated about how the Oakland A's keep finding great talent. Billy Beane, their GM (and once the top pick in the draft by the Mets - and one of the biggest busts in Mets history) ignores the dogmatic nonsense of many scouts and looks for players who can hit.
As an example, last year an obscure college catcher caught Beane's eye, but the scouts insisted the guy shouldn't even be drafted, as he was too fat and didn't have the body for a catcher. The catcher was not even rated among the top 25 catchers in the draft and was not among the top 500 prospects of the A's scouts. Beane was ridiculed and challenged within the organization and stunned the player himself when he picked him in the first-round of the 2002 draft. The catcher then dominated pitchers in A ball and suddenly is recognized as one of the top hitters in minor league baseball.
Of course, if the Mets had a guy like this, Steve Phillips would trade him for Shawn Estes or Kenny Rogers.
posted on 5/09/2003
