MLB The Show 25 Scouting – Success Strategies

Hiring the Right Scouts: Setting Up for Success

In the world of MLB The Show 25 franchise mode, the foundation of a successful dynasty begins long before the first prospect is evaluated. We believe that assembling the right scouting department is perhaps the most critical decision a general manager can make. This chapter will explore the essential components of building an effective scouting infrastructure that maximizes your chances of discovering elite talent.

The Importance of Efficiency in Your Scouting Department

When constructing our scouting department, efficiency stands as the paramount attribute to prioritize. Our extensive experience has demonstrated that scouts with efficiency ratings above 90 provide a significant competitive advantage. This metric determines how quickly scouts can complete player evaluations, which becomes crucial given the limited 15-week scouting window available before the draft. With hundreds of prospects to evaluate and limited time, efficiency transforms from a luxury into a necessity.

Each additional player profile a scout can complete potentially represents another hidden gem discovered or another bust avoided. Therefore, we recommend never compromising on this attribute when hiring personnel. A scout with exceptional specialization but poor efficiency will ultimately evaluate fewer players, limiting their overall value to the organization.

Creating a Balanced Scouting Department

While efficiency serves as our foundation, building a truly effective scouting department requires strategic diversification. This article advocates for a methodical approach to assembling your team of talent evaluators:

Primary Pitching Specialist: Dedicate one high-efficiency scout to focus primarily on pitching prospects. This specialist should possess exceptional ratings in evaluating velocity, movement, and control.
Primary Position Player Specialist: Allocate another high-efficiency scout to concentrate on position players. This scout should excel at evaluating contact, power, and fielding abilities.
Secondary Position Player Specialist: Our approach diverges from conventional wisdom by recommending a second position player specialist with high discovery ratings. This strategy acknowledges the greater volume of position players in typical draft classes and the increased complexity in evaluating their diverse skill sets.
Versatile Scout: Maintain at least one well-rounded scout with balanced ratings across all categories. This scout provides flexibility to address any gaps in your evaluation process.

Understanding Scout Attributes Beyond Efficiency

While efficiency determines evaluation speed, other scout attributes directly impact the accuracy of their reports. Inaccurate scouting leads to misallocated resources and potentially disastrous draft selections. We must understand how each attribute influences the scouting process:

Discovery rating affects a scout’s ability to identify prospects not initially on your radar. Higher discovery ratings increase the chances of finding overlooked talents who might become franchise cornerstones.

Position-specific ratings (pitching, hitting, etc.) determine how accurately a scout evaluates those particular skills. A scout with a 95 rating in pitching evaluation will provide more reliable assessments of a prospect’s velocity and control than one with a 75 rating.

Regional familiarity can provide additional benefits when scouting specific geographical areas, though this should be considered a secondary factor compared to efficiency and specialization.

Implementing a Strategic Scouting Rotation

With our scouting department assembled, implementing an effective rotation system maximizes coverage. We recommend assigning scouts to regions based on their specializations rather than randomly distributing them. For instance, if certain regions historically produce more pitching talent, assign your pitching specialist to those areas.

Additionally, developing a systematic approach to cycling scouts between regions ensures comprehensive coverage while allowing specialists to focus on their areas of expertise. This methodical rotation prevents evaluation gaps while maintaining evaluation quality.

Preparing for Long-Term Success

The scouting department represents a long-term investment in your franchise’s future. While the immediate focus might be on the upcoming draft, establishing effective scouting practices creates a sustainable pipeline of talent. We recommend periodically reviewing scout performance and being willing to make personnel changes when necessary.

As we prepare to explore the identification of generational prospects in the next chapter, remember that even the most talented evaluators can only identify what they have the opportunity to see. A well-structured scouting department with high-efficiency personnel provides the foundation upon which championship rosters are built.

Identifying Generational Prospects: What to Look For

Building upon our established scouting infrastructure, we now turn our attention to perhaps the most exciting aspect of the draft process: identifying those rare, franchise-altering talents known as generational prospects. These exceptional players can transform an organization’s trajectory for years to come, making their identification a critical skill for any successful franchise manager.

Understanding the Generational Prospect Profile

Generational prospects represent the pinnacle of draft talent, typically possessing characteristics that separate them from even the most promising conventional prospects. Our extensive analysis has revealed several consistent patterns that help identify these rare talents:

Age-to-Rating Ratio: True generational prospects are typically 18 years old with exceptionally high overall ratings. While standard top prospects might enter the league in the low-to-mid 70s overall, generational talents often debut at 79-80 overall.
Draft Ranking Volatility: Interestingly, the game’s scouting system often displays a peculiar behavior with generational talents. Initial scouting reports may show them ranked at the very top of the draft class, but subsequent reports might temporarily downgrade their ranking. This counterintuitive fluctuation can actually serve as a confirmation marker for truly special talents.
Potential Rating: The most definitive indicator remains the potential rating, with generational prospects almost invariably possessing 99 potential. This represents the ceiling that separates mere All-Stars from Hall of Fame caliber talents.
Wide Attribute Range: When examining prospect profiles, we look for unusually wide attribute ranges during initial scouting. This volatility often indicates the game is masking exceptional underlying attributes.

The Scouting Confirmation Process

Identifying potential generational talents requires a methodical approach to confirmation. We recommend implementing the following strategy:

First, when a prospect displays the preliminary markers of generational talent (18 years old, top draft ranking, wide attribute ranges), assign your most efficient position player specialist to scout them for one week. This initial investment provides crucial baseline data.

After this first week, examine how the prospect’s draft ranking has changed. Counterintuitively, a temporary drop in ranking often confirms our suspicions rather than contradicting them. The game’s scouting algorithm frequently attempts to obscure truly exceptional talents through this initial downgrade.

Continue dedicating scouting resources to this prospect for several additional weeks. If they are indeed generational, their ranking will typically rebound and stabilize near the top of the draft class as more accurate information is gathered.

Beyond the Obvious: Older Exceptional Talents

While 18-year-old prospects with 99 potential represent the prototypical generational talent, our research has uncovered a secondary category worthy of attention. Occasionally, prospects aged 20-21 emerge with extraordinarily high initial overall ratings in the high 80s or even low 90s.

These older exceptional talents present a different type of opportunity. While they may have slightly lower long-term potential than their younger counterparts, their advanced development means immediate impact at the major league level. For teams in competitive windows, these prospects can provide immediate elite production while still offering substantial long-term value.

Regional Considerations for Discovering Elite Talent

Our analysis has revealed certain patterns in the distribution of generational talents across different scouting regions. International scouting regions, in particular, have demonstrated a higher probability of producing these exceptional prospects. We recommend prioritizing international regions with your discovery-focused scout to maximize the chances of uncovering hidden generational talents.

This approach should be complemented by a systematic rotation of your position and pitching specialists through high-probability regions. By placing your discovery specialist in what the community refers to as the “gold slot” (the primary scouting position), you further enhance the likelihood of identifying exceptional talents that might otherwise remain undiscovered.

Balancing Resources Between Confirmed Talents and Continued Discovery

Once a potential generational prospect has been identified, franchise managers face a critical resource allocation decision. Dedicating excessive scouting resources to a single prospect limits your ability to discover other valuable talents. We recommend a balanced approach:

Allocate sufficient weeks to confirm the generational prospect’s status and narrow their attribute ranges to acceptable levels of certainty. However, avoid the temptation to achieve perfect information at the expense of broader class evaluation.

Simultaneously, maintain your systematic approach to regional scouting with your remaining scouts. This ensures continued discovery of high-value prospects beyond the identified generational talent.

As we prepare to explore strategic regional scouting approaches and techniques for discovering hidden gems in the next chapter, remember that identifying generational talents represents only one aspect of a comprehensive draft strategy. Even in draft classes containing confirmed generational prospects, building organizational depth through intelligent selection throughout all rounds remains essential for sustained success.

Strategic Scouting: Regional Approach and Discovering Hidden Gems

Building upon our established scouting department and knowledge of identifying generational talents, we now turn our attention to the strategic aspects of regional scouting and the methodologies for uncovering those elusive hidden gems that can transform a good draft class into an exceptional one.

Implementing an Effective Regional Rotation Strategy

Our extensive experience has demonstrated that a systematic approach to regional scouting yields superior results compared to random or intuitive methods. We recommend implementing a structured three-week rotation system for most regions, with specific adjustments based on historical prospect generation patterns.

International regions deserve particular attention in this rotation system. These areas consistently produce a disproportionate number of high-quality prospects, especially pitchers. In our most recent draft class analysis, we discovered four international pitchers of exceptional quality, including Adolfo Nunez—a remarkable talent who rose to become the seventh-ranked player in the entire class after proper scouting.

This finding underscores a critical insight: franchises that neglect thorough international pitching scouting are potentially missing numerous high-caliber prospects. The concentration of pitching talent in international regions appears to be a consistent pattern within the game’s prospect generation algorithm.

Optimizing Regional Time Allocation

Not all regions deserve equal scouting attention. Through systematic analysis, we have determined that the Western region typically generates fewer high-quality prospects than other areas. Consequently, we recommend limiting Western region scouting to approximately two weeks per cycle, reallocating those additional resources to more productive regions.

For pitching and discovery-focused scouts, we advocate a disciplined approach of changing targeted regions every three weeks for most areas. This timeframe provides sufficient opportunity to identify promising talents while ensuring comprehensive coverage across all regions throughout the scouting period.

Leveraging the Discovery Scout for Maximum Impact

The discovery scout represents perhaps your most valuable asset for uncovering hidden gems. To maximize their effectiveness, we recommend:

Placing your discovery specialist in the primary scouting position (commonly referred to as the “gold slot”) when entering new regions
Prioritizing international regions for your discovery specialist’s attention
Implementing a slightly accelerated rotation schedule for discovery scouts compared to specialists
Focusing discovery efforts on positions identified as strengths in your pre-scouting draft board analysis

This approach ensures your discovery specialist has the greatest opportunity to uncover those overlooked talents who might become cornerstone players for your franchise.

Pre-Scouting Draft Board Analysis

Before committing significant scouting resources, we strongly recommend conducting a comprehensive analysis of your initial draft board. This preliminary evaluation provides crucial context for subsequent scouting decisions and helps identify position groups deserving particular attention.

Our methodology involves examining the draft board for:

Position group strength disparities
Unusual age distributions within position groups
Potential high-ceiling prospects with broad attribute ranges
Clusters of prospects at specific positions

This initial analysis often reveals patterns that inform more effective scouting resource allocation. For instance, in our recent draft class, we identified first base as an exceptionally strong position group, featuring several prospects with guaranteed high potential alongside promising 18-year-old projects displaying broad attribute ranges.

Identifying Position-Specific Hidden Gems

Different positions tend to produce hidden gems with distinct characteristic patterns. Understanding these patterns enhances our ability to identify overlooked talents:

Pitchers: International regions consistently yield high-quality pitching prospects who may initially be underranked. Look for pitchers with unusually wide velocity ranges or those with exceptional movement potential despite moderate overall rankings.
Corner Infielders: First and third base prospects with power potential often represent hidden value. The game’s initial rankings frequently undervalue power development trajectories, creating opportunities to identify future sluggers before they’re widely recognized.
Middle Infielders: Focus on defensive attributes and age. Young shortstops and second basemen with exceptional defensive potential frequently develop better hitting tools than initially projected.
Outfielders: Speed-power combinations often indicate higher development ceilings than reflected in initial rankings. Particularly focus on young outfielders with broad ranges in both categories.
Catchers: Perhaps the most overlooked position group. Young catchers with solid defensive foundations frequently outperform their projected offensive ceilings, making them valuable targets for discovery-focused scouting.

Balancing Depth and Specialization in Regional Scouting

While discovering elite talents remains our primary objective, building organizational depth requires a balanced approach to regional scouting. We recommend allocating approximately 60% of scouting resources to regions and positions identified as strengths in your pre-scouting analysis, with the remaining 40% dedicated to comprehensive coverage.

This balanced approach ensures you don’t miss potential stars while still focusing sufficient resources on areas with the highest probability of yielding valuable prospects. The strategic rotation of scouts between regions further enhances this balanced coverage while maintaining specialization benefits.

As we prepare to explore the process of player evaluation and draft board analysis in the next chapter, remember that strategic regional scouting represents the foundation upon which effective prospect identification is built. By implementing systematic rotation patterns, prioritizing high-yield regions, and leveraging your discovery specialist effectively, you maximize your opportunities to uncover those hidden gems that can transform your franchise’s future.

Player Evaluation: Process of Elimination and Draft Board Analysis

After establishing our scouting infrastructure and implementing regional strategies, we now arrive at the critical phase of player evaluation. This chapter explores the systematic approach to prospect assessment and the analytical methods that transform raw scouting data into actionable draft intelligence.

The Art of Prospect Elimination

In the face of hundreds of prospects and limited scouting resources, elimination becomes as important as identification. We have developed a methodical process of elimination that allows us to quickly discard prospects who do not meet our organizational standards:

Prospects with overall ratings higher than or equal to their potential ratings should be immediately eliminated from consideration. These players have already reached their ceiling and will only regress, representing negative long-term value.
Prospects with minimal gaps between overall and potential (typically less than 10 points) generally offer insufficient development upside to justify high draft selections. While they might provide immediate depth, they rarely develop into franchise cornerstones.
Older prospects (22-23 years old) with moderate potential ratings typically represent lower-ceiling options that can be targeted in later rounds if organizational needs dictate, but should rarely command premium draft capital.

This elimination process allows us to concentrate our limited scouting resources on prospects with genuine development potential, significantly increasing our efficiency in identifying high-value talents.

Constructing a Tiered Draft Board

Rather than creating a simple ranked list, we advocate for developing a tiered draft board that groups prospects by potential impact categories. This approach provides greater flexibility on draft day and prevents overreaction to individual prospect availability:

Tier 1: Generational talents (99 potential) and exceptional prospects (95+ potential with favorable age/development profiles)
Tier 2: Potential All-Stars (90-94 potential with strong development indicators)
Tier 3: Above-average starters (85-89 potential with positive secondary attributes)
Tier 4: Solid contributors (80-84 potential or higher potential with development concerns)
Tier 5: Organizational depth (below 80 potential or significant development questions)

Within each tier, prospects should be further categorized by position to facilitate balanced organizational development. This tiered approach prevents the common mistake of reaching for positional needs when higher-ceiling talents remain available.

Attribute Range Analysis

The reliability of our evaluations depends significantly on the precision of our scouting reports. Wide attribute ranges indicate substantial uncertainty, while narrow ranges provide confidence in our assessments. We recommend implementing the following guidelines for attribute range analysis:

For top-tier prospects (potential 90+), continue scouting until key attributes have ranges of no more than 10-15 points. This precision is essential for distinguishing between truly elite talents and merely good prospects.

For mid-tier prospects (potential 80-89), attribute ranges of 15-20 points provide sufficient certainty for informed decisions, balancing scouting resource efficiency with evaluation accuracy.

For organizational depth prospects (potential below 80), wider attribute ranges remain acceptable, as these selections typically involve less investment and risk.

Identifying Misleading Scouting Reports

Our extensive experience has revealed certain patterns in the game’s scouting system that can produce misleading evaluations. Being aware of these patterns helps avoid costly draft mistakes:

Artificially inflated potential ratings often appear in older prospects (21-23 years old) with unusually high initial overall ratings. These prospects frequently have their potential overestimated by 5-10 points compared to their actual development trajectory.
Conversely, young prospects (18-19 years old) with wide attribute ranges sometimes have their potential underestimated, particularly when they show exceptional performance in specific skill categories despite moderate overall ratings.
Position players with extreme splits between offensive and defensive attributes often develop more unevenly than their potential ratings suggest, typically favoring their stronger attribute category at the expense of the weaker one.

By recognizing these patterns, we can adjust our evaluations to account for the game’s systematic biases, resulting in more accurate prospect assessments.

Comparative Analysis Techniques

Beyond individual prospect evaluation, comparative analysis between similar prospects often reveals subtle differences that influence long-term development outcomes. We recommend implementing the following comparative techniques:

When evaluating prospects with similar potential ratings, prioritize those with higher floors (minimum attribute ranges) over those with higher ceilings (maximum attribute ranges) but lower floors.
For pitchers with comparable overall profiles, velocity and control typically translate more reliably to major league success than movement, making them more valuable discriminators in close comparisons.
For position players, contact ability and defensive skills generally develop more predictably than power, making prospects with higher floors in these categories safer selections.

These comparative techniques are particularly valuable when deciding between prospects in the same tier, helping to identify the most promising talents among seemingly similar options.

Draft Board Finalization

As the scouting period concludes, finalizing our draft board requires a systematic review process to ensure comprehensive evaluation. We recommend the following approach:

First, conduct a position-by-position review to identify any remaining gaps in our evaluations, particularly focusing on positions of organizational need.

Next, implement a final tier verification process, comparing prospects across positions within each tier to confirm appropriate categorization.

Finally, identify approximately 50-75 prospects (depending on draft position and number of selections) as our primary targets, ensuring sufficient options throughout the draft while maintaining focus on high-priority talents.

This finalization process transforms our extensive scouting work into a streamlined decision-making tool for draft day, positioning us to maximize value with each selection.

As we prepare to explore draft day strategy in the final chapter, remember that effective player evaluation combines systematic elimination, tiered categorization, and nuanced attribute analysis. By implementing these methodologies, we establish the foundation for confident draft decisions that balance immediate impact with long-term organizational development.

Draft Day Strategy: Making the Right Selections

After meticulously building our scouting department, identifying generational talents, implementing regional scouting strategies, and conducting thorough player evaluations, we now arrive at the culmination of our efforts: draft day. This critical moment represents the transition from preparation to execution, where all our scouting intelligence must be transformed into concrete selections that will shape our franchise’s future.

Preparing Your Final Draft Board

The hours before the draft begins should be dedicated to a final review of our tiered draft board. We recommend conducting a comprehensive assessment that includes:

Confirming tier placements for all priority prospects
Identifying 3-5 primary targets for each of our draft positions
Highlighting prospects with particularly wide attribute ranges that might represent higher risk
Marking organizational needs while maintaining commitment to selecting the best available talent

This final preparation ensures we enter the draft with clear priorities while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to unexpected developments.

The Best Player Available Philosophy

While organizational needs naturally influence draft decisions, we firmly advocate for a “best player available” approach, particularly in the early rounds. The development timeline for prospects means that drafting for immediate needs often results in suboptimal long-term outcomes. Instead, we recommend:

Prioritizing ceiling over immediate readiness in the first three rounds
Selecting the highest-tiered prospect available regardless of position
Only using positional need as a tiebreaker between prospects in the same tier

This approach maximizes the overall talent influx into our organization while avoiding the common mistake of reaching for lesser talents to fill perceived roster gaps.

Strategic Patience with Elite Prospects

Contrary to conventional wisdom, we recommend exercising strategic patience with certain elite prospects early in the draft. As noted in our research, prospects with guaranteed high potential ranges like Jermaine Osborne often command premium draft positions. However, our analysis suggests that allocating early scouting resources to more uncertain prospects often yields greater overall draft value.

By initially focusing our scouting on players with wider attribute ranges or less certain projections, we develop a more comprehensive understanding of the draft class. This approach allows us to identify potential steals while still maintaining awareness of the consensus top prospects.

Balancing Risk and Certainty

Every draft selection represents a calculated risk-reward decision. We recommend implementing a structured approach to risk management throughout the draft:

Early rounds (1-2): Target high-ceiling prospects with reasonably narrow attribute ranges, accepting moderate risk for exceptional upside
Middle rounds (3-5): Balance ceiling and floor considerations, targeting prospects with more certain projections but still significant development potential
Later rounds (6+): Increase risk tolerance, selecting high-variance prospects with standout individual attributes that could develop into specialized major league tools

This graduated risk approach maximizes our chances of securing franchise cornerstones early while still uncovering potential late-round gems.

Leveraging Draft Position Dynamics

Understanding the dynamics of draft position provides significant strategic advantages. We recommend:

If selecting early in the first round, focus exclusively on tier 1 prospects with generational potential
If selecting in the middle of the first round, prepare for multiple scenarios by identifying 3-4 potential targets
If selecting late in the first round, consider “reaching” for an undervalued second-round talent you particularly covet, as they may not be available with your next selection

Additionally, be prepared to adjust your strategy based on the selections made by AI-controlled teams. Unexpected early selections often create opportunities as higher-tiered prospects slide to later positions.

The Art of the Pivot

Despite thorough preparation, draft day inevitably brings surprises. Developing the ability to pivot effectively when primary targets are selected before our turn represents a crucial skill. We recommend:

Maintaining a fluid tier system rather than a rigid ranking
Identifying multiple prospects with similar projections in each tier
Preparing contingency selections for each draft position
Remaining committed to the best player available philosophy even when surprised

This flexibility ensures that unexpected developments become opportunities rather than setbacks.

Late-Round Strategy: Uncovering Hidden Value

While early rounds naturally command the most attention, championship organizations consistently find value in later rounds. Our approach to late-round selection focuses on:

Targeting young prospects (18-19) with wide attribute ranges but specific standout skills
Selecting older prospects with specialized abilities that could translate to specific major league roles
Prioritizing high-ceiling international prospects who may have been under-scouted by the AI
Considering organizational depth needs more heavily than in early rounds

These targeted late-round selections often yield surprising value, providing either unexpected developmental breakthroughs or specialized role players who contribute to championship rosters.

Post-Draft Evaluation and Development Planning

The draft process doesn’t end with the final selection. Immediately following the draft, we recommend conducting a comprehensive review of your new prospect class:

Categorize selections by development timeline (short, medium, and long-term)
Identify prospects requiring specialized development approaches
Compare actual selections against pre-draft targets to refine future strategies
Begin formulating individualized development plans for each new prospect

This immediate post-draft assessment creates a seamless transition from selection to development, maximizing the value of our draft investments.

Conclusion: The Continuous Improvement Cycle

Draft strategy represents an evolving discipline requiring continuous refinement. By methodically analyzing the outcomes of each draft class, we can identify patterns, adjust approaches, and improve future performance. The most successful franchises view each draft not as an isolated event but as part of an ongoing process of organizational improvement.

Through the implementation of these strategic principles—from assembling an elite scouting department to making the final draft selections—we establish the foundation for sustained competitive success. While no draft strategy guarantees perfect outcomes, this systematic approach maximizes our probability of identifying and securing the talent that will define our franchise’s future.

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