The Scout of the 12 months program celebrated its fortieth anniversary Wednesday night on the Winter Conferences in Dallas, honoring evaluators and directors for his or her contributions to the sport.
This 12 months’s home winners have been Chris Buckley (Reds, East Coast), Tim Kelly (Yankees, Midwest) and R.J. Harrison (Rays, West Coast). Eddy Toledo (Phillies) was named worldwide scout of the 12 months, Pat Gillick (Phillies) obtained the director’s award and Sandy Dengler (Rays, retired) received the Roberta Mazur distinguished lady in baseball award.
Gillick, who was inducted into the Corridor of Fame in 2011, is the primary Cooperstown immortal honored by the Scout of the 12 months program, which is run by Mazur as govt director. Harrison, whose dad Bob was the 2023 West Coast scout of the 12 months, turned a part of third father-son tandem to win awards. They joined Joe and Jerry Stephenson and Larry (Jr.) and Jeff Barton.
A better take a look at every of this 12 months’s honorees:
Chris Buckley (Reds, East Coast)
Buckley, 65, performed for a 12 months within the Astros system earlier than ending his faculty diploma and serving as an assistant coach at Tempo, Duke and Seton Corridor. Whereas teaching, he was additionally educating, giving hitting classes and refereeing highschool basketball to make ends meet and actually simply wished to work full-time in baseball. So he jumped on the likelihood when Blue Jays scouting director Bob Engle provided him a job as a Florida space scout in 1989.
Buckley signed seven massive leaguers as an space scout, most notably Shannon Stewart, earlier than changing into a crosschecker (1996-2000), scouting director (2001-03) and particular assistant (2004-05) for Toronto. He labored briefly with the Cubs earlier than becoming a member of the Reds in February 2006 and serving as senior director and vice chairman of scouting (by the 2018 Draft), then vice chairman of participant personnel (2018-23) and a particular assistant (beginning this 12 months).
The 16 drafts Buckley ran for Toronto and Cincinnati produced 101 massive leaguers, together with Aaron Hill, Justin Turner, Todd Frazier, Yasmani Grandal and Hunter Greene. He additionally was instrumental in Cincinnati’s signing of Aroldis Chapman to a document $16,250,000 bonus as a part of a $30,250,000 contract in 2010. He credit his success to the legendary Blue Jays scouts who taught him the enterprise.
“I couldn’t have began at a greater place,” Buckley stated. “I discovered a lot good things at Seton Corridor about toughness and make-up, after which I obtained to Toronto and I used to be with Pat Gillick, Bobby Mattick, Bob Engle and Tim Wilken, who have been all Scout of the 12 months winners. I used to be a younger man looking for my approach and now I used to be working with giants of the sport.”
Tim Kelly (Yankees, Midwest)
Kelly, 66, turned down the Guardians once they chosen him as a catcher from NCAA Division III Wooster (Ohio) within the thirty second spherical within the June 1980 Draft and have become a school coach after graduating. He took the pinnacle teaching job at D-III Wittenberg (Ohio) at age 24 and beloved it. When the Yankees promoted space scout Stan Saleski to crosschecker and Saleski approached him about changing him after the 1990 season, Kelly stated no.
“Scouting hadn’t even occurred to me,” Kelly stated. “I used to be having the time of my life coping with faculty children, and my brother even performed for me. I used to be frightened about being truthful to my spouse. I truly turned the job down. I used to be the assistant soccer coach too, and the pinnacle soccer coach, Ron Murphy, informed me I used to be an fool. My spouse informed me I used to be loopy. So I known as Stan again.”
Thus started 33 years of scouting that noticed Kelly rise from space scout in 1991 to Midwest crosschecker in 2000 to nationwide crosschecker in 2010, with him retiring after the 2024 Draft. He signed 5 massive leaguers (Brian Reith was probably the most notable) as an space man, in addition to a future massive league supervisor (Derek Shelton) and a longtime Yankees growth official (John Kremer). He describes the 2006 Draft as the most important spotlight of his profession, as he helped the membership land 10 future massive leaguers, together with pitchers Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon and David Robertson.
R.J. Harrison (Rays, West Coast)
Harrison, 70, caught on some powerhouse groups at Arizona State earlier than signing with the Cardinals as a Twenty third-rounder in 1975 and pitching for 5 seasons within the Minors. He managed for six seasons within the Mariners and Giants system, then spent a 12 months as a roving catching teacher for baseball and two years out of the sport. He all the time figured he’d wind up in scouting, and that chance got here when Mets scouting director Roland Johnson employed him as a part-timer in 1991, then made him a full-time space scout the next 12 months.
“That was all the time at the back of the thoughts that scouting can be the place my profession headed once I obtained older,” Harrison stated. “My dad and I had a extremely shut relationship and I grew up round it. I used to be tagging alongside as a batboy when he was operating the Angels scout group within the Nineteen Sixties. I would go to the ballpark and sit and hearken to guys like Rosey Gilhousen, George Genovese, Harry Minor and Jerry Gardner. Immediately, as quickly as I began scouting part-time, I knew that is what I wished to do.”
One of many first hires by the enlargement Satan Rays in September 1995, Harrison has served the group as a West crosschecker (Sept. 1995-98), nationwide crosschecker (1999-2002), nationwide scouting coordinator (2003-04), assistant scouting director (2005), scouting director (2006-15) and senior advisor (for the reason that 2015 Draft). He signed 4 massive leaguers with the Mets, highlighted by Vance Wilson, and the ten drafts he ran for the Rays generated 57 massive leaguers. His first two first-round picks turned the very best place participant (Evan Longoria) and pitcher (David Value) in franchise historical past, and he additionally chosen a two-time Cy Younger Award winner (Blake Snell) and a four-time Gold Glover (Kevin Kiermaier).
Eddy Toledo (Phillies, worldwide)
Toledo, 71, was a teenage right-hander within the Dominican Republic who hoped to signal with an enormous league membership earlier than an elbow harm ended that dream. However he rapidly pivoted to a different.
“Ramon Naranjo with the Expos has labored me out earlier than I obtained harm, so I requested him if I may present him a few my buddies,” Toledo stated. “Eduardo Calderon was a right-hander and Jose Moreno was a second baseman who would go on to play within the massive leagues. After I confirmed him these two guys, Ramon requested me to assist him and I turned a bird-dog scout with the Expos. That was the start.”
Toledo remains to be energetic 54 years later, going from Expos fowl canine (1970-72) to Pink Sox fowl canine (1973-75) to Angels scout (1976-80) to Mets scout and director of Dominican operations (1980-2006) to Rays Dominican director (2007-12) to Mariners Dominican director (2013-19) to Phillies scout (2022 so far). He has signed 38 massive leaguers, together with stars equivalent to Nelson Cruz, Carlos Gomez, Jose Reyes and Julio Rodriguez.
Pat Gillick (Phillies, director’s award)
Gillick, 87, was a part of a 1958 School World Collection championship group at Southern California earlier than pitching for 5 seasons within the Orioles system. The Astros employed him as assistant farm director in 1963, moved him into scouting a few years later — he signed Cesar Cedeno out of the Dominican Republic in 1967 — and promoted him to scouting director in 1974. He spent the subsequent two years operating participant growth and scouting for the Yankees earlier than changing into one of the crucial profitable common managers in baseball historical past.
The enlargement Blue Jays employed Gillick to run their group in 1976, and he masterfully constructed them right into a perennial contender by their seventh season and World Collection champions in 1992 and 1993. He left Toronto after 1994 and later served as GM for the Orioles (1996-98, with consecutive American League Championship Collection appearances), Mariners (2000-03, together with a record-tying 116 victories in 2001) and Phillies (2006-08, culminating in a World Collection title). After his third championship, Gillick stepped down and have become a senior adviser for Philadelphia.
“Pat did it each place he went and he did not take all his individuals with him in every single place he went,” Buckley stated. “That is how good he’s. He is very good and he is a visionary. You possibly can’t outwork the man and he is aware of how you can talk and get the very best out of individuals.”
Sandy Dengler (Rays, retired, distinguished lady in baseball)
After graduating from Syracuse and going to secretarial college, Dengler was on the lookout for a job and residing in Westport, N.Y. That additionally was the house of John Gaherin, who was the chief negotiator for MLB and the primary director of its Participant Relations Committee. A mutual acquaintance talked about Dengler to Gaherin, who launched her 43-year profession in baseball by hiring her in 1975.
Dengler, who obtained her grasp’s diploma in industrial labor relations from a joint Baruch/Cornell program in 1982, stayed with the PRC by 1987, when her husband retired from the New York Police Division they usually moved to Florida. She spent 1988-96 operating the Pirates’ operations at their coaching base in Bradenton, Fla., then labored with the Rays from 1997-2018 as director of main league administration. She stated two of her proudest moments got here when Tampa Bay made its World Collection run in 2008 and when she turned the primary lady ever to signify her franchise on the Draft in 2018.
Dengler stated her award caught her off guard and is much more particular as a result of it is named after Mazur.
“Roberta has labored tirelessly for many years to assist scouts and get them recognition,” Dengler stated. “Scouts are the inspiration of what goes on on the sector. There are also so many ladies in baseball who work their lives within the sport they love, and also you by no means see use get acknowledged. I’m past thrilled.”
Because of Rod Nelson of the SABR Scouts Analysis Committee for his analysis help.
