PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014 Mike Borzello is an advance scout in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n
Before a single player stretches on the grass or a group of fans trickles into the ballpark for a Cactus League game, Borzello is logging notes\u00a0\u2014 evaluating roster battles, studying defensive positioning and identifying trends that might not show up in a box score.<\/p>\n
Spring training is often viewed as exhibition baseball\u00a0\u2014 a warmup for the 162-game grind ahead. Inside a front office, however, it functions as evaluation season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want a perspective that’s not your own, and you want to value that,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said of advance scouts. \u201cThey’re looking at the game from a different perspective; we’re looking at it from the dugout.”<\/p>\n
Scouts are not watching the game emotionally. They are watching it analytically\u00a0\u2014 tracking pitch sequences, defensive alignments and player decisions.<\/p>\n
\n People are also reading\u2026\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI think they’re probably specific in what they’re looking for,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cTheir eyes and ears are open for something that they may not have seen that piques their eyes and their ears, that could give the team an advantage to win a ball game or win a series.\u201d<\/p>\n
That perspective is especially critical in March, when roster spots are still unsettled. For many players in camp, the difference between making the Opening Day roster and heading to Triple-A can hinge on those evaluations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re analyzing our own, watching our own players, making decisions on certain guys and who we want when we start condensing the roster,\u201d Borzello said. \u201cAs spring training goes later, then I’ll start advancing the opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chicago Cubs bullpen coach Mike Borzello, center, talks with starting pitchers Yu Darvish, left, and Kyle Hendricks before a game against the Colorado Rockies, April 22, 2018, in Denver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Zalubowski, Associated Press<\/p>\n
Early in camp, Borzello\u2019s focus is internal. He is helping determine which young players are ready and which roles remain up for grabs, tracking pitch selection, defensive positioning, and how players respond when game situations speed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what I’m doing now is we’re trying and evaluating; we already know the tools that each guy has for the most part,\u201d Borzello said. \u201cWe’re watching to see if the young guys that are in camp are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borzello said that most of the Opening Day roster is largely established. Spring is about the margins. This is a time where, if you are a scout, you hope to see breakouts in young talent that could blend the roster without having to deal with that on the fly when a star player may go down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s a \u2018You got to see it a couple times to believe it,\u2019\u201d Borzello said. \u201cEspecially if it’s someone that’s kind of a dark horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scouts are looking for consistency \u2014 whether a pitcher can command the strike zone multiple outings in a row, whether a bench bat can consistently execute situational at-bats, whether a defender\u2019s instincts hold up over time.<\/p>\n
For A.J. Preller, general manager and president of baseball operations for the Padres, perspective matters at this time of year, and evaluation must be handled carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we’ve all seen over the years, you can get fooled in spring training pretty easily,\u201d Preller said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to put it all in context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spring statistics can be misleading. Competition levels vary. Pitchers are often experimenting with grips or building arm strength. Hitters may be focused on timing rather than results. The games are different. The stakes are different. But the information still matters.<\/p>\n
As camp progresses, Borzello\u2019s responsibilities expand beyond internal evaluation. With Opening Day approaching, preparation for opponents begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we open the MLB season with the Detroit Tigers, and then we play the Giants,\u201d Borzello said. \u201cSo I’ll go watch the Giants play a lot of games and make my notes and see how their roster is shaping up.\u201d<\/p>\n
That work becomes the foundation of advanced reports \u2014 detailed breakdowns of opponent tendencies, bullpen usage, defensive alignments, and lineup construction that coaches use when game-planning the first couple of series of the regular season.<\/p>\n
Then comes the part fans never see.<\/p>\n
After games, Borzello heads into the clubhouse, asking questions about pitch selection or positioning to clarify what he observed in real time. Later, at home, the video review begins again.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time I get home, they’ll usually have the video uploaded, and I can re-watch the game pitch by pitch to see if what I saw matches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He studies pitch sequencing, defensive alignments, and execution on cutoff and relay plays \u2014 details that can swing close games over a 162-game season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still look at certain pitch locations or pitch selections,\u201d Borzello said. \u201cI want to see how they sequence, see where our position players were lined up, how we did, or how we ran, a cutoff and relay.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Coaches and scouts are always analyzing the moves and actions of players, including at this San Diego Padres workout.<\/p>\n
Riley Reisner, Cronkite News<\/p>\n
The day does not end with the final out.<\/p>\n
During the regular season, Borzello\u2019s schedule shifts to later arrivals and night-game preparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegular season, most of the time you’re dealing with night games, so I’ll go to the ballpark for batting practice,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ll get there around 3 p.m. \u2026 watch batting practice \u2026 usually go up into the press box and write some notes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Borzello, the payoff for the early mornings and late-night video sessions comes months later. It comes in a tight September series, when a lineup adjustment or defensive alignment matches something he noted weeks earlier in spring camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake the postseason,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you win a big series, and you feel a part of it, or something happened in a game that you put in a report that made a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, he simplifies it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning,\u201d Borzello said. \u201cJust winning and more winning, the better you feel about the job you’re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter<\/p>\n
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014 Mike Borzello is an advance scout in every sense of the word. Before a single player stretches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-521779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}