Baseball scouts return to the ballpark after COVID-19 pandemic decimates industry

PHOENIX – They have been gone for a year now, and as they’ve slowly returned this spring, they are greeting one another with fist bumps, knowing many in their business still are missing.

It’s a loyal, close-knit fraternity in an occupation that’s becoming extinct, but they’re finally being seen again, congregated behind home plate during spring-training games in Arizona and Florida, holding radar guns, clip boards and iPads.

They are baseball scouts.

On the one-year anniversary after being sent home when baseball closed its doors with the COVID-19 pandemic, and being prohibited from scouting at Major League ballparks during the truncated 60-game season, they are back.

“It’s been tough, very tough,’’ said Kansas City Royals scout Jim Fregosi Jr., “emotionally and mentally. When you’re a scout, and with all of the weird hours we keep, your friends are limited. Your closest friends are scouts and others in baseball. There’s not too many of us that know how to do anything else.

“This is our livelihood, and there’s a fear there won’t be many scouts out there anymore, so being back is very emotional.’’

The scouting industry has drastically shrunk in the last year, with about 20% of professional scouts laid off since the start of the pandemic. There still are 13 teams who don’t plan to scout Major League Baseball games in person this year, even at the Class AA and Triple-A level. The guidelines distributed by MLB to clubs this week, and obtained by USA TODAY Sports, prohibit more than one scout per team at games this year, and are providing only a minimum if six scout seats behind home plate.

“It’s brutal, we feel like we’re on an island anyways, but it’s so tough to see,’’ said former major league outfielder Mitch Webster, a scout with the Royals.

“You’re still hearing about some clubs having layoffs and pay cuts even with the fans coming back.’’

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