Initial Thoughts on Bruce Seid

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

What have you guys heard about this guy? Is he capable of finding the same kind of talent that Jack Z did? He sure has a lot of pressure on him right away because we have a plethora of picks on the first 2 rounds in June.

[brewerguy71]

I havent heard anything at all on him. My hope is that he focuses more on defense, obp and college pitching than Jack Z did.

[PlayerHader]

Can anyone really have an opinion on him before this years draft? Does he have experience with another organization? I won't complain at all if he drafts just as Jack Z did, but a bit more emphasis on D wouldn't hurt.

[yoshii8]

Is there a place to lookup the players that he scouted that were drafted by the Brewers?

 

I know he was the scout for Weeks, Taylor Green, and also was sent to watch Gabe Kapler last summer, but thats about all I know about him.

[Tbadder]

My only reaction is "please, please, please be good!" As a small market team, nobody might be as important as Bruce.

[colbyjack]

Seid wasn't in on Weeks. Seid has always been a West Coast guy, and Weeks is from Florida and went to college at Southern. In addition to Green, David Krynzel, Steve Hammond, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Adam Heether have been among some of his more notable additions to the system over the years.

 

Although I'm not sure it's fair to look at the players he has signed to try and try to assess his talent evaluation. The Brewers in general haven't hit California particularly hard over the years. Most of their premium picks and prospects seem to hail from Maine down to Florida.

 

Seid has been responsible (along with Corey Rodriguez IIRC) for assembling and coaching the Brewers Area Code teams, which has given him a first-hand look at the premium high school players from the state of California.

 

Last year he was the West Coast Crosschecker responsible for supporting the area guys that led to the selections of players such as Cutter Dykstra, Evan Frederickson, Logan Schafer and Erik Komatsu.

[yoshii8]

Seid wasn't in on Weeks.

I'm sorry, thanks for correcting me, I guess I should have read the whole article before I commented, it was Ray Montgomery that was the scout for Weeks. Here is the article. http://mets.mlb.com/conte...2006/m09/d22/c1676361.jsp

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I just hope he values statistics in his scouting. A lot of scouts just like the sexy players, and don't look at their college statistics. For High School, I don't think statistics are particularly relevant, though.

[brewerguy71]

Even though I take stock in some numbers, statistics dont really measure up to a whole heck of a lot when scouting. Its all about looking at ability, bat speed, foot speed, evalution of the strike zone, etc. A little different with pitchers because K's and K/BB ratio as well as batting average against have great value in addition to the subjectives like delivery mechanics and body size.

If you value statistics, you might have thought that Matt Wieters should not have been a 1st round pick.

Its just too hard to judge a lot of statistics in college players because the aluminum bat inflates a lot of things, you face a wide variety of abilities in opposing pitchers/batters, and stats do not tell anywhere near the story or potential of a player.

[colbyjack]

If you value statistics, you might have thought that Matt Wieters should not have been a 1st round pick.

 

I think that had a lot to do with perception. I tackled that very subject a couple of springs ago when Wieters' production was questioned leading up to the 2007 draft:

 

http://www.pgcrosschecker...24%5Fmodel%5Fconsistency/

 

His numbers were still very, very good, it's just that he was good from the moment he stepped on campus.

 

I do agree that scouting has more to do with projection than production, but there are instances (Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia) in which you have to believe in the numbers a little to overlook the lack of physical projection. Easier said than done, but that is a reason I have been a fan of promoting A.J. Pollock this spring. It's not like any of those three are lead-foot oafs, but I know brewerguy71 and I have had a few conversations before about Pollock's ceiling.

 

And if you rely completely on stats and/or the college route, you end up with the system like the A's (minus the trades they have made) in which they have had a very hard time in recent years developing impact talent.