Bold opening: The truth about spring training is that the margins between making and missing the Opening Day roster can hinge on unseen, data-driven edges that most fans never glimpse.
A day in the life inside an MLB scout’s world during spring training
PHOENIX – Mike Borzello embodies the role of an advance scout in its purest form.
Before a single player stretches on the grass or a crowd gathers for a Cactus League game, Borzello is already at work, taking notes that extend far beyond box scores. He evaluates roster battles, maps defensive positioning, and spotlights trends that might escape traditional stats.
Spring training is often treated as a warm-up for the 162-game marathon. In baseball operations circles, it’s seasoned as evaluation season—a time to test, compare, and project.
“You want a perspective that’s not your own, and you want to value that,” Padres manager Craig Stammen explains about advance scouts. “They’re watching the game from a different angle; we’re looking at it from the dugout.”
Scouts don’t fall into the trap of emotion. They analyze: tracking pitch sequences, defensive alignments, and the decisions players make in real-time.
“I think they’re probably very specific in what they’re looking for,” Stammen adds. “Their eyes and ears stay open for something new or surprising that could give the team an edge in a game or a series.”
That external perspective is especially vital in March when rosters are still unsettled. For many players in camp, the split between Opening Day and Triple-A can hinge on these evaluations.
“We’re analyzing our own players, deciding who we want when we start condensing the roster, and then, as spring training progresses, I’ll start focusing on the opposition,” Borzello explains.
Early in camp, the emphasis is internal. Borzello helps determine which young players are ready and which roles remain open, tracking pitch selection, defensive positioning, and how players handle speeding-up game situations.
“For what I’m doing now, we’re evaluating; we already know the tools each guy has,” he says. “We’re watching to see if the young players in camp are ready.”
Borzello notes that the Opening Day roster is largely in place. Spring is about the margins—the breakout performances from young talent that could blend into the roster without forcing mid-season adjustments if a star goes down.
“It’s a ‘you have to see it a couple of times to believe it’ situation,” Borzello observes, especially when a dark-horse candidate emerges.
Scouts seek consistency: can a pitcher command the strike zone across multiple outings? Can a bench bat reliably deliver in situational at-bats? Do a defender’s instincts hold up over time?
For A.J. Preller, Padres GM and president of baseball operations, perspective and careful evaluation are essential at this stage.
“Spring training is notorious for fooling you if you’re not careful,” Preller cautions. “Put it all in context.”
Spring stats can be misleading. Competition levels vary; pitchers experiment with grips or build arm strength; hitters may focus on timing over raw results. The games and stakes differ, but the information still matters.
As camp moves forward, Borzello’s duties expand to preparing for opponents as Opening Day nears.
“We open the season against the Detroit Tigers, then the Giants,” he notes. “So I’ll watch a lot of their games, take notes, and monitor how their rosters take shape.”
These efforts feed into advanced reports—detailed breakdowns of opponent tendencies, bullpen usage, defensive alignments, and lineup construction—that coaches rely on for game planning in the early series of the regular season.
Then comes the part fans rarely see.
After games, Borzello returns to the clubhouse to ask questions about pitch selection and positioning to clarify what he observed live. At home, video review begins anew.
“By the time I get home, the video is usually uploaded, and I can re-watch the game pitch by pitch to verify what I saw,” he says.
He studies pitch sequencing, defensive alignments, and the execution of cutoff and relay plays—details that can swing tight games across 162 games.
“I still look at certain pitch locations or pitch selections,” Borzello adds. “I want to see how they sequence, where our infielders were lined up, and how we ran a cutoff or relay.”
The day doesn’t end with the final out.
During the regular season, Borzello’s schedule shifts toward later arrivals and night-game prep.
“Regular season means more night games, so I’ll head to the ballpark around 3 p.m., watch batting practice, then head up to the press box to jot down notes,” he explains.
For Borzello, the payoff comes months later in a tight September series, when a lineup tweak or defensive alignment echoes something he noted weeks earlier in spring.
“Make the postseason,” he says. “When you win a big series, or a game where a report you authored influenced the outcome, you feel connected to the result.”
Ultimately, he keeps it simple.
“Winning. Just winning and more winning—the sense of satisfaction from the job is the payoff.”
Before Opening Day, the cycle completes: reports are written, video is reviewed, and final roster decisions are made.
And when dawn breaks over the complex the next morning, the routine resumes: rinse and repeat.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
