MLB scouts' advice to young baseball players: 'Play every sport'

TOPEKA (KSNT)- Yancy Ayres is a scout for the San Francisco Giants and he joined K-Nation in-studio on Sunday.

Ayres lives in Topeka and scouts five states for the Giants, including Kansas.

He weighed in with some advice for young baseball players.

"Play every sport," Ayres said. "Don't just focus on one, because we want to see the athlete as much as we want to see the baseball player. I'll go watch kids play basketball, go watch them play football. Just be an athlete first and everything will take care of itself."

Additionally, Ayres says his scouting report goes far beyond a players physical ability.

"I spend just as much time watching them in the dugout as I do out of the dugout," Ayres said. "It's not just them. It's how their teammates react to them, how they lead on the field."

He keeps an eye out for how prospects handle failure.

"Sometimes like guys, especially high school kids, they haven't ever failed before," he said. "So we want to see them get punched in the mouth and see how they react."

Also, believe it or not, parents of prospects can weigh into their decisions too.

"If there's a crazy parent out there that just is going crazy, that factors into 'Okay, this kids been pushed a little bit in a direction that maybe a lot of kids haven't.'"

Ayres says the scouting report for a prospect they are interested in will go as far back as possible, including discussions with former coaches or coaches these athletes had in other sports.

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