Circumstances have forced this year's baseball draft to become an exercise in profiling and evaluating athletes from a distance.
The COVID-19 pandemic prevented scouts from the Royals and other clubs from doing much of the in-person and interpersonal information gathering that typically helps drive decision-making processes.
Reliance on quantitative data, video evaluations, statistical examination and analytical models had already gained momentum and become the modus operandi of many major-league organizations. Assuming the June 10 selection process goes off without a hitch, it's not crazy to surmise that this year's shortened draft _ with a heavy reliance on technology and data _ could serve as a tipping point.
Might this week's draft, the gateway for ushering new talent into MLB organizations in Kansas City and beyond, be the final push for baseball's decision-makers to jettison subjective and intangible analyses in favor of cold, hard data and mathematics?
When prodded during a recent phone interview with The Star, Lonnie Goldberg, the Royals' assistant general manager for amateur scouting, admitted that, while he understands the need for changes, particularly this year, he is "nervous" that the game will move decisively in that direction.
"I get the data and I understand that it's a part of it, and I think that it's an important part of it," Goldberg said. "To think that it's the end-all be-all and this is the direction we should go, I think it's awful for the game, personally.
"That's just me and how I feel, because here's the thing: Right now, there's nothing on a computer that can tell me the makeup of a player, that can tell me the competitiveness of a player, the will and the want-to and the type of teammate he is. If you don't have people that can live that and understand it and grade it out and know what 'good makeup' is versus 'bad makeup' _ I think you need it all. I don't know why you wouldn't want to have it all."
Goldberg, who has spent 13 years with the Royals and the past 10 overseeing their amateur scouting, came up as an area scout and scouting supervisor.
He acknowledges that neither statistical analysis nor human scouting is infallible but insists both require a seat at the table when it comes time to evaluate a player.
"When you're someone who loves baseball, grows up in it, believes in all aspects of it, all you want to do is make sure that you keep it as good as it was, so that the next generation that get an opportunity to play it, coach it, scout it, be a part of it _ that it thrives and it continues to get better," Goldberg said. "I don't believe that (relying solely on data) is going to make the game better."
