Running head: NARRATIVE ESSAY
Literacy Narrative
Ryan Hickey
Western Governors University
Student ID # 000504445
NARRATIVE ESSAY 2
Literacy Narrative
I have never been fond of fluorescent lights. Their low almost inaudible hum, their constant flickering, and how they seem to bathe the room in a bluish/purplish hue, always seemed to put me on edge. I always tried to be the first one to arrive, and I usually was. Sitting alone in the empty conference room always seemed almost alien to me, even though I had been there many times before. Perhaps it was the anticipation of the upcoming work that caused it, or my body's self defense mechanism releasing adrenaline before the upcoming verbal sparring that always transpired. Whatever it was, it seemed to enhance my surroundings. The hum of the air conditioning clicking on, the whirl of the overhead fans, and the faint hum of the fluorescent lighting. It seemed like eternity had passed before everyone started to slowly trickle in. I scrutinize each person as they entered the room and have a seat at the long oak conference table. It never ceases to amaze me how each person was very different, with little in common. It was a true melting pot in every sense. The only real common thread was baseball. "This is what it takes to run a major league franchise, getting perspective from every possible background" I thought to myself. It was in these player evaluation meetings where I truly grasped the challenging task of being able to effectively convey my ideas via writing to others, and being able to decipher other's writing to find hidden value in players.
It is imperative for me to clearly define my thoughts in writing on players. Essentially it becomes my job to sell everyone else on players to sign, draft, or release. The meeting had been going on for only a short time when Tim, our head of player development turns to me, spitting some sunflower seeds into a nearby cup "Whatcha got for us Ryan?". Tim was fairly young for
NARRATIVE ESSAY 3 his position in the organization. He had spent many years playing professional baseball, and even at the age of 54 he looked as if he could still go out and play tomorrow. Tall and athletic with a square jaw straight out the comic books, the only thing that truly denoted his age was his salt and pepper hair. Reaching into my bag I pull out copies of my findings for the players and began to distribute them. Tim, peering over his glasses that were pulled down to the end of his nose, "What did you do, write us a damn book?". It's their job (and mine) to not only find fault but to also tactically poke holes in each person's opinion on our own players. I had decided that if I truly wanted to get noticed, I needed to not only present my findings to everyone in the meeting, but essentially do their jobs for them. I had figured, any player that I was responsible for evaluating would get every chance of being noticed by this organization through me. I was metaphorically going to go to bat for every person that is assigned to me. After my presentation, I sat back down as we continued around the room receiving handouts on other players. We then moved on to the upcoming player draft in July. This was the toughest part of the meetings for me, trying to translate scouting reports on players that were not even old enough to legally drink.
Looking at something that a scout has written to try and get a mental image of how a player plays is exceedingly difficult. The binders being passed out to each person in the room are thick royal blue team binders, filled past capacity with scouting reports. I grab mine off the desk and lean back in my chair, preparing for the arduous task of staring at scouting reports for the next few hours. Every player we have scouted would be represented in these binders in traditional baseball fashion, The Yankee scale. Every player is essentially broken down on 1 page with notes on them evaluating their 5 main tools. Each tool Hitting, Power, Running, Fielding and Throwing is given a value between 20 and 80. 20 being well below major league average (50 being average on the scale) and 80 being Elite. The challenge comes into play when
NARRATIVE ESSAY 4 several different scouts wind up having wildly differing grades about the same player. To the average person, these pages must look like a convoluted mess of numbers and scribbling. Looking at the pages I start taking notes on each player as we go. Discussions range from a player's body, swing path, coachability, ego, looks, athleticism and many other factors. It takes the better part of a day to breakdown each report, with each scout defending his grading of particular players. The collective collaboration of everyone's thoughts in the room would be used to decode the team's feelings on draftable players, which is why it's so important to thoroughly exhaust each report.
Every meeting came with its own unique challenges and importance. It wasn't until this day that I grasped the importance of my work. Each time we sat together at these gatherings we were essentially playing god with the future of baseball players, young and old. Their fates determined solely on my ability to paint a picture of a player with words, and the ability to take others work and form a consensus amongst ourselves on the value of certain draftable players. This seems like an impossible task, if it wasn’t for the ability to transmit our ideas on to paper, effectively convey our thoughts and ideas to each other.