I discovered that scouting can be done a few different ways, but this is my personal approach. I poured over youtube videos, reddit, and even took tips from my 17 year old son. Learning what I did, let's break down all of it into a singular strategy to maximize your ability to get top-notch players.
Scouting/Discovery method:
For this method, scouts need to be set up a certain way, with certain skills in mind. I start off with one scout for pitching prospects, one for fielders, and one for JUST discovery. The first two scouts need AT LEAST a 90+ in pos player/pitcher, and efficency. If you can't afford it due to budget restraints/lack of available scout, get as close to 90 as you can get. The third scout needs discovery at 90+ or as close as you can get.
Take some time and go through your team and decide what three positions you want to focus on (Don't worry, you can alter them later). Once you decide, access the prospect pool. Go to said positions of need and take notice of where the majority of them play.
Example: International, West, East, Central.
(I notice most quality players are in one or two of these regions)
The next step depends on your individual needs. Whichever that is, I recommend a spread out approach.
To begin, let's say you need pitching the most. Put the pitching focused scout in the silver slot. With the silver scout, set him to scout SP or RP (depending on your needs, of course) and choose the region where you noticed the most players being from. (Skip International for now) With the bronze scout, have him begin to scout SP or RP in the international region. (This can change depending on the steps that follow below) International turns out amazing players, and adding as many as you can before scouting them yields more of a chance to find high end players, that other teams don't. The time you spend scouting each region with the silver scout depends on the percentage you cover per week. You want to get as much info as you can, so in the end, it's your choice on how long you feel you need to stay in any region. Once you feel you have enough info, move on to scouting international.
You want to spend typically no more than 3 weeks discovering with the bronze scout in any given region. Once the threshhold is met, have the bronze scout begin to discover players in your other needs. I recommend international first in a position player of need.
The gold scout in this example will be used to individually scout position players. Say your team is thin at second base and left field. Naturally, you will want to try and fill one of those needs in the first round. Start by looking at your draft position. This is important. For the example lets pretend you pick at 13. Scroll through whichever of the two positions first, and find a prospect as close as you can to the 11th best prospect. Next, continue to scroll to the right to locate a prospect with 75-99 potential. Try and not go too far right either. I choose maybe 20-30 slots away from my draft position. So for example dont choose a prospect past the ranked 33. This prevents overreaching. If you find a player, check his attributes. If he is what you are looking for, simply scout him. If not, do the same for the other position of need that you determined earlier.
In the instance you are unable to find a viable option at your specific first round draft position(s), you have four options.
1) Choose/scout the prospect as close to your teams draft slot as you can
2) Use the bronze scout to instead find more players at that position and come back to it later
3) Change your position focus to another
4) Draft a pitcher
Keep in mind that this strict approach for the gold scout is only to be used to establish your first round choice. You won't always find a position player to choose in the first, and that's completely ok. Just continue to scout players at whatever position you choose for the later rounds. It's easier as the restrictions are pretty much gone. Just be mindful of what number you pick at versus their draft rank. Don't be afraid to reach in later rounds. If the player is good, TAKE HIM. An example of this is during my first draft, I had a pitcher who was not ranked in the MLB rankings. However, he was number one by my team. I took a chance in the third round, and he was actually better than the first pitcher taken with the second overall pick.
Age is also a factor. When scouting it may be tempting to scout the older players as you get your info quicker. I tend to not scout players over the age of 20, and 20 is literally pushing it. I don't see a purpose in drafting a potential 55 ovr player at age 23. He will never make it past AA before regressing. Try your absolute best to be in the 18-19 range, I read those are the ages for the generational players.
Flexibility of this guide is the main reason I personally use it. If you find your team already with lots of top end pitching prospects, you can use this same approach for the position players. With scouting broken down by infield/outfield, you maximize your ability in finding players that can fill multiple needs depending on what other positions they can play. You can even split it, 7 weeks of the example used above, and 7 weeks of position players. How you approach it is up to you.
Hope it helps someone!
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