In scouting ballplayers, does character matter?

Mike Snyder just completed his 16^th season with the Orioles. He was inherited by Mike Elias when he joined the Orioles but has proven to be a key lieutenant to the O’s executive vice president and general manager.

Snyder completed his first year in the role of senior director of professional scouting after being promoted in October of 2023. In this role, he oversees the club’s pro scouting and player analysis across the majors, minors, and Asian professional leagues, as well as assisting with contract negotiations, 40-man roster construction, player transactions, and departmental hiring.

He has a hand in evaluating talent ranging from a minor league player who may have little chance to make the majors to some of the best players in all of MLB.

He has plenty of resources at his disposal no doubt and reams of stats, data and video to check as well as his in-person scouting looks.

But does character matter too? What role does that play when the O’s look to acquire a player?

“Character is definitely a prime consideration,” Snyder told me in a recent phone interview. “We will do as much homework as we can trying to track down information from any source that we can talk to. And a lot of that is talking, using our contacts. Some of it is searching for media quotes and hearing what managers, coaches and other players might have to say.

“There is so much overlap within the industry that chances are someone in our organization is probably only one to two degrees of separation with most players. So, we really rely on our coaching staff, our scouting group, all our people that have run across these players.”

So character matters and getting accurate info on player character is vital.

“We also have to be careful that sometimes players get a reputation that might not be fully earned,” stated Snyder. “Or it might be a bit of a misrepresentation. Maybe it is six years out of date or maybe it’s been passed through a bit of an echo chamber. So, you have to guard against that and make sure your information is high quality and recent. And fully vetted. But it certainly weighs into the decision on any acquisition.

“Our goal is to make sure that the player that we acquire will maximize his talent and get the most out of his abilities. And have the best impact possible on his teammates, so they can do the same thing. I don’t know if it’s a science but it’s certainly an important factor.”

I asked Snyder if character can be a tiebreaker if the club is looking at two or several players that they evaluate talent-wise as very, very similar?

“Yes, it can,” he said. “I can’t give you any names. The North Star is wins at the big league level. The North Star is the best performance of the team - it’s all about the team. And to whatever extent the player is having a positive impact, for the most part the easiest way to view that is the on-field talent. But how they arrive at that talent is important. How they impact their teammates. How they handle themselves. That is important to us, to represent the team well.”