MEET THE SCOUTS
Don Reynolds was drafted by the San Diego Padres and had a seven-year run in the minors and majors; after coaching two years at Oregon State and getting his masters degree, he started his player assessment career as a special assignment coach with the Seattle Mariners. Next came years as a scout mixed in with jobs at Houston, Montreal (where he was the director of player development), Colorado and Atlanta before an eight-year hitch as a scout for Arizona.
Reynolds (who has scouted numerous future pros including Barry Bonds, Felix Hernandez and Michael Conforto, among others) has a scouting relationship with colleges like Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Seattle and the University of British Columbia and clubs such as Moundtime and Showtime. |
Rusty Gerhardt was a 12th round selection in the 1972 MLB Draft; he was a coach in the San Diego Padres organization from 1979-83 and then moved to the Texas Rangers from 1984-89. Gerhardt pitched in the majors in 1974 and is a member of the Clemson Athletic and National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame. He worked in the MLB Scouting Bureau from 1989-2018 and has scouted numerous future MLB stars such as Kerry Wood, Drew Stubbs, Trevor Story and Clayton Kershaw. He organized and staffed more than 200 open tryout camps across nine states.
Gerhardt also has a scouting relationship with numerous colleges including Dallas Baptist, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, as well as club programs such as Dbat, Dallas Tigers, NTX Titans and Waco Storm. |
James Todd “Tiny” Thomas played in the San Francisco organization from 1983-87 and was, in the offseason those same years, a graduate assistant at Oregon State. He stayed with the Giants for 33 years as a scout, from 1988-2020, and has scouted numerous future MLB stars such as Brandon Belt, Mike Myers and Billy Mueller.
Thomas has a scouting relationship with numerous colleges such as Missouri State, Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and TCU, as well as club programs including Dbat, Dallas Tigers, Austin Wings, Arlington A’s and Dallas Patriots. |
Orsino Hill had an extensive playing career including six years in the Cincinnati organization, followed by minor league stops with Montreal, Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs and White Sox, Oakland and California. He was a hitting coach with the White Sox minor leagues from 1997-2000 and scouted for Colorado, Los Angeles and Arizona from 2000-19.
Hill has scouted numerous future pros including Joc Pederson, Chris Reed, O’Koya Dixonson and Glenallen Hill, Jr. and also worked with a variety of California-based clubs. |
Dennis Sheehan has more than 25 years experience scouting for MLB, including stints with Florida, Detroit, Kansas City, Atlanta and Arizona. He was manager of the independent-league Rhode Island Tiger Sharks and head coach at Ulster County Community College, where he was a six-time NJCAA coach of the year. He was named the New York Professional Baseball Hot Stove League scout of the year in January of 2018, and has scouted numerous future pros including Chris Dwyer and Jeff Fulchino.
Sheehan also has a scouting relationship with a variety of colleges, including Boston College, Connecticut, Rutgers, St. Johns and Seton Hall, as well as club programs such as the New York Nine and New England Roughnecks. |
Rusty Pendergrass coached at Houston, Rice and Houston Baptist before diving into a successful MLB scouting career with Detroit, Arizona and Houston. With his scouting work, the Astros selected Hunter Pence and Ben Zobrist, both future All-Stars, in the 2004 MLB Draft.
Pendergrass has recruited players from multiple settings such as Baylor, Houston, LSU, Rice and Texas, as well as club programs including Kyle Chapman Baseball, Dbat and Premier. |
Dave Wayne Roberts was an All-American baseball player at the University of Oregon and the first player chosen in the MLB amateur draft in 1972. The day he signed he went straight to San Diego and played in his first Major League game. He spent most of the next 11 years playing in the big leagues for San Diego, Texas, Houston and Philadelphia. In 1984 he managed a minor-league team for Kansas City in the Northwest League.
Roberts began scouting in 1985 and spent most of the next 33 years as a National crosschecker and a major-league scout. He scouted numerous MLB All-Stars and some Hall of Famers while they were still in high school including Alex Rodriguez, Justin Verlander, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia, Tori Hunter and many more. |
Ted Williams played in the Seattle organization from 1986-92 and wrapped up his playing career with Detroit in 1993. He scouted for Pittsburgh and Minnesota in an 18-year career and has scouted numerous future pros including Mitch Garver, Chris Shelton, JJ Hardy, Chris Duffy and Rudy Owens, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Chasen Shreve, Tommy Pham, Erick Fedde, Joey Gallo, Mitch Talbot, AJ Murray and Mitch Jones.
Williams has a scouting relationship with colleges such as Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, New Mexico State and UNLV, Benedictine College, Oklahoma City, Dixie College, all the Arizona JUCOs and Salt Lake City JC among others, along with club programs such as Fallon Sports, All Star Baseball Academy, AZ PROspects, Scottsdale Firebirds and AZ Thunder Baseball to go with the Las Vegas Dodgers and LVBA Cardinals scout teams, and the Utah Baseball Academy. |
Rodney Craig Davis played minor league baseball from 1983-85 and served the sport both as a coach and scout for decades. He coached in the Dodgers, Angels and Mariners organizations and also guided teams at San Francisco State, Cerritos College and Cypress College. Other coaching jobs included Paramount and Westminster (CA) high schools and assisting at UCLA softball.
Davis scouted for more than 20 years for MLB franchises Seattle, Cleveland and Arizona, along with the MLB Scouting Bureau and MLB Youth Academy. Players he scouted included future pro such as Brian Fuentes, Morgan Ensberg, Rich Harden, Willie Bloomquist, Sammy Solis, Cody Bellinger, Aaron Bummer, James Pazos, Cole Tucker, Joel Kuhnel and Scott Kingery. He has scouting relationships with many colleges such as UCLA, USC, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State and Stanford. |
Chris Bourjos played at Northern Illinois and then moved on to the majors, playing with the San Francisco Giants before stints in other organizations (Astros, Orioles and Phillies).
Bourjos scouted for the Toronto Blue Jays for 18 years as an advance scout and area scout. He signed Roy Halliday and reported and was instrumental in signing Vernon Wells and Sean Green and others. He was an advance scout for the 1992 and 1993 World Series; pro scout and advance scout for the Milwaukee Brewers; and pro scout for the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. |
Marty Esposito played for the University of Arkansas from 1975-78, then coached with the Razorbacks from 1979-81 as the program was the runner-up in the 1979 College World Series. He immediately began his scouting career, working in the Major League Scouting Bureau from 1982-1986 before moving to Minnesota (1986-2016) and then Miami (2017-2018). He signed numerous MLB players such as Chuck Knoblauch, Jesse Crain, Mark Guthrie, Todd Walker, Pat Mahomes, Todd Ritchie, Chad Allen, Tyler Ladendorf and John Curtiss.
Esposito has a scouting relationship with many college programs like Baylor, Dallas Baptist, UT-Arlington, Texas and Texas A&M, as well as club programs like Dbat and the Arlington A’s. |
Andy Campbell began his work in baseball as pitching coach for South Mountain Community College (AZ) from 1995-97 before his job as a scouting assistant with the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1997-2000. He worked 16 years in the MLB Scouting Bureau as regional scout in 10 states, and he also worked for the New York Yankees for three years as the Four Corners scout.
Campbell has scouted numerous future pros such as Dustin Pedroia, Andre Ethier, Ian Kinsler, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, Matt Newman, Alex Verdugo, Erick Fedde, Brandon Kintzler, Kole Calhoun, Austin Barnes, Ken Giles, Bryce Harper, Mike Leake, Jason Kipnis and Bobby Witt Jr. He has scouting relationships with colleges such as Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, New Mexico and UNLV, as well as club programs like BPA - AZ National, Mountain West Baseball Academy and the Albuquerque Baseball Academy. |
Kevin Roberson played at Parkland College and was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 1988 MLB draft - he also played in the organizations of the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. He stayed in the game as a scout for the Mets from 2011-17.
Roberson scouted numerous pros such as Cody Bellinger, Cole Tucker, Scott Kingery, Kevin Newman and Alex Verdugo. He has scouting relationships with many colleges, such as Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Grand Canyon University, as well as club programs likeT-Rex Baseball and the Cincinnati Reds Area Codes Team. |
Joseph Patrick Murphy played college baseball at St. Ambrose University, where he later became assistant coach and head coach; he also was head coach with the Moline Reds summer collegiate program. His scouting career lasted more than 40 years, as he was an area scout for Philadelphia and Tampa Bay and had part-time and associate responsibilities with Kansas City, Cleveland, New York Mets, Cincinnati and Texas. He published a book about scouting in 2007.
Murphy drafted and signed Jeremy Hellickson for Tampa Bay; he scouted multiple professional players including Cody Sedlock, Casey Blake, Mike Mahoney, Mike Boddicker, Joel Hanrahan, Todd Sears, Shawn Sedlacek, Bo Porter, Matt Wagner and Mike Bush. He has scouting relationships with college programs including Creighton, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa Western CC and Louisville, along with clubs such as Top Tier (Chicago), Complete Game (Kansas City), Iowa Sticks (Des Moines) and Fielders Choice (Milan, IL). |
Mike Toomey played for Montgomery Junior College and George Washington University, earning MVP and Hall of Fame honors for both schools. He was head coach at GW from 1975-79 (guiding the Colonials to their only NCAA tournament in program history) and was manager in the Carolina League in 1980-81 and Pittsburgh’s instructional team. His 38-year scouting career included significant time on the international stage for San Francisco, Texas, New York Mets, Montreal, Washington and Kansas City (advance scout for Royals in world championship year of 2015); he was inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Scouts HOF and coached an all-American high school game at Wrigley Field for Baseball Factory.
Toomey scouted numerous MLB players including Alex Rodriguez, Craig Biggio, Mo Vaughan, Wayne Gomes and Mike Mussina. He has scouting relationships with colleges including Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia, Old Dominion, George Washington and George Mason, club programs such as Rawlings (Maryland) and Baseball Factory (Maryland), and was founder of the Colombian Baseball Foundation in Turbaco. |
Rene Gayo was signed by Cincinnati out of the COLICEBA amateur league in Puerto Rico and played one season in the Gulf Coast League with the Sarasota Reds before an injury ended his playing career. He coached on the 2016 USA Baseball 18u team that won the gold medal at the Pan American Games; he was hitting coach for the Ballistic Baseball youth program as well as the varsity squad for St. Louis Catholic High School. He has scouted for Pittsburgh and Texas; he also was area supervisor, Latin America crosschecker and director of international scouting for Cleveland, and was director of Latin American scouting from 2004-17.
Gayo scouted and signed numerous MLB talents including Brian Tallet, Danys Baez, Willy Taveras, Jhonny Peralta, Edward Mujica, Fausto Carmona, Robert Hernandez, Hanlet Martinez, Rafael Perez, Starling Marte, Elias Diaz and Pablo Reyes. He has scouting relationships with college programs such as Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and TCU, along with club programs like Ballistic Baseball (LA) and the Professional Baseball Academy (TX). |
Bill Yates was head baseball coach at John Wood Community College (Quincy, IL) and worked as a MLB scout for San Diego, New York Mets, Texas, Cleveland and later with the Major League Scouting Bureau.
Yates scouted a variety of future MLB players including Jason Isringhausen, Benny Agbayani, Brian Daubach, Rick Helling and Lenny Torres Jr. He has scouting relationships with numerous college programs including Iowa Western CC, Mississippi State, Coastal Carolina, Texas A&M and Nebraska, and club programs like the Nebraska Prospects. |
Drew Chadd worked as a Midwest Area Scout for the Los Angeles Angels franchise from 2011-18. He scouted future professional players such as Trent Grisham (formerly Clark) of the San Diego Padres, Andrew Benintendi (Kansas City), Dustin May (L.A. Dodgers), Jo Adell (L.A. Angels); and also drafted pitcher Jake Jewell and Anthony Benboom (catcher).
Chadd has scouting relationships with college programs such as Arkansas. TCU. Oklahoma State. Texas Tech and Wichita State, along with club programs like the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers Area Codes teams. |
Sean Murphy played for St. Ambrose University (Davenport, IA) and was drafted by Cleveland in 1994; his playing career extended through 2004. He coached at Dowling Catholic High School (Des Moines, IA), Assumption Catholic High School (Davenport) and has been an independent hitting consultant/instructor from 1995 to the present.
Murphy was an associate scout with Tampa Bay for four years. He has scouting relationships with colleges such as Bradley, Illinois, Iowa and Xavier (independent hitting consultant to Paradise Valley CC in Peoria, AZ) and club programs such as Game Ready/Perfect Game (Des Moines). |
David Holliday played college baseball at Yavapai JC, Grand Canyon University and Miami; he followed with coaching stints at Oklahoma State (1978, 1982-89) as well as Yavapai JC, Murray State, Dodge City A’s/Jayhawk Summer League and Hyannis Mets/Cape Cod League. He was a professional scout for 31 years – area supervisor for Pittsburgh, national cross checker for Colorado, and special assistant to the general manager for Atlanta.
Holliday has scouted multiple future pros such as Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Aaron Cook, Jason Jennings, Garrett Adkins, Brad Hawpe, Clint Barmes, Juan Pierre, Nolan Arenado and Dexter Fowler. He has scouting relationships with colleges including Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Oral Roberts, Missouri State and Connors State JC, as well as club programs like Sandlot, PWP and WBO Athletic Center. |
Rick Jacques played at Shoreline Community College and San Jose City College, and he was drafted in the 10th round of the 1985 amateur draft by the Montreal Expos. He played eight seasons in the Czech Republic and was later pitching coach and manager of the Czech National Team. He scouted for the Philadelphia Phillies (2005-14) and Cincinnati Reds (2015-19).
Jacques scouted numerous pros including Michal Conforto. David Peterson. Max Kepler and Donald Lutz. He has scouting relationships with college programs such as Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Gonzaga and Washington State, along with club programs like Walla Walla sweets, Chafee, Seattle Stars and Mudville 9. |
Mark Cahill pitched in the Seattle Mariners organization from 1979-84 and closed his playing career with St. Louis in 1985; he got into the college coaching ranks as the pitching coach for Brown University from 1987-89.
Cahill’s MLB scouting career included stints from 1997-2020 with the Florida/Miami Marlins, Kansas City and Arizona. He has worked closely with the Ocean State Makos club organization. |
Alex Ross grew up in the Seattle area, attending Lake Washington High School before playing college baseball at Bellevue College (WA) and Faulkner University in Alabama – he played on Faulkner’s squad that was the 2013 NAIA national champion.
Ross served as an undergraduate assistant coach at Faulkner University in 2015. He coached with the Seattle Stars 18 Elite club program and scouted for the Kansas City Royals for a year before coming aboard as Northwest Area Scout for the Seattle Mariners from 2017 to 2020. He drafted and signed Adam Macko (2019 7th round), Damon Casetta-Stubbs (2018 11th round), and Wyatt Mills (2017 3rd round), and he also scouted prospects including Adley Rutschman, Nick Madrigal, Trevor Larnach, Mick Abel, and Corbin Carroll. |
David Klipstein was an all-SEC honoree out of Mississippi State and was an MLB draft selection in both 1978 and 1982. He played minor league baseball from 1982-88 (AAA stints at Vancouver, Denver and Nashville) and was the California League batting champ in 1983, hitting .341 and a Stockton season-season record 185 hits.
Klipstein was an Area Scout for Pittsburgh (1992-96) and then National Crosschecker for Texas (1997-2006). He then moved into the Boston organization as Pro Scout, Major League Scout and Special Assignment Scout from 2006-2015. He was also Special Assignment Scout for the Chicago Cubs (2016-2020). He worked for three World Series winners (Red Sox '07 and '13; Cubs '16). Players he drafted and were involved with signing include John Danks, Chris Davis, Mark Texiera, CJ Wilson and Tike Redman. |
Roy Tanner played at St. John's River Junior College in Florida for two years (1969-70) then transferred and played at Stetson University from 1971-72). He stayed in baseball with the Kansas City Royals organization for 17 years – four years playing in the minor leagues, player-coach in minors from 1976-77, coach from 1978-79 and manager in the minors from 1980-83. He finished his time there as area scout from 1984-89.
Tanner followed that with a 30-year run with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was area scout for 19 years (1989-2008) and in the Pro Department from 2009-19), retiring in October of 2019. Tanner signed players including Scott Bankhead, Wayne Gomes and Stu Cole and scouted other notables such as Chipper Jones, Josh Hamilton, BJ Surhoff, Brian Roberts, Walt Weiss, Rafael Palmeiro, Prince Fielder, Andrew Miller, David Wright and Chris Archer. In the minors, Tanner managed Danny Jackson, David Cone, Mark Gubicza and Mike Kingery and coached Cecil Fielder, Clint Hurdle, Bret Saberhagen and Willie Wilson. |