In professional sports , scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports, and they determine whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout's organization. Some scouts are interested primarily in the selection of prospects; younger players who may require further development by the acquiring team, but who are judged to be worthy of that effort and expense for the potential future payoff that it could bring, while others concentrate on players who are already polished professionals, whose rights may be available soon, either through free agency or trading, and who are seen as filling a team's specific need at a certain position. Advance scouts watch the teams that their teams are going to play in order to help determine strategy .
4-419: A chief scout is the principal or head scout for an organization such as the military, colonial administration or expedition or a talent scout in performing, entertainment or creative arts, particularly sport. In sport, a chief scout can be the principal talent scout seeking new players or a tactical scout . A chief scout or chief of scouts was a person in charge of intelligence, reconnaissance, and scouting in
8-794: The English Navy, armies or in expeditions, colonies or frontiers such as in the Americas and southern Africa . The title dates from at least the English Civil War .. Frederick Russell Burnham , was chief scout of the British South Africa Company and chief of scouts to field marshal Lord Roberts during the Boer War . Some organisations in the Scout Movement adopted the title Chief Scout for
12-607: The major difference between success and failure for the team with regard to wins and losses, which often relates directly to the organization's financial success or lack thereof as well. Scouts tend to have to perform one of two tasks, either scouting opposition teams to research the opposition's players and tactics, or scouting individual players to identify their level of skill and to keep track of potential new signings. Contemporary Major League Baseball teams usually classify scouts and their differing responsibilities as follows: According to Tony Lucadello , considered by some to be
16-476: The uniformed head of the organization. In some countries where Scouting is particularly well-established, the Chief Scout may be the head of state . Examples of a chief scout include: Scout (sport) Many scouts are former coaches or retired players, while others have made a career just of being scouts. Skilled scouts who help to determine which players will fit in well with an organization can be
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