Posts

Final Blog Post

 Overall, Grant and I’s experience with the Guardians exceeded expectations completely. We learned so much about what goes on in the drafting department, what goes on behind the scenes for games, met players, and met some really awesome people. Having the chance to sit in on meetings with the general manager and listening to zoom calls with scouts about players we see everyday on TV was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Going in each day really didn’t feel like work it just felt like another chance to learn and work for my favorite team in the world. We learned so much about how high schoolers stats are found, how to grade prospects, how different teams value different players in such a large draft, new information about the different leagues within the MLB such as the Arizona Fall League, the Dominican Winter League, and more. CZ and Pete, our bosses, were always open to answering questions and explaining different processes and how things worked around the Guardians. It was als...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post 7

 One of the coolest things Grant and I had the opportunity to do while working the Guardians was move to another department for a day game to get a behind the scenes look at the media department. We were surprised with a field trip to clubhouse at around 10 am where we got to see all the players getting ready before the game. I looked to my right and saw Luis Ortiz and Jose Ramirez, on my left Tim Herrin, and Jhonkensy Noel and Nolan Jones walking through the locker room to get breakfast. We got to tour where the players ate as well and saw a number of players and coaches including Steven Vogt and Sandy Alomar Jr. After our tour we got to meet up with Bo Naylor and talked to him on the elevator on the way to his Q and A with season ticket holders. He told us an awesome story about where he got his shoes and we told him about driving to Pittsburgh and seeing one the longest home runs of his career. After that, we sat in on Steven Vogts press conference where we learned a ton about t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post 6

 In our final days we got to work on doing journal entries and scouting reports for the scouting department on different high school and college prospects. We did the top five hundred prospects and got information from a number of data bases and websites. The scouting department uses a wide variety of rankings to see how other people are evaluating players. This is important so the Guardians can see if they missed something with one player or if another organization has an idea about a player or a nuance that has yet to be considered. Though the work got monotonous it was very interesting read the variety of evaluations on each player. I never considered that one team would get information from outside sources to get new ideas. We got through over one thousand scouting reports over two days and were told that we saved them upwards of two millions dollars in potential signing bonuses for a number of players. It was very cool to do work that was important to the organization rather t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post 5

  After finishing my first two weeks with the Guardians I can say with certainty that I am extremely happy with where I ended up in my Hawken Project. The main piece of advice I would give to rising seniors or those who are considering doing a Hawken Project next year is to choose an organization or a mentor in an industry or with a company that you have genuine interest and excitement for. I knew going into the project that the Guardians are my favorite team in my favorite sport and I would be happy working in any part of their organization. It just so happened that the spot I ended up in was a department that interested me most. I was also lucky enough to do it with one of my best friends and have some really great mentors working right next to me. I look forward each day to going into the stadium and feeling like I’m helping my Cleveland Guardians even if it’s just a minuscule amount. I think my experience would be hindered significantly if I chose an experience that I wasn’t re...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post 4

 I have had a really exciting and fun second week continuing work with the Cleveland Guardians draft department. One aspect of this project that struct me is all the work that goes on in the department and how it affects other people. At a quick glance, one might think that the draft department wouldn’t affect a lot of peoples’ lives because it is just the department of a sports team and not something that is necessary to someone’s life. With that being said, when you consider the high schoolers and college students depending on continuing their sport as a career, you realize how important the department can be to so many people. For example, when I find statistics for these high schoolers there are often player’s whose coaches haven’t uploaded there season statistics to Max Preps or Game Changer which could lead to the kid being neglected when it comes to time to configure a list for potential draftees. If the department opts to look at other kids rather than dig for more informat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog 3

Image
 One cool thing Grant and I got to do on the first day was tour the stadium and get to see what goes on behind the scenes on game day. Although we are working in the scouting department we got the opportunity to tour the offices and the field. When we initially arrived we got to go down to security to get our own IDs and see the tunnel entrance on to the field where all the grounds crew and maintenance people walk out to get the dirt and grass playable for the upcoming game. The game was at 1 o clock too and our boss was nice enough to give us tickets and let us watch some of the game at the end of the day right behind home plate. We normally sit in the bleachers so it was really cool to be so much closer to the action than we typically are. Once we made it up to our floor in left field we saw that we got our own desks and cubical with our own computer and monitors for the day. We also have a really cool view of the bridge the Guardians are named after. Getting our own space with o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog 2

Image
 My first week working with the Guardians has been very fun and interesting. I have learned a ton from the scouts we are working and truly feel like I am doing important and impactful work for the team in preparation for the upcoming draft. One thing that surprised me has been how much work goes into scouting high school players. I have spent most of my days logging each pitch that the high school prospects have seen and what their approaches are. It has been very cool to learn and collect so much information that is largely unavailable to the public. The scouts at the Guardians quickly welcomed Grant and I into the team and it has truly been an incredible first week. Everyone with the Guardians has been super cool to learn with in the office and fun to talk to outside of the stadium when we get lunch together. I’ve never met people that were so fun to talk sports with whether it be baseball, soccer, or any other sport. They seem like they know everything there is to know about ros...
Post a Comment
Read more