The Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau is a centralized

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

resource that operates under the auspices of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. Headquartered in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

, the MLBSB's efforts supplement the independent, proprietary amateur and professional scouting operations of the 30

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

clubs. In 2012, the MLBSB employed 34 full-time and 13 part-time scouts in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

.MLB.com: Major League Scouting Bureau Q&A
/ref> In 2010, it announced plans to expand its activities beyond Puerto Rico to other countries in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. According to MLB.com, the MLBSB's scouts "provide information on amateur prospects as a part of its mission to support the efforts of MLB clubs in the

First-Year Player Draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

. The MLBSB also provides professional scouting services, including the collection of video footage of players throughout the professional ranks, both domestically and internationally."MLB.com: MLBSB Overview
/ref> It maintains an eligibility file on amateur players — many of them teenagers — and holds 35 tryout camps each June in its countries of operation. The current MLBSB was founded in 1974 by outgoing

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Jim Wilson, and became part of the commissioner's office in 1985. However, its roots date to the founding by Major League owners of the Central Scouting Bureau in 1968, a period of time when many big league clubs were downsizing their scouting departments. The CSB's first director was

Jim Fanning William James Fanning (September 14, 1927 – April 25, 2015) was an American-Canadian catcher, manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball. Often called "Gentleman Jim", Fanning was the first general manager of the Montreal Expo ...

, former farm and scouting director of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. In August 1968, Fanning resigned after seven months with the CSB to become general manager of the

expansion Expansion may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine * ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004 * ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970 * ''Expansi ...

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

. He was succeeded by former

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

"head coach" Vedie Himsl for two years. Then, the CSB was temporarily dormant for almost four years until it was revived, as the MLBSB, by Wilson. From 1998–2014, the MLBSB was supervised by director, and then senior director, Frank Marcos. He announced his departure from the bureau in October 2014. He was succeeded by former Major League executive Bill Bavasi.Baseball America 2014.11.21
/ref>

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

MLBSB's Official page
on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Major League Baseball 1974 establishments in the United States