Squawking Baseball posted a fantastic interview today with John Coppolella, the former Assistant Director of Pro Scouting for the Yankees who is now with the Atlanta Braves. I recommend reading the whole interview, mostly about the Atlanta Braves and how they approach the arbitration process, but SB also also asked a great question about the Yankees:
Speaking of scouting, you signed Edwar Ramirez for the Yankees and Jorge Campillo for the Braves, two diamonds in the rough. Tell us about what you saw in them.
On Edwar Ramirez, it was a case of a pitcher whose statistics simply jumped off the page. During a routine check of independent league statistics, an intern named Kiley McDaniel and I came across Ramirez’s numbers with the Edinbug Coyotes in the summer of 2006: 45 strikeouts in 26 innings and a 1.07 ERA. After talking it over with my superiors I called up the area scout who lived closest to Edinburg, Mark Batchko, and he drove 3+ hours on a moment’s notice to lay eyes on the player. I remember talking to Batchko on the 4th of July from a pizza stand in a mall in my wife’s hometown of Peekskill, and hearing how much he liked the player. I called it into the office, called up the independent league, worked out an agreement, and we signed the player the next day. If not for the work of McDaniel or Batchko, he wouldn’t have been a Yankee.
Can I have Kiley McDaniel’s job please?
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4 Responses to SB Interviews John Coppolella
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TIQ IQ
Edwar is always going to strikeout guys. He just needs to work on cutting down on the HR’s.
IIRC, Kiley McDaniel was one of the writers at SaberScouting. They did such a good job; it’s a shame that the blog is no longer around.
Hey EJ I think you should post your piece on the yankees and there development of relievers. The one you posted at pending pinstripes. I thought it was great.
Will do Matt. I’ll write an updated version.