Yankees scout Wilson can be found wherever the talent takes him

Former South Korea manager Sun Dong-yol shakes hands with New York Yankees scout Steve Wilson (Victoria, BC). Photo: Yonhap News

February 27, 2020

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

Where in the world is Steve Wilson?

On any given day, you might find the New York Yankees global cross-checker evaluating a teenage slugger at a showcase in the Dominican Republic or looking in on a young pitcher in the Mexican League.

He might be chatting with a coach at a Taiwanese high school tournament, aiming his radar gun at a promising Korean hurler, or watching an Australian shortstop field ground balls.

In other words, Wilson can be found wherever the talent takes him.

“You’re constantly learning. It never ends,” said the former major league pitcher from Victoria, BC, of his career as an international scout, which is well into its second decade.

In his travels he’s seen future stars when they were high schoolers or even younger – players like Shohei Ohtani, Gleyber Torres, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.). The trick, he says, is trying to imagine how a kid barely in his teens will turn out.

“Trying to think about, never mind the tools he has now, but the projection of the tools. You like the kid now at 13 or 14, but which way’s his body going to go? Is it going to get thicker, will he slow down?” Wilson said.

“That’s the hardest part now – we’re looking at kids younger and younger. In the States you could start to look at kids when they’re 17 and really focus on them when they’re seniors. When you have the draft you’re looking at one draft class at a time, whereas we’re looking at three or four years at a time.”

Led by Yankees international scouting director Donny Rowland, Wilson and his colleagues will identify promising youngsters, track their progress for a few years, and then, if they like what they see, come to an agreement with the player and his agent once the player turns 16.

“We’re just looking for good players – kids that are athletic. Whether they’re pitchers or position players, we want to sign athletes,” Wilson said.

“Our process, the way we go about things, I think is a really good blend of old school scouting – going to see players play – and using analytics as much as we can.”

The available data for kids in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela – who are most often scouted at workouts or in simulated games – is a far cry from the comprehensive statistical analysis done on U.S. college players. So Wilson leans on his experience as a player and coach as well as the expertise of area scouts, who see the players regularly and get to know their work ethic and mental makeup.

“We rely on the area scouts – they’re the most important cog in the whole wheel. If you don’t have good area scouts, you’re not going to cross-check the right players,” Wilson said.

“We’re very fortunate that we have really good area scouts who bring us in to see the right guys. I think our staff in Venezuela is bar none the best staff in all of baseball, and our Dominican staff is very good.”

The area scouts routinely send in videos of players that show their progress over time.

“My job is to see the players around the world that our area scouts like. I take tons of notes, always breaking down video. In a six-month period of time, you can see huge changes in a kid,” said Wilson, who describes himself as “the pitching guy” with the Yankees because the club relies on his expertise in evaluating young pitchers.

“We’re very fortunate the Yankees give us the resources to be able to have area scouts on the ground and not be short-staffed. I think we have very good coverage,” he said.

Rowland said the Yankees benefit from having Wilson on the job around the world.

“Steve is a wonderful person and an elite talent evaluator who is an extremely valuable asset to the Yankees international scouting department. His opinion is highly valued,” Rowland said.

“He is the consummate professional – tireless work ethic, highly attentive to detail, dedicated to excellence and always puts team above himself. I always respected the way he approached the job when he worked with other teams and I am extremely happy to be able to call him a teammate.”

TALKING BASEBALL AROUND THE WORLD

When Wilson retired after six seasons in the majors and two more in the minors, he became a pitching coach in the White Sox organization. He then sent in a resume to coach in the Taiwan Baseball League. His new team, Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala, asked him to pitch instead, so Wilson suited up for the 1997-98 seasons.

“I loved playing there. Two great years,” he said.

He had toured Taiwan and Japan as a player with the Dodgers’ Baseball Friendship Series, but moving to a new home half the world away was still an adjustment. Baseball helped smooth the way.

“Taiwan is a great country. Wonderful people, friendly people, and they love baseball,” Wilson said. “Baseball is huge there. When I go to Taiwan to watch a high school tournament, the games will be on national TV.”

He retired for a second time and settled in Tainan, accepting an offer to scout Taiwanese amateur players part-time for the Philadelphia Phillies.

“(Scouting) was a new role in baseball for me. There’s a big learning curve,” he said. “It helps, when you move into scouting, if you did play. And I was lucky enough to have coached.”

Wilson recalled former teammates and opponents when evaluating whether the teenagers he was scouting had the tools and potential to play in the major leagues.

“I think a lot of scouting is looking at players and comparing them to players you’ve seen in the past. You’re just using your best judgment of what you’re seeing at that age,” said Wilson, citing Ohtani as an example of a young player who stood out.

“Ohtani was a special player even in high school,” said Wilson, who scouted the two-way player in Korea during the 18U World Championships.

“At that time, I liked him more as a right-fielder than he did as a pitcher. Very athletic with great body project and big-time tools,” he said. “I thought, ‘this guy can be better than Paul O’Neill.’ That was my comparison at that time.”

At the same time he was getting a handle on his new role as a scout, Wilson was working to get a sports bar and grill off the ground in Tainan. Named Willy’s, the bar was billed as “a bit of ‘Cheers’ in southern Taiwan.”

He’d fallen in love with the country, and would soon meet the love of his life – Lydia.

“She came in to have dinner one night, and the rest is history,” Wilson said of his wife of 19 years.

Lydia was managing an English school for Taiwanese students at the time, and after they got married the couple opened their own school and ran it together.

In 2007, the Chicago Cubs hired Wilson as their first scout in the Pacific Rim. He later became regional scouting director, covering Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China, as well as parts of Europe.

“So I was pretty busy,” he said.

While living in Taiwan for over 14 years, Wilson was a fixture at high school and college practices and workouts, establishing a network of contacts – coaches, area scouts, program directors – and learning which tournaments attracted the best talent.

“I’ve been pretty much to every place in Korea and Taiwan where they play baseball – every high school, every college,” he said. “You get to know the coaches, and they know who you are and they start to trust you, so you’re welcome there. It just takes time.”

Wilson’s globe-trotting lifestyle suits the former major league pitcher well, helped by the fact that he can talk baseball in several languages.

“I was fortunate to be able to pick up Chinese in the first couple years,” said Wilson, whose Mandarin improved as he talked with customers and staff at his sports bar. Learning the language helped him establish a rapport with players and their families.

“Big time,” Wilson said. “When you’re looking at kids in Taiwan and Korea, it takes time to get to know them and build up some trust that when you’re trying to sign their kid, you’re going to do the best you can to take care of them when you bring them halfway across the world to play baseball.”

Mandarin is a notoriously tricky language to learn for English speakers, as each inflection must be precise or meanings can change.

“Just sticking with it and not being afraid to make mistakes, which I still do. My tones sometimes are off, but usually people understand what I’m trying to say, which is the important thing,” Wilson said.

“I’m not fluent, but I’m able to have a conversation, and all the players I’ve signed from Taiwan I’ve been in the home and done everything with the families in Chinese.”

The more he works in Latin America, the better his Spanish gets, too.

“Enough to get by. And I can order food, so I don’t go hungry,” he chuckled.

HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD

Wilson is quick to point that evaluating and signing an international player is a group effort that includes area scouts, regional and global cross-checkers, and a scouting director who makes the final call.

While scouting for the Cubs, Wilson signed Australian pitcher Ryan Searle as a 17-year-old after seeing him pitch in a high school national tournament. He had a hand in signing future MLB pitcher Chang-yong Lim and minor leaguers Jae-hoon Ha, Hak-ju Lee, fellow Victorian Jesse Hodges, and Kung-min Na, who has the distinction of being traded with Andrew Cashner to San Diego to acquire current Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

In Latin America Wilson evaluated future major leaguers such as Wilson Contreras, Starlin Castro, Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres, all of whom started their careers in the Cubs organization.

Scouting overseas is complicated by restrictions on international spending and each team has a unique approach to allocating their resources. Wilson explained that a club might pass on an player who profiles similarly to a cheaper college player in the States, preferring to pool their international money for a more exciting prospect.

“With the Yankees, we’re always trying to sign premium players if we can. There’s lots of players now with the Yankees, kids who are on our top prospect list, that I’ve scouted,” said Wilson.

In New York’s system, he has his eye on pitcher Deivi Garcia, outfielder Estevan Florial, and Jasson Dominguez, a Dominican outfielder the Yankees signed as a 16-year-old last July for a record $5 million.

“He was the consensus top player in the whole international market and we used a huge percent of our funds to sign that one player, but we all felt that he was worth it,” Wilson said. “If there was a guy that we were going to spend a significant amount of money on, he was the guy.”

TOP PROSPECTS

When not visiting ballparks around the world, Wilson spends time with the two most important young ballplayers in his life – his two sons.

He and Lydia moved the family to Arizona in 2011 – the Cubs wanted Wilson to cross-check players for the draft – and now make their home in Chandler, where their eldest boy, Tyler, is a senior at Hamilton High School, the defending state champs and Cody Bellinger’s alma mater.

“It’s the top baseball program in the state of Arizona. He has a chance to be drafted next year,” Wilson said of Tyler, a catcher who also plays some first base and outfield.

Their son Liam is in Grade 8 and plays baseball and basketball. He hit an RBI single to help Chandler defeat a team from Fort Caroline, Fla. to win the 2019 Babe Ruth 14U World Series.

“We have a little batting cage in the back yard and we hit pretty often out there. So when I’m home I’ll throw BP, work out in the cage, hit off the tee, stuff like that,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s devotion to his family doesn’t go unnoticed at work.

“Great human being. He worked to reach his dream of being a major league pitcher, a dedicated professional in the scouting industry and a great family man,” Rowland said. “We are lucky to have him.”

The globe-trotting scout cherishes his time at home. But he also loves hitting the road in search of the next phenom from a far-off land.

“We’re lucky. We get to see the best young players in the world, all over the world,” Wilson said. “The only rough part about the job is time away from your family and missing some things with your kids. But I love my job.”