Sports

Falcione keeps an eye out for talent

• Vince Falcione, who is a scout assistant for a Major League Baseball team, has worked for the same organization for 15 years and four different general managers. Through those changes, however, one thing has remained a constant: his love for the game.

Derek Barichello

ALBANY — Vince Falcione Jr. loves baseball. It’s his passion.

That’s why for the past 15 years, the Albany resident, who is Procter & Gamble’s External Relations Director, has always found time during spring and summer to work as an assistant scout for a Major League Baseball organization.

“I care a lot about the game, I care about the kids playing and I care about my organization,” said Falcione, who has worked since 1993 for his favorite team but is not allowed to divulge its name due to a policy. “It’s just a way to give back.”

Wanting to help his favorite ballclub, Falcione utilized connections to the team’s front office to get his current position.

“To get into scouting, it’s all a matter of who you know,” Falcione said. “When there’s a new general manager, they’ll bring who they know into the organization. I’m close to my organization, so I know people in the front office to stay put but scouts that do this for a living change teams constantly.”

Like many other older scouts, Falcione, who is in his 50s, said scouting is a means for him to stay close to the game in lieu of playing.

As a player, Falcione was quite the shortstop at Slippery Rock College in Pennsylvania from 1974-77. He was the team captain, hit .420 and still holds the school fielding percentage record for shortstops.

Now, Falcione spends his free time watching a new crop of prep and college players from all across Georgia put up those big numbers, and it’s up to him to determine whether or not the big league team needs to look into a certain player.

“I’m kind of like the first line of defense,” Falcione said. “Usually the scout supervisor gives me a call and tells me which players to look at, but I like to find sleepers or players who I think have been overlooked that have potential too. But if I don’t like a certain player, it will end there.”

However, if Falcione feels the player meets the requirements of the organization outlined in reference cards given to each scout, he will call his supervisor and then the supervisor will come out and take a look.

If the supervisor likes the player, a cross-checking scout assigned to a much larger region will make a trip to watch the player.

If the player passes through all those scouts, and even a possible visit from the general manager, then it is likely that player will be put on a list of potential draft picks in June.

Though, Falcione said with turnovers in the front office, the process and what the organization is looking for always evolves.

“What I’m looking for always depends on who leads the organization,” said Falcione, who has worked for four different general managers and many more scouting supervisors. “I’ve had them say to me before, ‘If a pitcher throws in the upper 80s and has potential, we’ll take a look.’ Then have another GM say to me, ‘Don’t even look at a pitcher unless he’s throwing in the 90s.’ ”

Still, there are some intangibles Falcione always keeps his eye out for.

“Body type is a huge thing,” Falcione said. “Do they have that baseball body? Are they chicken-legged like a second baseman or shortstop or do they have bigger legs like a third baseman? Do they have that face? How do they conduct themselves? Do they have that confidence when they walk off the field?”

And to Falcione, he’s never taken much merit in statistics.

“Anybody can hit .400 in high school,” Falcione said. “I’m more interested in their talent. There’s a saying, ‘If the player has the arms and the legs, he can be taught how to play the game.’ We’re looking for athletes.

“Do they have leg speed? Running speed is the only thing you need on both offense and defense,” he added. “If they get into a slump, they are going to have to put pressure on the other team with their speed. And how about their arm? How hard do they throw? What’s their bat speed like? I’m more concerned with that stuff.”

Another contributing factor to Falcione's job is the interaction he gets to have with young players.

"I like to give them guidance," Falcione said. "Ninety-two-to-93 percent of the time, scouts are wrong. Only 7-8 percent of players make the big leagues. If these kids are going to give everything up for baseball, I always tell them to make sure they have a back-up plan. I like to look out for them."

Along with attending games, Falcione holds a tryout camp open to anybody wanting to play baseball every season at Paul Eames Stadium.

“I always encourage anyone who wants to play to come out,” Falcione said. “That way, it at least gets you into the team’s system. If there are a few tools the team likes, they’ll follow you.”

It's at these tryout camps where Falcione has the most fun.

“(All the older scouts) come out and share great stories and they are very traditional," Falcione said. "I don't need a radar gun. In the daylight, I can get within a mile of the pitch but you'd be amazed at some of these older guys. You'd think they didn't know it was a new century. But they are a blast and they know a lot about the game."

While scouting is only a hobby to Falcione, it is a career for others; one that Falcione said takes a lot of desire.

"Full-time guys are always on the road," Falcione said. "I don't know how they have a family life. This spring, my supervisor from Orlando had to drive all the way up to watch a kid throw 40 pitches in Perry. Then he had to drive all the way back."

With that said and retirement looming in a few years for Falcione, he is considering taking his scouting duties to a new capacity.

"Maybe I'd like to do more," Falcione said. "You've just gotta love the game, and I really do. And after playing, scouting is really still as close as it gets.”

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