Staahl: Female scout turns to ASU for help breaking barriers
From Derek Staahl at KPHO-5 on October 13, 2016, on SABR member Astrid DeGruchy:
It’s all tied up in the eighth inning of an instructional league game at Salt River Fields. A few dozen people are watching from a small seating area behind home plate, and nearly all of them are fellow minor leaguers or scouts. And on this day, all of the players and scouts are men.
It’s a scene that plays out in professional baseball almost as often as the seventh-inning stretch. Currently, there are just two female scouts: Amanda Hopkins of the Seattle Mariners and Robin Wallace in the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau.
Astrid DeGruchy used to be one of those rare female scouts. Last year, the woman with the Ted Williams tattoo was hired by the San Diego Padres to be a part-time scout of high school and college players.
“My number one passion is just baseball; evaluating talent, and kind of looking at what to look for in certain prospects. Especially the amateur guys, where you’re grading really on projectability,” she said.
DeGruchy, 25, decided to stop scouting and pursue an even bigger dream: she wants to become the first female general manager in a major sport.
“I am trying to break barriers. I am trying to make history,” she said.
Read the full article here: http://www.cbs5az.com/story/33388461/female-scout-turns-to-asu-for-help-breaking-baseball-barriers
Originally published: October 14, 2016. Last Updated: October 14, 2016.