Players take part in camp

     By W.G. Ramirez
     View staff writer
      Last year it was considered "a house-cleaning deal."
      This year it was requested.
      For the second consecutive year, the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau brought its tryout camp to Cashman Field, giving more than 100 aspiring players from Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah a chance to show their best stuff.
      "The (major league) teams requested we bring this (back)," event coordinator Tom Valcke said. "I think that says something about Las Vegas."
      Especially since Las Vegas -- a non-Major League town -- has become a permanent site on the 35-stop tour that allows teams a better opportunity to obtain information on prospects prior to June's amateur draft.
      "Some of these guys haven't seen some of the (graduated seniors) so it gives our scouts a fresh point of view," Valcke said. "It also helps the younger kids because the scouts can begin zoning in on incoming seniors."
      Valcke said maybe 50 players -- or 1 percent -- from around the country generally make it to the next level following the scouting bureau tryout camps.
      "If they think they're good enough and think the (teams) made a mistake (by being overlooked in the draft), they've got to use it as a motivating force," Valcke said. "My primary focus, make no bones about it, is the sophomores and freshmen, they have a chance to get their names on my list because I may have liked what I saw."
      Prior to June's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, bureau scouts look for players eligible for the draft.
      But following the draft, scouts look for what they call "follows," or, 15- and 16-year-old players.
      "I'm just trying to prove myself right now and hopefully get an early look," said Green Valley's all-state outfielder Garrett Guzman, who will be a junior this fall. "I like being out here with all these people, plus, you get to know a lot of these local players."
      A list of 500 to 600 players who will be eligible for the 2000 draft will be accumulated by the end of the summer or early fall. Smaller lists will also be amassed, of players eligible for the 2001 and 2002 drafts.
      "I'd like to make a name for myself," said all-conference shortstop Ryan Ruiz, an incoming senior at Silverado. "I want to go to a Division I school."
      Graduated seniors, however, also get a chance to put their skills on display before entering college.
      "I just want to show them what I got; if they like me, they like me," Cimarron-Memorial graduate Mike Luczynski said. "I'm just hoping to go out there and get some good exposure."
      Said fellow Spartan-grad, Mike Tabeek: "I'm out here to have fun and maybe, at the same time, show off my talent for the future. I think it's fun, just to know all these scouts are out here and have your card in their hands."
      Position players are graded on hitting ability, power, running speed, arm strength and fielding, utilizing a scale of 2-8 in each category.
      The total is considered an Overall Future Potential rating.
      Pitchers are graded by their fastball, curve, slider and any other pitches they may have. A scout may move the rating up if he feels the pitcher has potential to expand his repertoire of pitches.
      Generic qualities that apply to both position players and pitchers are things like aggressiveness, instinct, dedication and work ethic.