A rare Saturday post, but this is something I’ve been thinking about recently, and I’ve crystallized a few of the ideas I had, so I figured I’d get it out there now, and hopefully we can develop it and discuss it over the next few weeks, and then put something in place before Spring Training starts. If you’ve been here a while, I think you realize that the comments, contributors, and everyone who stops in here is what makes this place tick. I try to provide my opinion, I try to guide the discussion, but from posting articles to providing first hand knowledge, you the readers are really what drives this sight. Without your interest, feedback and discussion, this blog wouldn’t be where it is today, and it wouldn’t encourage me to keep this place as up to date as I do.

So, I figured it was only natural that we devote a section of this site to you. My goal is to have people actively involved with the content of this site, based on first hand experiences. I have a Clearwater correspondent, our Reading correspondent from last year, Gregg, will be working on Allentown this year, I think I have someone for Lakewood, andyb is going to keep writing on the DSL and VSL prospects, but I’ll need a Reading person. This year I’d like to expand things, I want people who go to games to contribute their first hand takes on players, send me pictures from the games, amateur video if you have the knowhow to transfer the video to the internet, and everything in between. We can look at statistics and get a good idea, but if you know what you are looking for in a player, seeing him first hand is invaluable, and it really gives you a better idea of what to expect out of a guy. It’s what people at Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Perfect Game and every other site rely on. I live in Maryland, I’m not close to any of the Phillies affiliates, so it’s tough for me to get to a lot of games every year, but I know there are lots of people here who go to games regularly, and you guys are an invaluable asset here. I will go over some things in particular to look for when watching a player, in terms of being able to provide usable feedback here. I’m not a pro scout, but I’ve read enough to kind of understand what scouts look at when watching a player. I’m not asking you to carry a radar gun or stopwatch with you to games, there are even simpler things to look for, all of which I’ll go over later.

Where to go from here. I need someone who wants to write the weekly report for Reading. If you’re interested, you can check out the work that Gregg did last year, using this post of his as an example. These reports focus on the general progress of the team and then focus specifically on the legit prospects as well. In addition, I’m going to set up a page for each affiliate where people can submit game reviews, thoughts on particular prospects, and anything else like that. In addition, I’ll create an account on either flickr or photobucket where we can upload and share pictures, and if we get video submitted, I’ll add the video to each player’s profile page as I create them. I have a number of other ideas right now that are also in the pipeline, but I figured I’d throw this out there while it was at the forefront of my cluttered brain.