Phillies 2020 Draft: Matt Klentak talks adapting, four picks
By Matt Rappa
Unique 2020 Draft Process
"“It’s unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before, and, candidly, it might be unlike anything we ever do again in the future. I hope so. I hope we get back to you back to normal by next year.”"
Klentak says he is “really pleased” with the way things played out, despite the 2020 draft being nothing like he and new amateur scouting director Brian Barber expected earlier in the offseason.
Despite the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Klentak says he gives Barber, who was hired in the fall, “a ton of credit” for the way that he stayed organized communicated with Phillies scouts throughout the spring. In particular, Barber organized daily Zoom meetings.
“While it’s true that we didn’t have access to games to watch players this year and our scouts spent a lot less time on airplanes and in hotels than they may have done in prior years,” Klentak says, “I really think the group came together really well to collaborate.”
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With the COVID-19 pandemic starting in early March, most 2020 collegiate and high school-level games were canceled. Thus, since there were fewer games than ever before to scout and come to a determination on whether to draft a player, Klentak says the Phillies “really had to sometimes piece together information on a player.”
“One scout may not have seen him six different times,” he says. “Somebody may have seen him last summer, someone may have seen a fall workout, someone may have been in touch with them over the winter, and someone might have caught a scrimmage before the pandemic early this spring. Somehow, we need to piece that together into painting the total picture of what a player is.”
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Along with Barber, Klentak praised Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Greg Schilz, Assistant General Manager Bryan Minniti and the leadership side of the Phillies scouting operation for doing a “terrific job of asking questions, giving guys the floor, giving everybody an opportunity to weigh in and trying to come up with the most accurate draft board that we could.”
Klentak says this year’s draft was “very different” and “very unique,” unlike anything he and the Phillies had ever seen before, and he hopes they will never see it again, with things hopefully going back to normal in 2021.
“I think when all is said and done, it was a job well done by a lot of people,” he says.