Talking Sports And Fitness With Zeke

Eric Valent tells Zeke the story of his job as a regional supervisor in the Philadelphia Phillies scouting department. Valent says he is responsible for working with scouts in the northeastern and southeastern states as well as Puerto Rico in identifying high school and college ballplayers for the Phillies to consider selecting in the annual amateur draft. Valent, who had a five-year Major League playing career as a valuable utility man for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets as an outfielder/first baseman after an All-American career at UCLA, shares with Zeke the characteristics and attributes he looks for in prospects. "I definitely look for baseball ability," Valent explains. "How he moves around the field, around the base. Does it come easy for him? "We go see the top players on the area lists and rate them," Valent tells Zeke. "As we get closer to the draft in June we kind of mesh all these names together and filter them as best we can. It's really important that we get the pla