Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢

HC Baylor School - 20+ yrs USA BSBL Staff 2010-'17-'23 /College Natl Team Scout. GrandCoach to -Noni, Elsie, Georgie, Sutty, Lottie, Olive & Greta

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

No, thank you Jess. Love you my friend

[Jess Shipley @Jess_Shipley8]

@ButchBaseball29 Thank you, Coach!

[Jonathan Wyman @CoachWyman11]

@ButchBaseball29 Go Blue Hose!!!!
Class of 2005

[Brendan Clary @Brendan_Clary]

Service. Dedication. Duty. Honor

Great insight from SGT Jason Laseter, USMC and 1SG Eddie McQuay, US Army who visited with our freshman today.

Took so time to help us get the boys right when practicing the National Anthem as well via the @ButchBaseball29 method so we should be squared away!

#Details212 #StandardsOverFeelings #Uncommon

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

Let’s Gooooo

[Chris Roof @chrisroof24]

Thank you for the kind words @ButchBaseball29 We need to get you up here again soon!!!

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

100% agree with you Coach!

[Caleb Hudson @d1_caleb11]

Dreams to reality, Thank you God! ✍🏾
#gobluehose #nsd @TrentBianco1 @1trojanbaseball @BlueHoseBSB @OkeviusConway @Coach_Pollock @JohnOneil1414 @andrewalbertus1

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

Pumped to be able to watch them work. Vols are getting two guys that are great humans who play really good baseball.

[DaddyDonnie @Ro_Co_Vols]

Let’s go!!!!🔥🔥🔥

Excited to watch Banks and Blake ball out this year under @ButchBaseball29. Can’t wait to see these guys go to work!

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

#studs

[DaddyDonnie @Ro_Co_Vols]

Let’s go!!!!🔥🔥🔥

Excited to watch Banks and Blake ball out this year under @ButchBaseball29. Can’t wait to see these guys go to work!

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

Only guy I’m ever going with!!!

[97 Sports- Helmets/Decals 🏈 @97_sports]

Big thanks to @ButchBaseball29 for letting us outfit @BaylorBase with their decals this season! Reach out today to get your baseball helmets looking good! @RaiderRecap @baylorschool #baseball #baseballdecals

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

What a lineup!!! @Mike_Rooney is worth the money alone. @chrisroof24 has done it again. Guy is a champion and knows how to put an event together. Well done Coach.

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

You will crush it… as always… again! People better get to this! Coach kills it every time I hear him. #dudeofdudes

[Kevin McMullan @Kevin44McMullan]

Excited to be speaking at the Garden State Baseball Coaches Clinic this December in Atlantic City, NJ! Thank you to @chrisroof24 for the opportunity to come back to NJ and share about @HailStateBB

[𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐳𝐞𝐧 @utahscout1219]

THE SCOUTING CLASSROOM
Stories Behind the Report

THE NIGHT A FIRST-ROUND ARM WENT SILENT

Erick Fedde, an injury nobody wanted to see, and a first-round decision.

In 2014, I was in my third season with Milwaukee. I’d evaluated plenty of first-round talent, including Brandon Wood, whom I signed for the Angels in 2003. But one of my most memorable evaluations involved a pitcher we didn’t draft.

Erick Fedde.

THE FRIDAY NIGHT ACE

Fedde, a Las Vegas product, had anchored UNLV’s rotation for three seasons. By 2014, he’d taken another jump: an 8-2 record, 1.76 ERA, 93–97 mph fastball and wipeout slider.

Scouts and executives packed his starts. Earlier that spring, I’d watched him with nearly 50 scouts in attendance. Joining me was Brewers Special Assistant Dan O’Brien, a former Reds GM. Craig Counsell was around that evening, too, along with his friend Zack Greinke.

We held the 12th overall pick. Our scouting director, the late Bruce Seid, made it clear that if Fedde reached us, there was a strong possibility we’d take him.

APRIL 25: SOMETHING CHANGED

My West Coast Supervisor, Corey Rodriguez, joined me for Fedde’s start against New Mexico.

We watched from the concourse on the open third-base side, with a clear view of his delivery. Fedde was cruising.

With two outs in the seventh, I noticed him flex and shake his hand.

I pointed it out to Corey.

Then the fastball changed. Instead of the mid-90s we’d seen, the next few pitches looked like batting-practice fastballs.

Corey noticed it, too.

Something wasn’t right.

Fedde left the game.

THE MEDICAL UNKNOWN

We later learned he’d torn his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery.

The question was no longer whether he had first-round stuff. We’d already answered that.

Now we needed to understand the injury and recovery risk.

Detailed medical information required cooperation and appropriate authorizations. With Scott Boras representing Fedde, we couldn’t obtain everything we wanted.

I also had Washington in mind. The Nationals, picking 18th, had a history of signing high-profile Boras clients, including Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.

THE DRAFT ROOM

On June 3, just two days before the draft, Fedde underwent Tommy John surgery at Kerlan-Jobe in Los Angeles.

During our final draft discussions, I laid out his first-round talent and the medical uncertainty surrounding his recovery.

Bruce stopped me and brought in our medical director, Roger Caplinger. Then he sent me into the hallway to call Fedde and ask one question:

Who performed the surgery?

Fedde told me Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

I relayed the answer. Roger gave a thumbs-up, and I finished my presentation.

But knowing the surgeon didn’t give us a complete picture of the recovery risk.

THE DECISION

On June 5, only two days after Fedde’s surgery, Milwaukee passed at No. 12.

Washington selected him 18th overall and eventually signed him for approximately $2.51 million, roughly $356,000 above slot.

Fedde eventually reached the Major Leagues. The talent had always been there.

But I still remember that seventh inning: the hand flex, the sudden velocity drop, and the look Corey and I exchanged.

THE LESSON

A scout must know a player’s healthy baseline well enough to recognize when something changes. We didn’t diagnose an injury from the stands. We recognized warning signs that demanded new information.

Once the UCL tear was confirmed, the question changed from “Is he worth the 12th pick?” to “Can we justify that investment with the medical information available?”

Those are two different evaluations.

The scouting report establishes the talent. The medical evaluation informs the risk. Neither can replace the other.

Sometimes conviction means recommending a player. Sometimes it means acknowledging what you still don’t know.

#BehindTheRadarGun 🔎

[Seattle Mariners @Mariners]

Two new additions to the coaching staff 🤝

We’re excited to introduce Tanner Swanson as our new bench coach and CJ Gillman as our new hitting coach. Welcome aboard, Tanner and CJ!

🔗 https://t.co/WJE4FA73br

[HeritageBulwark @hbulwark1]

At 78 years old, one Massachusetts farmer decided the British would not pass his stone wall without a fight.

On April 19, 1775, as the redcoats retreated from Lexington and Concord through Menotomy, Samuel Whittemore took position behind a wall with his musket, two pistols and sword. He shot one grenadier dead, then dropped two more with his pistols.

The soldiers closed in, shot him in the face, bayoneted him repeatedly and clubbed him with their muskets until they left him for dead in a pool of blood. Hours later, townsmen found him still conscious and trying to reload his weapon.

Before the fight he had told the militia, “If I can only be the instrument of killing one of my country’s foes, I shall die in peace.” He lived another eighteen years, scarred but unbroken and died at 96.

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

Remembering all who have served on this Veterans Day. Thank you for your sacrifice not because we have to, but because you deserve it. No fancy X banner or graphic… just a Thank You. Real live Frogman UDT.

[TSSAA @TSSAA]

Congratulations to the A.F. Bridges Athletic District 2 Award Winners!

Millicient Smith- School System Administrator of the Year
Russell Harris- Principal of the Year
Whitney Moore- Athletic Director of the Year
Jennifer Galloway- Female Coach of the Year
Brian Nix- Male Coach of the Year
Steve Queener- Official of the Year
Dr. Rodney McMillan- Contributor of the Year

[Jeremy Sheetinger | Sheets @CoachSheets3]

First GB win vs Cuba in programme history.

🇬🇧⚾️☕️

[Bret Boone @theboone29]

My dad- He was my mentor, my coach, my rock. He taught me how to be a pro and more importantly, how to be a man. He was one of the highest integrity people I’ve ever known and I’m going to miss him dearly. Baseball lost a great one yesterday. R.I.P dad, I love you❤️

[Brendan Clary @Brendan_Clary]

Best note taker in the game! #80Grade

[Butch Chaffin 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚾️⚾️🧢 @ButchBaseball29]

Always my friend.

[Caleb Hudson @d1_caleb11]

@ButchBaseball29 @TrentBianco1 Thank you coach, appreciate it!