Not every youth league star makes it to the Majors. In fact, nearly every star at 12 is subject to plateauing at 14, wherein he’s no longer the star on his team. Same with the high school star, who is no longer as exceptional when measured against all the other high school stars. And it just keeps getting harder as you climb the pyramid to pro ball. The factor that sets the players apart is the quality of the instruction and the positive impact of an inspirational figure.

If you want to turn off a pro or college scout, stride onto a field strutting like a peacock, as an arrogant kid who acts like he’s all that. We've seen it in the TigerTown program and it turned us off, so you can imagine how badly it will be received when players are older. Keep in mind that Joe Mauer (the greatest catcher ever) doesn't walk around acting like he's all that; so then why should any player who has never played a game in the big leagues? Doing so would only embarrass yourself.

When you’re older and attending pro evaluations, the scouts probably won’t even know your name - and they don't care how many homers you hit at age 12 or 16, or how many K’s you got. If you check the Cooperstown youth records online you'll notice that not one of the record holders has become a major leaguer. In fact, one 12-year-old went 16-for-16, with 13 homers. Not only is that player not in the majors, he didn't make a name for himself as a high school player. Perhaps he thought he was too cool for words, and his ego derailed his career. Or perhaps he had a ton of talent, and could hit certain pitches well, but never learned to hit properly and had hitting vulnerabilities that pitchers would exploit. Who knows?

What is known, however, is that the “6^th tool” makes a difference at evaluations and team tryouts.

Why? Because baseball is a team game, and when building a team scouts and coaches want “6^th tool” players who embody the aforementioned characteristics and who will show up early for every practice to get in their personal warm-up time, and early enough to work on all pre-game aspects (not just light throwing and a quick infield.) They will also stay after practice to get more work in.

Why is this important? Because it shows commitment beyond himself. It shows a commitment to the team.

Furthermore, scouts want players that have consistently made good choices, whether it's in school, on the athletic field, in the community, and families that have made good choices too. They understand it has a high rate of correlation to success in baseball.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1170228/index.htm#ixzz15ptV6SOD