A behind the scenes look at the Red Sox pursuit of second round pick Nazzan Zanetello
Have you ever wondered what the scouting process looked like with some of the top draft picks?
We had the chance of chatting with Red Sox amateur scout Alonzo Wright about his journey of being the signing scout of Nazzan Zanetello.
Wright details everything from the time he first met him to all the way up to right before the draft. It brings a very interesting angle that most fans never even see or know about what goes on behind the scenes.
“I first met him unintentionally during Fall of 2021. During the WWBA in Jupiter, FL, he was playing for the Arkansas Sticks. He was in the fall of his junior year of high school. I was watching the 2022 draft eligible players from my area. I had heard the name before and was blown away when I saw him. After the first game, an agent who was recruiting him introduced me to his father and him in hopes to land him.”
“Next time I saw him was summer of 2022 at PDP in Cary, NC. The is the event where he pulled his hamstring and missed some time on the summer circuit. I watched BP and one at-bat in the game where he injured himself. Prior to that, I had talked with him around the cages and I had known prior to my arrival that he didn’t have the most favorable results in the games he played in. What stood out was how he processed failure and was thinking long-term regarding development. He wasn’t afraid of failure.”
“From there, I was itching to see a sample of him. He went to PG National in July of 2022. I saw two at-bats he had but I recall he reinjured the hamstring. From there, I monitored him until Minority Prospect Game the day before WWBA in October of 2022, which was the fall of his senior year. I caught three games during WWBA which was my first complete look at him.”
“I was already in on the human being, he had some good fibers. But this is where his ability lit me up. After that event he earned an invitation to play for Team USA in an event in Mexico, so we scheduled an in-home for 12/1/2022.”
“I liked him prior to the in-home, but after the in-home I walked away saying this kid is special. Authentic presence and the part that really got me was how his sister talked about him and looked up to him. You felt love in that household. From there, I was going to see him every chance I for. High school practice, indoor hitting with his teammates, games, you name it. If he is there, I was there.”
“I tip my hat to our leadership team. Paul Toboni and Devin Pearson came out in the winter to watch him hit for 45 minutes indoors. That just doesn’t happen for anybody. For me, that was the beginning of it being realistic. I knew we had some interest but honestly, didn’t have the feeling that he would be in play for us until the July 7/8th meetings.”
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