What you'll be asked to do when trying out for a pro baseball team

This article originally appeared in Baseball Parent magazine. It's part of an eight-article series on pro baseball tryouts and pitching in college.

At a point in some baseball players' lives, the sport ceases to be a hobby and becomes a job. The first hint of that shift may come at pro tryout camps.

Such camps aren't all fun. They're business. A few hours into a camp, the players may hear disappointing words of rejection from the scout running the camp as he makes the first cuts: "Maybe you had a bad day. Maybe I did. But I hope to see you in the future."

On the other hand, often times the scouts conducting such camps recommend players who won't be drafted to junior colleges, NAIA, Division I, Division II, or Division III universities.

Some camps restrict the ages of players, say from 15 to 22 years old. From 10 to as many as 700 players can show up at one camp. Some teams conduct only a handful of camps while others hold 80 or more across the U.S. each summer. They may be held in sparsely-populated, hard-to-get-to areas or sections of the U.S. that aren't heavily scouted.

According to the Major league Scouting Bureau, the California Angels, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates are among the clubs that conduct the most camps.

But the Royals hold more tryout camps than any other major league team, according to Art Stewart, Director of Scouting. This summer, the Royals will hold 82 camps, at which aspiring big leaguers will demonstrate their baseball tools - speed, arm strength, fielding ability, hitting ability, and, for some, pitching ability. Certain players are asked to yet other invitation-only camps.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies will also be conducting camps this summer.

Player information cards are filled out on each player. They include name, address, telephone, school, graduation date, height, and weight; whether he bats left, right, or switch-hits; his marital status; the number of games played last season; the number of innings pitched; his summer team's name; and whether or not he wears contacts or glasses.

Players are usually asked to bring their own glove, shoes, and uniform, and not to attend in shorts or cutoffs. They are given numbers after registration and the scout in charge of the camp usually orients them to the events of the day, which amount to various judgments about the mechanics, not the past performance, when judging players. In some camps, however, simulated game situations allow pitchers, for example, to throw an inning or about 20 pitches. All attendees stretch, jog, and are timed in the 60-yard dash. Even pitchers, says Stewart, for example, may end up being position players and vica versa.

Outfielders' arm strength is tested by throwing from, say, right field to third base. Infielders other than first basement field ground balls hit directly at them, to their right and left, plus slow rollers, then throw from short to first. First basemen throw to third. Catchers' throwing times to second are checked in steal-simulation drills.

Pitchers throw to catchers and some are asked to throw batting practice, depending on how many are at the camp and the weather conditions, among other things.

Just who will be asked to hit live pitching will depend on how many players attend the camp, the position played, and grades on various skills.

If fewer than 100 players attend a Royals camp, Stewart likes to have his scouts running the camps choose two teams and play a game to see certain players in game situations. Batters can strike out in these games, but can't walk.

A variety of grading systems are used by major league teams. One grading key scores players this way; 80, outstanding; 70, well above average; 60, above average; 50, average; 40, below average; 30, well below average; and 20, poor. Fielders are graded on their arm, fielding, running, hitting, and power. Pitchers are graded on control and on their fastball (for both movement and velocity), curveball, change-up, slider, and knuckle ball.

Such camps allow big league teams to see players early in their development and to follow certain players through high school. Ultimately, says Stewart, clubs may then make wise decisions about players.