CINCINNATI -- Sports Illustrated has stirred controversy with its annual baseball preview edition that is currently on newsstands.
As is its custom, the magazine quotes anonymous scouts in each of its team previews. Some of the reports about the Pirates were scathing, including one scout calling Josh Bell “a lump” and questioning his work ethic. Francisco Cervelli was also characterized as not always giving full effort.
That drew the ire of Neal Huntington. He said in an interview Thursday with 93.7 The Fan that he felt many of the scouts’ comments about the Pirates were racially tinged and slanted against African-American and Latin American players.
The Pirates’ general manager did not back off that comment Sunday when he met with the media before his team played the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
“My comment was based on my exposure to the baseball preview,” Huntington said. “In reading the anonymous scouts’ evaluations, I had a few concerns. One, the clickbait, controversy-stirring attempt of the questions. Two, the crushing inaccuracies in some of the reports … (such as) talking about (Rangers reliever) José Leclerc as a soft-tossing lefty when he’s a right-hander with power, missing players on wrong clubs. So, the credibility was crushed.
“The anonymous reports were more personal attacks than they were useful, helpful analysis of tools and abilities and how those abilities play. The amateur psycho-babble about players’ drive, makeup and competitiveness. Unfortunately, so much of the information from the anonymous scouts appears to be based on archaic, racist stereotypes.
“The white players tended to be labeled as ‘gritty,’ ‘smart’ and ‘tough,’” Huntington continued. “Minority players seemed to be labeled as physically talented but maybe not the most talented, or they had their work ethic or motivation repeatedly questioned. So much of it, unfortunately, seemed to be based on archaic, racist stereotypes, which don’t have a place in our game. ... That preview just reinforced that they still exist and there still is a lot of work to do to rid those, not only from our game, but ideally from our society.”
Huntington couldn’t say if Pirates scouts might let race seep into their reports on players. However, Huntington said racism would not be tolerated within the organization.
“I like to think that we’re progressive enough that we don’t allow our people to use that lazy language,” Huntington said. “I can’t tell you that we’ve never done it. I can’t tell you we’ve never had those conversations. But it’s not something that we tolerate or we want as part of our group. We want to be better than that. It’s not accurate. It’s not relevant. In scouting reports, you want accurate information, not generic stereotypes. You don’t want lazy narrative on any player.”
