MLB To Adopt Scouting ‘Dead Period’ For Draft-Eligible Players

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The World Wood Bat Championships will take place from Oct. 9-13 in Jupiter, Fla., serving, as it long has, as an unofficial end point of the summer/fall showcase season. But this year, it will also mark a new end point of the evaluation season for draft-eligible amateur players during fall and winter months.

In a memo sent to all 30 teams on Thursday and obtained by Baseball America, MLB announced that it has adopted rules that effectively create a “dead period” on all scouting, player evaluation and data-gathering on high school baseball players from Oct. 15 to Jan. 15 and from Nov. 15 to Jan. 15 for college players.

During that time, no MLB personnel will be allowed to scout or evaluate baseball activities by domestic draft-eligible players in any way, including gathering or evaluating any data or video produced by players during the dead period.

The goal of the new dead period is to help ensure that pitchers have a period of downtime before the upcoming season. This new moratorium, combined with the NCAA’s quiet period for off-campus recruiting of baseball players that stretches from Oct. 13 to Feb. 28, means there will now be a multi-month period during which all amateur players know they will not be being evaluated by college recruiters or MLB scouts.

In the obtained memo, MLB explains that the league hopes this will “reduce the incentive for amateur players to perform at maximum effort year-round by designating a period in the calendar, during which time clubs are prohibited from evaluating amateur players, to ensure appropriate rest, recovery and development for players.”

This new player evaluation dead period was created after consultations with all 30 MLB amateur scouting directors, as well as college coaches and medical experts. It was also supported by the MLB Owners Competition Committee.

“I have not gotten any meaningful pushback,” said Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton, who serves as the chair of the Owners Competition Committee. “Some folks look at the consequences for their business, but we haven’t had anyone say you shouldn’t do this. What we are doing makes sense. We haven’t had pushback. That’s the reason we have been able to move so quickly. From my point of view, there is a tidal wave of support for this. It’s gratifying.”

Stipulations in the dead period verbiage apply only to MLB club personnel. Amateur players face no restrictions when it comes to training during the dead period. The new rules simply prohibit MLB club personnel from viewing, evaluating or gathering any baseball activities players may produce during the prohibited time period.

The idea for a dead period gained traction after a 2024 MLB report on pitching injuries. In the report, medical experts, coaches and other baseball officials raised concerns that overuse and high-effort year-round pitching for amateur players has resulted in increased numbers of elbow and shoulder injuries. An American Sports Institute study found that pitchers who did not have an offseason rest period from competitive pitching saw five times the risk for requiring elbow or shoulder surgery.

Per the new dead period rules, all 30 MLB teams will be prohibited from attending or evaluating any video or data from any games, showcases, tournaments, batting practice, infield/outfield drills, workouts or any other throwing, hitting, catching or fielding drills. Teams are not allowed to input bat and ball tracking data or biomechanical data gathered during the dead period, nor can they contract with third-party vendors to access any data created from baseball activities during the dead period.

One potential side effect of the new rules that could affect some scouts and coaches who do instructional work in the offseason is that club personnel will not be allowed to provide lessons, training or baseball instruction to draft-eligible players during the dead period. Players who have not yet entered their junior year of high school, however, are not covered by the coaching prohibition.

There are a few minor exceptions to the dead period rules. For example, there are four college fall ball games scheduled for Nov. 15 that are grandfathered in. Additionally, any scheduled regular season games that begin before Jan. 15 can be scouted/evaluated. MLB club personnel can watch their own child participate in baseball activities during the dead period, but they can only do so in a non-professional capacity, meaning no data or official evaluations from those games can be entered into a club’s player database.

Scouts and other MLB personnel can meet with players, do in-home visits and gather off-field information about players during the dead period so long as it does not include baseball activities. Similarly, scouts and club personnel will still be able to go watch a draft-eligible player participate in another sport such as basketball or football.

Policing the new dead period parameters will largely depend on teams certifying that they are following the policy, although violations can also be reported to MLB. If a club receives unsolicited data/video or anything else related to baseball activities from the prohibited time frame, they are to report the receipt immediately to MLB. Violations could result in fines, suspensions and placement on the MLB Ineligible List, as well as potential draft or international bonus pool system penalties.

These prohibitions do not apply to free agents who are not draft eligible or international amateur players. Partner league players and free agents who have already gone through the draft process are also not included in the prohibition.

Stanton suggested that efforts made by big league stars could be helpful in ingraining the meaning behind the new rules—that a prescribed period of rest is essential for player development and safety—on affected amateur players.

“Education is important,” he said. “I’ve talked to Cal Raleigh about this. I’ve talked to our players. The dynamic is, if I talk to a 15-year-old and tell him he shouldn’t be throwing in December (it’s one thing), but if Logan Gilbert or Geritt Cole or Max Scherzer or Shohei Ohtani says that, I think it has a greater impact.”

“I think it’s important to organize a communications plan to explain why we are doing this. We want to encourage them to play, but we want to encourage them to develop as athletes in other ways.”