As a young baseball player competing in various travel ball tournaments across the country trying to make a name for yourself, you never know who might be watching along the way.
As a baseball coach traveling the country to scout at the same tournaments, you never know which young player might catch your eye along the way.
Every USA Baseball alumni has an introductory chapter on their road to international soil in the stars and stripes. But what may be very overlooked in that journey is where it started, and who took a chance on them in the first place.
USA Baseball national teams are one of the highest honors you can possibly achieve in the game of baseball. But how do these top-notch players go from any other ball player into a representative of the United States of America? Enter the USA Baseball Task Force.
USA Baseball’s Task Force is made up of some of the brightest minds in the game. The Task Force includes the likes of current and former coaches in professional baseball, amateur, collegiate, high school, club, and even retired big leaguers.
The firepower of the Task Force also includes the likes of national team staffers, such as 2025 15U Manager Casey Scott. Scott is slated to take the reins of the 15U National Team after ten-plus years building experience throughout various Task Force assignments and assistant roles within national teams and USA Baseball as a whole.
The road to glory begins with roster construction, and it takes a village of the best minds in baseball to get it right. The first stop along the way of assembling the 15U National Team brings the Task Force out west for the 15U rendition of USA Baseball’s National Team Championships Arizona.
“Our goal for the week is pretty simple. Let's just identify the best players. This is really our first stop along the way for putting together the 15U National Team. We want to identify the best players possible, have our discussions at night, and walk out of here with a good list of guys that we can move on with,” Scott said.
The timeline leading up to the first stage of trials for the 15U National Team is a grueling one. Before the 40-man initial roster is set to compete for the 20-man final roster in the late summer, the Task Force travels coast-to-coast to make sure eyes are on as many players the country has to offer.
“Over the course of the next four weeks, we'll make four stops. First is in Arizona, then out to Cary, North Carolina. Then it’s back to Arizona, then back to Cary, where we get our list together for trials,” Scott added. “The goal for us is to get 30 players out of these events here, coupled with the group that came from the National Team Identification Series, and have our group right around 40-42, for us to eventually select the roster from there,” Scott said.
The roster construction is simply impossible to be put together by one person. While Scott dons the mantle of manager, it’s guys like long-time Task Force members and 15U National Team Assistant Coaches JD Pruitt and Steve Butler that play a vital role in getting the roster shaped in such a short window.
“What we’re trying to do is come in and evaluate guys to see who fits the mold. I think not just athletically, but most importantly culturally that's a fit for someone that you would want to represent the United States, especially in international play,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt is now in his fifth season contributing to the Task Force and USA Baseball as a whole. Among the years piled up, the philosophy and approach to bringing guys together remains the same.
“There's a certain skill set that we definitely want to look for when it comes down to it. When you have the best of the best, you really start threading needles when it’s time for that selection process.There's a lot of factors that go into it. What type of teammate are they? How do they handle adversity? Do they fit our culture? I think these all play an important part in trying to piece everything together to move on,” Pruitt said.
While being just 15-years-old, the majority of athletes' development stages can take place at a much later time frame in a said career. But for Scott, it’s about who is ready right here, right now – and there isn’t much time to waste.
“Our window for these guys to project is very short. We're talking about a quick turnaround for us to grow before we're out there playing as a group. So although there is some projectability into it, we want guys that are ready to go right now,” Scott said.
“From a pitching standpoint, we want guys with good stuff. Guys that can hammer the strike zone, guys that can control the box, and have the ability to do some different things. Offensively, our window to teach and grow is very short, so we have to have those guys that are ready to roll almost immediately,” Scott said.
The challenge of building the right roster in such a short amount of time can seemingly put a lot of pressure on Scott, Pruitt, Butler and the rest of the Task Force. The late nights of collaboration and bouncing ideas off one another essentially set the foundation for the roster to eventually take shape. But as they say, teamwork makes the dream work.
“You have to trust everybody that you're working with. Once you get past the identification process and you get the invites out for trials, then your mode kind of shifts to ‘okay, we have X number of players coming to trials. Now, how do we get through that and find out who the right 20 players are?’ It's not always about the best 20 guys. It's about the right 20. It takes a village behind the scenes to be able to assemble a team that will represent our country and have success. You just have to put these kids in the best position to succeed,” Butler said.
Butler brings over a decade of experience to the Task Force, after getting his start with USA Baseball back in 2012. Whether it's 2012 or 2025, the experience along the way helps Butler and various other members grow as teachers of the game, but still remain a student all the same.
“I'm fortunate to be able to come out here, because not only am I identifying players, but also I’m learning from the best coaches around the country. To me, that's one of the most gratifying things. I get the greatest opportunity to coach the best players in the country, but I also get to learn from the best coaches in the world,” Butler said.
At the end of the day, no matter if it's Scott, Pruitt, Butler or any other member of the Task Force past and present, the mission of these men remains the same. To find the right players, instill the right beliefs, and give them the best possible output for success on the biggest stage.
“Wearing the U-S-A across your chest is the best feeling in sports, regardless of what sport it is. These young men are going to represent that very well. We obviously have to take them on the road to hostile environments in another country. There's expectations there on how we should carry ourselves. We are going to get into moments where we're on the field and everybody in the stands is rooting against us. That's a lot for a 15-year-old to handle. Once they get to Training Camp, they're obviously athletically able to represent us, but we have to find that other piece and that intangible side to make sure that they can truly represent us,” Scott said.
It’s a long journey prior to a team getting a gold medal around its necks. Countless hours of travel, sacrifice, evaluation and selection pave the way for the few who are lucky enough to represent the United States of America in the game of baseball. Regardless of how much energy is exerted into selecting a roster, the satisfaction and gratification stems from something much bigger than a closed door meeting to handpick our pastimes future.
“It starts with those meetings after long days with so many of us sharing the same goal, and that's really the secret sauce of this whole thing. Only four guys get the opportunity to be on the national team coaching staff. But it really is a full effort of all the people involved. And, reaching back as we go through the process, it’s like ‘hey, remember when we were on this field doing this? What did you get there? What do you remember?’ So I think we all take a great sense of pride in just being a part of that process there. So we move out, we win and we represent our project and our country to the best of our ability,” Scott closed with.
The process of selecting the 15U National Team is officially underway with Scott and the Task Force set to give it their all prior to naming the 20-man roster. The young men who will get the honor to don the red, white, and blue and cement themselves in a legacy of baseball excellence are out there somewhere, and now it's up to USA Baseball’s best to reel them in.
