Things scouts say that drive me crazy

Bob Elliot has a column up that has a bunch of little interesting bits of news, Including:

• Stuff on Dalton Pompey's 'dehydration':

"My chest locked up on me running to second, I couldn't breathe and I was in a bit of a panic," Pompey said. "Even now, I still have a lingering effect ... I don't think I could run very far.

• Stuff on Marco Estrada's terrible outing.
• A bit of conversation between Devon Travis and Anthony Gose, when Gose was at second base Monday.
• Something on Scott Rolen helping Josh Donaldson.
• A quick mention that Dwight Smith, Mitch Nay and Andrew Albers have been sent out to minor league camp, leaving the Blue Jays with 59 players.
• And a look at the battle for the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation.

Bob also included this line, from a 'scout', about Daniel Norris:

Scout says: "I read where he was living in a van ... read it about 10 times. And how he's a surfer and a rock climber. He might want to lose those hobbies if he's going to be a success in this game ... all the money that's out there."

This is the scouting stuff that drives me crazy. If Norris sat around playing X-Box all day, that would be great. But no, he's interesting. He has a life. He has hobbies. I would think rock climbing would be a great workout for a pitcher.

Yes, Norris seems like a cool guy and, yes, I've read way way too much about him living in his van, but the jump in logic from 'he has some cool hobbies' to 'he can't have any hobbies if he wants to be a MLB pitcher is just foolish. There is a lot of off-season in baseball. Young guys need things to do. If he was a hunter, the scout wouldn't say he shouldn't be allowed his hobby. If he fished, he'd be a 'good old boy' and that would be a plus, in the scouts mind. But no, he's young and athletic and he does things that young and athletic people do.

It reminds me of the line in Moneyball where the scout knocks the player because his girlfriend isn't good looking enough. I can almost see Billy Beane's head exploding.