Living the major league dream
It’s all baseball, all the time for Katie Mooradian and the 24-year-old St. Catharines native wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mooradian is halfway through her first season as an advance scout for the Tampa Rays after being hired on an 18-month internship through the Major League Baseball Diversity Fellowship Program.
She still has to pinch herself that she is getting paid to go to the ball park every day.
“It’s really cool,” Mooradian said, while taking breather at home for a week during the major league all-star break. “I don’t feel like I’m working. I get to go to a baseball stadium every day and watch baseball.”
Mooradian works with two other interns to create advance scouting reports for the Rays’ coaches on upcoming opponents.
“We are always working one series ahead,” she explained. “I look at all outfield and infield defences and base running and bunting tendencies and a big focus on pitch tipping as well.”
All of that is dissected into an extensive report given to Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro.
“It’s definitely what I thought it would be,” she said. “I’m loving it. It is difficult. Our bosses have high expectations for us, which is good. They push us and keep us on our toes. They help us learn a lot. I learn something new every day and they provide room for development outside of our daily responsibilities.”
A typical day for Mooradian sees her drive about 10 minutes from her apartment in St. Petersburg to Tropicana Field, home of the Rays.
She gets to work between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. each morning, grabs a coffee, and fires up her computer.
“I watch a lot of video. It’s video all day long and then writing notes on tendencies until just before game time,” she said.
For home games, she grabs dinner in the media dining area and then watches the game from behind home plate or heads back to her office.
“It’s a quick turnaround and you’re attached to the major league team so you’re at the mercy if other teams make a roster move. You have to write it up and get it to the coaches right away. I really enjoy it and am definitely interested in staying within this kind of area,” she said.
Mooradian said the challenge is to blend traditional scouting with analytics.
“In a scouting sense (I’ve learned) what to look for and on players just diving deeper,” she said. “Learning about all the different numbers and learning about all the different metrics and everything in our system we have access to. It’s unbelievable.
“The Rays try and teach us a way of thinking.”
Mooradian, who is under contract until next July, grew up a huge Jays fan.
“It definitely took a little bit to adjust the first time the Jays came and we played them but now I’m a Tampa Bay Ray and they’re my favourite team,” she said with a smile.
Mooradian is a graduate of Brock’s sport management program. She previously worked for the Astros in 2019 as Player Development Technology Apprentice with the Quad City River Bandits, and in 2018 was an intern with the Reading Fightin’ Phils of the AA Eastern League.
Last season, she worked with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, the Low-A affiliate of the Houston Astros as a Player Development Technology intern. Mooradian’s position saw her in charge of all the video and technology for the club. She also doubled as director of team travel, setting the travel itinerary for the team, and accompanied the team on road trips.
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