Prep baseball: Scouts come out for Palmetto's Goetzman

(photo from prospectwire.com)

BRADENTON - When Granden Goetzman comes to bat, out come the camcorders and stopwatches.
The guys in their hats and fleeces start scribbling in their notepads, reporting their findings to the folks back home.
Goetzman, a senior outfielder/shortstop at Palmetto, has drawn over 20 professional scouts to the Tigers' games this season. There were more than two dozen Thursday night at G.T. Bray, where Palmetto played Manatee.
Palmetto coach Joe Collis views it as nothing but a positive.
"It's actually great for any baseball player that steps on the field," he said. "Any player that steps on the field from both sides, and there are that many scouts here, it's their opportunity.
"All these scouts, they all know college coaches. So it's good for both sides - they're not just out here for one guy, and that's what guys need to understand."
Goetzman went 2-for-4 on Thursday, reaching on an infield single in the first inning before launching a tape-measure home run over the fence in left during the top of the seventh.
He signed with Florida Gulf Coast University in November, but is hoping to get drafted, too.
Scouts will get plenty of chances to see Goetzman play next week when Palmetto competes in the Sarasota Baseball Classic, which runs Monday through Thursday.
"We're used to it," Collis said of all the scouts. "It's nothing that's affecting us or slowing us down. It's something we deal with on an everyday basis."