Until very recently, I must admit I had not heard the term “crosschecker” used in connection with MLB. The term has always been used frequently in hockey. A cross check is a dirty hit in which a player uses the shaft of the hockey stick between the two hands to forcefully check an opponent. Perhaps the term has always been a baseball term and I simply had not noticed it. However, for me it came to light recently when it was announced that Roy Clark had been hired as a National Crosschecker by the Dodgers.

The signing of Roy Clark caused me to wonder what a crosschecker actually did and discovered there is not a lot of information regarding this position. The scant information suggests the crosschecker will generally have a number of full-time scouts under his jurisdiction, perhaps regionally and more likely nationally. The National Crosschecker is responsible for comparing the prospects uncovered by scouts in different regions of the United States. He travels thousands of miles by plane and car during the course of the season and reports to the Director of Scouting regarding his ranking of prospects and their early draft round potential. Needless to say his prospect comparisons are all important on draft day.

Dodgers new crosschecker Roy Clark.

I also wondered if Roy Clark was the Dodgers first crosschecker fully expecting he is not. Again information seems to be difficult to gather but I did find some pertinent information regarding Dodger crosscheckers. In 1995 Dodger scout Claude Pelletier urged scouting director Terry Reynolds to sign Eric Gagne who was pitching for Team Canada. Reynolds was hesitant but did send Dodgers crosschecker Eddie Bane to Calgary to see Gagne pitch for Team Canada, which was on the way to the Olympic qualifier in Edmonton. Bane agreed with Pelletier and Gagne was given a $75,000 US signing bonus. Bane worked eleven years with the Dodgers and in 1994 his work helped make Paul Konerko the Dodgers first round selection. Bane, presently a Special Assistant to Player personnel with the Red Sox, is an iconic scout having previously worked with the Indians, Dodgers, Rays, Angels and Tigers.

In 2005 the Red Sox dispatched crosschecker Mark Wasinger to check out a young right hander late in the season. That youngster was Clay Buchholz. The only other crosschecker there was Dodger crosschecker Jason McLeod who is now an Assistant GM with the Padres. For whatever reason the Dodgers missed out on Buchholz by drafting Luke Hochevar in the first round and the rest of that story is painful history.

I had thought that each MLB team had one crosschecker which would help make player evaluations more consistent. However that is not the case. The Texas Rangers have six crosscheckers. The Dodgers now have three. One of those is John Green, son of former Phillies manager Dallas Green. John Green’s daughter Christina-Taylor Green was one of those who tragically died in the January 8, 2011 mass shooting at a Tucson, Arizona mall.

Also returning with the Dodgers as a crosschecker in 2014 is Paul Fryer who, like Green, reports to Vice President, Amateur Scouting – Logan White. Fryer has been promoted to the newly created position of global crosschecker, meaning he will follow up on players the organization is scouting all over the world. Fryer, in fact, traveled to Mexico to watch Yasiel Puig workout. He is reputed to have a knack for projecting how well a player from an international or college setting with make the transition to professional baseball in the United States.

Although he always had the benefit of watching a player perform in games, with Yasiel Puig it was just a workout but nonetheless garnered a glowing report from Fryer. The first thing he noted about Puig: “He’s pretty much a specimen, physically,” he recalls. Then he saw Puig hit. “I’ve never seen the ball come off somebody’s bat like that,” Fryer says. He was also impressed with the mechanics of Puig’s swing, leading him to believe Puig would be able to hit a top-level breaking ball. Fryer went on : “But for him, the ball came off the bat different. He was hitting balls a long way, he was hitting balls the other way,” Fryer says. “Everything he did was hard contact. For two days he just centered everything—and, obviously, he hadn’t played for a while.” While impressed with Puig, Fryer was taken back a bit when Logan White advised him of what the offer to Puig would be: “Are you out of your [bleeping] mind?”

Roy Clark now joins the Dodger scouting and development team as a National Crosschecker. Clark has had an excellent track record with Atlanta and Washington, With both teams he teamed with Stan Kastan. Their success together is just a harbinger of things to come for the Dodgers in the next few years. In his role with the Dodgers, Clark will be helping to scout amateur talent throughout the country as well as evaluating the club’s current minor leaguers. “Roy is an excellent talent evaluator and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Dodgers,” said Dodger Vice President, Amateur Scouting Logan White. “He’s a terrific addition and I’m looking forward to teaming him with Paul Fryer and John Green as National Crosscheckers.”

In three short years from 2010 to 2012 as Nationals’ Vice President of Player Personnel who oversaw the club’s drafts, Clark elevated the Nationals minor league system to the best in baseball as ranked by Baseball America. We have to wonder why Roy Clark would leave the position of Vice President to become a nomad wondering around the country as a National Crosschecker. I expect the reasons are not so important but the opportunity to work with Stan Kastan and the Dodgers was just too great to pass up. He now has the opportunity to help blaze a new trail with another organization – the one and only Dodgers.