Q&A with MLB Draft analyst Jim Callis on his career path, Braves’ top pick

Callis spoke with the AJC on the morning of the big day to discuss his career path and preview some of the exciting prospects from this year’s draft class:

(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Q: You graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in 1988 and immediately started working for Baseball America. How did you bridge the gap?

A: I was pretty lucky because it was, obviously, a lot different era back then. I’m going to sound old, but there was no internet. There were no cell phones. ... There were no blogs.

Most people, if you’re trying to get a job in sports journalism (like in writing), you’d go work for a local paper, cover high school football, maybe occasionally write a feature and kind of wait for an opportunity.

I was fortunate because when I was at Georgia, I covered the baseball team. The first year I covered the team was 1987 when it went to the College World Series. Back then, Baseball America had the best college baseball rankings of the two or three places that ranked the teams. There was no technology, so to get their rankings, you would have to call Baseball America, and they would read the rankings to you over the phone every week. Georgia was ranked, so I got to know their guys a little bit because it was a small company and you were one of about three different people on the phone when you called.

They would sometimes use local writers to write features on players for magazines. I just said, “Hey, if you guys need anything in Georgia, I’m literally the only guy who goes to their games. I’d be happy to do something for you.” The next spring, I wrote a feature for them on how Georgia was rebuilding their pitching staff after losing two first-round picks. And then (Baseball America) had a summer internship that summer, and I wound up getting that internship. And before the summer was over, I was offered a full-time job.

Q: How did covering baseball for the university’s student newspaper, The Red & Black, help prepare you for entering the industry?

A: [Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication] is great, but in journalism, you learn more by doing than by sitting in a classroom. I love the Grady School, I’m not minimizing the Grady School when I say that, but, it’s different to talk about how to write news stories (versus) going out and actually doing it.

I’m extremely grateful to The Red & Black because getting the opportunity to go out and cover stuff was tremendous. Whether it was Georgia-Florida football games, the baseball team or covering basketball, they were tremendous. The year I covered the baseball team for The Red & Black, they talked to [former senior associate athletic director] Claude Felton, and they worked it out so I could travel to Omaha to go to the College World Series.

It’s funny, my main sports editor when I started off was [former AJC beat reporter] Chip Towers. He was the main one I worked with. Our paths would cross over the years when we both were covering — me for Baseball America, him for the AJC — Georgia in the 1990 College World Series.

Q: How about in terms of the relationships you built while covering a beat for The Red & Black?

A: That was huge, too. A lot of the SEC coaches were guys like (former LSU coach) Skip Bertman, who wound up winning a bunch of national titles, and (former Mississippi State coach) Ron Polk. Skip and Ron were kind of the fathers of SEC baseball, and I met both of them covering Georgia.

I obviously knew (former Georgia coach) Steve Webber. When they won in 1990, I had a pretty good (relationship) with the guy who won the national championship. I met some of those coaches when I covered Georgia baseball and, 100%, it helped.

One day I was covering a game, and because the press box (at Foley Field) was so tiny, I would go watch the game from the stands. Just so happens I was talking to a friend, and the guy next to me said, “It seems like you know a lot about baseball.” I said, “I cover it. I know most of the players pretty well.” It turned out he was Terry Ryan, who is the scouting director of the Twins.

We got to talking, and one of the first things he said to me is, “You’re left-handed, aren’t you?” I wasn’t writing anything down. I was like, “I am left-handed. How do you know that?” He’s like, “Because your hat is crooked. A lot of left-handers wear their hats crooked.”

Terry was asking me questions about backgrounds on players and different observations. (Georgia) was going to play Old Dominion coming up in the middle of the week. Terry wanted to see (two players from Old Dominion) but didn’t really want to stick around or have to double-back to Athens to see them. They weren’t high-priority guys, so he’s like, “Do you have access to a stopwatch?” because they like to time the home-to-first times as a measure of quickness.

I worked at a (restaurant in Athens) I don’t think exists anymore, and we had 15 minutes for lunch specials — if your lunch wasn’t ready in 15 minutes, it was free. So we had stopwatches. (Terry) showed me when to start, when to stop, and (I gave) him home-to-first times on those guys and general observations.

When I got to Baseball America, Terry was still the scouting director, and he later became general manager for the Twins and a very well-respected executive in the game. Because I had helped him out when I was in Georgia, Terry was always extremely gracious with his time.

So that was another example, where I just happened to meet him because we were sitting next to each other in the stands one day at Georgia, and it helped me professionally.

Credit: University of Georgia

Credit: University of Georgia

Q: You mentioned covering Georgia in the College World Series for The Red & Black in 1987 and Baseball America in 1990? How did it differ covering the team for a student newspaper, where you were around it every day, versus a national outlet like Baseball America?

A: We had kind of a whirlwind experience in 1987 because back then, if you had a team that hadn’t been to Omaha before, like a coaching staff and players, a lot of times they would get eliminated. It is double elimination. We had two games to go out pretty quickly. There wasn’t much broadcast before you got to Omaha, and then you get to Omaha and ESPN is there. The stadium’s a lot bigger than anybody was used to playing in. It was just a different atmosphere. A lot of times teams would be overwhelmed by it. And Georgia lost two one-run games. We were in-and-out.

In 1990, I still knew most of the guys. There were five guys from the 1987 team, which I think was key. I think Steve Webber would tell you, and he did back then, that he was more relaxed. He had a better feel for how to handle things in Omaha when they went back the second time.

(My experience) was different. I was there for the whole time, and obviously, Georgia went on an extended run and won the whole thing. But it’s pretty cool because of all the teams I’ve covered that won the College World Series, I didn’t know the players as well as I knew that group.

As a journalist, you don’t root for an outcome. I rooted for an outcome that day. And it was a two to one game. I knew a bunch of guys on that team, and I knew Steve Webber, so I was very happy for them. I go on the field and all of a sudden, somebody just bear hugs me from behind. My first thought was, ‘Man, I hope this isn’t on TV. Like, what’s Baseball America going to think?” It was Steve Webber’s wife, Pam. I was the first person on the field that she recognized, so she gave me a hug. It was really cool.

It was the most enjoyable event I’ve covered just from the sheer joy I had for myself and the team that won. It was just cool. I remember going up to the press box, and I saw Steve, and he’s like, “Jim, come sit down. We’ve got to talk about this.” It was as chatty as Steve would get.

Q: You, obviously, did a lot of work on college baseball and will now be covering Sunday night’s MLB Draft for MLB Pipeline. Why did you gravitate toward covering the young and up-and-coming players?

A: I honestly think it goes back to covering baseball for The Red & Black. I always kind of knew I wanted to be a sports writer, you know, but how do you get there? I know when I got to Georgia, baseball was always probably my favorite sport, but I think that 1987 team (combined with professors letting me attend events).

I remember going to Florida State during Spring Break. They were one of the top teams in the country. I would go cover midweek games like Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech and Clemson. If I wanted to go to a road series and miss class, (my professors) were like, “Yeah, go ahead. That’s fine.” But I just loved it. I enjoyed that experience so much.

At the time, Baseball America was the only place that was really covering that kind of stuff. I started reading it, and I (thought it was) the coolest magazine. They’re writing about all these players, and that was the only place you could read about these guys.

Going from (covering) the Georgia team and then ending up there, I was like, “Man, I love this.” I think the reason I enjoy it — covering the Draft and covering prospects — is after all these years, it’s fun to me trying to figure out who’s going to be better and why. The methodology and the tools you have at your disposal — obviously, we have a lot more than we did when I started — I just really enjoy trying to solve those mysteries.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Q: You previously told me you were up until 2 a.m. finishing your mock draft Sunday morning. What does the process of putting those together entail?

A: It’s a lot of work, and I couldn’t do my full process yesterday because I was running out of time. But I’ll basically set up a spreadsheet, and I’ll have columns. It’s a lot easier now because you can do the work a lot more efficiently via text than the old days where you had to be on the phone talking to everybody.

We’re fortunate in baseball because you can’t really trade picks, except in the supplemental first round. It’s not like the NFL, where if it becomes known that one team likes the guy, another team might jump ahead of them to take the player. You can’t do that in baseball. So teams will be a little bit more open.

I will compile a list of basically every player who I think could go in the first 40 or 50 picks, find out who their agent is, and I will talk to all the agents or text (them) about where they think their guy might go. You have to take it with a little bit of a grain of salt because, obviously, it’s their kids. I have four kids; I’m sure I love my kids more than anybody else does. Agents always think the best for their players.

And I’ll do the same thing for each team. It’s not like you ask them, ‘Hey, who are you taking?” because nobody’s gonna work like that. What’s nice for the mock draft, as opposed to simply ranking players (is that) I can kind of help both sides out with information too. Even this morning, I’ve already had a couple teams say, “What are you hearing from the two teams ahead of us?” or “Do you think this player could get to us at this pick?”

So I feel like it’s a time of year where I actually feel good. It’s like a big logic puzzle. It’s kind of fun.

Q: Who is one prospect you think is going to surprise everyone in this draft?

A: I don’t know there’s like a big first round surprise. (Former Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood) who threw a no-hitter in the College World Series, I think he’s gonna go in the middle of the first round. Not because of a no-hitter, but because of the quality of the stuff. I don’t think it’s a huge surprise, but that’s a little big one.

Maybe I’ve spent too much time doing my mock draft, but I don’t think there’s a guy we have ranked in the 50s that is going to be a top pick in this draft. Ethan Conrad at Wake Forest might sneak into the middle of the first round, but, like, he’s probably ranked in the 25-30 range by most of us.

If I knew, I guess it wouldn’t be a surprise. There could be somebody I don’t know who could sneak into the end of the first round, but I don’t think there’s an obvious guy right now.

Q: Who are some of the prospects that make the most sense for the Braves at pick No. 22?

A: It’s tricky when they pick No. 22 because you could probably cross off 10 players for sure, and then there’s another probably 20 guys who could go. I’ve heard different things. They take pitchers a lot in the first round.

I’ve heard guys like (UC Santa Barbara right-hander) Tyler Bremner and (Arkansas right-hander) Gage Wood. I don’t think those guys necessarily get to them. I projected them both to go ahead of them. I’ve heard guys like (Louisville right-hander) Patrick Forbes. There’s a high school lefty from Oregon, Kruz Schoolcraft, Alabama has a right-hander named Riley Quick and Arkansas has a lefty named Zach Root. I see pitchers more than anything.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Q: What are the chances the Braves draft a position player in the first round?

A: You just don’t know. If there’s a few more pitchers taken, then we suspect it could change. They’re not going to set it up like, “Hey, we’re just taking pitchers.” They’ll line up the players in order. You put them in a fairly solidified order, and then you see who’s there. I don’t necessarily think they like every pitcher I just mentioned over every hitter who might get to them. It’s probably a mix.

Q: How do you think NIL opportunities and colleges beginning to invest in their baseball facilities impact the prospects’ decisions to maybe go to college over turning professional right out of high school?

A: It’ll be interesting to see because you have the House settlement. (NIL has) affected some, but I don’t think it affects the top players too much because most of the first-round bonuses. We’re talking $4 million and $9 million on the upper end. Nobody’s getting that kind of money in NIL for baseball.

I think there’s very few players who even get seven figures on an annual basis in baseball. It’s not like football (or basketball at some of the basketball schools). I do think when you get to that player who is not necessarily a seven-figure guy — maybe he’s a $500,000 to $1 million guy — it gets more interesting because if you’re at a program that has NIL money for baseball players, then it becomes a real option.