Former Phillies Scout Hilton Richardson Talks Scouting Cole Irvin

Image credit: Cole Irvin (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Phillies No. 19 prospect Cole Irvin made his big league debut Sunday, striking out five batters over seven innings of one-run ball. 

To discuss his rise to the majors, we invited former Phillies area scout Hilton Richardson onto the Baseball America Podcast. 

Richardson has a unique story, too. He was drafted by the Royals out of high school in 2007, played professional baseball through 2011, then returned to college to instead play Division I football at Boise State. Richardson briefly returned to pro baseball with the Phillies in 2014 before converting over to a scouting role in the Pacific Northwest, where he saw Irvin. 

Richardson talks the process of scouting Irvin, who once had the look of a first round pick before undergoing Tommy John surgery, how to trust what you see even when the velocity isn’t there, convincing Phillies brass Irvin was worth going over slot in the fifth round of the draft, and plenty more.