Former Corvallis Knights Skipper Matt Dorey Embraces Scouting Director Position with Cubs.

Chicago Opens 2014 Campaign Tomorrow at Pittsburgh

Change is a big part of life, and Matt Dorey's had plenty of it since managing the Corvallis Knights in their inaugural 2007 season.

First, his career was altered dramatically just before the 2008 West Coast League season when he was hired by the Boston Red Sox as their Northwest area scout. So, that summer he hit the highway throughout the region instead of returning for his second year with the Knights.

It was the first of many subsequent steps up the pro baseball ladder for Dorey (pictured with Corvallis in 2007), a former Mt. Hood Community College and Portland State standout who guided the Knights to the WCL's 2007 West Division regular-season and divisional playoff titles in his lone season as their skipper.

Two years later the Red Sox shifted his coverage area to Texas/Louisiana, and he relocated to Houston. That move, while significant, proved minor when compared to the major upheaval he's experienced in the past year.

He's changed organizations. And he's changed job, twice.

First, Dorey was hired by the Chicago Cubs in Dec., 2012, as one of their two national cross-checkers. That reunited him with Chicago's President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, who came to the Cubs from Boston after the 2012 season.

Then, Dorey was promoted to director of amateur scouting this past November, after less than a year in his previous position. He now works under Senior Vice-President for Player Development and Amateur Scouting Jason McLeod, who also accompanied Epstein to Chicago from Boston. McLeod first hired Dorey back in 2007, when he was Boston's director of amateur scouting.

Dorey said he's excited about his new job, and thrilled to be part of an organization on the rise under Epstein, the architect of Boston's recent World Series champions.

"We have a great fan base, committed ownership, and a solid core of young players at the major-league level,' Dorey said, including former Gold Glove-winning second baseman Darwin Barney of Southridge High School in Beaverton and Oregon State.

"With these things in place, and with an exciting group of prospects in the minor leagues, we all have high expectations for the organization to achieve sustained success moving forward."

In his former post as a national cross checker, Dorey traveled the country to watch prospects, compare them to those in other parts of the country, and report his findings to the director of scouting. He collected as much information as possible on prospects to make sure the scouts' reports and evaluations were correct and consistent.

His new position is more involved and includes evaluation, scheduling, budgeting and general administration of a staff of about 25 scouts. He'll eventually move from the Houston area, where he's lived for several years, to the Chicago area but he still will do a considerable amount of traveling.

"I will try to provide the necessary support, tools and resources for the scouting staff to best do their jobs of identifying the best players for the Cubs," he said.

Coincidentally, Dorey will oversee about 25 employees in his new post, or approximately the same number of players he skippered during his coaching days. He said there are some similarities to managing and supervising.

"Ultimately it comes down to setting very clear expectations and holding everyone, including yourself, accountable to those standards," he said. "We have tremendous group of talented and professional evaluators. I have complete confidence and trust in their work ethic and abilities, which ultimately provides the insight needed to make quality decisions when the draft rolls around."

The Cubs have ample rising talent in their farm system, headed by 20-year-old shortstop phenom Javier Baez, who had 20 homers and 54 RBIs in 54 games at double-A Tennessee in 2013, and third baseman Kris Bryant, a slugger from the University of San Diego who was the MVP of the 2013 Arizona Fall League.

Chicago is also high on 21-year-old middle infielder Arismendy Alcantara, who also played at Tennessee in 2013.

"The farm system is definitely getting stronger," Dorey said. "We have selected some impact position players at the top of the last couple of drafts and been committed to scouting, drafting and developing starting pitching depth.

"That is definitely a credit to our amateur scouting staff the last couple of years, led by Tim Wilken and Jaron Madison, and the job the front office and pro scouting departments have done acquiring impact talent via trade the last couple of years."

One of Chicago's top pitching prospects, right-handed pitcher C.J. Edwards, was acquired via trade from Texas in 2012. Righty Arodys Vizciano was ranked as a top prospect in the Atlanta and New York Yankees organizations before being acquired by the Cubs.

Seven former Knights' coaches or players work in professional scouting and player development. Gabe Sandy (Miami), Darin Holcomb (Colorado) and Mike Thurman (New York Yankees) are area scouts. Kevin Hooker (Detroit) is the Pacific Rim scouting coordinator; Brett Evert (Atlanta) is a scouting supervisor and Bobby Scales (Los Angeles Angels) is a director of player development.