Introduction to Scott Littlefield
ARLINGTON – When he was considering the Rangers offer three autumns back, Bruce Bochy sought to sift through potential fluff to get real answers about the state of the organization. He’d listened to the things Chris Young had said and that Ray Davis had promised and he’d been impressed. It wasn’t until after he called Scott Littlefield that he became convinced. Bochy had worked with Littlefield nearly 20 years earlier in San Diego and they’d formed a close bond. Bochy loved managing games. Littlefield loved evaluating players. They both loved talking baseball and the occasional playful barbs that are part of baseball banter. They spoke the same language. One of mutual trust and respect.
The Impact of Scott Littlefield
“You knew you would get no bull from him,” Bochy said Saturday afternoon between occasional sobs as he tried to reckon with the news that Littlefield, a Rangers special assistant for player personnel, had died at age 59 in his Houston hotel while on an assignment a day earlier. “He told it like it was. And he was really excited about the future. You could feel it when you talked to him. He talked about how close the Rangers were to winning a championship. He believed it because he knew talent and what they had put together. And I believed it because I trusted his perspective.”
Texas Rangers’ late scout Scott Littlefield and his wife Heather.
Courtesy Photo: Texas Rangers
The Passing of Scott Littlefield
On Saturday, even after he was gone and the Rangers’ front office was reeling with grief, he gave them more perspective. It has been a terrible week for the Rangers on the field. A sweep at the hands of the Astros to start the week dashed any remaining hopes of a run to the playoffs. Losing to the Marlins in 12 innings would have been like pouring a shaker full of salt into a cut. By the start of Friday’s game, however, the Rangers had gotten word that Littlefield, who had spent 33 years in baseball as a scout, the last 15 of them with the Rangers, had passed away. After his family was unable to reach him, he was found unresponsive at his hotel in Houston where he’d been on assignment to scout the Astros-Mariners showdown in the unlikely event the Rangers reached the postseason. There was no foul play suspected, said his brother, Dave, a former GM and long-time scout. Littlefield had a heart issue in 2023, but had worked without issue since.
Texas Rangers’ late scout Scott Littlefield and his brother Mark, who is the medical coordinator for the New York Yankees.
Courtesy Photo: Texas Rangers
Personal Life and Career
He’d come to Houston early, to spend the Rangers-Astros series with his bosses, to talk baseball, and to laugh. For scouts, who spend their lives on the road, alone in hotel rooms, almost nothing could be more fulfilling than feeling connected to the team for a few days. We’d say that with more certainty, except that in the case of Littlefield, his family definitely came first. His two kids, son Tyler and daughter Erika, had followed him into baseball, working in scouting with San Diego and Baltimore, respectively. You could say it was in their genes. On both sides. Littlefield had married the former Heather VanOrnum, daughter of long-time scout John VanOrnnum, who had also served as the catcher on the original TV version of Home Run Derby. Theirs was a marriage destined to produce another generation of evaluators.
Legacy of Scott Littlefield
This was what the Rangers’ front office group who knew him best said on Saturday. He had an innate feel for “winning players.” He was blunt and direct, with the pragmatism of a New Englander born and raised in Portland, Maine. He could be crude, both as a compliment and a criticism. He was prone to practical jokes. And he was selfless with his time, particularly for any scout or young person wanting to get into the game. Fenstermaker remembered a rainout early in his own scouting career, which meant a six hour round-trip drive with the visiting Littlefield to see a mid-round prospect. After the rainout, Fenstermaker was prepared
