Matt Roffe, who will oversee the Chicago White Sox drafts, aims to blend data with traditional scouting

Major League Baseball’s amateur draft has been a lifelong passion for Matt Roffe.

“Since I was a kid, I was going through draft manuals, Baseball America, things like that,” Roffe said during a video conference Thursday after the Chicago White Sox officially named him their new director of amateur scouting. “(I) just love evaluating players — especially amateur players.

“I’m really excited, looking forward to this opportunity. It’s a lifetime dream and something I’ve been looking for my entire life, so I can’t wait to begin.”

The Sox said Roffe, 30, will oversee their strategy for identifying, evaluating and selecting amateur talent. He mentioned the importance of strong collaboration with the player development and research and development departments as well as all of the scouts.

“I’m really excited to blend those pieces together and get to great outcomes,” he said.

Roffe spent the last five seasons (2022-26) with the Milwaukee Brewers, serving as their assistant director of amateur scouting this year after being promoted to the position in November 2025. He was manager of scouting operations in 2024-25 and coordinator of scouting operations in 2022-23.

In a statement, Sox general manager Chris Getz said Roffe “brings a clear vision for how amateur scouting can continue to evolve, pairing the insight and conviction of our scouts with objective information and strong collaboration across the organization.”

Roffe picked up plenty during his time with the World Series champion Brewers, mentioning vice president for amateur acquisition Tod Johnson and vice president for domestic and international scouting James Armstrong.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years has been empowering scouts and giving them a voice,” Roffe said. “And try to blend the objective information that’s in place with their subjective take on players. It’s a human game. There’s always a need for refined eyes out in the field, evaluating players.

“So to have the opportunity to combine all those different inputs into a single valuation is really exciting, but especially to raise the voices of our scouts and make sure they have a platform to share what they think of each player.”

Roffe’s experience includes internships with the San Diego Padres in research and development in 2018 and with the Brewers in baseball operations in 2019. He spent two seasons (2020-21) with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a player personnel analyst before the Brewers hired him in October 2021.

“When I was with the Diamondbacks, I was all pro scouting, and that gave me a good foundation for what to look for,” Roffe said. “So when I came to the Brewers and started spending more time in the draft, I had a good foundation of the types of things that translate to value in the big leagues.

“This is really the space where you get to infuse talent into an organization. You’re going to get your 20 or more picks, so it’s an incredible opportunity to partake in that and infuse an organization with impact players.”

Reports of Roffe’s hiring by the Sox first surfaced Oct. 29.

“Now that I’m here and part of this,” he said, “I’m excited to get to know people on a personal level and work together as a team to accomplish bringing another World Series championship back to the South Side.”

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