Even for a group that showed the baseball world how successful outsiders can be, this was bold, and a bit weird. It was an undertaking that embodies the tao of the Astros: Treat baseball like any other business, even if it’s uncomfortable, or be left behind.



Before the draft every year, baseball teams often fly in their amateur scouts. In this way, at least, the Astros were operating routinely in the summer of 2017. Drafts are a rare time when the whole department is together.



This go-around, when the scouts met as a group and in breakouts, some onlookers were on hand. These people are from McKinsey, the scouts were told.



The management consulting firm was conducting a study, in what was likely a first in professional baseball.



Some Astros scouts may have at least heard of McKinsey, which had revenues reportedly north of $10 billion in 2018 — roughly the same as all of Major League Baseball. The scouts’ top boss,...