 While at Michigan, he played for the Corvallis Knights in the West Coast League, an independent summer collegiate league.He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Orix Buffaloes.Within 3 years of being drafted by the Padres organization, Scales was discouraged from lack of play and even planned to quit; but infield coach Tony Franklin talked him into staying.