Article: System starting to pay off for Jays

[ghuytro]

A good story interviewing Dick Scott, Blue Jays' Director of Player Development:

System starting to pay off for Jays

SN: The Jays for a while drafted mostly college players, but then you found success with Snider coming out of high school. Did the organization change its philosophy?

DS: In 2002, we felt we had a big gap in the organization from the bottom to the top. We thought college players would fill that gap quicker and once we got things solidified, we'd start taking the players we really wanted. That's how Travis came about. I think some teams thought we wouldn't take a high school kid, and we surprised them a little bit.

SN: What can we expect from David Cooper, Toronto's top prospect with the Fisher Cats?

DS: It's his first full season. Talk about rushing guys quickly. He was drafted just last year, and he's already in Double-A. Very good swing. His defense is improving. He's learning how to make adjustments. I certainly think in no time he'll be one of the top hitters in this league.

[tecumseh18]

Interesting. JP certainly trashed the lack of prospects when he got here, but way of making himself look good. But I can't believe that they would overlook high level high school prospects in favour of the collegians unless there was a (clearly misguided) sense that the latter would be better pros.

[oakleyselbows34]

Nice find. Thanks for posting.