Future Blue Jays Interview: Joe Sclafani

We chatted with Blue Jays Director of Player Development Joe Sclafani by phone from Florida last week. It’s become something of an end-of-season ritual with Joe, going back to when he was the Assistant DPD; it’s a chance to reflect back on the minor league season that was.

Joe Sclafani 9:7:23.m4a

D.M. Fox:  So tell me about your, Mr. Director of Player Development, tell me how it was for you personally your first year, first season in the role.

Joe Sclafani: Yeah, so technically this is my second year in it. Like the first one, it's a learning experience, right? I've been super fortunate to be around some brilliant people, especially with the backgrounds.

Mark (Shaprio) has done this role, Ross (Atkins) has done this role, Ben Cherintgon has done this role. I've got to work with Gil (Kim) for years, so I got to learn from a lot of really brilliant people and was very fortunate for that. [There are things still that pop up that you can't anticipate, and you're learning on the job constantly. I was tremendously honoured and excited about the opportunity and continue to feel that way.It's been a challenge and I'm constantly trying to learn and help you guys the best I can.

DMF:  You're right about that, it's a great opportunity for you. What have been the biggest challenges for you? 

JS: There's been lots of them. I've been part of a lot of the building of processes as we've done this year in, year out, we go in after the year, do a review, see what worked, what didn't, where we could get better, and we’re consistently refining those processes. We've had a fair bit of turnover, staffing-wise, especially on the leadership front.

It's been fun because everybody's really excited for their new roles. Jumping in any leadership position is a challenge. It's a learning experience for them as well, just trying to continue to push the train down the track, continue to refine our processes, get better.

We also have the hitting lab that’s new. We're trying to continue to get better with the pitching lab, and all the way around with our process and how we do things. We're constantly trying to do that, but also get the new leaders up to speed. We have a bunch of new staff members. The turnover has been pretty big. It's really just trying to get everybody in a good rhythm and comfortable in their roles. We're all on the same page, players can feel that, and we're able to help them every step of the way. 

DMF: My next question builds off of that.  Tell me, what are the Blue Jays, in your opinion what do you do well in terms of player development? What are your strengths? 

JS: It's a good question. I think from a foundational level, our processes are pretty solid.It's always weird for me to talk about what I think we do well. You always tend to see the opportunities for improvement. I think our processes are good. The fact that we include the players every step of the way. If you ask any of the players, if you talk to them, they feel included…..they have a seat at the table, they have a voice. We help them try to understand the why on a lot of these things. I think we've had a fair amount of success with helping some guys on the offensive side of things. Just refining their approach, their plate discipline.

We’ve seen some of the guys up there helping out the big league team, but also Buffalo's been rolling on that side. The way those guys are grinding, competing, game planning, putting together, stringing together really professional at bats has been pretty encouraging. Part of that goes to the guys that we are drafting. The amateur group is doing a really good job of that. It's leaving a good jumping off point to help those guys refine those things. We feel pretty good about that. 

On the pitching side, I feel like we're starting to make some strides with helping guys refine their stuff, pitch design pieces. There's some successful velo stories, but on many of these, it's never 100%. There's some success stories, some that we haven't fully gotten through yet. Like I mentioned earlier, it's always a process trying to figure out how we can get to as many as possible.

I feel pretty good about helping guys stay largely pretty healthy this year. We've adjusted some of our work list stuff on the pitching side. I feel like we've done a pretty solid job there. A couple of our higher profile guys had some unfortunate injuries this year. By and large, it felt like we stayed a bit healthier this year.

Our off-season programs - we continue to feel good about that. We've adjusted the structure of those. A lot of positives, but like I mentioned, we're constantly trying to figure out how to get better. 

DMF:  Tell me about the player development complex. The new and improved, now fully functioned, up-to-speed player development complex.

What impact has that had on your operations?

JS:  It's been incredible. Just being able to finally utilize the building in its full capacity has been just awesome. We have the labs that I mentioned earlier. We have the covered agility field, which is just unbelievable. It rains every day in Florida in the summer, so it hasn't impeded our ability to get work done. We have covered bullpens now, so similar premise to that. The cages, the weight room is unbelievable. Honestly, the biggest thing, and it was part of what Mark talked about when we were in the early stages of it, was making this place desirable and attractive to come move down here and live down here. In training, in the off-season, we have a lot of players, especially younger guys. They come in, they see the building, they get to work with our staff. They're starting to get places down here in the off-season, so they can be at the PDC often and work with us.

It doesn't hurt that we have a bunch of big leaguers that are around pretty consistently, too. It's really been unbelievable. We're very blessed. The other part is, we do amateur workouts. We bring in some of those guys, they see the building. It just becomes a really attractive place for them. They want to train here, they want to be a part of it. It's been pretty neat cultivating that culture.

DMF: I know….. I talked to Mark in 2018 about that. There was just such a glimmer in his eye when he talked about it. It was still more in the conceptual stages right then, but to see it come to fruition,

JS: …..that's just a whole... takes it to the next level, really. It really is. It really is. You see it in its full capacity. When we finally got to do a full spring training this year, we hadn't had a normal one in a while.

Having that full major league camp going, plus 150 plus minor leaguers all going at the same time, and we had the space that we needed to get everything we wanted to get done. We've been limited in the past, so I just can't say enough positive things about it.

DMF: That's awesome. Now, before I ask you about some specific players, just something I've always been interested in, Joe, and I've read about, and I know I've talked to you a little bit about, but I'm hoping you can maybe just in bullet form, point form, summarize the process of promoting a player from one level to another. What are the look-fors, the boxes to check, the benchmarks, who's involved from a personnel standpoint? I'm really interested in that.

JS:  It's a pretty robust process. Obviously, everybody pays attention to the performance, right? That's public knowledge. Everybody's locked in on those things. But there are lots of other factors that play into our decision-making process there. We want to get guys at least a little bit of a foundation and sample size to work off of. Anybody can get hot for a couple weeks, you know. But give them a decent sample size, and then when it feels like they've earned it, we'll put together a promotion sheet that factors in staff on the ground. They're the ones with them every single day.

To get subjective feedback, we have some models and whatnot that factors in objective feedback. We'll put together a sheet. We send it to many members of the org, front office, R&D, all PDHP. It's a big group, and we ask for feedback on where people are at with it. But on top of the performance, how are they doing with their priority goals? They each have their own subset. They have action plans. How are they doing with those? Are they accomplishing what we're hoping for? What are their routines like? Not only on the field, but in the weight room, their prep and recovery, and in the training room, their prep and recovery. Their dietary discipline. Pretty much every one of our players has something dietary that they're focused on. How are they doing with that? The performance, that factors in. We preach being a good teammate all the time. How are they as a teammate? How are they as a worker? All those intangible pieces, the nuances. Everybody can see on the surface what the performance looks like, but sometimes there are some deeper factors that are playing in that we'll address with those guys. If we don't feel like the routines are in a great place, and the professionalism isn't where we want it to be, that'll be the message. Yeah, you're killing it at this point, but we don't want good A-ball players. We want good big leaguers. Just because you feel like you've mastered that because of the performance doesn't mean we feel like we're trying to put these guys in the best position to not only get there, but stay there for a long time and be contributing members to hopefully a winning team year in, year out. That’s a long-winded answer, but there are plenty of things that go into it. 

DMF:  Great answer. Just to piggyback on that, is it more of a group consensus decision? Or do you get the final say? I’m just curious to know about ultimately how it goes forward.

JS: Yeah, it's a good question. Part of what we try to pride ourselves on and strive to do is have these processes because we're always able to go back and review them and refine them. We might make some mistakes along the way.  Some, hopefully, few and far between, but can we go back to that process? Generally, I'm not going to, or my assistant director or any of my coordinators aren't going to step in and be like, no, we should do this, even if the majority of the consensus is that this guy's not ready,

we're not going to just move him. It truly is a collaborative process that we try to really factor in and utilize to help drive most of these decisions. 

DMF: I know it probably takes some time and there's a lot of messages, a lot of documentation going back and forth, a lot of thoughts, a lot of things to consider. Love that answer, Joe. Let's go into the guys.

Of course, we're going to start with Tiedemann. What a year he's had, from striking out big leaguers in spring training to being on the shelf for a while, had us all concerned. Since he's come back, he's looking stronger and stronger.

His last start wasn't the greatest, but then again, I love all the changes that have been made with this new minor league world, but maybe one thing that hadn't been anticipated is if you're playing a six-game series and you're trying to get a guy on a five-day rotation, that means the odd time a team might face him for the second time in a week. I think maybe that's what happened with his last start. All in all, you have to be pleased at where he's at right now, realizing that development isn't always a linear process. 

JS: Yes, you hit the nail on the head. It is definitely not linear. 

It's going to take shape in a lot of ways. One thing when you start with Ricky is you have to talk about the person. Since he stepped on our grounds, he's been outstanding all the way around. He's been fully bought into everything we've been talking about.

He wants to know the why. He's been the model citizen of how we've been letting guys go about their work and how they attack every single day trying to get something out of it. I can't say enough positive things on that. Obviously, this year didn't go the way that he probably would have wanted, with that unfortunate weird injury with the biceps. In May, we took it pretty conservatively. We wanted to make sure that he was in a good spot. Once he got out of here, he wasn't coming back. Every step of the way, he's had a really positive influence on a lot of guys.

The way he works, the way he goes about his business. It's been good for some of those young guys to see. We wanted to get him back out there. The stuff is still there. It's electric. It's elite stuff. People were drooling over him in training. It was great for him to get that opportunity to show what he can do.

Obviously, the strikeouts are there. The stuff is there. It's just a matter of consistency. Continue to refine how he attacks guys. He's in a good spot. He finishes the year strong. We're looking at an opportunity to extend his season a little bit at the end of this year and see where it goes from there. One thing you know, Ricky, he's going to put in the work. He's going to go about it the right way. He's going to compete. He's a bulldog on the mound. He's going to go right at guys. He's still young. Everyone forgets how young he is. We're excited for what he does going into this offseason

and into 2024.

DMF: He just passed 100 innings pitched for his career in his second last start. I know fans in Toronto are just drooling, chomping at the bit for him. I'm thinking building a pitcher takes time, especially one who came out of a year of junior college. 

JS: Right. He didn't have a huge workload coming off of that foundation. It's been a process. We have a lot of conversations with Ricky involved in all of those. Hopefully we can get that foundation, the innings workload to a spot where he can really build off of it next year. Hopefully have a healthy year, get consistent, continue to improve and really show what he can do.

DMF:  Can you tell me if he's going to pitch in Arizona or is that decision still yet to be made? 

JS: It's still yet to be made, but I can tell you it's definitely being considered. 

DMF: When is that decision on the guys you're going to be sending usually made. I feel like the timeline keeps shifting a little bit, especially now that the season is longer. 

JS: Yeah, very soon. We've got to let these guys know. We've got to let the AFL know. I'm not sure when they officially announced those things, but we've been talking about it for a few weeks already at this point.

So, we're going to wind up sending a pretty big group out there. We're excited about it. 

DMF: Well, a guy I'm sure you're strongly considering sending is Orelvis, who just, once again, we talked about development not being a linear process. We as fans, we expect guys to come out of the gates in April, dominating.

And I know you guys, in  talking with the New Hampshire people, you had Otrelvis working on some things in April. But man, he's a different player than he was a year ago at this time, on both sides of the ball. It's been a really encouraging year for him.

JS: You know, one thing I like to mention to people is, what you don't see and what does factor in is that we play in some pretty tough places to play in in April. Vancouver, New Hampshire and Buffalo are pretty chilly and pretty unpleasant at times early on in that year.

So especially for the hitters, pitchers are always ahead of hitters in spring training and usually early on in the year. So anybody who gets off the slow start usually, if you can keep your head above water through April, should be in a decent spot. But, you know, especially for these guys, a lot of these Latin kids have never been in below 50 degree weather.

 But that's not to make excuses. Both teams have to do it. But I just wanted to point that out,  for Orelvis, obviously last year we challenged him pretty aggressively with the assignment to AA as a 20-year-old. You know, that was a testament to who he was, the gains and the maturation of his professionalism, just generally how he goes about his work, the routines, all those things. And it felt like he was going to be able to handle those challenges and make the adjustments. Unfortunately, it didn't happen as quickly as we thought it was going to.

And then this year, you know, he came in a little behind others, which many don't know. So early on in the year, it was still kind of like in spring training. Or you can make that argument. So for him, he utilized that year last year and reflected really well at the end of the year. He knew how he got exposed, what he needed to work on, the fact that his body was tired. He went and attacked the hell out of his offseason. And he came back ready to go. He knew what he needed to do. Obviously, it was a rough, very rough April. Everybody knows that. But he stuck with it. He stuck with the process. And that just points to the maturity and the gains on that front. And he knew how guys were going to attack him. I think he saw more sliders for off-speed last year. And he started knocking shapes. He laid off those breaking balls and put himself in good positions. The talent is just outstanding. So it was a matter of time and putting himself in a good position to be able to do that. And he started to hit more line drives, put himself in good spots getting pitches that he could hit and really drive. And he's kind of taken off and hasn't looked back from there. It's been very neat. And we're really proud of him for the way that he's continuing to do it in Buffalo and showing what he can do against significantly older competition.  And then on the defensive side, he is so committed to continuing to be a solid defender out there. We're even exposing him to a few different positions. He's got a great attitude about that. He sees how it works at the big leagues.

And he just wants to be as versatile as possible to be able to give himself a chance to get up to the big leagues and help the big league team win. So a lot of positive things across the board. We’re really excited for him. 

DMF: He really put the work in there, didn't he? And credit to him for not letting last year discourage him too much, because I know a lot of people probably were quite down on him or possibly had written him off even. But for a couple of games I saw him play online in May, I just thought he's figuring things out finally. 

JS: You could see that confidence growing as the year started to play out. And he really hasn't looked back. 

DMF: So, about Brandon Barriera. Keith Law had said he'd heard that Barriera came to camp a few pounds heavier.

I don't know if you can comment on that or not. And just from what I've seen from the kid, I find that surprising. But he certainly... I mean we have to temper his expectations in his first full pro season. But I think he fell short of those this year.

JS: Yeah. I mean, looking at it, definitely not the year, definitely not the way he would have wanted this year to play out. Certainly coming in, obviously, we had some high hopes we were going to challenge him. And we were excited for him to have some runway to show what he can do.  But he's been great since he's been here.

He's been all in. He lives our values. He does things the right way. He's a hard worker. He's a great teammate. He checks all those boxes. So, in the off season, ee'd had some discussions on making some strength gains.  And he did a good job of that. He came in. He looked good in spring. And then he had a little bit of a setback, which put him behind everybody else. And then when he finally got into action with Dunedin, he dealt with some rain games and rain shortened games.

And then had some arm soreness. So he really just never had the opportunity to get on a roll. So it definitely wasn't the way that he would have wanted it to go. But I think it was a learning experience in and of itself.

The first full pro season is a learning experience. You certainly find out a lot about yourself when you're doing that. And a lot of it was learning the routine, especially the prep and recovery routines in between starts. So I think he got a lot out of it. I think he's motivated. He kind of knows what it looks like. He knows what he needs to do. He's going to be around here, around the complex, for a significant chunk of the off season. And he's ready to get to work and put himself in the best position to really get back on the map, explode on the team next year in 2024.

DMF: Looking forward to it. I don't have any concerns about him. Because as you say, and I know you've said in the past, the first people don't realize how much of an adjustment, especially I would imagine coming from high school. I know you came from college yourself, but coming from high school, that must be a huge adjustment, that first pro season.

JS: Yes, it really is. I mean, even as a college senior when I got drafted, that first one, you don't have any other responsibilities out there. It's the same day in, day out, it’s groundhog day every single day. Plus you're dealing with the travel, the buses, the hotels, and just all these different things. Even most of the guys, all the way around for the first full season, high school guys, college guys, it's an adjustment. You learn a lot and hopefully they realize the importance of the routines and can get themselves in a spot where they really get rolling and can have a big year in their second year. 

DF: I’ve got to tell you, my questions are just nicely dovetailing here. I compliment myself on the job that I've done here, Joe. Tucker Toman - of course, the Florida State League is a black hole for those who are watching online, but I did watch pretty much every one of his at-bats that I could. I like the way that he works the count. I like his approach. Again, it's just a matter of that first pro season and still just a matter of figuring out which pitches he can get his barrel on.

JS: Yeah, he's definitely in that same boat. The lack of short season has had more of an impact than people realize. They would have worked those kinks out against guys their own age. So it's a big jump from the Complex.

Tucker was a challenging one. He's one of the youngest guys in the league…. I think we were one of the younger teams in the Florida State League. A lot of pitchers are a bit more advanced, a bit older. It was going to be a challenge. He knew that going in.

We talked about it. He was excited about it. Same thing, trying to figure out how to navigate that first full season was something that he worked through. Figured out the routines. It's hot as hell down here in Florida every single day. How do you balance getting the work in so you can continue to improve and work on your priority goals, but also be ready to compete every single night. And then you factor in the more advanced, some of the older, more advanced guys. It was a big challenge for him. He's had a great attitude about it the entire year.

He feels like he's learned a lot. And he's excited about taking those things and translating them into what he does in the offseason, how he's going to perform, or how he's going to work to combat those things next year.

And once guys  -you play a lot of the same teams over and over again, not to mention you play them six games in a row - so if they find something that they feel like they can take advantage of, they're going to keep hammering you on it. And he started to press a little bit and struggled.

But he's a great kid. He wants to be great. He works his butt off. There's so many things to like. He's still only 19. If he has a big year next year, and then he starts ‘25, and in his age 21 season, people aren't going to be questioning him anymore.

He's always going to be younger than the rest of the group, hopefully, if he keeps performing. It was a good learning experience for him, and we're excited for the offseason to get him going, and hopefully he comes back in a really good spot. Those good points that you make there, and the short season.

DMF: The leap from the complex to single A ball is massive.

JS: Yeah, it truly is. Everybody says the biggest is from A to AA, which is still true. That jump from complex to the low A is a significant one at this point.

DMF: Interesting. Yosver Zulueta  I saw pitch two scoreless endings last night, and a scoreless ending a couple of days before. I thought that was just a little bit unusual, how he came down to the complex, and then went back. He didn't go on the development list or anything like that….I’m just curious to know what the reasoning was behind that. Obviously, it's worked so far, but I'm just interested to know the process. 

JS: Yeah, we're hoping it continues to work, and he has some momentum, and he has gained some confidence. It's been a rollercoaster ride for his entire career.  This is just another step in that. We're hopeful that the more consistency he has, he's going to be able to figure out the strike throwing a little bit. You can't argue with the stuff. The stuff is electric. When he's on and you see it, that's what it's supposed to look like. It has been just a matter of getting that consistency out of him.

As the year played on, we started to shorten that role to see if it would play up even more in shorter stints, and see if he could find some consistency, just come out of the pen and really just go right at guys. We saw a couple of opportunities, I think it was a month or so ago, where we thought we could take him out of the pressure of performing every single night, work on a couple of things, and get him in a spot where he can really finish the year strong. I'm thrilled that he's been able to go up there. I think yesterday, it was six up, six down.  You can kind of see the confidence in how he carried himself on the mound. We're hopeful that that was a jumping off point, that he really kicks off from there. 

DMF:  That's awesome. I didn't see him last night, but after we finish, I'm going to have a look at it. His line jumped out at me last night, so that's great to see.

JS: Yeah, it was good.

DMF:  Adam Macko I was listening to his first game of the year while my wife and I hiked in Red Deer, AB, and he had trouble with the strike zone then, but four of his last five starts now have been lights out. The higher-ups have some decisions to make on this guy as far as Rule 5 and everything else goes come December. He's making a case for himself.

JS: We're pretty encouraged by Adam here. Once we got him in the trade, it was great to get to know him. He was super excited, obviously, being a Canadian kid, to join us, but he came in and asked a lot of questions. He knew who he was. He knew what he liked to do. He wasn't afraid to tell us those things. He was willing to refine his own process and work with us on what we were recommending. It's been a lot of fun to work with him. I think the biggest success this year for him is that he's been healthy. He's been able to go out and post very regularly.

He has not been able to do that up to this point in his career. He feels really good about that, as he should. We feel pretty good about that. The performance was up and down throughout the first little  part of the year. But he has a tendency, and I think he's talked about it, probably in a couple of articles or whatever, that he's a bit of a tinkerer. It's a great trait sometimes, because it's constantly trying to get better and find those little edges. You can't forget what makes you good.

Hitting is hard, and you have to have good stuff. Go at guys, know how to attack them. Once you have that game plan, build confidence and just go right at guys. You do have the stuff to be able to have that success. He's been open to making adjustments. He's been consistent in refining all year. He's constantly trying to find ways to get better every single day. It's been neat to see, I think it's the last five or six weeks, he's really strong together. A good stretch. Hopefully he continues that, finishes strong and potentially helps the C's win a championship out there.

DMF: Just curious, something you said a couple of times, you talked about him asking questions.I’m curious to know what kind of questions do these kids ask? 

JS: Yeah, it varies for all of them. It could be from on-field stuff to off-field stuff. Pitchers' pylo ball program, in between starts, how they go about their bullpens. A lot of it is just looking for those opportunities. They want to understand what makes their stuff good, or for pitchers, what makes them good. Where do we see the opportunities to get better? You don't want to forget about the things they do well.  You want to accentuate those as well as address the things that they do have opportunities to get better with. I could give you a million different examples, but it's always centered around that. That's a good sign, obviously. I wouldn't say that's something necessarily that you're as an organization looking for, but that certainly is a good sign when somebody's curious like that and is asking questions. It's super helpful. How do you know what the goal and the target is if you don't know what good looks like, if you don't know what makes you good?

The shape to be a big leaguer looks... By and large, there's obviously some commonalities there, but it looks different for each type of guy. Understanding what makes them good, how they can continue to get better, it makes them a lot of fun to work with.

There are some guys that are a bit more stubborn and it takes a lot longer. If they're open to having those conversations, we're willing to do it. We tell them the challenges, ask them why. We're going to be prepared to tell you that. If we're not, we're going to find an answer for you. Just having those conversations,mhelping them become their own best coach is really what our goal is. They can go up to whatever level they go to. They can go up and explain to those coaches, here's what I need, this is what's happening when I'm not going well, those types of things. 

DMF: That's great. That's really a great approach to learning.

Last guy I want to ask you about, and you know I want to ask you about every single guy in the organization, but I won't do that, is Alan Roden. I saw a little bit of him online in the playoffs last year and he stood out then. He's just continued to refine his approach.

Here we find him a year later, and he's pounding AA pitching. 

JS: We talk about breakout guys in our system and we already talked about the challenges of the first full season, professionally. He's answered every bell, every step of the way. He's another one that's just a really, really good kid. Super sharp, cerebral, asks a lot of questions. We met with him last year, I think both of his parents are college professors and he said that's what he wanted to do if he wasn't a baseball player. He's a really bright kid, but he's also a super talented baseball player. He's a grinder, he does everything well. When we got him, we saw some opportunities with the swing. Our amateur group did a really good job just on the background of makeup, because we felt like we were in a great place once we got to know him to really hit the ground running with our ideas and work with him. He adjusted his setup and his stance to allow him to create a little bit more space with the hands. He always had a really good, I mean you saw the strikeout numbers in college, always had a really good feel for the strike zone, really good feel for his barrel. He's going to find a way to put the ball in play and compete and have good at-bats. It was a great piece to work with. It was a great piece to start, but with the adjustment in the stance it was allowing him to create a little more space, and really hit the ball a little bit harder. It's been a process. We're not all the way there yet. He knows that and he'll probably be the first to tell you that. It's been really fun just to see him go out there. He doesn't give away any at-bats. It's a professional at-bat every single time up there.

The pitcher has to work to get him out. He's not going to put it in play lightly on pitch one or pitch two. He's going to make a big attack. Learn to take those opportunities. He's a really strong kid. We think there's more in there on the power front. It's been fun on the offensive side.

People don't really talk about - he's not the most fluid athlete if you're just looking at him for the first time - he's a sneaky, strong kid. He moves better than you'd think. He's a sneaky, good outfielder. Fundamentally sound. Arm is solid. He runs better than people think. He's a smart base runner. I can't say enough positive things. 

DMF: Even with the work you guys have done with him on his stance, it's unusual, it's striking, but it works for him. He's on time.

JS:  Every time. He puts himself in a consistent position to hit every single pitch. It's a credit to him. He's learning the game-planning pieces. How guys are attacking him.

It's really fun. It's really fun to watch him. 

DMF: And then finally, last year you mentioned Michael Dominguez. TJ Brock was another guy you mentioned when I asked last year at this time about some under-the-radar guys. Who are some guys who have maybe not stood out maybe like a Roden has, but guys who have made an impressive amount of progress in your mind. 

JS: Sure. I guess starting on the pitching side, Devereaux Harrison. He's a guy who kind of got thrust into the starting role this year. It's been pretty neat to see how far he's come so quickly. It's really interesting stuff. The guy wants the ball. He competes. He's been a lot of fun. 

Kendry Rojas. I don't know if you've had a chance to watch him pitch, but he’s a big athletic lefty. He throws pretty hard. He's gotten a little fatigued as the year has gone on, but came out the gate really killing it. Lots of life there with another good offseason. Nobody gets to see the complex group.

Fernando Perez is a Nicaraguan. Big body. A lot of opportunity we feel like on the physical side still. He's a strike thrower. The stuff is getting better and picked up this year. He really competed his butt off. Nolan Perry is another guy that has had a successful year down in the FCL. I'm trying to think on the position player side of guys that might be under the radar. Alex DeJesus has bounced back in a nice way. Ryan Jennings has some big time stuff….Garrett Spain has had a really nice bounce back year.. 

DMF: Miguel Hiraldo has bounced back a year in AA, which has been pretty cool to see. Devontae Brown nobody talks about. How did he not get drafted?

JS: Just maybe because of his age? We asked the same question. The age problem is factored into it. He's a great kid. He can play multiple positions. He's solid in the outfield. He can play on the dirt. He has some real bat speed, real juice. That's been a fun one.  Michael Turconi, nobody really talks about him either. He's struggling a little bit in AA. He's had a really, really productive year, generally, in that first full season as well. 

My job is to be inherently optimistic and positive on all of our guys. Peyton Williams, people don't really talk about as much. He's dealt with a couple of injuries, but he still hits the ball as hard as anybody in our org. It's been fun. Josh Kasevich continues to get better all the time. We're pretty excited about some of these guys. Mason Fluharty is one that nobody really talks about. Interesting lefty profile, fastball, kind of rise, cuts. Guys don't pick him up very well. Connor Cooek took a huge step forward this year. The stuff is ridiculous. The strikeout numbers are ridiculous. I'm sure that's probably more than you wanted.

DMF: No, that's great. I wholeheartedly agree with you on every single one of those. They're under everybody else's radar, but not yours or mine. Tell me the schedule from here. When does the development camp start and what are the timelines from here? 

JS: Obviously, the Neen Men's wrapped up on Sunday. Vancouver is going to be in the Championship Series. We've had guys stay back so basically with the complex group,  we've had a stay-hot group is what we're calling it. There's still going to be injuries and whatnot. We need a group to stay back.

We've had guys here in the complex working. Obviously, some live BPs is about all we can really do. We start FDL on Monday. That'll go for a little over a month. This year, we're adjusting the way we do some of the camps. We're dealing with a mandatory down period where we can't bring guys in. We're going to be running a bunch of different types of camps, physical development, camp waves. We felt it went well last year. We're going to be doing a lot of that pretty much from next week through right before the week of Thanksgiving. We'll have some velo camps. We'll have a couple swing camps, some defense camps. We like the way that things played out this year in the way we shifted a lot of the focuses to early next year. We felt like guys were more prepared in spring training. They were able to stay healthier. We'll be doing that, I guess. 

DMF: Interesting. Joe, as usual, I appreciate your time, your thoughts, and your insights. They're always great. The posts that I write about our conversations, people just can't get enough of. I'm really looking forward to transcribing all of this. 

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