As Jake Cook darted beyond the final yard marker, one scout nodded and turned to his clipboard-holding peers. Another chuckled as the outfielder’s 30-yard dash time was announced over the public-address system, 3.50 seconds, echoing around the MLB Draft Combine’s sparse stadium.

It was the best time of the day and tied for the top mark since the combine’s inception in 2021. But Cook, drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays four weeks later, said he could’ve run faster.

The 22-year-old was nursing a femur splint that dogged his left leg for most of the 2025 college season. Had he been fully healthy, Cook said, he would’ve trained for the sprint instead of taking time off after his final season at Southern Mississippi. He hadn’t run in weeks.

“I probably would’ve done a little bit better,” Cook said over the phone in January.

Still, Cook’s combine showing earned a rare 80 speed grade ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft (maxing out scouting’s 20 to 80 scale). Despite just one full season at the college level, that tantalizing athleticism propelled Cook up draft boards and made him Toronto’s third-round pick, No. 81.

Jake Cook will likely start the 2026 season in Single-A Dunedin. (University of Southern Mississippi Athletics)

Cook joined an organization that’s struggled to develop game-changing outfielders in recent years, hoping to start his climb to the big leagues when he reports to Blue Jays spring training in February. He knows the comparisons he’ll get to Chandler Simpson, Billy Hamilton and other quick outfielders that came before. But he wants to be more than a sprinter.

“My goal as a baseball player is to not be a speed guy,” Cook said. “I want to be a guy that has speed.”

The Madison, Miss., native is a fascinating prospect — a bet on rawness over reps. He recorded just 304 plate appearances in three years at Southern Miss. Recruited as a two-way player, Cook redshirted his freshman season. He then missed time with a torn labrum and shoulder surgery and didn’t face live pitching for essentially two full years. He spent more time at the dugout railing than in front of MLB scouts.

Then, ahead of the 2025 season, Golden Eagles assistant coach Ladd Rhodes watched Cook shagging batting practice in the outfield. Still recovering from shoulder surgery, Cook couldn’t yet dive. He didn’t need to. He covered ground in every direction, vacuuming line drives in the gap and gliding under deep flies at the wall.

“That’s our centre fielder,” Rhodes said he thought at the time, “if he can hit it all.”

Cook was cleared to face real pitching a month later. He quickly snatched the Golden Eagles’ leadoff job, hitting .350 with the 13th-lowest strikeout rate in Division I last year (minimum 200 at-bats). That combination of elite contact and freakish speed gives Cook a clear floor and a path to the big leagues. Likely starting the 2026 season in Single-A Dunedin, the lefty now wants to find his ceiling.

In the first weeks of Cook’s final college campaign, Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Simpson began to gain hype. He was slapping grounders, reaching first and stealing his way around the bases in spring training and Triple A. In April, Simpson earned his big-league promotion. For a time, Cook embraced that style. “I mean, I can do that,” Cook thought.

He didn’t steal much, as he was still coming off shoulder surgery and playing for a Southern Miss program that isn’t particularly aggressive on the bases. But he hacked the ball around the field and found ways to get on base. Now he aims higher.

“I don’t want to be like a speed guy,” Cook said, “where I’m chopping the ball and then running to first and then steal and then steal. Like, yes, it works, but that’s not really how I want to play the game.”

There’s nothing wrong with Simpson’s style, Cook said, but at 6 feet 3 and nearly 200 pounds, Cook knows he can bring offence in other ways. He homered twice in Southern Miss’ conference tournament contests, but notched just one other dinger all year. Over 75 percent of his hits in 2025 were singles.

Jake Cook honed his swing this offseason, aiming to add more power. (University of Southern Mississippi Athletics)

The Blue Jays shut Cook down after the 2025 draft, bringing him to the club’s development complex in Florida. After two weeks off, ensuring his femur fully recovered, Cook got in the team’s hitting lab. With dozens of cameras tracking every movement, Cook adjusted his bat path. He’d swing, turn to the screen providing feedback, then face the next pitch. His goal was to add more loft and catch the ball out front — a recipe for slug.

Rhodes saw the new look when Cook returned to Southern Miss’ facilities over the holidays. The swing had more loft, the bat speed was up and Cook had gotten stronger, Rhodes said. It was everything the assistant coach preached was possible when he talked to scouts in the summer, before Cook tied Jeric Curtis (2022) for the combine’s 30-yard-dash record.

“I don’t think he’s even close to, potentially, what he has from a power standpoint,” Rhodes said he told scouts.

Cook doesn’t intentionally mold himself after other hitters. However, if he were something like Simpson in 2025, he’d love to be more like Byron Buxton. It’s a lofty comparison, Cook acknowledges, as Buxton likely possesses more power than he’ll ever tap into. The Minnesota Twins outfielder had 63 extra-base hits last year and Cook notched just 20 in his entire college career. But that’s the sort of ceiling he’s searching for in 2026 and beyond.

It’s one thing to adjust a swing in an offseason hitting lab and another to bring it to professional games. Cook will have to balance his offensive aims with improved base-stealing while staying healthy during the longest season of his life. But at least he has his speed. He wants to see what else is in there.

“I’m excited,” Cook said, “to kind of find out who I am as a hitter.”