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<\/p>\nAs Jake Cook darted beyond the final yard marker, one scout nodded and turned to his clipboard-holding peers. Another chuckled as the outfielder\u2019s 30-yard dash time was announced over the public-address system, 3.50 seconds, echoing around the MLB Draft Combine\u2019s sparse stadium.<\/p>\n
It was the best time of the day and tied for the top mark since the combine\u2019s inception in 2021. But Cook, drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays four weeks later, said he could\u2019ve run faster.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ve trained for the sprint instead of taking time off after his final season at Southern Mississippi. He hadn\u2019t run in weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably would\u2019ve done a little bit better,\u201d Cook said over the phone in January.<\/p>\n
Still, Cook\u2019s combine showing earned a rare 80 speed grade ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft (maxing out scouting\u2019s 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\u2019s third-round pick, No. 81.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Jake Cook will likely start the 2026 season in Single-A Dunedin. (University of Southern Mississippi Athletics)<\/p>\n
Cook joined an organization that\u2019s 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\u2019ll get to Chandler Simpson, Billy Hamilton and other quick outfielders that came before. But he wants to be more than a sprinter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal as a baseball player is to not be a speed guy,\u201d Cook said. \u201cI want to be a guy that has speed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Madison, Miss., native is a fascinating prospect \u2014 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\u2019t face live pitching for essentially two full years. He spent more time at the dugout railing than in front of MLB scouts.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t yet dive. He didn\u2019t need to. He covered ground in every direction, vacuuming line drives in the gap and gliding under deep flies at the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s our centre fielder,\u201d Rhodes said he thought at the time, \u201cif he can hit it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook was cleared to face real pitching a month later. He quickly snatched the Golden Eagles\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
In the first weeks of Cook\u2019s 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. \u201cI mean, I can do that,\u201d Cook thought.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t steal much, as he was still coming off shoulder surgery and playing for a Southern Miss program that isn\u2019t particularly aggressive on the bases. But he hacked the ball around the field and found ways to get on base. Now he aims higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be like a speed guy,\u201d Cook said, \u201cwhere I\u2019m chopping the ball and then running to first and then steal and then steal. Like, yes, it works, but that\u2019s not really how I want to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing wrong with Simpson\u2019s 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\u2019 conference tournament contests, but notched just one other dinger all year. Over 75 percent of his hits in 2025 were singles.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Jake Cook honed his swing this offseason, aiming to add more power. (University of Southern Mississippi Athletics)<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays shut Cook down after the 2025 draft, bringing him to the club\u2019s development complex in Florida. After two weeks off, ensuring his femur fully recovered, Cook got in the team\u2019s hitting lab. With dozens of cameras tracking every movement, Cook adjusted his bat path. He\u2019d 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 \u2014 a recipe for slug.<\/p>\n
Rhodes saw the new look when Cook returned to Southern Miss\u2019 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\u2019s 30-yard-dash record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s even close to, potentially, what he has from a power standpoint,\u201d Rhodes said he told scouts.<\/p>\n
Cook doesn\u2019t intentionally mold himself after other hitters. However, if he were something like Simpson in 2025, he\u2019d love to be more like Byron Buxton. It\u2019s a lofty comparison, Cook acknowledges, as Buxton likely possesses more power than he\u2019ll 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\u2019s the sort of ceiling he\u2019s searching for in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Cook said, \u201cto kind of find out who I am as a hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Jake Cook darted beyond the final yard marker, one scout nodded and turned to his clipboard-holding peers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-544547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115980204619065599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}