By Nathan Rode and Rob Sidwell

One of my favorite things about my job is the interaction with scouts—picking their brain about players and philosophies or simply hearing stories. The downside is sometimes things are told in confidence and I can’t share it with others, but it’s a fine trade off.

Seven months ago, we hired Rob Sidwell to be our director of scouting in Florida. He spent 18 years scouting for major league teams, most recently with the Dodgers. Before that he worked for the Padres, Mets and Pirates. He signed several players that reached the big leagues, most notably Andrew McCutchen, the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player. Sidwell also coached for a time in the state with stops at Central Florida, Florida International and Flagler. He has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to scouting and now I don’t have to worry about his boss finding out that he’s talking to me. To tap into that knowledge, we’re starting a feature that has him discussing particular topics or questions I present that have to do with prospects or the draft.

Our first topic was a general look at Florida’s 2015 draft class.