Please note, this posting contains multiple positions. All positions are paid.

The Toronto Blue Jays are seeking highly motivated and creative interns to assist with day-to-day tasks within various areas of their broader Baseball and High Performance operations. The start and end dates are flexible depending on candidate availability and both full-season and partial-season candidates will be considered. This position will be based in Toronto, ON or Dunedin, FL. There are several different internship focuses (in the areas of Research and Development, Scouting, Player Development, Biomechanics & Computer Vision, and Baseball Systems Development), with more detail on each position provided below. Across all internships, the Blue Jays are seeking:

• Demonstrated passion for baseball and excellent reasoning, problem-solving, creative thinking, and communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals including members of the front office, field staff and scouts. Ability to speak Spanish is a strong plus.
• Baseball/softball playing background or related work experience with a pro/college team is a strong plus, although not required.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and self-direct work.
• The ability to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required by the baseball calendar.

For each application, please send a resume and cover letter to baseballresumes@bluejays.com. Please provide the position to which you are applying at the subject line, and include answers to the below question as well as the targeted question for each position in the body of your email. All answers should be limited to one paragraph:

• Please describe a group project you have completed in a professional, educational, or other capacity. What was the goal, and who were you working with? How did your team progress, and what obstacles did you encounter?

Position: Research & Development Intern

Scope:

• Assist the Research & Development Department with baseball research as well as developing new metrics and tools to help with Baseball Operation decision making.
• Improve current production models and utilize novel modeling techniques to make better use of available and future data sets
• Challenge our current way thinking and provide input on both short-term and long-term projects.
• Contribute to ad hoc analysis of Amateur, Major, and Minor League Players
• Provide logistical support to major events on the Baseball Operations calendar (Draft, Trade Deadline, etc.)

Requirements:

• Proficiency with R, Python or other similar mathematical language
• Proficiency with SQL and relational databases
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute baseball research projects is a plus
• Experience with advanced modeling methods, including generalized linear models, mixed models, clustering, or other forms of machine learning is a plus. Experience evaluating and selecting models is also a plus

Question:
What is one question about baseball that you would like to answer, given the time and datasets necessary? What techniques might you employ to answer this question? What obstacles do you foresee?

Position: Scouting Intern

Scope:

• Assist the Amateur Scouting Department with the preparation for the Rule 4 Draft, including assistance with player evaluation, information processing, and staying abreast of the current amateur landscape.
• Support the Pro Scouting Department with periodic coverage related tasks and daily tasks, including maintaining lists of opposing team prospects, providing information on opposing team needs and having an understanding of ML player trends
• Provide support for Baseball Operations meetings and player transaction decisions.
• Support Minor League Operations/Player Development with their daily operations, such as processing expense reports, updating team rosters, compiling statistics and scouting reports, etc.
• Provide logistical support to major events on the Baseball Operations calendar (Draft, Trade Deadline, etc.)

Requirements:

• Knowledge of and passion for baseball operations processes
• Experience with in-person and/or video scouting is a plus
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office is required. Further technical skills (SQL, R, etc.) are a plus but not required.

Question:
What do you see as a current inefficiency with the way in which baseball is run? Is there any opportunity for teams in this area, and if so, how would you take advantage?

Position: Player Development Intern

Scope:

• Assist Player Development team and coaching staffs with data entry of game reports, player plan administration, and organizational projects.
• Collaborate with Player Development & High Performance staffs to optimize processes across the organization.
• Provide logistical support for Minor League Spring Training and off-season programs as it relates to scheduling, workflow, travel, baseball-related activities, etc.
• Support Research & Development staff with ad hoc analysis and the continual improvement of the tools and metrics that we provide to assist Player Development & High Performance.
• Assist on-field staff with incorporating new technologies and data into development plans.

Requirements:

• Strong administrative skills to understand the various processes required by each department and ensure that they are followed.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office is required. Further technical skills (SQL, R, etc.) are a plus but not required.

Questions:

• How can teams separate themselves through player development?
• Are there any specific examples of processes that organizations have currently implemented that would allow a team to best assist players and staff?
• What are two impactful ideas that you think would take the Toronto Blue Jays Player Development team to the next level?

Position: Baseball Systems Development Intern

Scope:

• Create new and/or support existing baseball systems through data visualization, display, and web application development
• Support Data Engineering team in the acquisition, ingestion, and cleaning of new and existing data sources
• Communicate with end users to gather system requirements and work through bug fixes
• Provide logistical support to major events on the Baseball Operations calendar (Draft, Trade Deadline, etc.)

Requirements:

• Enrollment in or completion of a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or similar field is preferred
• Experience with both front and back-end development is preferred
• Examples of data-oriented web development work is preferred

Question:
Please describe a web development or data-oriented project you have worked on (does not need to be baseball related; links to demo or source code welcomed). What did you learn while completing this project? How could you foresee applying these skills in a baseball capacity?

Position: Biomechanical Analysis & Computer Vision Intern

Scope:

• Contribute to internal research of baseball movements by collaborating with Baseball Operations, Player Development, and High Performance teams.
• Coordinate and collaborate with on-field staff on the collection of data
• Utilize cutting-edge modelling techniques (OpenCV, RANSAC, CNNs, etc) to provide insights from video resources
• Analyze a variety of biomechanical and related baseball information streams. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, ensuring data quality, providing meaningful takeaways, and developing best practices.
• Clearly and concisely communicate results through both written reports and data visualization
• Research and present on new technologies and methods to push our computer vision and/or biomechanics programs forward

Requirements:

• Enrollment in or completion of a degree program in Biomechanics, Physics, Computer Science or a similarly relevant field is required.
• Proficiency with R, Python or other similar mathematical language
• Proficiency with SQL and relational databases
• Experience with frameworks such as Tensorflow or PyTorch is a plus
• Experience working with large spatial and biomechanical datasets
• Experience and passion for working with markerless motion capture systems is strongly preferred

Question:
Please describe a baseball question you’d like to answer. What methodologies would you use to try answer this question?

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