In Part I of our conversation with former Scouting Director and Asst. General Manager Logan White, we talked about the process of scouting, drafting, and developing players.  It's a long, difficult process with more misses than hits.  In Part II, we continue that conversation, but also talk about some Dodgers coming through the system, and some of the young players we saw last season.

BK

Brian Kamenetzky: In the process of developing your skills as a scout, who were the guys who taught you, and from whom did you learn the most?

Logan White: I'm glad you asked that.  I think it's really important in anything that you have mentors.  If you're in the medical field, if you're in the business world, if you're a writer, it's important to have good mentors, and I was fortunate that I had a lot of them.

It'll be Pierre and Furcal. Or Furcal and Pierre. But my dream of Russell Martin in the two slot will have to wait a while. Who should go where is an interesting debate, as neither player draws walks like a classic leadoff guy, but both run like one. I'd keep Furcal in the top spot, because he's been a higher OBP guy over the last few seasons, and while Pierre doesn't take a lot of pitches, he doesn't swing through many, either. His ability to avoid Ks will give Grady Little more chances to hit and run.  Just a thought.

BK

Not sure if you noticed, but last season was a banner year for the Dodgers farm system.  The success of Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, etc. not only helped the Dodgers to the playoffs, but also drew national focus to the quality of Dodgers prospects not currently ready for the bigs and put Logan White, the director of scouting, squarely in the spotlight.  It also earned him a promotion.  This year, White have GM Ned Colletti's ear (or more of it), serving as the assistant general manager, scouting.  We had a chance to talk with him about, among other things, the process of developing major league ballplayers, what he looks for in a player, and the future of L.A.'s young talent. 

Brian Kamenetzky:  Can you describe what's different about what you'll be doing next season?

Logan White: The thing I'm doing different now is I'm trying to pull all of scouting around the world together, here and internationally.  What we're trying to do is keep separate identities in each department, but make it all one big scouting department and pull it all together.  That's my biggest job.  Then I'll be assisting Ned (Colletti) with whatever player personnel decisions he might have.  That's the other thing that's a little bit different.

Peter Gammons recently put together a list of pitchers who, in his estimation, would seriously boost his team's chances of winning by making 30-plus starts. It shouldn't really surprise anyone to see Brad Penny on that list. For those of you without the ESPN.com Insider account, I excerpt here:

"There is little doubt that Penny has No. 1 starter stuff, and the fact that his starts (24, 29, 34) and innings (143, 175 1/3, 189) have ascended is a good omen for the Dodgers. A 20-game-winning Penny takes a lot of pressure off all the young pitching creeping toward the L.A. rotation."

Twenty game-winning Penny?  Slow down, Peter. I'll take 14-16, especially if those wins are spread neatly throughout the season, rather than last year's Jekyll and Hyde routine--death to hitters in the first half, death to bullpens in the second (how'd he win six after the break, anyway?).