From Waterloo to the Big Leagues

“Share Waterloo shaped Gabrielle Campos’s journey to the Toronto Blue Jays When Gabrielle Campos (BASc ’21) first arrived at the University of Waterloo, she chose the school for the same reasons many engineering students do: the strength of the Faculty of Engineering and, above all, the co‑op program. “Co‑op was mostly what drew me to Waterloo,” she recalls. What she didn’t know then was that this choice would set her on a path straight into the heart of Major League Baseball. During her Computer Engineering degree, Campos found herself deeply engaged in a database course that assigned students a unique project: create a database to store the Lahman Baseball dataset and use it to model which players might make the Hall of Fame. At the time, she wasn’t a baseball expert. “I knew very little about baseball,” she admits. But between the technical challenge of the project and the enthusiasm of baseball‑fan friends, her curiosity grew. The assignment sparked something unexpected. “It opened my eyes that a career in sports analytics existed,” she says. What began as a class project quickly became a doorway into a field she hadn’t known was possible. A few months before graduating, Campos applied to two roles with the Toronto Blue Jays, a research analyst position and a baseball systems engineering role. She ended up being offered something in the middle, a hybrid position that she could mold around her skills and interests. She joined the organization as a research and development assistant, supporting projects across the broader R&D department. But she naturally gravitated toward the data needs of the club’s amateur scouting group. Before long, she was importing amateur data, helping build the team’s draft model and even submitting scouting reports after seeing players live. Her role gave her exposure few people get so early in their careers. “I feel very privileged to have gotten the opportunity to explore even more of the scouting side of things,” Campos says. “Being a part of our draft room discussions and even getting to put in our draft picks” has been among the most surreal and meaningful moments of her career. Today, Campos is a senior data engineer, primarily supporting the team’s Amateur Scouting group. As the department has grown, her work has become more specialized. “I’ve taken a step back from the research side of things and now mostly do data engineering tasks,” she explains. But her work remains rooted in the passion that started back in that Waterloo classroom. Waterloo played a foundational role in shaping her trajectory. The co‑op program, she says, was vital to building her career readiness. “Co‑op lets you try a bunch of different things and see what you like and dislike. I don’t think I would have been able to get this job right out of school without that experience.” Certain courses continue to show up in her day‑to‑day work. “Things I learned in my database course and engineering economics still help me do my job today,” she says. Courses like Power Systems Analysis and Operations and Markets also left a lasting impression shaped in large part by her admiration for Professor Claudio Cañizares . “He was one of my favourites and inspired where I went for many of my co‑ops,” she says. Just as lasting are the connections she made outside the classroom. “Many friends I made in first‑year residence (REV) are still in my life today.” Looking ahead, Campos’s goals are bold and joyful. “Hopefully winning the World Series with the Jays!” she says. She also hopes to keep growing as a data engineer and continue impacting the fast‑evolving world of sports analytics. From a database assignment in Waterloo Engineering to a seat in the Blue Jays’ draft room, Gabrielle Campos’s story is proof of where curiosity, technical skill, and the right environment can lead. Waterloo didn’t just prepare her for a job, it prepared her for the big leagues. From the Warriors dugout to the Blue Jays draft room The Waterloo alum helping power the Blue Jays Revolutionizing baseball training with AI-simulated pitchers Engineering Co-op and Experiential Education Community Talent Share

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