Nine, five miles an hour, riding to his head. He hop it
down first with the lump bonius face, and on the very next pitch he
up in stole second face with greatst be he wasn't born, he had yes.
Welcome to episode thirty six of The Prospect. Besides podcast I Am Nate,
Handy and I Am Super Pumped, they have rook A russ Iszaki back.
Matt. How are you, my friend? I've missed you. I've
missed you too. My name Rookie row Suzuki is evocative of a better time,
back in the early two thousands, when the Mariners were exciting first place
led by young phenom Echiro Suzuki. Do you know that the Mariners are in
first place by more games now than they have been since two thousand and two.
Two thousand and two was so long ago, Nate, so long ago,
it was, it was, I was, I was twenty two.
That's a lifetime ago. I mean, I can't believe that this mediocre team,
whose hitters admittedly suck, which I think is your theme for this podcast
today, there is the first place by a lot in the al West.
And I'm amazed, I'm astounded, I'm astonished. I'm here for the fun
differential. I think we're gonna throw a lot of the stats out the window
and it's all vibes today, buddy, It's all vibes. Before we started
recording, I was just telling you how I'm having a hard time getting excited
about some hitters man prospects that. Yeah, I know. Every year last
four years, there's always been somebody that wasn't on my radar that I became
like hitting wise, that kind of became a little addiction for me, and
someone that i'd tune into and watch at least two, three, four times
a week. And I've been looking that and I've been on the problem with
this, don't really have anybody this year. Last week I did about a
dozen pictures that I felt really improved. Maybe they're getting interesting dynasty wise,
And I did the same sort of comparative study on hitters compared to all those
numbers from last year to this year, and that gets a lot hairer,
I think, than than doing it for pictures. I don't know, man,
I'm trying to find some b side here hitters that are ascending within systems
to get excited about it. I'm just struggling to do so, Matt,
Well, that just tells me you're you're not watching all the under the radar
guys that I picked for my B sides, because my B side under the
radar guys are like full on top one hundred prospects. Now for some people.
Sure, people talking up Charles McAdoo, people talking up CJ. Cathis
like the next al Manzarto. I mean, these are these are my tabs
in the dark. Where's your B side guys? Sure well, Matt,
I was saying, aside to those guys, we already know about those guys.
Man, We've been talking to those guys since October. And this isn't
until like to our own horns here, Oh, it totally is. I've
done the B side stuff, you know, for several years, and there's
always guys that come about pop up, so to speak, that weren't on
weren't a B side pick, weren't on the short list for me for that
exercise. And I'm just saying, this year, that's just not really happening.
And so I got really curious and I was looking at all of our
B side bats selections this year and just kind of looking at like Okay,
where could we have done better? Who did we miss and why did we
miss and that sort of thing, and saying that we kind of did pretty
good. I think a lot of these systems organizations, there aren't bats that
have clearly become more exciting than the names that we threw out there this year.
I think, now this I'm talking full season guys. So of course
there's some guys that have come from rookie ball to able and stuff like that
that are exciting. But you know, our look was guys were in full
season last year who we think might ascend? Right, So I don't know,
man, I think your hitters sucked this year. Man, I mean,
this is the golden age of pitching, my friend. Yeah, And
let's dive in on that a bit, because one thing that has been true
at the major league level so far this year is pitchers are ascendant across the
league and it seems like MLB might have changed the ball again. That is
one hypothesis that has been floated there. You know, some data about how
many barrels are leaving the yard, the ball flight of balls that ostensibly have
the exact same exit velo and launch angle as balls from the same time period
last year and they aren't flying as far, like something like ten feet shorter
then similar balls from last year, and offense across the league is down from
last year. And I don't know if that is true in the minor leagues.
I haven't dived at kind of a league wide level yet. I don't
know if you looked into that, but I do wonder if this might be
this this relative improvement for pictures and the relative lack of performance out of the
hitters. I wonder if that's related to ball changes in the minor leagues too.
I have no idea. I have no idea if that happened. It's
not something that I've been researching or looking into or asking questions about or anything
like that. Why but you you love a good conspiracy theory. You know
this is a beautiful conspiracy theory. Is not it's not provable. We're never
gonna know. There's a there's a difference between conspiracy theory and just hitters make
an excuses why they suck, right, I don't know, Matt, Maybe
there is something through that not been on my radar. Yeah, Well,
I'm interested in kind of this exercise of kind of like who did we miss
On or what guys, you know, because I'm definitely one of those guys
that it's fun to look at the guys that you're like, oh, look
at this guy succeeding. But the guys that I've kind of looked closer at
are the ones that aren't doing what I thought or or are sort of underperforming.
And like, you know, a guy that we both really like,
Trevor Warner, I'm about to cut him in every league because his strikeout rates
above forty percent. He's an old college bat and the power isn't showing up.
It's just miserable. And like, I keep going back to that one
as one that I was so excited by his sample last year. I liked
him in college, and then his was great in spring training and then he
just freaking forgets how to hit. That's one that I just keep coming back
to and like, yeah, you know, Kfus is great, Mcat he's
great. Mcgonagall's great. Like a bunch of these like short sample picks that
we were like, no, this looks like a real dude, have seen
to hit, And then I can't get over Trevor Warner or Yorner Fajardo,
who was terrible to start the year. He's turned it around a bit lately
because he got demoted down to Double A, But yeah, man, it
sticks in my craw those ones that we got wrong, or even even my
guys at Triple A, like Blaine Krim and Troy Johnson, who I think
are professional hitters, neither of them are doing well at Triple A this year.
And I think it's a little bit of you know, bad at ball,
misfortune and all of that. But it still sucks when the guys you're
like, this is a major league quality hitter not succeeding at the at the
a much worse level. So I tend to focus on the ones I got
wrong and like obsess over those. So it'll be interesting to look at who
who should we have gone with? You know, there's some stuff here that
I think is pretty interesting in that let's just start angels. I went with
the first year player, beat Joe Redfield. You went with Gustavo Campero Gustavo.
Now are either of those picks gaining a bunch of popularity in dynasty leagues?
No, but looking at their organization. Cole Fontinelli, who was a
guy we talked about first year player. He looked like a guy who was
jumping up, but then he had a horrific what ankle, broken ankle or
whatever, So he's like done for the year. Outside of that, like
Joe Redfield might pick, who was a college guy who's still in a ball
with like one twenty WRC plus, which isn't great, but it's still like
you still having one of the better seasons out of any hitters that system.
Gustavo has been really good. But yeah, he's been good. Yeah,
moved him to the outfield. I don't think it's really played in any catcher
really this year. But he's in Double A and he's hitting. He's old,
and you know, a lot of fun seems to be he's fun.
But he's a ton of fun, a ton of fun. The only bat
in that system that you know, particularly interested in came from the DSL last
year to aball and that's young. Kevin Castillo is kind of interesting. Catcher
has kind of been playing all over the place a ball nineteen year old.
I think he's mostly been playing outfield, right. Yeah, he was doing
some catching though too. He's got like a one eighteen WRC plus. It's
not top one hundred. Type of guy for me, But a guy that's
firmly you know, on my radar now. But yeah, I don't know,
man, you've got anybody else from the Angels that has ascended this year,
I don't think so. Another guy that I've caught a bit in Inlan
Empire Anthony Skull. He's been an outfielder. He's kind of more York type
of guy than mine, and that he's pretty aggressive, like he doesn't really
walk, but he doesn't strike out very much. He's I think he's got
solid kind of speed power mix, Like he might not be the prettiest line,
but he's one that I've I've caught a couple of games of his that
popped a double that looked pretty nice. So he's got five homers and eight
stolen bases in third of a season or whatever. So it's it's a little
bit of a power speed one, but honestly not really like that's that's the
only other guy that is kind of interesting for them. Looking at the Astros,
I went with young ketcher Miguel Palma. You went with Jackson Lofton Palma,
who was twenty two years old in double A. He was doing all
right and then but he's we're talking seventy eight played appearances before you got hurt.
Loton's probably been disappointing, yep. But I don't know who's ascended in
their in their system that wise. I know Mystery Irrelevant the last pick in
the draft, Pascanio ferraris hm. He looks like he might be a legit
hitting prospect. We didn't see that coming. No one was picking Mystery Irrelevant.
No, and all the rest of their guys that are doing well are
kind of these old for the level, kind of like up in Triple A
and doing pretty well, you know, like Chay Whitcomb, pager leone,
Will Wagner, like all those guys are twenty five or twenty six and doing
something interesting. He's just Bestidas Again. He's sort of a B side type,
a little bit of like some decent power, some speed, and honestly,
you look at what is happening with the Astros, you might want to
look at some of those guys in a deeper league and see if you want
to roster them, because they're all playing multiple positions. They all might come
up if one of their guys gets hurt. Because this team doesn't seem that
competitive, and I think they want to maybe they want to give some guys
some more run. So yeah, like as far as a B side guy
coming into the year, I don't know, nothing really jumping out to me.
Yeah, the athletics, Now here's an org that is kind of interesting
in this context. I think they've had a good handful of bats get really
interested in this year. I went with Cooper Bowman, you went with Brendan
Malone. I think they're both having really nice years in Double A. I
think those were both pretty solid choices. I don't know how popular they have
gotten yet with dynasty owners. But then you look Henry Bolte, I think
has really really ascended this year. First year player guy that I liked that
we talked about some. Will Simpson's had a nice year, Kolby Thomas has
done some things, and then of course Jacob Wilson probably has done a lot
better than anyone anticipated. But that wasn't a B side and that was a
first round pick, top what was the top ten pick, So yeah,
one that people crapped all over. But you know, still he's, uh,
he's been awesome to start that year. So I think there was there
was a handful of guys that would have been pretty good B side calls.
I think, at least in that system, I think all those guys are
fairly Henry Bolte, he's cut down the strikeouts quite a bit, and that's
that's interesting a bit. I mean, I still think it's like above thirty
percent for the year. Oh is it really that? I still I think
so. I mean, he's hitting a bunch of homers, swiping bags.
It's it's a really exciting battle line overall. But the fact that he's still
just at high A and the strikeout rate remains above thirty percent, I think
that's some cause for concern down the line. An exciting season. I want
to see he and Simpson in double A, and then how serious we might
be able to get with those two Blue Jays. You know, I hated
the Blue Jays bats B said possibilities. I just piggybacked you and went with
Raphael Antigua. Did he get all? Did he get the call at all?
He might have called gotten the call and rode the bench, But I
don't think he's gotten to to play okay and whatever. He's been a little
bit below average for boy, but not that great. I still don't think
that there was anyone that would have been a real great call. They've had
some guys move up, get the call up to the majors, but they
were I don't know if they were really b side asked zero to two percenters
in the off season. I mean someone like Alan Rodin is one that I
liked, but I think he might have been just a little high for ownership
when we looked at this last year. Dasam Brown is someone that we talked
about, I think when we were going through their system, and I said,
was someone who might put it together. And he's he's having a pretty
nice season. He's he's somebody to keep an eye on because he's cut his
strikeout rate quite a bit, is walking more and still swiping bag. So
he's someone he's a little old, you know, not old, but like
age appropriate for Hia at twenty two, hitting pretty well. I think Gene
Joseph is a little is a little interesting, but I'm not even sure if
there was any full season ball of him last year or not. It would
have been tough for us to Sam Brown, Is that the most exciting throw
of the guy for you? Yeah? Or Devonte Brown. I mean he's
someone I mentioned too, and he's having a good year, but again it's
striking out way too much, so like your mileage may vary. You know,
he's crushing in double A, but it comes with like a thirty five
percent strikeout rate or something, So I don't know if you should be that
interested. I was curious what you might think about the braves here, Matt.
We both picked Drake Baldwin. I think that that's been a fine choice.
He hasn't been totally lighting the world on fire, but he's been solid,
and he got promoted to Triple A, so I'll quibble with that a
bit. I think he's actually been awesome. And this was one of the
things that I had said when looking and when making this pick was he had
played in Chit Parks to start his career for power, and he was still
showing some power. He's played most of this year in Mississippi, and that's
an awful, awful park for power, and he hasn't showed much power.
But what he has showed is that his batter ball profile has changed. He's
not hitting the ball on the ground quite as much and still maintaining good strikeout
rates and walking a decent amount. I thought Eric Longenhagen had a really interesting
nugget in his right up on Baldwin in his Braves prospect list that came out
last week, I think, where he said that before two strikes, Baldwin
had a really love so chase rate, but with two strikes his chase rate
went way up, saying that maybe he's approaching a little bit passively, so
sort of predetermined takes before he gets two strikes and then trying to battle with
two strikes leading to a little bit more chase. And it was such a
big split that it's worth noting something like a seventeen percent or fifteen percent split,
which is huge that doesn't normally happen if it's not something to do with
the approach. Now, I still think that that is a valuable approach,
and I think that some teams maybe are going to come around on this as
things go. So I don't think it's necessarily a ding, but it might
be something that gets exploited a bit more as he as he goes up.
And he's off to a nice start at Triple A. He just got promoted
last week too, and so I'm still huge on Drake Baldwin. I think
he's going to be a major league catcher, and I think he's got a
chance to be a major league regular, like a like a starting catcher.
Now, who else would we pick? I think the only other guy that
you'd look at and be like, maybe this would have been a good dart
is EJ. Xposito and I had written down. And he's twenty three in
High A and is like doing well, you know, swiping bags, hitting
some homers. Strikeout rate is like you know, league averagish and league averagish
walk rate, but for an older bat in HIA like, I'm still taking
Baldwin ten times out of ten personally, Yeah, yeah, I was just
curious you'd being a Braves guy if there were any other Yeah. Saban Sebios
is another one that he's He's looked good. You know, he's sort of
a defense first utility type, not a lot of pop in the bat,
but is pretty interesting. Luke Wadel, who I mentioned as like a he
would be someone I'd be interested in as a B side if I didn't pick
Baldwin. But he's been really bad this year. He's i think been exposed.
His sort of light hitting approach has been exposed. At Triple A.
I think he's very much on the on the downswing. Looking at the Brewers,
I went with young Wan Baias and you went with Isaac Collins. Now
both of them are having pretty good seasons. I think Juan Bayez is lacking
some home runs and slugging down in a ball. He's still quite young.
As the Collins has been great. He's he's still sitting in that quad a
sort of his own and hasn't gotten a chance yet. They have some bats
that I think have improved, have up their stock, but I wasn't quite
remembering or sure what their ownership rates were this offseason. Do you recall him
that was was Luke Adams the guy before? I think he was a guy
like I think he was rated fairly high by other people because that's my favorite
bat. I think in their mind system, like I really really like what
he does and genuinely think that he is like high level, like very quality
major like he's going to be a hitter in the major leagues. And I'm
pretty sure he was way too owned our experience, That's what I thought.
But yeah, I don't know you got anybody else from the Brewers that they
got a lot of guys and I'm like, eh, okay, young Luis
Lor. I'm like, Okay, he's nice, but I don't think he's
I'm not buddy star that. Yeah, I'm not on l But the guy
we did, we did talk about him a bit jetter our arian. He's
got the most hilarious batwaggle in all the minor league baseball. But he changed
it. He toned it down. He did. He toned it down.
I loved it last year. I thought it was so funny. But I
think he's been really good. You know, he's young for the level he's
at high A, and I think he's been with the steels like and showing
some power, Like it's he's never going to be an elite power guy.
The swing and the speed that he brings to the table, like that's someone
in your rot leagues who I could see if he keeps this up. He's
like a really interesting kind of speedy, uh, middle and field prospect type,
you know. So he's he's the other one. But again we talked
about him, and I was just like, you know, I liked Collins
more. I thought it was a much safer that and I still think that
that's true. But yeah, he of the wonderful batwaggle. He's been.
He's been pretty good so far this year. The Cardinals matt Man kind of
rough. You went with Mike and Tico. I went with still one of
my favorite players just from a fan perspective, Alexia Decernia. Neither have really
had great seasons, and Tico got up to the Triple A, right,
so that's nice. Yeah, and I think he was really not good to
start the year, but maybe has turned it around a bit. I forget.
I looked at him recently because I was annoyed at how bad he was
doing, and then I was like, oh, maybe there's something here still.
I had Tonia is weird. I tune in and watch a decent amount
of him, and like, there's never like the eyeball test is still like
good to me. It's just he's the numbers aren't coming and some loud outs
and things. So I haven't given up all all of my hope. But
he's gonna need to have a pretty smoking hot second half here. Yeah,
and Tika's still swiping some bags and that's that's nice, But the rest of
it has been kind of sort of league average production for an older guys.
Yeah, that exciting. I kind of feel like a lot of their bats
have been just pretty you know, Oh, okay, Jeremy Reeves has been
nice because he's not like negative offensively, but that's not getting our Dynasty juices
really gone. I know Dakota Harris is having a nice season. He was
on my radar at all coming into the year. Maybe we talked about I
think we talked about Nathan Church earlier in the year because he'd been really impressive
with the contact skills. He'd had a really really low strikeout rate, and
I still think he does. I think it's ticked up a bit. You
know. He's somebody that like was as a twenty two year old in High
A last year, turned things up a little bit in Double A as A
as a twenty three year old, but still not like that exciting. But
I think we talked about him briefly, but not someone I would really say
is like someone we should have been on. The guy that I'm really excited
about, And I don't remember why he wasn't on my radar. I'm looking
at my notes before and he didn't make my short list. When I was
looking at Jose Fermen, I kind of think he should be playing for the
Cardinals, like the Saint Louis Cardinals every day. He's a twenty five year
old kind of smallish second base third baseman, and he's been bad in his
small you know, thirty four played appearance sample in the BIGS, buts done.
I wasn't sure if he was still Yeah, and he got like a
cup of coffee last year or too, but he's still rochy eligible. But
he looks like that, you know, not to overuse the comp but like
the Louis Arias school of hitting, Like his contact skills are incredible. Three
point nine percent strikeout rate in TRIPAA. It's been higher both times he's been
in the BIGS, but still in the low teens, and I actually expect
that to come down, Like I wouldn't be surprised if he's a more of
a like ten or eleven percent strikeout rate in the BIGS. But it's come
with like really nice shape of production, like low grab ball rates, higher
line drive rates, and decent walk rates. Like I think he just makes
good swing decisions. So and he was kind of a similar guy last year.
Yeah, I'm not sure. I think he must have been hurt a
good personal last year and that's why he fell through some some of the cracks,
and he still hasn't gotten a long look at any level. But what
he showed at Triple A this year, I'm as excited about him as kind
of like any pop up guy that I've seen so far this year. So
that's a good older and older guy. I think he could be a guy
who has a really long career and if he gets a shot to play regularly.
I mean, I think he's decent on defense too, so I wonder
if if he can put it together, maybe they'll give him some some run.
Yeah that's a good shout, I supposely for me. Yea, I
know, we got to keep saying everybody's name. That's good to do the
Cubs that those dirty, disgusting. I think we made some pretty solid calls.
Pedro Ramirez has been twenty in high A one twenty eight double w RC
plus. Yep, that was a good shot. I don't think he's getting
super popular. I think there is fair questions about his offensive game and how
exciting he might ever get. But you know he's ascending. You went with
Luis Vasquez, who got the call to the biggs. I don't know how
much run he got but not very much. And then I don't know who
from that system would have been maybe a better choice. I mean, we
had a bit of a Pinango renaissance and he finally got to Double A.
He's struggled there a little bit, but I think he's coming around the last
couple of series. But I got Jonathan Long. He's you know, we
talked about Jonathan Long and he's been he's been al right, you know,
there's some stuff to like there. Yeah, but I don't know who else
really like has jumped for the Cubs first quick tangent into more of a pretty
boy, but he counts for us because he's a beefy boy. Moises by
SROs like that dude just absolutely rakes. And he's twenty and they just promoted
him to Triple A. Like, I still don't think he's getting the love
that he deserves. Like everybody loves Bisao and Bias Steros is like the same
fricking guy. Like you line their staff up this year, you could make
a strong argument to prefer Bias Steros to the SEO. So love that beefy
boy and hope he crushes it in the bigs because people hate on him because
he's different looking. And I'm not about that nonsense, Nate, I'm not
about it. We don't just spend other guys. No, in fact,
we love we love those that are odd looking. He hit for the cycle
the other day, he did, he did it was just super cool.
Yeah, I love to see that in retrospect. Like you know, I
went with Vasquez, but I had talked about Piger Ramirez. I wish I
would have stuck with Pager Ramirez. I think, I mean, I still
like Vasquez, especially because he's a pretty slick glove man and is still holding
his own, you know, slightly below average at Triple A and got to
look in the bigs and I think he's another one that he might have a
long career as more of a utility man with a chance for more if you
know, an injury opens things up. But the only other guys that are
kind of interesting to me that I weren't really on my radar. Where with
Brett Bateman. I don't know if you've watched him much this year, but
he's done some interesting things. Again, more of a speed profile, but
I like that he's more of an OBP guy, kind of reminds you of
Matt Atzel a bit, you know, like OBP. Maybe not a ton
of pop, but seals a lot of bases. But yeah, not a
lot other than they are pretty boys, of which they have quite a few.
But so yeah, nothing else there for the Cubs. For me the
Diamondbacks, I went with Gavin Kntocello. You went with Christian Certa cont soloan
he's having a good year. The power has not the home runs and that
come like we were hoping thought they might be how they started off at the
beginning of the year. But he's still he's hitting the ball Aserta's offensively not
been the hottest now no power, I mean, I don't know what happened
to him. He's like, I don't think he has a home run still
and his triple slash has really been buoyed by a fourteen percent walk right,
and like nothing else. So yeah, yeah, that's that's one that I
wish I had back. Adrian del Castillo probably would have been a good call.
Yep, we both, we both and maybe maybe even Andrew Pintar,
who was still Yeah, and I think we talked about Pintar, didn't we
like as an interesting dude that we liked a bit, and I think I
saw him in the draft and or after the draft, I mean out there
in Hillsboro and good game one of the days that I was there and I
was like, that's someone to watch. The Dbacks have had a couple of
bats stick a jump. I think that weren't super popular. Yeah, I
saw Spencer Geisting got promoted to double A. I wondered if they if they
promoted anybody else. I don't know, I haven't seen, but I would
imagine that Pintar might be the next guy from Hillsboro to get at least hitting
wise, to get called up double A. Yeah, and I'm still excited
for a bunch of their low A guys to get up to high A.
Not that any of them have really been lighting the world on fire like tore
In. After our super hot start has cooled a bit. Hansel Luis hasn't
been great. He's looked better again after a miserable start. He's still a
bad The eyeball test is nice, though, I like it's still very much
like to look at him at the point. Yeah, and he has looked
a lot better. Really, he was terrible I think in April and since
April it's been it's been better, but it's still the power has been showed
up as much as I was I was hoping, and it's still he's got
a long way to go. Drew Jones too, he's looked a little bit
better of late, and in my last couple of looks at them, and
I still am pretty barish on him long term, but he definitely has become
acceptable at at low A, and I kind of want to see him in
person up here in Hillsboro. So hopefully those guys get promoted and we get
it couldn't have been It could have been much worse. He could not have
been much worse. So maybe that's damning with faint praise, but hopefully he
turns it around a bit. The Dodgers, Matt, I definitely could have
done better. But you know, when we did the Doadgers, I was
kind of at a loss. It wasn't sure who to go with. I
went with Junior Garcia, who's I don't even know if he plays anymore.
He sits the bench, he's did nothing. You went with Austin Gothier,
who has been very good. I think we're still just kind of waiting for
his opportunity. Right, So that was a good call. Yeah, happy
with goth here. Yeah, I think Alex Freelan would have been a great
call. I think he's definitely ascended in the system. Someone that we briefly
talked about, Uryl Perez, has had a really nice season as well.
But and another way, guys that you brought up, Andre lipschis like he's
he's had a really solid year and we talked about him again falls into that
kind of quad a bucket with some of the guys who talked about Troy Johnston
and Blaine Krim and Sandro Fabian and tso Ornella's that's just his old news though.
Man, he's been b side for for years. Oh is that right?
He's he's been been one of your guys for a long time. Well,
I mean it makes sense, like I think that that's he's got that
kind of profile of a quality hitter, maybe doesn't have a position, and
so there's a lot of pressure on the thus far this year in particulars he's
lived up to it. But I never would have thought that he'd hit as
many home runs as he is these days. Yeah, A Lipstious has looked
really good, you know, seventeen homers, six bags and the strikeout rates
at twenty two percent. Like, that's solid. That's a solid across the
board. Anybody else from from the Dodgers for you, Uh, the only
other one to maybe keep your eye on is Tray Sweeney. You know,
we talked about Noah Miller two like as somebody who can really pick it and
had a pretty nice start to the year. Tray Sweeney hasn't had a great
start to the year. He's striking out a bit too much, but he's
showing that power speed blend, and I think he can play middle infield like
he's playing shortstop in Triple A for Oklahoma City, so playing short while Gothier
is moving around, so they clearly value his glove a bit more. And
you know, I I don't know you can, especially in rodo you might
prefer Trey Sweeney to Gothier, even though I think Gothier is going to be
a more valuable hitter long term. But if Sweeney can stick it short with
the glove and feel the bags at the rate to he does and hit with
as much power, like, you might look at him and say that that's
one better. And I think he got a little bit more love than Gothier
coming into the year, so that might be why we avoided him. But
that's another one that Tray Sweeney. He's one, especially in your rot league,
say keep an eye out for Yeah, he was definitely rostered more than
a higher than our window there, Matt Giants. I went with young Diego
Velasquez, who I think has had a really nice transition to Hya one thirty
one nice one. Yeah, he's a nice little prospect. He went with
Trenton Brooks, who was an older guy, but he got the is he
still up with them or did he get sent back down? But I think
he is still up with them. But I think that that was a good
call on your part and then looking at the rest of their org. I
don't know if anyone has really jumped for me. I didn't come up with
anybody. Yeah, I agree, maybe Justin Wishkowski. Yeah, we talked
about him a little bit. I think I know, but but yeah,
it's pretty It's it's a college bat at high doing decently, you know.
I like the strikeout rate at sixteen point six percent and swiping a few bags.
But I don't know, it's not We talked about putting daniel A little
bit. Yeah, but he's kind of just like, where's the where's the
slug? I don't know. Yeah, another system that's just kind of not
a whole lot jumping up on the bat side. Yeah. The only only
other one to note in San Jose. Jonah Cox is a college outfielder I
think. And he's swiped thirty eight bags so far this year, and that's
it's a lot I think he. I think he's leading the California League in
steels and it's come with an acceptable strikeout rate too, So not a lot
of power there, but just someone to keep in mind too for the leagues
where steels are rewarded, like that might be a kind of a sleeper guy
that did I wasn't on. I didn't know him. The Guardians, now
this this is an exciting one, Matt. I think they've had a handful
of bats get a lot more interesting. Daniel Schneman higher level on Hell.
Janeo Janeow. I think on Hell Janelle Now, I couldn't remember how popular
he was coming into the season, Matt, but he's been very impressive.
Nate, Yeah, he's been really good. Nate Furman's been impressive. Alex
Mooney has been impressive. My guy that I went with, Dian Frees,
not super impressive moving up to double A. He's still quite young. The
glove is fantastic, though, and I really think that he's been trying to
hit for more power when I've been watching him, and he's just not good
at that, So maybe there's some transition there. He's not dead to me,
but hasn't you know, ascended like we had helped and then to me,
Matt, the guy that has jumped the most, the hitter that has
jumped the most this year was your pick. Cjkaphisop. He's been awesome,
man Like, he's so good. How good is he? Where? I
haven't looked at anybody's ranks, I don't think all year, maybe the first
month or something. I have no idea where people might be ranking him right
now, but wherever they are higher would be my opinion. Yeah, he's
good. I liked the under the radar skills right like that. I thought
he was going to play above his raw power, which I think reportedly remains
pretty middling. Like it's not elite evs, but he does have some stuff
in common with Kyle Manzardo, who's already in the bigs and you know he's
scuffling to start his big league career. But yeah, there's another one.
Doesn't that kind of I guess I can see it. But like to me,
Caifus is just like way more athletic than Menzardo. Yes, no,
probably, I think the thing that Cafus does better than Menzarto. Manzarto hits
a lot of line drives like it comes in that like line drive fly ball
band, but Cafus pulls his like Cafus gets out in front and gets those
balls in the air better than Menzarto does, I think. But otherwise I
think they're like plate skills are kind of similar. They're not going to strike
out a ton, they walk a good amount, I think they do.
They do damage on those balls and make the most of their eggsyveilas like they're
not quite Isaac Esak Predes level, but they're in that mold, you know,
lefties that as opposed to to Paridie's righty. But like they pull their
ball and Capus, it's been awesome to see him hit this. Well,
I'm skeptical that this is who he is, Like, you know, he's
got a one eighty seven WRC plus a third of the way through the year,
almost halfway through the minor league season. That's better than I thought he
would have. Like, I'm not saying I saw this kind of run coming.
And he is still a first base maybe left fielder. Like that,
the bar, the offensive bar to clear there is it remains pretty high.
And while he's definitely cleared up to this point, and I think is getting
talked about for some like for Clegg, I think he might be in the
top one fifty prospects at this point, and I don't even know if he
had him in the top five hundred coming into this coming into this year.
So that's like a pretty substantial jump from somebody who does this. Professor,
like really really gets that value ranking. Had you stolen any basis? What's
this? What's the stolen basis? He's got four? He's got four?
How many did he steal last year in his short stint? I felt like
he stole a decent amount, but you know, it's hard to steal bases
when you ended up on second base or home plate. Yeah, he's still
five in the in the short sample last year, which is quite a lot.
But yeah, that was a that was a great call you. You
said, shove him up your first year player draft boards, and I wish
I would have listened to you more. Yeah, the Guardians kind of showing
out for you coming up. Well, I did mention him, and he's
a bit more of a pretty boy. But Jason Churio, I think still
is. I think doing awesome stuff at low A. I want to see
him bumped to high A asap because I think he's better as a nineteen year
old than pretty much everybody else in the league. So I want to see
him challenged a bit more. But I've been really impressed with him. And
then Alex Mooney. We talked about Alex Mooney too, a bit more for
your guy than than me, but he's stealing a lot of bad two and
I think Mooney has been really exciting too. Yeah, your Mariners, Matt
Picking a B side bat for the Mariners was tricky because they're so popular.
I went with Josh Hood wasn't super pumped about its still not super pumped about
it. He's a pretty average twenty three year old and high A. You
went with Leo Revs, who got the call. Got some major LEA debates,
yep, which was I think kind of basically exactly how you said it
would go. I don't know what Ben how popular Ben Williamson was. I
definitely didn't have him high enough in the first year player, but he has
really impressed me this year. And you know, the bat, I don't
know what the numbers are sitting at right now. They might not be super
outstanding, but he's a guy that defensively is I think is going to give
himself a chance to be a big leader. The bat hasn't been awful either.
He's done some things and he's now up in Double A and I think
he's I think he's hitting out right there in Arkansas, isn't he. Yeah.
I mean his season line on the year is solid. The one thing
that you'd like to see is maybe some more of those doubles turn into homers,
because he's quite a few doubles this year. I think he's got sixteen
or something, but only two homers, just one at Everett and just one
in Arkansas. There's some more power coming there, Like, I don't think
it's the lack of homers is a lack of power. I think maybe it's
just a little bit of homer to flyball noise, like he's got a really
low homer to flyball rate so far this year, and he has some juice,
so I don't think that I think that that's going to revert to him
hitting some homers. And I like the plate skills too, and like you
said, he really can pick it a third. And I know you cut
up some of his spectacular defensive highlights a little while back and looked really good.
So Williamson is one that's really fun. Yeah, was there anybody else
for you that jumped down? I know they've got a lot of good prospects
in the lowers, but they're all pretty popular. Arroyo has been awesome.
I think BA noted that in one of their recent write ups that he's basically
been as good as Lazara Montes like Chase contact strikeout rate ninetieth percent of exit
exile, Vilo like all is basically as good as Lazara, Montes and Montes.
People are pumping as like a top twenty five, top ten overall prospect
maybe at the end of the year because with the way that he's cut his
strikeout rate, so huge props to Michael o'royo. I have also heard from
evaluators that his defense is pretty bad. I think that that's sort of true.
I think he and TYPEE both aren't very good on defense. But the
bat is absolutely playing for Michael Arroyo. But the other guy that made my
short list that was zero percent, but it's probably because he was a recent
drafty FYPD guy. But brock Rodden don't sleep on him. He's got an
elite approach at the plate and that continues to be the case. He's up
in every at high A. Now. He was on that Modesta Nuts championship
team last year, but he's at Everett this year. He's older, you
know, he's in his age twenty four season college bat. But he's swiping
bags, he's walking a ton, he's got a one to fifty seven WRC
plus on the air like it's he's crushing it. And I wouldn't be surprised
if he gets bumped to double A in relatively short order to play with Williamson
and Cole Young, some Moore and Harry Ford. So Rock Rodnon, he's
another one that's playing kind of all around the dian second base, third base,
shortstop, a bit. Yeah, he's he's another one that was zero
person owned low down a lot of people's fypds, but I think Chris Klegg
had noted that he's someone who's college data really popped in terms of like the
chase and contact and decent exit velos too, and it's showed out he's having
a great start to his pro career too. Matt, the Marlins, we
both went with Troy Johnston. I don't think. I don't think we expected
him to have a you know, seventy seven WRC plus. No not doing
what he did last year, that's for sure, So that's been a bit
of a disappointment. But looking the rest of the Marlins, Org, I
mean, Joe Mack, I think has improved proved his stock. That would
have been a nice choice. But then other than that, the only other
bat and I wanted to ask you about him last week former B side pick
how your Snoia, what did you make of him? Man? Because we
both were fans, Yeah, question if he was really a big leaguer,
but just loved the way he played and optimize his skill and all that stuff.
And now we're talking about a twenty one year old in triple A who
was holding his own Man, what do you think now I saw you were
mentioning him in the dugout a couple of days ago, maybe sometime last week,
and I was swamped with work and so I couldn't weigh in. But
I need to watch him this year because when I watched a lot of him
last year, I really liked him. He was my runner up. I
think when I was looking at the Miami system, he's really fast. We
know that he swipes bags, he's good at it, and he had a
solid contact approach, but he's really upped that, and I think some of
this is like maybe, okay, so here's here's One of my hypotheses is
that he's doing better at triple because the ABS system is helping with the way
he approaches each at bat. And I say this because while he's dropped his
strike his swinging strike rate a little bit, he's almost doubled his walk rate
from double A this year and almost had his strikeout rate as he's jumped up
to triple A. That doesn't really happen, especially in year, and so
I just I'm curious how that's happening. And you know, the craziest thing
is that he's got three homers already, Like he has no power, you
know, and the fact that he has two homers in the International League already
is like wild up to me. He hits everything on the ground. He
has very little top end power. I've watched a good amount of him this
year, Matt, and he's maybe one guy that has like kind of gotten
me, you know, or I tune in a couple times a week at
least. But yes, he hits the ball on the ground more than you
probably would like to see. The power stuff is definitely there's a limit to
that. I've been impressed with sort of his gap to gap line drive improvements.
He you know, it's kind of you know, slap dicky contact sort
of guy. You know, he's up his game a little bit more.
I think I think he's a little bit more of a dangerous hitter than that.
I'm more dangerous than I think I ever gave him credit for forgetting to
Yeah, don't know, and it may be to me, you know,
and I know, and for a guy that is as small as he is
and kind of limited in sort of the physical physicality that he brings to it,
I'm impressed with how he gets to it. And I don't know,
he's he's a fun one. I hope he makes the majors. And you
know, he's sort of that classic second basement that they're playing all over the
diamond that Miami seems to cove it and play everywhere. But yeah, he's
he's a fun one. And the fact that he's twenty one and doing this
at Triple A is you can't knock that too much. Like it's it's impressive
stuff. Yeah, I agree, man, the Mets, we both went
with young Will we'll freight. Laura, who was an a ball last year,
has been at Brooklyn all season, not statistically lighting the world on fire
ninety one w RC plus. But and I didn't I don't think we discussed
this, or maybe I just didn't realize this. I think Maddy Backpack mentioned
this. But he was coming off of a hamlet bone thing, and we
know that that can sort of sap a guy for a while. And I
was kind of like h Man, kind of bumming on Laura here the first
couple of months of the season. But he's been much better of late.
I think he's kind of kind of getting his mojo back here a little bit
at the plate doing Yeah, we're still not seeing a lot of power,
which was one of the things we liked about him that for someone so young,
he had showed some pretty decent evs in the Florest State League. But
he has been a little bit better of late, although I think his last
week or so it's been not great, you know, kind of since mid
May, I think there's been some signs of life. He's another one,
along with Treuvor Werner, who I've been looking at in a couple of deep
leagues from like, man, is it almost time to cut wilfreidl Laura.
I think it's The answer is not quite yet, but well maybe it may
be coming. I asked you this and now. Don't get me wrong,
there's been some some hitting prospects the Mets org that I think have really ascended
Hayzus baias young Ewing, but I don't think those guys were in full season
last year at all, so looking at sort of the rest of their system,
I don't know. I don't know if there would have been a better
call or someone who really pops out is as sort of like a good B
side ascension here this season so far, I'm not not really I mean,
maybe a j Ewing, but again, I don't know where I don't know
if he I don't think he was we had any full season in last year.
Yeah, you might be right on that. Yeah, and I don't
think. I don't think we did with Jesus Baias either. If we did,
it was we definite. We definitely didn't with Bias, and he's been
he's been great. And the only other one that pops in one of my
leader boards is Nick Morribido, and he wasn't on my list last year,
even though he had a decent little run at low A at the end of
last year. But he's, you know, a super speedster. I don't
think there's going to be an impact bat here, but a lot of steels
and has thus far been pretty good as a relatively young guy in Brooklyn.
Yeah, so I don't know. Even though Laura has been underwhelming, I
think i'd still take Laura over a lot of their bats as a B side
hopeful. All Right, the Nationals, ye old gnats. I went with
petcher Max Romero Junior, who's not had a very good season at all.
You went with Johandy Morales, who I think, I mean, he's in
double as first pro season. I think there's still things to be excited about,
but probably not the season we were hoping for. But I know that
the homers still haven't showed up. That's the bummer. With Yo Handy,
I'm like, the power is there. He hit like, what we say,
fifty homers in college and he's gotten two in Pro Bowl. Wild to
me. Yeah, But looking at the rest of their system, Matt,
I don't know who would have been a good call. Some first year player,
a ball glasser who's doing well got promoted. But I've watched him some.
I don't know if I'm that's real exciting. But I don't know what
other bat that wasn't already pretty boy has ascended or had a real nice season
for them. I don't know if I mentioned him when we talked about the
nets, but Darren Baker was one that I liked last year, just kind
of like, yeah, just like a speedy guy. I'm never going to
be a lot of pop and you know, round down on the plate skills,
but he was one that I thought, you know, he could hit
some singles, walk a little bit, and steal some bases. He's kind
of doing that. He's now up in Triple A. He's twenty five,
but it's not. This isn't big league level production. It's more maybe he's
a bench bat in your thirty teamers that gets a little bit of run.
So, you know, I still don't think he's a good B side pick,
but he's doing kind of what we expected. The Orioles Matt I went
with Matthew Etzell. I think that was a pretty good call. You went
with Billy Cook, who I think that was a good call too. He's
up in Triple A now, he's having a good season. I think he's
just yep, he's just stuck behind a lot of good players yep, which
we kind of said, you know, like Billy Cook is sort of more
of that, you know, a little bit of power, a little bit
of speed, decent plate skills, doesn't strike out much, walk some and
it's just going to be a solid kind of corner. I think he's played
some center field, a little bit of second bas this year. That's good.
But Billy Cook is just behind a bunch of way bigger names and even
though he's been you know, about as good as a lot of them.
And Etzel was a good call for you. That's one that we both liked
and I sort of co signed on that one where he's really showing his stolen
based prowess, making a lot of contact and walking a decent amount with a
little bit of pop too. So and he's up in double A now,
which is which is good, and he's still doing pretty well. He's going
to have the same issue that Cook has. So yeah, at least they're
outfielders, I guess, and the Orioles big league outfielders are older, like
Mullins isn't going to be around for very long, and so you're talking about
like Santander, Kerestad, who elseus and somebody else that oh beavers, but
he's at double A. Yeah, and they're gonna have a bunch of mouths
to feed, for sure. I know there's a couple of young bats down
in a ball that I think put themselves on the map a little bit and
like Sosa and whatnot. But uh, I don't know if there was if
there was anybody else that would have been a good call for us. Matt
Now, I think we nailed this one. The only other guys that are
as good as the two guys that we picked are their pretty boys, you
know, Jackson Holliday, Hessen Karstad, Kobe Mayo, Billy Cook and Matthew
Etzel are like by my list here the top performers so far, and then
the next one's the Sao Beavers Norby Like then you get down and Creed Williams.
You know your boy, Creed. He's he's looked pretty good for long
stretches this year. Matt Horvath started the year pretty badly, but has really
turned it on the last couple months and is now performing kind of like the
guy that we had talked about. You know, Pop Walks steals a bunch
of bags, super athletic, playing a bunch of different positions. So Horvath,
I think it is playing better of late. And then Enrique Bradfield Junior
too, he's striking out a lot more than I thought he was going to.
I thought his contact rates were going to be better. But he's got
twenty nine bags and has hit two homers, three steel or three triples an
a doubles, So he's at least getting to a little bit of power for
someone who some people gave like a twenty on his power grade. He's he's
got a little bit of juice. But yeah, I'm a little surprised that
Bradfield strikeout rate. I thought that was going to be down in the like
ten percent range, twelve percent range. Yeah, agreed, Padres Matt.
I went with young Rossman Verdugo, who has had some stretches where he's hit
some home runs, is still nineteen year old, pretty league average, has
had some moments. You went with Urso Ornellis, who still has gotten his
big league shot, been doing okay, I guess, and TRIPLEA. But
looking at their system, there was only one other name that that kind of
popped to me, and that's Romeo Santa Bria. They're young catcher at a
ball looked pretty good, but other than that, I don't know if they
have any bats that have really popped this year. Yeah, and Santa Bria,
I don't think he was at full season ball last year. I don't
know if we got to look at him. Oh he wasn't. Okay,
Yeah, well I don't think so. I mean he's he's still at a
ball this year. Let me let me double check that. But I don't
think we got to look at him last year. Oh, it looks like
we did sixteen games at low A at the end of last year, but
he did crap all like I mean it was a small sample. No Homer's
okay line but nothing really exciting. So he's a guy that's been teetering on
the on the top of my pick up list and a couple of my deep
leagues, but hasn't quite made it yet. Yeah, I mean, one
thing to note is he's seems to be a first baseman. He's now twenty
two, and yeah, he's doing well at Low A, but it's Low
A as a twenty two year old, and he's played a bunch of teenagers
like That's his performance has been really, really good and it's definitely a pop
up guy. But yeah, some some flags there. Yeah, I don't
know if there's anybody else here that I would take over tier. So even
with this three months of additional data, yeah, Philly's I went with young
Brian Rincone, who I think what's he's in High A now, but he's
been pretty average. But the glove glove is the is the big appeal there.
But even with that, I and the offense that he showed last year,
I was I was hoping for some more offense this year. And then
you went with an older tripa A player, Matt Cruhn, who I think
he's having a decent season but still hasn't gotten his shot right. Yeah.
The only other bat though, in that system is a former B side call,
Leonardo Pineda, who's kind of one twenty eight WRC plus and Hia He's
had some nice stretches. Other than that, don't know who would be It
would have been a good B side call, Matt. What do you if
you watch any of William Bergoya this year? He's in Jersey Shore, but
he strikes me as a little bit more of your kind of guy, Like
he has a league average walk rate or maybe slightly below, but really below
average strikeout rate, Like he's swinging a lot. I think, not a
ton of pop, but swipe some bags. But he's I had seen some
stuff about him last year and hadn't watched him very much, but I think
he's doing okay so far this year. I just wondered if he'd watched him.
But point being no one that's really popped off the page or off the
video that's gotten a lot more excited about. Yeah, I'm really excited to
see Starlinkaba in clear Water. I want to see him. I mean,
our little look at him and the spring breakout game was super exciting, and
all the reports continue to back that up. He seems like a real,
really exciting young in field prospect. Yeah, I agree. Well, Matt
the Pirates, we both went with Charles McAdoo. McAdoo maybe just behind Capus
that that is probably ascended the most for me. Yeah, I don't really
know what to pick at with him at the plate. I know there's defensive
questions, literally nothing, I mean, like, no, put the man
in double A and see what he can do, because this is ridiculous.
At this point, he is absolutely raking, like I love it. I
mean he's stealing bags to showing his athleticism on the bases, like let's go.
Yeah, I was hoping this week, hoping two weeks ago, but
yeah, I want to see him in double A. Put the man in
Altuna already. Matt the Rangers, I went with young reluctantly went with young
Marcos Torres, who hasn't really done anything in Abel He's nineteen years old,
but I'm not interesting. He went with Blayne Krim, who has been underwhelming
the Triple A. Surprisingly underwhelming, but all that being said, someone who
wasn't already popular, I don't know who's like popped in their system. I
know young glider Figureo's had a nice season, but I mean this is his
second a ball run. I kind of want to see him get to Hya,
but he's a guy that's it's gotten more interesting to me. But other
than that, wasn't really anyone in their system. Well, the only other
guy is the other guy that I was coin flipping when I talked about Texas,
which is Sandro Fabian. And I think he's he's the best guy in
the system, you know, like when you look at how he's done relative
to level, and you know he's still not striking out at all. Thirteen
percent and triple A is super impressive. I don't care if you're twenty six
years old walking slightly below average amount, but pop seven homers. And with
Blaine Krim, I think, again, the skills are still there. He's
walking eleven percent of the time. I think it's been a bit of babup
misfortune for him. I think he's still a good a good hitter, like
somebody who could be a major league average hitter right now. So you know,
slow starts the year, and then the only other guys in their system
other than Fabian and Krim for me, you know, Walcott obviously was super
exciting. It's been nice to see him drop that strikeout rate, Like I've
been critical of him and kind of his line, but seemingly it's down a
season line to twenty eight percent, which it was like, what thirty six
percent last year or something like it was. It was way up there last
year. And the fact that he's going up levels and still continuing to drop
his strikeout rate is impressive. And the only other guy that for me is
one that I wasn't on but I would like to see more of is Cody
Freeman. I don't know if you've watched much of him this year a little
bit. He's, you know, twenty three year old at double A,
So like that's a solid challenge for a twenty three year old slightly above average
one or nine worc plus the strikeouts are in check. He's swiped some bags,
eight bags and six homers across two hundred and twenty eight play appearances.
Like that's solid production and I'm curious to see if he can make that play.
They still list him as a catcher. I don't know if he's caught
at all this year. Looks like maybe he hasn't caught it at all this
year, but they played him mostly at third base. I think so as
somebody who I wasn't familiar with his work, but I think he's been interesting
enough to put that on a watch list, so Couldy. Freeman's the only
guy in TEXASSM that like, I didn't know about that. I was like,
oh, maybe there's something here. Yeah, it's a good shout the
Rays. My number one pick in our hit or draft was Ryan Sturmac felt
like just injuries have delayed him and people had moved off him too quickly,
and then he goes and gets hurt and just came back I think, what
a week and a half ago or something like that. So I think he's
I think he has done some damage with the bat, but got to stay
on the field, But hoping wondering if since he's missed so much time,
they might jump him up double A. We'll see a guy that I still
think is talented and want to see both defensively and offensively, just want to
see him play. Then you went with Chandler Simpson, who I think has
done exactly what we thought right young counter backs. He finally just got promoted
up to double a forty eight bags on the air. So far, like
he's I think comfortably in first place for the miners currently. You know,
as we talked about, that's that's like his whole game, right, Yeah,
yeah, he does have a homer this year, which is exciting.
But was it inside the park? I don't know, but it would be
surprised if it wasn't. Since the park exactly, but I will say Trey
Morgan from LSU has been really good, way way better that than I had
thought that. I agreed that. No, I agreed, that's that is
was exactly what I was going to say too. I thought, kind of
that corner profile, low power, good athlete skill set, it's like super
hard to make that work. But thus far he's kind of saying like,
yeah, I can I can do that. I don't know if you remember
he had that three homer game in the regionals or super regionals for LSU,
which was super exciting. I was like, Oh, this might this might
be a dude. But then you watch him and you're like, oh,
there's just not a lot of power there. But he's got a strike out
rate under ten percent. He's at high A, he's young ish, you
know, considering he was a college draftees only twenty one. We'll see if
he can make it work. But I don't know it's he's He's been an
arrow up guy for me too. Yeah, definitely Red Sox Matt We both
went with Alan Castro, who I think it's safe to say we were hoping
expecting a more offensive, productive season. He's been very vanilla. And then
I don't know. I guess maybe in their system, Mat Matthew Lugo,
Campbell, Cavadis might have been better, better calls, but we did not
We did not select them. Yeah, Christian Campbell, I think is the
arrow up guy in the system. And while strikeouts continue to be a part
of his game, as Chris Clegg noted, I think pretty early in the
season his exit velos are way higher than they were last year. I think
he was a drive line guy or a triad athletics guy, and Christian Campbell
upped his exit velo average and ninetieth percent out by a lot. It came
with a bit more swing and miss, but you know, he's popped ten
homers. He's up to double A. Playing all around the diamonds, second
short left field, there's he's he's moved pretty firmly into like real prospect territory,
especially for fantasy, And I didn't have that on my red art all
coming into the year, so he would have been a great pick. Yeah,
the Reds, Matt, I was more excited about Ethan o'donald than I
was Charles McAdoo, and he has just been very vanilla in Hia. It's
not popped like I had hoped. You went with Jacob Hurdabies, who's in
the big leagues right now. I think maybe he's still love right yep.
Actually, like I saw him. I saw him take some at bats.
What last week went to the Reds Rockies game. Nice were there two strikes
away from a win and ended up losing by five. Yeah, I think
that was a good call because I don't know if there's really anyone else in
their system that would have been Dominic Patelli. Yeah, who's kind of ascended.
Maybe that would have been a good call. I know you've talked about
Ariel Almonte before and his massive power potential down at a ball. He's repeating
a ball, right, so we would have had a chance to see him.
But yeah, and the strikeout rate for him is obviously off the charts
still like which it was when we talked about him before, but still the
power is intriguing for a twenty year old. He's I think leading the Reds
minor leaguers in homers so far this year as a twenty year old. To
enable other than Patelli, I don't think there's really anyone that wasn't very popular
that has kind of kind of popped this year. Yeah. The only other
one that's Blake Dunn got a little cup of coffee too, and I think
he was an under owned guy. I still like her to Bees more.
I think the Herdabes's profile of like walking a lot, stealing bases, and
hitting kind of line drives is more likely to play than Blake Dunn, who
sells out a bit more for power but still brings some speed to play.
Yeah, Herdibees is still probably who I would have gone with the Rockies.
Matt my guy. Ryan Ritter has been a lot better than even I expected.
The strikeouts been cut quite a bit at double A. He hasn't hit
for as many home runs, but he's still playing stellar defense, hitting forever
more, stealing some bases. He's been pretty good I think your pick Jimmy
Harron has been all right. I think he's hurt now, isn't he or
did he just come back? I think so. Yeah, he's missed a
good amount of time, but he was solid before then. I just don't
know. I just don't know if he's gonna get a chance. Yeah.
And he's another of these older guys that I thought, maybe he gets a
chance. But again, the Rockies have stockpiled quite a few of these.
So it's not Bouchard Doyle, you like, a lot of these guys were
older and then finally got It's kind of a lot of outfielders. Even with
them all with several of them banged up right now, there's still other outfielders
ahead of them. Yeah, and even a guy like Braiden Ward who's a
level below but like he was about he might he might get a shot instead.
Yeah, that would have been good calls for braiden Ward. And then
Caros has been a lot better than I expected that he would be too.
Kyle Carris, Yeah, beatty braiden Ward, man, he's he's a fun
one. He is a fun one, and like that man. We've talked
a little bit about stolen bases as a skill and how you can see that
a bit in some minor leaguers and Ward has that. Ward is one of
those guys that he isn't just fast and isn't just taking advantage of bad defenses.
He's got the stolen based skill in there. He's a fun one.
Oh well, I was going to ask, like on the older level,
guys like Coco Montes, like he's been one that has popped up for me
as like maybe if he gets a little bit of run if Rogers or or
I guess when Brendon Rogers went down, I wondered if they were going to
give Coco Montes run and instead they're promoted amador. But has have you watched
much of Montes? Yeah, yeah, I've seen, and he was up
with them last year a little bit. I think he's a really good Triple
A ballplayer. I don't think he's he gives them anything that Alan Trejo doesn't
give them, you know what I mean. Yeah, Treo is better defensively,
So yeah, he's nice. I was kind of hoping my guy Hunter
Stoleall might actually get a big league chance because I love him, but that
didn't happen. The Royals man, I know Trevor. Trevor Warner has been
a big disappointment for both of us. We were pretty excited about that,
but that has has not gone well. But I don't know who would have
been a better call on that. I've liked this, uh, some of
these looks of this Jared Dickey guy, but he's still like putting up pretty
pedestrian numbers. That ball shape is nice, But I don't know. I
don't know who would have been a good call. I don't know who's popping
for the Royals that wasn't popular. I think Javier of Oz, who I'm
pretty sure I mentioned when we were talking about this. It is like I
really liked him coming into the year with exactly what he's shown this year,
which is high contact, decent plate approach, a little bit of speed,
and maybe he'll look into a few homers here and there. So I do
really like Javier Vaz and I did kind of coming into the year. I
think he has a chance to be like, was he still like B side
range popularity though, because I know he was. He was super you know,
like it sort of fringy for us, but still two percent I thought
was such a safe territory, and he had made it up to Double A
last year and spent most of Double A most of this year in Double A
two. But Oz, I think continues to be a guy who looks like
either a platoon guy or a utility guy with a chance for a bit more,
especially if he gets to a bit more power, which I wouldn't not
expect it to happen. But Oz is still a still guy. I like
here the Tigers, Matt, I went with Luke Gold who has hit some
home runs in hye been okay, I guess, And then you went with
Brady Allen, who's nothing been underwhelming in Double A. Yep, I don't
remember how popular was how you lee before the season had to have been over
our threshold limit because he's been awesome. Yeah, yeah, he's probably he's
probably the clear cut to me, sort of like B side ascending guy.
Yeah, I think that's right. I mean McGonagall obviously hat tipped to you
for iding that one. I I think mcgonagall's been phenomenal since he came back
from his injury, like better than Max Clark, who was obviously a top
five pick. And yeah, McGonagall, Mcgonagall's freaking sweet, So I'm pumped
for you on that one. The Twins, Matt, we both screwed the
pooch here. My guy Ben Ross has been probably the most disappointing guy for
me this season, maybe other than maybe Werner not been good at all.
Good defensively still, but yeah, the bat's been awful. Your guy,
Joiner Fajardo was released picked up by Pittsburgh. I think he's in Triple A
for Pittsburgh now right. I think they might have signed him to Double A.
Like that's what I was saying. I think they I think they had
signed him to Double A. The Twins probably had. There were probably some
better calls now. We talked about Keishchel and liking him coming into season.
We also talked about Kursey junior Deshaun Kirsty junior, who I really liked from
back his days in college, and like I was like, you know,
Fajardo is kind of him, but a little bit younger. Maybe he gets
a shot first. But Cursey has been really good, has finally dropped his
strikeout rate down into an acceptable range and it's still showing a power speed blend.
Like I hope Deshan Krazy gets a call this year because he seemed to
have earned it after a really long stint in the minor leagues. This is
I think his seventh year in the minor leagues now, and part of the
reason why I was attracted to Ross was because I thought the Twins would would
help him hit some better home run shapes. Right. They didn't do it
with Ross, but man Kell Keischell's hitting the home runs, yeah, pace,
at a pace he was not as a as an amateur. I think
that I think that played. There a couple other guys that have been good
that kind of you know, quote popped up, came out of nowhere.
Nowhere is Ricardo Olivar and Rubel Saspads. Those would have been some good calls
too, but we did not make them. That we did not the White
Sox. We both went with Brooks Baldwin. I think that's been a Yeah,
that was pretty good. I don't know, do you think I'm hoping
that he gets the double A to the majors treatment like what they've done with
a handful of their of their guys. Of wait, moving them from Birmingham.
We see trade Luis Robert and then promote Baldwin to play center field.
I don't know. I don't know what those as clowns are doing. Uh
yeah, Wilfred various. That that's I think that's been a decent call too.
Like we've talked about, he's slimmed down and stuff. The strike cuts
are still kind of high, but that was a good runner up call,
I think. I don't know if there's any other bats. I know they
got some dude, some old college guy crushing it at a ball, but
I don't know who else has kind of jumped for them offensively. Well.
The only other guy that I don't think is really relevant for dynasty leagues or
anything. But it's just a fun interesting profiles Riku Nishida. I don't know
if you've watched him before, Yeah, I've seen them. Yeah. I
mean it's just like super high contact, zero power zero. I pulled up
I pulled up his spray chart and Clegg's thing, and I do legit,
there wasn't a ball hit past like medium depth outfield. Yeah. Yeah,
he's just a fun profile and I like watching him, you know, just
because he's got a different approach up there. And then lastly, Matt the
Yankees. I went with young Jose kolmanis who got hurt before the season started.
He's done for the year. You went with Caleb Durban. It was
a great call. He's been hurt for a while now, Man, when
does he come back. I don't know. I don't know, but he's
been crushing it like he you know, But I think they drop in and
it's been awesome. I love I love Durban, But the Yankees, I
think there was a handful of guys Rafael Flores, Haesus Rodriguez, Jared Serna,
Benjamin Cowels would have been great B side calls as well too, I
think. Yeah. And then my guy Augustin Ramirez, who might really have
qualified as B side. I mean maybe not. He might not have qualified
this offseason, but I know for me, he was like top of my
draft board for a bunch of leagues, and I managed to snag him in
quite a few places, and he has been awesome to start the year.
He's great. Now, this was a very long way going about me asking
you, Matt, where where are all the pop up bats man? Where
what am I supposed to be doing with all my roster spots and my deep
leagues? Yeah, I mean it is interesting going through it kind of team
by team like this and seeing who could we have been on or who maybe
has like surpassed the guys that we identified. I don't know, not scientific
at all, but like I'd say two thirds of our guys are like either
the guy or a top guy from their from their systems. You know,
that wasn't like a very very top prospect, right And to me, the
point isn't like, hey, look at us, we're so smart. The
point is it is not like this in other years. In other years this
short list. Because I've done this every June, looked at my picks,
who should I pick? Who were better? Every order will have a guy
that I could argue was just as good a call or had five guys that
would have been just good caller better. That is just not the case this
year at all. M Well, that's interesting. The historically that's the case.
I'm going to chalk that up to one. You picked twice as many
b side guys this year, right, Like I picked a bunch so so,
and we also talked a handful. We doubled up on a couple,
but for the most part we picked different guys. Even even when we agreed,
we usually were like, oh, but this is another guy that you
should keep an eye on. But so that's part of it, Like you,
we picked more guys. I do wonder if there's something about the offensive
environment overall that like maybe hasn't showing up in some of the surf surface line
stats that you know, like it actually turns out that a one oh five
WRC plus at double A is actually phenomenal and looks way closer to a really
good line historically speaking, so that that kind of stuff is harder to know.
I mean, it's also interesting hearing your perspective about that. Usually there's
a lot more at this point in the season, because I think for me,
this is the point in the season when shit starts to feel real,
like you know what I mean, Like lots of guys kind of started hot.
I'm like, man, I'm kind of skeptical of that. Like hoost
Way de Paula had one week where he hit five homers and how many homers
does he have in all of the weeks combined? One? And like,
I mean, okay, yeah, maybe he's that guy like everyone else said
he was, or maybe he's the guy that I saw all year last year
and have seen most of this year, Like I don't know, and so
looking at somebody in June or early July to mean that starts to look like,
Okay, this is the vagaries of the up and down of a season
have started to smooth out a little bit. You can start to buy who
a guy is more at this point, and that's on the good and the
bad side. So like, maybe we're just starting to see some of these
guys who've like maybe started out pretty hot, poked through and we should start
believing them. Yeah, I don't know, does that make sense like that?
Maybe maybe it's just that it took a little bit to get here and
now now we should start to see some of the players kind of separate or
be a little bit better. Well, you've bring up some good points,
but you didn't answer the question right. The correct answer was filled them with
pitchers. Yeah, the pitching. The pitching has been fun. You know,
this is something that you know, since I wasn't on last week and
you talked about a bunch of the pop up arms or arms that are like
these are guys we should have been on, or that are that were really
interesting. I always feel like there's a couple of arms in those first couple
of weeks that they turn out to be really, really good, and maybe
there were a few more of them this year, and we'd identified a few
of them coming into this season, like you with jayde Hamm, Like,
I think that was a great pick. Hat tipped to me a little bit.
Quinn Matthews, I talked about him in January, is like, this
is a guy to me that looks like somebody who could really put it together
in pro ball, and he's been nothing short of awesome. And certainly I
didn't think he was going to be this good, but that's somebody that we
were we were on. But does it feel like there were more of those
pop up guys to you this year that like maybe we thought this was interesting,
but they've showed out as like this is a stud pitcher. Does it
does it seem like that's the case. It's a good question for the last,
you know, three four years i've been I don't know if it feels
any different. I feel like every you know, what I was doing,
like that pictureless review stuff was like every week there was at least one guy
that I was like, Ooh, I could see how this could go.
And I don't think that has changed. I think pretty much every week there's
a picture that I catch. It might be his best outing of the year,
but you get the glimpse, you get to see, like it goes
like this, this is gonna be pretty good, right. A lot of
it's just how consistently are you going to be that good? You know?
So I don't know that's a good question, I will say, though you're
talking about earlier in the year Jonah than for one, I think classing those
were two guys right right away the first week of the season I got excited
about. I was like, oh, ye've they've lost a little bit of
their appeal to me moving up. I think there's been more guys this year
who were kind of like repeated a level or maybe they maybe they finally just
got promoted or something of that. But I feel like there's been more guys
that were just pretty vanilla and kind of lost my interests that have become more
interesting than the year's past, if that makes sense. Interesting. I feel
like the list of guys that maybe started out at low A or high A
and then really like jumped off the page, you know, like tug Bot
Wilkinson, Quinn Matthews, Zebbie Matthews, Caden Dana, even Austin Peterson,
Winston Santo's Like, there's a lot of those guys that it was like two
or three starts in, and I feel like it was pretty clear these are
some talented arms that are doing some interesting stuff, and they've mostly held that.
While I agree with you a couple of them as they've gone up,
it's trailed off a little bit, as you would expect it to a bit,
obviously, but it does feel to me like there was more of that
crop at that level that we hadn't seen a lot of, Like because the
thing that's common about pretty much all of those guys is we hadn't seen much
of them prior to this year. And Key Sting was another one all the
Gary Is and other of your picks that I think he's really he showed out
really well. Erku Lani even I think he showed some things too. But
a lot of those guys that we hadn't seen very much of, they've kind
of kept up that performance more than I expected. And when I look at
how how things have gone this year, it seems like those early flashes have
sustained for the most part, and those early like pitcher pickups have been pretty
good ones, and I wish I had more of them. I mean I
grabbed a few, I think in some of our leagues, but here I
wish it would have gone with me more of these guys. When we did
our B side arms, there was a lot of small sample guys that I
picked, right, Yeah, but is say, hello, Gary gill Hill,
guys like that, right, some that haven't been good, Jackson Humphries,
but Logan Evans, you know a lot lots of guys that have been
good, right. I think with the condensing of the miners, I think
maybe there's some better arms down at the complex level, at rookie ball level
than maybe you know, half a decade ago or something like that. I
think when we're when we're sort of B siding or whatever. I think the
second half of the year is going to be really interesting for arms. When
we see these guys, they get to move complex to full season, even
though we might just see a little bit of them, Like, you can
glean a lot from seeing a little You can glean a guy throwing high nineties
or wicked slider or something like that. You know, and there's reasons why
those are the guys. Those are the young guys getting promoted. So I'm
excited for that part of the season. I'm excited for the last month or
so month and a half of who are these arms that are going to come
up and get a few starts? You know, we're not going to have
a large enough sample size and who's going to be next year's crop of B
side arms, because that's a lot more exciting than hitters. Well, I'm
not going to go that far, but it has been interesting to see how
many of these guys really did, you know, show out like that they
really were quality early and then it was apparent that they were a cut above
either even what we thought they were or what they had been kind of rated
by the larger dynasty community. And I just think that's an interesting thing to
note. You know, I don't know if there's a larger takeaway to be
gleaned from that just yet, but it has been interesting just how many of
these guys like continue to populate the top of the K minus BBE leader boards,
for example, in in the minor leagues and whatnot. And yeah,
you found a lot of those small sample guys that like even even Hayden Mullins
like he hasn't put it all together yet, but he's had a few starts
that like there's that slider that is just wiping everybody out, and when he
tightens up the command a bit, I mean, I still think there's there's
an arm in there that it's worth following, especially in that pitching development organization,
the way they've turned around a bunch of those arms like he's, he's
another one that has it hasn't quite come together yet, but yeah, there's
there's some real, real potential there. I don't know if I find it
interesting. Man, I got a few teams good. You know, I'm
trying to get better. My teams aren't very good. Trying to make deals
and you know who are the pop up hitters and who should that is tough,
man. They're just saying a lot to go after right now, and
it's making me a little nervous. But as I think we said before the
season started, if you're rebuilding like I am, or trying to get good
like I am, a few teams, you that young MLB hitter demographic,
I think is where I got to be spending my time and trying to treat
I think we identified some some decent hitters that way. But I'd be really
nervous if I was like a total strip down thirty team or large even small
league. It was like, all right, I just got all these hitting
prospects and in a few years, I don't know, man, I think
there's also maybe a little bit of a log jam after the condensing of the
minor leagues and all this stuff. Like there's a lot of young bats,
young talented bats, I think in the majors right now. It's like they're
vying for time and probably deserve it. You know, Like I'll just look
at like the path of like Brett Wisely, who's doing all right now?
You know, you got one hundred and twenty at bats one season, had
waited half a season to get another shot. You know. Just a lot
of dynasty owners can't can't be patient like that, and the rebuilders. I
think you should try and collect those kinds of guys. It's different. It
feels like a very different environment, very favor of mud right now. Man.
I took a look at the trending prospects this week, and any good
ones not really, we're hitting that lull. Yeah, nothing super remarkable that
I know. I think CJ. Hunt is that right? CJ. Hunt?
The picture of the Brewer system, I think, oh, I'm sorry,
you're right, Casey Hunt. Thank you. He was like one and
a half or two percent increase. And then Cutter Coffee with the Red Sox,
who I don't know, what do you do, like hit six home
runs in a row or something like that. Yeah, he's like, I
think home run seven games something like that. Yeah, he's on fire,
and you know I remember, I mean he was what a second round prep
pick, signed for like one point eight million or something like that. But
I don't really I feel like I've never not really heard a lot of compliments
about Cutter Coffee. I can't say that I watched him once I picked him
up, though, Like no ideas, man, I didn't look at the
schedule upcoming this week, but I do know that I want to watch Amarillo
when Spencer Geisting makes his double A debut, hoping to get a decent angle
too. I don't know who's got the best angle in the Texas League,
but that's been my angle. Isn't bad. I mean, they it's a
little bit off center, but it's like nice and close up. I think
that's that's been my biggest, uh my biggest hang up with geisting at how
much do I like them is I've never's never been a good angle to see
a lefty in the Northwest League for the last two years. You know,
mm hmmm. This Vancouver is okay, but it's still not the greatest.
But yeah, so I don't know, Matt, I think that'll do it
for episode thirty six, Hitters suck of the Prospect. Besides podcasts a conspiracy,
this will be fun budding times though there's there's stuff out there. We
just we gotta we gotta dig deeper, Matt, we gotta find something here.
The second well, and as you noted, it's it's definitely getting to
be promotion season where we see a lot more movement between the leagues and some
of the guys that have been really crushing it, let's see how they do
as they get promoted up into High A or Double A. I think that's
like where a lot of the interesting promotions happen. Yeah, obviously the Complex
ball is up to a A ball. I think we're going to start to
see some of those guys fairly soon. And there's some really exciting guys in
the Complex too. Yeah, I don't allocate a lot of my roster spots
to rookie ball guys. But I have been backscore watching and keeping Demetrio Crisantis
on some of my rosters, and I'm curious and anxious to see him.
I'm hoping that's fairly soon. D bex So. I think he's playing second
base roadstap But I don't know if you've if you've peeped his complex numbers,
but they're they're pretty interesting. He has popped up a couple of times when
I've looked, and definitely really interesting box score so far. You know,
you always like to see the stolen based numbers and the strikeout a lot of
triple Yeah, five of them. That's impressive. Yeah, so we'll see
he's but he's no collades though, or triples, five homers for steals.
Yeah, he's gonna be so freaking good, do you think so? I'm
worried about the strikeouts, man, strikeouts are going to be a thing.
I just I think for him, he's going to be one of those guys
where the strikeouts are are there. But I think it's been better as he's
gone, Like he started out with a lot of strikeouts that I think they
noted this maybe in one of the Baseball America right ups recently, where his
contact rate started out as abysmal and now it's more below average. And for
a guy that hits as hard as he does, like it's I think that's
going to matter a little bit less. You know, you wanted to keep
getting better. But I'm still super in on Colase. Well, of course,
I'm hoping we'll let Chicago Farmer take us out and we'll talk to you
next time. See you. Miles an hour ratting two is him. He
hopped down first with the lumpbonius face, and on the very next pitch he
up and stole second face with gretest speed. He wasn't born, he had
yes, beautiful