Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to the Heat Check, episode number thirty two.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Nathan Graham. The format is going to
Speaker 1: be a little bit different today. Instead of going down
Speaker 1: the minor league ladder like usual, I've invited some members
Speaker 1: of the prospect team at Baseball Perspectives to join me
Speaker 1: and we're going to discuss some of the players that
Speaker 1: have caught our attention so far in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: So joining me today our old friends Ben Spanier, Eli Walsh,
Speaker 1: and also a little bit later in the show, we're
Speaker 1: going to check in on some names you should know
Speaker 1: for the upcoming draft, and for that we will be
Speaker 1: talking to BP newcomer Liam Murphy. So let's jump right in,
Speaker 1: and I want to find out who you've seen this
Speaker 1: year that stood out for me. I cover the Midwest
Speaker 1: League and I feel like the talent levels down a
Speaker 1: little bit there this year. But for me so far
Speaker 1: this year, it's been Red's catching prospect Alfred of Duno,
Speaker 1: who stands out as the top talent in the league. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start with Ben, and Ben, you've been the
Speaker 1: hardest working man on the staff covering all the White
Speaker 1: Sox recent call ups. You've been really busy and you've
Speaker 1: got a lot of talent down in your area. Ben,
Speaker 1: you cover both the Caroline and the Sally League. Who's
Speaker 1: the top bat you've seen this season?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you for the introduction. You know what,
Speaker 2: it's it's a great day, not only for the White
Speaker 2: Sox major league team apparently, but they you know, there's
Speaker 2: some minor league development going on, and one of the
Speaker 2: later guys I'm gonna mention is maybe a bit of
Speaker 2: a less herald of guy they've had working. And yeah,
Speaker 2: both my local teams, Winston Salem Dash and the Greensboro
Speaker 2: Grasshoppers in the Sally League, they have both had really.
Speaker 3: Good lineups this year. So I have been lucky.
Speaker 2: I've got a hitter and a pitcher because I happened
Speaker 2: to be fortunate with the timing here. Linton Blue Rocks
Speaker 2: were in town hya with the Nationals and Eli Willitts
Speaker 2: just got called up, and you know, he'd had a
Speaker 2: good first couple of months at Fredericksberg, you know, and
Speaker 2: I knew, of course, you.
Speaker 3: Know, straft status, he really needs no introduction.
Speaker 2: So but you know, I hadn't I hadn't had the
Speaker 2: idea his skill set would be that flashy or anything.
Speaker 3: You know, and you know in the end that is
Speaker 3: the case.
Speaker 2: But I will say, you know, the first thing you
Speaker 2: think when you see him as man, that guy's not
Speaker 2: not very big, and I don't really think he's going to
Speaker 2: get that much bigger. But and you know, he is
Speaker 2: definitely a sum of you know, the sum of his
Speaker 2: parts is more than the individual parts kind of player.
Speaker 3: But I mean that in a lat of tory.
Speaker 2: Way in this case because if you know, if he's
Speaker 2: above average to plus in the particular areas that I
Speaker 2: think he will be, you know, he's a star because
Speaker 2: he's quite a good defensive short stole up, very advanced,
Speaker 2: good range, really soft hands, just making all the plays.
Speaker 3: The only thing I think in the.
Speaker 2: Field that may not be plus is his arm, and
Speaker 2: I still think that's above average. You know at the plate,
Speaker 2: I don't think his raw powers gonna be that crazy.
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm just was kind of blown away.
Speaker 2: You know, he's eighteen years old the first week in
Speaker 2: Hya and you know, he's just got a great command
Speaker 2: of the zone. He has an early count approach and
Speaker 2: a later count approach. So I've seen him kind of
Speaker 2: slap the ball the other way. But also he was.
Speaker 3: Playing in.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a for hitters hitting friendly park Greensboro.
Speaker 2: You know, famously, if I have anything to say about it,
Speaker 2: because I do mention it all the time, it actually
Speaker 2: scouting a little bit harder. He really makes. You know,
Speaker 2: it's another kind of thing you have to think about.
Speaker 2: But you know, he is really good at jumping on
Speaker 2: mistakes and sort of yanking them over the right field
Speaker 2: wall from the left side of the place switch hitter.
Speaker 2: I know more about his lefty hitting simply because I've
Speaker 2: seen more of its lefty hitting. But like you know,
Speaker 2: bad breaking balls, bad fastballs. It's just like he knows
Speaker 2: the wall is right there, and you know, he's just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna jump on this and hit it out. And
Speaker 2: it's not like it's not like a hugely like twitchy
Speaker 2: bat or anything.
Speaker 3: It's just like his hands are very.
Speaker 2: Good and then he just like guides them to the ball,
Speaker 2: and you know, it just seems that part of the
Speaker 2: game seems pretty easy for him. So I think that
Speaker 2: in the end, you know it, I think his game
Speaker 2: it's going to be better than his raw power.
Speaker 3: Say he gets to like twenty home runs, you.
Speaker 2: Know, I think he might have a plus hit tool too.
Speaker 2: It's very fraught, as we all know, trying to project
Speaker 2: a plus hit tool for any minor leaguer anywhere. But
Speaker 2: he's quite young and he's very advanced, so sticking a
Speaker 2: short stop. I mean, you know, even if his overall
Speaker 2: numbers are not like massive, I think he could be
Speaker 2: considered a star player essentially, you know, filling.
Speaker 3: Up all the categories.
Speaker 2: And just, real quick, another guy who doesn't need introduction,
Speaker 2: I have a picture too, real.
Speaker 1: Quick, before we get to that one, Ben, I got
Speaker 1: a quick question for you. So, so Jared did a
Speaker 1: piece for us this week at VP and he kind
Speaker 1: of laid out some of the possible names that we
Speaker 1: might see at fifty and Willis was mentioned. The power
Speaker 1: is starting to show up a little bit earlier. You
Speaker 1: you kind of talked on that. Yeah, are you ready
Speaker 1: to put him ahead of Jesus made ear Leo Devrees?
Speaker 2: You know, I know more about Moday firsthand, and Degrees
Speaker 2: because I have seen made play done a little more
Speaker 2: work on him. It's funny because in some ways, will
Speaker 2: It is a little bit similar to Maday, you know,
Speaker 2: not being a huge guy, middle infielder, my gut feeling
Speaker 2: on that is that without looking at a lot of
Speaker 2: deeper stuff, is that maybe I moday is just something
Speaker 2: about him where I think maybe it's upsides higher. But
Speaker 2: I kind of feel more confident that Will it is
Speaker 2: going to be, it's gonna get, you know, has half
Speaker 2: a higher floor. But I think that they're they're both
Speaker 2: quite They're just at their ages respectively, they're both quite advanced,
Speaker 2: so I think they're quite similar. And honestly, it's one
Speaker 2: of those times where I'm happy that Jarret and Jeffrey
Speaker 2: are deciding that Debreez is a hard one. That's one
Speaker 2: where some of you guys have seen him and not me.
Speaker 2: He might end up being higher, maybe just because I
Speaker 2: think his outside is so great. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: one of those things where I I actually didn't read
Speaker 2: Jared's piece because I didn't want to be like biased,
Speaker 2: you know, because I'm going to see Willis a lot.
Speaker 2: But of course I'm gonna read it after this since
Speaker 2: I'm filing my reports today. But like, I think he's
Speaker 2: in the conversation basically, and and he's interesting because I
Speaker 2: do think he's similar to Made in a lot of ways,
Speaker 2: and and he's quite different from Debrees, So I think
Speaker 2: I think he's in the conversation though for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, definitely, And I've got to admit i'm a
Speaker 1: little I'm a little bit jealous, Ben when you gave
Speaker 1: me the names. Not only do you have Willits in
Speaker 1: your coverage era, you also recently got to see Seth Fernandez. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he was utterly dominant at Low Way. I know
Speaker 1: both of us do the minor league update, and I
Speaker 1: kind of got sick to put them in there. Just
Speaker 1: seemed like every start there he was again. But he
Speaker 1: stumbled a little bit in Greensboro. Tell me what you've
Speaker 1: seen there?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's funny. I think the phrase I
Speaker 2: used and I didn't really know how to write the
Speaker 2: ten pack. I kind of procrastinated on it for a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks because I see him a couple of
Speaker 2: times and I was just like, Okay, everybody knows who
Speaker 2: this dude is and what is stuff is like because
Speaker 2: the data from the Florida State League is public, right,
Speaker 2: So you know he's got a fastball that has characteristics
Speaker 2: or should be you know, maybe a seven, you know
Speaker 2: at least, and you know he's got three breaking pitches
Speaker 2: that the wiff rates he was running in the FSL
Speaker 2: were crazy, you know, I mean, you knew that wouldn't continue.
Speaker 2: It was just he's a high school guy, but he
Speaker 2: was just too advanced for low A clearly, and he's
Speaker 2: come up and something I've been a little surprised. Maybe
Speaker 2: I shouldn't be surprised. I mean at his age, is
Speaker 2: that you know, he spraised the fastball around a bit.
Speaker 2: I think he's quite athletic on the mound. He's really
Speaker 2: he looks like what you wanted to look like in
Speaker 2: terms of body and I think delivery. Though I have
Speaker 2: to admit I haven't really slowed down the video and
Speaker 2: looked for little flaws or anything. There's probably some stuff
Speaker 2: he's working on, but you know, he hasn't really located
Speaker 2: his fastball. He's been ambushed on a couple and I
Speaker 2: wonder if it's made him wonder Like the first game
Speaker 2: I saw him, he was against Winston and a couple
Speaker 2: of their lefty hitters.
Speaker 3: Again, Greensboro's got short walls, and he had a.
Speaker 2: Fastball that wasn't high enough. You know, it was more
Speaker 2: middle than up. Because his fastball will play up in
Speaker 2: the zone, and you know, he got ambushed, and you
Speaker 2: know he's been walking guys. He's been walking a lot
Speaker 2: more guys. So that's the main thing. I will say.
Speaker 2: He's got three usable secondaries already, which to me is
Speaker 2: pretty advanced. To compare him, say to now, his fastball
Speaker 2: is in the same category roughly. I saw Bubba Chandler
Speaker 2: a few years ago. Yep, secondaries are more advanced the
Speaker 2: beginning of the year in Greensboro. Bubba actually had a
Speaker 2: really hard time in the first half of the year
Speaker 2: in Greensboro a couple of years ago at a similar age.
Speaker 2: So you know, and and he's he's having his issues
Speaker 2: in the major leagues too, but he's quite talented and
Speaker 2: you know, and and all of that.
Speaker 1: That's kind of where it's going to go next. I
Speaker 1: don't remember you. I don't think you saw Skemes, but
Speaker 1: I know you saw a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: bubb with Chandler and Jared Jones. Ye. Compared to those
Speaker 1: other two where we ranked Hernandez.
Speaker 2: I think he would be higher because secondaries are better, right,
Speaker 2: and at a younger age. And you know the thing is,
Speaker 2: I'm trying. It's hard for me still to suss out
Speaker 2: which ones will be plus and which ones are gonna
Speaker 2: be more above average ish right average to above, because
Speaker 2: there's some games where he throws that change up a
Speaker 2: lot and it's okay, but it's not like the movement's
Speaker 2: not it's not a great pitch yet. And then he
Speaker 2: has the curve ball, which has a lot of movement
Speaker 2: when he throws it, well, you know, a lot of
Speaker 2: a lot of vertical action. But as we know, and
Speaker 2: I think we've you know, our colleagues have talked about
Speaker 2: a good deal some of those up and down curveballs
Speaker 2: sometimes end of not being.
Speaker 3: As effective at higher levels.
Speaker 2: And he's got kind of a hard slider in the
Speaker 2: upper eighties, and I really think he maybe hasn't quite
Speaker 2: figured out which of those are his best pitches. But
Speaker 2: the fact that he's able to throw all of them
Speaker 2: is kind of exciting along with this great fastball. So
Speaker 2: I think I think it's you know, he's going to
Speaker 2: be a major league starter barring injury. It's just you know,
Speaker 2: Canny get to Canny become a really really high level starter,
Speaker 2: you know, and and I, But neither of those other
Speaker 2: guys were totally dominant in high A either Both of
Speaker 2: those guys gave up home runs in Greensboro too, so
Speaker 2: given that the Pirates were able to get them to
Speaker 2: where they are, I feel pretty confident about Hernandez, and
Speaker 2: I say the ingredients are there. It's may take little.
Speaker 2: I think people were getting really excited at his low
Speaker 2: A performance. I think he's still a high school pitcher
Speaker 2: and it might take a little while longer, but I
Speaker 2: think he's certainly going to get there. And I think,
Speaker 2: you know, the question is how great will he how
Speaker 2: good will he be? And you know, and for for
Speaker 2: Jared and Jeffrey, how does he compare it to some
Speaker 2: of the other top pitchers, because he's gonna be near
Speaker 2: the top of the list, I think, yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I think people saw Skens move so quick
Speaker 1: and they kind of forgot that Hernandez is a prep
Speaker 1: arm and it's gonna take some time. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit adversity there.
Speaker 3: Well, let's let's move.
Speaker 1: On out to the Northwest League and Eli Walsh, there's
Speaker 1: some really interesting bats in the league right now. And
Speaker 1: when I floated the topic to you, you went back
Speaker 1: and forth kind of between Roaldy Brito, Johnny Level and
Speaker 1: Cason Cunningham. Who did you ultimately choose on this one?
Speaker 4: Ela H. Cunningham.
Speaker 5: He was actually just promoted up to UH up to
Speaker 5: Hya earlier this week. And you know, it's a it's
Speaker 5: a hit over power profile. He really tore up the
Speaker 5: league in the you know, forty or so games that
Speaker 5: he played there. Only he only has one hit and
Speaker 5: something like twenty at bats in High A so far.
Speaker 5: But you know, we'll give him, give him a minute
Speaker 5: to get up to speed there. But yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: the high school draft pick last year for the Diamondbacks
Speaker 5: and you know, he's he's played shortstops so far.
Speaker 4: Probably doesn't end up there.
Speaker 5: He probably ends up you know, second, maybe a corner
Speaker 5: outfield spot. But the bat's gonna have to carry the
Speaker 5: profile here, and so far it has. You know, he
Speaker 5: has a you know, nice line drive swing, sprays the
Speaker 5: ball all over the all over the field, and you know,
Speaker 5: I am a little bit skeptical that there's going to
Speaker 5: be a ton of power here.
Speaker 4: It's probably going to be you know a lot of doubles.
Speaker 5: You're looking at a you know, looking at the player
Speaker 5: and hoping that this is going to be like a
Speaker 5: forty double profile rather than twenty homers, but you know
Speaker 5: he uh, you know, Cunningham was a guy who you know,
Speaker 5: hit while on the Showcase circuit last summer, and you know,
Speaker 5: you never sort of know how that's going to translate
Speaker 5: into pro ball, but you know, he's, uh, he's he's
Speaker 5: really hit the ground run in this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he has. I read your Timpac article and just
Speaker 1: kind of hearing you talk about him, I was kind
Speaker 1: of in my head trying to think of maybe a comp.
Speaker 1: I know, we don't like to do comps all the time,
Speaker 1: but Nico Horner kind of came to my mind. You know,
Speaker 1: a guy that started out at shortstop and moved to
Speaker 1: second base where he's he's a great defender at second
Speaker 1: base and more of a hit over power. Go is
Speaker 1: that is that a fair comparison or is there someone
Speaker 1: else that kind of reminds you of him?
Speaker 4: I think that's fair.
Speaker 5: Maybe a bit less speed than Horner, He's probably not
Speaker 5: gonna you know, steal a bunch of bases, and certainly
Speaker 5: not you know, as he as he gets up you.
Speaker 4: Know, higher in the minors.
Speaker 5: But yeah, you know, he's he's just sort of a
Speaker 5: generally athletic type of player. You know, probably also not
Speaker 5: as good defensively as as Horner, but as far as
Speaker 5: the bat is concerned, you know, ability to move it
Speaker 5: around the zone and and just get the bat on
Speaker 5: the ball, not strike out at time. Yeah, I think
Speaker 5: that's pretty fair.
Speaker 1: Okay, Great, So those were kind of all players that
Speaker 1: most people that follow prospects all know about. Now we're
Speaker 1: going to talk a little bit, maybe someone that might
Speaker 1: be a bit under the radar, but someone who won't
Speaker 1: be this time next year. Ben, I'm going to circle
Speaker 1: back to you. You're going to go first, and I
Speaker 1: think your hitter is one that might have done the
Speaker 1: most to improve his prospect stock through the first three
Speaker 1: months of the season, and that's Brave's outfield prospect Derek Cartman,
Speaker 1: nineteen years old, and like like Eli Willitts, he's in
Speaker 1: High A as well. Through fifty seven games, Hya he's
Speaker 1: slashing three eleven, three seventy seven six oh one. Been
Speaker 1: tell me more about.
Speaker 2: Harp Yeah, I mean I got to see him in
Speaker 2: late April, and you know, a few weeks, you know,
Speaker 2: and I wasn't really on top of the Braves that much.
Speaker 2: They had a couple guys, you know, they're frankly, they're
Speaker 2: They're Rome teams have have not been great the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. You know, they're very much, uh a
Speaker 2: top level major league team, and so you know, maybe
Speaker 2: maybe they were a bit of an of an ebb
Speaker 2: in there far, but we know they're a very good
Speaker 2: organization just by what they year after year. And it's
Speaker 2: because of guys like Hartman. You know, I saw him.
Speaker 2: He ended up jumping out to me. I'd known a
Speaker 2: little bit about him, and you.
Speaker 3: Know, not to get too far ahead. But a few
Speaker 3: weeks later I.
Speaker 2: Saw I'm one of the social media posts places that
Speaker 2: you know, a great public side evaluator, Chris Blessing with
Speaker 2: slatting him, and I said, you know what, I'm glad
Speaker 2: you know we line up this. He think he liked
Speaker 2: me even more than me. I'd like it, but I
Speaker 2: was like, okay me, and that means I'm doing something right.
Speaker 2: You know, if Chris was had liked him too, and
Speaker 2: and Chris see a lot of brave people becuse he's
Speaker 2: down in Georgia. But like it's just a couple of
Speaker 2: things with him. You know, we talk about cold weather players.
Speaker 2: He is from not only Canada, but he's from like
Speaker 2: this part of Canada that I believe is kind of
Speaker 2: like west of North Dakota. I can't remember exactly, but
Speaker 2: I looked it up. He's really a cold weather player.
Speaker 1: You know, it gets real cold in North Dakota.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so these are unscientific things. But guys like him,
Speaker 2: you know, they didn't play ever all year round, right
Speaker 2: Like you know, I knew that he'd made a couple
Speaker 2: of waves in Augusta last year, but I missed Augusta.
Speaker 2: I don't see the Carolina League always as much as
Speaker 2: I see the South Atlantic League. And and you know,
Speaker 2: the first thing is he's just his power. His power
Speaker 2: is huge. He's a great he's a big guy, but
Speaker 2: he's also a great athlete. He covers center field well,
Speaker 2: he runs the base as well. It's another one where
Speaker 2: it looks right, you know, but I think I think
Speaker 2: it looks right because it is right in some ways.
Speaker 3: I mean, he just.
Speaker 2: Moves around very well and controls himself very well, and
Speaker 2: it's very seamless kind of you can see how that
Speaker 2: athleticism manifests in the field and on the basis, and
Speaker 2: you can see it at the plate because you know,
Speaker 2: he's got a swing that's that's quick, and you know,
Speaker 2: he gets out in front of the ball well and
Speaker 2: he you know, and he has enough lift that that
Speaker 2: he's able to hit for power.
Speaker 3: I don't know if this swing will be his final
Speaker 3: swing or not.
Speaker 2: That's another thing where you know, he may you know,
Speaker 2: he's had such an age where he's doing quite well,
Speaker 2: but still even a couple of months later, I haven't
Speaker 2: seen him recently.
Speaker 3: He may still be adjusting things. I'm not sure. But
Speaker 3: the one thing I mean, maybe not.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just it's an interesting swing because it
Speaker 2: I don't really know how to explain it. It feels unorthodox.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure why to me, But anyway, it works.
Speaker 2: It's been working out for him. And the one thing
Speaker 2: I worried about was I think he has He clearly
Speaker 2: has a lot of power and he has a plan
Speaker 2: of how to get to it and attack at the
Speaker 2: you know. But you know, I I still it's the
Speaker 2: most cliche thing ever to say, And of course it's
Speaker 2: the problem. It's the question you'd rather have than the
Speaker 2: than the inverse. But see, really it gets really good
Speaker 2: breaking stuff. I want to see if he could still
Speaker 2: do it, you know, So for me, a major league profile.
Speaker 2: I mean, if he could stay in center, that would
Speaker 2: be great, and that would certainly make it for a
Speaker 2: pretty pretty nice path.
Speaker 3: You know, to be the time. But even if he
Speaker 3: has to slide to the.
Speaker 2: Corner outfield, maybe a dude who it's a bunch of
Speaker 2: home runs and maybe it's for a lower average gets
Speaker 2: on base a bunch.
Speaker 3: You know, that sounds pretty good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what ton of wis guy. I ask you,
Speaker 1: is a what's the defense look like? Do you think
Speaker 1: he's gonna stick in center field? Or is he ultimately
Speaker 1: a corner guy.
Speaker 2: This is where I'll I'll i'll alid the question a
Speaker 2: little bit because I didn't I saw a little bit
Speaker 2: of video on him on defense, but I didn't catch
Speaker 2: him for a whole week defensively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what we you know, we both have busy vibes.
Speaker 2: But but but but but you know, we're both out
Speaker 2: there and like, to me, he's at that age where
Speaker 2: I'll still say he's got the athleticism even though he's
Speaker 2: a bigger guy. I think he's got the movements and
Speaker 2: this and the quick jump and all of that where
Speaker 2: I think he can handle it for a for a
Speaker 2: while longer. Now do I know, I don't really, I'm
Speaker 2: not totally sure at his current stand you know, his
Speaker 2: current standpoint, how great a defender.
Speaker 3: He is with all the technical aspects.
Speaker 2: But I would say keep throwing him out in center
Speaker 2: field until it gets to a point where, you know,
Speaker 2: and then he becomes probably a pretty good corner outfielder,
Speaker 2: you know, really good one. So I would I would
Speaker 2: keep rolling with it how they are for now.
Speaker 1: Second question about Hartman here, you know the Braves are
Speaker 1: going to be active at the deadline. Is Hartman untouchable
Speaker 1: or you know every other team's gonna be asking for him?
Speaker 1: Is he one that the Braves refuse to move off
Speaker 1: of or do you think they would entertain the idea?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: You do?
Speaker 3: Oh what I do?
Speaker 4: If?
Speaker 2: I I mean, man, that's a hard question.
Speaker 3: I do think it's one of those where it depends.
Speaker 2: I mean, it really does depend on what you'd be
Speaker 2: getting back right, Definitely, I think I don't work on
Speaker 2: them a lot, but I think he's it's either best,
Speaker 2: he's probably I mean, can't cam Camminnity's maybe another one,
Speaker 2: but but he's up there right.
Speaker 1: And oh yeah, I think I think he's kind of
Speaker 1: established himself as the top hitter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, part of it depends. I think this is,
Speaker 2: you know, it's hard one because I don't know, are
Speaker 2: the Braves that get a team this year. I think
Speaker 2: that's like one of those weird debatable things. Clearly, they're
Speaker 2: winning the division, so they're a world contender. With how
Speaker 2: weird the league is right now, I think there's enough
Speaker 2: risk with Hartman that if you got like, I don't
Speaker 2: know if i'd want to trig him for like.
Speaker 1: A reliever, you know, but if you could get a
Speaker 1: top line starter.
Speaker 2: I might have to think about it, just because I
Speaker 2: think there's still some risk there, you know, with the
Speaker 2: hit tool. Like he's one of those guys where he
Speaker 2: looks like a natural and he may be a guy who,
Speaker 2: you know, because he was cold weather guy is blooming
Speaker 2: late and he may just end up being a star, but.
Speaker 3: He may not be.
Speaker 2: He may be more of a corner outfield kind of
Speaker 2: power type, you know. So I think if the right
Speaker 2: deal comes along for a really top guy, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think you'd have to think about trading him, But
Speaker 2: of course you don't. You'd want to avoid that, especially
Speaker 2: because their system after years of being quite fruitful had
Speaker 2: been a little bit a little sallow, So you know,
Speaker 2: that's half answering the question. But I think it would
Speaker 2: have to be someone really good.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: I kind of put you on spot there. So I
Speaker 1: did mention before though that you've been really busy with
Speaker 1: all the White Sox call ups. We know they're top prospects,
Speaker 1: but give us someone currently. You kind of teased it
Speaker 1: earlier currently at Winston Salem that that we might be
Speaker 1: in the conversation for when you do the White Sox
Speaker 1: list this winter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's funny because you never know, well you
Speaker 2: try to know with these things, but you never do.
Speaker 2: I'll give a guy, I'll mention him briefly, just by
Speaker 2: way of introduction of a different guy. You know, Kolbe Shelton,
Speaker 2: who was you know, a big college hitter at SEC
Speaker 2: who he got off to a really hot start, slow
Speaker 2: start last year in low way, great starting this year.
Speaker 2: I wrote him up in a ten pack I think
Speaker 2: the same one I did with Hartman, like back in
Speaker 2: April or whatever. And he's not been great at Birmingham.
Speaker 2: So sometimes he hit double A and he might end
Speaker 2: up being good, but sometimes it's a stumbling block there
Speaker 2: and what I'm seeing from this guy I'm about to
Speaker 2: talk about is similar, though he's got a couple of
Speaker 2: other things going for him.
Speaker 3: His name is Boston Smith.
Speaker 2: He was traded from the Nationals for Curtis Meade, who,
Speaker 2: of course, the White Sox traded for last year. Boston
Speaker 2: Smith is a college catcher.
Speaker 3: He went to.
Speaker 2: Wright State, so he went to a pretty small college.
Speaker 2: But he was a six round pick last year and
Speaker 2: didn't really play much. If I recalled correctly, he's the
Speaker 2: guy who's got some pop and I, you know, I've
Speaker 2: been fooled before on catchers like this. But whenever a catcher,
Speaker 2: he's a lefty hitter, whenever a catcher can really turn
Speaker 2: on a pitch, you know, and hit it over the
Speaker 2: wall and be kind of excited because at that point,
Speaker 2: you know you're a catcher.
Speaker 3: He's a catcher, so it catch. He's already getting closer
Speaker 3: to the big leagues at that point.
Speaker 2: I will admit it is not my number one area
Speaker 2: of confidence in my evaluative skills catcher defense. I tend
Speaker 2: to lean on some other measurements and things like that.
Speaker 2: He's been a decent catcher. I think I don't know
Speaker 2: that he's a great defensive catcher. I don't know that
Speaker 2: he's bad. I don't know that he's great. So a
Speaker 2: lot of that will come down to whether the White
Speaker 2: Sox feel comfortable, you know, if they think he's going
Speaker 2: to work with their pitchers well, and then that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. But you know, for now, he's a catcher.
Speaker 2: I think he's a really athletic dude. He runs the
Speaker 2: basis surprisingly well for a catcher, at least at this point.
Speaker 2: And you know, he said for a high average and
Speaker 2: got on base strikeout rates quite high. There is swinging
Speaker 2: myss there on insund pitches. I think, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: so there's some questions. But but but I think that's
Speaker 2: a trade that they can be happy with for now.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, you can never as you
Speaker 2: see with the Kyle Teal being hurt this year, you
Speaker 2: can never have too much catching depth. And you know,
Speaker 2: and the other thing is they can flip him again.
Speaker 2: They're they're in there and we're winning now, you know,
Speaker 2: they could trade him and something. Teams want catchers. I
Speaker 2: think some teams developed catchers better than others. So I think,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe let's see if we will get used
Speaker 2: to saying it, but I think it's kind of a
Speaker 2: you know, look mean, its been pretty good for Washington.
Speaker 3: I think finally, yeah, he has good which has been
Speaker 3: good to see.
Speaker 2: But I still think this is a pretty good nifty
Speaker 2: move from from the White Sox.
Speaker 1: Right, and catchers can kind of be late bloomers at times,
Speaker 1: and if if Boston smith Is is a catcher that
Speaker 1: can provide a little offensive firepower, then that's a win
Speaker 1: for the White Sox totally. So moving on. So typically
Speaker 1: when Smith is here in his co he usually gives
Speaker 1: us a hot take or two. And Eli, I think
Speaker 1: you're carrying on his legacy with your selection for under
Speaker 1: the radar prospect? Eli, is there really an Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Angels prospect that we should be paying attention to?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 5: Well, yes, Uh, temper your expectations a little bit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so so sore treg.
Speaker 5: Gregory Alford has been uh you know, pitching for the
Speaker 5: Angels colleague team all of this year. We watch him pitch,
Speaker 5: and you know, there are four distinct pitches here. Gregory
Speaker 5: Alford is He's built like a tight end. He's massive,
Speaker 5: you know, sits in the high nineties. Uh, you know,
Speaker 5: he can probably touch one hundred if he really reared back.
Speaker 5: There's almost no command here so to speak of. Uh,
Speaker 5: you know, he can he can get it in the
Speaker 5: general vicinity of the strike zone, but but you know,
Speaker 5: there's there's no touch and feel as far as fastball
Speaker 5: command goes.
Speaker 4: His His slider when he really snaps it off, looks
Speaker 4: really good.
Speaker 5: You know, it's a really really nasty, you know, two
Speaker 5: plane breaking ball. Sometimes he when he doesn't you know,
Speaker 5: really spin it, it looks like a mediocre cutter. So
Speaker 5: you know that's something that he's going to have to
Speaker 5: to get more consistent with as he as he you know,
Speaker 5: gains reps.
Speaker 4: Curveball and change up look.
Speaker 5: Okay, you know they also have sort of some encouraging
Speaker 5: uh you know, movement the fastball. You know, it's the shape,
Speaker 5: the traits are are fairly pedestrian, and you know, when
Speaker 5: you look under the hood, Gregory alferds rate stats are
Speaker 5: not excellent. You know, he's not he's not walking the
Speaker 5: ballpark the way that you would sort of expect for
Speaker 5: a guy without this kind of without this kind of
Speaker 5: command or control. But he's also not striking out a
Speaker 5: ton of people. He's not he's striking out less than
Speaker 5: a beat or in anything which you know, he's he's
Speaker 5: twenty years old in in low A he should probably
Speaker 5: especially with the stuff that he has, he should probably
Speaker 5: you know, be.
Speaker 4: Striking more more hitters out.
Speaker 5: But you know, this is a this is a sort
Speaker 5: of a rough around the edges profile. But you know,
Speaker 5: his his physicality, the the upside with all four of
Speaker 5: his pitches.
Speaker 4: You know, there is definitely something here.
Speaker 5: You never like to look at a player and say, well,
Speaker 5: he would be better if he was in another organization.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I was thinking. I was like, boy,
Speaker 1: if he was with the team, the other Los Angeles team,
Speaker 1: this would be a profile could really get behind.
Speaker 5: Right or even like you know, a Milwaukee or something
Speaker 5: like that, maybe they could sort of optimize him. I
Speaker 5: mean again, we're talking about a twenty year old and
Speaker 5: it's a lot of body that he's working with. So
Speaker 5: you know, maybe maybe a year from now he gets
Speaker 5: he gets you know, one hundred innings under his belt
Speaker 5: and we can sort of regroup and see where he's at.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but sounds like the raw tools are there. So
Speaker 1: whether or not the Angels can work that out, we'll see.
Speaker 1: But I hope for him that he can. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm really excited about the next guest. I
Speaker 1: feel like our draft coverage has drastically improved during the
Speaker 1: past several years, and we've added Liam Murphy this year. Liam,
Speaker 1: I know you've been hard at work on the draft board.
Speaker 1: Can you give us just a brief overview of how you, Michael,
Speaker 1: and Jerr are kind of putting together the draft board
Speaker 1: and give us a quick look at kind of the
Speaker 1: process behind that. Because there's so many names out there,
Speaker 1: how do you guys go about that process?
Speaker 4: I mean, this kind of happened even before I got
Speaker 4: hired by BP, that I would just call Michael Donadeo
Speaker 4: for basically three hours at a time and we would
Speaker 4: just be running down random preps across the country. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's it's been entertaining, to say the least. There's really
Speaker 4: no good way to say that, but it's literally just
Speaker 4: like pulling up video of each guy going that works,
Speaker 4: that doesn't work, that works, that doesn't work, and then
Speaker 4: you know, over time you assemble like a huge gallery
Speaker 4: of looks. I think we had like probably three hundred
Speaker 4: prep hitters, and I had like two hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: prep pitchers in a in a spreadsheet, and it was just, Yeah,
Speaker 4: it gets confusing at times.
Speaker 1: I can only imagine it is a hard find in
Speaker 1: the video of some of those especially like we talked
Speaker 1: about the cold weather prep arms and prep bats. Is
Speaker 1: it kind of tough to find that video sometimes?
Speaker 4: Honestly, No, you would be surprised. There's a lot of
Speaker 4: just people on X the everything app that just send
Speaker 4: out video footage of these guys. Plus like you have events,
Speaker 4: especially Canada has a lot of events.
Speaker 1: Surprisingly, Yeah, Canada's kind of become in a hotbed a
Speaker 1: little bit for prep baseball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it certainly seems like a lot of
Speaker 4: prep players have realized, like if I get my name
Speaker 4: in these events, I get the data measurables into the
Speaker 4: general database of prospects, and that helps filter some of
Speaker 4: these selections.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. I want to get to get some insight
Speaker 1: about some of the names you've been digging into, and
Speaker 1: you kind of give me, give me some names to
Speaker 1: start with. But let's start with the player that was
Speaker 1: featured in the draft board one point zero, and that's
Speaker 1: Martin Schalier. What does he do well and what might
Speaker 1: be the team that fits best for him.
Speaker 4: So small pronunciation thing. Okay, it threw me for a
Speaker 4: loop too. It is she lar, she lar, all right,
Speaker 4: it proved me.
Speaker 3: For a loop.
Speaker 4: I'm not. Yeah, he is very good. He has the
Speaker 4: weirdest setup that you can have, like he basically I
Speaker 4: can't even really describe it. It's like a step and
Speaker 4: then a step forward and then he swings. It's very funky.
Speaker 4: But he has like very good measurables, very good exit velocity,
Speaker 4: runs fairly well. Seems like he could definitely play in
Speaker 4: right field based off of the arm. We don't think
Speaker 4: he's a center fielder because through looks and talking to people,
Speaker 4: it doesn't seem like he has the horizontal ability to
Speaker 4: move that would be needed in centerfield.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 4: So but even with all of this and the weird
Speaker 4: set up and swaying, he's still making a ton of
Speaker 4: contact on the prep circuit and it just it just
Speaker 4: clicks for us.
Speaker 1: Okay, And he's the Mississippi state commit correct, Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: So moving on the draft is going to be full
Speaker 1: of sec guys. Uh, guys like salt Shillar. Do I
Speaker 1: say that, right?
Speaker 4: I know it's really unnatural to actually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's a lot of guys like that they're
Speaker 1: going to SEC schools that are at SEC schools or
Speaker 1: Big ten or whatever. But you mentioned to me Jackson.
Speaker 1: Jackson Arons a prep short stuff and he's committed to
Speaker 1: Northern Illinois. No shade to the Huskies, but it's not
Speaker 1: a baseball powerhouse. What makes Aarons interesting?
Speaker 4: So this is where it gets into how I look
Speaker 4: into prep prospects. He was at a random tournament I
Speaker 4: want to say, in Georgia, like in the spring, and
Speaker 4: he hit for the cycle I want to say, in
Speaker 4: like two or three games it was. He also, yeah,
Speaker 4: he ran very good exits down there with would bat
Speaker 4: and I just like he popped up onto my timeline.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh that looks good. And the more
Speaker 4: I looked into home, I'm like, oh, there's like there's
Speaker 4: like actually something here. So you know, I don't think
Speaker 4: he made. He might not be a top one hundred guy,
Speaker 4: but you know he he sands actually you know he
Speaker 4: might be a He was originally a junior college commit.
Speaker 4: He only recently committed to NIU, which has actually had
Speaker 4: a pretty good run in the baseball tournament this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have, they have. It's a decent uh mid major.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So to go from being like committed to a
Speaker 4: high end JUCO to just immediately dropping your commitment in
Speaker 4: the spring and going to NIU certainly says something. Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, there's been a few scouts checking out his
Speaker 4: games because I have a man on the ground in
Speaker 4: Illinois to look at these things to ask and yeah, no,
Speaker 4: he certainly seems like a interesting pop up guy to
Speaker 4: keep an eye on. He probably goes to college. But
Speaker 4: I enjoy these guys.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it makes me wonder too if, like, you know,
Speaker 1: he's not committed to Vanderbilt, he's not committed to you know,
Speaker 1: whoever is the Northern Illinois. Does that make him a
Speaker 1: little bit more tempting for team to draft him that
Speaker 1: it wouldn't cost as much to get him out of
Speaker 1: that commitment. I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: If you're a fan of how the Brewers draft, he
Speaker 4: is eminently signable by the Brewers, just like love to
Speaker 4: throw darts across the Midwest. It's like, hey, you get
Speaker 4: six hundred thousand dollars, you get three hundred that Luke
Speaker 4: Adams is the perfect example of this, or like any
Speaker 4: of the fifteen pictures they've drafted over the last few years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Adam Zesky or what's the I can't remember his outfields?
Speaker 4: Oh, Josh Adamski. Yeah yeah, yes, that's about too.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, there's like just a ton of random Midwestern men
Speaker 4: getting signed by the Brewers out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: And finally, let's talk a little Vinnie Lombardo, a cold
Speaker 1: weather prep which has kind of been the theme here.
Speaker 1: A cold weather prep outfielder. What about his profile makes
Speaker 1: my teams find intriguing?
Speaker 4: So I put Vinnie Lombardo on here as a bit
Speaker 4: of a meme. To be honest with you, I I
Speaker 4: looked at Vinnie Lombardo, I want to say in October,
Speaker 4: partially because I enjoyed saying the name Vinny Lombardo. But
Speaker 4: he is a random fairfield prep that I don't even
Speaker 4: think he's like the best ranked UH.
Speaker 1: Team.
Speaker 4: Yes he is in Connecticut, Okay, but yeah no, he
Speaker 4: has just a terrible setup, Like he has all of
Speaker 4: the tools possible. He I want to say, he's a
Speaker 4: receiver or a running back in football, like very fast,
Speaker 4: very strong hip mo area codes last year, which is
Speaker 4: data point, you know. But he's just very fun. He
Speaker 4: whiffs a lot and his swing just doesn't look like
Speaker 4: it's going to work. It's just a very it can
Speaker 4: be into insistent at times. It'll change, but like it'll
Speaker 4: go from like passable to like what are you doing?
Speaker 4: Where Like you've seen Luke Adams swing right where he
Speaker 4: just like looks like he got off of a farm
Speaker 4: and he's taking a big old step to swing and
Speaker 4: it's kind of similar vibes in the setup, like just
Speaker 4: a very big step. But the tools there are legit.
Speaker 4: So if you think the swing is fixable, which I
Speaker 4: feel like if you don't have a fixable swing, like
Speaker 4: if your swing isn't looking to get fixed by a
Speaker 4: pro team and you have all these tools, you're like
Speaker 4: a top three round draft pick. But there's so many
Speaker 4: guys that, like, you know, their swing looks incredibly funky
Speaker 4: or they whif too much or that drives the board.
Speaker 4: And Vinne Lombardo is a perfect example of this.
Speaker 1: But you kind of mentioned the Brewers. What team do
Speaker 1: you think would be the best to fix that swing?
Speaker 4: Oh? Oh, I mean it might, It's see might. Always
Speaker 4: go to answer is the Dodgers, just because like they're
Speaker 4: the top tier of everything, But yeah, the Brewers might
Speaker 4: be cool. Red Sox maybe maybe Yeah, Red Sox works, Yeah,
Speaker 4: Red Sox would work. He doesn't really need to add
Speaker 4: that speed though. It's more of a swing plane and
Speaker 4: issue and and yeah, it's just like if you really
Speaker 4: look at like anybody listening to this, go on next
Speaker 4: to the Everything app, just put in Vinny Lombardo and
Speaker 4: look at him swing. It is just not great, but.
Speaker 1: It might just work.
Speaker 4: It might just work. Again, I was a big Luke
Speaker 4: Adams fan and it's kind of worked.
Speaker 1: So yeah, awesome, Well, great stuff, gentlemen, thanks stepping up.
Speaker 1: Thanks for helping me out with this episode. Before we leave,
Speaker 1: I kind of want to go around the horn here,
Speaker 1: kind of tell people where they can find you on
Speaker 1: social media, where they can see your work at ben,
Speaker 1: where where can they find you at.
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: To be honest, I'm you know, I still maintain an
Speaker 2: account on the aforementioned X the Everything app. I'm not
Speaker 2: even sure if I remember what my my oh b oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's I think it's be Span Underscore two or something
Speaker 2: like that. But there aren't that many of me, so
Speaker 2: I don't really post a lot on there anyway, though
Speaker 2: It's a good place for gathering information at some variety
Speaker 2: of as Liam is discussing, and it was a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago when he was in low A a
Speaker 2: good place for me and Liam to discuss Luke Adams
Speaker 2: his development in the car in Carolina mudcasts.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm on Blue Sky a lot. My name is.
Speaker 2: Be span two dot bsky dot social. I post sometimes
Speaker 2: every now and then a little video, but but yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm on there.
Speaker 3: I don't know how are.
Speaker 2: How our listeners are divided between those two sides at
Speaker 2: this point, but I you know, if you if you
Speaker 2: contact me on either one, that's you'll I'll probably see
Speaker 2: your message.
Speaker 1: I guess Eli, what about you?
Speaker 4: You can find me?
Speaker 5: Uh, my my ex handle is Twitter handle is at
Speaker 5: Walsh Underscore ELI, and my my Blue Sky is is
Speaker 5: just my name. Yeah, most most of my handles are
Speaker 5: Walsh Underscore ELI. But there's not not a ton of
Speaker 5: Eli Walsh is out there, so it's not that hard
Speaker 5: to find me.
Speaker 1: Liam.
Speaker 4: I actually had to look this up. It's l P. M.
Speaker 4: Murphy on h X. The everything other than that nothing.
Speaker 1: Not really okay, And you can find me on Blue
Speaker 1: Sky in our gram. Make sure you check out our
Speaker 1: work at Baseball Perspectives and we'll be back in two
Speaker 1: weeks with another episode of The Heat Check. Until then,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening and we will see you later.