WEBVTT - 1163 | 20 Biggest Surprises in MLB So Far + Weekend Preview 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:21.280 John's the Stage League bring. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:22.919 We will see you. 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:37.160 To the Garner Welcome. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:42.440 One, hang out, absolutely loaded program for you here on 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.879 this Friday, August fourteenth, Jackie Collin, Peter Raffle arm late 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:47.720 you will join us for the back half of the program, 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.000 and Peyton Genis is here for the whole darn thing, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.800 because of course he is. We are doing biggest surprises 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.640 in the American League and in the National League. We're 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.080 gonna start with the American League and then we go 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.960 to give you a weekend preview, and then Arum jumps 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:04.880 on to talk about his experience of the field of 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.119 Dreams gave in Dyersville, Iowa. And then we talk about 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.240 the hottest hitter going right now, and then we pivot 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.520 to the NL surprises. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.399 It's a lot and it's all brought to us by 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.399 bet MGM. Did your home run bet come up short? 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I'm so happy for you. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.880 And you're reasoning behind the Falcons over the whoever they're 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:05.559 playing is. 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.800 Yeah, I took the Falcons plus four against the Denver Broncos. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.640 I noticed on bet MGM that the Denver Broncos were 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.120 the most bet side and I kind of giggled because 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.720 I was like, Okay, yeah, duh, the Denver Broncos are 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:21.040 better than the Atlanta Falcons. Obviously. However, bo Nicks is 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.760 not going to play. Sean Payton, the head coach of 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.120 the Denver Broncos, basically came out and said that he's 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.600 only going to play starters for the first fifteen snaps. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.640 And on the Falcon side, you got Kevin Stefanski making 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.359 his debut at home. He wants to set the tone 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.880 with a winning attitude in his first year, you know, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.520 coaching a new team, coming over from the Cleveland Browns, 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.280 and while bo Nicks is going to play for Denver, 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.239 Tua is going to play for Atlanta. But after Tua exits, 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.000 Cooper Rush is a legitimate starting quarterback, Sam Ellinger who's 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.680 coming in after Jared Stidham. He hasn't thrown a pass 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.400 in a regular season game since twenty twenty two. So 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.200 the assumption that just because the Broncos are better and 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.000 everybody is better on them, I think it's silly. It's 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.040 the preseason, it's gonna be backups. They're at home, and 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.000 I am getting points Jack with the quarterback advantage. Yeah, 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.600 I'm all over Atlanta for a half unit because it's there. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.920 I tuned, I tuned out the whole thing. All I 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:19.000 saw was the comment here from a Zay Gooby on YouTube, 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.440 and it asked, who's the guy that said the Padres 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.800 bullpen is overrated? And that's all I could think of. 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.399 So I didn't really care about what you were saying 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.760 football wise, I was just thinking about that atrocious take 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:29.760 you had last time out. 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.639 Hey, Hey, you asked, you asked, and I delivered an incredible, 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.400 incredible analysis and for all those listening, you know where 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.800 my money's at. But yes, going back to the original 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.840 point about the Padres bullpen, I do think they're overrated. 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.680 Overrated doesn't mean they're bad, doesn't even mean they're pretty good. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.080 They are through seven. 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.640 Yeah, you think through the twenty seventh best bullpen in baseball. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.800 See, that's what you do. That's what you spin my words. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:01.760 You spit out something nasty to miss represent my take. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.000 My take is the Milwaukee Brewers have a better bullpen 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.000 in the regular season when you combine all of these 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.840 openers at the bottom of the Padres bullpen. I'm talking 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.520 about the totality of the bullpen. They have been a 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.159 top five bullpen in baseball this season, but they are 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.920 allotted as the best bullpen in baseball by far. That's 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.200 my take and I am sticking to it no matter 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.719 how many people ridicule me on the internet. 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.640 So our YouTube and x crowd. You see me holding 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.599 this pot right here with my right arm. 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:31.920 This is me just stirring. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.479 Stir, stir, stir the pot. 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:35.200 Stir the pot. 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.680 I can respect some pot starring. I for myself, I 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.040 can understand you love doing it. If you said that 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.159 the Padres bullpen was overrated. I might even agree with you, 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:45.760 but I would still call you out of the take. 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.120 So I get where you're coming from. Of course, that's 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.880 how that works, all right. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.600 So we're gonna do five surprises each in the American League, 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.680 and then we're gonna do a quick weekend preview and 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.120 then we'll get to the back half of the show. 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.360 We can alternate. I can give you one, you can 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.040 give me one. Then we can kind of go back 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.000 and forth, back and forth. That's how I did it 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.919 with arm earlier today. And you'll hear that conversation in 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.080 just a matter of moments. But I do want to 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.960 start and then I'll throw it your way. Does that work? 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:13.919 That works for me? 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:14.880 Okay? 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.400 So there is a centerfielder that is bawling out and 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.360 has quickly become, without a doubt, a top five center 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.040 fielder in Major League Baseball. And I was thinking, this 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:28.839 guy is so unbelievably flawed. He will always be fun, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.000 and he will always be a microwave, but he will 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.839 never be a top five center fielder of this sport. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.560 Oh my god, was I wrong about said on Rafaela. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:43.240 He is an absolute electric factory man. Rafaela what he 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.400 is doing at this very moment. I could have never 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.760 have forecasted coming into this year. Sit on, Rafaela is 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.400 eighth in all of baseball, tight for seventh in all 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.360 of baseball with a four point two f four. It's 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.760 a one seventeen WRC plus. Do you know how hard 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.520 that number is to accomplis when you're walking at a 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:06.000 clip under four percent. He's hitting two ninety, he's slugging 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.400 four seventy. He's got sixteen homers, he's got sixteen bags, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.840 he's kept the ks in check under twenty percent. When 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.480 he puts the ball in play, good things happen, and 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:21.360 he is outside of Pete Crow Armstrong along with guys, 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.800 and you'll hear you know Mi echo this sentiment in 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.560 the back half of the episode, like, I think there 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:27.960 are a lot of really good defensive centerfielders in the 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.560 bigs right now. I think PCA is in a tier 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.760 of his own, and Rafaela is in tier two in 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.919 his own, and then tier three and they're still elite. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.600 I think guys like Ewing, I think guys like Jacob Marci, 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.719 I think guys like Michael Harris, I think guys like 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.240 Julio Rodriguez, But there's something to be said about PCA 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.480 being the best we've seen since Andrew Jones, and then 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.120 Rafaela being right there, and then everybody else is in 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.640 the conversation. Rafaela is a I think he's made a 0:06:58.640 --> 0:06:59.440 superstar jump. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.800 I love this take. I wouldn't go as far as 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.560 to say a superstar jump, but to be fair to 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.280 that take, what else are you supposed to call a 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:09.800 top ten player in the sport right now? 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:10.800 Right? 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.440 But I think to establish yourself as a superstar, you 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.520 just got to do it much more consistently. And this 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.280 is the first season that he's posted in ops above 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.680 seven to ten, but at the same time it's at 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.400 seven ninety three. I think it's totally fair to call 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.240 him like a poor man's PCA. And I don't mean 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:31.200 that as a slight to sit on Rafaela at all, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.560 because they share similar qualities. PCA is just a better 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.480 hitter at the plate, but speaking about their approaches at 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.000 the plate, they're somewhat similar. Now. PCA just has just 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.160 hits the ball a lot harder than Rafaela does, but 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.920 they're both free swingers and they're both able to pull 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.920 the fly balls. In the air, and they're not. While 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.280 they are free swingers, they're not striking out like twenty 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.280 eight thirty percent of the time like you mentioned with 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.800 rafael which is below twenty percent. But the reason I 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.440 make the comparison to PCA is not only about the 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.640 approach at the plate, but it's also defensively. Pete Romstrong 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.920 is the best defensive center fielder in all of Major 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.360 League Baseball, so non Rafaela is on his tail right. 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.360 So I agree with you. At twenty five years old, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.800 we expected Rafaela to be better. I did not expect 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.480 him to be a top ten player in the sport 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.080 by war, I think that's a great call out. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:25.160 I love it what you got. 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:31.040 So I'm going over to the American League Central, and 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.160 I think the White Sox in general are surprising. I 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:38.120 think that could easily be put into this episode. But 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:44.000 there's one particular player on the White Sox that I 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.720 am genuinely surprised about because I remember watching him last 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.800 year and thinking to myself, all right, he's got a 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.120 couple pitches here and there, but is he really going 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.520 to be a mainstay in this White Sox rotation? When 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.720 you hear about Noah Schultz coming up, and we heard, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.800 you know, whispers about Hagen Smith performing. Was Grant Taylor 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.120 going to be in the bullpen or was he going 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.960 to be a starter? You already had Davis Martin, you 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.000 brought in Fetti, you had Anthony k Was Sean Burke 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.120 going to make an impact this year? Sean Burke over 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.960 his last ten starts is the best pitcher in the 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.800 American League over his last ten starts, sixty two winnings, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.360 a one six zero ERA with a seventy nine to 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:33.160 eleven strike on minus walk ratio. He's got an ERA 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.120 under three this year, and he has simply been phenomenal 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.120 over the last two and a half months. Why has 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.239 he been so great? I think it's because he unlocked 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.720 two different variations of a fastball to pair with his 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.360 four seam fastball. Now his four seemer is his best pitch. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.880 His knuckle curveball is a phenomenal secondary. But I think 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.040 the ability to throw a sinker and a cutter this year, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.880 which he hasn't really outside of last year. I think 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.200 he threw a sinker five percent of the time. Now 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.960 twenty percent of his pitches are sinkers or cutters. I 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:09.880 think it allows that breaking ball to play out, but 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.240 allows that fastball to break out to play up. And 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:17.800 we have an ACE right now for the Chicago White Sox. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.240 Like Davis Martin had that run at the beginning and 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.559 has kind of slowed down, Sean Burke has taken that 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.360 ACE roll and ran with it, and I think has 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.120 looked even better than Davis Martin has looked at any 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.320 part of the season. So I got a guy in 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.120 Sean Burke who went from is he gonna make the 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:38.840 rotation too? I'm putting him in conversations right now with 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.040 Dylan season Cam Schlittler with the way he's pitching, obviously 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.560 not over the full season, but he's not even that 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.080 far off. He's been awesome. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.920 He's been outstanding, And I think Sean Burke is a 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.120 perfect encapsulation. I think you could go with Burke, you 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.160 could go with Martin, you can go with Murray Coami, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.079 you can go with a whole bunch of different White Socks. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.520 The White Sox are the clear cut biggest surprise in 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.640 Major League Baseball team wise. If we were to make 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.880 this a team conversation, the White Sox are so far 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.559 and away number one and I think they trump anybody 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.600 going in the National League right now. I think Sat 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:11.920 Louis is probably number two. 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:14.800 I was just going to say, they're three wins away 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.000 from their opening win total on bet MGM from the 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.120 beginning of the season, and it's August fourteenth. It's August fourteenth, 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:22.840 and they're ahead in the division and they have a 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:23.560 three game lead. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.040 Yeah, that's a huge piece of this. And I'm going 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:27.839 to stay on the White Sox actually with my next one, 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.680 because I've got two bats that are huge surprises for me. 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.840 Murakami there was a chance that he could have done 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.680 this right. Twenty six homers, he missed some time with injury. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.000 He was on a forty homer pace. He was on 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.560 a pace that was pretty much leading Major League Baseball 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.040 or near the top of the leaderboard in Major League Baseball. 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.360 But everybody knew that he already had generational power. It 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.600 was just a question of could he transition to major 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:55.400 League baseball effectively from Japan. He's answered that yes, we 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.000 saw traces of a breakout from one of these guys, 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.320 and we saw an encouraging start to his career from 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.720 the other one going back to twenty five, but the 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.640 two offensive seasons and seasons in general that Mydrath and 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:15.320 Vargas have put together is absolutely crazy. Miguel Vargas is 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.839 at this point a legit star. Miguel Vargas has maybe 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.480 the quietest twenty five homers that we've got. He was 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:23.679 an All Star, he had a home run of the 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.080 freaking All Star Game. He's got a one to twenty 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.280 five WRC plus twenty five homers, He's scored near eighty runs, 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.160 he's punching out eighteen percent of the time while walking 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.319 thirteen percent of the time, and he's a three win player. Meanwhile, 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.760 my Drath is one of the more underrated players in 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.880 Major League Baseball. He's twenty five years old, He's got 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.559 a three point four F four and a one. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.400 Twenty WRC plus. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.400 My Drath has been an unbelievable table seter for them, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.360 far beyond what I could have ever imagined him being, 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.120 and Vargas is just a legit middle of the order 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.960 star for them now. So Murakami is cool, but not 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:05.920 as surprising as the continued ascension of Miguel Vargas and 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.520 the true breakout of Chase Mydrath. In my opinion, Yeah, no, I. 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:11.520 Think there's plenty of players that you could look at 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.920 on the White Sox and be surprised about. And I 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.920 think my draft and Vargas are incredibly pleasant surprises on 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.080 that White Sox team. And I've talked about my draft, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.679 you know, in the past, because with the White Sox, 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.320 if they really want to compete in October this year 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.360 and moving forward, you need your studs in the middle. 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.360 I think Vargas has established himself as that stud in 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.840 the middle, with Murakami, with Colsa Montgomery. So you have 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.120 the three guys in the lineup who can leave the 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.080 yard at any given time, but the teams who win 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.640 consistently have other guys in the lineup who can fill 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.280 other roles. And I think my draft is the ultimate 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.040 role filler, right. He's a good defender at second base, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.520 He's a good base runner, has excellent back to ball skills, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.640 can lean into a little bit of power. He's kind 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.360 of your do everything type of player, similar to Sam Antonachi. Like, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:07.000 that's how you build consistent playoff lineups. It's not just 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.920 relying on three guys waiting for them to hit homers. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.520 It's guys throughout the lineup that can fill a job, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.640 and my draft is the ultimate example of that. And 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.760 then on the Miguel Vargas side, he has become the 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.360 best hitter on the White Sox. Like I know, Murakami 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.880 just came over and he's really, really exciting. And I 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.840 know Montgomery has a ton of pop and even plays 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.400 a really good shortstop, or at least a solid shortstop. 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.520 But Miguel Vargas is one of the better bats in 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.000 the American League this year. We remember when he was 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.520 sitting in the dugout depressed when he came over. Now 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.160 look at him. Awesome story, so cool. All right, you 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.440 got three more? I got I got four more. I 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:52.480 only did know four more. We've talked about this at length, 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.240 but I'm not just gonna not talk about it because 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.800 we've talked about it before. Vladimir grow Junior struggles and 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.720 the Blue Jays fall from great. Now. I know the 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.160 Blue Jays are playing better lately, right the Blue Jays 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.840 have are one and a half games out of a 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:11.320 wild card spot right now. But Peyton dropped this stat 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.480 about Vladimir grow Junior a month and a half ago, 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:20.360 Peyton saying that Vladdie's last regular season home run in 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:25.400 Toronto at the Rogers Center was August seventeenth of twenty 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:31.760 twenty five. It's August fourteenth, twenty twenty six, and that's 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:33.880 I assume not counting the playoffs podcast p. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.480 But that's in the regular not counting the playoffs. Last 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.920 home run at the Rogers Center was in the ALCS 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:42.560 against US. 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.760 Game six against Seattle. In the regular season, it has 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:51.520 been basically a calendar year. He has an OPS below 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:58.800 seven hundred and why his approach is horrible. The amount 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:05.680 of abs that he's given away is just I mean, 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.440 there's two oh pitches where he's singing, swinging at a 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:13.080 slider in the dirt and grounding out pitches. He'll take 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.120 one down the middle and then he'll swing at ball one. 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.800 The fishing, the chasing outside the zone is already an 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:26.840 enormous problem, and it's bleeding into his contact quality. Jack 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.560 he has seen a twelve percent drop in hard hit 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.280 rates since twenty twenty four. Fifty five twenty twenty four, 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.680 that was one that led Major League Baseball, or at 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.800 least was one of the league leaders. Now he's at 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.600 forty two percent, slightly better than league average. A five 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:48.640 hundred million dollar first base dh has above average back 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.440 to ball or contact quality. Come on, and then the 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.120 Blue Jays obviously falling off from going to the World 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.120 Series is a surprise, even though they battled back. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.800 Sure, so, Laddie Junior is twenty seven years old and 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.800 his per one sixty two pace in his career is 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.959 twenty eight home runs per one sixty two. Peyton just 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.400 told us that's a three hundred and twenty five played 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:18.560 appearance regular season drop at the Rogers Center. It's so 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:23.080 hard to fathom that. And if he were a defensive 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:27.719 oriented shortstop, like I could understand that, but it's not 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.520 that profile. Like if you told me that I'm just 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.560 plucking a name out of thin air here, Like if 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.680 you told me that Bryce and Stott had gone a 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.800 whole calendar year without a home run it since at 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.120 Citizens Bank Park'd be like, Okay, that's unfortunate, but like 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.920 it's not crazy, but it would still be surprising, Like 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.560 it'd still be surprising crazy, but it'd be surprising, Like 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.159 that's where we're at. It'd still be surprising. But a 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.840 guy coming off of five straight near twenty five homer seasons, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.720 including forty eight in twenty twenty one, should not go 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:02.119 a whole healthy year without hitting a home run in 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.360 his home ballpark. And everything is dropping off here when 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.480 you take a peek at this, like average exit Vila 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.160 dropping from ninety two to ninety point one is really 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:13.399 hard to wrap your brain around. 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.600 Did you see Spider Man Brand New Day? 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:16.840 No? 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:19.960 Well, I don't want to give any spoilers, but I 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.320 assume everybody knows the Hulk is in it. So the 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.679 Hulk is in it. I'll give you an example. So 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:31.440 last year, during the regular season, Vladdie was Professor Hulk, 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.280 which is still a very big version of Hulk. Some 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:37.600 Marvel fans aren't the biggest fan because they want to 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.920 see Buck Wild Hulk like they want to see Savage Hulk. 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.560 Spider Man Brand New Day, you get Savage Hulk. And 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:50.800 in the playoffs Vladdy went from Professor Hulk to Savage Hulk, 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.080 and now in the regular season he has gone all 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.520 the way back down to Bruce Banner. There's no strength 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.199 at all, He's lost at all, and Marvel fans are 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.320 already upset a perform as a Hulk. Imagine just a 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.840 whole movie of just Bruce Banner. That's what we're getting 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.600 from ladimirg Arao Junior this year. Do you like that analogy? 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.720 I don't understand it, but I believe. 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.159 Well, Peyton's giving me thumbs up, so I think somebody 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:13.760 here at least gets it. What's your next surprise? 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.639 All right, my next surprise here. I'm not pivoting to 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.360 the negatives just yet. I've got two negative and I'm 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.520 gonna stay on the positive and I'm going to keep 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.160 my surprises in the American League. 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.399 Central thought Parker Messick was fun. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:31.439 I didn't think he was. 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.000 This a good call. I forgot about this one. That's 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.080 so obvious, A great answer, dude. 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:38.600 Like I thought he was like, oh, yeah, you know, 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.919 that's plucky, Like he could probably be the five and 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.840 that a slayed secone And it's like, no, he's an 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:45.720 all star and a front line starter and along with 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.040 Gavin Williams, that's one of the better one two punches 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:53.600 in the American League. Yeah. I mean there's deception, there's Carrie, 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.960 there's a secondary, there's command of everything that comes out 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.280 of his fingertips. There's gump shit like there's there's some 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.159 bizazz on the hill too. Like I just love watching 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.480 Parker Messix starts and I was thinking like he was 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.440 gonna be the Plucky five starter, but no All Star 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.679 and maybe a Game one starter in the DS. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.119 I think deception is the name of his game. Like 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.960 when I watch Parker Messix starts, I just have you 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.040 can almost see it visually, And when I say almost, 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.359 I feel like I am seeing it. Guys just can't 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.800 pick it up. It's just on them too quickly, like 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.160 the amount of ninety two min hour heaters I've seen 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.240 blown pass guys. I'm like, I know the IVB is 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.200 in twenty five inches where it's getting insane levels of ride. 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:39.520 I know it's a solid fastball, you know, based on 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:41.560 the metrics, but it's not so much to the sense 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.280 where to the hitter they're acting like it's one hundred 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.399 miles an hour at the top of the zune. I 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.800 just think guys can't pick it up. So I and 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.400 that is good moving forward for him, because I don't 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.399 know when hitters are going to start to pick it up. 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.439 I think that's just the level of deception that he 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.160 brings to the He pounds the zone with strikes. He's 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:07.239 not afraid of anybody. Really fun picture to watch, and 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:09.280 on top of it, he's awesome. I think that's a 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.320 great call out. He's almost kind of like McGonagall, but 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.480 a lesser version of that, where they've just been so 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.280 good all year that I kind of forgot that they 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:19.080 weren't supposed to be. 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.080 I can believe that because in the first couple of 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.080 months we couldn't go an episode without talking about McGonagall 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.959 or messic and it's like, Oh, these rookies are unbelievable. 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.000 These rookies are unbelievable. And then all of a sudden 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.720 it's like, oh, yeah, no, they're just really, really good. 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.480 Yeah the whole time, which is a custimate to them 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.520 that I forgot because of how good he's been. I 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.880 forgot the great call out there. I guess I'll stay negative. 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:46.679 I have two three negatives, two positives. We already went 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.560 one over, one positive, Sean Burke, one negative. Laddie in 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.960 the Blue Jays Fall from Grace is the biggest surprise. 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:58.639 You mentioned that it was the White Sox negatively, the 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.480 Seattle Mariners and Jack cal Rawley's got an O kiss 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:07.000 below six hundred. Yeah, I've been you know, you see 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.920 clips on the internet of you know, the best of 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:12.240 the best when it comes to covering baseball. The guys 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:14.479 who have been doing it for thirty years, you know, 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:19.440 the Rosenthals, the bus are only the passings, the Tim Kirkchins, 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.800 plenty of them. None of them are able to explain this, 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:24.800 and they all say this is one of the most 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:27.479 shocking dropoffs they've ever seen. And this comes to us 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.600 from Mike Petriello. Cal Rawley is having the second biggest 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.480 decline in MLB history in back to back seasons, minimum 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.000 of three hundred and fifty played appearances in each year. 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:41.920 Rogers Hornsby from nineteen twenty five to nineteen twenty six 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.119 drop from a twelve forty five ops to an eight 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:49.040 to fifty one OPS. That's okay, but dropping from nine 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:54.840 to forty eight to five sixty four all the other players, 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.760 I guess outside of Yasmani Grandhal from twenty twenty one 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.480 to twenty twenty two, so it can happen to catchers. 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:04.119 But this is shocking. I mean, there's how do you 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:08.040 even put it into words? Everything is wrong with Kyle 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:10.560 Rawley at the plate. So to talk about that everything 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:13.040 is wrong, we'd be here for another thirty We could 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:14.200 do a whole episode. 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:18.120 On it, And what's tough is people are trying to 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:22.000 diagnose what exactly has gone wrong mechanically, and people are 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.240 trying to point to a slight turn of his belt 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:28.000 where it's like, oh, well it was you know, flat 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:30.240 even or at five degree turn, and now it's a 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:34.720 ten degree turn. It's the same thing as looking at 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:37.720 the landing for schemes to try and explain a five 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:42.080 mile an hour decrease in velocity on his fastball. It's like, 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:45.960 I just keep coming back to maybe they're just not 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.960 physically right right now, and that's where I keep coming 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.520 back to Raleigh. He missed a month with an oblique deal. 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.800 It seemed brutal, and you just wonder if he's ever 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:59.479 felt one hundred percent this year. Like I, there's no 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:03.240 exploit nation here because it's so simple. There's nothing to 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:05.680 mess up in is swinging. It is set up, There's 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:08.919 there's nothing there. He's just off. He's just off at 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.640 the moment, and it's amazing to see that drop off. 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:15.600 So it's been so consistently bad this year that much 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:18.159 like Messick, I pretty much forgot about Raleigh being a 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:18.760 surprise too. 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:24.760 The Mariners are eight games under five hundred. They went 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:29.040 into the season with the best odds to win the 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:32.199 Pennant in the American League. Over the Yankees, over the 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:34.080 Blue Jays, who were just coming off going to the 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:36.960 World Series, over any team in the Central, over the 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:40.760 Red Sox, Astros, Rangers, you name it. They were number one, 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:48.359 and now they have the third worst, the fourth worst 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:51.199 record in the American League when the American League is 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.800 at its lowest in a very long time. Yeah, that's 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:57.600 not quite as shocking as Kyle Rawley, but it's all 0:24:57.640 --> 0:24:58.240 tied together. 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:01.439 Yeah, do you want I armor my bat first? In 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:03.240 terms of negative surprises. 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:06.879 Uh, you're hot with the arms, give me the arm. 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:10.199 This is kind of cheating because he's only been in 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:15.560 the American League for two weeks. But Freddy Peralta stinks 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:16.200 this year. 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:18.439 That counts. 0:25:19.119 --> 0:25:19.840 I mean what. 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:25.000 It was so hard to watch he pitched himself into 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:29.040 a trade to Tampa for like it seemed like next 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:31.760 to nothing, to be honest with you, and then I 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:34.600 obviously it's a tough landing at Cores and it's Sacramento, 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:37.880 but the fact that his first two starts were bombs 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:41.400 away in Tampa at Cores and at Sacramento I get 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:43.840 how hard that can be. I mean, he's got a 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:46.160 five and a half ra in a walk year. I 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:50.480 never once expected that fastball Freddy in a walk year 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:54.639 from maybe the friendliest team contract in recent memory in 0:25:54.680 --> 0:25:57.480 Major League Baseball would result in one of the worst 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:00.399 walk years that we've seen from a pitcher in recent memory. 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:04.920 He's He's near the bottom of every single statistical category 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:07.679 for starting pitchers right now. I loved when the Mets 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:12.199 traded Form this offseason. That was a great addition. He's 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:14.600 so consistent, so consistent. 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:18.720 So consistent. Freddy is a callback for us. Remember when 0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:21.200 we were first starting and we were projected plate and 0:26:21.240 --> 0:26:24.080 Freddy Perlta was the first player that all of us 0:26:24.160 --> 0:26:27.439 lashed onto, where like the Brewers got something here, and 0:26:27.480 --> 0:26:29.080 then he just went on this run. We looked like 0:26:29.119 --> 0:26:32.000 the smartest people all alive. And then this year it's like. 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:34.240 Oh shit, you know who he is. 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:39.080 Jack unfortunately, or at least feels like it's trending this way. 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:46.560 Zach Gallen, Well, Gallen was unbelievable, very consistent, and then 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:50.800 fastball quality went down a little bit, had trouble locating 0:26:50.800 --> 0:26:54.000 his off speed and breaking balls, and then just gets 0:26:54.119 --> 0:26:59.119 shelled and Gallen really hasn't bounced back either. I'm very 0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:02.119 fascinated see what Freddy Pearlton gets on the open market 0:27:02.160 --> 0:27:04.359 next year. I think he'll probably get a prove it deal, 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:08.240 and I think if he had really another great season, 0:27:08.240 --> 0:27:11.159 like another Freddy Pralta level season, he'd probably get the 0:27:11.160 --> 0:27:15.680 same contract Ranger did, maybe more. Yeah, and now it's 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:17.040 a one year proven. 0:27:17.480 --> 0:27:20.440 Then I'd be a million yeah. Yeah. 0:27:20.440 --> 0:27:22.560 If this could be an one hundred million dollars swing 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:25.600 season for him, yep, brutal. 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:31.000 Brutal, It's been positive. Now Nick Martinez has a two 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:34.320 seven four eer at one hundred and thirty eight ings 0:27:34.720 --> 0:27:37.760 at one hundred and thirty eight inggs. Everyone's talking about 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:40.560 Drew Rasmussen, and deservedly so. He's third in ci Young 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:44.320 odds on bet MGM. Nick Martinez should be fourth, but 0:27:44.359 --> 0:27:47.280 he's not because he's only stroking out seventy eight guys 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:49.280 over his one hundred and thirty eight innings. He's only 0:27:49.280 --> 0:27:53.720 striking out five per nine. However, he's consistently in the zone. 0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:56.439 He stays off the barrel, and this is just a 0:27:56.480 --> 0:27:59.600 professional pitcher on the mount like almost like the way 0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:02.800 Luis to rise as a pure hitter. Nick Martinez this 0:28:02.880 --> 0:28:06.680 year is a pure pitcher. I even tweeted out your 0:28:06.800 --> 0:28:10.560 dad's favorite pitcher because the guy who he's not relying 0:28:10.600 --> 0:28:14.040 on shrikeouts, He's not at one hundred pitches after five innings. 0:28:14.720 --> 0:28:18.040 He cruises through games. He dares you to hit his stuff, 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:23.280 hits his spots, sequences beautifully, can go to a bunch 0:28:23.320 --> 0:28:28.159 of different pitches and is a huge reason the Rays 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:31.560 are in the spot that they are right. They lost Pepiote, 0:28:31.640 --> 0:28:34.359 mclenahan's been injured lately. You look at the rest of 0:28:34.359 --> 0:28:37.919 the rotation outside of Rasmussen, there's not a lot to 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:42.800 grab onto right now except Nick Martinez, who has been 0:28:42.840 --> 0:28:45.120 one of the more valuable pitchers in all of Major 0:28:45.200 --> 0:28:47.760 League Baseball this year. When the Rays signment to that 0:28:47.760 --> 0:28:51.720 one year deal, I liked it. Right had another arm. 0:28:51.840 --> 0:28:54.320 He's been okay. In twenty twenty four, he was really solid, 0:28:54.480 --> 0:28:56.840 but she was three to one. ERA thought it was 0:28:56.840 --> 0:29:01.040 an underrated pickup. Did I expect this? No, I don't 0:29:01.040 --> 0:29:03.360 even think the biggest raised fan on Earth expected this. 0:29:03.640 --> 0:29:07.240 I don't think Eric Neander expected this. But it is 0:29:07.280 --> 0:29:08.959 a welcome surprise in Tampa. 0:29:09.720 --> 0:29:12.120 Yeah, I hear you, man, I totally hear you on that. 0:29:13.120 --> 0:29:15.959 Okay, I've got one more staying in the division, and 0:29:16.000 --> 0:29:17.719 I go bat in a negative surprise. 0:29:18.480 --> 0:29:20.200 You want to talk bad, walk here for a bet. 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:24.200 The counting numbers are still fine because he's over thirty 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:26.520 stolen bases, he's got seventeen homers. 0:29:26.560 --> 0:29:28.760 But it's a tough spot for. 0:29:28.760 --> 0:29:30.960 Jazz to put up the first season with a sub 0:29:31.000 --> 0:29:34.560 three hundred on base percentage, Jazz was hoping to get paid. 0:29:34.680 --> 0:29:37.680 But Jazz Chisholm at this point right now is sitting 0:29:37.680 --> 0:29:40.920 at a ninety one OPS plus. It's a six eighty 0:29:40.960 --> 0:29:44.800 seven ops. He's hitting a career wors two sixteen, getting 0:29:44.840 --> 0:29:47.560 on base at a career worst two ninety six clip. 0:29:47.880 --> 0:29:51.560 He's slugging a career worse three ninety one. It hasn't 0:29:51.600 --> 0:29:54.479 been good at all. And the War, dude, he's a 0:29:54.520 --> 0:29:57.680 sub one War player right now. He's zero point nine 0:29:57.720 --> 0:30:00.000 b War and he's two point four f F one. 0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:01.040 I don't know how. 0:30:00.880 --> 0:30:05.800 They're so far apart defense. It's the way each version 0:30:05.840 --> 0:30:09.440 of War is grading out the defense. Yeah, regardless, he's 0:30:09.440 --> 0:30:11.920 been a disappointment. I watch him every single day, and 0:30:11.960 --> 0:30:14.840 the at bats just get real bad. And the problem 0:30:14.920 --> 0:30:17.160 is when the Yankees are good and Jazz Chisholm was 0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:20.960 really playing, he adds such a dynamic factor to the 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:24.520 Yankees that hasn't really been replicated by any player that 0:30:24.560 --> 0:30:27.680 I've seen in the last five years. The speed, the flare, 0:30:27.960 --> 0:30:30.960 the power that he brings. When he's good, he's real good. 0:30:31.240 --> 0:30:34.240 When he's bad, he's real bad. And he's been real 0:30:34.360 --> 0:30:39.040 bad for this entire season. Defensively, he's been pretty good. Offensively, 0:30:41.880 --> 0:30:43.959 he's been one of the biggest problems on the Yankees 0:30:43.960 --> 0:30:46.480 and a reason why the Yankees are in the bottom 0:30:46.520 --> 0:30:47.880 ten of ops this season. 0:30:48.560 --> 0:30:51.520 Peyton just dropted for US out's above average, He's plus 0:30:51.600 --> 0:30:54.240 ten defensive run safety's been minus seven. So it just 0:30:54.280 --> 0:30:57.760 depends what your flavor of the month is. But Jazz dude, like, 0:30:57.800 --> 0:31:00.000 I was just expecting a way better walk here, because 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:02.240 as this guy was the type to play himself into 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:04.480 a near two hundred million dollar contract. 0:31:04.720 --> 0:31:07.040 I was actually thought you were gonna when you were 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:09.920 giving out the stats, I was like, Damn, does Jared 0:31:10.000 --> 0:31:13.000 Duran really have thirty stolen bases? Because Jared Duran is 0:31:13.000 --> 0:31:15.200 a sixty four WRC plus I don't mean to say 0:31:15.200 --> 0:31:16.760 that as a biasa Yankee fan, like, hey, look at 0:31:16.760 --> 0:31:19.040 the Red Sox player. No, I just feel like Duran 0:31:19.320 --> 0:31:22.760 being even worse is a little bit more surprising than Jazz. 0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:26.840 But at the same time, like Jazz Chisholm came into 0:31:26.840 --> 0:31:29.480 the season telling us he was going to go fifty 0:31:29.480 --> 0:31:31.840 to fifty, yeah, right, and that he was going to 0:31:31.880 --> 0:31:36.640 get a monster contract, Duran didn't do that, right. No. 0:31:36.760 --> 0:31:38.520 I think we thought Duran was going to be good, 0:31:38.600 --> 0:31:41.680 not great, and here he is being bad and Jazz 0:31:41.720 --> 0:31:44.440 we were expecting to be really, really good, one of 0:31:44.440 --> 0:31:46.600 the best in baseball. You had him as the second 0:31:46.680 --> 0:31:48.800 best second basement in the big leagues this here, and 0:31:48.840 --> 0:31:50.360 I believe that's just not the case. 0:31:50.360 --> 0:31:54.560 Not even close, maybe top twenty. I got the two, right, 0:31:55.320 --> 0:31:57.120 I just had to add another zero. That was why, 0:31:58.760 --> 0:32:02.120 all right? My last one is Jack. If I told 0:32:02.160 --> 0:32:04.960 you at the beginning of the season the Sacramento A's 0:32:05.000 --> 0:32:08.040 we're gonna be the worst team in baseball, you probably 0:32:08.080 --> 0:32:12.160 would have been like, that's a stupid take On Twitter. 0:32:12.440 --> 0:32:14.120 We would have ran with it and been like, Peter 0:32:14.320 --> 0:32:17.520 is such an idiot, And yet here we are and 0:32:17.560 --> 0:32:19.360 I'm not saying I had to take at the beginning 0:32:19.400 --> 0:32:21.960 of the season that the A's would be here. But 0:32:22.120 --> 0:32:25.560 they are forty seven and seventy four with a negative 0:32:25.600 --> 0:32:29.840 one hundred and eighty run differential. Both those marks are 0:32:29.880 --> 0:32:32.200 worse than the Rockies, is worse than the Angels. It's 0:32:32.240 --> 0:32:34.560 worse than the Royals, which is another surprise to me, 0:32:34.880 --> 0:32:37.200 how bad the Royals have been so far. But the 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:40.560 A's came into the season with some hype, right, Yeah, 0:32:40.560 --> 0:32:43.120 had Luis Severino, you had Jeffrey Springs, you had a 0:32:43.160 --> 0:32:45.800 couple of nice young pitchers. You had to line up 0:32:45.840 --> 0:32:49.560 with Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler and 0:32:49.600 --> 0:32:53.480 Brent Rooker and Jacob Wilson. They were one of the 0:32:53.520 --> 0:32:55.480 most bet teams to go over the win total of 0:32:55.480 --> 0:32:59.960 this season, and now they're the worst team in Major 0:33:00.120 --> 0:33:03.200 League Baseball. The lineup is Nick Kurtz and friends currently, 0:33:04.160 --> 0:33:10.880 and the rotation it's Gauge Jump, JT Gen and you 0:33:10.960 --> 0:33:15.120 and I and Arum. Yeah, and the bullpen's got nobody 0:33:15.160 --> 0:33:15.400 in it. 0:33:15.960 --> 0:33:19.800 Jack bulpens back Jack Perkins, I like, But what I 0:33:19.800 --> 0:33:22.040 mean Perkins is starting games for them exactly. 0:33:22.080 --> 0:33:25.840 He's been back and forth so it's just hard to 0:33:25.840 --> 0:33:28.719 believe they're the worst team in Major League Baseball, and 0:33:29.080 --> 0:33:30.560 how a lot of people have talked about how bad 0:33:30.560 --> 0:33:33.200 they've been lately, like lately, as the Red Sox are 0:33:33.200 --> 0:33:35.960 going thirty one and seven in their past thirty eight, 0:33:36.240 --> 0:33:38.880 the A's are on the complete opposite end of that spectrum. 0:33:39.080 --> 0:33:42.600 Yeah. Now, they have been absolutely decimated by injury. I'll 0:33:42.600 --> 0:33:47.280 give them that. Where like Kurtz, I saw his thumbs immobilized, 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:49.560 they're the rest of August because he's got he got 0:33:49.600 --> 0:33:51.920 a PRP injection in his thumb or something like that. 0:33:52.560 --> 0:33:55.840 I just thought the word immobilized was crazy. But Kurtz 0:33:55.840 --> 0:33:58.160 has the thumb thing. He's probably out for the entire year. 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:01.080 Langeliers is done, he had Nies had a scope done. 0:34:01.720 --> 0:34:06.280 What July Corona Grower he's out obviously, that was just awful. 0:34:06.440 --> 0:34:08.759 Denzel Clark he's been out. Brent Rooker he's out for 0:34:08.840 --> 0:34:10.279 the year. He had a scope done on his knee 0:34:10.280 --> 0:34:13.000 as well. So you're running out of lineup right now. 0:34:13.080 --> 0:34:16.120 Of Lawrence Butler's seventy eight WRC plus and if you 0:34:16.120 --> 0:34:18.520 were to highlight one guy that has been the key 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:22.800 underwhelming aspect of that team, it's probably Lawrence Butler. Jacob 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:24.960 Wilson is a close second, who's got a sub one 0:34:25.000 --> 0:34:28.759 hundred WRC plus it's it's just not going well. Like 0:34:29.120 --> 0:34:32.520 Donovan Walton's playing second base for them. Things aren't going 0:34:32.600 --> 0:34:35.600 right a lot, like he's always in the lineup. Yeah, 0:34:35.680 --> 0:34:39.239 always always, So those are my love it time for 0:34:39.239 --> 0:34:40.000 the weekend preview. 0:34:40.239 --> 0:34:44.400 Let's do weekend preview. So the weekend Preview is brought 0:34:44.400 --> 0:34:47.760 to you by the Picket Sports App, the easiest adreading 0:34:47.760 --> 0:34:49.520 in the world because they use it freaking every day, 0:34:50.080 --> 0:34:52.400 and the Picket Sports app is the best place to 0:34:52.760 --> 0:34:56.280 not only track your picks, but also find the best 0:34:56.400 --> 0:35:00.560 lines across all available sports books, so you can always 0:35:00.640 --> 0:35:04.560 get the best line. And if you sink your sports 0:35:04.560 --> 0:35:08.319 book using promo code just Baseball, even if you've only 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:11.319 made one bet, it is the easiest thing in the 0:35:11.320 --> 0:35:15.400 world today to make between three to one hundred bucks. 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:18.399 It's kind of a roulette wheel. You could win three, 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:20.600 you could win eight, you could win ninety one, you 0:35:20.600 --> 0:35:22.680 could win one hundred, you could win sixty four, you 0:35:22.680 --> 0:35:25.120 could win any number between three to one hundred bucks. 0:35:25.239 --> 0:35:27.880 When you sink your sports book, if you're a sports better. 0:35:28.040 --> 0:35:31.080 You absolutely should do it. If you're not a sports better, 0:35:31.080 --> 0:35:32.920 but you've only placed one bet and you want to 0:35:32.920 --> 0:35:34.839 just make a little bit of money today, make sure 0:35:34.880 --> 0:35:37.440 to use promo code Just Baseball again on the free 0:35:37.440 --> 0:35:40.279 Picket Sports app. It's another reminder you have to pay 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:43.280 for a lot of odd screens. There's other paid apps 0:35:43.280 --> 0:35:45.560 where you track your bets. This is all free. That's 0:35:45.560 --> 0:35:47.400 why it's the easiest add to read in the world, 0:35:47.560 --> 0:35:50.240 because it's the best pick tracking app in the world. 0:35:50.280 --> 0:35:53.640 Download the Picket Sports Book or Picket Sports app excuse 0:35:53.719 --> 0:35:56.759 me today and using promo cod just Baseball. All right, 0:35:56.840 --> 0:36:00.840 let's get into our games. But I'm sure you want to, uh, 0:36:01.120 --> 0:36:02.279 you want to introduce them to me? 0:36:02.880 --> 0:36:04.480 Yeah, I got you. And then you give me a 0:36:04.480 --> 0:36:07.759 winner here and we will start with a hell of 0:36:07.800 --> 0:36:12.000 a pitcher's duel in Cincinnati tonight at six ten pm, 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:15.319 Sandy al Contra on the Marlins against Chase Burns and 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:19.360 the Cincinnati Reds. Burns is coming off of a tough start, 0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:22.759 but before that was awesome. Meanwhile, Sandy al Contract coming 0:36:22.800 --> 0:36:25.000 off of three straight scoreless starts. 0:36:25.640 --> 0:36:27.040 Yeah, I want to give the Reds a lot of 0:36:27.040 --> 0:36:29.879 credit they've been playing better baseball. They have clawed back 0:36:30.040 --> 0:36:32.400 in this thing, and they have Chase Burns on the mound, 0:36:32.440 --> 0:36:34.400 and it's at home. It's a tough opponent to go 0:36:34.680 --> 0:36:37.520 up against, but you already mentioned it. Sandy has thrown 0:36:37.640 --> 0:36:41.880 three straight scoreless outings, and he has sparkling numbers against 0:36:41.880 --> 0:36:46.400 the Reds current roster over eighty seven plate appearances, shrekking 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:49.440 out twenty five percent of batters to twenty two opponent 0:36:49.480 --> 0:36:52.200 batting average with a two sixty one x WLOBBA, which 0:36:52.239 --> 0:36:55.160 is incredibly low, which basically means the quality of contact 0:36:55.400 --> 0:36:58.759 against Sandy is really really poor, as evidenced by the 0:36:58.920 --> 0:37:02.359 average eggs of velocity of only eighty five miles an hour. 0:37:02.960 --> 0:37:05.680 So I think Sandy's gonna shove Chase Burns probably has 0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:07.719 a nice start. I don't mind the under but if 0:37:07.760 --> 0:37:10.239 you're telling me the Marlins are plus money, that'd be. 0:37:10.160 --> 0:37:14.680 The side of them on okay seven to ten in Cleveland, 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:19.800 Michael King and the red Hot Padres against an absolute 0:37:19.840 --> 0:37:22.359 stud in Gavin Williams and the Guardians. 0:37:22.640 --> 0:37:25.319 Shocking price here that the Padres would be plus one 0:37:25.400 --> 0:37:30.680 twenty or higher. But I kind of understand why, kind 0:37:30.680 --> 0:37:33.000 of feels like a letdown spot for the Padres. They 0:37:33.000 --> 0:37:35.919 have been playing excellent baseball, but what comes up must 0:37:36.000 --> 0:37:38.800 come down, and you have Gavin Williams at home. The 0:37:38.840 --> 0:37:41.520 Guardians need these wins. Not to say that the Padres 0:37:41.560 --> 0:37:44.000 don't either, but the Guardians are starting to fall kind 0:37:44.000 --> 0:37:46.440 of out of this. Not the best series against the Tigers. 0:37:46.760 --> 0:37:49.440 This is a focused spot for Cleveland, not saying that 0:37:49.440 --> 0:37:51.279 the Padres are better. If you're telling me is Michael 0:37:51.320 --> 0:37:54.480 King versus Gavin Williams. I'm choosing the Padres, but I 0:37:54.520 --> 0:37:56.879 really like the Guardians in this spot, which is why 0:37:56.880 --> 0:37:57.920 I'll go with them. 0:37:58.160 --> 0:38:00.919 Okay, last one that we've got on Friday at seven 0:38:01.000 --> 0:38:05.600 fifteen in Atlanta, Chris Sale against the red hot Brandon Fott. 0:38:06.040 --> 0:38:08.759 Fascinating matchup and another price that I'm just shocked by. 0:38:08.760 --> 0:38:10.919 You're telling me the d Backs are plus one eighty five. 0:38:11.080 --> 0:38:14.239 I get it. It's Sale. He's unbelievable. The Braves one 0:38:14.239 --> 0:38:16.080 of the best teams in baseball at seventy three and 0:38:16.160 --> 0:38:18.360 forty eight, but the d Backs are sixty four and 0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:20.759 fifty eight, and Brandon Fott has been pitching out of 0:38:20.880 --> 0:38:26.400 his mind and the d Backs opponent batting average against 0:38:26.400 --> 0:38:29.560 Sales two fifty five over one hundred and sixteen played appearance. 0:38:29.600 --> 0:38:32.359 It's not like Sale has absolutely obliterated them. I think 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:34.400 the d Backs are gonna compete, So I'm gonna go 0:38:34.480 --> 0:38:37.799 big underdog hunting. Give me Arizona. 0:38:37.840 --> 0:38:41.080 Which game are you less interested in? Seth Lugo and 0:38:41.120 --> 0:38:45.200 Grayson Rodriguez in Royals Angels or Kyle Frieland and Landon 0:38:45.280 --> 0:38:46.919 Rupe and Rockies Giants. 0:38:47.400 --> 0:38:50.760 I'm just gonna go Angels Royals just because we're only 0:38:51.040 --> 0:38:54.680 five wins away from hitting my biggest MLB future Rockies 0:38:54.719 --> 0:38:56.600 over fifty two and a half wins. So I've been 0:38:56.640 --> 0:39:00.600 watching so much Rockies baseball, just kidding get fired up 0:39:00.640 --> 0:39:02.440 with all of our friends of the discord. It is 0:39:02.480 --> 0:39:05.839 actually so much fun because whatever they win, you could 0:39:05.840 --> 0:39:08.080 throw a parade, and whenever they lose, it's like, ah, 0:39:08.080 --> 0:39:10.440 it's the Rockies, let's get it tomorrow. Like so basically, 0:39:10.520 --> 0:39:13.319 no matter what, like you're having fun. So I'll be 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:14.200 watching that game. 0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.480 I hear you two Saturday games that we got to 0:39:17.480 --> 0:39:19.040 give you here. First one is going to be in 0:39:19.160 --> 0:39:22.280 Pittsburgh between the Red Sox and the Pirates. Sonny Gray 0:39:22.360 --> 0:39:25.120 against Jared Jones, who had a rough start last time out. 0:39:25.600 --> 0:39:28.040 So I wanted to bring this one up too, not 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:29.960 only because it's a great pitching matchup, but our friends 0:39:30.000 --> 0:39:33.200 of ballpark Pal again another reminder, go check out ballpark Pal. 0:39:33.239 --> 0:39:36.480 It's one of the best public models. Literally out does 0:39:36.480 --> 0:39:37.880 a great job with the weather and they make the 0:39:37.920 --> 0:39:41.319 Pirates a slight favorite here. Now it's closer to a 0:39:41.400 --> 0:39:45.000 coin flip, but they're banking on a Jared Jones bounce back. 0:39:45.040 --> 0:39:48.160 But Sonny Gray has just been too damn good. So 0:39:48.360 --> 0:39:50.560 for any betters out there, there might be some value 0:39:50.600 --> 0:39:52.560 on the Pirates when this line comes out. And I'm 0:39:52.600 --> 0:39:54.520 gonna trust our friends at ballpark Pal give me the 0:39:54.560 --> 0:39:58.440 Jared Jones bounce back and the Red Sox coming to 0:39:58.480 --> 0:40:03.520 Pittsburgh thinking they got an easy win. Nope, go Buckos. 0:40:02.800 --> 0:40:03.120 All right. 0:40:03.880 --> 0:40:07.880 Brewers Dodgers the Series of the year at Dodgers Stadium 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:12.400 at seven fifteen Eastern time on Saturday. Jacob Mizarowski against 0:40:12.480 --> 0:40:13.600 Justin Robleski. 0:40:14.160 --> 0:40:16.600 Well, last night I assume you saw this as well, 0:40:16.640 --> 0:40:20.080 and when Diaz blowing that save and you know who, 0:40:20.280 --> 0:40:22.960 what was funny? I feel like Cubs fans were more 0:40:23.040 --> 0:40:26.800 upset at Edwin Diaz online than Dodger fans were upset Edward. 0:40:26.960 --> 0:40:27.160 Yeah. 0:40:27.320 --> 0:40:29.520 I believe that the Cubs are trying to catch the Brewers, 0:40:29.520 --> 0:40:33.200 and I understand it. It's an awesome division race. Robleski 0:40:34.000 --> 0:40:37.279 is in big trouble in the second half. He's just 0:40:37.360 --> 0:40:40.040 completely fallen off a cliff as I thought was a 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:43.080 was potentially going to happen if you looked at all 0:40:43.080 --> 0:40:44.920 of his underlying metrics. I just thought there was no 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:48.520 way he could continue. And Misowski on the other side, 0:40:48.560 --> 0:40:50.560 I mean, good freaking luck. Give me the Brewers. 0:40:50.960 --> 0:40:54.120 Okay, now we got three more on Sunday to table 0:40:54.200 --> 0:40:58.640 on the weekend preview here, let's go to Toronto. Yeah, 0:40:58.680 --> 0:41:01.720 Toronto at one thirty seven Eastern on Sunday afternoon, Dylan 0:41:01.880 --> 0:41:04.760 Cease takes the ball in his home ballpark against lefty 0:41:04.840 --> 0:41:06.560 Ryan Weathers. 0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:11.440 Ballpark. Powell has the Blue Jays as minus one sixty 0:41:11.520 --> 0:41:16.000 one favorites. Love Ryan Weathers. I think he's been pitching great, 0:41:16.160 --> 0:41:18.879 But Cease is going for that cy Young. I think 0:41:18.920 --> 0:41:21.640 he's gonna dominate here. I'll take the Jays. 0:41:22.000 --> 0:41:23.200 If I'm not mistaken. 0:41:23.280 --> 0:41:25.480 Toronto has been one of the worst teams in baseball 0:41:25.480 --> 0:41:29.320 against left handed pitching. So something good underplay, good underplay. 0:41:29.840 --> 0:41:32.480 There you go. Okay, two more that we got to 0:41:32.520 --> 0:41:35.440 give you here, yep, late afternoon Eastern time in La 0:41:35.560 --> 0:41:40.640 Logan Henderson and the Brewers against Trek's Schooble and the Dodgers. 0:41:41.080 --> 0:41:42.560 I made the joke to you guys. I think the 0:41:42.560 --> 0:41:44.440 barber should call louis paying you up for this one, 0:41:44.520 --> 0:41:48.600 just like play the theorized package against Errek Schooble. 0:41:48.920 --> 0:41:49.440 I love that. 0:41:50.160 --> 0:41:52.440 I hope they do that they won't. 0:41:52.800 --> 0:41:58.480 Ballpark pal basically makes the Dodgers huge favorites sixty five percent, 0:41:58.560 --> 0:42:00.800 but I just got a gut feel that the Burers 0:42:01.440 --> 0:42:04.880 figure this one out. Scooble has not quite looked like 0:42:06.239 --> 0:42:09.839 Tik's Schooble. He's looked like Terrek Scooble, and I think 0:42:09.920 --> 0:42:11.239 you hear that. You kind of know what I mean. 0:42:11.560 --> 0:42:14.799 Still incredibly good, still awesome, but not at the peak 0:42:14.840 --> 0:42:19.040 of his powers. And the Brewers can beat anybody. And 0:42:19.080 --> 0:42:21.480 I like how their lineup matches up against left handed pitching. 0:42:21.560 --> 0:42:24.560 I obviously love Logan Henderson, and it feels like the 0:42:24.680 --> 0:42:27.320 Dodgers might get some revenge over the next two days. 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:29.360 And then the Brewers close it out on Sunday. So 0:42:29.840 --> 0:42:32.240 I think if you're looking for a big time underdog, 0:42:32.280 --> 0:42:34.319 I like Milwaukee on Sunday cool. 0:42:34.440 --> 0:42:37.080 And then Sunday Night Baseball, Brian Wu on the road 0:42:37.320 --> 0:42:40.080 for the Mariners against Hunter Brown and the Houston Astros. 0:42:40.360 --> 0:42:43.160 Yeah, give me the Ashros. But Brian Will actually looked 0:42:43.160 --> 0:42:45.120 really good against the Yankees on the road. Maybe he's 0:42:45.120 --> 0:42:47.400 starting to figure out those problems. It is close to 0:42:47.440 --> 0:42:50.720 a pick and price. You know what, Let's fade that narrative. 0:42:50.880 --> 0:42:51.720 Give me the Mariners. 0:42:51.719 --> 0:42:52.040 Why not? 0:42:52.239 --> 0:42:55.000 Can they get it done? Probably not, but they need 0:42:55.040 --> 0:42:57.000 people back at them right now, and I'm willing to 0:42:57.040 --> 0:42:57.279 do so. 0:42:58.080 --> 0:43:01.080 Second half of the program is coming up in a moment. Again, 0:43:01.160 --> 0:43:04.040 we talked to arm Layton and Dyersville, Iowa. We also 0:43:04.200 --> 0:43:09.319 have Griffin Conine conversation, and then we get to our 0:43:09.440 --> 0:43:18.400 NL surprises. But before that, all right, nothing quite like 0:43:18.440 --> 0:43:21.239 a little line change here. Instead of Peter rappolet's Arm 0:43:21.280 --> 0:43:23.480 Layton for the back half of the program. Arm Layton 0:43:23.520 --> 0:43:26.880 from Dyersville, Iowa with a hoodie on with his USA 0:43:26.880 --> 0:43:30.480 Baseball hat that Lids was nice enough to ship us. 0:43:30.520 --> 0:43:33.880 That hat is absolutely sick I will be wearing at it. 0:43:34.560 --> 0:43:38.279 Yeah, it's got This is one of the most frequented ones. 0:43:38.360 --> 0:43:41.200 Also, mart no hoodie, dude, I have no temperature control 0:43:41.239 --> 0:43:42.000 of this Airbnb. 0:43:42.680 --> 0:43:44.640 Like I messaged the lady, I'm like, how do I 0:43:44.680 --> 0:43:45.440 make this warmer? 0:43:45.719 --> 0:43:48.440 She's like, you can turn the heater on that's separate 0:43:49.000 --> 0:43:50.520 and and it'll counteract it. 0:43:50.520 --> 0:43:52.280 It's not and also it smells weird. 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:55.520 It stuck a sixty two pumping max effort, and I'm like, 0:43:55.560 --> 0:43:57.000 I've been freezing for three days straight. 0:43:57.120 --> 0:43:58.680 I'm looking forward to getting home. 0:43:59.000 --> 0:43:59.200 Though. 0:43:59.239 --> 0:44:01.799 It has been a very charming town here. I do 0:44:01.880 --> 0:44:03.319 really like. I do like it out here. 0:44:03.360 --> 0:44:03.600 I do. 0:44:03.840 --> 0:44:05.799 So you were at the Field of Dreams game, you 0:44:05.840 --> 0:44:08.440 were at the Field of Dreams Minor League game, and 0:44:08.440 --> 0:44:11.399 were you at the under Armer All American game as well? 0:44:12.040 --> 0:44:12.799 I skipped that. 0:44:13.120 --> 0:44:17.240 I went to Cedar Rapids to see the Wisconsin timber 0:44:17.320 --> 0:44:20.920 rat Words versus the Cedar Rapids Colonels. That was a 0:44:20.920 --> 0:44:24.440 good time, though two hour rain delay, but it was. 0:44:24.480 --> 0:44:26.759 It was a lot of fun just to see some 0:44:26.800 --> 0:44:29.320 more top prospects. Braykln Paine just got promoted Brewers, you 0:44:29.360 --> 0:44:31.640 know for first round picking record to double a so 0:44:31.719 --> 0:44:33.040 some one of his last HIA games. 0:44:33.080 --> 0:44:36.200 So that was fun. And uh yeah, so I got 0:44:36.600 --> 0:44:37.680 my two minor league games. 0:44:37.719 --> 0:44:40.359 One big league game works out nicely, and I thought 0:44:40.360 --> 0:44:41.880 about the All American Game, but I was like, I 0:44:41.920 --> 0:44:44.680 don't need to see kids throwing max efforts, spraying the ball. 0:44:44.800 --> 0:44:47.000 Might see a couple based knocks and call it a day. 0:44:47.239 --> 0:44:48.520 What do you mean you weren't fired up for a 0:44:48.600 --> 0:44:52.759 hunter Pentce's nephew, Striker. That's a stri name. It's a 0:44:52.800 --> 0:44:55.400 sick name, especially when you throw one hundred. That was 0:44:55.440 --> 0:44:57.160 the one thing I was kind of like, Man, I 0:44:57.239 --> 0:44:59.279 wish I was there for that, but I have a 0:44:59.280 --> 0:45:01.960 feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of striker pants. 0:45:02.000 --> 0:45:05.839 Also shout out Calvin, uh, broadcaster for the Colonels. Yeah, 0:45:05.920 --> 0:45:08.759 gave me a ton of awesome hospitality, got tour of 0:45:08.800 --> 0:45:09.520 the whole ballpark. 0:45:09.560 --> 0:45:11.680 It's historic, it's absolutely awesome. 0:45:12.400 --> 0:45:14.880 And you know, we kind of killed the Indela together, 0:45:14.960 --> 0:45:17.520 so and enjoyed that with him. He's a great broadcaster. 0:45:17.640 --> 0:45:19.319 Looking forward to seeing you know what's ahead of him too. 0:45:20.040 --> 0:45:23.880 Calvin Christophoro, who is the voice of the Cedar Rapids Colonels. 0:45:24.640 --> 0:45:28.200 Following a you know, great line of w A E. 0:45:28.320 --> 0:45:31.560 R Sports director since Syracuse, New York, that MPR station. 0:45:31.760 --> 0:45:35.160 So me and Calvin Christophoro have that in common. So 0:45:35.560 --> 0:45:39.400 it's fun. Man, I love it. So I want to 0:45:39.440 --> 0:45:41.719 hear a little bit more about Dyersville, Iowa, and then 0:45:41.719 --> 0:45:43.360 I've got something for you, and then we're gonna obviously 0:45:43.400 --> 0:45:45.440 pivot to the back half of this program and biggest 0:45:45.440 --> 0:45:48.400 all biggest surprises so far in the National League. But 0:45:48.760 --> 0:45:51.640 I mean, this is probably the longest you've ever been 0:45:51.680 --> 0:45:53.840 in Iowa in one single sitting. 0:45:55.080 --> 0:45:57.640 It's also like really cool. I think the. 0:45:57.680 --> 0:46:01.440 Dyersville thing was awesome again, and I think the I 0:46:01.480 --> 0:46:04.120 think the Kevin Costner stoic thing is is. 0:46:04.080 --> 0:46:05.080 A little overplayed. 0:46:05.120 --> 0:46:07.279 But I do love the corn element of all this. 0:46:08.160 --> 0:46:10.440 What did you make of the experience in Dyersville. 0:46:11.239 --> 0:46:12.919 I you know, I was wondering how much like Kevin 0:46:12.960 --> 0:46:15.319 Costner we were gonna get And I had nothing against him, 0:46:15.880 --> 0:46:18.120 but you know, I was like, we could do without 0:46:18.120 --> 0:46:20.160 maybe like the played out like movie scenes that they 0:46:20.160 --> 0:46:22.080 did a really good job of not doing that. It 0:46:22.719 --> 0:46:24.719 was you got the teams coming out of the corn 0:46:24.760 --> 0:46:27.360 that was awesome, you know. But I think then the 0:46:27.640 --> 0:46:29.720 hall of Famers coming out. No one was really expecting 0:46:29.760 --> 0:46:32.400 that unless I was totally had my head, you know, 0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:34.040 in the in the wrong area of the cornfield. 0:46:34.080 --> 0:46:37.279 It's like I had no idea. So that was really cool. 0:46:37.320 --> 0:46:39.160 And I mean to see twenty six Hall of Famers 0:46:39.160 --> 0:46:40.880 and I mean some of my all time favorites, some 0:46:40.920 --> 0:46:42.680 guys that I haven't thought of it a little bit, 0:46:43.160 --> 0:46:46.920 and everything in between was was absolutely awesome. The other 0:46:46.920 --> 0:46:49.640 part is I'm in like just outside of Dyersville and Farley. 0:46:50.000 --> 0:46:51.600 It's just one of those little talents where it's like 0:46:51.840 --> 0:46:55.160 one little mini main street where it's like two bars, 0:46:55.440 --> 0:46:59.160 a little bowling alley. You see like little girls running 0:46:59.160 --> 0:47:02.120 with their dog, like you know, by themselves. 0:47:02.160 --> 0:47:03.560 It's safe, like back from school. 0:47:03.640 --> 0:47:05.440 You see another little kid, you know, go into the 0:47:05.480 --> 0:47:08.640 bowling alley and they leave their bike outside and just 0:47:08.719 --> 0:47:10.800 run into the bowling alley. And I'm like in South Florida, 0:47:10.840 --> 0:47:14.200 that bike is snatched like quickly. So there's just so 0:47:14.200 --> 0:47:16.239 many little things like that. It's just like you feel 0:47:16.239 --> 0:47:18.120 like you're almost in a time machine. Everyone here is 0:47:18.160 --> 0:47:20.719 so nice. And then the field itself, I think the 0:47:20.760 --> 0:47:22.440 thing that stood out to me more than anything was 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:25.279 like you know, it's a movie set at the end 0:47:25.280 --> 0:47:26.520 of the day, So I was like, I was kind 0:47:26.560 --> 0:47:29.239 of wondering if it was gonna teeter on gimmicky a 0:47:29.239 --> 0:47:32.040 little bit, and not even in an incredibly negative way, 0:47:32.120 --> 0:47:34.719 like it's it's just like you're building a stadium for 0:47:34.719 --> 0:47:36.920 major League Baseball players to be able to play in 0:47:36.920 --> 0:47:39.279 in Cornfield's next one movie set, Like odds are, it's 0:47:39.280 --> 0:47:42.120 gonna look a little bit out of place, And I 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:44.920 thought they did a really good job of like making 0:47:44.960 --> 0:47:48.279 it feel really authentic, like it was Cornfields as far 0:47:48.280 --> 0:47:51.280 as I could see. The stadium obviously had the accommodations 0:47:51.320 --> 0:47:53.719 required for a major League Baseball game, but it also 0:47:54.040 --> 0:47:58.560 felt very like pure and and and like you know, simple, 0:47:58.760 --> 0:48:01.080 which I thought made the whole thing really really special. 0:48:01.120 --> 0:48:02.320 And I'm glad that they're gonna be doing this. It 0:48:02.360 --> 0:48:03.760 seems like every year moving forward. 0:48:04.440 --> 0:48:05.319 Yeah, it is cool. 0:48:05.560 --> 0:48:08.959 And I think baseball and baseball movies. 0:48:08.640 --> 0:48:11.440 In particular have this level of marriage that like the 0:48:11.520 --> 0:48:14.680 other sports just don't you know. I remember The Titans 0:48:14.719 --> 0:48:17.239 is a really good movie, and The Replacements is a 0:48:17.280 --> 0:48:20.000 really good movie, But like, I just don't think football 0:48:20.040 --> 0:48:23.000 movie when I think about football with basketball. I mean 0:48:23.200 --> 0:48:26.919 Thunderstruck that Kevin Durant. What is a Jim Belushi one 0:48:27.160 --> 0:48:30.680 at stunk out Loud? I'm thinking of the Common Queen 0:48:30.760 --> 0:48:33.000 Latifa just right. I think that's what that was called. 0:48:33.040 --> 0:48:34.480 Do you remember that one where Common. 0:48:34.320 --> 0:48:36.400 Was the better basketball movies than that? 0:48:36.520 --> 0:48:41.000 Yeah, like Mike obviously Coach Carter, Coach Carter. 0:48:41.200 --> 0:48:41.919 Yeah. 0:48:41.960 --> 0:48:44.880 But like I'm just saying the marriage between the Baseball 0:48:44.960 --> 0:48:48.319 movie and Baseball itself. Like every person that has ever 0:48:48.360 --> 0:48:51.120 played baseball has watched The Sandlot. Every person that has 0:48:51.160 --> 0:48:54.560 ever played baseball has probably watched Field of Dreams. Like 0:48:54.719 --> 0:48:56.839 the natural Rookie of the Year, They're all up there. 0:48:56.920 --> 0:48:59.719 The rookie is up there with Dennis Quaid. I love 0:48:59.760 --> 0:49:02.160 bench warmers. A lot of young kids love Moneyball at 0:49:02.200 --> 0:49:05.760 this point too, so it's it's really cool to see 0:49:06.160 --> 0:49:09.480 them lean into the Baseball movie aspect of it. I 0:49:09.520 --> 0:49:12.279 think Rickwood Field is really important, and I hope they 0:49:12.320 --> 0:49:14.000 play a game at Rickwood every year. 0:49:14.320 --> 0:49:16.400 I think Williamsport is a cool dynamic. 0:49:17.239 --> 0:49:20.040 I thought the Bristol Motor Speedway was interesting, but I 0:49:20.080 --> 0:49:23.040 think if we had three specialty games every year, it 0:49:23.080 --> 0:49:23.960 should be Rickwood. 0:49:24.000 --> 0:49:26.480 It should be Williamsport and it should be Dyersville, Iowa. 0:49:27.239 --> 0:49:29.080 One hundred percent agree because this was the last thing 0:49:29.080 --> 0:49:32.080 I mentioned on this is like it was a reminder 0:49:32.120 --> 0:49:35.239 of like why we do this whole thing anyways, like what. 0:49:35.320 --> 0:49:36.320 Baseball is all about? 0:49:36.360 --> 0:49:39.080 As clichs it sounds like you took to exit the 0:49:39.120 --> 0:49:41.680 stadium all the fans, Like you go out through like 0:49:41.920 --> 0:49:45.840 this passageway, like that's cornfields on both sides. 0:49:46.080 --> 0:49:49.320 But then you walk you have to walk through a little. 0:49:49.080 --> 0:49:51.000 Bit of corner, little patch of cornfields, literally through the 0:49:51.040 --> 0:49:54.480 corn and you pop out into the movie set baseball field, right, 0:49:54.560 --> 0:49:56.920 and like when you pop out onto that field, you 0:49:56.920 --> 0:49:59.359 see the house, you see the baseball field, and you 0:49:59.440 --> 0:50:02.520 just see fathers and sons or even you know, mothers 0:50:02.560 --> 0:50:06.440 and sons or husband and wife playing catch and and 0:50:06.920 --> 0:50:09.040 just running around on the field. And it was just 0:50:09.080 --> 0:50:11.840 like this moment of holy crap, like this is the 0:50:11.880 --> 0:50:14.640 whole point of this whole thing. And you know, for 0:50:14.680 --> 0:50:16.640 it to be a major League baseball game where there's 0:50:16.680 --> 0:50:19.040 there's implications and like both teams are trying to make 0:50:19.080 --> 0:50:21.400 the playoffs blah blah blah, and they you know, played 0:50:21.400 --> 0:50:23.440 hard in their focus on that, but you still walk 0:50:23.480 --> 0:50:25.000 out and you see all these things as well. 0:50:25.000 --> 0:50:28.200 It was that was a really special moment, I. 0:50:28.120 --> 0:50:30.360 Think checking in and realizing like just just what the 0:50:30.400 --> 0:50:31.240 sport is all about. 0:50:31.920 --> 0:50:33.840 I thought it was really cool to see Roger and 0:50:33.880 --> 0:50:37.000 Cody Clevens play catch. Yeah, I thought that was awesome, 0:50:38.800 --> 0:50:41.279 so dark cool. We're going to get to the National 0:50:41.360 --> 0:50:43.160 League here in a moment. But before that, I want 0:50:43.160 --> 0:50:50.480 to do a dramatic reading of the of the top ten. Yeah, 0:50:50.560 --> 0:50:52.520 let's go, yeah, you know what, let's go top eleven 0:50:52.560 --> 0:50:55.799 because eleven is really good. The top eleven in terms 0:50:55.840 --> 0:50:57.880 of OPS and Major League Baseball. 0:50:57.480 --> 0:51:00.760 This year minimum one hundred and seventy played appearances. 0:51:00.920 --> 0:51:05.560 You ready, Yeah? At number eleven, Aaron Judge of the 0:51:05.600 --> 0:51:08.960 New York Yankees at number ten, Kyle Schwarber of the 0:51:08.960 --> 0:51:13.120 Philadelphia Phillies at number nine, Wilson Contreras of the Boston 0:51:13.120 --> 0:51:16.120 Red Sox at number eight, Pete Crow Armstrong in the 0:51:16.200 --> 0:51:19.600 Chicago Cups. Number seven is Junior coming Era of the 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:22.880 Tampa Bay Rays. Number six shout out at Smerle Valdez 0:51:22.920 --> 0:51:26.680 the Pittsburgh Pirates. James Wood of the Washington Nationals is 0:51:26.760 --> 0:51:30.680 number five. Shoheo Tani of the Dodgers is number four, 0:51:31.760 --> 0:51:35.920 Griffin Conine of the Miami Marlins is number three, Juan 0:51:36.040 --> 0:51:38.879 Soto of the Mets is number two, and your Don 0:51:38.920 --> 0:51:44.000 Alvarez is number one. Griffin Conine is third in baseball 0:51:44.080 --> 0:51:48.080 minimum one hundred and seventy played appearances in ops. 0:51:48.000 --> 0:51:49.279 At nine forty four. 0:51:50.200 --> 0:51:53.320 He is hitting the absolute crap out of the baseball 0:51:53.400 --> 0:51:58.080 right now. It's been insanely, ridiculously fun to watch this 0:51:58.120 --> 0:52:01.560 guy do what he does. And as you sit there 0:52:01.560 --> 0:52:04.640 in Dyersville, Iowan, you watch this guy tack yet another 0:52:04.719 --> 0:52:07.920 baseball and even in an underwhelming day, he smokes in 0:52:07.960 --> 0:52:10.799 one hundred and five mile an hour single. How proud 0:52:10.840 --> 0:52:13.279 are you just as a friend of what this is doing. 0:52:14.080 --> 0:52:15.360 Dude, I'm fissed. 0:52:15.360 --> 0:52:17.440 I missed the homestand I mean it was it was 0:52:17.480 --> 0:52:21.840 fun to be out here, But I mean everyone says this, 0:52:21.880 --> 0:52:24.040 and obviously, like you're gonna see it more closely when 0:52:24.040 --> 0:52:27.160 it's somebody that you see more frequently and are are 0:52:27.160 --> 0:52:31.000 are I think more intertwined with. But like, I don't 0:52:31.000 --> 0:52:32.319 think there's a lot of guys, even in a big 0:52:32.400 --> 0:52:35.200 league clubhouse anywhere, that are that are working as hard 0:52:35.239 --> 0:52:37.880 as he does, and I mean like to see the 0:52:37.920 --> 0:52:40.040 success that he's having at the highest level. And now, 0:52:40.080 --> 0:52:42.000 like I've got a pretty good sample of him being 0:52:42.160 --> 0:52:45.200 aft being a really good Major League baseball player here, 0:52:45.520 --> 0:52:47.560 even with the two brief samples last year, you canbine 0:52:47.760 --> 0:52:49.640 last year in the year before you combine it. Now, No, 0:52:49.760 --> 0:52:52.439 we've got a decent amount of plate appearances here, about 0:52:52.440 --> 0:52:55.080 three hundred and fifty of him being thirty percent above 0:52:55.200 --> 0:52:57.000 league average thirty two if you want to be exact. 0:52:57.000 --> 0:52:59.640 And then this year finally playing every day, being healthy, 0:52:59.800 --> 0:53:02.359 you know, just putting up the video game numbers that 0:53:02.360 --> 0:53:06.960 that we've seen from him. He works his absolute butt off. 0:53:06.960 --> 0:53:09.640 He works on the physical side harder than anybody. The 0:53:09.719 --> 0:53:12.440 mental side. Uh, He's always trying to get better and 0:53:12.440 --> 0:53:14.600 better and better. And I think the biggest thing you 0:53:14.600 --> 0:53:17.880 know with him is you look at there was a 0:53:17.880 --> 0:53:20.040 point in double A where he was punching out forty 0:53:20.080 --> 0:53:21.759 percent of the time. I mean, in a forty two 0:53:21.800 --> 0:53:23.600 game sample in twenty twenty one, he struck up forty 0:53:23.640 --> 0:53:25.520 seven percent of the time. How many guys would have 0:53:25.560 --> 0:53:27.279 just said, no, that this is this is probably it. 0:53:27.480 --> 0:53:28.919 I'm not gonna be able to hit enough, like people 0:53:28.920 --> 0:53:31.160 aren't gonna believe in me whatever it may be. Nope, 0:53:31.680 --> 0:53:34.080 he's figured it out and just kept grinding and kept 0:53:34.080 --> 0:53:36.080 getting better and kept getting better and to now have 0:53:36.120 --> 0:53:38.239 it click this way at the highest level. Man Like, 0:53:38.480 --> 0:53:40.960 we're talking about bigger surprises in the National League, like 0:53:41.320 --> 0:53:44.239 this should be. And I wouldn't say I'm surprised that 0:53:44.320 --> 0:53:47.920 he's having success in the major leagues, but man, to 0:53:48.000 --> 0:53:50.919 be with those names over a decent sample size, I'll 0:53:50.920 --> 0:53:53.200 tell you, like, even I'm surprised, and I thought that 0:53:53.239 --> 0:53:54.680 this guy could do just about anything. 0:53:55.480 --> 0:53:59.920 It's unbelievable, like honestly, and I hate that word used 0:54:00.239 --> 0:54:03.440 so commonly, Like I hate how often the word unbelievable 0:54:03.520 --> 0:54:07.520 is thrown about. But the top four and ops again 0:54:07.600 --> 0:54:11.960 minimum one hundred and seventy played appearances, Jordon Alvarez, Juan Soto, 0:54:12.320 --> 0:54:16.640 Griffin con and Shoheo Tani. That's ridiculous to see his 0:54:16.760 --> 0:54:20.959 name in there with Jordon, Soo and Otani. But this guy, 0:54:21.040 --> 0:54:24.040 man Like, it's so much fun to watch him on 0:54:24.080 --> 0:54:27.759 a heater. And the coolest thing about Griff and Conine is, 0:54:28.040 --> 0:54:30.440 you know, we've got what like north of fifty games 0:54:30.480 --> 0:54:32.600 now as a sample. He missed about two months there 0:54:32.600 --> 0:54:35.399 with hamstring surgery. I'm pulling up the exact game total 0:54:35.520 --> 0:54:39.040 this year, Uh, griff has played fifty five games. Like 0:54:39.080 --> 0:54:41.880 we've got a sample here of a heater and a 0:54:42.440 --> 0:54:46.799 quote unquote like reactlimization where he was slightly cold at 0:54:46.800 --> 0:54:50.760 the outset. What's so cool about him is the cold 0:54:50.800 --> 0:54:54.680 spell quote unquote lasts three games instead of ten for 0:54:54.760 --> 0:54:57.719 other power bats. And he's still putting the ball in play, 0:54:57.760 --> 0:54:59.960 and he's still walking, and it's still a quality at beat. 0:55:01.160 --> 0:55:04.839 He has this marriage of grinding it bats and also 0:55:04.960 --> 0:55:06.960 hitting the ball one hundred and fifteen miles an hour 0:55:07.440 --> 0:55:09.239 that very few guys on the planet can do. 0:55:10.520 --> 0:55:12.759 I think his last eight batted balls are one oh 0:55:12.800 --> 0:55:13.600 three or higher. 0:55:14.200 --> 0:55:15.279 Yeah, I think the. 0:55:15.280 --> 0:55:18.600 Hard hit rate is creeping towards sixty percent. And this 0:55:18.640 --> 0:55:20.799 has been in a stretch rights five games. It's not 0:55:20.920 --> 0:55:25.000 thirty games, it's fifty five. That's the craziest part in 0:55:25.040 --> 0:55:27.600 the stretch. Like through this stretch recently he told me 0:55:27.640 --> 0:55:29.480 he's like, I gotta be better with two strikes, Like 0:55:29.520 --> 0:55:31.680 I'm gonna try to take a little off it with two, 0:55:31.800 --> 0:55:33.440 and him taking a little off it with two has 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:35.480 been like one O six is one O sevens with 0:55:35.560 --> 0:55:38.560 two strikes. So it's like that the power that he 0:55:38.680 --> 0:55:42.040 has and just being able to again like do these 0:55:42.120 --> 0:55:43.920 little things, to be able to chip away at the 0:55:43.960 --> 0:55:45.960 whiff because he was always gonna be a guy that 0:55:45.960 --> 0:55:48.719 could get away with because of the ridiculous, ridiculous power 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:51.120 that he brings to the table, like eighty great row power. 0:55:52.000 --> 0:55:54.000 But just to see what he's been able to continue 0:55:54.000 --> 0:55:57.879 to do on that side is just amazing. So uh man, 0:55:58.120 --> 0:56:01.440 I again, I can't and the expectations to and like, 0:56:01.600 --> 0:56:04.360 you know the fact that it's with the Marlins and 0:56:04.400 --> 0:56:06.640 his dad and there's so many other pressures, and he's 0:56:06.880 --> 0:56:08.920 helped the Marlins with so many guys going you know, 0:56:09.000 --> 0:56:11.680 guys going down offense, sputtering a little bit, like help 0:56:11.719 --> 0:56:14.480 this team stay in it and help snap the losing streak. 0:56:14.560 --> 0:56:17.840 Like there's so many different, you know, special moments within it. 0:56:17.920 --> 0:56:20.840 And again, I'm just so happy for the dude because 0:56:21.320 --> 0:56:22.960 I don't know very many people that are working as 0:56:23.000 --> 0:56:27.319 hard as he is at anything, and he absolutely deserves it. 0:56:27.480 --> 0:56:29.840 He's amazing, man, just absolutely amazing. 0:56:29.880 --> 0:56:32.640 All right, without further ado, let's get into the national 0:56:32.680 --> 0:56:35.399 league side of our surprises here we each have five. 0:56:36.320 --> 0:56:38.160 I figure we can alternate, so I'll let you go 0:56:38.239 --> 0:56:40.680 first because you're the one in Iowa right now, and 0:56:40.719 --> 0:56:43.120 then me sitting in Cincinnati, I'll go second. So we'll 0:56:43.120 --> 0:56:45.759 go your surprise, my surprise, your surprised, my surprise, until 0:56:45.760 --> 0:56:46.439 we get to five each. 0:56:47.360 --> 0:56:49.080 Yep, let's do it. Let's do it. 0:56:49.160 --> 0:56:51.400 So, I mean, we kind of alluded to one, but 0:56:51.440 --> 0:56:53.680 I think, you know, a little bit larger of a 0:56:53.680 --> 0:56:55.960 sample he qualifies for. I think it's almost a lot 0:56:56.080 --> 0:56:59.120 large enough sample with the griff, But you know, I 0:56:59.160 --> 0:57:02.400 think I think in general, he could be a great. 0:57:02.200 --> 0:57:02.759 Shout for this. 0:57:02.840 --> 0:57:05.319 But I'll start with with some guys that you know, 0:57:05.400 --> 0:57:07.880 we've been watching since the start of the year, and 0:57:08.719 --> 0:57:11.840 Jordan Walker's got to be my first, you know, biggest 0:57:11.880 --> 0:57:15.640 surprise so far. Jordan Walker is another one where it's 0:57:15.680 --> 0:57:19.000 like the skill set is so is so good. I 0:57:19.040 --> 0:57:22.320 don't think anybody shocked that he figured it out, right, 0:57:22.360 --> 0:57:24.560 Like I'm not shocked that he's done this, but I 0:57:24.560 --> 0:57:27.560 think it's important to remember, like it was ugly for 0:57:27.640 --> 0:57:30.720 Jordan Walker, man, Like it was ugly, and I know 0:57:30.800 --> 0:57:32.960 that it didn't mean it was over for him. But 0:57:33.080 --> 0:57:35.200 I did think that maybe if he figured it out, 0:57:35.200 --> 0:57:36.920 it was going to be a change of scenery. It 0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:39.440 was going to be maybe a step in the right direction. 0:57:39.560 --> 0:57:41.479 And then we have the year that he's having this year, 0:57:41.720 --> 0:57:44.960 maybe next year, but to have the one thirty WRC 0:57:45.120 --> 0:57:47.880 plus twenty three homers. By the way, he's sixteen for 0:57:47.920 --> 0:57:51.600 twenty one on stolen basis, Like he's cut the strikeout 0:57:51.680 --> 0:57:53.280 rate by more than seven percent. 0:57:54.040 --> 0:57:56.120 He's walking a little bit more than he ever has. 0:57:56.160 --> 0:57:59.400 Really, this was a dude that is sixty six WRC 0:57:59.520 --> 0:58:02.120 plus and four hundred played appearances last year, like plenty 0:58:02.160 --> 0:58:04.439 of runway and just was not good. 0:58:05.160 --> 0:58:08.360 Yeah, in trip play didn't even look very good at points. 0:58:08.560 --> 0:58:10.480 It was the seventy two WORC plus one hundred and 0:58:10.480 --> 0:58:13.320 seventy eight play appearance appearance is in twenty twenty four. Like, 0:58:13.400 --> 0:58:17.560 this is a pretty remarkable jump. And I know he's 0:58:17.600 --> 0:58:19.560 just twenty four years old. He was twenty three stone 0:58:19.600 --> 0:58:22.360 opening day, and so like everything makes sense, and you 0:58:22.400 --> 0:58:24.400 can absolutely be like, well, you should have been patient 0:58:24.440 --> 0:58:25.680 with them, Like yeah, and. 0:58:25.800 --> 0:58:29.840 I agree, we should be paid with him. 0:58:29.840 --> 0:58:33.200 And this is validating for all the people that didn't 0:58:33.200 --> 0:58:35.440 waiver in their belief in Jordan Walker. But when the 0:58:35.440 --> 0:58:38.880 sample size got that big for that bad, I thought 0:58:38.920 --> 0:58:40.320 there was still a path to being a good major 0:58:40.400 --> 0:58:42.520 League baseball player. I didn't even think there'd be a 0:58:42.520 --> 0:58:44.680 path to, you know, one of the premier young power 0:58:44.680 --> 0:58:47.440 bats right away in the game, who also won the 0:58:47.440 --> 0:58:50.080 Derby and just looks like this more complete hitter in 0:58:50.080 --> 0:58:52.200 general that I still think is only going to get 0:58:52.200 --> 0:58:54.920 better and better from here. Just the leap so significantly 0:58:54.960 --> 0:58:56.400 this year was a surprise for me. 0:58:57.200 --> 0:58:59.240 Yeah, I love that shout, and Walker was a guy 0:58:59.280 --> 0:59:02.840 that did cross my mind absolutely because it was good 0:59:02.960 --> 0:59:05.200 and that it was so bad and that it's good 0:59:05.960 --> 0:59:09.160 I highlighted, and my first two surprises really have to 0:59:09.160 --> 0:59:12.880 do with the ascension of guys like taking that next step. 0:59:13.160 --> 0:59:14.800 One of them is twenty five years old and one 0:59:14.800 --> 0:59:17.120 of them like just took that first step and it's huge. 0:59:17.440 --> 0:59:19.080 But the first one that I have for you that 0:59:19.200 --> 0:59:24.600 along a not entirely similar but somewhat similar line of 0:59:24.640 --> 0:59:25.280 thinking as CJ. 0:59:25.440 --> 0:59:25.920 Abrams. 0:59:26.440 --> 0:59:30.880 Abrams taking this step into superstardom for me was not shocking, 0:59:31.000 --> 0:59:35.000 but it surprised me because this guy was establishing consistency 0:59:35.280 --> 0:59:41.240 and Walker was unfortunately consistently unproductive for the Cardinals. Abrams 0:59:41.320 --> 0:59:46.520 was consistently like productive for the Washington Nationals and CJ. 0:59:46.720 --> 0:59:51.280 Abrams was the topic of interest for so many trade 0:59:51.280 --> 0:59:54.880 conversations and so many trade rumors that we discussed on 0:59:54.880 --> 0:59:57.320 the Just Baseball Show this offseason. It's like, Okay, is 0:59:57.360 --> 0:59:59.040 he going to go play second base for the New 0:59:59.120 --> 1:00:01.360 York Yankees? Is he going to go play second base 1:00:01.360 --> 1:00:04.720 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We were having that conversation. It's like, 1:00:04.720 --> 1:00:06.560 what does the return look like? Is at the number 1:00:06.560 --> 1:00:10.520 ten prospect and the number four prospect? Now it's like, 1:00:10.600 --> 1:00:13.880 oh no, he's just a superstar and the biggest number 1:00:13.880 --> 1:00:16.040 that jumps out in twenty six games after the All 1:00:16.040 --> 1:00:20.200 Star break, he has transformed that narrative of slow finisher 1:00:20.720 --> 1:00:24.439 to an OPS over one thousand since the break this year. 1:00:24.720 --> 1:00:27.320 He's been one of the best players in baseball after 1:00:27.360 --> 1:00:29.640 the All Star break this season, when he was one 1:00:29.640 --> 1:00:32.160 of the worst over the last couple of years. Season 1:00:32.200 --> 1:00:35.480 long ops is first three seasons in Washington, first three 1:00:35.520 --> 1:00:39.720 full seasons, and again established consistency. He hit two forty 1:00:39.720 --> 1:00:41.760 five with a seven to twelve, and twenty twenty three 1:00:42.440 --> 1:00:44.920 he hit two forty six with a seven forty seven 1:00:44.960 --> 1:00:48.440 and twenty four. He hit two fifty seven with a 1:00:48.560 --> 1:00:51.640 seven forty eight and twenty five, and now he's hitting 1:00:51.640 --> 1:00:55.440 two eighty four within eight ninety eight. In twenty twenty six, 1:00:55.840 --> 1:00:59.800 he's already nine beyond his career high with twenty nine homers. 1:01:00.240 --> 1:01:03.400 He's leading Major League Baseball and RBIs. He's pacing for 1:01:03.440 --> 1:01:06.960 another thirty stolen bases. He's already a career high in 1:01:07.040 --> 1:01:09.600 walks drawn, and he's already at a career high in 1:01:09.720 --> 1:01:12.320 slug by over one hundred points. At five point forty one, 1:01:12.640 --> 1:01:15.320 he's forty points clear of any OBP number he's ever 1:01:15.320 --> 1:01:18.840 put up. It's amazing to watch what this guy has 1:01:18.880 --> 1:01:21.560 done in his age twenty five season. And again it's 1:01:21.560 --> 1:01:24.120 not shocking because it's always been in there, but there 1:01:24.200 --> 1:01:26.480 was a level of consistency, and it's like, you know, 1:01:26.560 --> 1:01:28.840 we might know who CJ. Abrams is, we didn't know 1:01:28.840 --> 1:01:30.000 who CJ. Abrams was. 1:01:31.000 --> 1:01:32.880 I'm with you one hundred percent on this one because 1:01:33.160 --> 1:01:35.760 the first half didn't surprise me. I think seeing him 1:01:35.800 --> 1:01:39.280 just keep it rolling here has been where it's just 1:01:40.120 --> 1:01:42.920 you're seeing him click it into another gear here and 1:01:43.360 --> 1:01:44.880 there's a lot of reason to believe. 1:01:44.640 --> 1:01:46.040 That it's just going to continue. 1:01:46.560 --> 1:01:49.800 And yeah, I think the defensive side of things is 1:01:50.040 --> 1:01:53.360 an interesting conversation eventually, but that's not what we're like, 1:01:53.680 --> 1:01:55.000 we're here to talk about right when you got a 1:01:55.080 --> 1:01:57.160 nine hundred oh ps, so you'll you'll, we'll figure it 1:01:57.200 --> 1:02:00.240 out defensively. But he has a shot at you know, 1:02:00.280 --> 1:02:02.440 like get close to forty here, Uh, he's going to 1:02:02.520 --> 1:02:06.040 steal thirty plus bags like to do that. And a 1:02:06.120 --> 1:02:08.000 year after we saw him take what it looked like 1:02:08.040 --> 1:02:10.040 a step forward, but then then you looked at the 1:02:10.080 --> 1:02:11.800 end of the year numbers and it was the same 1:02:11.880 --> 1:02:14.919 exact ops. So it was almost an identical slash line. 1:02:14.960 --> 1:02:17.240 So to see him now sustain that and take this 1:02:17.280 --> 1:02:19.680 big leap, like I continue to say, I think a 1:02:19.680 --> 1:02:22.560 big part of it is the improved infrastructure in Washington, 1:02:22.560 --> 1:02:24.320 Like I think Abrams has a lot more information at 1:02:24.360 --> 1:02:26.120 his disposal, and I'm sure that's helping him just be 1:02:26.160 --> 1:02:28.160 a more consistently solid and I'm sure the. 1:02:28.160 --> 1:02:29.720 Training practices are better too. 1:02:30.000 --> 1:02:32.280 I want to highlight a guy, Tyler Smarslock, who's their 1:02:32.280 --> 1:02:34.600 new field coordinator, who was the infield coach in Miami. 1:02:35.000 --> 1:02:37.680 He was a wizard last year. I bet he's like 1:02:37.800 --> 1:02:40.560 really helping out daily process for CJ. 1:02:40.720 --> 1:02:42.400 Abrams. So I just wanted to give him a quick shot. 1:02:42.560 --> 1:02:45.080 Yeah, one hundred percent, And I think that's It's just 1:02:45.720 --> 1:02:47.360 he has to be one of those surprises too, just 1:02:47.400 --> 1:02:49.600 because I even I never thought that the best version 1:02:49.640 --> 1:02:51.800 of him would be a guy that was flirting with forty. 1:02:52.440 --> 1:02:54.600 So I think even from that lens alone, it's just 1:02:54.640 --> 1:02:56.200 been really cool to see. 1:02:56.240 --> 1:02:58.000 Yeah, one hundred percent, what you got next? 1:02:58.960 --> 1:02:59.640 I gotta go with. 1:02:59.680 --> 1:03:03.439 Edward Rodriguez as as my other surprise, just because look, 1:03:03.720 --> 1:03:07.200 we've seen good e Rod before, but he was in 1:03:07.240 --> 1:03:11.120 the bucket for me of like, all right, this, this 1:03:11.200 --> 1:03:13.400 might be it, right, Like the best days might be 1:03:13.400 --> 1:03:17.640 behind this guy. That contract is not going to age well, 1:03:17.720 --> 1:03:20.480 like yeah, so on and so forth with Erod, and 1:03:20.640 --> 1:03:23.600 you know, you just don't really imagine that it's gonna 1:03:23.600 --> 1:03:26.720 be in Arizona where he gets that contract right and 1:03:26.920 --> 1:03:30.120 that he ends up figuring it out and making it happen. 1:03:30.200 --> 1:03:31.840 It kind of seemed like that would be the sunset 1:03:31.880 --> 1:03:32.200 for him. 1:03:32.240 --> 1:03:34.400 You know, when you look in the National League among 1:03:34.480 --> 1:03:38.800 pitchers with at least one hundred innings pitched. He's seventh 1:03:38.840 --> 1:03:41.640 in era and reminding you like he's doing that in 1:03:41.760 --> 1:03:44.240 Arizona and having to pitch a little bit, you know 1:03:44.760 --> 1:03:47.240 in some of these ballparks, like even cores a little 1:03:47.240 --> 1:03:48.960 bit more than the average pitcher or whatever it may be. 1:03:49.480 --> 1:03:54.080 He's been just as consistent as can be. The peripherals 1:03:54.120 --> 1:03:54.600 aren't great. 1:03:54.640 --> 1:03:58.000 They never really are that great sometimes with him that 1:03:58.320 --> 1:04:02.720 he's he's just been that executioner, that guy that just 1:04:03.040 --> 1:04:05.760 you expect to regress and hasn't regressed. Now over twenty 1:04:05.800 --> 1:04:09.200 four starts. It's a two point seven era. Yeah, he's 1:04:09.240 --> 1:04:11.800 only striking out six and change per nine. Doesn't matter. 1:04:11.960 --> 1:04:14.160 We're watching this guy go super deep into games. I 1:04:14.200 --> 1:04:16.160 just watched him the other day throw one hundred and 1:04:16.200 --> 1:04:18.680 fifteen pitches and retire. Show heo Tani for the third 1:04:18.720 --> 1:04:21.200 time on his one hundred and fifteenth pitch. The first 1:04:21.200 --> 1:04:22.800 two at bats, he punched him out and made him 1:04:22.800 --> 1:04:26.040 look silly, Like this guy has been a quality start 1:04:26.080 --> 1:04:29.920 for them, you know, consistently consistently all year. We have 1:04:30.320 --> 1:04:33.040 two eight plus inning you know outings already. Then we 1:04:33.080 --> 1:04:37.000 have one, two, three, four, five, six seven inning outings 1:04:37.000 --> 1:04:39.640 as well, and then another like seven or eight six 1:04:39.680 --> 1:04:43.040 inning outings like he has been someone that has preserved 1:04:43.040 --> 1:04:44.640 this bullpen. I think part of the reason why this 1:04:44.680 --> 1:04:46.200 bullpen has been so good this year is that they've 1:04:46.520 --> 1:04:49.480 you know, they've been insulated when Erod is on the 1:04:49.480 --> 1:04:52.560 mound through a lot of turbulence in that diamondback's rotation. 1:04:52.640 --> 1:04:55.880 And I don't know where the dbacks are without without Erod, 1:04:55.920 --> 1:04:58.960 who is nearly halved his ERA from last year five 1:04:59.000 --> 1:05:01.080 point h two, last year five point oh four and 1:05:01.120 --> 1:05:03.320 a smaller example of the year before, but two point 1:05:03.320 --> 1:05:04.720 seven zero this season. 1:05:04.760 --> 1:05:07.640 On the ra side, they're not close to where they 1:05:07.640 --> 1:05:10.919 are with uttered Wire Rodriguez, especially with Gallon being as 1:05:11.000 --> 1:05:13.120 underwhelming as he was for the front half of the year, 1:05:13.920 --> 1:05:16.880 Merril Kelly not being anywhere close to the Meryl Kelly 1:05:16.920 --> 1:05:20.600 that they were banking on. They needed Eduardo Rodriguez to 1:05:20.640 --> 1:05:22.880 step up in a big way, and at Water Rodriguez 1:05:22.840 --> 1:05:26.080 stepped up in a humongous way. So I love that shot. 1:05:26.120 --> 1:05:30.080 Pitching wise, I've got another pitcher for you, and it's 1:05:30.120 --> 1:05:33.080 a guy making the jump to stardom. 1:05:33.320 --> 1:05:36.040 Way way way way, way, way way quicker than I 1:05:36.080 --> 1:05:37.080 was ever anticipating. 1:05:37.200 --> 1:05:41.720 Him doing the Chase Burns ascension happened far quicker than 1:05:41.760 --> 1:05:46.840 I was anticipating it's to happen. Chase Burns like last 1:05:46.920 --> 1:05:50.600 year as a swingman, forty three innings at a four 1:05:50.600 --> 1:05:53.600 to six era, I understand that the fip looked really 1:05:53.600 --> 1:05:55.880 good at two six five. I understand that he caid 1:05:55.920 --> 1:06:01.200 sixty seven and walked sixteen. So those underlying numbers looked 1:06:01.240 --> 1:06:05.520 really darn good for Chase Burns. But the jump this year. 1:06:06.240 --> 1:06:08.560 No one should be putting up these kind of numbers 1:06:08.560 --> 1:06:10.720 this quickly a great American ballpark when you have a 1:06:10.760 --> 1:06:14.439 bottom five ground ball rate among qualified starting pitchers, Chase 1:06:14.480 --> 1:06:16.720 Burns one hundred and twenty four innings is thirteen and 1:06:16.800 --> 1:06:19.160 two with a two six And I just look at 1:06:19.200 --> 1:06:21.560 record in the ra and I'm like, holy smokes, you 1:06:21.560 --> 1:06:24.000 shouldn't be doing that this quickly. He was an all 1:06:24.000 --> 1:06:26.600 star punching out ten and a half per nine. He's 1:06:26.640 --> 1:06:28.920 walking fewer than three and a half per nine. And 1:06:28.920 --> 1:06:30.760 the big one that jumps out to me is thirteen 1:06:30.840 --> 1:06:33.560 homers in one hundred and twenty four innings when he's 1:06:33.600 --> 1:06:35.760 fifty percent four seem like he's keeping the ball in 1:06:35.800 --> 1:06:39.360 the ballpark. And it's a similar conversation to the Hunter 1:06:39.400 --> 1:06:42.480 Green breakout, because Green, when he broke out, it's like, 1:06:42.640 --> 1:06:44.720 how is he doing? How's he keeping the four seamer 1:06:44.960 --> 1:06:48.120 ballpark at that place? And it's just happening. 1:06:48.160 --> 1:06:48.320 Man. 1:06:48.560 --> 1:06:51.920 It happens with flawless execution. This guy is putting it 1:06:51.960 --> 1:06:55.120 where he wants constantly. That slider is a top ten 1:06:55.160 --> 1:06:58.880 pitch in baseball by run value and burns like in 1:06:59.000 --> 1:07:01.280 terms of major League rank. So the fifty eight qualified 1:07:01.280 --> 1:07:03.840 starters in baseball again, the fourth lowest ground ball rate 1:07:03.880 --> 1:07:06.440 at thirty five percent, but he's tied for thirty and wins. 1:07:06.640 --> 1:07:09.439 He's trailing only Christopher Sanchez and Sonny Gray. He's top 1:07:09.480 --> 1:07:12.040 ten in k rate, he's sixth in batting average against. 1:07:12.080 --> 1:07:15.000 Opponents are rating two zero four against him. He's third 1:07:15.000 --> 1:07:17.960 and average fastball velocity at ninety seven to seven. The 1:07:17.960 --> 1:07:19.600 only two guys that are in front of him are 1:07:19.680 --> 1:07:25.000 Miserowski and Schlitler among qualified starters. He is dogging with 1:07:25.120 --> 1:07:28.280 the fastball and the slider's got a fifty one percent 1:07:28.320 --> 1:07:31.000 with rate. It's been incredible to watch this guy go 1:07:31.040 --> 1:07:32.080 to work this quickly. 1:07:33.160 --> 1:07:37.200 Yeah, it's it's another fun one where I just. 1:07:38.760 --> 1:07:40.520 On the pitching side, Like, do you feel like that 1:07:40.600 --> 1:07:42.760 some of the pitching performances this year have been more 1:07:42.760 --> 1:07:44.240 surprising overall or the hitting. 1:07:44.840 --> 1:07:46.720 I think pitching I find more. 1:07:47.200 --> 1:07:49.360 I find more surprises on the pitching front, Like I 1:07:49.360 --> 1:07:54.160 didn't think Miserowski could be this good, you know, I 1:07:54.200 --> 1:07:55.880 knew Sanchez was really good. I didn't know he was 1:07:55.920 --> 1:07:58.520 going to be this good, like Erod To your point, 1:07:58.520 --> 1:08:02.360 there are a lot of guys, even the Cardinals, Kyle Lahey, McGreevy, 1:08:03.160 --> 1:08:05.360 all these guys. Man, I think pitching has been better 1:08:05.480 --> 1:08:05.959 than hitting. 1:08:06.760 --> 1:08:08.800 Yeah, and that's another one, just when he starts to 1:08:08.800 --> 1:08:11.320 get it, like some of the whiff rates, where these 1:08:11.360 --> 1:08:13.600 are specific arms sometimes where you know exactly what they're 1:08:13.640 --> 1:08:16.200 going to attack you with, and even then you can't 1:08:16.240 --> 1:08:18.800 really do anything about it, Like you can try to 1:08:18.880 --> 1:08:21.519 cheat for it time it up, like you could try 1:08:21.520 --> 1:08:23.479 to prepare with traject if you're fortunate enough to be 1:08:23.520 --> 1:08:25.439 home when you play against him, and and it really 1:08:25.479 --> 1:08:28.639 there's certain arms like it just really does not matter 1:08:28.800 --> 1:08:31.280 and you're gonna with the majority. It's the time that 1:08:31.360 --> 1:08:34.439 you swing at it, which is just some remarkable stuff. 1:08:35.360 --> 1:08:37.040 I am skewing back to a hitter. 1:08:37.520 --> 1:08:39.840 Uh just because and I know this isn't like as 1:08:39.920 --> 1:08:42.120 relatively gaudy of the numbers as compared to some. 1:08:42.040 --> 1:08:43.800 Of the other guys, but I gotta go. 1:08:43.960 --> 1:08:46.960 Jake Bowers with Milwaukee another guy that I feel like 1:08:46.960 --> 1:08:49.200 when you're looking at the success of the Milwaukee Brewers, 1:08:49.479 --> 1:08:51.880 a thirty year old gonna be thirty one years old soon, 1:08:51.960 --> 1:08:54.680 Jake Bowers having a career year. He's gonna double up 1:08:54.680 --> 1:08:58.000 his career high in homers, which was twelve three times. 1:08:58.720 --> 1:09:01.920 He's always played in a more part time role, but 1:09:02.200 --> 1:09:05.040 with Bowers here, you get twenty one homers in one 1:09:05.080 --> 1:09:09.280 hundred and nine games, a one forty WRC plus. This 1:09:09.320 --> 1:09:10.920 is guy that's never put up more than a zero 1:09:10.960 --> 1:09:13.719 point eight four in a season. He's at two point 1:09:13.760 --> 1:09:17.360 five now this year, largely because he's absolutely mashing, but 1:09:17.520 --> 1:09:20.280 just to see what he has done at thirty years old, 1:09:20.439 --> 1:09:24.200 Like thirty one soon to be, Bowers is going to 1:09:24.240 --> 1:09:27.000 get close to thirty bombs after never putting up more 1:09:27.040 --> 1:09:29.760 than twelve. He's striking out really less than he ever 1:09:29.840 --> 1:09:32.800 has and has been thrust into a more consistent role. 1:09:32.840 --> 1:09:35.559 Like this is another kind of Brewers magic situation, but 1:09:35.920 --> 1:09:38.479 it would be less surprising if it was a player 1:09:38.520 --> 1:09:41.479 that they acquired from another organization. This is his third 1:09:41.560 --> 1:09:45.599 year in the Brewers organization, and all of a sudden, 1:09:45.960 --> 1:09:49.400 it's just clicking for Jake Bowers or who they like 1:09:49.439 --> 1:09:50.880 to call Rake Bauers out there. 1:09:51.560 --> 1:09:54.639 Yeah, I dig that shout. He has turned into a master. 1:09:54.840 --> 1:09:56.960 And again, like that first base platoon that they've been 1:09:57.040 --> 1:09:59.839 running out, it's not sexy name value wise, but bowers 1:10:00.080 --> 1:10:03.440 on has been one of the better first base tandems 1:10:03.479 --> 1:10:06.360 in Major League Baseball. So Bowers is one of those 1:10:06.400 --> 1:10:09.040 guys that, like I think a lot of fan bases 1:10:09.120 --> 1:10:11.440 win their favorite team takes on the Brewers. 1:10:11.640 --> 1:10:13.439 Who is this guy in wise? Awesome? 1:10:14.120 --> 1:10:16.200 And they have guys like that, like a couple of 1:10:16.240 --> 1:10:19.640 years ago, is sal Frielich when Terrang was starting to 1:10:19.640 --> 1:10:21.479 show up, like it was Bryce Terrang, it was Joey 1:10:21.600 --> 1:10:23.960 Ortiz a couple of years ago as well, and now 1:10:24.000 --> 1:10:26.599 it's Bowers And I think Garrett Mitchell invokes that in 1:10:26.640 --> 1:10:29.240 some fan bases as well this year. So that's how 1:10:29.280 --> 1:10:31.040 you get to be one of, if not the best 1:10:31.040 --> 1:10:35.320 team in Major League Baseball, just having guys breakout. Hottest 1:10:35.320 --> 1:10:38.599 team in baseball one of that, they're not in Tampa. 1:10:38.680 --> 1:10:41.960 Tampa's the hottest team in baseball, hottest team in the 1:10:42.000 --> 1:10:47.120 National League. San Diego is being bullied by some superstars 1:10:47.200 --> 1:10:50.240 right now, right Merrill, no doubt about it, uh Tatis, 1:10:50.400 --> 1:10:53.120 no doubt about it. Machado has found his power stroke, 1:10:53.240 --> 1:10:58.320 no doubt about it. Ty France, Yeah, come on finding 1:10:58.320 --> 1:11:01.599 it again. Ty France has done this before. He hasn't 1:11:01.640 --> 1:11:04.000 done it to this degree. But Ty France had an 1:11:04.000 --> 1:11:07.280 eight to fifteen OPS in twenty twenty one. He had 1:11:07.320 --> 1:11:09.800 twenty homers and was an All Star in twenty twenty two. 1:11:10.760 --> 1:11:15.080 But Ty France, at his age thirty one season, after 1:11:15.400 --> 1:11:17.720 a bad year in twenty four and a bad year 1:11:17.720 --> 1:11:22.439 in twenty five, somehow finds the fountain of youth and 1:11:23.000 --> 1:11:26.000 in ninety six games is ripping off an eight seventy 1:11:26.040 --> 1:11:28.200 five OPS and just. 1:11:28.439 --> 1:11:29.320 Killing the baseball. 1:11:29.320 --> 1:11:31.640 I think it's three straight multi hit days, one of 1:11:31.640 --> 1:11:34.840 which had a homer. Yeah, two for three on the tenth, 1:11:34.880 --> 1:11:36.720 two for five on the eleventh, two for four on 1:11:36.760 --> 1:11:39.880 the twelfth. He's keeping the k's in check and he's 1:11:39.880 --> 1:11:42.280 swinging at everything like he's not walking much at all. 1:11:42.439 --> 1:11:44.719 No, but like it doesn't matter. 1:11:45.320 --> 1:11:48.240 He's playing the best defensi at first base in baseball too, 1:11:48.360 --> 1:11:51.559 Like he is everything to the middle of that padre 1:11:51.640 --> 1:11:52.360 lineup right now. 1:11:53.000 --> 1:11:55.799 What's really fascinating to me that the defense is nuts 1:11:56.280 --> 1:11:58.080 when you look at some of the metrics there, But 1:11:58.439 --> 1:12:01.800 the other side is, you know, unless he hits an 1:12:01.800 --> 1:12:04.439 absolute wall, and I know he hasn't been hitting another 1:12:04.600 --> 1:12:07.360 like a friendly environment either. His next best season from 1:12:07.360 --> 1:12:10.200 a home run output has been was in Seattle, so 1:12:10.479 --> 1:12:12.439 not not the best spots to have to hit there, 1:12:12.439 --> 1:12:15.400 but to hit your career high in homers in San 1:12:15.439 --> 1:12:16.760 Diego one of. 1:12:16.760 --> 1:12:18.640 The hardest places to go deep. He's on pace to 1:12:18.640 --> 1:12:18.840 do that. 1:12:18.880 --> 1:12:21.960 Read he already's at seventeen this year, career high twenty. 1:12:22.080 --> 1:12:24.160 Next most is eighteen, which he had the year before. 1:12:24.520 --> 1:12:27.479 He put up twenty in twenty twenty two and Seattle 1:12:27.560 --> 1:12:29.760 was crazy, and then he had the defensive side of things. 1:12:29.840 --> 1:12:31.760 I know it's first base, but we were just talking 1:12:31.760 --> 1:12:33.680 about it with him Bo, like first base defense might 1:12:33.720 --> 1:12:35.760 start might be starting to be underrated a little bit 1:12:35.760 --> 1:12:38.559 with how many lefties we've got just punishing balls down 1:12:38.600 --> 1:12:41.599 the line and to the right side and with limited 1:12:41.640 --> 1:12:44.280 shifts too, Like your first base range matters a little 1:12:44.280 --> 1:12:47.639 bit too, and just to be thirteen drs and six 1:12:47.720 --> 1:12:49.320 OAA is is nuts. 1:12:50.240 --> 1:12:52.640 He I've always loved to Tye France. 1:12:52.439 --> 1:12:53.960 Like, even back as a prospect, I just thought the 1:12:53.960 --> 1:12:55.680 guy was always going to hit. But for him to 1:12:55.720 --> 1:12:58.719 have back to back kind of disappointing years with multiple 1:12:58.720 --> 1:13:01.400 teams or just you know, I'm not totally disappointing, but 1:13:01.400 --> 1:13:04.559 just not great. I'd say one disappointing one kind of whatever. Uh, 1:13:04.600 --> 1:13:07.080 to then circle back on the other side of thirty 1:13:07.360 --> 1:13:09.240 and have the best year of his career when the 1:13:09.400 --> 1:13:12.680 entire offense, you know, it has a contagious like sputtering 1:13:13.240 --> 1:13:17.160 thing going on is the craziest part to me. And 1:13:17.240 --> 1:13:20.240 doing it in that ballpark like it's It's been one 1:13:20.280 --> 1:13:25.840 of the more I think, yeah, unexpected performances this year. 1:13:26.400 --> 1:13:29.400 Two more for you, right, Yeah, I'm going negative now 1:13:30.120 --> 1:13:30.519 me too. 1:13:31.160 --> 1:13:33.320 Actually, I've got one more positive than one negative. 1:13:33.680 --> 1:13:36.200 I get guy I just saw yesterday and I don't 1:13:36.200 --> 1:13:39.080 know if you had him as well, But like Trey Turner, man, 1:13:39.160 --> 1:13:41.640 Like the reason why Trey Turner is one of the 1:13:41.680 --> 1:13:44.600 most disappointing and just like kind of surprising for me 1:13:45.360 --> 1:13:48.120 is that last year was so damn good, and it's 1:13:48.160 --> 1:13:49.960 on multiple fronts right like I did. 1:13:50.040 --> 1:13:51.559 I was skeptical of. 1:13:51.439 --> 1:13:55.600 The massive defensive leap that he made last year, but 1:13:55.960 --> 1:14:00.160 even if you believed it by thirty percent, like he 1:14:00.439 --> 1:14:03.680 would have, implied that he's significantly better than he was, 1:14:04.000 --> 1:14:05.920 you know, the year before, where he was negative fourteen 1:14:05.960 --> 1:14:09.040 defensive run save and negative three outs above average. Right 1:14:09.200 --> 1:14:12.000 last year, so that was twenty twenty three or twenty 1:14:12.040 --> 1:14:14.679 twenty four, twenty twenty five, he's two defensive run saves 1:14:14.720 --> 1:14:17.439 and sixteen outs above average, So well positioned, but also 1:14:17.640 --> 1:14:21.400 still a lot better just with with you know, defending 1:14:21.439 --> 1:14:24.559 the position this year negative ten outs above average, negative 1:14:24.600 --> 1:14:27.680 six or sorry, negative six outs above average, negative ten 1:14:27.680 --> 1:14:30.120 defensive run saved, so kind of right back on track 1:14:30.200 --> 1:14:32.839 to be where he was before as that frustrating defender. 1:14:33.360 --> 1:14:34.240 The other side of it is. 1:14:34.240 --> 1:14:37.080 That I wouldn't care if he was the batter, the 1:14:37.160 --> 1:14:39.600 hitter that he's always been, and last year, with that 1:14:39.640 --> 1:14:42.400 defensive improvement, he was the same hitter that he's been 1:14:42.439 --> 1:14:44.320 for much of his career, a one to twenty five 1:14:44.560 --> 1:14:47.479 to rcplus that you could absolutely count on. 1:14:47.840 --> 1:14:49.000 This year, it's an. 1:14:48.840 --> 1:14:51.960 Eighty nine WRC plus, yeah, he's got the seventeen homers 1:14:52.000 --> 1:14:55.599 in the seventeen bags, but they're kind of empty because 1:14:55.720 --> 1:14:57.519 you know, he's not gonna walk, He's said in two 1:14:57.600 --> 1:15:01.719 forty seven, and so that results in a sub three 1:15:01.760 --> 1:15:05.919 hundred OVP. And when you combine the lack of defense, 1:15:06.160 --> 1:15:10.400 the complete step backwards offensively, he just hasn't been a 1:15:10.479 --> 1:15:12.840 very valuable player for a team that really needs him 1:15:12.880 --> 1:15:13.040 to be. 1:15:14.200 --> 1:15:18.280 So Bleacher Report be our walkoff is their baseball account, 1:15:18.400 --> 1:15:20.680 and I saw them. It was a fun exercise. They 1:15:20.720 --> 1:15:23.680 put together one sentence for all thirty teams to describe 1:15:23.680 --> 1:15:26.920 the season to this point, and their Philly sentence was 1:15:27.600 --> 1:15:30.280 the playoffs may be the ceiling. And I saw that 1:15:30.320 --> 1:15:33.559 and I was like, with Sanchez, Wheeler, Lozardo, why are 1:15:33.560 --> 1:15:35.800 they saying that? And I just started to like kind 1:15:35.840 --> 1:15:37.679 of run it through my brain and got the gears 1:15:37.720 --> 1:15:40.040 turning and they kicked the dust off in there. 1:15:41.400 --> 1:15:43.800 And I think that that sentiment. 1:15:43.439 --> 1:15:46.920 Is expressed and probably echoed by Philly fans because of Turner. 1:15:47.720 --> 1:15:51.160 Like Trey Turner and what he's doing at shortstop. 1:15:50.760 --> 1:15:54.519 Kind of caps their goals, kind of caps their ceiling 1:15:54.800 --> 1:15:58.360 right now. Turner, along with Boem along with real Muto 1:15:58.439 --> 1:16:00.560 along with the sputtering Marsh over the last month and 1:16:00.600 --> 1:16:04.559 a half. Like it's that, you know, Schwarber and Harper 1:16:04.640 --> 1:16:09.160 and Sanchez, Wheeler Lozardo can only do so much. You 1:16:09.240 --> 1:16:11.559 need other guys to step up. And when you got 1:16:11.600 --> 1:16:13.599 to October a couple of years ago, you knew Nick 1:16:13.640 --> 1:16:16.240 Castianos was gonna step up. But you also knew you 1:16:16.280 --> 1:16:17.880 had Turner in the back pocket, and you knew you 1:16:17.920 --> 1:16:20.120 had Gamer Marsh in the back pocket, and you knew 1:16:20.439 --> 1:16:21.120 that Boehm or. 1:16:21.160 --> 1:16:22.679 JT could deliver that big swing. 1:16:22.720 --> 1:16:25.960 And it just seems like none of the complimentary pieces 1:16:25.960 --> 1:16:29.320 are doing that consistently right now. But Trey Turner is 1:16:29.320 --> 1:16:32.000 not supposed to be a complimentary piece. He's paid like 1:16:32.040 --> 1:16:35.040 Harper and Schwarber. He's got to play like it, and 1:16:35.080 --> 1:16:38.360 he's just not right now. Yeah, I'll take you to 1:16:38.400 --> 1:16:41.120 my negative and then end on a positive along that 1:16:41.200 --> 1:16:44.639 same line of thinking. And it's funny, same position, same division. 1:16:45.320 --> 1:16:48.400 The Braves have a shortstop problem again. It might just 1:16:48.439 --> 1:16:51.800 be a cursed position since Dansby Swanson left and they've 1:16:51.960 --> 1:16:55.719 tried to find it in Orlando Arcia, in von Grissom, 1:16:56.240 --> 1:17:01.080 in Nick Allen in Hassan Kim and Jim Jarv. Kim 1:17:01.200 --> 1:17:03.800 not performing this year. And I understand that he's had 1:17:03.920 --> 1:17:06.080 finger issues the whole time, and he slipped on the 1:17:06.120 --> 1:17:10.320 ice over the offseason, and he's had injury issues throughout 1:17:10.360 --> 1:17:12.439 the course of the year, but it just seems like 1:17:12.520 --> 1:17:15.400 shortstops a little cursed for the Atlanta Braves right now. 1:17:15.400 --> 1:17:17.840 They try to not shoe Alvareza forgot that name as well, 1:17:18.040 --> 1:17:20.479 who's now with the La Angels. But you know, like 1:17:20.520 --> 1:17:23.320 they're turning to Jim Jarvis and he's a godsend for 1:17:23.360 --> 1:17:28.120 them with a six ninety ops. It's it's crazy that 1:17:28.280 --> 1:17:31.240 we're at that point here. They ran out Nick Allen 1:17:31.479 --> 1:17:33.880 every day last year and he didn't hit a homer, 1:17:34.000 --> 1:17:37.920 he didn't git one. They need to find a shortstop 1:17:38.000 --> 1:17:41.679 bad and I feel like Alexanthopolis thought that he found 1:17:41.720 --> 1:17:45.759 it in Kim, and again, injuries can hamstring a season, 1:17:46.760 --> 1:17:49.080 but Kim just has to be better when he's actually 1:17:49.120 --> 1:17:52.360 on the field. Atlanta needs to find a shortstop soon, man, 1:17:52.439 --> 1:17:54.800 And I don't know who it is. My mind keeps 1:17:54.840 --> 1:17:57.479 on going to Anthony Volpi here if his way is 1:17:57.640 --> 1:18:00.760 over in New York, I think up in Atlanta makes 1:18:00.800 --> 1:18:01.439 a lot of sense. 1:18:01.920 --> 1:18:03.360 Yeah, Yeah, it's weird. 1:18:03.400 --> 1:18:07.120 It has been, and Jarvis has been actually like a solid, 1:18:07.360 --> 1:18:11.360 huge internal plug in for them. But yeah, I keep 1:18:11.400 --> 1:18:13.439 going back to that thought too of Volpie seems like 1:18:13.520 --> 1:18:16.640 the perfect perfect fit there. It has been, you know, 1:18:16.920 --> 1:18:21.320 a pretty surprisingly frustrating season, but I yeah, the injury 1:18:21.320 --> 1:18:23.599 helped helps justify, But I still thought Cam like would 1:18:23.600 --> 1:18:27.200 would would fit perfectly there with that team, and unfortunately 1:18:27.280 --> 1:18:30.040 just just has not happened this year. I was gonna 1:18:30.080 --> 1:18:32.120 go negative. I had two, and I was gonna kind 1:18:32.120 --> 1:18:36.840 of decide light here. But like Brian Hayes, everybody knows, 1:18:36.880 --> 1:18:39.400 Like is not a very good hitter, but to the 1:18:39.439 --> 1:18:42.680 point that he's hitting like a a like not even 1:18:42.720 --> 1:18:45.040 a good I've watched and Tree willis put together much better. 1:18:45.080 --> 1:18:47.519 I've watched Josh Johnson put together better stretches than this, 1:18:48.080 --> 1:18:49.320 so play, but I don't want to. 1:18:50.720 --> 1:18:53.679 Yeah, Klay Snowden asked me to guess his WRC plus 1:18:53.720 --> 1:18:54.200 the other day. 1:18:54.240 --> 1:18:55.759 Is it still sitting at eleven? 1:18:56.280 --> 1:18:59.360 It's eleven. It's eleven and one hundred and eighty two 1:18:59.360 --> 1:19:02.160 played appearances. I don't want to pile on there too much. 1:19:02.240 --> 1:19:04.240 It's really tough to watch. I can't imagine when it 1:19:04.240 --> 1:19:05.760 feels like it. And I know he's getting. 1:19:05.720 --> 1:19:08.240 Paid at least, but like it's it's real. 1:19:08.640 --> 1:19:11.479 I've never seen a guy that bad offensively if he's 1:19:11.479 --> 1:19:13.160 not striking out forty percent of the time, like he's 1:19:13.160 --> 1:19:15.360 only striking out nineteen percent of the time, and he said, 1:19:15.360 --> 1:19:17.120 you're buck forty. You know how bad the quality of 1:19:17.160 --> 1:19:19.360 come And I've seen like watching the at bats of swings, 1:19:19.720 --> 1:19:20.960 he looks like a pitcher hitting. 1:19:21.120 --> 1:19:22.960 He really does. And it's really tough to watch. 1:19:23.439 --> 1:19:26.120 So real quick, can I can I give you some 1:19:26.280 --> 1:19:30.240 underlying numbers that are absolutely fascinating to me? Sure, and 1:19:30.240 --> 1:19:33.400 and it's really tough. Obviously, Key Brian Hayes is running 1:19:33.400 --> 1:19:37.000 a slash at this moment of two two thirty four. 1:19:37.080 --> 1:19:40.759 That's a four to twenty six OPS. But Ky Brian 1:19:40.800 --> 1:19:43.360 Hayes is running a career low and ground ball rate. 1:19:44.160 --> 1:19:48.719 He is running uh his best average exit velocity since 1:19:48.720 --> 1:19:50.880 twenty twenty three. He's hit the ball on average ninety 1:19:50.920 --> 1:19:53.600 point three miles an hour. But the big number that 1:19:53.640 --> 1:19:56.479 jumps out major league average batting average on balls and 1:19:56.560 --> 1:20:00.200 play is two ninety two. What do you think his 1:20:00.280 --> 1:20:01.000 babit is. 1:20:02.960 --> 1:20:05.200 It's got to start with a one, because he's hitting 1:20:05.240 --> 1:20:05.879 one forty. 1:20:07.080 --> 1:20:10.760 His babeb is one fifty two. Major league average is 1:20:10.800 --> 1:20:11.800 to ninety two. 1:20:13.120 --> 1:20:15.200 Like what's like, Okay, maybe he's a little unlucky. He 1:20:15.200 --> 1:20:16.280 should be hitting a buck eighty. 1:20:16.479 --> 1:20:19.280 I don't but like the most unlucky season we've ever seen. 1:20:19.840 --> 1:20:22.760 Now, there's just no way. But I'm watching. It's so 1:20:22.840 --> 1:20:23.679 many b stwins. 1:20:23.920 --> 1:20:27.200 Yes, I'm not satisfying it with babbit. 1:20:27.520 --> 1:20:29.439 Yeah, no, I know, but that is crazy. 1:20:29.479 --> 1:20:32.080 I've never seen a babbit that low on almost two 1:20:32.160 --> 1:20:33.480 hundred plate appearance. 1:20:33.240 --> 1:20:36.759 Within average with an average exit velocity of over ninety 1:20:36.760 --> 1:20:39.679 miles an hour. Your babib should not be a buck fifty. 1:20:40.200 --> 1:20:44.559 No, that's that's a really weird situation going on there. 1:20:44.640 --> 1:20:45.880 That is really, really weird. 1:20:46.040 --> 1:20:48.720 I hope he figures it out because if you've even 1:20:48.840 --> 1:20:51.160 kind of see it seeping into the defense, but cheez, yeah. 1:20:51.040 --> 1:20:51.559 That is crazy. 1:20:52.400 --> 1:20:56.120 In on a quick positive, Yeah, Max Meyer, man, like, 1:20:56.479 --> 1:20:58.320 look cool. I knew Max Meyer was gonna fill a 1:20:58.320 --> 1:21:01.040 big leagu girl for a long time, but I'll be honest, 1:21:01.040 --> 1:21:02.320 I was one of the people that thought maybe it 1:21:02.360 --> 1:21:04.559 would be in the bullpen. I just didn't believe like 1:21:04.760 --> 1:21:07.120 that he could make all of the improvements across the 1:21:07.120 --> 1:21:08.800 board that he was able to make this year, and 1:21:08.840 --> 1:21:10.639 as an All star now and like Gheit A four 1:21:10.640 --> 1:21:12.479 to seven three UR and twenty twenty five, Yeah, it 1:21:12.479 --> 1:21:13.439 will be a small sample. 1:21:13.439 --> 1:21:14.120 And then he got hurt. 1:21:14.680 --> 1:21:17.040 But it was twelve starts before that, it was eleven 1:21:17.080 --> 1:21:18.160 starts at A five six eight. 1:21:18.439 --> 1:21:20.720 You've got twenty starts this year to two six eight. 1:21:20.840 --> 1:21:23.360 But it's not just the numbers, it's how much better 1:21:23.400 --> 1:21:26.760 he is across the board. The fastball shape improved. You 1:21:26.800 --> 1:21:31.040 have this shorter kind of gyro slider that is just disgusting. 1:21:31.200 --> 1:21:33.400 Then he's got this which has always been his pitch, right, 1:21:33.439 --> 1:21:36.840 but then he adds this more sweepy slider that is disgusting. 1:21:37.080 --> 1:21:39.800 Then you see the change up that has continued to 1:21:39.800 --> 1:21:42.200 come along, and you just see this expanded arsenal for 1:21:42.240 --> 1:21:43.920 a player in his age twenty seven season. 1:21:44.240 --> 1:21:45.560 It's one thing to add the secondaries. 1:21:45.560 --> 1:21:48.240 It's another thing to add the secondaries and improve your 1:21:48.240 --> 1:21:52.000 fastball and your execution and everything across the board. And 1:21:52.520 --> 1:21:54.640 I like again, I thought Max Meyer would be a 1:21:54.680 --> 1:21:58.840 big league pitcher in some capacity. I had admittedly, just 1:21:58.880 --> 1:22:02.600 speaking for myself, that the son had maybe set on 1:22:02.920 --> 1:22:05.400 him being able to reach this potential. And that's why 1:22:05.479 --> 1:22:08.040 the sport is so awesome because here he is, you know, 1:22:08.400 --> 1:22:10.800 doing it and hopefully he'll be back from injury soon. 1:22:11.680 --> 1:22:15.360 He's a fiery, fiery competitor, and I don't think that 1:22:15.439 --> 1:22:18.679 he was going to leave any stone unturned in hopes 1:22:18.720 --> 1:22:22.960 of maximizing his opportunity as a starting pitcher and a 1:22:23.000 --> 1:22:26.679 really good one. And Daniel Mosque is the pitching coach 1:22:26.680 --> 1:22:28.599 for the Marlins. When he joined us earlier this year, 1:22:28.600 --> 1:22:30.519 he said Max is one of the biggest proponents of 1:22:30.600 --> 1:22:35.879 pitch calling here. And the Marlins pitching infrastructure I think personally, 1:22:35.880 --> 1:22:39.800 and tons of bias included, I think the Marlins pitching 1:22:39.840 --> 1:22:42.360 infrastructure is up there with Tampa. I think it's up 1:22:42.400 --> 1:22:44.160 there with Cleveland. I think it's up there with the 1:22:44.240 --> 1:22:47.880 Yankees as the best in Major League Baseball. I think 1:22:47.960 --> 1:22:49.439 they know how to get the most out of the 1:22:49.520 --> 1:22:52.519 arms that they bring in. They gave John King a 1:22:52.600 --> 1:22:55.680 breaking ball that he never had before, and I was 1:22:55.680 --> 1:22:58.320 striking dudes out like they give guys sweepers. 1:22:58.400 --> 1:22:59.240 Ronnie and Riquez. 1:23:00.080 --> 1:23:02.920 They turned Ronnie and Riquez into Brian Abra you a 1:23:03.000 --> 1:23:07.120 month after he was DFA last year. It's it's incredible 1:23:07.160 --> 1:23:09.600 what they can do. And they took a guy with 1:23:09.680 --> 1:23:13.400 that much natural ability like Max and added two inches 1:23:13.439 --> 1:23:16.080 of carry to his heater and added a different break 1:23:16.080 --> 1:23:19.160 in ball shape and added a good change up. And 1:23:19.840 --> 1:23:22.960 you know Max always had like trace amounts of that 1:23:23.080 --> 1:23:26.520 in the arsenal, but they found it and they established consistency. 1:23:27.120 --> 1:23:29.599 And again Max was a proponent of the pitch calling. 1:23:29.920 --> 1:23:32.280 So now it's like they're pressing all the right buttons 1:23:32.560 --> 1:23:35.320 and it's really really cool to watch Max thrive. So 1:23:35.479 --> 1:23:38.320 I love that shout for you. Last one for me. 1:23:38.360 --> 1:23:39.920 I think we'd be remiss if we didn't hit on 1:23:39.960 --> 1:23:44.280 Youing and bench here. I'm going to frame this as 1:23:44.320 --> 1:23:48.040 a surprise. Who would have thought the best part of 1:23:48.040 --> 1:23:50.080 the Mets season would be two guys that weren't on 1:23:50.120 --> 1:23:53.800 the forty man roster in spring training like you were thinking, Oh, 1:23:53.960 --> 1:23:57.479 Lindor and Soto and Basheed and Alvarez has been really 1:23:57.479 --> 1:24:00.479 good when he's been on the field, but like benj 1:24:00.600 --> 1:24:03.679 had the sleeper opportunity to be the right fielder for them, 1:24:04.720 --> 1:24:06.880 Ewing was gonna be a Derek huse Met the whole year, 1:24:07.600 --> 1:24:09.960 and now you've got your outfield of the President and 1:24:10.040 --> 1:24:13.040 future with Ewing, benj and Soto, and that looks like 1:24:13.080 --> 1:24:15.519 one of the better outfields in Major League Baseball. Bene 1:24:15.560 --> 1:24:17.719 is a two and a half win player already, Ewing 1:24:17.800 --> 1:24:20.960 is approaching a two win season. Ewing is one of 1:24:21.000 --> 1:24:23.000 the better center field defenders that we have in Major 1:24:23.080 --> 1:24:25.599 League Baseball. And I don't know if the advanced metrics 1:24:25.640 --> 1:24:29.080 back that up, but I watch guys like Ewing and 1:24:29.240 --> 1:24:31.920 Marcy in Miami go after it, and I'm like, Okay, 1:24:31.920 --> 1:24:33.760 PCA's in a world of his own. Rafaela is in 1:24:33.800 --> 1:24:35.160 a world of his own in the American League, But 1:24:35.560 --> 1:24:38.000 these guys are the next too. Like Ewing is one 1:24:38.000 --> 1:24:40.640 of the better center field defenders in a sport, and 1:24:40.640 --> 1:24:42.120 I'm excited to watch him do it. 1:24:42.600 --> 1:24:45.520 Benge is really really talented. 1:24:46.240 --> 1:24:48.920 I think those guys are a redeeming quality of a 1:24:48.960 --> 1:24:49.880 brutal met season. 1:24:50.600 --> 1:24:52.200 Oh yeah, and I think those are two of my 1:24:52.280 --> 1:24:54.320 favorite prospects in a little while. 1:24:54.439 --> 1:24:54.880 So see it. 1:24:54.920 --> 1:24:57.280 But even for me, like, I don't think I envisioned 1:24:57.320 --> 1:25:01.280 them both I Benj, yes, but both having the immediate 1:25:01.600 --> 1:25:05.200 success this year, like with it being a tough year 1:25:05.240 --> 1:25:07.679 for the Mets too, Like if they're hitting eight to nine, 1:25:07.800 --> 1:25:09.519 maybe it's easier. They've been hitten at the top of 1:25:09.520 --> 1:25:11.600 that order and grinding it out, and I've been some 1:25:11.600 --> 1:25:13.160 of the most productive guys that they've had, and then 1:25:13.200 --> 1:25:16.439 impacting on the defense and with their legs. And that's 1:25:16.520 --> 1:25:18.080 the exciting part I think for the Mets is you 1:25:18.280 --> 1:25:21.760 you have the outfield taken care of moving forward, which 1:25:21.880 --> 1:25:23.479 is at least a big help, you know, as you 1:25:23.520 --> 1:25:25.320 try to piece together the other parts of this team. 1:25:25.439 --> 1:25:28.160 But I think it's a surprise and the respect that 1:25:28.200 --> 1:25:30.040 the Mets are this bad and those guys have been 1:25:30.080 --> 1:25:33.920 this good. For me, the more surprising part, because Ewing 1:25:34.000 --> 1:25:35.639 was one of my favorites, and of course Bench too, 1:25:35.680 --> 1:25:39.000 is that how quickly they've translated that into big league success, 1:25:39.000 --> 1:25:41.599 which has been really cool to see a hundre percent. 1:25:42.200 --> 1:25:44.559 I think that's our program. I think ARM is a 1:25:44.560 --> 1:25:47.000 flight to catch to get the heck out of Iowa. 1:25:47.200 --> 1:25:51.400 So appreciate everybody, appreciate Peyton Genis as always, for Peter 1:25:51.479 --> 1:25:53.400 Apple for ARM late and I'm Jack mcmullind you got 1:25:53.400 --> 1:25:55.880 anything else or say so that's it. 1:25:56.040 --> 1:25:58.720 I appreciate you, you know, justin to my schedule year 1:25:58.720 --> 1:26:00.920 with the craziness and except for a normal week next 1:26:00.920 --> 1:26:02.840 week to get back on the JB Show more consistently. 1:26:03.560 --> 1:26:05.560 Have a great weekend, Pabe, We'll catch you