Speaker 1: Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy
Speaker 1: Baseball Podcast. Is me Joey p Joe Pi Zapia, and
Speaker 1: today we're gonna give you what you want. Thirty breakouts
Speaker 1: for thirty teams. One player on every Major League team
Speaker 1: that we think has the potential at least we're not
Speaker 1: saying they're going to break out, but the potentials there are.
Speaker 1: Just like once upon a time there was potential for
Speaker 1: myself in the Welsh to do great things, and then
Speaker 1: we did. Because we're here doing Fantasy Pros MLB. You see,
Speaker 1: you wet thought I was gonna go negative on that item.
Speaker 1: The potential was there and we delivered. We look at
Speaker 1: us eighteen thousand subscribers on the channel leading off live
Speaker 1: starting Thursday at twelve thirty Eastern. We're back again live.
Speaker 1: Join us here on the show. Make sure you ring
Speaker 1: the bell for notification so you know every time the
Speaker 1: show is beginning. And Welsh speaking of getting off to
Speaker 1: a hot start, we will be wigging out on opening day.
Speaker 1: My wig has arrived. You have not purchased yours yet,
Speaker 1: time is buddy, you better get on that.
Speaker 2: No, I got it, I've been I've actually been windows
Speaker 2: shopping for the last two days, A little indifferent. I'm
Speaker 2: a little bit I want the perfect wig. I've seen
Speaker 2: a preview of Joe's. I will be ordering today and
Speaker 2: I'm excited. My wife yesterday also you can see I've
Speaker 2: got the scraggly beard. I don't grow in. Beard's great
Speaker 2: and probably why you don't have them going usually? And
Speaker 2: she goes, when is that going away again? And I
Speaker 2: said Thursday after leading off and the mustache Show, the
Speaker 2: Mustache Wig Show.
Speaker 1: I think, though, I think the beard looks great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been through this. I don't think it's scraggly at all.
Speaker 1: I think it's tremendous. Everyone support Welsh's beard in the comments.
Speaker 1: Please it needs something.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I get like if I get like hundreds
Speaker 2: of comments, I'll just like print it out and I'll
Speaker 2: screenshot them and show my wife and say, hey, listen,
Speaker 2: you're overruled. Sorry. She'll she'll take that really well too.
Speaker 1: By a bunch of strangers who pretend to like By
Speaker 1: the way, got recognized from the show last night, just
Speaker 1: like you have. It's funny our fantasy pro stuff. Really,
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Speaker 1: with trophy Smack Welsh. Let's talk about some of the
Speaker 1: best too. Let's talk about some of these players on
Speaker 1: each team. So Welsh and I are going to go
Speaker 1: through division by division. We've given each other different divisions
Speaker 1: to do. I took the National League, Welsh took the
Speaker 1: American League here and we're going to go through. So Welsh,
Speaker 1: why don't you start and kick things off with the
Speaker 1: American League? Is East? The East, the est of the
Speaker 1: American League. That's what we want to do. So the
Speaker 1: AL East, that's what I want from you. Give me
Speaker 1: the breakouts potentially from each team that you might see
Speaker 1: on the horizon in twenty.
Speaker 2: Four Al East. I got the Ale East for you.
Speaker 1: I like the East is good.
Speaker 2: I'll go five players, five players for you. I'll run
Speaker 2: them through, starting with the Baltimore Orioles breakout player. Well,
Speaker 2: Kobe Mayo. Kobe Mayo almost could actually make it, by
Speaker 2: the way I'd say almost, but at this moment has
Speaker 2: not made the team, and the team said, well, if
Speaker 2: Jackson Holiday makes it, he doesn't. That is also pretty
Speaker 2: positive words of a guy that has had a tremendous
Speaker 2: Spring three twenty six average homer, a stolen base is
Speaker 2: big dude. Not striking out a bunch of double digit walks. Again,
Speaker 2: these are spring numbers, but he had fifty four plate appearances.
Speaker 2: He has shown that he deserves to be out there,
Speaker 2: and he may I don't know if Jordan Westburg is
Speaker 2: going to keep him off of a third base. He's
Speaker 2: going to be coming up some point this year and
Speaker 2: has a real real chance to be a big breakout
Speaker 2: player for the Baltimore Orioles. So he is my choice,
Speaker 2: even though he might not be on the active roster.
Speaker 2: We've actually talked about this guy decent amount. Kind of
Speaker 2: hard to find some New York Yankees that might be breakouts,
Speaker 2: but if you want to talk about.
Speaker 1: Broke one of the big broken, you can find some
Speaker 1: broken Yankees.
Speaker 2: There's plenty of broken, plenty of brocation break actual on
Speaker 2: the field players. This is probably one of the bigger
Speaker 2: names of anybody that I chose, But we're going with
Speaker 2: Anthony Volpi because I do think that Anthony Volpi's got
Speaker 2: an opportunity to really improve that batting average this year,
Speaker 2: and with the stuff going on with DJ Lemayhew, you
Speaker 2: may see him in a lead off spot, and if
Speaker 2: he could somehow somehow get higher in the lineup, big
Speaker 2: things could change. He's been my guy for a while
Speaker 2: because I really do think he can go thirty thirty
Speaker 2: and I just kind of get sad when I miss
Speaker 2: out on him. So he's an easy breakout for the
Speaker 2: New York Yankees going over to Toronto. This is actually another
Speaker 2: team that kind of struggles. If you're trying to pick,
Speaker 2: like who's a player that's going to break out, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of like guys that we know. It's the
Speaker 2: Boba Shed's, it's the Vlad Carrero's, and there's like players
Speaker 2: that were not super interested, you know, like Alec Minoa.
Speaker 2: That's not gonna happen. So I'm gonna go kind of
Speaker 2: the similar Kobe Mayo route. Ricky Tiedeman has also not
Speaker 2: made the roster, But this is another player that has
Speaker 2: had a great spring, consistently pumping ninety eight. I saw
Speaker 2: a ton of him in the AFL. Now, the thing
Speaker 2: that has stood out to me when he was here,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize maybe how much he was nursing this
Speaker 2: little arm issue that was going on, because he would
Speaker 2: sit ninety four and touch ninety six occasionally and everything
Speaker 2: else looked amazing, and I was like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: he's up ninety eight, ninety nine, hitting it consistently in
Speaker 2: games they got injuries. Alec Manoa stinks, so Ricky pet
Speaker 2: and is hurt. Ricky Tiedeman could break camp with this team.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if he gets one hundred innings
Speaker 2: with this team. And he's a guy that you would want.
Speaker 2: You're gonna want those innings when it happened, So breakout,
Speaker 2: Ricky Teetaman moving over to Tampa Bay. This is actually
Speaker 2: a super weird one because this is not like a
Speaker 2: young guy. This is a guy that's been around before.
Speaker 2: But I will tell you he's actually never broke out
Speaker 2: and he was one of lol the first players I
Speaker 2: ever really talked about on Fantasy Pros when I got
Speaker 2: brought on, because boy did I think he could have
Speaker 2: a twenty twenty season. I'm talking about Ahmed Rosario. That
Speaker 2: is a fantasy breakout for you guys, because Ahmed Rosario
Speaker 2: looks like he is gonna get that gig. He jumped
Speaker 2: into a situation we all thought he was like Caveiro
Speaker 2: was gonna take. He can hold this down the entire season. Yes,
Speaker 2: it could be trade deadline and Carson Williams can come up,
Speaker 2: but his being up has no effect on a guy
Speaker 2: like Junior Camonaro. He's been hitting for some power, run
Speaker 2: a little bit. Med Rosario is a great fantasy breakout
Speaker 2: this year because he's just absolutely free. And then finally
Speaker 2: my last one in the Al East, going to the
Speaker 2: Boston Red Sox. This has been one of my favorite players.
Speaker 2: Call it whatever whatever you want, sleeper must have a
Speaker 2: guy on all my roster or breakouts. Here Saddani Rafaela
Speaker 2: with the Boston Red Sox. I love this kid.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I do love quite a few players on this team.
Speaker 2: I talk about Jared Duran a lot. He's kind of
Speaker 2: been my consistent sleeper player. But Rafaela looks like he's
Speaker 2: gonna be able to man down that center field gig.
Speaker 2: If he doesn't, here's the other thing, he's gonna be
Speaker 2: playing on some of the infield. They like him at short,
Speaker 2: they like him at second. Von Grissom is gonna miss
Speaker 2: time early on. He may take that spot. He's a power, speed, combo,
Speaker 2: explosive bat, just really good, just really really good bat speed,
Speaker 2: overall offensive game. I think could go through the roof.
Speaker 2: And he's gonna have multi position eligibility and he's free.
Speaker 2: He's absolutely free. So Saddana Rafaela is my breakout with
Speaker 2: the Boston Red Sox, and that is the Al East
Speaker 2: break out.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, I think. Volpi's gonna move up
Speaker 1: sooner than you think. DJ L. Mayhew has not had
Speaker 1: a good spring. Let's just all be honest about that.
Speaker 1: So I know a lot of people think, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: moving back to the top of the order, things could
Speaker 1: work out for him. Look if you put Anthony Volpie
Speaker 1: in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, good things
Speaker 1: are going to happen for that kid. Just pull the
Speaker 1: band aid off, just do it. And Senadin Rafaela is
Speaker 1: the guy that I want to highlight here of this group,
Speaker 1: really because I've watched more and more of him. It's
Speaker 1: a prospect I was less familiar with. You know, in
Speaker 1: the throws of NFL season, it takes a little while
Speaker 1: to catch up on some of the prospects. But Welsh
Speaker 1: turned me onto him a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: I've been watching him in spring. I've been watching the
Speaker 1: highlights from last year. He's got incredible quick hands, hits
Speaker 1: everything hard to the opposite field too, which we kind
Speaker 1: of were talking about before the show. That shows you
Speaker 1: this is a player that is waiting on the baseball,
Speaker 1: player that you know is really seeing the baseball well
Speaker 1: and getting a good look at it, and again driving
Speaker 1: the ball with authority to the opposite field, not just
Speaker 1: for home runs, but I'm talking about like hard hit
Speaker 1: rates up the ying yang there, and this is a
Speaker 1: player because of the versatility, he's gonna find his way
Speaker 1: into the line up. Yep, had a good spring to me.
Speaker 1: This is another guy too. You want to call him
Speaker 1: a breakout of sleeper or whatever you want to call him.
Speaker 1: I don't care this calm on Joe's ross.
Speaker 2: Especially if you're going through to you're targeting any of
Speaker 2: the players for this team. Just pointing out again he
Speaker 2: had twenty homers last year in the Miners, almost forty
Speaker 2: stolen bases, and then he comes to the Majors, couple
Speaker 2: more homers, couple more stolen bases, and then this spring,
Speaker 2: three homers in spring, couple stolen bases again. Raphaela, if
Speaker 2: given the opportunity, really ready to have a big breakout,
Speaker 2: and he has done it pretty consistently from accounting stat
Speaker 2: perspective throughout the Miners, and I'm looking forward to it
Speaker 2: this year.
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Speaker 1: home of fantasy sports. And now back to the action.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the National League East here.
Speaker 1: Start with the Atlanta Braves. Ajsmith Shaver starting pitcher again.
Speaker 1: Going to be a guy in April necessarily for this team,
Speaker 1: but I do believe at some point in time you
Speaker 1: are going to see this kid. He's got the fastball
Speaker 1: you need he is a brave starting pitching prospect. I
Speaker 1: don't know, you know how much more we need from that,
Speaker 1: because I mean, we always seem to get these guys
Speaker 1: who pop every single time I'm looking at this player
Speaker 1: is going to at some point. I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: make fifteen starts for the Braves this year at some point.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you agree with that number or not,
Speaker 1: but I think that number is enough where he has
Speaker 1: potential to be a breakout star. And it's hard with
Speaker 1: Atlanta because most of these guys are ready or kind
Speaker 1: of planted in their spots. Maybe some of the outfield
Speaker 1: of Kalnick, you know, struggles. Some's gonna come out there
Speaker 1: and have a breakout. Potentially, that's possible, but I think
Speaker 1: in the pitching staff you're always going to see injuries.
Speaker 1: It's just a part of, you know, the nature of
Speaker 1: this game. Smashaffer is going to get his potential. And again,
Speaker 1: another guy who looked good this spring, Christopher Sanchez with
Speaker 1: the Phillies, is another pitcher that I'd be looking for
Speaker 1: a lot of pitchers in this list here in the
Speaker 1: National League's Sanchez. Again, this was a tougher one for
Speaker 1: me also because a good pick. I think there's potential
Speaker 1: for a breakout, but I'm not holding my breath for it.
Speaker 1: But I think he's the best candidate because he is
Speaker 1: going to be locked into that rotation. And the Phillies,
Speaker 1: I do think if they could ever just get off
Speaker 1: to a good start, could really put themselves in the
Speaker 1: driver's seat for this division. I really do as good
Speaker 1: as the Braves are. I look at the Phillies and
Speaker 1: every year the Phillies just get red hot towards the end,
Speaker 1: but they struggle in the first half. Just put it
Speaker 1: together in the first half, Phillies, and if so, Sanchez
Speaker 1: had a chance to I think win double digit games
Speaker 1: here for this team. Even is a fifth starter. The
Speaker 1: next one is the name you're probably not very familiar
Speaker 1: with the New York Mets. It's Jose Bhutto, and Bhuteau
Speaker 1: is a picture that last year messed around a little bit.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, it seems to have clicked in
Speaker 1: terms of his aggressiveness. I watched the spring start of
Speaker 1: his Welsh and I could not believe the pace in
Speaker 1: which this guy worked, the way he's pounding the strike zone.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you got to see any of
Speaker 1: him or any clips of him. But whatever he did
Speaker 1: last year in terms of tweaking some of those pitches
Speaker 1: of his tweaking, his demeanor on the mound, whatever it
Speaker 1: might be, this is the guy that works fast, is
Speaker 1: the guy that is aggressive in the strike zone. Those
Speaker 1: kind of pictures tend to have good major league success.
Speaker 1: The Mets rotation has all sorts of problems in it.
Speaker 1: Bhutto at some point is going to make starts for
Speaker 1: the Mets. Again. I don't know if I believe in
Speaker 1: mcgil wholeheartedly. I know I've talked about him before. He's
Speaker 1: had some flashes from time to time, but this kid
Speaker 1: looks like a real presence on the mound, totally different
Speaker 1: pounding the strike zone. I'm very excited about this guy,
Speaker 1: so much so that in fifteen team leagues, I'm already
Speaker 1: adding him already in waivers. I didn't draft him because
Speaker 1: knew I didn't have to, but instead I wanted to
Speaker 1: I l other guys that I knew I was going
Speaker 1: to draft and pick up this kid because sooner or
Speaker 1: later he's going to make starts and good ones for
Speaker 1: the New York Mets. Max Meyer a pitcher that we
Speaker 1: both loved going into previous seasons. Unfortunately, injuries kind of
Speaker 1: were his undoing. But Max Meyer is another guy. I
Speaker 1: look at this Marlin's rotation, He's going to have those opportunities.
Speaker 1: Max Meyer at one point was the best pitching prospect
Speaker 1: in this system, and I feel like everyone's forgotten about him.
Speaker 1: I haven't, you haven't. I've talked to Craig Missh Who's
Speaker 1: going to be on our Betting Pro show next week.
Speaker 1: We're doing our MLB preview, So don't miss that on
Speaker 1: the Betting Pros next Wednesday. That show is going to
Speaker 1: be recorded. Meyer he already said like he is back,
Speaker 1: He is ready to go. He is ready to make
Speaker 1: an impact in the major leagues this season. So even
Speaker 1: though he got sent down, don't freak out. By the
Speaker 1: time we get to Memorial Day, I think this kid's
Speaker 1: gonna be up. And James Wood having a terrific spring,
Speaker 1: hitting baseball's a mile long. This was the big piece
Speaker 1: that came back for them in that Soto trade, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking there at James Wood being a guy that
Speaker 1: is going to possibly be their new star, that guy
Speaker 1: that they build around. As much as you know, Lane
Speaker 1: Thomas is fun and CJ. Abrams has a lot of potential.
Speaker 1: James Wood is the middle of the order guy. So
Speaker 1: what is that guy for me that I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna take very long. I think he's gonna have
Speaker 1: a month or two at Triple A and then after
Speaker 1: that you're going to see him up in the big
Speaker 1: leagues and it's only a matter of time before those
Speaker 1: moonshots get to the major leagues. Welsh, what do you
Speaker 1: think about these five names? Who stands out to you?
Speaker 2: Uh? The one that really really gets me excited is
Speaker 2: Christopher Sanchez and I think this is a really great
Speaker 2: breakout call. And now he's been kind of a favorite
Speaker 2: of quite a few people as far as drafting because
Speaker 2: he goes so late. I love decent, strikeout, low walk
Speaker 2: guys because I think the floor really kind of raises up,
Speaker 2: so you just know that this guy might not blow up.
Speaker 2: This is one of those guys that feels like a
Speaker 2: very streamable type of pitcher that might be someone that
Speaker 2: you can't afford to drop. In season, four percent walk rate,
Speaker 2: last year, twenty four percent k rate. He had an
Speaker 2: over forty percent whift rate on his change up and
Speaker 2: he throws all three the singer, fastball, change up, and slider.
Speaker 2: Those are his big three combo pitches, so he's not
Speaker 2: a two pitch pitcher. He's throwing all three at you
Speaker 2: twenty percent or more of the time, and huge whift
Speaker 2: rate on the change up almost thirty percent, whift rate
Speaker 2: on the slider. Low walks in a great rotation and
Speaker 2: looks like he's going to have that for the majority
Speaker 2: of the year. I really love the Christopher Santezco. I
Speaker 2: love the Max Mayer call. My only weird thing with
Speaker 2: him is just coming off with Tommy John and what
Speaker 2: will they allow him to do, especially is their pitchers
Speaker 2: are just dropping like flies.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's the thing, dropping life flies already like
Speaker 1: Euri or as doing with an injury. Like it's just
Speaker 1: it's the nature of the Marlins because they have this,
Speaker 1: you know, younger pitching staff, because they're a team that
Speaker 1: how he's has to you know, they're not signing big
Speaker 1: free agent pictures coming in, so the pitchures have is
Speaker 1: always going to be on the younger Side's always gonna
Speaker 1: be guys in their twenties, not their thirties, unless it's
Speaker 1: a retread guy. Bhutto is the one guy too. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you got to see him yet, Welsh,
Speaker 1: but if you haven't, check him out. Ten innings this
Speaker 1: year in the spring training, nine strikeouts, two walks. He's
Speaker 1: got a whip at one point one zero. He has
Speaker 1: just been terrific so far. And last year he did,
Speaker 1: you know, make a few appearances for the New York
Speaker 1: Mets in the big club. Had a three six four
Speaker 1: ERA over forty two winnings, thirty eight strikeouts, and he
Speaker 1: did walk too many guys there. That's the trouble. He's
Speaker 1: got to cut down that walk rate. But some good
Speaker 1: adjustments in twenty twenty three that you saw for him,
Speaker 1: and I think that towards the end of the year
Speaker 1: last year you kind of figured it out and he
Speaker 1: carried over to the spring and so far not walking
Speaker 1: people in the spring, which I think is a really
Speaker 1: good sign. Again, pounding that strike zone, that's what you
Speaker 1: want young pitchers to do. Al Central. Let's go to you, Welsh,
Speaker 1: back to the American League for five breakouts in the Central.
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna jump over to the Minnesota Twins.
Speaker 2: This guy's actually been kind of a popular breakout. But
Speaker 2: Matt Walner, Matt Walner with just huge hard hit numbers,
Speaker 2: and that's what this one's really going to be about.
Speaker 2: Good barreling, insanely high end hard hit numbers with the opportunity,
Speaker 2: could easily come thirty homers. It's not out of the
Speaker 2: realm of possibility if he is given that. Going across
Speaker 2: the board, there's a lot of Edward Julian is a
Speaker 2: player that I think obviously is going to kind of
Speaker 2: break out, but going a little bit deeper, going with
Speaker 2: Matt Wallner because it does look like he's going to
Speaker 2: be given that shot, though they do have quite a
Speaker 2: few good bench utility ish type of players that can
Speaker 2: move around. Willie Castro is someone that could take away
Speaker 2: from it, but I'm going to go with Matt Walner
Speaker 2: for this. Going over to the Guardians, here's one of
Speaker 2: my favorites, and I've been talking about him the day
Speaker 2: one of the AFL plenty of time before, but said this.
Speaker 2: I was actually just on a show the other day
Speaker 2: and I think it was Tim Kannak who writes here.
Speaker 2: Tim had said, when I think of Chase the Lotter,
Speaker 2: I think of you because of your gushing about him
Speaker 2: in the AFL. Well, because I said, like three days in.
Speaker 2: I'm like, this is the best player here and he's
Speaker 2: a major league player, and I think the world is
Speaker 2: kind of being introduced to chase the Latter in a
Speaker 2: bigger scope because not many players have been hotter in spring.
Speaker 2: I know it's spring numbers, but he has a higher
Speaker 2: walk rate than strikeout rate in spring. He's hitting over
Speaker 2: five hundred, he has four homers, ten RBIs right now.
Speaker 1: Looking at the numbers, it's crazy, dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is on a team that needs more power bats.
Speaker 2: It's just a bunch of contact guys outfield holding guys
Speaker 2: like Will Brennan. It just I don't know, I can't
Speaker 2: do it. They are going to put Estevan Florio, former
Speaker 2: New York Yankee in that outfield that they're talking about
Speaker 2: it over de lawder No, I don't think so. Delatter
Speaker 2: has some of the best plate presence out there. He's
Speaker 2: not going to strike out tons he gets on base,
Speaker 2: he can run. The Latter is ready for a breakout,
Speaker 2: and it looks like even though he hadn't really played
Speaker 2: higher levels and miss a lot of time last year,
Speaker 2: this could be someone that they push and I think
Speaker 2: he's in for a breakout because this Spring has been
Speaker 2: absolutely phenomenal. Number three or going over to the Kansas
Speaker 2: City Royals here, Mikel Garcia boy, whatever reason, I want
Speaker 2: to just want to call him Mikel Franco. Remember him
Speaker 2: third base?
Speaker 1: Well? I remember him well. I mean, how many times
Speaker 1: do we think, Okay, this will be the Michael Franco.
Speaker 2: I think he was mister Spring by the way, I
Speaker 2: think Mikel Franco, if I remember every Spring would have
Speaker 2: like seven homers and hit five hundred.
Speaker 1: Franco was his own worst enemy. It was a guy
Speaker 1: who really just never I don't think put the work
Speaker 1: in to be as good. It's all Moncotta syndrome. Too,
Speaker 1: Like some guys are just their worst enemy. I don't.
Speaker 1: And I learned this. This is why you like it's
Speaker 1: iced to have MLB insider friends, because years ago a
Speaker 1: birdie told me, you al Mancotta doesn't put the work
Speaker 1: in for as good as he is, and I was
Speaker 1: fading him and everybody else was buying him. And I'm
Speaker 1: very grateful for this.
Speaker 2: I have a moncot story, actually, I'll tell you if
Speaker 2: it's an a fair story. Oh oh maybe in the
Speaker 2: Discordo Fantasy pros a discord you can for the Discord.
Speaker 1: We'll be doing some stuff on the Discord. More on
Speaker 1: that coming soon. So yeah, you want to get extra
Speaker 1: leading off, Discord might be for you.
Speaker 2: That's right. We'll have some singles and doubles over there.
Speaker 2: So not Michael Franco, but Michael Garcia with the Kansas
Speaker 2: City Rows. Actually went to the Royals game the other
Speaker 2: day and they put out their starting lineup. It was
Speaker 2: pretty much everybody more confirmation. Garcia was leading off again.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's gotten a little bit bigger. I
Speaker 2: think there's still some inconsistencies in his game, but he's
Speaker 2: going to be leading off for the Royals. He already
Speaker 2: still twenty four bases last year in limited ish work.
Speaker 2: I think he's going to be able to go over thirty.
Speaker 2: He's going to steal ten and he's not free free,
Speaker 2: but he's pretty close to what free looks like. Ten
Speaker 2: man leagues. He's free, twelve man leagues, it's closed. Fifteen mans.
Speaker 2: Is just kind of at the back end. MIKEL. Garcia
Speaker 2: is ready for the big breakout. And this is after
Speaker 2: stealing like twenty four bases in twenty twenty three going
Speaker 2: over the Detroit Tigers. This is when I've been talking
Speaker 2: a bunch about Parker Meadows. He is another guy that
Speaker 2: might have some opportunities to be hitting high in the
Speaker 2: order twenty twenty bat. He's going to be manning that outfield.
Speaker 2: He has power. He also has experienced by the way
Speaker 2: leading off when he was out here in the AFL,
Speaker 2: he did exclusive leading off and that's something I saw
Speaker 2: in Lars Neubar and sometimes that tells you know where
Speaker 2: teams want a player to be working. And if he
Speaker 2: gets that opportunity, there's going to be more runs. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying he will, but if he is to get
Speaker 2: that opportunity, you're gonna have a lot of run opportunities.
Speaker 2: But either way, he will run. Contact has been pretty solid.
Speaker 2: Parker Meadows is one of those rare ish twenty twenty
Speaker 2: bats that are going on the back end of a
Speaker 2: team that I think has a lot of breakouts. I
Speaker 2: almost put Matt Manning on this because he has had
Speaker 2: a phenomenal spring with the return flat fastball velocity. I
Speaker 2: love Riley Green, Colt Keith is getting an opportunity. You
Speaker 2: want to talk about someone that is going to break out,
Speaker 2: it's Parker Meadows. And then Finally, this is the wackiest one.
Speaker 2: We're going to the Chicago White Sox, the breakout Michael Kopek.
Speaker 2: Michael Kopek, who just got put out of the starting
Speaker 2: rotation and thrown into the bullpen. I was just over
Speaker 2: at the White Sox and he gave me the most
Speaker 2: non answer ever. I said, Mike, are we going to close?
Speaker 2: And he goes, I don't know. He's like, I'm just
Speaker 2: happy to be pitching. And I was like, that's a
Speaker 2: good that's a a good thought process in general. But
Speaker 2: you're gonna take Michael Kopak out of any of the
Speaker 2: potential to be a starter. They've already thrown out the
Speaker 2: idea that he might close. I do worry that he
Speaker 2: lacks some of the closing mentality. But here are the
Speaker 2: guys that he's going up against.
Speaker 1: Cos he's like, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was more it wasn't like it was
Speaker 2: more like he didn't want to like talk about it
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 1: That was all that it was. But maybe he just
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk to you. I get like that, say.
Speaker 2: Totally a lot of people do. Uh. Jordan Leisure, John Brebia.
Speaker 2: Those are the guys that he's going up against in
Speaker 2: the closing role of prelanda Bureau who I really like,
Speaker 2: has been injured. I think there's a legit shot that
Speaker 2: they will want to put him in that role, So
Speaker 2: I'm drafting him at the back end of drafts. So
Speaker 2: the breakout is this new Michael Kopak who's now going
Speaker 2: to unleash it over one inning, get more aggressive, get
Speaker 2: the vel up, and maybe he becomes a closer for
Speaker 2: absolutely nothing. I'm trying to draft him everywhere right now.
Speaker 2: White Sox are weird. I'm not really sure what you
Speaker 2: look at with breakouts because they just got a rag
Speaker 2: tag group and Joan Mancata and Eloy But I'm gonna
Speaker 2: say Michael Kopek is the breakout as the new closer,
Speaker 2: and maybe maybe saves twenty twenty two games. That might
Speaker 2: be twenty two of the thirty that the White Sox
Speaker 2: win this year. But that's okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, I don't love the White Sox but I
Speaker 1: think that's good news for Drew Thorpe making a lot
Speaker 1: more starts this year too if Copek goes, because that's
Speaker 1: another open spot in that rotation. So that's another sooner
Speaker 1: than later Chase the latter is the guy I want
Speaker 1: to talk about though, from this grouping Welsh, this kid's
Speaker 1: been red hot in the spring also, I assume you
Speaker 1: saw in the Arizona Fall League, because in the Fall
Speaker 1: League he was also red hot, hit two ninety nine
Speaker 1: in the Fall League in twenty twenty three five twenty nine,
Speaker 1: slugging the ops was at nine to fourteen, yet five
Speaker 1: homers drove in twenty seven runs. He also stole five
Speaker 1: bases too, So in twenty three games, five homers, five steals.
Speaker 1: The Guardians desperately need somebody else in this lineup, and
Speaker 1: I think that the latter would be that guy Welsh.
Speaker 1: Do you think that you know he is ready for
Speaker 1: the big leagues despite the fact, as you mentioned, did
Speaker 1: miss some time and in terms of like looking for
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of time in double and TRIPAA,
Speaker 1: the guy doesn't. So do you think he needs more
Speaker 1: season or do you think this is a guy he's like, no,
Speaker 1: just get him up there to the big leagues and
Speaker 1: get him going.
Speaker 2: I think he's just ready. I mean that's what I
Speaker 2: was saying before, Like it took me three days in
Speaker 2: the AFL and I was like, this looks like the
Speaker 2: most pro baseball player. Also from a skill set standpoint,
Speaker 2: I'm like, I think he might be the best of
Speaker 2: all these guys. What is unique about him is he's
Speaker 2: one of those guys. He doesn't swing at a lot
Speaker 2: of bad pitches. Sometimes that could be bad for guys
Speaker 2: where if they get a little too picky. Edward Julian
Speaker 2: is one of those guys. You know, you get too
Speaker 2: picky early in the zone. But there's more aggression with
Speaker 2: Chase the Lotter. So why I think Chase the Lotter
Speaker 2: can be there now? I think you find defensively good
Speaker 2: base runner. But also it's like the way he approaches
Speaker 2: at bats, this is a good thing. Like he's not
Speaker 2: gonna get fooled into bad situations. He's going to take walks,
Speaker 2: he's gonna drive counts. He's in middle of the order
Speaker 2: bat right now. You know, baseball trainers in scout, they
Speaker 2: could tell me what more he needs to do. It
Speaker 2: was just miss time. That's why he went to the AFL.
Speaker 2: But this is a guy that was almost the number
Speaker 2: one pick in the MLB draft before having kind of
Speaker 2: a down college season and some injury lingering things. Those
Speaker 2: are behind. He's having an insane spring and when you
Speaker 2: put in one hand Estevon Floriel and another hand, chase
Speaker 2: the lotter. To me, there's not a conversation. So chase
Speaker 2: the lotter is easy for the breakout and I think
Speaker 2: legit big numbers, especially if he gets back to stealing
Speaker 2: like we've seen in the AFL. He is a big
Speaker 2: human being, but he can fly great athleticism. The only
Speaker 2: thing people pick on is he has this short follow through,
Speaker 2: which is kind of Mike trout ish, but I think
Speaker 2: it it What is so good about is it lets
Speaker 2: him cheat because he has such raw power. People are like,
Speaker 2: I don't think he's gonna be a he can. He
Speaker 2: cheats a little bit and all he needs is one
Speaker 2: good barrel, which he can get even on these non
Speaker 2: follow throughs and make the ball absolutely fly.
Speaker 1: Also in the American League, Welsh, you know, you're looking
Speaker 1: around the pitching landscape right now, like the A's are
Speaker 1: the a's. You know Texas Rangers already kind of you know,
Speaker 1: like sures there's not going to be there right away.
Speaker 1: We don't know Gosman's health. Garrit Cole's health is a question.
Speaker 1: The Detroit you know, pitching staff after school ball is
Speaker 1: young and questionable. He doesn't have to face the guys
Speaker 1: of his own team, but he's gonna face the White Sox.
Speaker 1: He's gonna face the back end of the Orioles rotation.
Speaker 1: We like some of the pieces in the Red Sox.
Speaker 1: Like I'm just looking around, Like outside of Houston, the
Speaker 1: Angels pitching staff leaves, I think something to be desired,
Speaker 1: some upside guys there, But outside of the Twins and
Speaker 1: the Seattle Mariners, Like, if you are a young hitter
Speaker 1: right now in the American League, I think there's every
Speaker 1: reason to be very encouraged that they're gonna be facing
Speaker 1: a lot of free tread guys, quad a guys, young
Speaker 1: pitchers trying to figure it out. Like it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the National League right now, excus is the
Speaker 1: heavier pitching side of things. That's my take on it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you agree. I think that's a
Speaker 1: good thing for any American League young hitter this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I agree with that. And also I would
Speaker 2: say divisionally, I think it's open. You were kind of
Speaker 2: talking about it. You've got the Royals, fine, you've got
Speaker 2: the White Sox, the Twins probably near the top, but
Speaker 2: the Tiger like when Seattle.
Speaker 1: Those are the two American League pitching sofs. Anyway that
Speaker 1: I don't want to face those guys.
Speaker 2: It's open and you either, you know, put these players
Speaker 2: on a pedestal to end up moving them like Bieber
Speaker 2: like Classe, or you take that you have uptick Velo
Speaker 2: in Bieber, You've got one of the better closers who
Speaker 2: isn't hurt right now like every other freaking closer. And
Speaker 2: then you look at this team and you go, you
Speaker 2: know what, let's put the best players out there. But
Speaker 2: so far they pick Davison Dela Santo's over Commnsardo, and
Speaker 2: if they pick san Florio over Delauder, I don't love
Speaker 2: those decisions. But the positive would be is if they
Speaker 2: win some games early, maybe they turn a little bit
Speaker 2: later into April, once the you know, extra year is done,
Speaker 2: and both of those players can be up. And Delatter's
Speaker 2: a guy think could quickly kind of like a white
Speaker 2: Langford could be hitting in the middle of that order,
Speaker 2: not after long, like you know, if he game up
Speaker 2: let's say April twenty fifth, by May fifteenth, May twentieth,
Speaker 2: I could see him hitting three or four for the Guardians.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the National League Central names
Speaker 1: on the breakout list, starting with the Cubs. Well, I
Speaker 1: think of a real chance to win this division is
Speaker 1: Michael Bush. It's kind of DH you know, maybe moving
Speaker 1: around the diamond a little bit. But watching Bush, who
Speaker 1: was a player that you Welship been very high on.
Speaker 1: What I like most about him this left handed power,
Speaker 1: very quiet swing, very compact. There's not a lot of
Speaker 1: extra movement in it, so he doesn't I feel like
Speaker 1: he's a guy that's not gonna get fooled that often.
Speaker 1: You watch the highlights of Bush again, you see the power.
Speaker 1: You see that you know he's hitting moonshots everywhere. Looking
Speaker 1: good this spring too. I think it would behoove Chicago
Speaker 1: not to have him in the lineup every day. They
Speaker 1: could use a little bit more pop there in this lineup,
Speaker 1: I think. But Bush to me again, very quiet, body,
Speaker 1: quiet lower half. He has that little front turn in
Speaker 1: of the foot too that you see like some of
Speaker 1: those great guys like Pools used to have that too,
Speaker 1: where he says really balanced to So a lot to
Speaker 1: like here with Michael Bush. And I do think he's
Speaker 1: a guy that contdit twenty five homers. So if you're
Speaker 1: looking for power late in your drafts. It's another guy
Speaker 1: that's relatively free in terms of ADP that I would
Speaker 1: be drafting. Jordan Walker of the Saint Louis Cardinals, a
Speaker 1: player we were all very excited about last year, but
Speaker 1: I don't feel like you can really call it a
Speaker 1: breakout season. It was an improved season, a season where
Speaker 1: there were struggles in the beginning, got sent down, came up,
Speaker 1: saw a better version of him. But I'm not ready
Speaker 1: to write him off. So I think there's potential for
Speaker 1: a breakout here for Jordan Walker where we could see
Speaker 1: the best of him. It's easier in Milwaukee. It's Jackson Curio.
Speaker 1: You know, Deal Hall could have been this guy for me.
Speaker 1: But you know, I know Welsh still has some questions
Speaker 1: about how good he might be right out of the gate.
Speaker 1: I know we had Eric Cross on last week he
Speaker 1: kind of mentioned the same thing. I still think there's
Speaker 1: breakout potential here. He could, potentially, in the second half especially,
Speaker 1: really start to get his feet under him. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, when you have young players with big expectations
Speaker 1: and big contracts, it would not shock me if he
Speaker 1: got off to a slow start. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: the kind of guy you send down. I think he's
Speaker 1: the kind of guy you let him work through the
Speaker 1: problems and build the confidence. Nick Lodolo another post type guy.
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, we were all very excited
Speaker 1: about Nick Lodolo. This Red's pitching staff feels a little
Speaker 1: like you know what, holding water in a paper bag,
Speaker 1: Like it's gonna start leaking at some point. And I
Speaker 1: want to see if Lodolo can be that patch, Like
Speaker 1: if that could be the guy left. He sometimes take
Speaker 1: a little bit longer to figure things out. Him and
Speaker 1: Hunter Green two years ago, two of the most sought
Speaker 1: after young pitching prospects, and I think everybody's kind of
Speaker 1: cooled on them. And I think Lodolo has an opportunity
Speaker 1: to really put it all together this year and make
Speaker 1: a fair amount of starts this year for the Reds. Again,
Speaker 1: to me, breakouts about volume as much as it is
Speaker 1: about talent. I think the talent is there. I think
Speaker 1: you know, he's beaten around a little bit, had some
Speaker 1: injuries he had to deal with too. A healthy Nick
Speaker 1: Lodolo refocused, I think a little bit more experienced is
Speaker 1: a better version. He just needs the opportunity now, and
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna get that with the Reds in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four as the season goes on, and of
Speaker 1: course with Pittsburgh. I mean it's O'Neal Cruise and I
Speaker 1: say breakout because as good as that first year was
Speaker 1: in terms of wetting the appetite for us, we haven't
Speaker 1: seen what Cruz can really do. A thirty thirty season
Speaker 1: is possible for this player. I'm not quite as high
Speaker 1: as Welsh's on Cruise. I still think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of swing and miss that always bothers me with players,
Speaker 1: but it's hard not to be excited about the breakout potential.
Speaker 1: So those are my guys in the National League Central Welsh,
Speaker 1: which one stands out to you?
Speaker 2: Wow? Oh, you know Cruiz clearly. I will tell you
Speaker 2: I did. I have a futures bet on him for
Speaker 2: just season home run totals. I think it's quite low,
Speaker 2: twenty four and a half. I smacked the over put
Speaker 2: a couple units on it for a nice little fun
Speaker 2: season bet to follow. But he's the obvious one. He's
Speaker 2: like one of my favorite players to follow. Every time
Speaker 2: he hits a massive homer, I get the tweets and
Speaker 2: I love it because you know, he's a guy that
Speaker 2: I'm drafting, and yes they're strikeout issues, but it's just
Speaker 2: like risk reward that's going on here. What is unique
Speaker 2: about him is to your point, like we talk so much,
Speaker 2: we've talked so much about him for like three years
Speaker 2: or two and a half years, we haven't had a season.
Speaker 2: We haven't had a breakout at all. So that's why,
Speaker 2: like he is eligible for this all of the things
Speaker 2: I would add, you know, with Surio, I'm fine with Suri.
Speaker 2: I just I think there's questions I've draft I just
Speaker 2: drafted him in DC actually last night. I think there's
Speaker 2: there's just questions on does he struggle and iverse that
Speaker 2: with his manager Pat Murphy, who doesn't put up with
Speaker 2: a lot, Like I don't know if I don't know
Speaker 2: how long the leash will be with Pat Murphy. So
Speaker 2: that's what I worry about. But Michael Bush is probably
Speaker 2: one of my favorites. He's on my draft list. I
Speaker 2: think we had the Welsh draft cheat sheet over on
Speaker 2: Fantasy Pros Final people doing drafts here. But I love
Speaker 2: it because they kind of made the commitment to him.
Speaker 2: They pushed Pete frow Armstrong out who you know, defensively
Speaker 2: is a top notch, top notch center fielder. Bellinger is
Speaker 2: going to man that to some degree. He might come
Speaker 2: over to place them first. But they've got DH and
Speaker 2: they've got first base for Michael Bush to play around with.
Speaker 2: I'd also say, I'm not saying that will do this,
Speaker 2: but possibility if Chris Morel just absolutely stunk at third base,
Speaker 2: like that's where Michael Busch was before. So there's some
Speaker 2: good flexibility. I think he can hit for fine average
Speaker 2: big power numbers are out there. I'm very into the
Speaker 2: Michael Bush one. I like that one.
Speaker 1: All right. So moving on to the West side, let's
Speaker 1: start with the American League West Welsh. Who do you
Speaker 1: have here for each of these teams to possibly break
Speaker 1: out in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 2: All right, so this guy kind of did a breakout
Speaker 2: but then faltered on the back half of the year.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with the Houston Astros. I'm going
Speaker 2: to go back to Hunter Brown. I think Hunter Brown
Speaker 2: gets established this year. Carries over his spring has been
Speaker 2: pretty dang nice. He's actually tapered back the strikeouts, and
Speaker 2: this is going to be something to watch in season.
Speaker 2: This is only spring stuff, but he's tapered back the
Speaker 2: strikeouts in favor of also lower walk numbers. Only walked
Speaker 2: two p nine so far. He's had a sub three
Speaker 2: ERA in Spring again, spring numbers, blah blah blah, but
Speaker 2: it's been good performances. Hunter Brown a disciple of Justin Verlander.
Speaker 2: You know, always there's similarities in that game. The consistency
Speaker 2: I think can get locked in this year. This Astro
Speaker 2: team is a great Astros team. They've got a really
Speaker 2: good rotation and Hunter Brown is ready to put in
Speaker 2: a full season and I think you're going to see
Speaker 2: that consistency. I think he is going to be a
Speaker 2: pretty big payoff here. We might be looking at him.
Speaker 2: We legit might be looking him as the number two
Speaker 2: fantasy pitcher from this team, and that does say a
Speaker 2: lot for the Houston Astros. Moving down to the Seattle Mariners,
Speaker 2: he is not joining the Splitter mafia, but he will
Speaker 2: join this breakout list. We're gonna go with Brian Woo,
Speaker 2: Brian wu all the time. Fifth starter seems locked up.
Speaker 2: What was one of my biggest worries I kept annoyingly
Speaker 2: talking about was like, I'm a little worried that this
Speaker 2: team might go out and get Blake Snell, and that
Speaker 2: might either a make Wu kind of a sixth man
Speaker 2: rotation y type of guy or make him expendable in general.
Speaker 2: That wasn't the case. They have him seems committed. He
Speaker 2: definitely has one of the best fastballs in baseball. It's
Speaker 2: gonna be interesting to see his growth because and my joke,
Speaker 2: by the way, with the splitter mafia was I asked him,
Speaker 2: was he going to join all those other guys They tinker,
Speaker 2: Kirby and Gilbert and Bryce Miller. They tinker, they add pitches.
Speaker 2: Bryce Miller's putting more gyro into his slider and he's
Speaker 2: doing split fingers, and Wu is just like he wants
Speaker 2: to continue doing his thing as ball slider pump the zone.
Speaker 2: He just has to know who you are.
Speaker 1: As a pitcher, you know, I mean looking remember when
Speaker 1: the Yankees tried to tell Sonny Gray who he was
Speaker 1: as a pitcher. How that worked out, and Sonny Gray's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is not who I am. We said, we don't
Speaker 1: want you to throw this pitch, and he said, I
Speaker 1: want to throw this pitch. And he struggled as the
Speaker 1: Yankee and then as soon as he left he was
Speaker 1: good again. I mean it was crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Diamondbacks used to do that with teams back in
Speaker 2: the day. They like wouldn't let him them throw. I
Speaker 2: think cutters and like players throw cutter. You don't want
Speaker 2: to take those completely away. So Brian Wu, I think
Speaker 2: it's good offensive support. We've talked about good defensive support
Speaker 2: as well, ballpark factor. We've talked about the Mariners getting
Speaker 2: in some wins this year, and Brian Wu is going
Speaker 2: to be pretty sneaky adp outside the top two hundred.
Speaker 2: It's kind of cheap, but he might be like how
Speaker 2: Bryce Miller was a skyrocketing player. So I think he's
Speaker 2: lined up for a pretty big breakout. This is probably
Speaker 2: the biggest name. This is my version of your O'Neil
Speaker 2: Cruz where we roll our eyes and we're like, okay, guys,
Speaker 2: we get it. You say, O'Neil Cruz, I say, why
Speaker 2: at Langford you put Churi on this as well? You
Speaker 2: look at that team. There's guys that are getting opportunities.
Speaker 2: Justin Foscue, you could get some opportunities this year. You know,
Speaker 2: there's a couple other rookies that are kind of floating
Speaker 2: around that you might you might see more Ezekiel derand
Speaker 2: but White Langford, the breakout is ready. Everybody saw what
Speaker 2: happened in the spring, tippy top of the home run board.
Speaker 2: He's been with the majors this entire time. As we're
Speaker 2: recording that, they just haven't announced where you know him
Speaker 2: being on the opening day roster. But we're gonna get it.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get it, and White Langford is gonna hit
Speaker 2: high in the order. He's gonna surpass Evan Carter this
Speaker 2: year to being the more valuable of those guys and
Speaker 2: probably put himself in as Rookie of the Year. So
Speaker 2: because he has not never had the chance, he hasn't
Speaker 2: had a major league at bat in the majors. Here,
Speaker 2: the breakout is just gonna start from day one. We're
Speaker 2: gonna get Wyatt Langford. Number two. Nolan Shanwell struggle with
Speaker 2: his name. This is a funny one because like he's
Speaker 2: not being drafted in a lot of spots, and this
Speaker 2: was the guy that in the same season, within a month,
Speaker 2: I saw him in his like second pro game in
Speaker 2: complex ball next to my house in rookie ball. A
Speaker 2: month later he's in the major leagues. It's phenomenal. He
Speaker 2: makes tons of great contact, patient hitter, advanced hitter so
Speaker 2: much he can get to the majors. But there's been
Speaker 2: no power to speak of bad hard hit numbers in general.
Speaker 2: But he's been working on it. We're starting to see
Speaker 2: that the ball get in the air a little bit more.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say that he is gonna go from one
Speaker 2: of those guys that we weren't drafting to we're picking
Speaker 2: up in season and holding because he's gonna hit up
Speaker 2: the tippy top of the lineup, might be leading off.
Speaker 2: If he can get up to fifteen homer power, he's
Speaker 2: gonna make him. It's kind of gonna be YONDI diaz
Speaker 2: Ish where it's like, you know, they're making tons of contact,
Speaker 2: batting average is good, he might be scoring a bunch
Speaker 2: of runs. He's just got to get a little bit
Speaker 2: more in the counting stats. I think he's gonna be
Speaker 2: a little bit more aggressive this year. He's ready to
Speaker 2: break out. And then finally I'm going to the Oakland,
Speaker 2: Las Vegas, maybe Utah. I don't know where are they
Speaker 2: gonna go. Where they gonna play. There was a rumor
Speaker 2: that they would play out here in May, said ho
Speaker 2: Ho com their spring training facility. They don't have a place.
Speaker 2: I don't know where they'll play, but it's gonna be
Speaker 2: with Mason Miller breaking out. Mason Miller kind of like
Speaker 2: this Copek thing. I actually weirdly put two players that
Speaker 2: are closers in here. But Mason Miller looks like he
Speaker 2: is destined for the bullpen. This team is not giving
Speaker 2: him the commitment to a rotation spot. They want him
Speaker 2: in the bullpen. There's no reason from day one to
Speaker 2: not put him in the ninth inning. Dropping one oh
Speaker 2: one one oh two could be a devastating closer for
Speaker 2: this team. He is ready for that breakout. He'll have
Speaker 2: a full season, but it's gonna be about sixty or
Speaker 2: seventy innings in the bullpen. You might get twenty five saves.
Speaker 2: Plus he's being drafted really late. He's gonna be a
Speaker 2: big breakout. His stuff has top ten closer potential for sure.
Speaker 2: So Mason Miller will be my pick for the A's.
Speaker 1: Look, I'm gonna keep this simple. All the players are
Speaker 1: gonna talk about today in terms of breakout potential. It's
Speaker 1: why at Langford for me and everybody else, Like, that's
Speaker 1: how I feel about Langford and that's and that's including
Speaker 1: on your cruz. In this conversation, Langford is just hitting
Speaker 1: lasers everywhere. He is just mashing the bar and so
Speaker 1: locked in. And it is only spring, and you have
Speaker 1: to take that with a grain of salt. But it's
Speaker 1: not like he didn't do it in college. It's not
Speaker 1: like he didn't do in the minor leagues. It's not
Speaker 1: like he has basically just smashed balls everywhere every time
Speaker 1: he's got the opportunity, like he has gone. He's starting
Speaker 1: to fly up draft boards, especially towards the end of
Speaker 1: drafts here. The cost, especially in those salary cap leagues,
Speaker 1: has gone off the charts, almost to the point where
Speaker 1: it's nearly untenable. But I will say, if you are
Speaker 1: in more casual leagues and you could be just a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive on him, I'd be very surprised
Speaker 1: if he did not deliver on the ADP, even if
Speaker 1: it is more aggressive by two rounds even three rounds,
Speaker 1: Like I know that sounds crazy, Like why do I
Speaker 1: want to go three rounds above on a player? If
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go three rounds or maybe even four rounds
Speaker 1: above on a player, it's why at Langford and I
Speaker 1: don't think that's a hot take because I think the
Speaker 1: potential there for him, especially in this batting order, which
Speaker 1: could be a very good order when Corey seekers healthy
Speaker 1: and what Simeon's done so consistently last three years. You know,
Speaker 1: Nate Lowe getting healthier too, hopefully sooner than later. It's
Speaker 1: a good lineup and Langford being smacked down somewhere in
Speaker 1: the middle of it. Man like I am very excited
Speaker 1: about for Langfort's potential. All Right, National League West, let's
Speaker 1: wrap things up here. The Dodgers and get Stone. I
Speaker 1: would love to put Emmet she Han on this list,
Speaker 1: but she ended struggle last year except for the very
Speaker 1: end of the year. Last two starts were good, but
Speaker 1: I don't want to take too much out of that.
Speaker 1: He's hurt right now. So it's between those two guys.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with Stone because I do think there's
Speaker 1: gonna be opportunities. James Paxton never pitches for a long
Speaker 1: period of time, Clayton Kershaw's not coming back until August.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be starts available. I mean, Tyler glasst now
Speaker 1: hasn't exactly been Nolan Ryan in terms of durability in
Speaker 1: his career. So at some point in time, and we
Speaker 1: know ya Momoto did not get off to the best
Speaker 1: start here potentially, I don't want to overreact to that either,
Speaker 1: but Stone, I think, as I mentioned earlier, opportunity is
Speaker 1: what you need for a breakout. I know Welsh has
Speaker 1: not been in love with this pitcher in the past,
Speaker 1: but he has certainly proven that he's worthy of the opportunity.
Speaker 1: And if the Dodgers are anything close to what they
Speaker 1: can be, Stone's gonna have win potential, some quality star
Speaker 1: potential in there too if he can get into the
Speaker 1: sixth inning. So he's an intriguing guy to me with
Speaker 1: the potential breakout. And it's hard to get on the
Speaker 1: Dodgers because so many of these guys are already stars.
Speaker 1: Look for a guy that isn't a star yet but
Speaker 1: could potentially be a breakout. Stone could be that guy.
Speaker 1: The next guy is starting pitcher Kyle Harrison, who I
Speaker 1: absolutely have fallen in love with this draft season. The
Speaker 1: ADP is great. Harrison is a picture right now who
Speaker 1: has really just been dominant this spring. Eleven strikeouts in
Speaker 1: nine innings, a one point nine to three ERA over
Speaker 1: those nine innings, a one point one to seven Whip
Speaker 1: and Welsh. The giant signing of Blake Snell, I think
Speaker 1: is such an important thing here because now you're pushing
Speaker 1: Harrison to the middle of the back of this rotation.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have to carry the weight here. You've got
Speaker 1: Logan Webb, you've got Blake Snell, you got your two
Speaker 1: horses up front. I think mentally that takes always a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure off young pitchers, and Harrison has been fantastic.
Speaker 1: So that's a guy that I've been trying to be
Speaker 1: more aggressive on. Jackson Merrill starting for the San Diego Padres.
Speaker 1: Opportunity there, talent there. Welsh has gone on and on
Speaker 1: about Merrill, and you know what, He's right. It's a
Speaker 1: player that qualifies a shortstop, but he's gonna play the outfield,
Speaker 1: so flexibility's going to be there. By the time we
Speaker 1: turn the page to April into man, Meryl's gonna qualify
Speaker 1: probably both of those spots. That's huge, good contact guy. Again,
Speaker 1: where he hits in the order is a matter of
Speaker 1: how hard hot he stays, so let's keep that in mind.
Speaker 1: And the last two are gonna be easy here with Arizona,
Speaker 1: it's Brandon Fott he has that potential to be the
Speaker 1: breakout guy. I don't think he had the breakout last year.
Speaker 1: I think he showed you the potential last year. This
Speaker 1: is the year where breakout could be. He's got to
Speaker 1: find more consistency, Kenny carry over what he did last
Speaker 1: year at the end of the year and in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Welsh is confident that he can. I'm confident he can
Speaker 1: as well. That's gonna be huge if they're gonna continue
Speaker 1: to compete with the big boys. And let me tell you,
Speaker 1: this division is red hot. The Giants are for real,
Speaker 1: they are in it. They spent money this offseason. Snell
Speaker 1: is a big addition, a huge addition the Padres. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you that Padre's rotation is gonna be very good.
Speaker 1: The batting order is still very good. And lastly, here
Speaker 1: you know Arizona Diamondbacks. We already know about the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: but the d Backs are gonna be in this so
Speaker 1: Fot's gonna have to step up his game to compete
Speaker 1: in this division. And lastly, Ezekiel Tovar, our guy that
Speaker 1: we've been hype up here, Welsh has kind of come
Speaker 1: to my side on this one, which is great. For
Speaker 1: a change. I love this. Tlvar was a player who
Speaker 1: struggled in his first season. He's twenty one years old.
Speaker 1: He's still very young. He has put the work in.
Speaker 1: I've seen some interviews with him too, very encourage about
Speaker 1: how he handles himself. He was also really recognizing what
Speaker 1: went wrong for him last year, and I think self
Speaker 1: evaluation for young players is something you don't see often.
Speaker 1: And I'm always excited when a young player says, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, I got to get back to making
Speaker 1: more hard contact. I got to get back to not
Speaker 1: striking out, putting the ball in play a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I've really worked on that this offseason and kind
Speaker 1: of fixing some things that I used to do well
Speaker 1: in the minor leagues that I kind of got out
Speaker 1: of whack in the major leagues. And you know what,
Speaker 1: that's a kind of player that's going to have success.
Speaker 1: He's got power. He plays in Colorado, the stats are
Speaker 1: going to be even if he's mediocre, a little bit
Speaker 1: better than mediocre. I think he's got potential to be
Speaker 1: really good. One of my favorite late shortstop, especially if
Speaker 1: you are playing in leagues with middle infielders. So the
Speaker 1: West looks really good here Stone Harrison, Merrill Fott, and
Speaker 1: Tovar Welsh who stands out to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he nailed all of these. These are
Speaker 2: really good ones, obviously, you know. I think Meryl's been
Speaker 2: one I've been preaching for quite some time, and he
Speaker 2: did make the opening day roster and he did he
Speaker 2: did get to see a few hits, which was really wild.
Speaker 2: I mean, people are gonna get to see the this
Speaker 2: is the guy, big plate presence. Hopefully he doesn't become
Speaker 2: like Nolan Shanwell last year where it's just a bunch
Speaker 2: of contact and nothing else. But he's got the opportunity
Speaker 2: to move up in that lineup. And then Brandon Fott
Speaker 2: is one that you know, listen Homer or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: He was phenomenal in the World Series and in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and I do hope that that's going to carry over.
Speaker 2: I think he's got a lot of the tools for
Speaker 2: that to carry over full workload of being a major
Speaker 2: leaguer in camps this year, I think he's in line
Speaker 2: for a big one. And both of the costs are
Speaker 2: really great. So Jackson, Marilyn Brandon fought probably my favorite
Speaker 2: breakouts that you put on the NL West my division mine.
Speaker 1: There you go. And you know who I also could
Speaker 1: throw out there is it extra credit in who's had
Speaker 1: a really good spring too? I know Cross was just
Speaker 1: talking about him. Also is Luis Matos in this division too?
Speaker 1: That's another guy too who again like, don't forget about
Speaker 1: these guys like Jordan Walker. We love Jordan Walker. Oh
Speaker 1: he doesn't become what we want him in the year one.
Speaker 1: We throw them away. Don't throw away these guys. Matos
Speaker 1: is another guy having a great spring. Gay attention. I
Speaker 1: almost picked him, but Harrison's been so good and pitching
Speaker 1: is you know, so hard to find and I think
Speaker 1: that's the way. But his extra credit one. But we
Speaker 1: want to hear from you. Who are the potential breakouts
Speaker 1: that you love in twenty twenty four? Comment below on
Speaker 1: this video. And by the way, I just realized at
Speaker 1: the end of the show, we're we match today. We
Speaker 1: both wore fantas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got shirt. Look at it.
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