Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 1: This is episode four one three. My name is Brad Rowland.
Speaker 1: I'm joined on a Sunday evening of a good friend,
Speaker 1: Scott Coleman. Scott, it's not quite the first half, because
Speaker 1: it's more than a half, but it's the All Star
Speaker 1: break man. How are you hello, Brad? I'm doing all right.
Speaker 2: You know, this has been a wild ride to this
Speaker 2: point for the Atlanta Braves. Of course, the first two
Speaker 2: and a half months or so of the year were
Speaker 2: nearly perfect and the last six weeks have made us
Speaker 2: want to pull off of our hair out and just
Speaker 2: some frustrating games, but the Braves did find a way
Speaker 2: to salvage the series finale on Sunday. So the vibes
Speaker 2: going into the break are nice after a win over
Speaker 2: the Cardinals, and you know what, sure, there are some
Speaker 2: real problems with this team, some concerns going forward. But
Speaker 2: to be objective, if you would have told us on
Speaker 2: opening day as the boys took the field, and you
Speaker 2: would have said, hey, Brad Rowland, the Braves are going
Speaker 2: to be fifty five and forty at the break and
Speaker 2: they will have a two game division lead. I think
Speaker 2: you would obviously take it, and let's just hope that
Speaker 2: they start to play better, because we know since about
Speaker 2: the first week of June it's been a steady decline
Speaker 2: ever since that really great start.
Speaker 1: I strongly agree with that premise that I would have
Speaker 1: taken fifty five and forty and I want to talk
Speaker 1: more about the state of affairs right now, but first
Speaker 1: let us mix it up. Engineered by our friends at
Speaker 1: fasten All Scott, there's like fifty nine percent of the
Speaker 1: season in the books right now, edging towards sixty, nearing
Speaker 1: one hundred games. The Braves record is strong. They are
Speaker 1: not playing well for the last five weeks, six weeks
Speaker 1: something like that, so all that kind of bumps into
Speaker 1: each other. You could say, if you want it to
Speaker 1: be an optimist, which I rarely am, but I'm capable
Speaker 1: of it. They did win three the last five heading
Speaker 1: into the break, it was kind of a up and
Speaker 1: down roller coaster, and you and I joke before we
Speaker 1: started recording, but it's one hundred percent true. The vibes are,
Speaker 1: you know, clearly better than they would have been had
Speaker 1: they lost today. As we'll discuss more in depth later
Speaker 1: on in the podcast. But the division lead is what
Speaker 1: it is. I want to start with something that's intentionally broad,
Speaker 1: but also we'll kind of maybe tell the story of
Speaker 1: how you feel beyond the record. I looked it up
Speaker 1: just now. Our friends at Fangrafts are giving the Braves
Speaker 1: a fifty six point seven percent chance to win the
Speaker 1: division as of right this second, on Sunday evening, July twelfth,
Speaker 1: and it's ninety point five percent to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Part of that's I'm sure the Phillies have a negative
Speaker 1: run differential, which is insane for a team that is
Speaker 1: like ten or eleven games or five hundred. But putting
Speaker 1: that to the side, I'll just ask you, does that
Speaker 1: seem right to you? Which you picked the Braves to
Speaker 1: win the division knowing what we know so far they're
Speaker 1: in the lead. The recent performance is much more toward
Speaker 1: the Phillies. I'm filibustering to have you think about this.
Speaker 1: What say you on July twelfth?
Speaker 2: Man, you really put me on the spot. I mean,
Speaker 2: if if I didn't know the Fangrafts odds, I would
Speaker 2: say it's like fifty to fifty for the division, and
Speaker 2: I would say it's you know, eighty five ninety percent
Speaker 2: that they make the playoffs. I will say my answer
Speaker 2: will be significantly influenced based on how the next three
Speaker 2: weeks go with the trade deadline. If it's a quiet deadline,
Speaker 2: then I would obviously be very concerned because I don't
Speaker 2: think the roster of available players is good enough to
Speaker 2: get there. I don't think you would be able to
Speaker 2: win the division. Maybe they could get into like the
Speaker 2: second or third world card spot, but man, it would
Speaker 2: be very thin and if they don't make reinforcements at
Speaker 2: the deadline. That being said, I do think they're going
Speaker 2: to make some kind of acquisitions in the next few weeks.
Speaker 2: But you know what, it's those numbers feel right to me,
Speaker 2: just one more time. Ninety percent on playoffs, fifty six
Speaker 2: percent of winning the division. I do think the Phillies
Speaker 2: are a good team, but they have run impossibly hot
Speaker 2: in like one run games. They have the best record
Speaker 2: in one run games by a mile in the majors.
Speaker 2: That's something I think generally will aggress with time. And
Speaker 2: on the other hand, the Braves have been pretty poor
Speaker 2: in one run games and in extra innings and things
Speaker 2: like that. But at the same time, not to be
Speaker 2: a broken record. There are very obvious, glaring problems with
Speaker 2: this roster right now. I would like to think they're
Speaker 2: going to be addressed, But until I see those transactions
Speaker 2: come across, I think Braves fans everywhere should naturally kind
Speaker 2: of have.
Speaker 1: Their guard up. Yeah, and you know, we'll be the
Speaker 1: first to say, we look at the data and the
Speaker 1: results matter. Like all those wins that the Braves got
Speaker 1: that maybe they didn't necessarily you know, earns the wrong word,
Speaker 1: they weren't playing quite as well as that, they all
Speaker 1: still count, and the Phillies wins still count, even though,
Speaker 1: like you said, the Phillies are nineteen and six in
Speaker 1: one run games and they're four and three dextra innings.
Speaker 1: The Braves, by contrast, are eleven and thirteen in one
Speaker 1: run games and two and five extra innings. That's how
Speaker 1: you lead to a you could say expected or pythagoree.
Speaker 1: And if you want to get super advanced. When you
Speaker 1: look at the run differentials, the Braves are like ten
Speaker 1: games ahead of the Phillies and all of these expected standings.
Speaker 1: But yet that doesn't matter right now. I mean, it
Speaker 1: might be an indicator I tend to think, and that
Speaker 1: I would pick the Braves to win the division in
Speaker 1: part because of that, I think if you look at
Speaker 1: the team quality, it's fair to say the team quality
Speaker 1: at this very moment, without Ronald and without a lot
Speaker 1: of the rotation stuff like, is not as good as
Speaker 1: it would have been a few weeks ago. But I
Speaker 1: think I would still probably take the Braves to win
Speaker 1: the division, given the two game lead, given the underlying data,
Speaker 1: given that Ronald will be back fairly soon, and Robert,
Speaker 1: as we discussed many times, Robert, Robert Suarez, like Alex,
Speaker 1: has to do it. But the Braves do have money
Speaker 1: that we know is available for them to spend at
Speaker 1: the deadline, Like it would be a little bit, don't.
Speaker 1: I don't tend to forecast trades as much like I
Speaker 1: don't bank on them. Trades are always hard to make
Speaker 1: and people tend to underestimate that. But can you imagine
Speaker 1: Alex trying to explain not making moves post deadline this
Speaker 1: time around, when everyone which by the way, he did
Speaker 1: this to himself too, because he when they talked about profar,
Speaker 1: he explained that, like, hey, we can use this money
Speaker 1: at the deadline to add to add to the team,
Speaker 1: and that's one hundred percent true, he's not lying, but
Speaker 1: if they don't use it, it would be tough to sell,
Speaker 1: so they have a much easier Like this is the
Speaker 1: one time I think where I would actually kind of
Speaker 1: bank on them, adding I don't know what they're gonna
Speaker 1: do to add, but like I will be honestly shocked
Speaker 1: if they don't add some pretty something decently significant. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'll be wrong, and I'm usually the skeptic on this stuff,
Speaker 1: but because of the money thing more than anything else,
Speaker 1: Like I think they just have money. Bring a hole
Speaker 1: in their pocket that they're going to have to spend.
Speaker 2: If Alex Nthopolis does not make a handful of moves
Speaker 2: at the deadline, he is going to get eviscerated by everybody, fans, media,
Speaker 2: I mean us this podcast. Oh man, if we get
Speaker 2: through the deadline and like there was like one half
Speaker 2: asked move, we will go nuclear on him because there's
Speaker 2: no excuse. They have the money, they have a farm
Speaker 2: system that's had a phenomenal last year or so. We're
Speaker 2: also going to talk about the draft hall in a
Speaker 2: minute and be sure to stick around for that. But
Speaker 2: Alex will get eviscerated if he does not go out
Speaker 2: and make moves. That being said, that does not mean
Speaker 2: that he has to go out and acquire kerk Scouoble
Speaker 2: and Jordan Alvarez and our oldest Chapman in the next
Speaker 2: three weeks. I know that's that's unfair expectations, but you
Speaker 2: can't tell me that with the money and prospects available
Speaker 2: to him, that he couldn't go out and in earnest
Speaker 2: really give this team a chance. Add a good number
Speaker 2: two starter to really stabilize the rotation. Add maybe a
Speaker 2: right handed bat, left handed bat. Again, I'm not looking
Speaker 2: for your Don Alvarez or a superstar Xyz, but you know,
Speaker 2: like a good left handed hitting outfielder in a good
Speaker 2: right handed platoon bat would do wonders for this lineup
Speaker 2: right now. Those are things that you can acquire without
Speaker 2: having to give up Eric Hartman, Cam Kaminetti and Tate
Speaker 2: South the scene. So sure, there's an excuse, there's a
Speaker 2: reason to not make any drade that comes across your desk,
Speaker 2: But I really, I mean man alive. If Alex is
Speaker 2: not aggressive and doesn't try to give this team a
Speaker 2: chance after the down past couple of years this team
Speaker 2: has had, it's it's gonna be ugly hours, and I
Speaker 2: really hope we don't get to that point.
Speaker 1: I agree, and I mean, I'm not even gonna argue
Speaker 1: with you. I think that there have been times in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years where I'll say I am
Speaker 1: not we I have been accused of being a little
Speaker 1: softer on Alex than some and I think Alex is
Speaker 1: a good executive and that seems to be like controversial
Speaker 1: in some circles. But even I would say, like, you
Speaker 1: can't not add, you just can't. This is not a
Speaker 1: situation where you can't. I mean, if they were out
Speaker 1: of it like they were last year, sure can get
Speaker 1: away with it then, but that's not gonna be the case.
Speaker 1: Even if the Braves lose every game for the next
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks, they won't be out of
Speaker 1: it at that point in time.
Speaker 2: So even twenty twenty four, you know, the only move
Speaker 2: was Jorge Solayer and Luke Jackson, and they didn't really
Speaker 2: give anything up to acquire those guys. But that team
Speaker 2: had just a laundry list of injuries that were kind
Speaker 2: of limping. There was tough like I understood in twenty
Speaker 2: four that was not a great roster, Like there were
Speaker 2: some real issues with the construction. That's not the case
Speaker 2: for this year's team, and like there's even though this
Speaker 2: team has issues, there are still some really strong components
Speaker 2: of a October team that can go deep in the
Speaker 2: playoffs if a few things click and if and the
Speaker 2: ball bounces their way. But you have to go out
Speaker 2: and make a couple of moves to give a team
Speaker 2: a chance.
Speaker 1: For sure, I totally agree, and we wanted to go
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger picture that we normally would at
Speaker 1: the top of this podcast. Because it is an All
Speaker 1: Star break, it's a natural reset point. We do have
Speaker 1: the draft talk about, and that's been busy the last
Speaker 1: couple days, and for the life of me, I don't
Speaker 1: know why the drafts happened on Saturday in the middle
Speaker 1: of games and a kinds of things. That's that's baffling
Speaker 1: to me and others. But regardless, the Braves are in
Speaker 1: a good spot. It doesn't may not feel that way.
Speaker 1: We've been the first to rack on the team for
Speaker 1: the last five weeks or so. We're basically, as people
Speaker 1: listen to this on Monday will be three weeks away
Speaker 1: from the deadline exactly. It's Monday, August third, it's three
Speaker 1: weeks away, so it's power to the medal from this
Speaker 1: point forward, with the probable exception of the next few
Speaker 1: days when everybody kind of takes a reset around the
Speaker 1: All Star Game. But yeah, good time, TikTok. We're feeling decent.
Speaker 1: We're not We're not feeling as be as we were
Speaker 1: a month ago. That's that would be impossible to even
Speaker 1: salt to ourselves. But uh, I pick you the Raves
Speaker 1: to win the division. Scott definitely hedged way more than
Speaker 1: I did. I want that out there right now on
Speaker 1: the record, Scott Scott was hedging, and I was not
Speaker 1: just saying that out loud. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2: I will say they make I will say they win
Speaker 2: the division. It's going to be a lot of butt
Speaker 2: clenching and a lot of cover your eyes and say
Speaker 2: your prayer. I'll say they win the division by a
Speaker 2: game or two. Maybe that's the blind fan optimist in me.
Speaker 2: And again I think I reserve the right to change
Speaker 2: my opinion based on the trade.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, look there, we don't have to
Speaker 1: do the blind fan thing. All you have to do
Speaker 1: if you want to just have a totem poll to
Speaker 1: lean on The Braves have a They Brace have been
Speaker 1: one hundred and two runs better than the Phillies this season.
Speaker 1: The Braves are plus ninety two. The Phillies are minus ten.
Speaker 1: Even if they were if you think we're being homers,
Speaker 1: that's fine. That number tells you something. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it tells you, but it tells you. There has
Speaker 1: been better than the Phillies the season so far, whether
Speaker 1: the standing say that or not. So there you go.
Speaker 1: We've reset things, Scott. We're fifty seven, what say, fifty
Speaker 1: nine percent of the way through the season. There's you know,
Speaker 1: there's games. There's no more nor more games till Friday.
Speaker 1: It's four days with people getting in fights. You know,
Speaker 1: you and I can laugh about this now. There will
Speaker 1: be a lot of social media fights over the next
Speaker 1: four days, and you have the Brace have an off day.
Speaker 1: Something happens where people getting mad at each other. Now
Speaker 1: you have four days of that. So they play again
Speaker 1: on Friday, so buckle up for that.
Speaker 2: Well and fans aside, let's hope on a serious note
Speaker 2: that the boys are able to enjoy the next four
Speaker 2: days off. You know, you do have a couple of
Speaker 2: guys is going to Philadelphia for the All Star Game.
Speaker 2: But yeah, enjoy yourself, get away from the game, you know,
Speaker 2: mental reset, physical reset. Do whatever makes you happy. Spend
Speaker 2: time with your family, your kids, go to the lake,
Speaker 2: go to the beach, go on a mini vacation, anywhere
Speaker 2: in the world, as long as you're back at seven
Speaker 2: to fifteen pm on Friday afternoon or Friday night. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but let's just kind of reset. You have four days
Speaker 2: away from the game, and then let's get back to
Speaker 2: winning baseball games the way we saw this team win
Speaker 2: so many of them the first couple of months of
Speaker 2: the year.
Speaker 1: That's well said. And in moments we'll talk about the
Speaker 1: MLB Draft because there's a lot of discuss there. First,
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Speaker 1: All right, Scott let us discuss the twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: MLB draft, which again happened this weekend in the middle
Speaker 1: of games and things. We always give this disclaimer. I
Speaker 1: feel like we have to do it right now, neither
Speaker 1: you nor I. I don't want to speak for you,
Speaker 1: but I think I can in this one. Are MLB
Speaker 1: draft experts. We're not grinding tape on high school film
Speaker 1: or college film. Maybe maybe you have been in the
Speaker 1: last few days. Scott maybe I'm wrong about this. Have
Speaker 1: you been watching every single prospect?
Speaker 2: I have been watching every single prospect who had his
Speaker 2: name called by the Atlanta Braves in the last forty
Speaker 2: eight outs. But other than that, no, I lean on
Speaker 2: people smarter than me, And look, we are fortunate there
Speaker 2: are some phenomenal people in Braves Country who follow the draft,
Speaker 2: follow the minor leagues. We also have friends at Baseball
Speaker 2: America who do this for their you know, the their
Speaker 2: bread and butter is the MLB Draft. So always like
Speaker 2: to hear from those folks and get their opinions on
Speaker 2: how the Braves did in the draft.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it is. We're cramming like everybody else is. Now.
Speaker 1: We intentionally talk to Carl's Claso Baseball America, former co
Speaker 1: host of ours last week on the show to got
Speaker 1: to get a little bit of a preview of things,
Speaker 1: and he actually kind of called a shot on a
Speaker 1: guy that we'll talk about in a second when he
Speaker 1: brought up a player that we asked them about. But yeah,
Speaker 1: Rave reviews, I mean, that's I don't want to It's
Speaker 1: not I'm not trying to shift to focus to anybody
Speaker 1: else other than us, But like people that I trust
Speaker 1: more than I trust myself on this. Really liked what
Speaker 1: the Braves have done over the last couple of days,
Speaker 1: and I do take stock in that. I do take
Speaker 1: some solace in that it makes sense to me. They
Speaker 1: made five picks in the first four rounds. They went
Speaker 1: two outfielders and then three high school pitchers back to
Speaker 1: back to back. Every time the Braves go probably under
Speaker 1: slot anywhere. Some fans get really angry about that as
Speaker 1: and call them cheap or something, even though they're spending
Speaker 1: the exact amount of money that everybody else is spending.
Speaker 1: It's not a cost savings thing, it's it's a strategy thing.
Speaker 1: But I guess we should just start at the number
Speaker 1: nine overall pick, which is outfielder from Virginia, AJ Grossia.
Speaker 1: Is that what we're going with on that pronunciation? Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that accurate? Scott?
Speaker 2: I believe I watched some clips of AJ Grossia. Yeah, really,
Speaker 2: I mean an advanced hitter, and I think that's absolutely
Speaker 2: why Grossia found himself in the top ten advanced hit
Speaker 2: tool has a good looking swing from the left side.
Speaker 2: It's pretty pure, and all three years he was at
Speaker 2: Virginia and then he was a duke all three years
Speaker 2: he earned All ACC honors, was a big time performer,
Speaker 2: had more walks than strikeouts this past year, hits for power,
Speaker 2: hits for average, So if you're looking for that carrying tool.
Speaker 2: While he's still a pretty well rounded prospect overall, Grossia
Speaker 2: can really hit the ball. And I know Matt Powers
Speaker 2: who covers the draft for Battery Power, and Matt's been
Speaker 2: on our podcast before. Matt was like over the moon
Speaker 2: for the pick of AJ Grossia. There's also a chance
Speaker 2: that he will sign for a little bit less than
Speaker 2: the slot bonus amount for the pick at number nine,
Speaker 2: which only helps because then you could add more high
Speaker 2: school talent that tends to cost a little bit more
Speaker 2: in the later rounds. But again, I don't want to
Speaker 2: pretend like I was watching all of five hundred of
Speaker 2: AJ Grossia's college played appearances. But people who are smarter
Speaker 2: than us and who follow this really like him. And he
Speaker 2: came in at number fourteen on Baseball America's big Board
Speaker 2: coming into the draft. Yeah yeah, and that saving us
Speaker 2: could be the way that they are able to sign
Speaker 2: for instance, Jensen hirsch Corn and we'll talk about in
Speaker 2: a second, a guy who's committed to a big program
Speaker 2: at LSU, like who probably is gonna cost more than
Speaker 2: that pick slot will cost.
Speaker 1: That's it's all strategic. It's not cost savings. They're gonna
Speaker 1: spend all the money that they can. I promise you
Speaker 1: they'll spend every time that they're allowed to spend in
Speaker 1: the draft. It's just the way they have to allot it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean everything, I like everything I've seen.
Speaker 1: I like, I should say from from Gracia. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a big I would lean to hit tool being
Speaker 1: something that is valuable. You can never have too much
Speaker 1: to vet on your roster. So certainly that's a popular pick,
Speaker 1: I think with good reason. The other first rounder is
Speaker 1: out for our Carter Beck from Indiana State, who was
Speaker 1: less heralded in some circles. But I think Carlos talks
Speaker 1: about this either on TV or online somewhere that I
Speaker 1: saw about like how he was really rising fast with
Speaker 1: teams in this process. He was rated a little bit
Speaker 1: lower on some of the big boards, so people kind
Speaker 1: of clung to that I saw, and we're getting mad
Speaker 1: about it. But I don't view that. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: obviously he's an interesting pick in that Indiana State is
Speaker 1: not on the radar, that's not a huge program, Like
Speaker 1: the competition level is interesting. What did you make of
Speaker 1: carter Back as an investment. Yeah, kind of a.
Speaker 2: Cool story with carter Back. I mean, you know, again,
Speaker 2: no shade to Indiana State, which I'm sure is a
Speaker 2: fine baseball program, but you know, especially in the NIL era,
Speaker 2: it's amazing that one of the powerhouses didn't scoop this
Speaker 2: guy up because he's extremely coolsy a bit of a
Speaker 2: late riser in the process. As you mentioned, I know
Speaker 2: MLB Pipeline had to note that Quarterback is a favorite
Speaker 2: of analytically minded teams who love his contact rates and
Speaker 2: exit velocities. Also has a good reputation as being a gamer,
Speaker 2: somebody who will run through a wall and catch any
Speaker 2: ball that he can get even close to. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it was kind of a surprise pick, I think just
Speaker 2: because he was you know, in the sixties to nineties
Speaker 2: on a lot of big boards. But you know what, again,
Speaker 2: it's all part of the calculation with what his draft
Speaker 2: slot bonus pool is going to be and if the
Speaker 2: Braves who are Indie an analytically inclined team or one
Speaker 2: of a handful of them who were on him. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's you know what, it's a tools the outfield. There
Speaker 2: are a lot to dream on and we'll see how
Speaker 2: quickly he's able to move up through the ranks as
Speaker 2: a college bat, but one who was playing at a
Speaker 2: much lower level than maybe.
Speaker 1: The SEC or the ACC. Yeah, and I was reading
Speaker 1: again all as the second hand, I was reading that
Speaker 1: maybe he has the potential to stick in center field,
Speaker 1: Like that's not a lock, that's not why you're taking
Speaker 1: he's more it's more of the bat that people are
Speaker 1: interested in. But he's a good athlete to the point
Speaker 1: where he's played, and you know, most guys are playing
Speaker 1: center at this level because you're the best athlete on
Speaker 1: a team or whatever. But there's there's the idea that
Speaker 1: he may be able to play, if not full time
Speaker 1: center field, maybe he's someone you can play be your
Speaker 1: backup centerfielder, like wait on the line and you'll be
Speaker 1: at starting corner. Guy who play who kind of plays
Speaker 1: center on a pinch kind of thing, which has value
Speaker 1: in itself obviously looking way in the future at that
Speaker 1: point in time.
Speaker 2: But yeah, in athletics data, yeah, not to cutch up.
Speaker 2: Sorry on a j Grassia as well, is probably going
Speaker 2: to move to a corner outfield spot. Yeah, but he
Speaker 2: might be a place in center field, just depending on
Speaker 2: kind of how he physically fills out and the way
Speaker 2: he you know, ultimately adjusts to the major league or
Speaker 2: to the professional game.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And again we're talking about these guys are college bats,
Speaker 1: so they're they're a little bit less far away than
Speaker 1: like high school pictchers. For example. They were about to
Speaker 1: talk about one of the things about the MLB Draft
Speaker 1: that makes it so such a challenge is that guys
Speaker 1: are not close to the majors most of the time,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot of projection, even more so than
Speaker 1: other sports. And but college bats are some of the
Speaker 1: faster guys that you might see getting into the higher
Speaker 1: levels of the minors. And I know those those two
Speaker 1: guys in particular, I was seeing guys like Gore Vadak
Speaker 1: and Matt Power. Is like saying, these guys are like
Speaker 1: right away going to be in the top you know,
Speaker 1: ten to twelve in the Brave system like day one,
Speaker 1: which is you know, that doesn't mean anything necessarily a
Speaker 1: big picture, nor is it's ay huge surprise. But when
Speaker 1: you talk about like the guys that we've talked about
Speaker 1: plenty that are in the system already, slotting those guys
Speaker 1: up as high as some other guys in the system
Speaker 1: right away before you see them as not a small
Speaker 1: thing here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll have to see. Every year battery power dot
Speaker 2: Com refreshes their top thirty prospect lists for the Braves.
Speaker 2: If folks don't read those, please do. I mean, the
Speaker 2: team at Battery Power does fantastic work covering the farm system.
Speaker 2: But Gore of the Deck, who has been on the
Speaker 2: show before, I believe, said that he expects aj Grossia
Speaker 2: to be the number two position player in the system,
Speaker 2: behind now top twenty pick Eric or top twenty prospect
Speaker 2: Eric Cartman. And then I think he had beck in
Speaker 2: kind of like the back ten of the organization's top
Speaker 2: prospect list. But yeah, I mean, you know what, there's
Speaker 2: a lot to dream on here, a lot of talent,
Speaker 2: and we'll just kind of hope that they make the
Speaker 2: most of these two first round picks, which is obviously
Speaker 2: something you generally don't get to have in most of
Speaker 2: your drafts.
Speaker 1: For sure. The other guys on Saturday, in the first
Speaker 1: handful of rounds, they went high school pitching, and this
Speaker 1: is going the way that they did in the first
Speaker 1: two rounds allow for them to spend more. That's the theory.
Speaker 1: At least, let's we expect expectation. I know there was
Speaker 1: already some like, hey, are they gonna be able to
Speaker 1: sign one of these guys at Hirschcorn And I think
Speaker 1: Carlos others were like, another's a reason to think they
Speaker 1: won't sign these. I mean, you do this with some
Speaker 1: knowledge of what you're going to do. But the first
Speaker 1: pick beyond the top two college bats is Caden McCarthy
Speaker 1: out of Vermont. So I'm gonna cue this up right now.
Speaker 1: When we talked to Carlos Calaso last week, I think
Speaker 1: it was me one of us asked Carlos for a
Speaker 1: like none first round, like one of his guys that
Speaker 1: he likes. He talks about a few players, but he
Speaker 1: talked actually about Caden McCarthy. So here's that clip from
Speaker 1: last week from Carlos.
Speaker 5: Caden McCarthy is a right handed pitcher out of Vermont,
Speaker 5: and I think that in and of itself is kind
Speaker 5: of unique. We don't often have Vermont prospects ranked on
Speaker 5: the BA five hundred at all, let alone a guy
Speaker 5: who we have right in the middle of the third
Speaker 5: round range. She's a six foot right hander who's been
Speaker 5: up to ninety nine miles per hour. It feels like
Speaker 5: every high school pitcher in this class as a fastball
Speaker 5: that gets into the mid nineties. But he's a dynamic
Speaker 5: mover on the mound. He has elites spin capacity, I
Speaker 5: think a chance for multiple above average breaking balls, and
Speaker 5: even talking about him now, I feel like ten years
Speaker 5: ago that profile is like slam dunk first rounder, but
Speaker 5: just because like everyone throws hard and everyone has a
Speaker 5: banger breaking ball. These days, it doesn't do quite as much.
Speaker 5: But I think his combination of youth. He's also a
Speaker 5: reclass from twenty twenty seven, so he's young for the
Speaker 5: class as well. He's another name that I like, kind
Speaker 5: of in that third round range for us, and.
Speaker 1: The Braves have been willing to go into like some
Speaker 1: cold weather areas the other teams may not. And you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: part of the thing about him being from Vermont that
Speaker 1: makes it surprising is that there's not a whole lot
Speaker 1: of year round baseball being played in Vermont. So guys
Speaker 1: got and that happens sometimes sometimes actually guys slip further
Speaker 1: than they should. You know, Mike Trout is from the Northeast,
Speaker 1: and he fell way too far in the first round
Speaker 1: because he was there was stuff like, oh, he doesn't
Speaker 1: played that much baseball and stuff. So I don't know
Speaker 1: about Kate McCarthy being this fantastic player, but he throws
Speaker 1: really hard, like you heard from Carlos. And for Carlos
Speaker 1: to unprompt, well, I guess prompted, but like we didn't say, hey,
Speaker 1: talk about Kad McCarthy. He brought him up personally, which
Speaker 1: means he likes him and I trust Carlos, So yeah.
Speaker 2: Me too. I think I texted you right after the
Speaker 2: Braves took McCarthy. I was like, holy, that's the guy
Speaker 2: that Carlos was hyping up in our in our show
Speaker 2: five days ago. So yeah, that's cool again. I mean,
Speaker 2: high school pitching, everybody knows, but it's such a crapshoot, man,
Speaker 2: Like there're so many things have to go right. They're seventeen,
Speaker 2: eighteen years old. I mean, you know, pencil in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty nine to twenty thirty, we'll have a better idea
Speaker 2: of if these guys are going to stick. But go
Speaker 2: with the talent, go with the upside. I really did
Speaker 2: like the strategy of going with two more projectable college
Speaker 2: hitters in the first round who are generally seen as safer,
Speaker 2: more likely to get to the majors pretty quick, especially Garcia.
Speaker 2: I think he could be in the majors maybe, and
Speaker 2: I don't know the start of twenty twenty eight if
Speaker 2: all goes well. But regardless, you had three high school
Speaker 2: pitchers with your second, third, and fourth round picks. We
Speaker 2: mentioned McCarthy and then the maybe the most exciting pick
Speaker 2: in that group was Jensen Hirshcorn, who was the third
Speaker 2: round pick, A big, big, big time high school prospect
Speaker 2: who has committed to LSU. He is six foot seven,
Speaker 2: has a big time fastball and a wipeout slider, and
Speaker 2: both are advanced pitches, especially at his age. It sounds
Speaker 2: like there might be a little bit of a signability
Speaker 2: concern with Hirshcorn. Of course, LSU very prominent college baseball program.
Speaker 2: Usually these things work out. It would, to be honest,
Speaker 2: it'd be a bit of a miss if the Braves
Speaker 2: cannot get Hirshcorn to sign. I think he ultimately will,
Speaker 2: but that was an exciting signing for sure, and someone
Speaker 2: who I mean, if he has a good debut in
Speaker 2: pro ball over the next six to twelve months, could
Speaker 2: find himself in like the back end of a top
Speaker 2: one hundred prospect list. He's that kind of talent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it was maybe it was in
Speaker 1: a reply to somebody I can't remember on on Twitter,
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure Carlos said there's no like you know,
Speaker 1: obviously there is no guarantee that he signed. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I just found out. He says, quote no reason at
Speaker 1: all that think that they won't sign him at the moment,
Speaker 1: so presumably there's a plan in place. You're right, it
Speaker 1: is a big miss if they don't get him signed.
Speaker 1: But this is this is why you go under slot.
Speaker 1: This is the whole reason why you at least prioritize
Speaker 1: some savings early so you can really kind of spend lavishly,
Speaker 1: the same thing the Rives did last year, by the way,
Speaker 1: where they got a couple of high impact guys who
Speaker 1: most teams couldn't take in the second, third, fourth round
Speaker 1: because they couldn't afford to pay them. The Braves had
Speaker 1: the money and they were able to sign them. Briggs Mackenzie,
Speaker 1: I believe was the one that we talked about the
Speaker 1: most last year the Braves ended up paying way over
Speaker 1: slot for who's a big time prospect, So I like
Speaker 1: the decision. Obviously they have to sign them, but if
Speaker 1: they do, clearly well from what we could possibly know
Speaker 1: right now about a prep arm like I'm intrigued. You know,
Speaker 1: the frame and the fastball and the slider alone is like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'll gets you drafted and get your paid,
Speaker 1: so sign me up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the kind of high school pitching prospect I
Speaker 2: want to be. After six foot seven, big fastball committed
Speaker 2: to LSU. Clearly a lot of people like this kid,
Speaker 2: so that's exciting. And then the fourth round pick, which
Speaker 2: was the final pick of Saturday, was called Dennis Believe,
Speaker 2: a Florida kid. Talented. It was a bit of a
Speaker 2: late riser in the process. I think he was in
Speaker 2: the two hundreds on a lot of the big boards
Speaker 2: and of talent. So a talented kid. Again, that's kind
Speaker 2: of why you presumably, if you believe the reporting the
Speaker 2: Braves are probably going to cut underslot deals with their
Speaker 2: first their two first round picks. Is that you have
Speaker 2: then the money and the financial flexibility to sign these
Speaker 2: high school kids who presumably have pretty nice nil packages
Speaker 2: waiting them if they choose to go that route. And
Speaker 2: obviously the appeal of not only the money that comes
Speaker 2: with being an overslought draft pick towards the top of
Speaker 2: the draft, but also, you know, the appeal of being
Speaker 2: with the Atlanta Braves is something that should win out
Speaker 2: most of the time kids and ultimately signed with the team,
Speaker 2: especially at the top of the draft. But yeah, some talent,
Speaker 2: some promising kids here a long way to go with
Speaker 2: high school arms, but we'll cross our fingers and hope
Speaker 2: for some big debuts and I don't know, twenty thirty,
Speaker 2: we'll do a podcast about them. Brad, how does that sound?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the love more picks made today. I
Speaker 1: believe it was either Carlos or someone else at Baseball
Speaker 1: America said that the signing rate second on like day
Speaker 1: two is like ninety eight plus percent. So basically, if
Speaker 1: you draw somebody, you expect them to be on under
Speaker 1: contract pretty soon. The Braves took five catchers. That was
Speaker 1: kind of the only big note from the rest of
Speaker 1: the draft that I wanted to talk about with you.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of catchers in one draft. I have
Speaker 1: no problem with it. Catchers are hard to find so
Speaker 1: spray the board, I guess, but would you make What
Speaker 1: did you make of that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, a few people noted a lot of the catchers
Speaker 2: in the Brave system right now, we're all like thirty
Speaker 2: years old and not exactly prospects. And sure, you're probably
Speaker 2: not looking to strike gold with the eighteenth round pick
Speaker 2: of a catcher, but yeah, five catchers in a draft, sure,
Speaker 2: and influx of younger guys. If one of them gets
Speaker 2: even close to being to the major leagues, you're coming
Speaker 2: out ahead. And of course, the Braves do have a
Speaker 2: really good history of developing catching over I mean, shoot,
Speaker 2: thirty five years at this point, basically my entire life,
Speaker 2: the Braves have had elite catching, So yeah, that was interesting.
Speaker 2: They also took a local kid, I believe Brad. They
Speaker 2: took a Georgia Tech outfielder in the ninth round, So cool,
Speaker 2: cool story there. But you know what, overall, we'll see
Speaker 2: kind of what the experts right in the next couple
Speaker 2: of days about the draft. But it feels like a
Speaker 2: good haul to me. I like the strategy and the plan,
Speaker 2: and let's hope that they hit big on aj Grossi
Speaker 2: and he's able to make an impact relatively soon and
Speaker 2: maybe some of these toolsy high school kids will develop
Speaker 2: and pan out. And of course carter back, the second
Speaker 2: first round pick, has a lot of traits as well
Speaker 2: that are interesting. And you know, ultimately I will let
Speaker 2: you know definitively in seven years if this was a
Speaker 2: good draft or not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe in a couple of years we could look
Speaker 1: up and it'll be a Michael Harris, Ronald Acunya, a
Speaker 1: j Grossia outfield and we'll just be levitating. And because
Speaker 1: I mean they would actually have resigned Ronald and all
Speaker 1: the things, so there anyway, that's another discussion on another day.
Speaker 1: But no, I you know one more time that the
Speaker 1: class seems to be well regarded by people that know
Speaker 1: more than we do, and I will just lean to
Speaker 1: that point it to that and be patient. Everybody that
Speaker 1: will be draft is a very very long term exercise.
Speaker 1: It's you know, there's no instant gratification. Every once in
Speaker 1: a while you'll get a guy that's like a college
Speaker 1: bullpen guy who's up in a couple months, but the
Speaker 1: vast majority of guys are going to be a few
Speaker 1: years away. So yes, be picture everybody. We'll see you get.
Speaker 2: Twenty picks twenty picks for a reason. It's a needle
Speaker 2: and a haystack, and who knows. Sometimes the strike goal
Speaker 2: Derek Cartman was, of course a twentieth round pick. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's like a once a generation type of gold strike
Speaker 2: if he continues to pan out and everything. But yeah,
Speaker 2: let's hope for the best and hopefully in a few
Speaker 2: years we start to hear these guys have their.
Speaker 1: Names called absolutely all right, scot before we go back
Speaker 1: to the major league side of things and talk about
Speaker 1: the weekend a little bit, plus the latest news and notes.
Speaker 1: First though, a word from a partner's on today's podcast.
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Speaker 1: Scott. The Brives did play baseball this weekend. The draft
Speaker 1: was the biggest item, but they played three games. That's
Speaker 1: our last episode, which I was not on, but I
Speaker 1: believe I believe you were on. Correct? Was it last episode?
Speaker 1: And Stephen right on Thursday night we did.
Speaker 2: Yes, we recapped a nice series win for the Braves
Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh, and then they followed it up with two
Speaker 2: maddening losses on Friday and Saturday night, which is very
Speaker 2: much in Braves fashion. But at least they won on
Speaker 2: Sunday and found a way to go into the break
Speaker 2: on a higher note.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we exchanged texts you and I this morning before
Speaker 1: they played, and it was like if they lose today.
Speaker 1: Do we talk about the games at all? Is it
Speaker 1: just going to be a draft podcast and maybe some
Speaker 1: yelling into the void will be quicker than usual, I
Speaker 1: would say on the game breakdowns on this pot if
Speaker 1: that's okay with you, Scott, because you're really in charge,
Speaker 1: everyone knows that.
Speaker 2: I think we need to talk for about eighty five minutes.
Speaker 2: On Fridays two to one loss, which also featured the
Speaker 2: three three hour rain de light. It was shocking they
Speaker 2: were able to get that game in on Friday night.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Some of the video that I was seeing during
Speaker 1: the rain delay, it was like, there's no way they're
Speaker 1: going to play this game like it was flooded. You
Speaker 1: got dugouts flooded and just absolute madness. What's happens to restart?
Speaker 1: It was like eleven forty eastern or something insane believe
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the game ended. I think the game ended at
Speaker 2: twelve forty five, like after midnight local time, like two
Speaker 2: in the morning on the East coast. Yeah, it was
Speaker 2: wild one.
Speaker 1: I was fortunate to be in a rare moment. I'm
Speaker 1: actually in Las Vegas covering NBA Summer League, so I
Speaker 1: was actually all Pacific time, where you tend to dwell,
Speaker 1: so I was able to like monitor it. I would
Speaker 1: have been long asleep. I'm not afraid to say that.
Speaker 1: If I was at home, I'm not stay up to
Speaker 1: the end of that game.
Speaker 2: Well, it's funny, funny you say that, because I think
Speaker 2: the Braves were asleep for the better part of Friday night.
Speaker 2: We'll breeze through it. I mean the positive, I mean,
Speaker 2: Chris Sale looked fantastic. It's a bummer that the rain
Speaker 2: wiped out a Chris Sales start because he was I
Speaker 2: mean three innings, two hits, one walk, five strikeouts and
Speaker 2: he was just cooking Saint Louis's hitters. That was a bummer.
Speaker 2: And I mean the offense was the problem, as it's
Speaker 2: been quite a bit lately. Only run was an Austin
Speaker 2: Riley RBI single up the middle of the fifth inning.
Speaker 2: It was like, Okay, maybe they're going to get out
Speaker 2: of this after sitting around and playing cards for three hours.
Speaker 2: But the offense was basically non existent from that point on.
Speaker 2: And two just frustrating. Both Michael Harris and Drake Baldwin
Speaker 2: just missed homers. They were both you know, five feet
Speaker 2: more and the balls were going over the fence. Both
Speaker 2: of them were caught, and of course the cherry on
Speaker 2: top was a backup catcher, uh from the Cardinals. What
Speaker 2: was his name, like Jimmy Crooks or something like that,
Speaker 2: had a five hundred yeah, five hundred ops coming in
Speaker 2: and he hits a solo homer in the eighth inning
Speaker 2: that just cleared the wall. Because of course, it did
Speaker 2: very much on brand for how the last six weeks
Speaker 2: have gone. But yeah, if folks did not stay up
Speaker 2: late into Friday night Saturday morning, you did not miss
Speaker 2: a whole lot after the rain delay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the only solace. It would have been
Speaker 1: worse if they had like blown up on the pitching
Speaker 1: side and lost the game post Sale, because like at
Speaker 1: least you could say, you know, it's brutal to lose
Speaker 1: a Chrysales start, like you said, But even if Sale
Speaker 1: was able to keep pitching, they might have lost the
Speaker 1: game anyway they scored one run, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: it would have been worse. It was like, hey, the
Speaker 1: bullping came in and just imploded because and that cost
Speaker 1: them the game. Because because Chrisale, we got three innings.
Speaker 1: That's that's been small solace. But but I mean, Victor
Speaker 1: Maderos was probably the only thing we're talking about other
Speaker 1: than what the offense is doing nothing in that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, Victor Maderos might deserve a longer look in
Speaker 2: the bullpen.
Speaker 1: I mean you said it will, I'll go behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: You sent a message to our group chat and you
Speaker 1: were like, this, this guy's nasty. Who is this? I
Speaker 1: was hilarious. Yeah, it's just funny. A tone of it
Speaker 1: was just like this that was somewhat surprised, somewhat intrigue,
Speaker 1: just like, oh, this guy's kind of nasty. Here we go.
Speaker 2: Well, and you know, Maderos threw the ninth inning in
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh on Thursday and it was really impressive. Like even
Speaker 2: I think Stephen noted it on the podcast. He was like, damn,
Speaker 2: Victor Madero's came in and was humming ninety nine mile
Speaker 2: an hour fastballs. He was really impressive again on Friday,
Speaker 2: pitching back to back two perfect innings, three strikeouts. He
Speaker 2: was humming ninety eight milli an hour sinkers. He has
Speaker 2: a ninety three mili an hour cutter, and then he
Speaker 2: works in that big sweeper that kind of catches hitters
Speaker 2: off guard because everything else is coming in so fast,
Speaker 2: so you know, I think there's a reason I believe
Speaker 2: the Braves kept Madero's up in the big league bullpen
Speaker 2: even after he pitched back to back days. I don't
Speaker 2: think he hit the Gwinnett shuttle, so that's probably a
Speaker 2: sign that they have liked what they have seen. And
Speaker 2: you know, we know how good the back end of
Speaker 2: the bullpen has been, but the middle innings have been
Speaker 2: kind of shaky, especially lately, and Madero sure looks like
Speaker 2: a guy who deserves some more chances to really establish
Speaker 2: himself as one of kind of the middle tier of arms.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's twenty five. I mean he had a couple
Speaker 1: of I think it was like twenty innings or something
Speaker 1: like that with the Angels and the Majors that were
Speaker 1: pretty rough before this, But that's sample size, doesn't really
Speaker 1: me anything. He might have just not been ready. The
Speaker 1: stuff looks good, and that's the thing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: won't know if he's going to be good or not.
Speaker 1: I just got to see more. But the stuff was,
Speaker 1: to your point, pretty electric looking. So maybe Diamond the
Speaker 1: rough they fixed something. And the Angels are kind of
Speaker 1: notoriously not the best organization so if they could just
Speaker 1: maybe they got him out of there and they fixed
Speaker 1: him a little bit, and that'd be fun. If he's
Speaker 1: something we'll find out.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And I mean to me, the offense was abismo.
Speaker 2: As we talked about, I kind of give him a
Speaker 2: pay as after sitting around for three hours. The Cardinals
Speaker 2: offense was equally lifeless after the break. I think though
Speaker 2: Saturday's loss was even more frustrating because they didn't have
Speaker 2: a three hour rain to lay excuse. I mean, the offense,
Speaker 2: other than a Mauricio Dubon solo homer, was just null
Speaker 2: and void of anything of note.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we didn't know it at the time, but Lopez
Speaker 1: allowed to throw on home run in the first inning
Speaker 1: and that was the end of the game. Yep, I
Speaker 1: mean we did. I mean they could have come back,
Speaker 1: they just it didn't matter. They scored one run. That
Speaker 1: was going to be the end. Lopez, I know you
Speaker 1: got some flak for in the moment negative bernald A.
Speaker 1: Lopez tweet that you said after the hope after the
Speaker 1: I know, so you got some flack uh for that.
Speaker 1: People are mad at you for taking out on the
Speaker 1: on the rotation. I can't remember what it was. It
Speaker 1: was just funny because Lopez was fine after that, but
Speaker 1: people were agreeing with me. What do you mean, flack?
Speaker 2: Everyone knows that. I mean, Ronaldo, I saw some flack.
Speaker 2: It's fine to be clear, to be well. But they
Speaker 2: can they can do what they want to do. That's fine.
Speaker 2: It's Twitter.
Speaker 1: I'm just rolling you up on the podcast. That's all
Speaker 1: I was gonna say.
Speaker 2: If you don't like the takes, click the unfollowed buttons.
Speaker 2: It's all good. I promise you I will I will
Speaker 2: sleep all the same. But yeah, you know what, to
Speaker 2: Ronaldo Lopez's credit, he did settle in. He was after
Speaker 2: the first inning. Yeah, he gave up the three run homer, which,
Speaker 2: knowing the state of things right now, that ultimately cost them.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Ronaldo settled in, ended up giving four runs,
Speaker 2: I believe, five innings, which has kind of been the
Speaker 2: cap for him. But yeah, you know what, Ronaldo has
Speaker 2: been better since he rejoined the rotation. I think you
Speaker 2: feel pretty good about him. In no world should he
Speaker 2: be a number two starter, and that's what he kind
Speaker 2: of is for this team right now. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: was another encouraging start from Ronaldo and hopefully he's able
Speaker 2: to carry this over into the second half and be
Speaker 2: just kind of a stabilizing force. Ideally behind another starter,
Speaker 2: they're able to go out and acquire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he made three starts in July so far. He
Speaker 1: allowed six runs and fifteen innings. He got twenty ground balls,
Speaker 1: fourteen strikeouts. Like he's been He's been way better. The
Speaker 1: home run is the one. It all counts, so handwaving that.
Speaker 1: But he gave him a chain. That wasn't the reason
Speaker 1: I lost the game, necessarily that they could not score
Speaker 1: runs without, which is not pylon anymore. Other than that,
Speaker 1: Owen Murphy look good on Saturday in relief. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was notable. In the midst of the offense cratering there
Speaker 1: was just like it was with Maderos on Friday. You
Speaker 1: found something to cling onto late in the game.
Speaker 2: On Saturday, three really good innings from Owen Murphy. And
Speaker 2: you know, the fastball is really good for Owen, Like
Speaker 2: that fastball is major league ready and can get big
Speaker 2: leaguers out. I think ultimately, what's gonna decide if Murphy's
Speaker 2: gonna be able to stick in the rotation or in
Speaker 2: the bullpen, or whatever his future may hold. It's just
Speaker 2: the secondary offerings. Can he refine them? Can he throw
Speaker 2: them for strikes? Can he get big league big league
Speaker 2: hitters out multiple times because the fastball is going to
Speaker 2: carry you only so far. But really encouraging, And he
Speaker 2: also saved the bullpen. He technically gave the team a
Speaker 2: chance to hang in there and try to come back,
Speaker 2: even though they didn't really do a whole lot. I
Speaker 2: guess Joey Bart came to the plate in the ninth
Speaker 2: inning with a chance to tie it, but he struck out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, credit that Owen Murphy came in, and then
Speaker 2: you know, he had a really tough circumstance in his
Speaker 2: big league debut just a week before, coming in the
Speaker 2: extra innings and almost got out of it. But a
Speaker 2: promising kid. And I think we'll probably continue to see
Speaker 2: a little bit from Owen in the second half of year.
Speaker 1: I would certainly agree. And then Sunday, like we said,
Speaker 1: end of the first half plus on a higher note,
Speaker 1: that got a little bit of a gift in the
Speaker 1: form of a throwing error to win the game. It
Speaker 1: was three to three. They scored in the ninth to
Speaker 1: take the lead, and then the Glaciers closed it out
Speaker 1: in the bottom half. They played better regardless, Richie was
Speaker 1: pretty good after a opener. The Brives have not used
Speaker 1: many openers, and they did with Danny Young today. Do
Speaker 1: you have any take on that? I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that was interesting. Yeah, I was sort what's to make
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean it didn't go super well for
Speaker 2: Danny Young, but I kind of liked the idea, especially
Speaker 2: if teams are going to stack their lefties at the
Speaker 2: top of the lineup against the Braves.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you know, I thought Jr.
Speaker 2: Richie threw the ball pretty well after Danny Young left
Speaker 2: and gave the team a chance. And I thought Walt
Speaker 2: Weiss was a little aggressive. I think he could have
Speaker 2: pulled Jr. I think he left him in for one
Speaker 2: bat or too many. And then Dylan Dodd gave up
Speaker 2: a couple of runs. But yeah, encouraging from Richie and
Speaker 2: then you know what, we will take all help. All
Speaker 2: help is happily accepted. Mason Wynn is usually a really good,
Speaker 2: really reliable shortstop and he just uncorked to throw and
Speaker 2: we'll take it, thankfully. Rice of Iglesias then had a
Speaker 2: no drama ninth inning and just I'm sure the flight
Speaker 2: home or wherever the players are going after. This was
Speaker 2: certainly more enjoyable after a win on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Yes, a ten pitch ninth inning was welcomed at the
Speaker 1: end of that. If they give me that game back,
Speaker 1: it would have been not ideal. Freak. I have one
Speaker 1: more thing that's kind of a joke, but it just
Speaker 1: it's Uh. The Braves got an insurance run that ended
Speaker 1: up being very big to go up three to one,
Speaker 1: and it happened with a combination of a double by
Speaker 1: Jim Jarvis and then a double by Brewer Hicklin. Those
Speaker 1: two players combined to generate a run on July twelve
Speaker 1: for the Braves. What were the odds of that on
Speaker 1: March thirtieth.
Speaker 2: Low, they were very low. Back to back doubles too,
Speaker 2: Both balls were hit well.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm not picking on those guys. It's just like,
Speaker 1: it's it's insane that that happened. And you know, Burter
Speaker 1: Hicklin's up because yeah, as on the ielas what we're
Speaker 1: talking about in a second. But yeah, I mean, Jarvis
Speaker 1: has been helpful. I'm not it's not about those guys.
Speaker 1: It's just like they were both those guys were so
Speaker 1: far down the list of potential players to even appear
Speaker 1: in a game on July twelve, much less both be
Speaker 1: starting and combined for a run that actually helped to
Speaker 1: get the win.
Speaker 2: So yeah, shots of them, we'll take it.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: The bottom the bottom third of this lineup basically since
Speaker 2: the start of June has been just such a black hole.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you know what, I like Jim Jarvis. You know,
Speaker 2: Steven and I talked about him quite a bit on
Speaker 2: the show the other day. I think he should absolutely
Speaker 2: be the shortstop until they can kind of stabilize, and
Speaker 2: maybe Mauricio Dubon ultimately moves to short at some point
Speaker 2: once the outfield gets a little healthier. But yeah, like
Speaker 2: Jim Jarvis, I really see no reason to play Jorge
Speaker 2: Mateo anymore. Rolled Jarvis out there, ride the wave, see
Speaker 2: how far it takes you, and and maybe he can
Speaker 2: keep making an impact on the game, because at least
Speaker 2: this past week, I mean, truthfully, Jarvis is one of
Speaker 2: the more impactful players in the lineup.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was, I mean the ho It's unfortunately, the
Speaker 1: Horimtato thing very predictably has fallen off the cliff. It
Speaker 1: was always coming and it's come. Okay, speaking of Brewer Hicklin.
Speaker 1: Yas is on the IL with elbow elbow inflammation that
Speaker 1: happened on Saturday. He been really good the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, had a one sixty one WRC plus in
Speaker 1: the month of July. I know it's only like eleven
Speaker 1: days of July, but bad timing there. I mean, the
Speaker 1: only thing that's good about that is that you get
Speaker 1: the break which counts. So maybe he's back in ten days,
Speaker 1: which means he makes he misses like four games or something.
Speaker 1: We don't really know yet. I don't think we's got
Speaker 1: a further update on Yas beyond him going on the IL.
Speaker 1: But that's not a good sign.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: I know Hicklin helped today, but man, they can't as
Speaker 1: much as Yas has just been like mad to okay
Speaker 1: most of this. He's still a real loss given where
Speaker 1: they are with the outfield.
Speaker 2: I was surprised to see Yas on the IL because,
Speaker 2: as you said, he had been hitting the ball well.
Speaker 2: You know, if Mike was in a one for thirty
Speaker 2: skin and then he went on the IL, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: he was playing through an injury, that makes sense, but
Speaker 2: he's been hitting the ball better. Than basically any of
Speaker 2: his teammates in July. So yeah, that's a bummer. Let's
Speaker 2: get Yaz back soon. It seems like we should hopefully
Speaker 2: get Ronald Acuny Junior back, if not at the start
Speaker 2: of the second half, then shortly after, because we really
Speaker 2: have not had this team fully healthy and at full
Speaker 2: strength for a whole lot this year, and obviously that's
Speaker 2: only going to help the cause as they try to
Speaker 2: get this thing back on track in the second half
Speaker 2: of the year.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, oh, just a quick one. Nothing really take away here.
Speaker 1: Matt Olsen broke Dale Murphy's Braves franchise record for consecutive
Speaker 1: games played over the weekend. We always talk about this
Speaker 1: with h while knocking on all pieces of wood around us.
Speaker 1: But Matt has still has the streak going. He's I
Speaker 1: think he's ninth all time now, will be eighth pretty soon.
Speaker 1: Medilson is very good at baseball and never missess games.
Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you, med Olson, and congrats to
Speaker 1: you on the franchise record.
Speaker 2: We didn't do an m v P LVP segment on
Speaker 2: the show. Maybe we'll do one this week, but I mean,
Speaker 2: for my money, offensive m v P med Olson.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh, I mean, yeah, almost certainly. The only other
Speaker 1: guy you could argue would be Harris, But I think
Speaker 1: that I think Olson's been better than Michael, and Michael's
Speaker 1: been great. It's been the only argument would be that
Speaker 1: we kind of knew Medilson was going to do this,
Speaker 1: and Michael was more surprising and not asily surprising, but
Speaker 1: like less less assured. Med Olson is just always good
Speaker 1: and he's always been good, and that's just what happens.
Speaker 1: But he spent I mean, he has the highest ops
Speaker 1: he's spent, but he's better best. But it's been the
Speaker 1: best player this season. I mean, you could maybe argue
Speaker 1: you it's Chris Sale, but it's one of the two
Speaker 1: as far as total value for me, and that's been awesome.
Speaker 1: I just want to be shut him out because anytime
Speaker 1: you said, a the Brad has been around for a
Speaker 1: very long time. Set a record for the Braves is
Speaker 1: not a small thing for career stuff.
Speaker 2: So well, think about how many players have played Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball over the years. To be ninth, yeah, all
Speaker 2: time in anything is ridiculous. Like you said, I think
Speaker 2: by the end of the season, Matt will be eighth
Speaker 2: in the consecutive games played he is iron man. Thank
Speaker 2: God for it. Let's keep Matt nice and healthy moving forward.
Speaker 2: And yeah, really good first half for Matt. Let's keep
Speaker 2: it going. And I mean it's you believe there's already
Speaker 2: five years in Matt Olson.
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean I can believe it because I've just
Speaker 1: been in the trenches defending med Dolson for five years.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, that's people. I guess it's maybe slowing down.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen as much Mad Dolson discourse. I've never
Speaker 1: understood the discourse. Anyway. He's been really good the entire
Speaker 1: time he's been here. But uh, yeah, no, actually it's
Speaker 1: kind of crazy it's been that long. But he plays
Speaker 1: every day and uh as someone that you don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about. And there's a lot to worry about,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Say, like I'm a worrier
Speaker 1: by nature, Like there's a lot to worry about with
Speaker 1: this Braves team, He's like maybe the only thing you
Speaker 1: don't worry, you don't worry about it at all. Because
Speaker 1: even even Chris Sale, Chris Sale absolutely rules. Chris Sale
Speaker 1: is like my age and could get hurt at any moment,
Speaker 1: So like I'm always worried about Chris sale to some degree,
Speaker 1: but also I'm not worried really at all, so you know,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? Uh quickly? It just missed.
Speaker 1: It just smissed. Shover uh got It was a little
Speaker 1: bit shaky in his Gwinnett rehab appearance, and I'm just
Speaker 1: getting closer. He's not clearly not ready yet. But I
Speaker 1: didn't get to watch that, but from what I read
Speaker 1: and heard and talked to a couple people that did
Speaker 1: watch him, like maybe he like kind of hit the wall.
Speaker 1: It seemed like, I don't I don't know if you
Speaker 1: have to watch it, but that's that was kind of
Speaker 1: this kind of report that I heard. It was like
Speaker 1: he kind of ran out of gas. Not not like
Speaker 1: stuff was fine, but he just kind of got beat
Speaker 1: around in the third or fourth inning of his out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I saw as well. I was not
Speaker 2: able to watch AJ's rehab shart, but it seems like
Speaker 2: he's getting closer. You know, this is all part of
Speaker 2: a rehab process, a lengthy rehab process. You've got to
Speaker 2: go deeper, deeper into games, and obviously you're gonna want
Speaker 2: to see AJ throw eighty eighty five ninety pitches before
Speaker 2: you team him ready to come all the way back,
Speaker 2: But so far I think it's been encouraging. Let's knock
Speaker 2: on every piece of wood. Hope he continues to feel well,
Speaker 2: the elbow continues to hold up because I do think
Speaker 2: whether it's in the rotation or the bullpen, I think
Speaker 2: a Jasmonth Schafer has a chance to impact this team
Speaker 2: in the second half, and we'll just kind of hold
Speaker 2: our breath when he goes out there. I'm guessing next
Speaker 2: weekend with Gwinnett, he'll make his second triple A rehab start,
Speaker 2: and hopefully he's just a little more He has a
Speaker 2: little more stamina built up to go deeper into the
Speaker 2: game and not hit a wall.
Speaker 1: From here, you've got All Star festivities. The Brais don't
Speaker 1: play against all Friday. The first of the All Star
Speaker 1: break festivities actually happened today with the Futures game. Kek
Speaker 1: kem and Eddie was the only representative for the Braves.
Speaker 1: He threw a one two three inning and looked great.
Speaker 1: I actually got to see that because it was so fast.
Speaker 1: He just looked awesome. Mode through three. Guys love to
Speaker 1: see that. But the Derby is Monday. There's no Brave
Speaker 1: in it. You know. I guess you could have talked
Speaker 1: Matt Olsen into it, but I don't think that Elson
Speaker 1: wants to do the derby, so he was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm good and I'm fine with that. By the way,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do it to Derby. Take them
Speaker 1: take the day off, Matt, I am bring your phone
Speaker 1: camera out there and makes him no, and do the
Speaker 1: things that's right.
Speaker 2: I'm sure. I mean, Matt's been around the game for
Speaker 2: like a decade. I'm sure he has friends who are
Speaker 2: going to be there. So yeah, be the hype man,
Speaker 2: do the towel waving, bring a gatorade to the guys
Speaker 2: in the box.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I love the home run derby. I think
Speaker 2: everyone does. I think baseball fans everywhere due should be
Speaker 2: a good group. It's in a smaller ballpark as well
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia, so it should be a lot of baseballs
Speaker 2: flying out of there. I guess we will root against
Speaker 2: the Phillies guys in the derby, but yeah, should be
Speaker 2: fun and yeah, but in terms of All Star Game stuff,
Speaker 2: I want all the boys to relax, take it easy.
Speaker 2: If they get in there, have wanted bat don't swing
Speaker 2: for the fences and then get out of there and
Speaker 2: enjoy a couple of days off with your friends or
Speaker 2: family or whatever they want to do.
Speaker 1: That is always our stance.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: PSA for our listeners, the Home Run Derby is on
Speaker 1: Netflix on Monday. Oh, first time ever Netflix has the
Speaker 1: Homern Derby. So if you're looking for it, don't be surprised.
Speaker 1: I'm sure probably everyone has a Netflix account or always
Speaker 1: access to one, but don't get caught off guard and
Speaker 1: have to go scrambling to call somebody to figure out
Speaker 1: how I got on Netflix on Monday.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you said that, because I would have turned
Speaker 2: on YouTube TV and been like, where the hell is
Speaker 2: the Home Run Derby? And then yeah, never is on
Speaker 2: Netflix on Monday.
Speaker 1: The game is on Fox like normal on Tuesday, just
Speaker 1: as a as a just a reminder, Drake Ball and
Speaker 1: Ozzy Alby's are starting for the National League in the game.
Speaker 1: Matt Olsen is there. I saw Glacias Chris Sale. I
Speaker 1: don't want Chris Sale to pitch. I just I just don't.
Speaker 1: But if they make him whatever, if he wants to,
Speaker 1: he's he's a psycho. He wants to pitch. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I would be fine if if Chris Sale is
Speaker 1: not pitch me too. Yeah, I would really like that.
Speaker 2: Save Chris Sale for the Rangers series, which begins Friday
Speaker 2: at Truest Park. We need Chris to stay healthy. Good lord,
Speaker 2: we we got to rely on that guy. Really lean
Speaker 2: on Chris Sale in the second half. But yeah, cool moment.
Speaker 2: I think it'd be cool if Ice like Glacias gets
Speaker 2: to pitch an inning. He's the first time one because
Speaker 2: this is his first time even though he's been around
Speaker 2: the league. I think this is his twelfth season. So
Speaker 2: if Iglesias gets in the game, great, It'll be fun
Speaker 2: to see Drake Baldwin and Ozzy Alby's is starting for
Speaker 2: the first time, so those guys are certainly deserving of it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, take it easy. No need to dive and
Speaker 2: lay out for a baseball, no need to swing for
Speaker 2: the fences. Just everybody stay healthy and everybody get ready
Speaker 2: for the second half.
Speaker 1: We agree, and we'll have at least one or two
Speaker 1: shows this week before the Braves start playing again on Friday,
Speaker 1: so we want not preview what's coming up. But they
Speaker 1: do have seven games in seven days at home they're
Speaker 1: getting on Friday. That says it going again against the
Speaker 1: Rangers and Padres. All right, Scott, We've done it. Our
Speaker 1: first All Star Break edition in twenty twenty six, we
Speaker 1: set the tone, talked about the draft. Anything else you
Speaker 1: want to say? If not, folks that are new to
Speaker 1: the podcast, where can they find you?
Speaker 2: I am at Scott Coleman fifty five on Twitter. If
Speaker 2: you want to follow there. Apparently I rile everybody up,
Speaker 2: so follow along there for all the all the fun.
Speaker 1: You have quite a follow me. You have the biggest following.
Speaker 1: I always say that, like I think I can't remember
Speaker 1: if you and I have similar follower accounts. You have
Speaker 1: a lot of Braves fans, all of you on Twitter,
Speaker 1: more more than me. I have a lot of Hawks
Speaker 1: people to follow me. You are the one that could
Speaker 1: get the great if you wanted to. You could turn
Speaker 1: the dial on more than any of us on social
Speaker 1: media with brids fans, and occasionally you do it and
Speaker 1: it makes me laugh.
Speaker 2: So I genuinely I don't try to man. I just
Speaker 2: tweet my thoughts and if it riles the masses.
Speaker 1: Up, then so be it.
Speaker 2: But grateful for that community, Grateful for everybody who has
Speaker 2: either been a returning listener in the first half of
Speaker 2: this season, or as a new listener, welcome aboard. We
Speaker 2: really do appreciate all the support for the podcast, and
Speaker 2: as Brad said, we will have more content this week
Speaker 2: during the break and then it is all systems go
Speaker 2: when the second half gets rolling, game coverage, news notes.
Speaker 2: Of course, trade deadline is right around the corner, so
Speaker 2: any big rumors or of course transactions will do an
Speaker 2: emergency pod for those it's a lot of good stuff
Speaker 2: on the horizon. Be sure to keep it locked, subscribe,
Speaker 2: leave a five store review on Apple or Spotify really
Speaker 2: helps us out. Whatever you can do to support the show,
Speaker 2: we really.
Speaker 1: Do appreciate it. Yes, I'm echo that, please please please subscribe,
Speaker 1: keep it locked throughout the break, and then go in
Speaker 1: the second half we'll have you covered with everything. The
Speaker 1: trade deadline is again three weeks away from Monday, so
Speaker 1: stay tuned. Everybody, leave a rating, leave a review. Tell
Speaker 1: your friends, I know, I know you have a brace
Speaker 1: fan friend or seven in your life that you could
Speaker 1: potentially send a link to this podcast too, So do
Speaker 1: us as solid and do that Over the next few days. Well,
Speaker 1: we all have some down time, so anyway, thanks for hosting. Everybody,
Speaker 1: stay tuned and i'll see you all next time.