Speaker 1: Any swags to Hie understand deep to center field.
Speaker 2: And it's wow.
Speaker 3: His first big league swing is gonna be a grand
Speaker 3: slam home line swing.
Speaker 2: Good time, look to the show. Welcome back to the
Speaker 2: Call Up, your go to podcast on the future starts
Speaker 2: in Major League Baseball. You got arm Late and Elijah Evans,
Speaker 2: and today we are doing part two of the Newcomers
Speaker 2: of Just Baseball's Top one hundred Prospect Update. The Newcomers again,
Speaker 2: we've talked about it so many of them that we
Speaker 2: had to two part this, and we've got a lot
Speaker 2: of really fun prospects to dive into. Some guys that
Speaker 2: actually like it's been fun because they have they've maybe
Speaker 2: just been promoted. How are they doing at the new
Speaker 2: level since we've even put this list out, and other
Speaker 2: things like that. But the theme of this Top one
Speaker 2: hundred has been new faces, and here's an opportunity to
Speaker 2: tie a bow on the rest of the new faces.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 3: We had some fun names on the first part of
Speaker 3: this list last week, some really really cool names today.
Speaker 3: I mean, these are guys like when you're a newcomer
Speaker 3: and you jump into these are all top seventy guys,
Speaker 3: So like, these aren't just new names that are like, oh,
Speaker 3: maybe this guy slipped into the back nine, you know,
Speaker 3: ninety eighth.
Speaker 4: Spot on the list, like we talked about.
Speaker 3: These are guys that legitimately just catapulted onto this list
Speaker 3: because of what you've seen from them, you know, the
Speaker 3: end of last season, beginning of this season just really
Speaker 3: really impressive first two months of the year for pretty
Speaker 3: much everybody in this group of names.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we might as well start with a guy
Speaker 2: who has been one of the breakout prospects, one of
Speaker 2: our picks to be a breakout prospect, with one of
Speaker 2: the breakout prospects in minor league baseball this year, just
Speaker 2: got promoted up to Double A, where he is struggling
Speaker 2: a little bit to be expected big jump. But Devin
Speaker 2: Fitzgerald at sixty six is the first guy that we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about. Then, you know, is that the
Speaker 2: new top one hundred name here?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Fitzgerald is exciting.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: I think it's like you look at a guy who
Speaker 4: just you know, came up last year and was really good.
Speaker 3: He goes over to a Nationals organization in that Mackenzie
Speaker 3: Gore trade, and now you know what already was looked
Speaker 3: good last year but very limited sample because of injuries
Speaker 3: in High A.
Speaker 4: This year he was unbelievable fifty one games.
Speaker 3: At a one thirty two WRC plus getting on base
Speaker 3: at a near four hundred clip gets the promotion in
Speaker 3: Double A.
Speaker 4: It's been one week.
Speaker 3: It has been a rough week for him, but it's
Speaker 3: been one week, so we're more focused on the fact
Speaker 3: that he absolutely destroyed Hi A for the first two
Speaker 3: months of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's I think also with Fitzgerald, it's important
Speaker 2: to note and this is a guy that I think
Speaker 2: just the length and the grueling aspect of of of
Speaker 2: a season is going to maybe affect him a little bit,
Speaker 2: because this is a high school draft tee who only
Speaker 2: played forty one games in twenty twenty five because the
Speaker 2: season was cut or due to injury. So he's already
Speaker 2: played right now like the most games he's ever played
Speaker 2: right in the spring season at fifty seven, and he's
Speaker 2: coming off that injury. But also the other important part
Speaker 2: to note here is this is a kid that really
Speaker 2: skipped Low A right. He got hurt ten games into
Speaker 2: Low A last year, and the Nationals were so impressed
Speaker 2: with Devin Fitzgerald in spring training and everything, and even
Speaker 2: in what they saw last year that they assigned him
Speaker 2: straight to HYA. So this double A promotion is a
Speaker 2: really big test for him and one that I figured
Speaker 2: they thought, Hey, like he's gonna have some growing pains,
Speaker 2: that's fine. HYA was already an aggressive push for him.
Speaker 2: A lot of other organizations I think would have just
Speaker 2: had Devin Fitzgerald hang out in Hia and dominate there
Speaker 2: for the duration of the year. And I know he
Speaker 2: was a little bit cold even at the finish of
Speaker 2: the High A stints, So I think it says a
Speaker 2: lot about how they feel about Fitzgerald to just kind
Speaker 2: of bring him straight up to Double Anyways, this is
Speaker 2: a really good player that I think will come down
Speaker 2: to earth a little bit with the back half of
Speaker 2: this year, because I mean, the exit velocities are coming along,
Speaker 2: but I mean he is outslugging the exit velocities. He's
Speaker 2: built to be that kind of guy with the above
Speaker 2: average field to hit with the angles the airpole and
Speaker 2: as a switch hitter as well. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: like this is a guy that had one of the
Speaker 2: best stretches we saw in the minor leagues. This year.
Speaker 2: Of course this is going to start to get pitched
Speaker 2: to a little bit different. It's a long season for him.
Speaker 2: It's a huge jump up really two levels, and a
Speaker 2: massive leap from where he was at last year. And
Speaker 2: no matter how long maybe this this struggle is in
Speaker 2: Double A, it doesn't really change anything to the fact
Speaker 2: that Devin Fitzgerald's such a well rounded, high floor piece
Speaker 2: as a switch hitting most likely second basement, but it
Speaker 2: could be an above average second basement that gives you
Speaker 2: above average battle ball, above average play discipline, at least
Speaker 2: average power season speed, and some of his parts is
Speaker 2: going to be I think an above average big league
Speaker 2: infielder for a long time.
Speaker 3: Great point there on him basically skipping high single A
Speaker 3: as a nineteen year old essentially right like this year
Speaker 3: is his age twenty season and he into High A
Speaker 3: and takes it and goes for it, right.
Speaker 4: Good point also, and you know, a good thing to
Speaker 4: note on.
Speaker 3: The second base aspect of it too, because he has
Speaker 3: only played second base now in Double A.
Speaker 4: Not that he you know, he might still play some.
Speaker 3: Sure, he might still play some third, but you already
Speaker 3: kind of had him picking as a second baseman. It
Speaker 3: does seem like now that he's in Double A, he's
Speaker 3: pretty much exclusively playing second at least so far. That
Speaker 3: might change, but it does seem like he's destined for
Speaker 3: that spot. Doesn't take anything away from a guy that's
Speaker 3: going to be a very well rounded hitter, fielder. All
Speaker 3: of the above, there's really not a deficiency you can
Speaker 3: point to in his game, you know, even though it
Speaker 3: is a second base profile mostly yeah.
Speaker 2: Which was baked into the to the report there, And yeah,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize though that every game so far at
Speaker 2: double A has been at second base, so I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: they are kind of tipping their hand there. And clearly
Speaker 2: the bat is the priority here and could be a
Speaker 2: really good one at that. The last thing with him
Speaker 2: is just going to be how much more raw power
Speaker 2: does he add in there? And I mean he doesn't
Speaker 2: need to add a ton because clearly, again even with
Speaker 2: average EXI velocities, we've seen him produce above average game
Speaker 2: power at the levels he's been at. But with a
Speaker 2: little bit more of an uptick in the raw power department,
Speaker 2: maybe you can then project out you know, above average
Speaker 2: game power instead of like the roughly average or slightly
Speaker 2: above right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: The next guy up on the list is Pedro Ramirez
Speaker 3: of the Cubs organization, coming in at sixty five, right
Speaker 3: next name on this We got five in a row
Speaker 3: here of newcomers. Actually to start off this list, Ramirez
Speaker 3: actually yesterday delivered a huge hit for the Cubs. He
Speaker 3: was up in Chicago now since we published this list,
Speaker 3: so you know, at the time we published, he had
Speaker 3: forty three games in you know, in Triple A with
Speaker 3: a one thirty seven WRC plus he got on base
Speaker 3: at a four hundred clip. Just a guy whose hit
Speaker 3: tool was you know, well above most guys at that
Speaker 3: level and looked like he was destined to be a
Speaker 3: piece in Chicago as soon as this season.
Speaker 4: So far, fourteen games for the Cubs.
Speaker 3: He's hitting two sixty five. He's getting on base at
Speaker 3: a three twenty four clip. He had a big hit
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 4: Like I mentioned, the.
Speaker 3: Walk rate and the strikeout rate are both you know,
Speaker 3: even right now to this point, which is a you know,
Speaker 3: a clear plus of his game. It's just his approach
Speaker 3: and his discipline. But you know, he's in Chicago and
Speaker 3: I don't really see him going anywhere. I think he's
Speaker 3: going to be part of this Cub's mix. Even if
Speaker 3: he's mixing positions a little bit for the rest of
Speaker 3: the season, most likely.
Speaker 2: This is just a very, very fun player. Where I
Speaker 2: mean the fact that he on such a loaded Cubs offense.
Speaker 2: I know the Cubs aren't playing great ball right now,
Speaker 2: but it's such a loaded and established offense that he,
Speaker 2: because of his versatility and his performance, has been able
Speaker 2: to kind of nestle his way into more opportunity there.
Speaker 2: It's a testament to his skill set and a testament
Speaker 2: to how he's come along offensively. Where you look at
Speaker 2: Ramirez and man, this guy really blew under the radar.
Speaker 2: He was really productive and a solid player at each stop,
Speaker 2: but nothing really jumped off of the page. Then you
Speaker 2: look at what he's been able to do this year
Speaker 2: and just improving the power, continuing to be the bat
Speaker 2: to ball guy that he is. Just being this versatile
Speaker 2: infielder as well, I think has really been impressive. But
Speaker 2: I think the power is probably the biggest thing that
Speaker 2: has pushed him up from bench guy to super utility.
Speaker 2: And super utility is, hey, you need this guy in
Speaker 2: the lineup every day. He can just play at a
Speaker 2: lot of different spots. For a lot of teams he
Speaker 2: might be just playing second base or third base every
Speaker 2: day as a young kind of projectable piece for them.
Speaker 2: And projectables maybe the wrong word because he's five nine
Speaker 2: one sixty five, but in terms of projecting out to
Speaker 2: what he can be as his Swiss Swiss army knife
Speaker 2: switch hitter that just does everything pretty darn well. The
Speaker 2: biggest things that stand out to me not a big frame,
Speaker 2: not a guy that was going to grow into a
Speaker 2: ton of more strength, but he figured out how to
Speaker 2: add more power. His average exivelocity and ninetieth percentilegs of
Speaker 2: velocity jumped by two miles per hour, which you know,
Speaker 2: I think for a guy like him, makes a huge difference.
Speaker 2: And with a ninety percent of one oh five point five,
Speaker 2: I mean that's a tick and a half above league average.
Speaker 2: Well see, he can sustain that the big league lebble.
Speaker 2: But the fact that he was doing that in triple
Speaker 2: A I think says a lot about where he is
Speaker 2: improved in an average devlosity of ninety miles per hour,
Speaker 2: this kind of frame defining pop. That's because of the
Speaker 2: fact that he has this impressive batspeed. I don't think
Speaker 2: that's going to result in a ton of homers. It's
Speaker 2: always been a bit of a flatter swing. He's found
Speaker 2: a little bit more waft. But if a guy that's
Speaker 2: a plus hitter is hitting the ball, you're gonna find
Speaker 2: the gaps more. You're gonna sneak it through the infield more.
Speaker 2: Your batting average on balls and play is going to
Speaker 2: be up. So you pair that with solid play, discipline,
Speaker 2: some value on the base. Pats can play all over
Speaker 2: the diamond. And this is just the kind of player
Speaker 2: that every single team in Major League Baseball would love
Speaker 2: to have on their roster. And what you alluded to
Speaker 2: earlier too. I know it's only thirty seven played appearances,
Speaker 2: but the fact that he is you know, walked three
Speaker 2: times and struck out three times is remarkable. I mean
Speaker 2: mostly on the emphasis on the strikeout three times, but
Speaker 2: the fact that he has done that is amazing in
Speaker 2: his first taste against major league pitching. This is a
Speaker 2: plus hitter man that has now added a little bit
Speaker 2: more thumb.
Speaker 3: Do you see him getting reps at anywhere aside from
Speaker 3: third and second if he's going to be kind of
Speaker 3: the super utility role. He's put a little outfield in
Speaker 3: the past he had played shortstop when he was like
Speaker 3: in the DSL, but hasn't really since then. He did
Speaker 3: play a couple games in left field. Actually even there
Speaker 3: is this season and then the season prior. Is he
Speaker 3: a guy that you think maybe could grow into like
Speaker 3: and learn how to play additional positions beyond those two
Speaker 3: because it seems like that's where you can maximize his
Speaker 3: value if he can start to even spot it in
Speaker 3: the corner outfield spots maybe in addition to second and third.
Speaker 2: Yes, because like if he was in a different organization,
Speaker 2: I think they just say, let's put this guy at
Speaker 2: second base. He's really good there, third, he's really solid
Speaker 2: at third base, and let's roll because we have an
Speaker 2: opening there. But I don't see the Cubs moving off
Speaker 2: of Petro Ramirez anytime soon. And it kind of reminds
Speaker 2: me the Casey Schmidt situation, where like, if Pedro Ramirez hits,
Speaker 2: he's such a good athlete that you throw him out
Speaker 2: and left, he's gonna figure it out. He's gonna be
Speaker 2: fine out there. And I think that's what they'll ultimately
Speaker 2: do because especially moving forward, like they just want to
Speaker 2: find different ways keep him the lineup. So if there's
Speaker 2: an opening and one of these other spots, somebody gets hurt,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be, they're going to probably try to
Speaker 2: figure that out. Right now, I don't know where the
Speaker 2: consistent reps fin end up, but if you can play
Speaker 2: more positions, there's gonna be more opportunity for you if
Speaker 2: someone goes down, if someone's really slumping, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: So it's the answerr question. I think we see kind
Speaker 2: of something similar to a Casey Schmidt's type of spot.
Speaker 2: The only difference is pedromeras what won't is it going
Speaker 2: to be two short to play first? So it'll probably
Speaker 2: an outfield situation there if they're going to attack on
Speaker 2: another position and you're looking at.
Speaker 3: A team that has both, Ian happens says Azuki be
Speaker 3: going to fore agency next year. So that's where my
Speaker 3: brain went a little bit of like, oh, maybe you
Speaker 3: do have a guy. If this is the guy you
Speaker 3: won your lineup and you really think he's a piece
Speaker 3: of your lineup for the long haul, you could have
Speaker 3: him in a quarter outfield potentially and see what it
Speaker 3: looks like there. At least tested out there this season,
Speaker 3: give him a couple of games going the next year.
Speaker 3: You at least have an idea of if he could
Speaker 3: maybe be a piece there if you need it there.
Speaker 2: And I think with a player like that is yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's as long as you hit, they trust it,
Speaker 2: You're going to figure it out. Like anywhere, I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see how how the cups decide to handle it.
Speaker 4: Very good. Going over to our next guy.
Speaker 3: Next up on the list, going next to sixty four
Speaker 3: is Johnny Level of the San Francisco Giants organization.
Speaker 4: This is an international guy who has just been unbelievable
Speaker 4: for the past two years.
Speaker 3: Honestly, last year was really strong in the complex, but
Speaker 3: did struggle when he got to single A. This year,
Speaker 3: he starts the season in Single A, has already made
Speaker 3: the transition to High A in the past two weeks
Speaker 3: and has really carried over the momentum honestly for him
Speaker 3: from Single A to High A. Now he's nineteen years
Speaker 3: old playing primarily shortstop. Still I think he's really he's
Speaker 3: a little bit of second base, but he's still primarily
Speaker 3: playing shortstop this season as a guy who's nineteen and
Speaker 3: has just mashed his way through both single and now
Speaker 3: High A so far this season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a few different things that really I
Speaker 2: think highlighted just the uptick and value beyond the fact
Speaker 2: that he's just raking rights. As you mentioned, just an
Speaker 2: eighteen year old during spring training, nineteen years old at
Speaker 2: the end of March at low Way and now hi
Speaker 2: A it's continued. Obviously when we put this list out,
Speaker 2: he hadn't even really gotten the HIA yet. The defense,
Speaker 2: and that was a big part for me because you
Speaker 2: look at him on the surface, and if you judge
Speaker 2: a book by its cover here, you wouldn't expect him
Speaker 2: to be the defender that he is. He's a little
Speaker 2: bit stocky and he's five to eight, but then you
Speaker 2: watch him move his feet at shortstop and it's really
Speaker 2: natural for him. You look at the arm, it's above average,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden you start to looking there's
Speaker 2: a guy that to stick at shortstop, And all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, due he started to swipe some bags more consistently,
Speaker 2: and so even though he's not going to be an
Speaker 2: absolute burner, you see this quickness to him and this
Speaker 2: agility to him that when you pair the footwork in
Speaker 2: the first step with his hands and a good enough arm,
Speaker 2: is a guy that looks like he can stick and
Speaker 2: be above average at the position. Then the other side
Speaker 2: has been just the offensive improvements, and it was difficult
Speaker 2: to exactly figure out what the long term out looks
Speaker 2: going to be from like a hit tool perspective and everything.
Speaker 2: But to me, it looks like he's at least going
Speaker 2: to be average, I think probably closer to above average.
Speaker 2: He's aggressive in the box, but this is also a
Speaker 2: difficult play discipline grade because he's aggressive as a guy
Speaker 2: that hits. He's sitting over three hundred, and he's young,
Speaker 2: and he's performed pretty much at most stops until that
Speaker 2: brief stint and low a last year, So those guys,
Speaker 2: it's always tough to expect them to swing less. I
Speaker 2: don't see it as much of a pitch wreck issue
Speaker 2: because he's a little bit more selective and has been
Speaker 2: more selective against spend. So I can really see that
Speaker 2: plates as up one getting better than what we have
Speaker 2: right there as the thirty five present, forty five future,
Speaker 2: and that would obviously bring up the offensive outlook as well.
Speaker 2: I think the hit tool I became more encouraged by
Speaker 2: the more I watched, like he can maneuver the barrel
Speaker 2: he gets to pitches like up and in. He gets
Speaker 2: the pitches down in a way there's quickly. There's just
Speaker 2: good feel for it from both sides of the plate.
Speaker 2: But I think when you look at what Johnny Lovell
Speaker 2: can do and some of his parts, he's better from
Speaker 2: the left side. I'm always going to like that from
Speaker 2: a young switch hitter. You figure I'll close the gap
Speaker 2: a little bit more from the right side, and that's fine.
Speaker 2: It's less pressing to do so he can stick at
Speaker 2: the position. He gives you some value with his legs,
Speaker 2: and he's continuing to grow into a little bit more
Speaker 2: pop already showing above average exit velocities. Just trying to
Speaker 2: get into that, you know, above average batspeed. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: just trying to turn that into above average exit velocities
Speaker 2: here in game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, while still a little bit further down the line,
Speaker 3: it does sound like there's a chance, you know, there's
Speaker 3: a gens for an average or above average.
Speaker 4: Both hit and power.
Speaker 3: And then you pair that with a guy who seems
Speaker 3: like can be a legit shortstop and is still playing shortstop.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be interesting to see.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get to another guy later that's also a
Speaker 3: middle infielder in the Giants organ and then there's another
Speaker 3: one in Hostwagenzale Like, I'm curious to see how the
Speaker 3: defensive layout goes for that tree. You got a trio
Speaker 3: of teenage shortstops all in the same organization that at
Speaker 3: some point you're gonna have to figure out who is
Speaker 3: playing where or when they get to the same levels.
Speaker 3: Right now, they're all staggered, So maybe you're buying yourself
Speaker 3: some time there. But it's gonna be interesting to see
Speaker 3: kind of which one of those guys ends up really
Speaker 3: sticking it short compared to the others.
Speaker 2: Well, great problem to have for a farm system that
Speaker 2: not too long ago we were saying this Baron all
Speaker 2: of a sudden has a lot of young talent and
Speaker 2: is graduating a guy in Bryce Saladrich who seems to
Speaker 2: be figuring it out at the big league level big time.
Speaker 4: Yep, Seriously, the Giants could use it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I still think at this point they're looking
Speaker 3: towards the future and it's good to have a farm
Speaker 3: going the right direction for them.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 3: We're going Cubs Giants, Cubs Giants here. I didn't even
Speaker 3: realize that's how this list staggered.
Speaker 2: Up.
Speaker 3: But the next guy coming in at sixty third is
Speaker 3: Josiah Hartshorn of the Cubs organization. This guy's straight up
Speaker 3: arrow right now to find as much of an up
Speaker 3: arrow guy from last year's draft, a sixth round pick
Speaker 3: out of high school who was pulled away from a
Speaker 3: commitment from the Cubs and has been just dominating this season.
Speaker 3: He was going off in Single A and then the
Speaker 3: past month since getting to Hi A, the nineteen year
Speaker 3: old high school pick is hitting four to twenty two
Speaker 3: in his first eighteen games in High A, with eight
Speaker 3: home runs, good for a two eleven WRC plus. I
Speaker 3: think if you reranked, he might be high sixty three,
Speaker 3: to be honest, and this was literally two and a
Speaker 3: half week ago, this list came out, and he probably
Speaker 3: would be like pushing top fifty if we had to
Speaker 3: re rank today.
Speaker 2: He said eight homers. I think since the list came
Speaker 2: out and we're still doing a breakdown of the list,
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit of that's an in diamond on us,
Speaker 2: but no, I think that's mostly a credit to Josiah
Speaker 2: arch One. Eight homers in eighteen High A games is stupid.
Speaker 2: This is a switch hitter who's nineteen years old till
Speaker 2: February is it is so cool to see. I think
Speaker 2: the Cubs man like another farm system all of a
Speaker 2: sudden through some trades they've made and guys graduating. Whatever.
Speaker 2: Isn't as deep as we've seen, but you cannot doubt
Speaker 2: what they do from a draft perspective and their ability
Speaker 2: to identify talent and real guys in. And this was
Speaker 2: a guy that I mean clearly they identified. He mentioned
Speaker 2: the overslot, you know, and in the sixth round to
Speaker 2: bring in and said, this guy can really hit, and
Speaker 2: that's exactly what he can do. He's played mostly the outfield,
Speaker 2: a little bit of first. I think ultimately it's gonna
Speaker 2: be corner outfield with the first place versatility. I think
Speaker 2: we're seeing that more and more in the game. If
Speaker 2: you're gonna have like an average corner guy, he might
Speaker 2: as well see if he can play a little bit
Speaker 2: of first and you see the value in that as well.
Speaker 2: And what more teams are trying to do that with
Speaker 2: some guys. But Hartshorn's operation offensively, I absolutely love. It's
Speaker 2: predicated on athleticism, but there's also simplicity to it too,
Speaker 2: Like he has this big gather but it's not like
Speaker 2: a high leg kick gather it's just how far he travels,
Speaker 2: Like his front foot comes all the way back almost
Speaker 2: to touch his back foot. He touches his toe on
Speaker 2: the ground then comes back forward again, and I think
Speaker 2: that really allows him to gather his his and really
Speaker 2: create a lot of tension into his backside. But as
Speaker 2: he like strides back forward, there isn't like a weight
Speaker 2: shift a major like pendulum shifts back forward. He really
Speaker 2: does hold his weight in his back side well, so
Speaker 2: he gathers in has this longer stride forward, but he
Speaker 2: holds his backside well. His hands are really stagnant, but
Speaker 2: not in a negative way, like he just kind of
Speaker 2: coils back inward as his foot goes forward, and it
Speaker 2: seems like he's created this perfect rubber band effect to
Speaker 2: where he creates tension. He's on time, but he also
Speaker 2: gets to his backside in a way that allows him
Speaker 2: to really store that energy and he repeats it really well.
Speaker 2: You pair that with really quick hands and a path
Speaker 2: that is money, because he's already kind of preset and
Speaker 2: coiled where he wants to be with his upper body,
Speaker 2: and it just seems like it's a switch hitter and
Speaker 2: a young hitter here that already knows what he wants
Speaker 2: to do in the box. Again, it's not something that
Speaker 2: you see a lot of guys do with that big
Speaker 2: gather and then stride back out forward. But he controls
Speaker 2: it all so well that I get so excited about
Speaker 2: what can be here. And I think that's why he's
Speaker 2: already been able to just handle these aggressive there's aggressive
Speaker 2: promotion and the ability to just dominate there as well,
Speaker 2: because he's a guy that it's plus play discipline. He
Speaker 2: knows what he wants to do in the box, and
Speaker 2: at low A it's kind of hard. Sometimes your good
Speaker 2: approach works against you the zones. Big pitchers have no
Speaker 2: idea where it's going, and they're effectively wild in a
Speaker 2: way that kind of gets you in your own head
Speaker 2: a bit, Whereas if you're executing an approach in HIA,
Speaker 2: I think you're rewarded more consistently, and we're seeing that
Speaker 2: with hardshorn seventeen percent chase average actabosity of ninety two
Speaker 2: miles per hour, a hard hit rate of fifty percent.
Speaker 2: As a switch hitting nineteen year old contact rate of
Speaker 2: eighty percent, you can't really poke a hole in his
Speaker 2: offensive game at all, and he just continues to mash, I.
Speaker 3: Want to ask you about the other side of the ball,
Speaker 3: because it's interesting. He was playing primarily right field in
Speaker 3: single A. Since getting to hy A, he's actually playing
Speaker 3: primarily center field, which is another to this fold. We're like,
Speaker 3: you tell me all this, You just told me about
Speaker 3: the offensive profile, and then you tell me there's a
Speaker 3: chance he sticks in center.
Speaker 2: Boom Man, that would if he can play out there,
Speaker 2: that would change everything. I haven't seen it done. I
Speaker 2: don't want to ever rule out a guy at nineteen
Speaker 2: years old from being able to figure it out. We've
Speaker 2: seen crazier things happen. And clearly he's an athlete. Like again,
Speaker 2: when you watch the way he operates in the box,
Speaker 2: he's big, like he's strong, and he's not going to
Speaker 2: be like the fleetest fleetest of foot. But if he
Speaker 2: can and I think he can actually absolutely be an
Speaker 2: average runner if he can just have get to the
Speaker 2: point where his his routes and his reads are good enough,
Speaker 2: even if he's just average out there, with the ability
Speaker 2: to then go play above average in the corners. If
Speaker 2: you have a guy that can play all three, I
Speaker 2: mean that does absolutely catapult his his value as well.
Speaker 2: But what's nice for Hardshorn is like, I think that's
Speaker 2: the Cubs trying to play with house money here, see
Speaker 2: what they can see if he can develop out there
Speaker 2: because he's been such a quick study and worst case, okay,
Speaker 2: he learned some things out there. You slade him over
Speaker 2: to a corner and maybe he projects us, you know,
Speaker 2: slightly above average over there as well. But man, I
Speaker 2: just love watching him do his thing in the box.
Speaker 2: The fact that he can, you know, control that move
Speaker 2: and he really does, Like it doesn't seem like a
Speaker 2: pictures can really throw him out of his timing or
Speaker 2: out of his rhythm. It's eleven fifty eight ops against fastballs,
Speaker 2: it's a nine eighty eight ops against breaking balls. Like
Speaker 2: he is going to control his body and keep himself
Speaker 2: in the posture to get his a swing off. And
Speaker 2: you just don't see that that often from nineteen year
Speaker 2: olds as stick client levels.
Speaker 3: Sounds to me like an absolute riser and somebody will
Speaker 3: continue to rise up this list going forward. Let's take
Speaker 3: a quick break before we dive back into the rest
Speaker 3: of these names. Jumping right back in here to our
Speaker 3: newcomers Part two. From our updated Top one hundred list
Speaker 3: and updated a couple weeks ago. We're getting around to
Speaker 3: talking about every facet of this list over the past
Speaker 3: two weeks. Our next newcomer on this list coming from
Speaker 3: the Giants organization. We already have a Giants guy earlier.
Speaker 3: Now we've got Luis Hernandez, a top international signing from
Speaker 3: Venezuela this past offseason, who jump skips the DSL, jumps
Speaker 3: straight to the complex.
Speaker 4: And it's always a little bit hard.
Speaker 3: To gauge complex number, but five million dollars signing, the
Speaker 3: numbers on the surface look excellent, the numbers beneath the
Speaker 3: surface look really good, and he jumps straight into sixty
Speaker 3: two without having played affiliated game at this point yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, just to be just hanging out in
Speaker 2: the complex. And it's hard to your point of like
Speaker 2: properly being able to assess these types of players. You
Speaker 2: don't want to get ahead of yourself, and I think
Speaker 2: we've seen that in the past. But you can also
Speaker 2: identify and I think this is where the hairs will
Speaker 2: get split, where it's like you can identify a player
Speaker 2: that is just better than everybody else at that level.
Speaker 2: And I think Louis Hernandez is that Jesus made was that.
Speaker 2: So there's different versions of that though too, right where
Speaker 2: it's like there's better than everybody else at that level,
Speaker 2: and he's a super star, and there's better than everybody
Speaker 2: else at that level, and then he meets his match
Speaker 2: maybe a low way high a and you get a
Speaker 2: better idea of what this guy can be. But what's
Speaker 2: abundantly clear with Louis Hernandez is that he is and
Speaker 2: kind of similar to the harts One conversation, he's so
Speaker 2: ahead of his years. He looks like he's already taken
Speaker 2: a thousand pro abs with the way that he operates
Speaker 2: in the box. Yeah, he can be a bit aggressive
Speaker 2: at times, but in terms of his swing mechanics, in
Speaker 2: terms of the way that he bears down with two strikes,
Speaker 2: and just I think, and the funny thing is is
Speaker 2: he kind of has had this workload as a pro
Speaker 2: because he's played in these international leagues already as a
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen year old, which is a big reason why
Speaker 2: he came with all the fanfare that he has. But
Speaker 2: I think with Hernandez, it's already so advanced in the box.
Speaker 2: Usually when I'm looking at these guys, I'm like, all right,
Speaker 2: you see the bat speed or you see you know,
Speaker 2: some good components of the swing, but he's gonna need
Speaker 2: a clean X Y or Z up. There's not much
Speaker 2: I would change with Louise Hernandez. His swing already like
Speaker 2: he he is so advanced from a mechanical standpoint, it's
Speaker 2: super simple. It's really predicated on a toe tap and
Speaker 2: a coil, and he repeats it really well. He's consistently
Speaker 2: on time. It's pop that defies his frame. He's not
Speaker 2: going to be super projectable. But the fact that you're
Speaker 2: already seeing him get into some decent evs because of
Speaker 2: how how iven quick the bat is. I mean, you're
Speaker 2: seeing some one oh sevens one eight. It's from a
Speaker 2: kid that's seventeen years old. And the question was always
Speaker 2: going to be like, well, how much power is in
Speaker 2: there because he's not that big. Well, there's already a
Speaker 2: decent bit you know that we're seeing from him now.
Speaker 2: The other thing is he elevates consistently to all fields.
Speaker 2: And I've seen him hit some balls and I know
Speaker 2: it's Arizona, but I've seen him hit some balls that
Speaker 2: kind of look like they're deep on and most of
Speaker 2: it almost beats him. But because the bat speed's so
Speaker 2: so impressive for his age, because of the natural field
Speaker 2: of backspin, they just carry out to the right center
Speaker 2: gap over the wall. And I'm like, man seventeen years
Speaker 2: old doing that, he's going to be able to maybe
Speaker 2: outslug what a lot of people would expect. It's a
Speaker 2: small sample, it's a complex sample, but an average egxiveloscity
Speaker 2: of eighty nine miles per hour I think is really impressive.
Speaker 2: Average air eggs velocity is ninety two and a half.
Speaker 2: That's a big gap. Usually he said one one to
Speaker 2: two miles per hour. When it's three and a half.
Speaker 2: That tells me it's a guy that is really getting
Speaker 2: it off when it's in the air and really hitting
Speaker 2: a hard average launch angle of eleven degrees, it's clearly
Speaker 2: a good path conducive to backspin to all fields, and
Speaker 2: I just think he's only going to get better.
Speaker 4: The ability to.
Speaker 3: Airpull into not even the airpol just just get the ball
Speaker 3: up with authority like that at that age is just
Speaker 3: something I feel like we don't see that often, and
Speaker 3: such a young hitter like I get it's the complex.
Speaker 3: But no matter what, if you're able to really launch
Speaker 3: the ball with that much authority in the air.
Speaker 4: That just feels like a guy who's already so ahead
Speaker 4: of his years.
Speaker 3: Do you think if you had to, like not to
Speaker 3: make you compare fully, But you look at Level, who
Speaker 3: we just talked about earlier, look at Hernandez.
Speaker 2: Is he it's.
Speaker 4: Probably too early?
Speaker 2: Belike?
Speaker 4: Does he seem like he's a short stop guy?
Speaker 3: You know, he's played some third two, so even though
Speaker 3: he is not a huge guy, it seems like he's
Speaker 3: had some comfort at third base as well as short
Speaker 3: stuff too.
Speaker 2: He's not the defender that jos War and Level are,
Speaker 2: and I think that's the interesting part. So we might
Speaker 2: start to see Hernandez. It's gonna be interesting how quickly
Speaker 2: they want to do that. We know that teams always
Speaker 2: want to like give the guys as many reps at
Speaker 2: a position as possible. But this is also somebody whose
Speaker 2: bat is so good that he may end up moving
Speaker 2: kind of quickly. Who knows too, because he's a good
Speaker 2: athlete and nan he has such good baseball instincts that
Speaker 2: he could develop into a good enough shortstop. I think
Speaker 2: ultimately he slides over to third his arms good or
Speaker 2: second base, and it's going to be about the bat here.
Speaker 2: But seventeen years old, I don't want to fully fully
Speaker 2: move a guy off the position. But I think when
Speaker 2: you compare him to jos war and to level at
Speaker 2: seventeen eighteen years old, defensively, I think those guys are
Speaker 2: a little bit ahead. But I think when you compare
Speaker 2: Hernandez's swing just from a path perspective, from a repeatability perspective,
Speaker 2: from just a bat speed perspective, he's ahead of those
Speaker 2: guys as well. And then also just the track record
Speaker 2: that he has through these other leagues internationally and the
Speaker 2: success you've seen. It immediately tran to where he's just
Speaker 2: comfortable against pro pitching, and I think that says a
Speaker 2: lot about, you know, just just where he at, where
Speaker 2: he's at relative to his peers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 3: I think he's just someone that is going to keep
Speaker 3: climbing and probably be young for the level everywhere he goes, Right,
Speaker 3: He's probably going to be young for the level for
Speaker 3: the next few years, and we're going to keep talking
Speaker 3: about him as a guy who's like, oh, this guy's
Speaker 3: only eight twenty years old in double A and doing
Speaker 3: what he's doing, like he seems like he's on track
Speaker 3: to be one of those names like A Walcott for example,
Speaker 3: right who just is always a little bit younger than
Speaker 3: his competition and still holding his own.
Speaker 2: And one more thing he just made me think of
Speaker 2: on that point is that he's similar to the Heartshorn
Speaker 2: conversation of like, it's hard to get this guy out
Speaker 2: of his own rhythm. And I think that's the biggest
Speaker 2: thing that will happen in High A double as better stuff,
Speaker 2: you start to feel a little bit rushed, or you
Speaker 2: don't recognize the spend, your mechanics break down, your timing
Speaker 2: gets disrupted when you kind of control your own rhythm
Speaker 2: and timing because your moves are it seems like you've
Speaker 2: been doing it way longer than you have. Those are
Speaker 2: the guys that seem to handle the next levels very easily,
Speaker 2: like we've seen with Heart one. Hernandez seems like one
Speaker 2: of those guys. So I think he's going to be
Speaker 2: able to maintain that production and handle those promotions quite well.
Speaker 2: And I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen him at Low
Speaker 2: Way yet. I think a big part of it is
Speaker 2: probably just lifestyle. He's seventeen. It's one thing when you're
Speaker 2: at the complex and you're with the team and you're
Speaker 2: with your organization, where once you get to low Wa,
Speaker 2: it's like all right, kid, like you're living on you know,
Speaker 2: you have roommate, but like you're out there living in
Speaker 2: the real world. It's like, think about going to going
Speaker 2: to college. Man, Like I wasn't ready to go to
Speaker 2: college at seventeen, So I think that's something. And it's
Speaker 2: more than college. You're traveling a ton, so I think
Speaker 2: it's probably more of a lifestyle thing and just getting
Speaker 2: him out because as you mentioned, he skipped the DSL.
Speaker 2: I think it's more that than like ability, because I
Speaker 2: think they're probably ready to get him, you know, against
Speaker 2: Lowa Arms.
Speaker 3: It's a funny thing we probably don't consider too often
Speaker 3: of like, yeah, these guys are kids and.
Speaker 4: They're just like going and traveling around the gun.
Speaker 2: You want to move out of a hotel right now.
Speaker 2: I needed my dad watching me when we were doing
Speaker 2: the summer ball tournaments at seventeen. I didn't need a
Speaker 2: hotel room with another friend. It wouldn't be good. Fair enough.
Speaker 3: Coming in at number sixty on our list is gage
Speaker 3: Wood of the Philadelphia Phillies organization first round pick from
Speaker 3: last year, advanced college guy. We saw him absolutely shoved
Speaker 3: in single A this year, which is like, why are
Speaker 3: we watching him in single A? Skips over high A
Speaker 3: completely has been in double A now for four starts
Speaker 3: and has pretty much carried over that success and actually
Speaker 3: been even a little better.
Speaker 4: He lowered his.
Speaker 3: Walk rate from what was eleven percent in single A
Speaker 3: to now five percent in double A. He's attacking, he
Speaker 3: looks good and looks to be one of the quicker
Speaker 3: college arms from last year's draft that's going to keep
Speaker 3: progressing for the minor leagues.
Speaker 2: Okay, I call my shot here. I think we see
Speaker 2: this guy in the Phillies bullpen in the year. I
Speaker 2: still think he projects a middle rotation starter, Like that's
Speaker 2: what you're hoping for here, right, But he's coming off
Speaker 2: of a little bit of an arm thing at the
Speaker 2: end of last year. Nothing majors you think through a
Speaker 2: fair amount of mendings, doesn't have a huge, huge, huge
Speaker 2: track record of workload given just just his progression as
Speaker 2: a guy that was kind of in the bullpen transitioned
Speaker 2: to the Arkansas rotation out of the bullpen in twenty
Speaker 2: five and then had a little bit of just like ah,
Speaker 2: I threw a lot at the end of twenty five.
Speaker 2: So I just I do feel like they're going to
Speaker 2: manage his endings really carefully and not even feel like
Speaker 2: we see it in real time. He's mostly throwing in
Speaker 2: burish inning spurts, and I then when he gets to
Speaker 2: a certain number, they're going to continue to manage that.
Speaker 2: I just wonder if they may. And because the fastball
Speaker 2: is so good, and because the command, as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: has gotten better, and the Phillies are just in this
Speaker 2: win now, win now, win now mode. I could see
Speaker 2: would being a guy that it succeeds out of the
Speaker 2: bullpen for them, and then of course you transition him
Speaker 2: back into focusing as a startup, They're going to have
Speaker 2: to manage the workload at some point this year. Anyways,
Speaker 2: that kind of are proactively I think for a reason,
Speaker 2: seventy great fastball that's going to work in a big
Speaker 2: league bullpen, and I think that fastball would play in
Speaker 2: the big leagues now. It's one of the flatter approach
Speaker 2: angles you're going to see that really allow that perceived
Speaker 2: ride to play up and just guys swing under it
Speaker 2: all the freaking time. The big reason why and I
Speaker 2: know some people had would in the top one hundred
Speaker 2: out of the drafts. You might be thinking of a
Speaker 2: whyse and newcomer. I was kind of skeptical on what
Speaker 2: he would have beyond the fastball, especially just with the
Speaker 2: lack of track record and what we've seen from him.
Speaker 2: Phillies had a plan. The curveball was good in college,
Speaker 2: but it was good, I think one because it has
Speaker 2: depth and had teeth to it, but almost too much depth.
Speaker 2: It was this two playing big curveball, and in college
Speaker 2: hitters are so geared up for the fastball that they're
Speaker 2: going to chase that thing. But it's such a big
Speaker 2: pitch that if that's your go to pitch off the fastball,
Speaker 2: I think pro hitters are gonna have a game plan
Speaker 2: for that and they're gonna start to shut down anything
Speaker 2: that starts at their belt. And yeah, you can maybe
Speaker 2: free some guys with the fastball at the belt, but
Speaker 2: you're not gonna get the chases that you wanted the curveball,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna be even more pressure to land. It's
Speaker 2: a hard pitch to land. The Philly said, We want
Speaker 2: you to throwing the slider slider that you barely threw
Speaker 2: in college. Really it really didn't throw at all. And
Speaker 2: this slider has been fantastic for him this year clearly
Speaker 2: was a focus from in the offseason, and it's gotten
Speaker 2: better and better and better and now looks like it
Speaker 2: can be a plus pitch. So now he's got that.
Speaker 2: It's not a bridge even, but like he's got the
Speaker 2: bridge between the fastball and the curveball, and now the
Speaker 2: slider is actually better than the curveball anyways, So he's
Speaker 2: got that pitch now, and then he still has the
Speaker 2: curveball is the third pitch for him. I think because
Speaker 2: the fastball is so good, he can be fastball two
Speaker 2: breaking balls and have a lot of success. But I
Speaker 2: think obviously being able to mix in that splitter with
Speaker 2: a little bit more successful help. But I'm seeing Chase
Speaker 2: Burns dominate fastball slider like it's fastball slider. The fact
Speaker 2: that Wood could flip in this curveball still that's a
Speaker 2: good pitch with two plane break absolutely helps, and I
Speaker 2: think that is the biggest thing for me. It's just
Speaker 2: seeing that development of the slider, which is going to
Speaker 2: be way easier to land consistently, is going to be
Speaker 2: way better of a tunnel, especially with this kind of
Speaker 2: crossfire delivery that he creates with the fastball. Now he
Speaker 2: doesn't need to be a sixty five percent fastball usage guy.
Speaker 2: Now it can be closer to the if it's fifty five,
Speaker 2: he's going to be in good shit.
Speaker 3: I have to say I kind of love this. I
Speaker 3: wouldn't call it a trend, but it does feel like
Speaker 3: it's becoming more common to see guys with this two
Speaker 3: breaking ball mix as opposed to like a third a
Speaker 3: true you know, aw speed change up, whatever it may be,
Speaker 3: right Like, I think it's it's becoming a little more accepted.
Speaker 3: I think it used to be like, oh, you can't
Speaker 3: just have you know, fastball and two breaking balls.
Speaker 4: There's still breaking balls. The difference with this guy.
Speaker 3: Like this is he had that huge, big breaking ball,
Speaker 3: but then bouncing it off of the smaller and like
Speaker 3: you said, way easier to locate slider. You have the
Speaker 3: ability to differentiate between this this one breaking ball that
Speaker 3: is more of a chase pitch and the curveball, and
Speaker 3: you're probably not going to land for a high strike
Speaker 3: rate versus another breaking ball that, Yeah, it's still a
Speaker 3: breaking ball, but it's a totally different type of offering
Speaker 3: because you feel confident in it getting in the zone,
Speaker 3: it just opens up his arsenal so much.
Speaker 4: And then if you can see that splitter get to.
Speaker 3: Even average, then you're talking about a four pitch starter
Speaker 3: mix with the legit four pitch mix at that point.
Speaker 3: So I love the way you broke it down there
Speaker 3: because it is key, Like, yeah, he was a really
Speaker 3: talent the pitcher. We knew the fastball was incredible.
Speaker 4: What is there beyond that?
Speaker 3: And now you're seeing why he's succeeding as a starter,
Speaker 3: And yeah, it'd be a lot of fun to watch
Speaker 3: him in the bullpen, even if it becomes three pitches
Speaker 3: primarily or even two pitches primarily out of the bullpen,
Speaker 3: Like if the Phillies are in October and then their
Speaker 3: rotation is as good as it is and good as
Speaker 3: it can be. Gauge Woods, you you know your your
Speaker 3: seventh th inning weapon you unleash.
Speaker 4: I would kind of love that.
Speaker 2: I like that fastball is averaging ninety six right now,
Speaker 2: again with outlier characteristics and plus extension. If it's ninety
Speaker 2: seven to ninety eight out of the pen. He could
Speaker 2: go seventy eighty percent fastball out of the pen and
Speaker 2: have some success. Last note on that, because I agree
Speaker 2: with what you said on the breaking balls is tying
Speaker 2: into what I was saying before. If you're shutting down
Speaker 2: everything that starts at the belt, that slider it could
Speaker 2: still you know, hang up at at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the zone there, and then you're starting to think about that, Oh,
Speaker 2: is this a slidder. Nope, it's the curve ball, and
Speaker 2: you're waving over it, right. So it gives him a
Speaker 2: third v low band and it gives him a third
Speaker 2: shape in between. Just you can't, I think, have eighteen
Speaker 2: inches of vertical break curveball at like eighty two and
Speaker 2: then a ninety six min hour fastball and nothing in between.
Speaker 2: So I think it was a great, great development plan
Speaker 2: there for the Phillies attestament to Wood to be able
Speaker 2: to develop, to be able to just add that and
Speaker 2: have the success. And yeah, again I think we see
Speaker 2: him in the postseason and that would be really fun.
Speaker 3: Pretty disgusting mix there to potentially throw in your bullpend
Speaker 3: for October, that's for sure. Tyler Bremner number fifty nine
Speaker 3: on the top one hundred, a guy, another newcomer. He's
Speaker 3: been out for a little while with injuries. It's interesting,
Speaker 3: it's kind of TVD.
Speaker 4: He had an illness.
Speaker 3: I'm honestly not sure as someone who's tapped into Bremner
Speaker 3: exactly what's been going on there, But his first eight
Speaker 3: starts of this season in Hi A another guy that
Speaker 3: had some arsenal development needed.
Speaker 4: We knew it had to be more than just his
Speaker 4: elite change up.
Speaker 3: We talked about him about a month ago and on
Speaker 3: a heat sheet as well before he went down with
Speaker 3: the you know, he sit out for a while, a
Speaker 3: two to one era, and the biggest thing that we've
Speaker 3: talked about with Remner is it was the change up.
Speaker 4: It was great.
Speaker 3: Now you're seeing an elite fastball paired with an incredible
Speaker 3: change up, one of the best change ups in minor
Speaker 3: league baseball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, they said illness. I don't know, because
Speaker 2: you know then he can't. He's come back now recently
Speaker 2: a couple of days ago, and it's been like two
Speaker 2: ish Shending spurts. And maybe it's just because at the
Speaker 2: time it is they don't want to like throw them
Speaker 2: back into the fire. But like three weeks with an onness.
Speaker 2: Who knows. I mean Ralphie Alaskas did have a pretty
Speaker 2: notly illness in the back half of the one year,
Speaker 2: and so you never know, but hopefully it's nothing you know,
Speaker 2: arm related there. And I mean Bremner another example here
Speaker 2: my two big questions. It amst to be a little
Speaker 2: bit more hesitant on the college arms if there are
Speaker 2: some of these questions, because I remember Kysen Witherspoon was
Speaker 2: on a lot of top one hundred wists now and
Speaker 2: he's not sniffing any because of some of the struggles
Speaker 2: that he's had. But Remner was, Okay, fastball looks above average,
Speaker 2: what will the shape look like professionally? And then what,
Speaker 2: you know, what will the third pitch? Well? Klai can
Speaker 2: he can he mix in a breaking ball? And I
Speaker 2: think that latter question is still valid, But what really
Speaker 2: encouraged me was the fastball shape and the quality of it.
Speaker 2: And so far this year, I mean, we've seen him,
Speaker 2: I think, really have success with that four seamer where
Speaker 2: he's averaging north of ninety five miles an hour and
Speaker 2: he's getting it up to ninety eight with run and
Speaker 2: ride like it's it's I think averaging around eighteen inches
Speaker 2: avert and another twelve inches of horizontal that run right
Speaker 2: change off of it. That tunnel's crazy because the fastball
Speaker 2: is going to have something action and the run to it,
Speaker 2: and then you also have the changeup that's just going
Speaker 2: to fade right below while still kind of staying on
Speaker 2: the same tunnel because it has the arm side action
Speaker 2: even more so, but it just keeps going arm side
Speaker 2: and it fades downwards ten inches. It's kind of the
Speaker 2: perfect pitch off of the fastball, which is why the
Speaker 2: change up to seventy. But the fact that the fast
Speaker 2: fall is setting it up to this degree is what
Speaker 2: really makes me, you know, excited about it. If it
Speaker 2: was more of like this just verty heater that it
Speaker 2: would still be great, but that kind of stays on
Speaker 2: a line, I don't think it would tunnel quite as
Speaker 2: elite as it does now. When you have this run
Speaker 2: and ride and then you have this fade and run
Speaker 2: to the arm side as well, that two pitch combination
Speaker 2: is enough for him to have a lot of success
Speaker 2: and to fly through the minor leagues. But I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's because of the variables of what's going
Speaker 2: on with him or if the angels are like, we're
Speaker 2: going to be different this time and actually develop this guy.
Speaker 2: But I'm glad that they are. He's still gonna need
Speaker 2: that third pitch, and there's it's just a wide range
Speaker 2: of shape right now. Like some are way more cutterish,
Speaker 2: some are more slur like Giro's sliders. Some are a
Speaker 2: little bit more slurvy, and it just seems like he
Speaker 2: can't quite find that feel yet. I would love for
Speaker 2: him to find a sinker. I think that is the
Speaker 2: most natural throw for him, and I know he's kind
Speaker 2: of been like I've seen I've read some interviews. I
Speaker 2: think he did something with David Lure with with Fangrafts.
Speaker 2: It's like, I don't throw that. Maybe it's something that
Speaker 2: he considers. And then maybe a cutter because he naturally
Speaker 2: sends to every time he tries to throw a slider.
Speaker 2: It seems to cut anyways. That's for people that are
Speaker 2: a little bit, you know, more adept to the pitch
Speaker 2: development side of things as well. But I do think
Speaker 2: the most obvious addition is a sinker that gives him
Speaker 2: an early ground ball pitch that also can can have
Speaker 2: a similar effect to what we're talking about with the
Speaker 2: fastball change up and just give him a different look.
Speaker 3: Yeah, We've talked about this before that that is always
Speaker 3: what I've thought from watching him for years in college.
Speaker 3: And I do know that he messed around with a
Speaker 3: sinker in college, but it seemed to kind of tinker
Speaker 3: with the way his changeup was coming off, which obviously
Speaker 3: you don't want to mess up your your you know,
Speaker 3: eighty grade pitch, So I get the trade off there.
Speaker 3: The slider, traditionally when he was in school, was more
Speaker 3: of this gyro slider. It's blended into those cuttery shapes now.
Speaker 3: I think if you can even just separate it into
Speaker 3: a true slider and a true hard cutter, maybe that's
Speaker 3: the way that you kind of either as great, right,
Speaker 3: they both can play off well, even if you don't
Speaker 3: do the sinker, maybe you do the sinker. I still
Speaker 3: we both have said a sport. I still think the
Speaker 3: sinker makes a lot of sense for him. But even
Speaker 3: if you could get a true cutter slider shape differentiated,
Speaker 3: that would be a huge thing for him.
Speaker 4: I just think it's always been a feel thing. I
Speaker 4: think he's just he's had time.
Speaker 3: It's taken him some time to really find what that
Speaker 3: pitch feels like, because he is he's a guy who
Speaker 3: naturally goes this way rights. It's in the pronator supernator thing,
Speaker 3: right like.
Speaker 2: And he's like an elite pro league.
Speaker 3: He's such a good pronator, it's hard to get those
Speaker 3: other pitches off. So maybe the cutter, if it's more
Speaker 3: of a ninety one ninety two cutter, maybe that feels
Speaker 3: a little more natural to him and a little bit
Speaker 3: less like he's forcing supernation.
Speaker 4: I don't know exactly. I just I believe in the guy.
Speaker 3: I've seen him since he was eighteen in Santa Barbara,
Speaker 3: and like, I just think the arm is so talented.
Speaker 3: And when you have those two elite pitches leading the way,
Speaker 3: you've got time, and I hope they take their time. Still,
Speaker 3: he's a young twenty two, like he just turned twenty
Speaker 3: two this past like last month, Like, you.
Speaker 4: Got plenty of time.
Speaker 3: And there's no reason for an Angel's team that is
Speaker 3: as bad as they are to even consider rushing this guy.
Speaker 3: When if he a mocks that third and fourth pitch,
Speaker 3: you're looking at a potentially you know, three starter, right,
Speaker 3: even you know, maybe more than that, right, if he
Speaker 3: still stayed a two pitch guy with like fringy third slider,
Speaker 3: weird thing. Probably more of a back end guy, right,
Speaker 3: So like where that like you take that time to
Speaker 3: try and make that gap closed.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent, and it'll be a guy that, like
Speaker 2: when he's executing, even with the fastball change, you'll see
Speaker 2: flashes and it's like, oh, he's more than this back
Speaker 2: end guy. But until he has a slider, it's gonna
Speaker 2: be hard to like consistently be that middle rotation arm.
Speaker 2: I still think with that pronation bias that the sinker
Speaker 2: is the best pitch. From there, He's got plenty of
Speaker 2: time to work through that. Why I'm excited about him
Speaker 2: is that fastball is better than I thought it would be,
Speaker 2: and that that gives him such a rock solid floor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, going into our next guy on the top one
Speaker 3: hundred newcomers, Edwin Royo of the Cincinnati Reds organization coming
Speaker 3: in at fifty five on the top one hundred. This
Speaker 3: is a guy who just destroyed his way through Triple A.
Speaker 3: He was kind of this you know, prospect fatigue guy
Speaker 3: that's in the past couple of years on and off,
Speaker 3: but you know, it was a big time name.
Speaker 4: A couple of years back.
Speaker 3: This year comes into Triple A absolutely destroys Triple A
Speaker 3: eleven homers in fifty games. One he's hitting three twenty
Speaker 3: three in his you know, his Triple A stint has
Speaker 3: gotten up to the big leagues and it has.
Speaker 4: Definitely struggled his first couple of weeks in the big leagues.
Speaker 3: He's hitting two nineteen so far through thirteen games only
Speaker 3: only thirty six played appearances though, so very small sample.
Speaker 3: But Royo really found something in Triple A this year
Speaker 3: that put him right back into the middle of the
Speaker 3: top one hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is this is like a war a
Speaker 2: war game here, Like that's the big reason why he's
Speaker 2: where he is, Like, I think he's just going to
Speaker 2: be a war accumulator because of the skill set that
Speaker 2: he's now developed, where you've seen the bats of ball
Speaker 2: get better, You've seen the power uptick, and that's the
Speaker 2: biggest thing right where you see the power and being
Speaker 2: a year further removed from that that big shoulder injury
Speaker 2: and pretty major mechanical adjustments that have him vastly improved
Speaker 2: from the left side where he is just hammered hammered
Speaker 2: balls from the left side this year average eggs of
Speaker 2: velocity up several miles per hour, even ninety up several
Speaker 2: miles per hour. Contact right up several miles per hour, because,
Speaker 2: like we've talked about in previous episodes, he had some
Speaker 2: pretty bizarre mechanics going for him where maybe he was
Speaker 2: bowed out with his front knee, and like starting most
Speaker 2: guys start like sixty forty stack towards the backside, he
Speaker 2: was like seventy thirty stack towards the front side, which
Speaker 2: somehow how Hartshorn does not teeter. It was causing a
Speaker 2: royal to really teeter back and forth. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, no one can control their weight with that
Speaker 2: kind of setup. I don't know how he got there,
Speaker 2: but I'm glad he's no longer there. It's it's so
Speaker 2: much better mechanically, and I think it's given him so
Speaker 2: much more time because he's staying back and holding his backside.
Speaker 2: It's so much easier to get on plane. And all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you know, you're seeing this year his
Speaker 2: own contact rate from the left side that's up to
Speaker 2: eighty nine percent, an overall contact rate that's up to
Speaker 2: eighty percent. He's aggressive and that's always going to be
Speaker 2: a challenge for him, but the fact that it's gotten
Speaker 2: so much better from a contact perspective, quality of contact perspective.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's where I think you look at and
Speaker 2: you say, and also this is the lasting angles angles too,
Speaker 2: because when you're not heavy on the front side, you're
Speaker 2: able to get that barrel working, you know, behind you
Speaker 2: a little bit more, create more loft. His average launch
Speaker 2: angle from the left side is up from three and
Speaker 2: a half degrees last year to thirteen and a half
Speaker 2: degrees this year. So when you have an uptick of
Speaker 2: two miles per hour in the average hecu a velocity department,
Speaker 2: a five percent increase in hard hit rate and a
Speaker 2: ten percent increase in launch angle. Is he going to
Speaker 2: hit thirty bombs? No, But he went from a guy
Speaker 2: that wasn't really going to hit many at all to
Speaker 2: someone that can hit you know, fifteen in Great American
Speaker 2: and as a switch hitting plus defensive infielder that is
Speaker 2: going to give you above average back to ball. If
Speaker 2: he can sneak out fifteen, he's going to stack up
Speaker 2: war He's turned himself into a more effective base dealer.
Speaker 2: He's not going to go high volume, but he's more efficient,
Speaker 2: and I just think that some of his parts is
Speaker 2: going to be just a really solid player that can
Speaker 2: be three plus war off of either above average defense
Speaker 2: at shortstop or plus defense to second base, good back
Speaker 2: to ball, potentially now average game power, and some value
Speaker 2: with his legs.
Speaker 4: You think they're gonna still give him run when Ellie
Speaker 4: gets back.
Speaker 3: I hope so, because it's been such a limited sample
Speaker 3: so far, but I'm a little worried that they may
Speaker 3: just stick with some of the vets for now and
Speaker 3: then push a royal back down. He is still really young,
Speaker 3: so there's time on his side, but it'd be nice
Speaker 3: to see him get a little bit more run. I'm
Speaker 3: not sure it's gonna happen, though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not sure, because all of a sudden, Matt McClain,
Speaker 2: you know, as a pulse, and in his last like
Speaker 2: fifteen or so games, he's been swinging it pretty well.
Speaker 2: So I do wonder if he just kind of gets
Speaker 2: squeezed out here and the bench. They don't really care
Speaker 2: about having in fielders on the bench, so I do
Speaker 2: think they may end up sending him back to Triple A,
Speaker 2: but I don't think it changes the assessment too too much.
Speaker 2: Here because, like again, twenty two years old, got up
Speaker 2: because circumstances a guy that needs steady, steady run looks
Speaker 2: like we'll probably get it next year. Uh, but you
Speaker 2: never know, someone could get whatever it may be. But
Speaker 2: the big reason why I like him is some of
Speaker 2: the parts as a switch hitter with good bats of
Speaker 2: ball and now potentially average power. With the defensive value
Speaker 2: that he brings at worst, I think you're getting one
Speaker 2: and a half plus war from him. You know, as
Speaker 2: long as the approach doesn't totally do, him.
Speaker 4: Going to give you value one way or another.
Speaker 3: Let's take a quick break before our last five newcomers.
Speaker 3: We're rolling here with plenty of newcomers on the top
Speaker 3: one hundred list. Going up to fifty four on the
Speaker 3: list is Nathan Flewelling of the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Speaker 3: He was a high school prep pick in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: four third round by Tampa. Last year, had a really
Speaker 3: solid season in single light to start his pro career.
Speaker 3: This year, it's been more of the same at the
Speaker 3: high level. Has continued over his success. It's slowed down
Speaker 3: a little bit since this list came out, but it's
Speaker 3: just carried over even more momentum for a nineteen year
Speaker 3: old catcher who looks like he can be legit behind
Speaker 3: the plate and at the plate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the thing. I just I love the tools.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's easy to forget prep catchers is like
Speaker 2: the do not touch right, like do not go there
Speaker 2: a type of archetype historically, and I know that's changed
Speaker 2: a lot, at least a little bit, but it's still
Speaker 2: always a scary proposition. And when you have the tools
Speaker 2: and the production that we've already seen from Foelling, it's
Speaker 2: just so easy to get excited about this dude. Another
Speaker 2: Canada product is Canada continues to churn out a lot
Speaker 2: of talent right now Eric Hartman as well, which we'll
Speaker 2: talk about, Like there's just so many good players all
Speaker 2: of a sudden coming out of there. But when you
Speaker 2: tell me you've got the left handed hitting catcher with
Speaker 2: a plus arm behind the dish and plus power and
Speaker 2: with good plate discipline, I'm going to be pretty excited
Speaker 2: about that. And you pair that with the fact that he's,
Speaker 2: you know, nineteen, already having success at high A. Everything
Speaker 2: I hear about the makeup and the way he goes
Speaker 2: about his business is super super bullish and it's just
Speaker 2: a type of player I'm going to bet on. I
Speaker 2: think you know you're going to need to see the
Speaker 2: defensive aspects that come together completely. But even like Joe
Speaker 2: mack Man, like Joe mack was a young catcher with
Speaker 2: a great arm that didn't have all of this defensive
Speaker 2: prowess yet in their early going cold weather kid that
Speaker 2: then really started to put it all together. And I'm
Speaker 2: not saying he's going to be Joe mack defensively, but
Speaker 2: he has early ingredients that you don't find often, makeup
Speaker 2: and work ethic that you don't find often, and a
Speaker 2: left handed swing that already generates plenty of pop. There
Speaker 2: is some whiff, and I think that's going to be
Speaker 2: something to just monitor there. But when it's an average
Speaker 2: EXI velocity of ninety miles per hour, the ability to
Speaker 2: lift it, and patience in the box already, if he's
Speaker 2: a three true outcome left handed hitting catcher with above
Speaker 2: average defense, that's going to be a valuable backstop for
Speaker 2: a long time.
Speaker 3: It's important to have the context of the catching side
Speaker 3: of it too, because, like I think, you look at
Speaker 3: his stats compared to some guys we already talked about,
Speaker 3: and you're like, why is he hired than those guys?
Speaker 3: But that catcher drafted at seventeen years old, still just
Speaker 3: nineteen years old, already in high A. With the impact
Speaker 3: he's showing, there's a lot more that goes into it
Speaker 3: than like, oh, he's dominating the minor leagues, right, he
Speaker 3: might not have the surface level numbers of some of
Speaker 3: these other guys we've talked about, but a catcher with
Speaker 3: those types of tools he described, left handed hitter significant
Speaker 3: pop into that. Like, there's a lot of reasons to
Speaker 3: buy into the long term projection of fluelling, even if
Speaker 3: it doesn't look like he's destroying the miners the way
Speaker 3: some other guys are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I already popping in one eleven at nineteen, and
Speaker 2: you know, I think there's room for more. Is the
Speaker 2: exciting part too, So there it could be plus you know,
Speaker 2: plus gain power that he grows into and then twenty
Speaker 2: six percent cots stealing so far in his pro career
Speaker 2: is pretty darn good. At the lower levels. There's there's
Speaker 2: a lot of reasons to believe this thing can keep
Speaker 2: just just progressing nicely. For sure.
Speaker 4: Next guy up on the top one hundred Newcomers.
Speaker 3: Number fifty is Henry Bolti of the athletics organization Vegas
Speaker 3: slash Sacramento. This guy kind of came out of not nowhere,
Speaker 3: but like a little bit out of nowhere to jump
Speaker 3: into fifty, considering he wasn't on prospect lists last year.
Speaker 3: This season in tripa A thirty seven games at a
Speaker 3: one to fifty four WRC plus, he was hitting three fifty.
Speaker 3: Now in thirty games with the A's, he's played center
Speaker 3: field every single game and he's got a one thirty
Speaker 3: WRC plus. He's hitting three twenty six in the first
Speaker 3: thirty games of his big league career.
Speaker 4: What led to this guy just.
Speaker 3: Becoming a huge piece for the athletics kind of out
Speaker 3: of nowhere.
Speaker 2: We've got an eighty alert too, this is and I'm
Speaker 2: glad it was validated because that's one with the run
Speaker 2: grades we can immediately find out if we're right here
Speaker 2: on the you know, with with baseball savon he's an
Speaker 2: eighty runner. He's one hundred percent Island sprint speed. So
Speaker 2: that was validated. That was the fastest guy I've ever seen,
Speaker 2: so I was, I mean, Channel Simpson obviously up there too,
Speaker 2: but for how big he is. It just looks even faster.
Speaker 2: Bolty was up there for one of the fastest dudes
Speaker 2: I've ever seen on a baseball field, and then you
Speaker 2: know it was it was validated there by Baseball savon
Speaker 2: few things Bolty, And here's still he's so far from
Speaker 2: a finished products. It's going to take a while here,
Speaker 2: but I put him up here because you have star
Speaker 2: upside if it all comes together. And I think they're
Speaker 2: still like, he's got to find a way to get
Speaker 2: the ball in the air, and there's some things with
Speaker 2: the swing that'll need to get cleaned up. But he
Speaker 2: has taken big steps forward dating back to last year,
Speaker 2: like he had had historically some big swing and miss issues.
Speaker 2: On top of the fact that he put everything on
Speaker 2: the ground, he cut down the swing and miss issues.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy that in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 2: even though twenty twenty five he struck out twenty nine
Speaker 2: percent of the time, and now was an improvement from
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four when he struck out thirty five percent
Speaker 2: of the time. So now in one hundred and five
Speaker 2: played appearances at the big league level to be striking
Speaker 2: out twenty seven and a half percent of the time
Speaker 2: is fantastic. It was twenty two percent in trip Awa.
Speaker 2: He has always hit the crap out of the baseball,
Speaker 2: but like I said, it was always on the ground
Speaker 2: and now it's still on the ground way too much.
Speaker 2: But he's found even a little bit more loft like
Speaker 2: an average lonch angle that has increased by a couple
Speaker 2: of degrees resulted in twelve homers for him right away
Speaker 2: in thirty seven games. Understanding is the PCL. You got
Speaker 2: to hit in the You got to hit in the
Speaker 2: air to be rewarded in the PCL. And that's what
Speaker 2: he started to do. The reason why I like him
Speaker 2: too is that like he's putting the ball on the
Speaker 2: ground way too much, he's gonna beat a lot of
Speaker 2: them out. He hits the ball super hard. There's some
Speaker 2: mechanical things that I already noticed with him, where like
Speaker 2: you could see him fly open, and I think it's
Speaker 2: something that I just think he's gonna he's gonna figure out.
Speaker 2: But his front hip slides open, bat drags. He's such
Speaker 2: a twitchy and explosive athlete, where a lot of guys
Speaker 2: that would cause him to get blown up even with
Speaker 2: the front side of flying open and the bat dragging,
Speaker 2: he still has enough bat speed to rip it through
Speaker 2: the zone and be quick, and I mean it's stand
Speaker 2: out bat speed still, but as a result, it's dragging
Speaker 2: the path again most guys, because of that drag, it's
Speaker 2: almost like you're swinging underwater when your front side completely leaves.
Speaker 2: He's so strong and explosive that his sense of swinging underwater.
Speaker 2: He's still able to get this crazy bat speed off,
Speaker 2: but it's flattening the path. So if he can find
Speaker 2: a way to stay clows longer and create more loft
Speaker 2: in the swing, oh my gosh, I don't know what
Speaker 2: could happen. His average batspeed in the Big Ones is
Speaker 2: seventy seven miles per hour. That already puts him in
Speaker 2: the top two percent of the league. And all the
Speaker 2: data that Adam trip away was outlier bat speed. So
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, outlier bat speed, outlier speed speed has
Speaker 2: developed into a guy that we thought corner guy. Nope,
Speaker 2: Now he looks like an above average center fielder just
Speaker 2: needs to find a way to get the ball in
Speaker 2: the air. At worst, he's gonna be a short platoon
Speaker 2: guy that's explosive and just place ten years because he
Speaker 2: gets endless opportunities, like Jake Marisnik with more tools. But
Speaker 2: when I'm looking at a twenty two year old up there,
Speaker 2: I'm like, he's gonna figure this thing out mechanically, and
Speaker 2: if he does, he could be a star.
Speaker 3: And it's so interesting because his charts are like really
Speaker 3: fascinating to look at, because you're looking at a guy
Speaker 3: who's grading out excellently defensively. Speed wise, he's hitting three
Speaker 3: twenty six, but the expected numbers are terrible, honestly, which is.
Speaker 4: Such a funny thing to look at.
Speaker 3: And then it's a guy like you mentioned, like Maxiv's
Speaker 3: already one thirteen to six the big leagues, but he
Speaker 3: only has one homer and it was a four hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty foot nuke in the Vegas seasons.
Speaker 4: It's like the weirdest like profile of things.
Speaker 3: And then you're talking about one hundred percent Diles sprints
Speaker 3: speed with five stolen bases.
Speaker 4: I'm like, where are the steals? But he also stole
Speaker 4: fifty last year in.
Speaker 3: The minors, So it's just it's kind of mind boggling
Speaker 3: profile when you really look at it carefully.
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad you brought up the bags He's
Speaker 2: been the most efficient base sealer in the minor leagues
Speaker 2: over the last year and change, and so I think
Speaker 2: it's gonna end up coming in the big leguvel. He
Speaker 2: was forty four for forty six last year, and then
Speaker 2: he was seventeen for nineteen to start the year in
Speaker 2: Triple A this year, and that was in thirty seven games.
Speaker 2: He's gonna put it all together. It's easy to forget
Speaker 2: that he's twenty two years old. I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2: It just it may not happen overnight, but we're seeing
Speaker 2: even with this like flawed profile he's got. He's point
Speaker 2: eight f four and thirty games and he's been filling
Speaker 2: a role nicely for them. So at the defense is
Speaker 2: only going to get better. I think the bat's only
Speaker 2: going to get better for him too, and the approach
Speaker 2: has really gotten him to a our spot. I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see what could happen. He may just be one
Speaker 2: of those guys that just keeps teasing you forever and
Speaker 2: gets endless opportunities because of the fact that he teases you.
Speaker 2: But he's got a lot of time to prove that
Speaker 2: he can be better than that. And I'm going to
Speaker 2: take a shot at this guy ceiling any day of
Speaker 2: the week with the floor that still could serve a
Speaker 2: big league role.
Speaker 4: I'm rewatching the homer in Vegas too.
Speaker 3: It was also like right center out of the stadium Opotaco, Like,
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously it's that ridiculous Vegas stadium, but like,
Speaker 3: holy smoked special study.
Speaker 4: Next guy up.
Speaker 3: We don't need to talk about him too much because
Speaker 3: you just interviewed him number forty eight hundred Carson milbrandt
Speaker 3: awesome interview with arm and Carson that was out, just
Speaker 3: went out a couple days ago on Friday, I believe,
Speaker 3: definitely check that out.
Speaker 2: Give me the brief.
Speaker 4: Synopsis on just how amazing mill Brand's.
Speaker 2: Bit, Oh my gosh. I mean, you know, you go
Speaker 2: from kind of spray the ball guy, and we talked
Speaker 2: a lot about that, how much better the command has
Speaker 2: gotten to a guy that not only has the command
Speaker 2: made this lead, not only is the fastball quality made
Speaker 2: the sleep. He added a slider to be a bridge pitch,
Speaker 2: and that's it was funny to hear him say this.
Speaker 2: The slider was supposed to be a bridge pitch and
Speaker 2: now it's his sixty five boarderline seventy great pitch for him,
Speaker 2: and he's like, yeah, we realized quickly that's way better
Speaker 2: than a bridge pitch. So you've got plus heater, plus
Speaker 2: plus slider, above average curveball, above average sweeper that looks
Speaker 2: like a plus pitch and command. Now that went from
Speaker 2: well below average to fringey right now, but I think
Speaker 2: it could be pushing closer to average. He figured something
Speaker 2: out with his delivery, as he talked about, and that's
Speaker 2: helped him to stay behind the ball and improve his
Speaker 2: shape and improve everything. And as a result, Carson mill
Speaker 2: Brand's been one of the most dominant pitchers in minor
Speaker 2: league baseball. Again, more on him if you just go
Speaker 2: listen to our last episode. But when you go from
Speaker 2: below average command to even anything close to average and
Speaker 2: improve your stuff across the board plus heater, plus plus
Speaker 2: slider with a pair of above average breaking balls, and
Speaker 2: he was still like, I'm finding this kick change. I'm
Speaker 2: getting excited about it. I just got to figure it out.
Speaker 2: He finds that, man, good luck, that is electrifying of
Speaker 2: a of a five pitch mix is you're gonna find.
Speaker 3: I got nothing else on that one. Definitely go listen
Speaker 3: to that interview our last episode of the Call Up.
Speaker 3: Two more names the two highest ranked newcomers at forty two.
Speaker 3: It's a newcomer, but sort of not a newcomer because
Speaker 3: he was top one hundred three years ago.
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty three. Luis Laura of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Speaker 3: Organization just signed a seven year extension I can go
Speaker 3: up to I think it goes up to nine years
Speaker 3: essentially with team options on the back end of it.
Speaker 3: Milwaukee locks down another high, high floor, you know, just quality,
Speaker 3: switch hitting outfield type of profile here. Laura, you know,
Speaker 3: was a big you were a huge fan of his,
Speaker 3: and you were the high guy on him in twenty
Speaker 3: three when he was coming, you know, in single A
Speaker 3: and high A. He did struggle a lot. In twenty four,
Speaker 3: even in twenty five he started to find it. This
Speaker 3: year in triple A he has absolutely found it.
Speaker 2: And then so yeah, this is the classic not wrong.
Speaker 2: Just early here, he was so aggressively pushed everywhere, you know,
Speaker 2: and I think because of how advanced his game is
Speaker 2: in general, and you know, he held his own at
Speaker 2: each spot. But I think what we've seen now is
Speaker 2: he's had some time and I talked to the Brewers
Speaker 2: about this, and I remember them mentioning, Laura really found
Speaker 2: something in the back half of last year and he
Speaker 2: felt really good. Now the numbers, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they were fine, Like I still really like him, but
Speaker 2: you know the numbers on screen that he found something.
Speaker 2: And then you see the way that he emerged to
Speaker 2: start this year, and it's like, Okay, yeah, that guy
Speaker 2: definitely found something. Of course, he's five to seven, one
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy pounds, He's never going to be a
Speaker 2: big slug guy. But the bat to ball has always
Speaker 2: been fantastic, and the plus plus defense potentially in centerfield
Speaker 2: has always been great. The fact that he has now
Speaker 2: improved his quality of contact to where it went from
Speaker 2: well below average to like it's fringy seven homers Nashville
Speaker 2: by park factor at Triple A park factor baseball a
Speaker 2: market does a great job of that is the hardest place,
Speaker 2: tied for the hardest place to hit a home run
Speaker 2: in Triple A, and he has what's seven of them
Speaker 2: they're already, which I believe would be more than he's
Speaker 2: had in any other season.
Speaker 4: I'm confirming that not close four is as close at season.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Whatever, Yeah, that's going.
Speaker 2: To take a tangible shift, and there is a tangible shift, right,
Speaker 2: Like his ninety percent telex vlosity went from like one
Speaker 2: hundred and change to one oh two point seven. You
Speaker 2: have the average exxivelocity up to eighty seven and a half, which, like,
Speaker 2: that's more than enough when we're talking about a guy
Speaker 2: with ninety percent zone contact from both sides of the plate,
Speaker 2: a little bit of a feel to lift it from
Speaker 2: both sides of the plate, and great plate discipline. You
Speaker 2: pair that with fantastic defense, a little bit of value
Speaker 2: on the base pats, and to me, really hard to
Speaker 2: find a deficiency in his game and the path the
Speaker 2: three plus war is just so I think there's so
Speaker 2: many less hurdles for him, which is the big reason
Speaker 2: why the Brewers handed out this deal to Laura, who,
Speaker 2: by the way, is still just twenty one years old.
Speaker 2: So he sees this power up ticket twenty one. I
Speaker 2: don't know how much more pop up tick there is
Speaker 2: in there, but this this is already enough now of
Speaker 2: a quality of contact flour for the sum of the
Speaker 2: rest of the parts to result in him being an
Speaker 2: above average big league center fielder.
Speaker 4: On top of that, while facing the hardest pitching he's faced.
Speaker 3: You're talking about the highest walk rate he's ever ran
Speaker 3: in the minor leagues and the lowest strikeout rate since
Speaker 3: he was in the DSL.
Speaker 4: So, with all of those things you mentioned.
Speaker 3: And just a general approach improvement at a higher level
Speaker 3: while being twenty one years old, very easy to understand
Speaker 3: why Laura jumped all the way to forty two on
Speaker 3: this list, and clearly the Brewers thinks I did because
Speaker 3: they just gave him an up to ten year extension potentially, and.
Speaker 2: A guy like him with a forty percent hard hit rate,
Speaker 2: when you're hitting the ball that often and you have
Speaker 2: value everywhere else, he's going to be a good player
Speaker 2: for a long time.
Speaker 3: Last guy on the newcomers list here, Eric Cartman comes
Speaker 3: in at number thirty two overall. I don't remember the
Speaker 3: last time he had a newcomerge I've been this high.
Speaker 3: It's definitely been a little while. I think maybe, like
Speaker 3: I'm thinking like maybe a Connolly early when he debuted
Speaker 3: and he yeah, just hadn't made it, and then he
Speaker 3: jumped all the way to like I think in the
Speaker 3: thirty range maybe. But Hartman of the Braves organization is
Speaker 3: the biggest, you know, pop up name on this entire
Speaker 3: list right now.
Speaker 4: He has been unbelievable.
Speaker 3: He was a twentieth round you know, high school signing
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four. Last year with the Braves, had
Speaker 3: a good year in Single A, but nothing that was
Speaker 3: jumping off the page. This season so far, fifty eight
Speaker 3: games in High A for the twenty year old or
Speaker 3: actually today's birthday, Happy birthday, Ic Cartman now just turned twenty,
Speaker 3: so nineteen. Up until today, Eric Cartman has posted a
Speaker 3: one fifty WRC plus with seventeen bombs twenty six dolen
Speaker 3: bases in High A thus far this season for Hartman,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's.
Speaker 2: Been one of them breakouts in all of minor league baseball.
Speaker 2: And this is a guy that I mean, the skill
Speaker 2: set is outrageous. As I was working through this ride
Speaker 2: up as a newcomer of obviously it's kind of more
Speaker 2: from scratch. The more that I kept just watching, I
Speaker 2: just kept bumping him up and bumping him up and
Speaker 2: bumping him up, and I'm like, man, how high can
Speaker 2: we go here? We settled at two. This skill set
Speaker 2: is crazy. This is another guy that is one of
Speaker 2: the quicker runners in minor League baseball, it's a seventy
Speaker 2: run tool. Remember last year, which I agree was like
Speaker 2: a solid season, we saw him grab fifty bags, but
Speaker 2: they didn't really know what to do with him defensively.
Speaker 2: Another Canada product, not a ton of the track record
Speaker 2: that we see from a lot of these other guys
Speaker 2: that are drafted as prep guys. And I mean that's
Speaker 2: why he was a nineteenth or twentieth round pick. And
Speaker 2: it was a very under the radar selection there when
Speaker 2: you see what he's been able to develop into already
Speaker 2: just off of one pro offseason, where he's stronger, he
Speaker 2: is way more in his base and able to use
Speaker 2: the ground more effectively to get into this power and
Speaker 2: this added strength. And then also they said, okay, we
Speaker 2: don't need you playing second base in corner outfield. You're
Speaker 2: an elite runner, go play center. He looks good in
Speaker 2: center field, Like obviously he's raw, it's going to take
Speaker 2: some time, but he looks like he can be an
Speaker 2: above average defender in center field. And when you had
Speaker 2: this standout batspeed, this improved path because he's staying in
Speaker 2: his base and his legs so much better, and because
Speaker 2: the operation is just a little bit more simple.
Speaker 4: And then you are getting to this airpole.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're looking at a guy that could be sixty
Speaker 2: game power, seventy speed, is an above average center fielder
Speaker 2: and a left handed hitter, and it's like, this is
Speaker 2: an absolute monster monster. So I'm as excited about Hartman
Speaker 2: as you know, any prospect that been keeping up with
Speaker 2: this year. And when you look at just how elite
Speaker 2: the bat speed already is for his age, and that's
Speaker 2: the biggest thing is is bat speed rump like three
Speaker 2: or four miles per hour from last year, where everything
Speaker 2: else has also gotten better from last year, and he
Speaker 2: looks like a guy that could be a menace on
Speaker 2: the base pass. You don't get this kind of power
Speaker 2: speed combination very often, and I'm trying to think of, like, well,
Speaker 2: what comparisons. You don't get seventy run sixty power potential,
Speaker 2: and when he's airpolling at a forty six percent clip,
Speaker 2: it's just crazy stuff there. So I just think that
Speaker 2: the combination and it's not at the point where he's
Speaker 2: totally selling out for too. He's got plenty of backside
Speaker 2: hits and even you know, some backside extra base hits.
Speaker 2: I think this is a potential star if he continues
Speaker 2: on this trajectory.
Speaker 3: You pair that with the fact too that it is
Speaker 3: you mentioned the defensive aspect of it. Right Like last
Speaker 3: year he kind of split time, not evenly, but sort
Speaker 3: of evenly between center, left and second base. Now it's
Speaker 3: pretty much just center, and he looks good in center,
Speaker 3: and they'reletting him run out there, and they're letting him
Speaker 3: get full time of everyday reps in center field.
Speaker 4: So making of a star.
Speaker 3: Right here, And you laid it out there perfectly, and
Speaker 3: I'm not sure there's many guys that were more like
Speaker 3: keated on on a daily basis right now than Rick Cartman.
Speaker 3: And for good reason, he's given us a reason to
Speaker 3: be following him every single day right now.
Speaker 2: I think he's the you know jackassd like is Theo
Speaker 2: Gillen the like leader in the clubhouse for like minor
Speaker 2: league player of the year. I think if it's not
Speaker 2: gilling it's probably Eric Hartman who has seventeen bags, and
Speaker 2: Eric seventeen homers and twenty six bags already this year.
Speaker 2: I again, crazy crazy, crazy skill set that I just
Speaker 2: really have enjoyed watching, and I think double A will
Speaker 2: be the big test because there was a little bit
Speaker 2: away from the game, but these are like star star
Speaker 2: tools from a kid that just turned well you said,
Speaker 2: just twenty years old today.
Speaker 3: Ridiculous stuff, Yeah, crazy across the board. This was such
Speaker 3: a fun group. This is stuff as always. I love
Speaker 3: these Newcomer episodes because there's so many guys. We've been
Speaker 3: talking about a lot of these guys this season because
Speaker 3: they've all been really good this season, of course, but
Speaker 3: now you can just have the perspective of why you
Speaker 3: ranked them where you did, how they can kind of
Speaker 3: project going forward, and then we'll be able to see
Speaker 3: come the next list, if these guys climb even more,
Speaker 3: maybe a lot of these guys in the back end
Speaker 3: could be on our riser's time at the next update
Speaker 3: in August. So always such a fun list to go
Speaker 3: through with you. I know we have one more Top
Speaker 3: one hundred episode. I think you and Jack are going
Speaker 3: to do talk about farm systems, which teams have the
Speaker 3: most prospects I think on each list.
Speaker 4: So that's fun.
Speaker 3: We're due for a heat cheet, going to get one
Speaker 3: of those in later this week. Really just a lot
Speaker 3: of good content and then we're approaching future game draft.
Speaker 4: All the above there too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I hope you guys
Speaker 2: enjoyed the whole Top one hundred rollout series. The next
Speaker 2: Top one hundred update it will be with the new
Speaker 2: draft guy, so I'm excited about that as well. As always,
Speaker 2: thank you for listening. Remid that you can read all
Speaker 2: these write ups on Just baseball dot com. We also
Speaker 2: are talking about these prospects all the time in the
Speaker 2: discord and breaking things down, and there the link to
Speaker 2: join that in the episode description. Look forward to talking
Speaker 2: prospects with you again a couple more times this week