Speaker 1: Swings high, understanding, deep to center field, and it's gone, Wow.
Speaker 2: His first big league swing is gonna be a grand slam,
Speaker 2: the home line swing.
Speaker 3: Good time to the SUP.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Call Up, your go to podcast
Speaker 4: in the future Stars in Major League Baseball. You got
Speaker 4: arm Laighton, Elijah Evans, and we've got a heat sheet today.
Speaker 4: It feels like it's been forever since I said that we.
Speaker 3: Had the All Star break. We had a bunch of
Speaker 3: other things going on.
Speaker 4: The draft of course too, still have the draft recap
Speaker 4: coming up in the next few days. But men, it
Speaker 4: has been overdue to catch up with the minor leaguers
Speaker 4: that have been performing less of a break too than
Speaker 4: the big leaguers. We've got minor league games kind of
Speaker 4: more quickly on both ends of the break, So a
Speaker 4: lot of games to catch up on here, and a
Speaker 4: lot of new names that we're going to be talking
Speaker 4: about in today's episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a fun group today. We got we
Speaker 2: have a tongue going on in the JB world. You'll
Speaker 2: hear about them more later and into this week. We
Speaker 2: have like six different new fun ventures we're working on
Speaker 2: right now, which is keeping us both busy but the
Speaker 2: minor league side of things.
Speaker 5: There is so much.
Speaker 2: I angled this heat sheet basically all of July because
Speaker 2: we had two weeks prior to the break, we had
Speaker 2: the All Star Break, and then we've had you know,
Speaker 2: five games since then, so our four to three games
Speaker 2: since then, So combination kind of, like you said, a
Speaker 2: little bit overdue here, but a variety of like some
Speaker 2: top prospects, some names that we've definitely never talked about,
Speaker 2: some names, one name that I just heard of earlier
Speaker 2: today because you mentioned it to me. So it is
Speaker 2: a really fun group here. I think that the start
Speaker 2: of it is a little bit more some bigger end names.
Speaker 2: And we'll kick it off here with on Hellca now
Speaker 2: of the Guardians organization, talk about somebody that you know,
Speaker 2: I know you guys are going to get into this
Speaker 2: in the call at you with Jack sometime soon, but
Speaker 2: like get out could be locking.
Speaker 5: On the knocking on the door point.
Speaker 2: And he's had a good year, but really turning it
Speaker 2: up of late this past month for him. You see
Speaker 2: him finding it in triple after you know, starting the
Speaker 2: year double, getting the triple, being a little bit slower
Speaker 2: out of the gate the past month, he's been unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and now has just always been one of the
Speaker 4: more talented players in the field anytime I watch it.
Speaker 4: And this is a guy that's in a really good
Speaker 4: farm system.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: But now, even when the numbers didn't quite maybe match
Speaker 4: some of the people that you'd see around him or
Speaker 4: some of the prospects ranked near him, you would see
Speaker 4: the field to hit from both sides. You could project
Speaker 4: the power, the arm strength on the defensive side of things,
Speaker 4: and it was just kind of this waiting for it
Speaker 4: all to come together. This is definitely a guy that
Speaker 4: has added some strength now as he has progressed into
Speaker 4: his age twenty two ish season. He's in twenty one,
Speaker 4: I think for more of the season too, So age
Speaker 4: twenty one slash twenty two season. At the upper levels
Speaker 4: as a switch hitter, you've seen the hard hit rate
Speaker 4: jump by fifteen percent for her. Now you've seen the
Speaker 4: bats ball exactly the same, which is great because that's
Speaker 4: already been an asset for him, eighty eight percent in
Speaker 4: one contact, eighty one percent overall contact. So you parlay
Speaker 4: that with much better quality of contact. And the other
Speaker 4: aspect that I was always waiting on for him was
Speaker 4: the swing decisions, and he's cut his chase rate by
Speaker 4: eight percent this year. So you take a guy that
Speaker 4: always had good bats of ball skills from both sides
Speaker 4: of the plate, and you improve the quality of contact,
Speaker 4: you improve the swing decisions, and it's not a surprise
Speaker 4: that at age twenty one to twenty two you're seeing
Speaker 4: Canal really settle in at the Triple A level, where
Speaker 4: I'm really fascinated too.
Speaker 3: Now is just kind of where he fits in. But
Speaker 3: the fun part for him, and like you said, we're
Speaker 3: going to talk about guys that could get caught up
Speaker 3: sooner rather than later.
Speaker 4: The fun part with Henw is his arm strength is
Speaker 4: ridiculous and I think he could be a phenomenal third
Speaker 4: basement already played ten games at Triple A at third.
Speaker 4: I like him at short still, but obviously they've got
Speaker 4: Rokio doing great things there, and obviously Ramirez is still out,
Speaker 4: so you have a short term potential option there. Maybe
Speaker 4: with the injury they want a DH here and there.
Speaker 4: You could play hen now at a little bit of
Speaker 4: second base, but you've got Bizana, so now it becomes
Speaker 4: this complex situation there. I'm interested to see how they
Speaker 4: figure it out. But at least now gives himself a
Speaker 4: little bit more of an opportunity by being able to
Speaker 4: play all three infield spots. And the one thing that
Speaker 4: will answer all of those questions, or at least force
Speaker 4: the Guardians to find an answer, is if now hits,
Speaker 4: they need offense, they need power, and even all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, he's starting to add a little bit more
Speaker 4: of that. With the ten homers this year, They'll find
Speaker 4: a spot for him, one way or another.
Speaker 2: His approach has also been ridiculous the past month of
Speaker 2: games for now fifteen walks, three strikeouts, and he's hitting
Speaker 2: over four hundred in that spin in his last twenty
Speaker 2: games of play, So he's got to get on base
Speaker 2: at a five hundred clip. He's not striking out at
Speaker 2: all lately, and he's walking at a crazy high clip too.
Speaker 2: So like he just I think for a team like
Speaker 2: Cleveland right where like you look at it and you're
Speaker 2: just like without Jay Ram, like you need to find
Speaker 2: any way to get more offensive juice in that lineup.
Speaker 2: Yeah he's twenty two, and yeah he's kind of still
Speaker 2: mixing around positionally, but like that guy, it would be
Speaker 2: an improvement to their lineup. And you know, they're pushing
Speaker 2: for a division right now, they're in a really tight
Speaker 2: race with the Docks at the top, and like he's
Speaker 2: going to help that lineup one way or another at
Speaker 2: some point, I feel.
Speaker 4: Like and I'm excited to see how they try to
Speaker 4: find that, because the follow up on that is, like,
Speaker 4: the two things that I would be most concerned about
Speaker 4: for now at the big league level would be like, hey,
Speaker 4: the quality context isn't good enough, so it's gona put
Speaker 4: a lot more pressure on the hit tool and finding
Speaker 4: the gaps, which he's closed that eighty seven miles prior
Speaker 4: average xuvosity in ninety. The other is, hey, he's a
Speaker 4: little bit over zealous. Pitchers may pick on that he's
Speaker 4: improved that as well. So I know they have this
Speaker 4: love affair with Gabriel Arius, but there may be a
Speaker 4: point where they can't pal with the forty three percent
Speaker 4: strikeout right and they make an adjustment there. Before you know,
Speaker 4: you get Jose Ramirez back. But if not, it's gonna
Speaker 4: be tough to figure out where exactly good play Bizana.
Speaker 4: It's tough because his fun as he is offensively is
Speaker 4: not a good hitter. Excuse he's not a good defender,
Speaker 4: excuse me. So he's just not good at second base,
Speaker 4: you would presumably be upgrading there, but I don't think
Speaker 4: they're gonna want to take Bazana off a second. I'm
Speaker 4: I'm interested to see how the Guardians figure it out.
Speaker 4: But they have another guy knocking on out the door
Speaker 4: on Triple A that can swing the bat a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're gonna make that push, and he's
Speaker 2: another guy that will be right in the mix for
Speaker 2: them going forward. Going over to our second player up here,
Speaker 2: Peyton Graham of the Tigers organization. Not someone I think
Speaker 2: we've talked about on the call up so far, but
Speaker 2: the numbers are just dotty for this guy, so I
Speaker 2: had to mention it. He's you know, he's twenty five
Speaker 2: years old and was a second rounder in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: But it's been definitely a slower development track generally speaking
Speaker 2: for Graham, who really hasn't had you know, a plus
Speaker 2: minor league season.
Speaker 5: He helps injuries.
Speaker 2: Last year he was good in an HIA and this
Speaker 2: year has been even better at Double A. So yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a little bit old for the level, but fifty
Speaker 2: stolen bases through through seventy four games so far this season,
Speaker 2: it's getting on base in an over four to thirty clip,
Speaker 2: particularly of late Peyton Graham has just been awesome and
Speaker 2: has really looked like someone that the Tiger is like.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's this year, but like going
Speaker 2: from a former second round pick who kind of didn't
Speaker 2: have a ton of energy around him, dealing with injuries
Speaker 2: a slower track, last year started to look like something,
Speaker 2: and this year really looks like something.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Yeah, this is fun.
Speaker 4: The Tigers seem to have these guys I feel like,
Speaker 4: almost more than other orgs where seems like they've stalled
Speaker 4: out developmentally, like oh, maybe not as exciting as you
Speaker 4: thought when you drafted him a little bit earlier, and
Speaker 4: then all of a sudden in year three or four,
Speaker 4: something seems to click and Graham seems like another one.
Speaker 4: And we saw Valencia make his big LEIG debut for
Speaker 4: them and hit that homer. This is fun because Graham
Speaker 4: is also really versatile, and this is another team that
Speaker 4: I think they're going to be interested to plug in
Speaker 4: certain guys of different spots, even if it's not this
Speaker 4: year when they're trying to project things out for next year.
Speaker 4: Graham has played, you know, and I think you can
Speaker 4: play a solid shortstop. But he's also because I think
Speaker 4: they want him to be the super utility type. He's
Speaker 4: played some center field, a little bit all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: he's played a little bit of left field obviously, plenty
Speaker 4: of reps at second base as well. You mentioned the
Speaker 4: speed and that wrinkle to his game. The fact that
Speaker 4: it's fifty one on fifty four tries is crazy. So
Speaker 4: it's not just high volume guy that's just exposing you know,
Speaker 4: bad catch and throw with catchers or just pitchers that
Speaker 4: don't hold anybody. On his average ex of voss, he's
Speaker 4: up two and a half miles per hour this year.
Speaker 3: He's elevating more consistently.
Speaker 4: And again the contact rates are holding serve exactly so
Speaker 4: when you see another player chase rate cut down by
Speaker 4: ten percent, so in decisions better hitting the ball harder
Speaker 4: and maximizing the other aspects of your game. I don't
Speaker 4: think it's a surprise that Graham is starting to put
Speaker 4: this together here. And yeah, he's twenty five years old,
Speaker 4: but I don't think it matters when you see the
Speaker 4: peripherals change that much, and again you see him make
Speaker 4: these changes in terms of being an asset on the
Speaker 4: base pats.
Speaker 3: And it's also.
Speaker 4: Not like it's a he's repeating high A for the
Speaker 4: third year. He made the jump to double A and
Speaker 4: is having this breakout. So this is a fun player
Speaker 4: to monitor that I think could be a really fun
Speaker 4: utility piece for the Tigers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's easy to look at these types of players
Speaker 2: and say, oh, a twenty five year old who was
Speaker 2: drafted out of college four years ago and just kind
Speaker 2: of write them off, right, But it's cool when you
Speaker 2: see these guys take a step and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: there was clearly some very noticeable development now for the
Speaker 2: past year and a half for Graham, and yeah, he
Speaker 2: might not be a high end prospect at any point
Speaker 2: just given his age and his status, but like it's
Speaker 2: having an incredible season and then one of the best
Speaker 2: in the Tiger system.
Speaker 5: So it's worth at least, you know, keeping a close
Speaker 5: eye on what he's.
Speaker 3: Doing right now.
Speaker 4: And they'll, again, I need the right handed bats that
Speaker 4: they have making their way up. I think are going
Speaker 4: to get a decent look at some point.
Speaker 2: They love balltooning, so that's how they roll, honestly. So
Speaker 2: the next one is I went a little bit out
Speaker 2: of order actually, because this guy didn't just get bumped
Speaker 2: to Triple A. But Cam Canerella of the Miami Marlins organization.
Speaker 5: Dude, I know.
Speaker 2: You've you've talked about Canarella. We've had him, you know,
Speaker 2: highlighted him a couple of times of late. It has
Speaker 2: been nuts so far for Canarella his first pro season.
Speaker 2: He is just destroying minor league baseball. His numbers and
Speaker 2: his you know, he played thirty four games in Double A,
Speaker 2: finished that span with a one seventy eight w RC
Speaker 2: plus hitting three forty four and now he makes his
Speaker 2: way to trips and he just made his you know,
Speaker 2: three games so far and trips obviously, but like his
Speaker 2: numbers in high and Double A are off the charts
Speaker 2: for for the you know, CBA pick from.
Speaker 5: Last year's draft.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a little bit of a late start to being
Speaker 4: banged up and or just so not having the same
Speaker 4: body of work, I should say so. I think he
Speaker 4: got hurt early in the season and has quickly made
Speaker 4: up for lost time and is climbing so quickly. I
Speaker 4: think the quick push to Triple A says a lot
Speaker 4: and get probably another player that'll be nestled into the
Speaker 4: potential big league call up episode because the glove has
Speaker 4: not quite been as advertised in college. You see the
Speaker 4: finishing ability, the speed and the hand eye to be
Speaker 4: able to make these acrobatic and difficult catches and lay
Speaker 4: out and whatever it may be. The jumps are not
Speaker 4: great and the reads, like the routes are still just inefficient.
Speaker 4: So I think that's gonna be a big focus for
Speaker 4: him in Triple A because I think the Marlins are
Speaker 4: looking at a team right now that yeah, they've dropped
Speaker 4: seven in rows for recording this, but Jacob Marcy has
Speaker 4: been struggling a lot in center field. If they can
Speaker 4: get an upgrade and center and a guy that can
Speaker 4: give them a little bit more offensively, I think if
Speaker 4: Canarellas mashed his way through Triple A and the reads
Speaker 4: and routes look better, I don't know if you can
Speaker 4: rule that out because of what he's been doing offensively,
Speaker 4: the guys hitting three to fifty on the season with
Speaker 4: an ops over one thousand. Now, I have some questions
Speaker 4: about how it's going to translate, just because he doesn't
Speaker 4: really pull the ball much at all, and when you'll
Speaker 4: get the spray charts like only seven percent of his
Speaker 4: batted balls have been to the and really none in
Speaker 4: the outfield. He has not hit one batted ball to
Speaker 4: down the line in left field it or excuse me,
Speaker 4: down the line in right field, and then all the
Speaker 4: way towards about midway through right.
Speaker 3: Field, like that whole portion of the field.
Speaker 4: If you divvied up the field in one, two, three, four,
Speaker 4: five sections, the one of the five sections all the
Speaker 4: way in right field has.
Speaker 3: No badded balls in the affild. And that's a very
Speaker 3: specific nitpick.
Speaker 4: But like even the home runs are backside, the airpool's
Speaker 4: really low and almost everything's inside out. So if he
Speaker 4: gets just really busted inside on hard stuff, does that
Speaker 4: create a little bit of a problem. That's something that great,
Speaker 4: let's find out at the big league level. So clearly
Speaker 4: it's not an issue for him in the minor leagues.
Speaker 4: He still has the feel for the barrel to be
Speaker 4: able to inside out swinging and hit the ball the
Speaker 4: way that he has. The other aspect that's interesting is
Speaker 4: he doesn't have the top top nd eggs velocities, but
Speaker 4: he just finds the barrel so consistently. Whereas average ex
Speaker 4: velocity is ninety two miles per hour this year, despite
Speaker 4: the fact that the max air exs of velocity is
Speaker 4: one oh nine. So this tells me this is a
Speaker 4: guy that has a really high quality of contact floor
Speaker 4: and if he can find a way to pull the
Speaker 4: ball in the air a bit more consistently, I think
Speaker 4: there's a lot more to be able to see translate
Speaker 4: at the big league level.
Speaker 3: He likes to bar that arm out kind of.
Speaker 4: Late in his load, and I think it makes it
Speaker 4: hard to get the barrel, you know, out in front
Speaker 4: to be able to pull stuff more. Again, I think
Speaker 4: that could get exposed a bit at the big league level.
Speaker 4: But I'm talking about a guy hitting three fifty across
Speaker 4: the three levels right now with one thousand oh ps
Speaker 4: so from where he was going into this year, and
Speaker 4: those two little nitpicks defensively and offensively. The fact that
Speaker 4: he's brought himself to a point where we're nitpicking things
Speaker 4: that may translate to the big league level this early
Speaker 4: is crazy because I would have never thought he had
Speaker 4: a chance at debuting this year.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the.
Speaker 4: Marlins had to be really excited about where Canarella is at,
Speaker 4: and those little adjustments could be what makes.
Speaker 3: Him a well above average every day outfielder.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the track there too, like like forty third
Speaker 2: overall pick last year, and yeah, he was a college guy,
Speaker 2: sure for like I think compared to some other guys
Speaker 2: in that similar range of draft, I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people thought he was going to be a little
Speaker 2: bit of a longer development track for Cantarella compared to
Speaker 2: some of his peers who were that first second round
Speaker 2: college guys. And he's actually been one of the quickest
Speaker 2: movers in that entire draft class, Like he could be
Speaker 2: one of the first, you know, not the first, but
Speaker 2: like he could be in the first batch of compin
Speaker 2: jarms to debut from that draft class. And I don't
Speaker 2: think anybody really expected that coming out of his draft
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 4: No, especially because he had a great walk here, but
Speaker 4: power was cut in half, and I think that was
Speaker 4: something that the Marlins really wanted to see him tap
Speaker 4: intwo more and clearly he has. I think that the
Speaker 4: ball is flying a little bit more on each of
Speaker 4: these levels. But I still think there's there's a lot
Speaker 4: to be excited about there. The swing decisions are good,
Speaker 4: the quality contact for being where it's at, and I
Speaker 4: still think the airpool aspect and not being able to
Speaker 4: pull the balls consistently, could wear its head a little bit,
Speaker 4: but the fact that again that's the nitpick is an
Speaker 4: exciting development.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the next step.
Speaker 2: I've had some names written down, but I think I'm
Speaker 2: just going to rephrase this name to the Biloxi Shuckers,
Speaker 2: because this is just kind of the Biloxi Shuckers. There
Speaker 2: are six hitters right now in Biloxi over the past
Speaker 2: month with a nine to fifty or higher ops. I mean,
Speaker 2: what are we doing here? That is absurd? So I'll
Speaker 2: read the names to you and then you can choose
Speaker 2: which direction you want to go with this. But like,
Speaker 2: it's not it's some of the top guys. It's not
Speaker 2: even some of the top guys too. There's some guys
Speaker 2: that aren't necessarily as big name prospects who have had
Speaker 2: really good stretches of late. Blake Burke, Matthew Wood, Josiah Ragsdale,
Speaker 2: Andrew Fisher, Mike Bove and josh Adam Chevsky. Are these
Speaker 2: six guys with a nine to fifty or better OPS
Speaker 2: over their last month of play for Biloxi, obviously headlined
Speaker 2: by you know, Fisher, Adam Chevski. Even Burke too, who
Speaker 2: are all top fifteen prospects for us in that system.
Speaker 2: But like it's it's insane when you just look at
Speaker 2: that line up top down, and that doesn't include his Susmandet,
Speaker 2: who actually hasn't been as good marginally as he normally
Speaker 2: is compared to these six guys that are all just
Speaker 2: mashing right now.
Speaker 4: For blocks, it's Josiah Ragsdale was the latest one where
Speaker 4: I'm just like, dude, I mean, how am I supposed
Speaker 4: to How am I supposed to keep up with you?
Speaker 4: When you've have eight other teammates I've been locked in on,
Speaker 4: you know, on top, Like he was a seventh round
Speaker 4: pick in twenty twenty five out out of Boston College
Speaker 4: and with Ragsdale, I mean he was in iona transfer
Speaker 4: to Boston College and even in that draft year, like
Speaker 4: it was good numbers. He saw five homers in his
Speaker 4: first full pro season. This year he's got ten and
Speaker 4: he just mashes way through hya he gets up to
Speaker 4: double and he's torching the Southern League.
Speaker 3: Like that's a perfect guy. Where you have a college
Speaker 3: bat who.
Speaker 4: Really put up some good numbers in hi A, it's
Speaker 4: the perfect guy for me to be like, oh, he
Speaker 4: might hit me his match a little bit in double
Speaker 4: A like seventh round college bat later around college bat
Speaker 4: who handles high end and.
Speaker 5: Not even like it's you know, a top end school.
Speaker 4: Right transfers into the top end school for one year.
Speaker 4: You're like, You're like, that guy's gonna meet his match
Speaker 4: in double A. No, he's been better, And that's somebody
Speaker 4: that you look at this skill set.
Speaker 3: Its like, of course, of course the Brewers were all over.
Speaker 3: He's super twitchy.
Speaker 4: When I watched the video, like the bat speed is there,
Speaker 4: he can really move, and.
Speaker 3: It was somebody that you look at this team and say, what's.
Speaker 4: He gonna hit seventh's It's nuts what they've been able
Speaker 4: to do here. So Raxxale is a guy I'm really
Speaker 4: excited about to just continue to watch here because he's
Speaker 4: patient but not too too passive. Yeah, I think there's
Speaker 4: a good job of kind of controlling the strike zone.
Speaker 4: It's a sweet left handed swing that's geared for some lift,
Speaker 4: but he can also spray the ball to all fields
Speaker 4: and we've already seen him pop eggs evelosites as high
Speaker 4: as one to eleven. So this is a fun skill
Speaker 4: set that I'm just very eager to see more of
Speaker 4: he's been great on the base fats twenty eight for thirty.
Speaker 4: They've got him in a corner mostly, but yeah, I
Speaker 4: think starting to still mix in and center field enough.
Speaker 3: I have to watch more of the defensive video.
Speaker 4: But the fact that we've got this left handed hitter
Speaker 4: with the powers beat combination like Ragsteale has, on top
Speaker 4: of all of the other names that you mentioned, like
Speaker 4: I think Josh Adams, Schefski's proving at this point that
Speaker 4: he's just one of the better hitters period in the
Speaker 4: minor leagues when with the way that he controls his
Speaker 4: at bats, the field to hit, the ability to outslug
Speaker 4: the exs of velosities right, the exosites are fine, but
Speaker 4: he's able to just backspin the baseball to all fields
Speaker 4: and he's gonna just outslug them consistently.
Speaker 3: So you get this blend of hitt and power that
Speaker 3: you don't get very often.
Speaker 4: Burke is the guy where I look at and it's
Speaker 4: like it could be thirty homers, or it could be
Speaker 4: you know, Dan Vogelbach. But every time I watch him now,
Speaker 4: it just keeps progressing closer to that thirty homers, and
Speaker 4: you see him hitting balls one fifteen plus and he's
Speaker 4: almost an afterthought on these teams. It's really wild what
Speaker 4: they've got going here. And I just don't like a
Speaker 4: picture opposing this lineup.
Speaker 3: What do you do?
Speaker 4: You don't get a break, and you never say that
Speaker 4: in the moments, you literally don't get a break.
Speaker 2: Matthew Wood was a fourth round pick in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Is at a seven hundred career OPS through three year
Speaker 2: of IA League baseball. This series in the Southern League
Speaker 2: with a nine to twenty one OPS and twelve homers
Speaker 2: in the first half of the season so far.
Speaker 5: What are we doing here? This is insane? Another like
Speaker 5: kind of a dude.
Speaker 2: He's twenty five, sure, but like he's catching consistently left
Speaker 2: handed hitter with twelve homers in an over nine hundred
Speaker 2: OPS in the Southern League right now, Like that becomes
Speaker 2: a dude.
Speaker 3: And he's had some really good stretches.
Speaker 4: And that's why I mean, well, first of all, the
Speaker 4: approach fifteen percent chase, ninety percent zone contact for a
Speaker 4: catcher at that point, as long as you're a solid
Speaker 4: average defender, you've have a really long career there.
Speaker 3: And to be able to do that.
Speaker 4: Back to ball, wise and elevate though it's also an
Speaker 4: average launch angle with seventeen and a half degrees, So
Speaker 4: you have a guy that's completely leaned into being patient
Speaker 4: at the plate, has still been able to put bat
Speaker 4: on ball as consistently as anybody at the level, and
Speaker 4: then is elevating as well. Like, yeah, if matthew Wood
Speaker 4: is even an average catcher, he's going to have a
Speaker 4: very very long career there. And that's why Andrew Fisher
Speaker 4: was like some of the stuff he was saying, like
Speaker 4: this kind of I love how supportive he was of
Speaker 4: his teammates, just throwing away these amazing superlotives of all
Speaker 4: of them. But how could you not when you look
Speaker 4: around and you've just got dude after dude after doing.
Speaker 4: Matthew Wood's going to be a big league catcher. How
Speaker 4: long will be the question. But he's a left handed
Speaker 4: hitter with a good feel to hit that can slug
Speaker 4: a little bit as a catcher.
Speaker 3: Gonna have a long career.
Speaker 4: And Mike Bovie's a guy that I liked out of
Speaker 4: the draft just his bats of ball skills are crazy.
Speaker 3: He's just buried a little bit too in this organization.
Speaker 4: But bov is also someone that yeah, he's not gonna
Speaker 4: give you much value beyond the bat, but you're getting
Speaker 4: well above average bats of ball skills, you're getting the
Speaker 4: added power that he's just been able to find. And
Speaker 4: another dude that the Brewers swing decisions from top to
Speaker 4: bottom are so good. Another guy that's going to handle
Speaker 4: his at bats well. Bov's another piece where it's just like,
Speaker 4: that's why I look at the Brewers and I'm like,
Speaker 4: why not trade a couple of these guys and try
Speaker 4: to go for this year?
Speaker 3: You get the best record in the league. And I
Speaker 3: know I love all these guys.
Speaker 4: I don't Brewers fans for loving all these guys, but man, like,
Speaker 4: how are you going to protect all of them from
Speaker 4: the Rule five?
Speaker 3: Eventually there's not enough forty spots.
Speaker 5: You got to make a push. I think they have to.
Speaker 2: I think this has to be the year and they
Speaker 2: make a bigger push than they typically have in the past.
Speaker 2: It just it feels like it has to be. We
Speaker 2: got a couple fun things coming up at Just Baseball,
Speaker 2: one of which actually includes the Biloxi Shuckers, which is
Speaker 2: probably the most loaded minor league roster. You want to
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit about what we got going
Speaker 2: on this Thursday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is gonna be a fun new frontier for
Speaker 4: us with with Bally Sports Live and we're gonna be
Speaker 4: doing a mi ILB simulcast, So we'll be whipping around
Speaker 4: about four games and it'll be myself, Elijah, Jack mcmollen
Speaker 4: just hanging out kind of like a MLB Biginning type
Speaker 4: of situation. I don't think we'll be whipping around as
Speaker 4: many games, but we had a handful. We're gonna be
Speaker 4: talking prospects, talking about the guys as it's going on,
Speaker 4: and just I think this is something that we've been
Speaker 4: wanting to do for I know this is something that
Speaker 4: we've been wanting to do for a long time. It
Speaker 4: took the perfect marriage where Bally has the minor league
Speaker 4: baseball rights we have now connect with them, and it's
Speaker 4: been something that we've been eagerly wanting to do and
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a blast, So keep
Speaker 4: it out for that. We'll be streaming it on our YouTube.
Speaker 4: You can also find it on the Bally app and
Speaker 4: on their channels, but if you just subscribe to our YouTube,
Speaker 4: watch it with us. It's gonna be a blast. So
Speaker 4: we'll be streaming it out on there.
Speaker 3: I'm just excited. I think we'll get it's mine.
Speaker 4: With baseball, you're always gonna get fireworks, especially when we
Speaker 4: get a handful of different games being able to react
Speaker 4: to that in real time, break it down, talk about it.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a really cool opportunity
Speaker 4: and I can't wait for everybody's feedback. And I think
Speaker 4: it's gonna be something that's been missing in the space
Speaker 4: that can be really fun and new.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're pumped about it.
Speaker 2: And then if you're listening to that en simulcast and
Speaker 2: you're hearing about some prospects you like and you want
Speaker 2: to get into this, our card breaking branch is taking
Speaker 2: a whole other step up. We are officially launching on
Speaker 2: what not super excited about that. I'm fired up, man.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be going five days a week hopefully and
Speaker 2: getting a ton of card breaks. We're gonna have top Scrome,
Speaker 2: which drops tomorrow or probably today as you're listening to this.
Speaker 2: It's an insanely loaded path product and we're going to
Speaker 2: be ripping it the rest of this week and then
Speaker 2: probably have other card breaks over the next few months.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So the link to follow our shop even if you're
Speaker 4: not able to make it this week or whatever. Follow
Speaker 4: our shop and you'll get notifications of you know, when
Speaker 4: we're live during the week, every evening.
Speaker 3: And also if you're new to Whatnot, use the link
Speaker 3: to join. You'll get a twenty five dollar coupon to
Speaker 3: be able to apply to a break with us as well.
Speaker 3: So we'd love to see you out on there.
Speaker 4: And also I'm able to kind of zoom in, so
Speaker 4: even when I'm not doing the breaks, I'll be able
Speaker 4: to hang out there answer some questions and I'm gonna
Speaker 4: be you know, on there hopefully doing that once a
Speaker 4: week or so too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it, man, It's exciting stuff where we're
Speaker 2: going to keep it rolling. But for now, let's get
Speaker 2: back into the heat sheet. Another kind of clump here
Speaker 2: of some players in will organization and we go from
Speaker 2: one loaded organization right over to another in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: Dodgers Trio here for you on's in double and then
Speaker 2: two are in Hia. Right now we got say your
Speaker 2: hope you put out a great tweet of earlier this
Speaker 2: week he has been going nuclear lately, and then Edwardo
Speaker 2: Cantaro as well as Emil morales at the high level.
Speaker 2: All three of these guys have been going off for
Speaker 2: the Dodgers of late and really all take me another
Speaker 2: big step forward.
Speaker 4: I mean, Hope felt like the guy that was lagging
Speaker 4: behind Sioda and Depaula a little.
Speaker 3: Bit and not so much anymore. Ops is up over
Speaker 3: nine hundred.
Speaker 4: And there's a subtle adjustment I've noticed he made just
Speaker 4: kind of with his hand position, and it just seems
Speaker 4: like he's I was talking to Max Clark about this too,
Speaker 4: because Max Clark coincidentally made a very similar adjustment recently
Speaker 4: where just the hands are kind of loose, the bats
Speaker 4: a little bit more upright in front of that back shoulder.
Speaker 4: But there's this feeling of kind of getting locked in
Speaker 4: just before you know, as they're loading, and just getting
Speaker 4: hands a little bit preset and locked, just a little
Speaker 4: bit more tension in the feel. And I know for
Speaker 4: Max he talked about just being able to feel like
Speaker 4: he has a lot more bat speed and catch up
Speaker 4: to velocity with the way that he's kind of getting
Speaker 4: slatted earlier and.
Speaker 3: Just the field.
Speaker 4: It's almost a little griffy ish, but I would say
Speaker 4: even a little bit more stated with how much you
Speaker 4: can see kind of the tension. You don't want to
Speaker 4: over grip, but just kind of feel that and locking
Speaker 4: those hands. It's the change that I saw from Zaire
Speaker 4: where the bats more upright, they're kind of resting. It's
Speaker 4: loose at first and twirling similar to Griffy, and then
Speaker 4: he locks it into place right as the pitch is coming.
Speaker 4: And I think it's made a difference for Zay or
Speaker 4: Hope as well, who since really making that change, I've
Speaker 4: seen him combine both the slug and just the feel
Speaker 4: of a hit that has improved, and a lot of
Speaker 4: the guys we're talking about VBA and vertical bad angle
Speaker 4: and like that's something that can kind of help you.
Speaker 4: Just pre setting there and feeling the bat be upright
Speaker 4: but loose, and then locking it in I think can
Speaker 4: help you kind of have that better vertical bat angle.
Speaker 3: And with Hope now, like.
Speaker 4: These have been majestic Homer's like we're talking thirty eight
Speaker 4: degrees just straight into the night and those are the
Speaker 4: ones that are just nuts to me. So seeing him
Speaker 4: elevate like this, but also it seems like he's just
Speaker 4: quicker and more direct to the ball.
Speaker 3: It's not a coincidence.
Speaker 4: That Hope has been one of the hottest hitters in
Speaker 4: minor league baseball and even those little feel adjustments can
Speaker 4: make all the difference in the world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's great stuff right there. He broke that
Speaker 2: down in a really cool way. And I mean, I
Speaker 2: think Hopes, you've had your name on Hope forevert, and
Speaker 2: you had him in as like a top ten borderline
Speaker 2: guy lab at one point or beginning of last year,
Speaker 2: I think, and like, yeah, it has been a little
Speaker 2: bit of a slower development, but I'm sticking with the
Speaker 2: not wrong, just early mindset on Hope because he's a freak. Man,
Speaker 2: He's been a freak for a couple of years. There's
Speaker 2: just some adjustments to make, and it seems like he's
Speaker 2: doing so now. And when you click it at double
Speaker 2: A that that's often when we see guys really start
Speaker 2: to take off from there. And like it's been a
Speaker 2: little bit slower than then, like you said, Zerota and
Speaker 2: Depaula maybe, but like he's going to be right there, man,
Speaker 2: I know he's gonna rise on your next list, and
Speaker 2: it's clear that he's finding it for the ridiculous amount
Speaker 2: of talent he.
Speaker 4: Has well and the thousand the last one hundred point
Speaker 4: appearance is twelve oh one ohps and an eighty three
Speaker 4: percent zone contact rate. If zayre Hope's running a zone
Speaker 4: contact right north to eighty percent and an overall contact
Speaker 4: rate of seventy five percent or above, he's going to
Speaker 4: be producing with the best of them.
Speaker 3: And so to see that improvement.
Speaker 4: Reminder, he's just twenty one, and he was twenty years
Speaker 4: old still at the start of the season. This kid
Speaker 4: is is going to be good. And I know there's
Speaker 4: a little bit more pressure to squad because he's more
Speaker 4: of a corner guy, and we'll see how valuable that
Speaker 4: defense might be there. But he's got a rocket for
Speaker 4: an arm. I think in aggregate he can still give
Speaker 4: you some value. And I think this is an he's
Speaker 4: tinkered a lot just with small things. I think he's
Speaker 4: tinkered to find the fields and the setup where he's
Speaker 4: a little bit more up right now and the other
Speaker 4: things that I mentioned that seems to be really working
Speaker 4: for him, because it's been some left on left damage
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: And then meanwhile, you've got Edward Locandero, who's one level
Speaker 2: below him, that has a twelve to fifty ops in
Speaker 2: the past month of games and on base percentage of
Speaker 2: five hundred, he's walked more than he's struck out over
Speaker 2: his past twenty games.
Speaker 5: He's a combination of of you know, speed and power.
Speaker 2: You're seeing on display right now, three triples, five homers,
Speaker 2: four doubles in his past month here of games, he's
Speaker 2: also been exceptional. And then a Miil Morales is not
Speaker 2: quite the caliber of prospect as those two, but still
Speaker 2: in his past eighteen games, Morales has six homers and
Speaker 2: seven doubles. So you're seeing him really start to get
Speaker 2: into even more of his jewe that he already had,
Speaker 2: you know, sum shown some of already.
Speaker 4: Kintaro is a crazy one because it's like you're watching
Speaker 4: Andy pi Haes load up again, but now he's like
Speaker 4: younger and further.
Speaker 3: Ahead than pi Haes was at that stage.
Speaker 4: And I know Pies had some really big numbers, but
Speaker 4: just when you look at the sum of Kintaro's parts
Speaker 4: are just a little bit more polished and and Pies
Speaker 4: wasn't the caliber of defender in center field that Kintaro
Speaker 4: already is at twenty years old.
Speaker 3: Kintaro's crazy.
Speaker 4: I think this is a guy that could end up
Speaker 4: being as highly ranked as any of the guys in
Speaker 4: this Dodger system because you blend the defense with the
Speaker 4: bats of ball. He's running an overall contact north of
Speaker 4: eighty percent this year with the bat speed with still
Speaker 4: room for more strength. He's still just twenty years old
Speaker 4: and it's a pretty slender frame. It is so easy
Speaker 4: to fall in love with with his game, and I
Speaker 4: think he's a guy that, no matter how aggressive the
Speaker 4: Dodgers may be in trade talks at any point, doesn't
Speaker 4: seem like they're gonna be overly this year unless they're
Speaker 4: just kind of playing possum. Kintaro's gonna be a really
Speaker 4: hard guy to part with because of the premium defensive
Speaker 4: value and the offensive side of things. Morales is guy
Speaker 4: that's going to really have to slug, but all he's
Speaker 4: done is sluck. I'm lower on Morales, I feel like
Speaker 4: than others, Like I've seen him on top one hundred
Speaker 4: list and all that stuff, and I understand it. I
Speaker 4: still think there's just a little bit too much whiff
Speaker 4: in his game, even if it doesn't totally show up
Speaker 4: on the surface level stats, like I think it's going
Speaker 4: to more so, and he's still kind of punching a
Speaker 4: little bit already to on the surface twenty six and
Speaker 4: a half percent kry.
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of a rigid swing. But he's
Speaker 3: a guy that just could be a really really good
Speaker 3: mistake here for a long time because he destroys balls
Speaker 3: to the poll side, but also has enough present strength
Speaker 3: at nineteen years old where you can just catch a
Speaker 3: ball deep and flick it over.
Speaker 4: The right field walls. So the power proposition there with
Speaker 4: morals is amazing.
Speaker 3: But he's guy that's probably going to slide over to third,
Speaker 3: might not even be a great defense there.
Speaker 4: That said, he could still be a huge bat if
Speaker 4: he can cut down on the whiff. And he's again
Speaker 4: doing everything that you could ask so far in the
Speaker 4: minor leagues.
Speaker 2: Yo, next guy up has had a ridiculous past month,
Speaker 2: probably the craziest pure numbers of anybody on this list today,
Speaker 2: going from what had been a kind of disappointing season
Speaker 2: to now what looks like a good season. Sammy's deefora
Speaker 2: of the Pirates organization was an acquisition of theirs. Came
Speaker 2: over from Cincinnati, you know, recently this past year, and
Speaker 2: he like it is, last eighteen games mostly prior to
Speaker 2: the All Star Break. Twelve homers in that span. I
Speaker 2: don't mean a nine hundred slug in his past month
Speaker 2: of games. It kind of came out of nowhere. This
Speaker 2: guy hadn't been that great for most of the season
Speaker 2: and then has just gone nuclear the past you know,
Speaker 2: three weeks worth of games.
Speaker 3: You know, you know what makes it worse for the
Speaker 3: Reds fans? You know what trade this was.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember now I'm thinking about it as
Speaker 2: I should have had it up. Was it Cobrian Hayes Hayes, Yeah,
Speaker 2: of course it was.
Speaker 3: So Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've always been more skeptical on Staffora.
Speaker 3: I just never loved this wing. But he's a freak athlete,
Speaker 3: super explosive, cold weather kid that you know, you have
Speaker 3: cold weather kid tools.
Speaker 4: Raw mechanics. Those guys we just talk about Peyton Graham
Speaker 4: and figuring out a twenty five. Those are the guys
Speaker 4: that maybe they figure it out, you know, twenty three,
Speaker 4: twenty four.
Speaker 3: To twenty five.
Speaker 4: So if we're still twenty one years old, So like,
Speaker 4: I still think there's some things to iron out, but
Speaker 4: clearly he's ironed some of them out already. And one
Speaker 4: thing I noticed with stephorah is he kind of so
Speaker 4: he starts slightly open, and then right I would say,
Speaker 4: is the pitcher lifts his leg.
Speaker 3: He does this kind of preset.
Speaker 4: Coil where before he even loads or anything, he turns
Speaker 4: and coils into his back camp. And I always referenced
Speaker 4: Bobby Weig because he's one of the first guys that
Speaker 4: I really saw him do this so early, and Bobby
Speaker 4: doesn't even earlier than that, but it's less pronounced of
Speaker 4: that kind of turn inwards, feel the back camp like
Speaker 4: just he almost looks like he's just more trying to
Speaker 4: stimulate the back camp and slightly coil into it.
Speaker 3: So four is more dramatically coiling into it.
Speaker 4: So where you can see his back turn a little
Speaker 4: bit towards towards the h towards the pitcher, but still
Speaker 4: nothing that crazy. And I think that's helped him get
Speaker 4: over his backside and stay there and feel like he's
Speaker 4: holding it and think about engaging it because he has
Speaker 4: a little bit of a hovering leg kick, and if
Speaker 4: you're not engaging the backside with a hovering leg kick,
Speaker 4: you're gonna crash right back down forward steeper path and
Speaker 4: you're just not You're not.
Speaker 3: Gonna be able to hit breaking stuff nearly as well.
Speaker 4: I think the preset coil is helping him going to
Speaker 4: get there be on time for Velo, which fastballs he
Speaker 4: is an eleven sixty ops against. But it's also allowing
Speaker 4: him to stay back on breaking stuff and hammer mistakes.
Speaker 4: So I see a tangible adjustment. I see a guy
Speaker 4: that's hitting the ball quite hard. I mean average Exavaston's
Speaker 4: way up. Hard hit rates up fifteen percent. He's elevating
Speaker 4: the ball more consistently.
Speaker 3: His averagexat study is up almost five miles per hour
Speaker 3: to be exact.
Speaker 4: You marry all these things, and yeah, there's hit tool concerns,
Speaker 4: he's gonna whiff a lot.
Speaker 3: But if this guy can lean.
Speaker 4: Into power and you have all the other aspects of
Speaker 4: his game, he could be a solid defender on the
Speaker 4: left side of the infield.
Speaker 3: There's speed, There's all these.
Speaker 4: Different things like lean into the power and leverage that,
Speaker 4: and I think we're seeing that, and the bat speed
Speaker 4: is up as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like there's some things to look at
Speaker 2: there and buy into. And yeah, that definitely hurts Reds
Speaker 2: fans to hear. But at the same time, for pirates guys.
Speaker 2: I mean you think the Spora is like a catch
Speaker 2: lighting in a bottle and flip him type of guy
Speaker 2: potentially for the pirates who are trying to seemingly maybe buy,
Speaker 2: but maybe it's too exciting.
Speaker 5: And I mean twelve homers.
Speaker 2: In an eighteen game stretch, Like it's a little daunting
Speaker 2: to trade a guy that's.
Speaker 5: Doing that right now.
Speaker 3: But that is a crazy stretch.
Speaker 4: I do think, like there's still the double A hurdle
Speaker 4: to clear and like, so that could be Like, mind you,
Speaker 4: this is a guy that got up to high eight at.
Speaker 3: The end of last year.
Speaker 4: It struggled so much that they reassigned him to start
Speaker 4: this year at double A or a low way. Excuse me,
Speaker 4: So I think, yeah, I think in the right deal
Speaker 4: you consider it. But the fact that he's played himself
Speaker 4: into a position where there's some value there and I
Speaker 4: think some excitement. I think it big and get like
Speaker 4: because of the speed and the defense that he can
Speaker 4: bring to the table too, Like he has the tools
Speaker 4: to be a good defender up the middle. I think
Speaker 4: this is an exciting development for a guy that could
Speaker 4: now mash his way into a more legitimate outlook of
Speaker 4: being a big League regular.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm with you there.
Speaker 2: Next guy up is someone you did talk to at
Speaker 2: the Futures Game, So I know we're during All Star week,
Speaker 2: so I think we can probably send you guys over
Speaker 2: to that interview if you want to hear more about him.
Speaker 5: But Dakota Jordan just got bumped to double his last.
Speaker 2: Sixteen games in High A, he had nine homers and
Speaker 2: seven doubles in that span.
Speaker 5: He was just going insane.
Speaker 2: He had a good year across the board, but clearly
Speaker 2: was ready for the double A bump. And now we're
Speaker 2: gonna get to see a full second half of to
Speaker 2: Cod to Jordan.
Speaker 5: In Double A.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was funny because you would think like he
Speaker 4: made some major major adjustment given how much less Dakota
Speaker 4: Jordan was punching out of late, and you just said
Speaker 4: it was kind of a mindset thing, So definitely go
Speaker 4: check that out. But yeah, I was almost hoping he
Speaker 4: said like, oh, you know, I made this adjustment with
Speaker 4: my setup or this feel or that feel, and was
Speaker 4: just more like, no, I'm.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I just adjusting my mindset going into my abs and
Speaker 4: it's been working. And sometimes it's that simple, especially for
Speaker 4: guys in the minor leagues.
Speaker 3: But what's amazing. Remember with was a huge concern with
Speaker 3: to go to Jordan.
Speaker 4: He was striking out thirty percent of the time this year,
Speaker 4: and when you have a stretch of you know, now,
Speaker 4: seventeen games, I think I could extend this to the
Speaker 4: full twenty and it'll go up a little bit, but
Speaker 4: it still makes the case. Here a twenty game stretch
Speaker 4: where he's striking out sixteen and a half percent of
Speaker 4: the time, Like if a twenty game stretch where he's
Speaker 4: literally striking out a fraction of the half the time
Speaker 4: that he was, and then he gets up to double
Speaker 4: a it's a three game sample, but he hasn't looked overwhelmed.
Speaker 4: There only a couple of strikeouts so far there. I
Speaker 4: think that's really fascinating. Whatever that mindset change was, forum
Speaker 4: clearly is helping him avoid the strikeouts.
Speaker 3: And that's really all that matters with him.
Speaker 4: If he he's not striking out, he's gonna have a
Speaker 4: long career because the power is crazy. We talked about
Speaker 4: he's in a homer one seventeen this year to cod
Speaker 4: to Jordan, and I asked him in the interview, I said,
Speaker 4: have you ever surprised yourself. You're the one to seventeen
Speaker 4: surprise you, he said, no. I was like, how much
Speaker 4: more do you think you got in there? You got
Speaker 4: one twenty? He said, yeah, I think I got one
Speaker 4: twenty in there. So I mean, I'm not gonna I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna be the one that takes the under on
Speaker 4: that so pluming like it is potentially eighty raw power.
Speaker 3: If he's a thirty great hitter with a good approach,
Speaker 3: he's gonna have a long career.
Speaker 4: And there was some question about even being able to
Speaker 4: be that at the highest level. But the way his
Speaker 4: defense is progressed, the way his base stealing is progressed,
Speaker 4: and now if this is something that he can extend,
Speaker 4: the hit tools progressed, Now you could start to see
Speaker 4: a guy that, uh, you know, could be a solid
Speaker 4: center fielder, but at worst could be this short platoon,
Speaker 4: you know, outfield option that can play all three.
Speaker 3: And I love he shut it out Bo Davidson.
Speaker 4: They're really tight and the Giants did a phenomenal job
Speaker 4: with Bo Davidson, a guy that you entered pro Bawl
Speaker 4: later than the most and minimal experience as an amateur
Speaker 4: at Juco's and taking time off and and the hit
Speaker 4: tool went from I mean I remember watching Bo Davidson
Speaker 4: in his first year in the Arizona Fall League just
Speaker 4: completely raw, like really raw swing turned into a guy
Speaker 4: that's a really solid hitter. Now, Dakota Jordan could be
Speaker 4: falling a similar blueprint and and ends up you know,
Speaker 4: cutting down on the wif here.
Speaker 3: And if he does that, I mean that's extremely exciting. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think Jordan was also someone from my memory, like
Speaker 2: he was second round dish projection last year looking like
Speaker 2: he could be at least like a second round type guy,
Speaker 2: and then or two years ago and then fell to
Speaker 2: the fourth and the Giants ended up getting him for
Speaker 2: like well overslot too. And it was just somebody that
Speaker 2: clearly like identified as like there's the upside here where
Speaker 2: we should be paying up to get this type of
Speaker 2: guy and this type of talent, even if there is
Speaker 2: some bumps along the way, and then right now it's
Speaker 2: clearly paying dividends for them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's one of those situations where you know,
Speaker 4: the talent we saw him mocked at a certain point
Speaker 4: monthslea thing into the draft and like the end of
Speaker 4: the first round and then the whiff was just such
Speaker 4: so prevalent in his draftyre even that, I mean, it
Speaker 4: spooks a lot of teams, and I get it. I mean,
Speaker 4: look at Van to Honeycutt can go different ways, but
Speaker 4: I think Dakota Jordan's already quickly shown that.
Speaker 3: He's not that type of it tool liability.
Speaker 4: And if this trend continues, I think we're gonna see
Speaker 4: a lot of people change their tune about Dakota, and
Speaker 4: including myself, which I think I haven't even been as
Speaker 4: much of a skeptic.
Speaker 3: I put out a tweet about him, and.
Speaker 4: I was really shocked at how many people are really
Speaker 4: like he has no chances. His second year at the
Speaker 4: lower levels, which by the way, this was his first
Speaker 4: days of high A this year, they were going very
Speaker 4: station to station with him. If he keeps that strikeout
Speaker 4: right below thirty percent in double A, I think people
Speaker 4: really need to change their tune.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see if he can.
Speaker 2: Let's take a quick break here before we get back
Speaker 2: into some more names on our heat cheet, talking about
Speaker 2: a power bat here, going from one with Dakota Jordan
Speaker 2: right into the next with Xavier Ninons of the Houston Astros, organization,
Speaker 2: nineteen year old, first round pick out of high school
Speaker 2: last year by Houston.
Speaker 5: He has been awesome.
Speaker 2: He was in Single A, just got bumped up to
Speaker 2: High A, and you know, there's some.
Speaker 5: Hittal concerns for sure.
Speaker 2: He's just about as three outcomings you can possibly get
Speaker 2: for a nineteen year old.
Speaker 5: We've talked about that before with him.
Speaker 2: Twenty six percent walk grate, thirty percent strikeout rate this season,
Speaker 2: but fourteen homers, sixteen stolen misses and some absurd raw juice.
Speaker 2: Really of late has definitely been better. I mean, the
Speaker 2: overall contact is still like pretty low, but in this
Speaker 2: past thirty days, twenty five walks to thirteen strikeouts.
Speaker 5: So yeah, he's gonna strike out.
Speaker 2: But if he's gonna strike out, at least he's walking
Speaker 2: a ton and he's hitting the crap out of the
Speaker 2: ball when he does make content.
Speaker 3: The power potential is is just so immense.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you know, it's really tough to assess a
Speaker 4: player that at Low A swings thirty percent of the time.
Speaker 4: So I'm excited for the High A promotion even because
Speaker 4: he's going to see more strikes there. If you never
Speaker 4: swing except for the pitches that you key hole and
Speaker 4: you've got huge power and you cross the pitches at
Speaker 4: you keyhole. But you see a lot of non competitive
Speaker 4: pitches having never really swinging as well, Like you're going
Speaker 4: to walk twenty six percent of the time and you're
Speaker 4: going to strike out about thirty percent of the time.
Speaker 3: That's been the deal.
Speaker 4: So it's really hard to assess the hit tool of
Speaker 4: a guy that's swinging at three of every ten pitches.
Speaker 4: There is definitely with concern and I think hya is
Speaker 4: going to be a challenge for an Eyans. I do,
Speaker 4: but I think what you can see so far is
Speaker 4: that the strengths are there, and when you're evaluating him
Speaker 4: from together was what Northwest kind of under scouted area
Speaker 4: I think was in Washington.
Speaker 3: You don't know how he's going to perform in the
Speaker 3: pro ranks.
Speaker 4: A lot of people socided significant with in the summer circuit.
Speaker 4: That pushed some teams to thinking he's not a first
Speaker 4: round guy.
Speaker 3: Even just the.
Speaker 4: Ability to hold his I think it loway has proven
Speaker 4: that maybe it's not as catastrophic as people thought, But
Speaker 4: I think this is going to be a a big
Speaker 4: test there. The other aspect, though, is well, it's seventy raw,
Speaker 4: and sometimes that doesn't always immediately translate.
Speaker 3: Seventy raw is quite visible here with ny In, so.
Speaker 4: I think that's the thing is, yes, the swing and
Speaker 4: missus is prevalent and you see it, but at the
Speaker 4: same time.
Speaker 3: He's still giving you a competitive abs.
Speaker 4: And the other side is the power that was the
Speaker 4: calling card is also evident, and I think that's important.
Speaker 4: The other aspect is the defense, Like it's gonna take
Speaker 4: some time. I think at third base they started playing
Speaker 4: him a short top a little bit. I'm glad they
Speaker 4: put that on ice. He's a third baseman and so
Speaker 4: getting the reps there I think is good. I think
Speaker 4: can develop into a decent third basement there, but that's
Speaker 4: gonna be another wrinkle to monitor. I'm excited for the
Speaker 4: high a challenge. I think it's going to be tough,
Speaker 4: but even if it is, it's fine. This is the guy
Speaker 4: that they knew was going to be a project. He'll
Speaker 4: come back next year and get his second taste of
Speaker 4: high aim most likely.
Speaker 2: And he's so young, and I think this season can
Speaker 2: already be looked at it the success. Honestly, all things
Speaker 2: considered for ny INDs like it's already been a pretty
Speaker 2: good year. He's walking a ton, he's he's showing off
Speaker 2: the power, he's showing off the speed, even a little
Speaker 2: sixteen bags so far this year, it's been an effective
Speaker 2: base runner. So like, yeah, there's some things to work
Speaker 2: on there, but he's going to be nineteen until this winter, right,
Speaker 2: So like if he struggles a little on high A,
Speaker 2: so what you send him right back there next year
Speaker 2: and he spends the majority of point twenty seven at
Speaker 2: the higher level, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And this is an astro system, and an astros
Speaker 4: orgod typically is more than patient with with with and
Speaker 4: wanting to take that on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they should be in his case because the upside
Speaker 2: is there clearly. Uniker Casarras of the Guardians is our
Speaker 2: next name up. You also put out something on him
Speaker 2: about on Twitter recently. Another recent promotion has spent the
Speaker 2: year so far in his age eighteen season at single
Speaker 2: a very very successful run there in single A.
Speaker 5: And just got the bump this weekend.
Speaker 2: Now is at the high level at at eighteen years old.
Speaker 2: So this is clearly someone in Cleveland's like got a
Speaker 2: little bit of a circle on, like, yeah, we're going
Speaker 2: to get this kid to say to hi a at
Speaker 2: eighteen years old. He hasn't turned nineteen until next month,
Speaker 2: so he's basically been eighteen this entire season. And now
Speaker 2: he's already at the high level because what he was
Speaker 2: doing in single A man like, the overall just bat
Speaker 2: to ball has just been so I mean, the overall
Speaker 2: just everything offensively for him has been great.
Speaker 4: This is one of my favorite hitters in the minor leagues,
Speaker 4: especially age to level.
Speaker 3: Lower level hitters. I don't know if there's a better
Speaker 3: lower level hitter right now.
Speaker 4: When you blend and consider all things, you consider bats
Speaker 4: a ball, you consider approach, and you consider the power
Speaker 4: that's already there for guys at the low A or
Speaker 4: high A level, and then if you really want to
Speaker 4: throw in the caveat of age, then it's even more impressive.
Speaker 3: It is an eighteen year old and full season ball.
Speaker 4: We had him in the top one hundred preseason for
Speaker 4: that reason, and when we did the unveiling of the list,
Speaker 4: and I think even when we did the breakdown of Cassarras,
Speaker 4: when we broke them the top one hundred list, the
Speaker 4: big thing I mentioned with Cassras was that he had
Speaker 4: so much success back to ball wise last year despite
Speaker 4: the fact that I thought there were some things to
Speaker 4: clean up McCann. He would step in the bucket a
Speaker 4: little bit and fly open, but his feel for the
Speaker 4: barrel and the bat lived in the zone so long
Speaker 4: that he was able to still spray balls all over
Speaker 4: the yard. But it was causing a little bit of
Speaker 4: a power leak and sometimes could give him some trouble
Speaker 4: on stuff inside or breaking away from him if he just.
Speaker 3: Wasn't timed up right. He's fixed that this year, where
Speaker 3: it's super simple in the box.
Speaker 4: Instead of stepping into the bucket, he has a moderate
Speaker 4: stride and he just coils into his backside and goes
Speaker 4: and it hasn't compromised his power at all. He's able
Speaker 4: to drive the ball hard to all fields. The pull
Speaker 4: side power is very prevalent, because, yeah, if you would
Speaker 4: go out sometimes and you catch something right on the
Speaker 4: inner half, like yeah, you can crush something, but you
Speaker 4: can also end up kind of rolling over it or
Speaker 4: pulling off of it, which is what ended up happening
Speaker 4: with him a little bit more often.
Speaker 3: Now he's covering everything because that field to hit is
Speaker 3: still clearly there.
Speaker 4: The bat speed is even more prevalent because he's engaging
Speaker 4: his well or half more properly and not leaking out
Speaker 4: with the front side, so he's holding the backside. The
Speaker 4: load is all predicated and really just a coil and go,
Speaker 4: and the timing mechanism is simple because he barely picks
Speaker 4: his foot up. He really just picks his heel up.
Speaker 4: So it is so much fun to watch this dude hit.
Speaker 4: And when you see what he does, like in the
Speaker 4: early part of the count where it's kind of just
Speaker 4: gather with a little bit of a leg lift and
Speaker 4: then two strikes, it's just kind of that coil and
Speaker 4: go and he doesn't really lose any of that explosiveness.
Speaker 4: That's why he's so good bat to the ball wise
Speaker 4: and never punches to a ninety percent zone contact rate,
Speaker 4: but he can spoil with the best of them eighty
Speaker 4: six percent overall contact, right, so he's making contact on
Speaker 4: pitches outside of the zone seventy seven percent of the time.
Speaker 3: That's not something you.
Speaker 4: Can do when you're flying open prematurely, so fixing that
Speaker 4: now it can spoil stuff away. He's still quick enough
Speaker 4: to turn stuff around on the inside part, so you
Speaker 4: can't punch him out by getting in to chase because
Speaker 4: he's gonna spoil it, but you're also hard pressed to
Speaker 4: get him to chase anyways. The twenty three percent chase rate,
Speaker 4: and then you look at the air pull ability and
Speaker 4: the ability to just drive the ball in the air
Speaker 4: pretty consistently. This is one of the best well ra
Speaker 4: did lower level hitters that I think we've seen it
Speaker 4: a little bit, and I think Casara's is going to
Speaker 4: be a consensus top fifty prospect by the end of
Speaker 4: the season.
Speaker 5: Bullish.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see how high he rises on your
Speaker 2: list because I know this has been someone you've liked
Speaker 2: from the start, and with the adjustments you just light
Speaker 2: out there, like I could see him continuing to climb
Speaker 2: up list, especially for you, but for everyone nationally, but
Speaker 2: especially for you as someone.
Speaker 5: Who's already kind of liked this guy before.
Speaker 2: He made some clear adjustments there and it's taken this
Speaker 2: big step so far this season.
Speaker 5: So he's he's the rising name and going to continue
Speaker 5: to be one.
Speaker 4: It seems like, yeah, I almost I wish I bought
Speaker 4: more Bowman cards before. It's it's crazy that the last
Speaker 4: thing I'll mention just is like the the hover and
Speaker 4: how early he sees the ball and the way he's
Speaker 4: able to hold and control that hover, because then two
Speaker 4: strikes he pretty much goes no stride to hold that
Speaker 4: hover and stay closed.
Speaker 3: Now after having the tendency to leak open.
Speaker 4: To make that change so quickly and so easily for
Speaker 4: a guy that when you have the tendency to fly open,
Speaker 4: a hovering light kick is not usually going to be
Speaker 4: the way to go because you're going to go right
Speaker 4: back out to That just shows me how easy it
Speaker 4: is for him to control his body and make the
Speaker 4: adjustments that he needs to make.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Dodgers have someone who was not on my
Speaker 2: radar at all until recently. The story and background is
Speaker 2: crazy Easton Shelton of the Dodgers organization.
Speaker 5: He was an undrafted.
Speaker 2: Seventeen year old free agent out of high school in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, so he doesn't get drafted, but the
Speaker 2: Dodgers take a free agency deal on a seventeen year
Speaker 2: old kid. He spent the last two years in the Complex,
Speaker 2: dealing with a couple of different injuries. Not a ton of
Speaker 2: success overall.
Speaker 3: He made.
Speaker 2: He played four games in the very end of last
Speaker 2: year and at the High A level, actually going from
Speaker 2: the Complex to high but really has played like pretty
Speaker 2: minimally going into this year as a kid who draft
Speaker 2: who signed a seventeen undrafted his first full season this
Speaker 2: year eighty one games now in single A one fifty
Speaker 2: five WRC plus, he's hitting the crap out of the ball.
Speaker 2: The past month of games, twenty games worth, he's hitting
Speaker 2: four O three with a twelve ninety seven OPS sixteen
Speaker 2: extra base hits in that twenty games ban so far
Speaker 2: for Eastern Shelton, who is Easton Shelton. The Dodgers just
Speaker 2: found him and he's going off right now. He strikes
Speaker 2: out a lot, but other than that, like some impressive numbers.
Speaker 3: The power is crazy.
Speaker 4: As you mentioned, I think there's gonna be some things
Speaker 4: that have to get cleaned up to hit enough. It's
Speaker 4: kind of got a Beer league softball swing, and I
Speaker 4: do mean that in like a totally disparaging way. He
Speaker 4: so as he's loading, like there's an early toe tap
Speaker 4: and then he lifts his leg up from there and
Speaker 4: the early toe tap where he settles right from there.
Speaker 4: When he then lifts his leg up, he gives you
Speaker 4: this huge hand pump, so like between the early toe
Speaker 4: tap into a leg kick where he pumps his hands down.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I played third base on my men's league
Speaker 4: softball team with a with a with a mask, because
Speaker 4: that's what those guys just absolutely rocketballs at me like
Speaker 4: it's that type of swing. But the power is immense
Speaker 4: max ev at one sixteen we've seen I think, what
Speaker 4: is Oh my gosh, I can't even count them any
Speaker 4: I think there's ten homers north of one ten this year,
Speaker 4: nine nine or ten homers north of one ten this year,
Speaker 4: including three at one thirteen and one at one fourteen.
Speaker 4: So the power is ridiculous. He's gonna need to refine
Speaker 4: the mechanics a little bit. Dodgers do a good job
Speaker 4: with that with guys. The bat speed's clearly clearly there.
Speaker 4: And another guy that I mean, where do you even
Speaker 4: come from?
Speaker 3: Right, he's got.
Speaker 5: Twenty eight bombs.
Speaker 2: Dude, there's nobody else in the California League with over
Speaker 2: fifteen home runs and he has twenty eight. I don't,
Speaker 2: I mean, I get it. He's striking out a ton.
Speaker 2: There's still sitting twenty eight homers sing in eighty one
Speaker 2: single A baseball games.
Speaker 5: Are we serious for?
Speaker 2: That's an undrafted out of high school?
Speaker 3: What that's the craziest part. I literally like an afterthought
Speaker 3: that guy, so, sir, so.
Speaker 5: This gets talented.
Speaker 2: Let's tell him to not go to college and just
Speaker 2: come develop with the Dodgers complex in the next two years.
Speaker 4: And I mean it's station to station. I get he's
Speaker 4: in his third pro year down there. Second he's we
Speaker 4: played any games. Yeah, they're making something happen here, and like, look,
Speaker 4: he's gonna need to continue to improve it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, to be doing this this year ridiculous.
Speaker 4: Oh another guy. Maybe when he's twenty six, we'll figure
Speaker 4: it out. But like and turn into like a huge
Speaker 4: power back. But the power is clearly immense. They clearly
Speaker 4: had a plan for him, and yeah, it's gonna the
Speaker 4: contactor is going to need to go up significantly. Course,
Speaker 4: but station to station, he's been better. And this has
Speaker 4: been a crazy power breakout.
Speaker 2: See what happens, uh, DSL guy that you wanted to
Speaker 2: ping and mention here on the heat sheet and then
Speaker 2: we'll get a couple of pitchers after our last break
Speaker 2: Albert for Mean of the ASTROS organization, going back over
Speaker 2: to Houston, h DSL guy with a one to fifty
Speaker 2: nine WRC plus so far this year, getting them based
Speaker 2: at a five to fifteen clip. But we know those numbers
Speaker 2: in the DALL are kind of misleading. So give me
Speaker 2: the reason why why he's on your radar as a
Speaker 2: seventeen year old down in the Dominican.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm at the point with the DSL guys, the
Speaker 4: crazy outlier data.
Speaker 3: Will shout it out right like yeah.
Speaker 4: But also we just look at swings and when I
Speaker 4: see a swing, I like, I'm gonna shout it out
Speaker 4: because I don't feel like I see that many great
Speaker 4: ones in the DSL, because these guys are kids. That
Speaker 4: Chris Rodriguez, if everyone remembers, I was doing so many
Speaker 4: questions about that guy in the in the Tiger system
Speaker 4: in the DSL, I was like, I don't like the swing.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's going to play. Still battling it
Speaker 4: out in the Complex League.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: People were expecting him to be moving a little bit
Speaker 4: more quickly than that. That was a guy on like
Speaker 4: top one hundred.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 4: That was an example of a player where I'm just
Speaker 4: like you just you just got to look at the
Speaker 4: swings here.
Speaker 3: The data is now like he's put up some of
Speaker 3: the best EVS.
Speaker 4: Contact rates are okay, he's striking out thirty four percent
Speaker 4: of the time of the complex and got I just
Speaker 4: didn't like the swing. I think now with the DSL
Speaker 4: guys really focusing on the swing and then seeing something
Speaker 4: like pops like oh, you know if he pops a
Speaker 4: one oh eight or one oh nine, it's like, oh,
Speaker 4: not a lot of guys doing that at that level, right,
Speaker 4: But when.
Speaker 3: It comes to the swing decisions, stuff like that can help, right.
Speaker 4: It does help that for means only chasing fourteen percent
Speaker 4: of the time, but you see a lot of non
Speaker 4: competitive pitches. What I love about for me, this is
Speaker 4: a switch hitter who's six', three so very like long,
Speaker 4: limbed already for his, agent having just turned seventeen years,
Speaker 4: old and the swing from both sides is so smooth
Speaker 4: and the operation is already so. SIMPLE i like the
Speaker 4: whippy bat. Speed there's not a lot of lower half.
Speaker 4: Movement but he also you see some of these, young taller,
Speaker 4: guys they just get on the front side so quickly
Speaker 4: because it's like the baby drafting and you just don't
Speaker 4: control that lower half that.
Speaker 3: Well how could?
Speaker 4: You you're still kind of learning how to feel that,
Speaker 4: out and you didn't really need to control the lower
Speaker 4: half when everybody was throwing seventy five miles an.
Speaker 3: Hour now you have to the balls getting on you so.
Speaker 4: Quickly he already does the simple, moves the great path
Speaker 4: and just the repeatable swing from both sides and the
Speaker 4: athleticism with the projection dood, alert like we'll see so
Speaker 4: much can, happen so much can go. Wrong BUT i
Speaker 4: saw him recently when The astros put out kind of
Speaker 4: like this is OUR dsl performer right, now AND i, said.
Speaker 3: All, right that's a GUY i need to look more.
Speaker 4: Into the More i've, Watched i'm paying mentioned To albert for,
Speaker 4: me AND i just want to shout that, out dood.
Speaker 5: Alert we got to get that sponsored man that's. Sick
Speaker 5: that's a cool. IDEA i like that.
Speaker 2: One that got me fired up right, There so that
Speaker 2: was Good albert For meen is officially undood.
Speaker 3: Alert all, right there we.
Speaker 2: Go let's take one more quick break and then we'll
Speaker 2: get into some. Pictures arm Tops chrome is dropping. Tomorrow
Speaker 2: where you going to get your top Scrom BECAUSE i
Speaker 2: know Where i'm.
Speaker 4: Going you already know the, answer And i'm. Excited i'm
Speaker 4: going to my local. Lids the book a town center
Speaker 4: mall over. Here but to this we talked about it.
Speaker 4: Briefly the checklist is, crazy crazy. Loaded and the fun
Speaker 4: part is, like if you get a box at Tops,
Speaker 4: chrome like there's a good chance you're going to hit
Speaker 4: a good auto because there's this IS i think the
Speaker 4: deepest rookie class LIKE i can ever remember With Tops.
Speaker 4: Chrome but then also if you rip at. Lids at
Speaker 4: your Local, lids they have an awesome rip to rep
Speaker 4: program going on, Now so if you hit one of
Speaker 4: these seventy five autos that they have listed, out you
Speaker 4: will get a free.
Speaker 3: Jersey all just do is just rip the box.
Speaker 4: There they have top loaders there that you can buy
Speaker 4: and sleeves and everything.
Speaker 3: Like, that so you might as well just get your,
Speaker 3: box rip it right.
Speaker 4: There if you don't even hit the auto that you're,
Speaker 4: chasing you might hit an auto that gets you a free,
Speaker 4: Jersey so be sure to go to your local. LIDS
Speaker 4: i think the rip to rep thing is one of
Speaker 4: the cooler things that we've got going on in the
Speaker 4: hobby right. Now great intersection of lids and collectibles and
Speaker 4: just another way to win with these. Boxes so even
Speaker 4: if you don't hit the auto that you potentially. Want
Speaker 4: if it's one of the seventy five That lids has
Speaker 4: listed out, there you can get a, jersey which is
Speaker 4: yeah again for how nice these jerseys, are like you
Speaker 4: end up being the same price as the. Box SO
Speaker 4: i think it's a great opportunity there at Your. Lids
Speaker 4: and also let us know what you.
Speaker 5: Hit suchapool program you're going to be In.
Speaker 2: Boca then this weekend we'll be out In chicago With
Speaker 2: Colson montgomery doing a rip.
Speaker 5: Program so if you're out In chicago.
Speaker 2: Water Tower place eleven am On, satday come Meet Colson
Speaker 2: montgomery and you can also do RiPP to rep. There
Speaker 2: maybe you pull A coulson auto and then get A
Speaker 2: coulson jersey With Colson.
Speaker 5: Montgomery pretty cool, OPPORTUNITY i be asking.
Speaker 2: Me, so got a cool situation, There but a few
Speaker 2: pictures here on the heat sheet and we'll get more.
Speaker 2: PICTURES i know we don't always give pictures the most.
Speaker 2: Love we'll get into more pictures next. WEEK i promise
Speaker 2: we got a few hero.
Speaker 5: Though to wrap. Up Luis Parrales Washington Nationals.
Speaker 2: Organization someone you've been really high, on you, know part
Speaker 2: of that trade For Jake bennett at the, time it was, like, oh,
Speaker 2: MAN i THINK i think we kind of thought The
Speaker 2: nationals won that. Trade Jake bennett je turning into it
Speaker 2: to a real good picture here for The Red. Sox
Speaker 2: parales slow, start but really figuring out a little bit.
Speaker 2: Lately his last five outings he's got a three r
Speaker 2: and that span twenty five strikeouts across twenty four innings
Speaker 2: hasn't been, perfect but it definitely seems like he's trending
Speaker 2: the right direction after a slower start to the.
Speaker 4: Year, yeah and coming off WITH tj, right it takes some.
Speaker 4: TIME i definitely like have to just come out and
Speaker 4: say what's wrong about? That somebody brought it up ON
Speaker 4: X LIKE i Think paralys is gonna end up settling
Speaker 4: in and we're starting to see that and be a solid,
Speaker 4: arm whether that's in a high leverage relief role or
Speaker 4: carving it out as a, starter which is.
Speaker 3: Great that he's starting to show the signs of being
Speaker 3: able to do.
Speaker 4: That but with The Red sox have immediately done With
Speaker 4: Jake bennett and what he's been able to do now
Speaker 4: with The twiggs pitch mix with the sinker going a
Speaker 4: little bit of a tweet to the breaking, balls in
Speaker 4: the usage they acquired, him and they had a plan
Speaker 4: and that's, clear BUT i mean The nationals were more
Speaker 4: than prepared to be patient with, prows so not only
Speaker 4: had to get used to coming back off OF, tj
Speaker 4: also thrown with the big league ball in TRIPLE, a
Speaker 4: which is for a verdy guy going to kill that
Speaker 4: already trying to find that fuel again to spin. It
Speaker 4: that is take some time for guys off OF tj
Speaker 4: while finding a feel for the new, ball like we're
Speaker 4: Seeing Carson milbrant run into a wall and TRIPLE a
Speaker 4: just with the ball, period with the command and just
Speaker 4: some of the, shapes imagine that while coming off OF.
Speaker 4: Tj SO i Think paralys needs a lot of. Time
Speaker 4: AND i think this is a really good sign here
Speaker 4: that he's able to have kind of the success that
Speaker 4: he has had of, late BECAUSE i really do think
Speaker 4: this is a guy that has ridiculous. STUFF i, mean
Speaker 4: the fastball shape when he's right has crazy life to,
Speaker 4: it and it's he's sitting ninety. Nine so to have that,
Speaker 4: pitch and then WHAT i was really interested in seeing
Speaker 4: if it could come back was the feel for the,
Speaker 4: splitter because the cutter has always been there for, him
Speaker 4: and it's nasty and it's at ninety, Three but the
Speaker 4: splitter was WHY i thought he was one of the
Speaker 4: more exciting pitching prospects in baseball before going, down when
Speaker 4: he had that three pitch mix and the splitter off
Speaker 4: of that verty.
Speaker 3: Fastball it's good.
Speaker 4: Luck the splitter has been coming back a little, bit
Speaker 4: AND i think that is changing a lot for him
Speaker 4: and getting him back to that three pitch mix where
Speaker 4: guys can't just sit, fastball and you, know the pair
Speaker 4: of that with a better feel for the zone, overall
Speaker 4: AND i think we're going to see a strong finish
Speaker 4: of the season For.
Speaker 3: Paralys, YEAH i think.
Speaker 5: So it seems like he's trending that.
Speaker 2: Direction and you, know when he's at his, best he's
Speaker 2: one of the more electric arms in minor league.
Speaker 5: Baseball SO i think it's fun to get.
Speaker 2: Him you said to mention the. Splitter obviously he's just
Speaker 2: getting back in the. Group, obviously first year OFF dj,
Speaker 2: like it's no matter, what it's not going to be.
Speaker 2: Great AND i think that there's still a lot more
Speaker 2: better things to come From paralys and we're already getting
Speaker 2: a taste of it of. Late going over to a
Speaker 2: duo of names here skipping over to The Atlanta braves,
Speaker 2: organization a pair of NAMES i don't think we've talked
Speaker 2: about a Ton Lucas braun And cedric Dig Grand prix
Speaker 2: got to be a candidate for best minor league.
Speaker 5: Name first of. All but these two guys are.
Speaker 2: INTERESTING i ACTUALLY i did an interview With Boston smith
Speaker 2: recently For Future socks and another name that it's probably
Speaker 2: deserved a chat at some, point but he mentioned both
Speaker 2: these guys in just The Atlanta Braves Southern. League you,
Speaker 2: know their their double a rotation in general as like
Speaker 2: being a really tough rotation to face day in and day.
Speaker 2: Out Particularly grand Grand prix as one of the names
Speaker 2: that stood out to him as someone that just just
Speaker 2: impressed him out of the. Gate these two recently have
Speaker 2: been probably the two best pictures in The Southern league
Speaker 2: over the past month of. Ball Lucas braun with a
Speaker 2: thin point NINETY arra over his last handful of, starts
Speaker 2: Grand Day Grand prix with a one to five E
Speaker 2: ra over his last. Handful what stands out for either
Speaker 2: of these? Guys why have they had.
Speaker 5: So much success?
Speaker 2: Recently is it? PRINT i don't think it's a sick.
Speaker 5: NAME i, yeah that's.
Speaker 3: AWESOME i don't know if that is a sick. NAME i.
Speaker 3: Do we have a little bit more, background like.
Speaker 5: He's A, canadian SO i guess it probably Is.
Speaker 2: French, Yeah de Grand prix probably is, right, RIGHT i
Speaker 2: mean twenty twenty two to thirteen thrown pick out of
Speaker 2: junior college coming from A, Quebec. Canada, Initially, uh these,
Speaker 2: guys he looks like a.
Speaker 4: Dude the braves are so good at this. Too with the,
Speaker 4: arms he's underrated. Arms he works down the mound really.
Speaker 4: Well it's like a five three five four release height
Speaker 4: and and this kind of more horizontal, angle and then
Speaker 4: you've got a lot of different shapes coming at. You
Speaker 4: you've got a sweeping breaking ball with two plane, break
Speaker 4: you've got a gyro, slider a cutter above, that a four,
Speaker 4: seamer a change. Up, uh there's a lot of different
Speaker 4: looks from a tough. Angle, now the biggest thing for
Speaker 4: him is going to be. Command For Grand prex is
Speaker 4: going to be, command just BECAUSE i think one when
Speaker 4: you have all these different pitches working in different directions
Speaker 4: and you know this this more horizontal angle and really
Speaker 4: working down the mound sometimes timing it all up can be,
Speaker 4: difficult AND i think he's been challenged with that some
Speaker 4: but a forty five rate on his breaking, balls AND
Speaker 4: i think it sets up his fastball from that angle
Speaker 4: to really generate plenty of with at the top of
Speaker 4: the zone as. Well even though it's not maybe the
Speaker 4: hoppiest of, fastballs it's going to play up from that.
Speaker 3: Angle and even.
Speaker 4: At what is he sitting more, like, OH i mean
Speaker 4: he's sitting in mid, nineties so from that, angle, like,
Speaker 4: yeah it's gonna. PLAY i think he's a really fascinating
Speaker 4: mix and kind of a later bloomer that when you
Speaker 4: have that many offerings with the more horizontal angle that
Speaker 4: he can. Provide uh and and just all four directions.
Speaker 4: THERE i think That Grand prez a name to watch
Speaker 4: for sure in This brave.
Speaker 3: System, yeah, No i'm with you.
Speaker 2: THERE i think both these guys are interesting Arms Zach, Root,
Speaker 2: OH i Got Lucas Bron Brown, yeah, yeah Go bron
Speaker 2: AND i TOTALLY I almos skipped over him.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 4: NO i know this is going that we've paid a
Speaker 4: bit attention to a little. BIT i know we talked
Speaker 4: about a lot more last, year and there's just been
Speaker 4: some ebbs and, flows but another picture where you've got
Speaker 4: like the distinct sh between the four seam or the,
Speaker 4: sinker the change, up the, cutter a, slider and a.
Speaker 4: Curveball The braves are just so good at expanding guys,
Speaker 4: arsenals AND i feel like with him another solid back
Speaker 4: end type of. Arm in the, past he's been able
Speaker 4: to get ground. Balls he's been able to do a
Speaker 4: little bit of.
Speaker 3: Everything those are thrown a ton of, innings like give
Speaker 3: back to back.
Speaker 4: Years not often you get this in the minor, leges
Speaker 4: back to back years of north of one hundred and
Speaker 4: forty innings and with the ability to just get, outs
Speaker 4: miss enough bats and mix his, OFFERINGS i feel like
Speaker 4: this is Just brown just screams innings either and a
Speaker 4: guy that is going to be able to turn over,
Speaker 4: lineups you know several times because of the way that
Speaker 4: he can change his. Looks he gets plus extension down the.
Speaker 4: Mound The braves are just so good at stockpiling and
Speaker 4: another the ground ball right hasn't been quite what it
Speaker 4: has been in other, stretches but he just seems to
Speaker 4: to dodge hard contact and be able to get. Out
Speaker 4: another guy that just works down the mound, well and
Speaker 4: not just the seven feet of extension five to four release.
Speaker 4: Height it creates a deceptive and difficult look THAT i
Speaker 4: think just allows him to dodge barrels even if he's
Speaker 4: not piling up strikeouts with and you, know crazy.
Speaker 3: Bunches.
Speaker 2: YEAH i think both these guys are two perfect examples
Speaker 2: of braves arms who are just, like not the most talked,
Speaker 2: about maybe not the, flashiest but, like both could be
Speaker 2: big league pitchers and serve a role In atlanta next
Speaker 2: year and we wouldn't even be surprised because that's kind
Speaker 2: of how they, operate and that's kind of what they've
Speaker 2: done the past haenvile of years Now, yep jumping over
Speaker 2: to The. Dodgers back to The dodgers, ORGANIZATION i should
Speaker 2: Say Zach. Root interesting name from last year's draft class
Speaker 2: who has definitely taken a step forward recently and looks
Speaker 2: to be a guy that we definitely have clearly marked
Speaker 2: on the radar at this. Point his last four outings
Speaker 2: at the high level twenty seven strikeouts across twenty one
Speaker 2: and a.
Speaker 5: Third he looks really.
Speaker 2: Good this is his first pro, season obviously as a college,
Speaker 2: guy so you expect him to be you, know good
Speaker 2: and high a but really just put it together at
Speaker 2: a really good year just across the board and even better.
Speaker 3: RECENTLY i, mean he's he's just.
Speaker 4: Disgusting i'm interested to see if he can really stick
Speaker 4: as a starter from a man standpoint and things like,
Speaker 4: that AND i think that's gonna be the biggest.
Speaker 3: Question but arsenal, WISE i.
Speaker 4: Mean you've got the big breaking ball that's just sharp
Speaker 4: and tough to pick up from his angle gyro slider
Speaker 4: in between that and the fastball just takes off because
Speaker 4: he fully turns his back to the, hitter you do
Speaker 4: not see the ball and then just sling shots and
Speaker 4: gets on you so quickly with the way that he.
Speaker 3: Throws SO i still think there's the reliever risk. There
Speaker 3: he also mixes.
Speaker 4: In, though a really nasty change up with great vertical.
Speaker 4: Separation it's just finding the consistency and feel for that as.
Speaker 4: Well but when you've got the pair of breaking balls
Speaker 4: and the fastball and the.
Speaker 3: Change, up there's a lot to like.
Speaker 4: There and when he's around the zone, ENOUGH i mean
Speaker 4: he's racking up strike outs to the lower levels in.
Speaker 4: Bunches BUT i do think For roote like sixty one
Speaker 4: percent strike. Great, overall it's gonna need to get a
Speaker 4: little bit better. There AND i just think that.
Speaker 3: That, delivery when you look at, it is kind of
Speaker 3: hard to repeat and repeat that release point and all of.
Speaker 3: THAT i think there's no doubt this is to.
Speaker 4: Do that's gonna be a lot of bats, regardless AND
Speaker 4: i think that The dodgers are going to be more
Speaker 4: than patient and trying to keep him as a starter
Speaker 4: because the arsenal is already. There it's not like this
Speaker 4: is a two pitch guy that's trying to find this
Speaker 4: zone more consistently. Either like you got four offerings, here
Speaker 4: they all look, Good SO i think it's more a
Speaker 4: matter of just getting a consistent feel for all of
Speaker 4: them and the field of the change up when he
Speaker 4: has gone so it has been pretty. Good SO i
Speaker 4: think that's the biggest thing for. Him And i'm interested
Speaker 4: to see how slow The dodgers are with.
Speaker 3: Him but there's just clearly a ton of arm talent.
Speaker 5: Here, yeah that'll be interesting to see the.
Speaker 3: ROLE i.
Speaker 2: AGREE i kind of thought that coming out of college with,
Speaker 2: him where it's like it's very explosive and there's a
Speaker 2: lot going, On SO i was curious to see what
Speaker 2: the eventual usage would be, like but nonetheless a good
Speaker 2: first pro season and another guy, that LIKE i could
Speaker 2: see being a dangle trade ship as a team that
Speaker 2: dreams on him sticking as a, starter and you, know
Speaker 2: you can look at the upside and get excited about.
Speaker 2: It we'll see what The dodgers actually do with the,
Speaker 2: deadline but he does seem like a name that could
Speaker 2: be generating some interest with how he's.
Speaker 4: Throwing lately, well and JUST i think teams will see
Speaker 4: the whiff overall and just the that he can. OVERWHELM i,
Speaker 4: mean you got a forty five percent whiff rate on
Speaker 4: the breaking balls and a forty one percent on the
Speaker 4: change up and still twenty six percent on the fast
Speaker 4: thirty five percent. Overall that's crazy, stuff AND i think
Speaker 4: obviously it'd be hard to maintain that exactly in DOUBLE,
Speaker 4: a BUT i think with that pitch mix and the deceptive,
Speaker 4: release he would keep, it you, KNOW i think he'd
Speaker 4: keep racking him up in double.
Speaker 2: Two, yeah final name here on the heat sheet and
Speaker 2: then we'll wrap it. Up Kendrey churio of The royals.
Speaker 2: Organization we saw him at The Futures game he's just
Speaker 2: having a heck of a season across the. Board, honestly
Speaker 2: zero point NINETY ra across his last four, starts but in,
Speaker 2: general all seasons has been. Good this guy is was
Speaker 2: really impressive last year from a command. Standpoint but like
Speaker 2: the fact that he's doing what he's doing as an
Speaker 2: eighteen year old in HIGH a with a TWO era
Speaker 2: on the season now and not walking anybody, Really like
Speaker 2: it's not the flashiest of pitching compared to some other
Speaker 2: guys we will talk, about but Like churio is just
Speaker 2: so ahead of his years and it's abundantly clear The
Speaker 2: royals view him as this cornerstone pitching prospect who's way
Speaker 2: ahead of his time.
Speaker 3: Already it's crazy how ahead of his series. Is and
Speaker 3: like usually a guy.
Speaker 4: That's this much of a pitch ability, guy you'd, think
Speaker 4: like the fastball would sit like ninety one ninety. Two
Speaker 4: he throws. Hard it's it's just the, shapes you. KNOW i,
Speaker 4: think like that's something like the fastball shape is going
Speaker 4: to be something to. Monitor but the best way to
Speaker 4: work around fastball shape is throw it really hard and
Speaker 4: locate it really. Well and like looking at these last
Speaker 4: five starts in particular fastball's averaged ninety six point six
Speaker 4: miles per hour and a seventy six percent strike, Rate so,
Speaker 4: yeah may not have the ridiculous carry that some other heaters,
Speaker 4: have but if it's ninety six to ninety eight and
Speaker 4: it's where he wants, it it's.
Speaker 3: Gonna be just.
Speaker 4: Fine and mind, you he's, eighteen so there might be
Speaker 4: another tick or two in. There the delivery is so,
Speaker 4: clean so, smooth and he's still got room for more.
Speaker 4: Strength LIKE i do think this is a guy that
Speaker 4: could end up finding more if he finds more than
Speaker 4: shape matters even. Less so the curveball off with that.
Speaker 5: Start, sorry, NO i she just gonna.
Speaker 2: Say and he's not walking anybody either with all, that
Speaker 2: with the stuff still, Growing he's not walking. Anybody.
Speaker 4: Nope AND i, mean seventy six percent strike right on
Speaker 4: the fastball is crazy in those last five, starts and
Speaker 4: on the, YEAR i believe it's not gonna be that
Speaker 4: far off of.
Speaker 3: That oh my, gosh seventy seven percent on the. Year
Speaker 3: he's just filling it.
Speaker 4: Up so the secondary feel is a little bit, behind
Speaker 4: and that's where it's, Like, okay you get to double
Speaker 4: a if hitters know that the secondary feels behind the
Speaker 4: fastball like they're gonna they're gonna hunt fastball and they're
Speaker 4: gonna dare you to locate the breaking ball and the
Speaker 4: change up. Consistently BUT i think he's got more than
Speaker 4: the ability to do, That SO i think that the curveball.
Speaker 3: Is way ahead of the change.
Speaker 4: Up the change up is kind of a distant third
Speaker 4: right now as he's, progressing but it flashes, still and
Speaker 4: that curveball at eighty miles an hour with the two
Speaker 4: plane break is dirty from that over the top. Release
Speaker 4: it tunnels off of the fastball well once the feel
Speaker 4: for the change up comes along a little bit. MORE
Speaker 4: i think like a gyro slider in between would be
Speaker 4: great for him as. Well this guy could be a,
Speaker 4: Monster but to already be thrown as hard as he,
Speaker 4: is filling up the zone the way that he is
Speaker 4: and having the success That trio's having already at now now.
Speaker 3: HIGH a or is he what level will we have
Speaker 3: now for?
Speaker 6: Him he's at HIGH, a but myself he's not even
Speaker 6: nineteen n til the offseason, too so we probably will
Speaker 6: reach DOUBLE a next year at nineteen years, old, potentially
Speaker 6: like is so far ahead of PACE.
Speaker 3: I, said HY, a AND i was, like, no there's
Speaker 3: no way he's at High, yes, yes he's made five
Speaker 3: starts at eighteen years.
Speaker 4: Old that for a picture is. Crazy, yeah, Crazy and
Speaker 4: just continuing to have his. Success thirty one strikeouts to
Speaker 4: five walks when you're making the adjustment to HIGH a
Speaker 4: is just unheard of. Stuff and so in those five
Speaker 4: starts to have the success that he's been having and
Speaker 4: to fill up the. Zone and the craziest part is
Speaker 4: he's doing that on not having the best feel for his.
Speaker 4: Secondaries what's he gonna look like when he's got the
Speaker 4: best feel for his. Secondaries that's What i'm really excited.
Speaker 4: For and DON'T i don't think it's too far.
Speaker 3: Away.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was a tip off for us last year
Speaker 2: when we saw him go FROM dsl to COMPLEX a
Speaker 2: SINGLE a in one, season because that doesn't happen ever for,
Speaker 2: pitchers especially.
Speaker 5: That literally is not a.
Speaker 2: Thing so we saw that happen last year and we
Speaker 2: talked about it on this. Show we were, like that
Speaker 2: means something in terms of how they view, him his talent,
Speaker 2: overall just like what he can. Be and this year
Speaker 2: it just is carrying it over After great eleven starts
Speaker 2: in single a now five starts off far on hig.
Speaker 2: A like he'll probably finish the year in. Hia but,
Speaker 2: like who's to say he can't get a couple starts
Speaker 2: and double at the end of the. YEAR i don't think,
Speaker 2: So but it's not impossible the way he's doing right.
Speaker 4: Now punnet's a hitting one sixty three against. Him sinces
Speaker 4: got up To. Hiya he has yet to give up
Speaker 4: a hit on that curve. Ball so it's just a
Speaker 4: matter of spotting it more. Consistently and this is gonna
Speaker 4: be one of the more exciting pitching prospects in baseball
Speaker 4: for a. Year next, year we'll he'll be, nineteen you,
Speaker 4: know the whole. Season what's it going to look like
Speaker 4: as a nineteen year. Old he could be one of
Speaker 4: the younger arms to debut that we've seen a long,
Speaker 4: time barring any.
Speaker 2: Roadblocks, yeah it's it's super.
Speaker 5: Exciting but that was a fun.
Speaker 2: Group we were going super long, here but it was
Speaker 2: it was a loaded list of guys and we were
Speaker 2: due for.
Speaker 5: The cch for a, while so that we were.
Speaker 4: Overdue last Thing i'll, mentioned he tore up that HI
Speaker 4: A wisconsin lineup For, brewers which is loaded. Too it's
Speaker 4: Not biloxi, loaded but there's there's trickle down to that
Speaker 4: high a lineup as. Well so at eighteen years, old
Speaker 4: to just take care of that lineup the Way trio
Speaker 4: did is, crazy but, yeah made up for some lost
Speaker 4: time here on this heat cheat. Year on the Call Up,
Speaker 4: no we shouted out a lot of things. Too links
Speaker 4: to all of them are in the episode. Description we'd
Speaker 4: love to see you at all of the, above especially
Speaker 4: at that simulcast and on, Whatnot but as, always thank
Speaker 4: you for. Listening look forward to talking prospects with you
Speaker 4: later this. Week we got draft and call up stuff
Speaker 4: later With tyler And jack