WEBVTT - Hot Sheet: AL West Top Prospects 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.120 I think the talent has always been there. He's certainly 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.440 someone that has the physicality. I think the floor here 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:08.440 is if you know, he doesn't find a way to 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.799 sort of command his full arsenal. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:12.720 The name is Kamar Rocker. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.920 If you're a college baseball fan, you've heard that name 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.959 for a while now. He is the top prospect in 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.639 the Texas Rangers farm system and he could make a 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.200 big impact in Major League Baseball this year. Let's hit 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.840 a prospect profile Scott Brown along with Baseball Americas, JJ 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.800 Cooper and Jeff Ponce. Let's get to it, JJ, Kamara 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.320 Rocker this year for the Rangers in the rotation making 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:36.040 a big impact. 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.040 What do you think I would say that we saw 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.240 him at the end of last year, it would be 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.320 I think they need him to make an impact this year. 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.519 There's only one big hurdle, and you mentioned it. You know, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.800 Kamar Rocker has been a guy that we've been everyone 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:52.920 has been watching, paying attention to for years now. I 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.560 remember watching them high school and he was already a dude, 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.280 and he was already physically a dude when he was 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.720 in high school. But goes to Vandy has one of 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.400 the better freshman years, especially one of the best postseasons 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:06.880 we'll ever see in college baseball, and you think at 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.880 that point, Okay, by now we're talking about a guy 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.160 who's years into his big league career and then the 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.520 injury strike and even like later in his Vanderbilt career, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:20.600 like in his draft year, you would see that velocity 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.080 kind of wax and Wayne depending on the outing. The 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.600 Mets draft him and then they don't sign him and 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.640 they say the medicals they had to back away. The 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.560 Rangers then go out and draft him, and then he 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.720 blew out his elbow, and so that's why we're still 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.399 talking about him as a prospect coming into twenty five. 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.240 But that's also the question that the biggest question I 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.840 would say that we face with Rocker in twenty five. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.759 You want to see him improve his secondaries, the third 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:48.960 pitch to kind of help him that better as a starter. 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.840 But the big thing is is how many innings are 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:53.920 they going to be comfortable letting him go this year? 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:59.040 Because of the injuries. We are years away from the 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.240 last time that Comar Rocker went one hundred innings in 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.200 a season or close to it. Are they gonna be willing? 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.480 Are they going to be able to basically hand him 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.600 the ball and say, okay, we can expect twenty twenty 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:11.560 five starts out of you. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:12.560 Jeff. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.240 That's to me, that's the question that we It's gonna 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.800 be really interesting to see because stuff wise, there shouldn't 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:19.760 be as much of a question. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:22.920 Yeah, I think, you know, there's probably a bigger question 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.880 in terms of health. I do think there's some stuff 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.720 that popped up and sort of showed itself in the 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.560 major leagues. In particular, he's probably gonna have to switch 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.680 off of that four seam fastball. It graded really poorly 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.440 on a ton of stuff models the public ones like 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:40.799 you know, you know, Cyrus's stuff plus et cetera. That's 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.960 on fangrabs. The sinker grades out as a plus pitch. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.200 I think he probably ends up having to go there. 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.600 He's lost some rides since his college days. I think 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.079 some of that was attracking devices. Some of it might 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.840 also be, you know, some of the elbow and shoulder 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.400 injuries that he's dealt with. We've seen that happen with 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.880 other prospects. Forrest Whitley's a guy that sort of lost 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.840 some of his ride over time and switched to a sinker. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.560 The sinker plays pretty well, might make him a little 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:09.800 bit less of a strikeout guy and more of a 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.520 bad contact guy that can miss bats with that slider. Certainly, 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.520 the development of a third pitch, you know, whether that 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.320 ends up being you know, his cutter or his change up, 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.600 or sort of a combination of the two, it should 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.560 be interesting to see, you know, how that stuff develops 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.680 over the course of the year, how the Rangers decide 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.680 to sort of develop him, and you know where where 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:31.480 the arsenal sort of goes from there. 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:33.840 It is. It is an interesting pitch mix. 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.760 I think just the big question is, you know, what's 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.920 the third pitch and does he really make that switch 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.640 to a primary sort of two seam sinker type of 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.200 fastball and maybe only throw the four seamer in certain counts. 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:50.760 I kind of think with that also, like this is 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.640 going to be the crucial year for this of because 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.280 of the timetable and all, Okay, we really are going 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:57.800 to see on that third pitch. You know, maybe it 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.720 is a cutter. Maybe again it could be a change up, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.560 but I especially say it's going to throw in a 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.760 curve as well. But I would love to see kind 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.800 of a cutter that just gives him something else in 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.840 the zone that really kind of would start pushing Rocker 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.240 to being more of that bad contact, that weak contact 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.680 kind of guy, not the you know, maybe a little 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.039 less than the strikeouts than maybe people expected if you 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.200 saw him back in twenty nineteen in the postseason for 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:25.040 Vandyan all. But the slider's still really good. But I 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.000 would also say with that, like, if that doesn't come along, 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:30.680 and I think he's gonna have plenty of time to 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.919 work here as a starter, receive it does, but it 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.360 also is a mix. Jeff to me that that does 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.760 say like if it didn't work out as a starter 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.000 long term, it could be he could be a really 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.240 good reliever. I don't want to pitt you know, I 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:45.800 think he's going to end up as a starter, but 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.080 the fallback options I feel like here are pretty good 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.880 as well as long as he stays healthy. 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:52.960 Yeah, I totally agree, And I think you know, you 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:54.880 brought up a good point. You know, the slider is 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.880 a really good pitch. I think some people probably refer 0:04:57.920 --> 0:04:59.760 to as a cutter, and then you know, call the 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:00.800 curve ball slider. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.159 It's just sort of how how the pitches are shaped. 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.080 But could get a little bit more of like a 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.360 ride traditional maybe like a like a cut fastball. You know, 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.000 that might be another another you know, element that he 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.520 could sort of add to his game. But once again, 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.000 we don't know what the medicals are. Fully, we don't 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.400 know what his limitations are in terms of like what 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.160 types of pitches he can throw. But I think the 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.479 talent has always been there. He's certainly someone that has 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.640 the physicality. I think the floor here is if you know, 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.520 he doesn't find a way to sort of command his 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.279 full arsenal, which was a little bit of an issue 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.000 in the major leagues in terms of hitting his spots 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.279 and showing consistent command, and isn't able to handle a 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.760 huge workload. Maybe he's a multi inning reliever that can 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:49.839 be really nasty and you know, high leverage situations. So 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.279 I think he does have the stuff to be successful 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.280 as a major leaguer. It's just does he have the durability, 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.159 Does he have the track record, you know, a strike throwing, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.240 all those sort of things to be you know, a 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.279 starter that can go out there and give you twenty 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.960 five plus starts a year. And I think that question 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.520 is still just very much up in the air. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.240 The other thing that does stand out to me, though, 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:15.839 is this is an organization that there's two number one prospects. 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.520 There's one A and one B. Rocker is basically big 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.479 league ready. Sebastian Walcott's not. But if you're a Rangers fan, 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.919 after you just graduated White Langford, you dressed graduated Evan Carter, 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.919 now you have Rocker and you have Walcott knocking on 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.480 the door before too long, that's a pretty good situation 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.840 to be in, you know, especially I know last year 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:37.480 was not twenty twenty four was not the year that 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.960 Rangers fans wanted, but you know, that World Series, the 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.600 champagne smell is just kind of coming out after that 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.360 twenty three season. So it does feel like that the 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.520 Rangers are in a pretty decent spot right now. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.120 Yeah, and Walcott was a riser, right. 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.760 We weren't talking a lot about him in this kind 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.000 of conversation a year ago. So you love to see 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.800 that when you're not excited about someone or you just 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.440 don't know about someone, and then all of a sudden 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.080 he hits the equation here for this team, I want 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.320 to finish with this. I didn't hear the word that 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.720 I was looking for from from Rocker. Can we call 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.000 it a death ball? Is that still a thing? Remember 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:18.760 when that was a thing last year? Like the little 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.640 baby curve? I think he calls it a curve. Can 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.280 we say that he has a death ball just because 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:25.080 it's good marketing? 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.240 I think, well, like I wouldn't say death I would say, 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:32.520 like it can it can cut you. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.080 But I don't know if you're going to bleed. 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.960 Out, Okay, doomball, Jeff doomball, Like it's a minor version 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:38.640 of the death ball. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:42.520 Yeah, I mean it's a it's a harder curveball with 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.840 you know, less vertical drop. 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.160 It's sort of slurvy in nature. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.960 Maybe has like a little bit more like drop than 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.960 your typical slurve. But it's a hard it's a hard curveball. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.680 Certainly based on like how tread was sort of marketing 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:03.960 the pitch when they start sorted to talk and have 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.120 the conversation around the whole death ball Moniker, it's certainly 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.280 from like a movement perspective fits into that. I just 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.000 don't know that it's you know, it's not a pitch 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.400 that he's throwing thirty percent of the time or anything, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.360 which you know, if you're gonna have something like a 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.920 death ball, that kind of label on a pitch. It's 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:22.400 the type of pitch that you're going to be leading 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.280 on quite a bit, because yeah, you're killing it back. 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.960 I would say, you can't give her that's the death ball. 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:31.160 Okay, mm hmm. 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.120 Yeah, you know, we're just trying to come up with 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.520 some other names, right that the ghost fork. Obviously that 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.360 that earns its nickname. It's ridiculous for Sega, and he 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.199 uses it plenty, So all right, doomball, maybe you're I 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.280 don't know if he even uses enough to be able 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:46.120 to call it that, but I think Rangers fans will 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.480 just settle for twenty five plus starts and keeping him 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.520 in the rotation and seeing him do good things for 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.600 them and finally kind of live up to what we 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.360 saw back in college from him. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:56.920 So thanks for watching this one. 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.120 Of course, if you are a fan of other teams 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.320 and you'd like to learn about their top prospects, we 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.000 have videos for you, and if you don't see your 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.079 team yet, it will be coming out on a day 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:08.880 by day basis here during spring training. 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.200 This is the team that never has that year where 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.320 they say, you know what, we know that realistically, we're 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.520 just not there. You need to take a step back 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.199 to take a step forward. That's not been something that 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:20.520 the Angels have been willing to do. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.040 All right, let's be quick because we're covering the Angels 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.400 and their top prospect while he is still a prospect. 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.319 If you know, you know as a. 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:34.760 Prospect profile, the name of that prospect is Caden Dana, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:39.200 Scott Brown, JJ Cooper, Jeff Ponce and JJ. I mentioned 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:41.760 this because the Angels like to rush their prospects. So 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:43.840 talk me through their game plan here. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.760 Okay, their game plan is we saw Kat and Dana 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.560 reach the big leagues last year. The Angels are not 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:54.280 an organization that that preaches a whole lot of patience. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.920 So I would say that, you know, we're looking at 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.079 him in spring training and a healthy Kate Dana is 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.000 battling for a spot rotation. And then I would say, hey, 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.520 what we've seen in recent years, especially with the pictures, 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:08.880 I would just ask for a little bit of patience. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.160 We're talking about a picture who is younger than some 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.080 of the pictures who will be drafted in the twenty 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:19.720 twenty five MB draft, and I think he could use 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.440 some additional time as additional seasoning. I don't think that 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.240 not having Caden Dana in the big leagues on opening 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.400 day is going to be the difference between this club 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.160 making a deep playoff run or not. I think I 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.280 can feel comfortable saying that's probably not gonna be the 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.000 case with that being the idea. Like let's you know, 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.160 we've seen with Patrick Sandival and Read Deptmer's and Griffin Canning, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:44.880 and we could go through this list. There are a 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.320 lot of guys who move quickly for them starting pictures 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.640 and got a lot of up and down performances out 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.280 of them. And Jeff, I just don't know if I 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.679 would say right now we like Caten Dan as a 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.600 prospect stop on a prospect, But I do think that 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.840 we're not talking about a fully finished, a fully polished 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.480 Oh this guy has checked off every box you need 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.280 to see to say he's ready to be a big 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:07.840 league starter. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.040 Yeah, And I think we even saw it when he 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:12.760 came up to the big leagues last year. You know, 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.959 he's a guy that gets by on really good pitch ability. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.199 You know, he throws strikes, he competes in the zone consistently, 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.600 he gets deeper into starts. There's a lot to be 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.120 said for that. He certainly handled you know, double a 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.240 as well as one could be expected at how old 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:27.600 he was. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:29.160 But I think when you dig into some of the. 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.440 Numbers, and I'm not the first person to call this, 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.440 you know, to the forefront with Dana, his release spot, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.160 his release heights on his pitches are all over the place. 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:39.640 What that means it's a little bit easier to pick 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.920 everything up. You know, He's thrown from a seventy three 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.840 inch release height on the fastball, and then it drops 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.160 down four or five inches for the slider, it drops 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.800 down about four or five inches for the for the changeup, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:53.480 and he mixes in a curve ball that actually comes 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.920 from a higher slot than his fastball. All these teams 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.480 have access to this information. It's going to be out 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.440 there and pre game scouting reports. After the first you know, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:04.880 at bat or even the first couple of pitches, guys 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.000 are going to start picking up you know, where the 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:08.080 ball's coming out of the hand. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:09.400 These are major league hitters. 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.880 These guys are great at adjusting, great at picking up 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.880 little you know, details and little etiosyncrasies of each one 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.559 of these players that I think Dana probably is best 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.400 serve spending more time at Double A. If they'd actually 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:25.320 want to send a prospect a Triple A for the 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.320 first time in a very long time, perhaps that's where 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:28.959 he ends up. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:29.320 You know. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:31.160 I think there's even a case that could be made 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.840 that maybe Dana shouldn't have been a number one prospect. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.120 Maybe really Christian Moore might be the more upside guy 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.520 when you think about all the tools that he has 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.080 and some of the stuff that maybe he needs to refine. 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.959 Isn't quite the gap to get to major league regular 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.600 that I think it is with Dana right now. There's 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.079 four different pitch shapes. Like I said, he can compete 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.000 with all of them. He throws them for strikes, He 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.880 gets deep into starts. You know, he showed efficiency and 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.560 the ability to get outs consistently at the Double A level. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.840 I still think he needs a little bit more time 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.040 just to be nurtured a little bit more in terms of, 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:03.960 you know, making sure the release heights are just a 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.800 little bit more consistent, because those gaps are four or 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.080 five inches are pretty big gaps. When you're talking about 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.360 a guy who doesn't you know, that isn't throwing a 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:16.960 slider that's you know, outlier movement or outlier velocity, or 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.040 a combination of the both. It's kind of stock sort 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.480 of pitch mix, and there's some elements that I feel 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.200 like lack deception, and I think that's an element that 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.679 sometimes it's hard to measure with the numbers, but when 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.199 we see it in the release heights, I think it's 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.959 really quite a big issue. So needs a little bit 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:35.320 more time. I think he was rushed a little bit 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.000 too quickly to the major leagues, but that's kind of 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.000 been the mo for the Angels of the last three 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:40.679 four seasons. 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.480 I do want to kind of in positive, you know, 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.240 say something positive on data here, which is we do 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.200 like them. This is a guy who has big league 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.720 starter or potential. Most of his peers, most of his contemporaries, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.840 are hoping to get to double A in twenty twenty five. 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.800 He's already reached the majors. It's just that, Yeah, you 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.679 want to see him get to add this polish. You 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.319 want to see him the things Jeff mentioned, these aren't 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.200 unsolvable problems. They're just things that ideally you want to 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.600 fix while you're in the minors, not the majors. So 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.600 I would say with all of this it is it's like, 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.880 please a little bit of patience here, and kind of 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.480 could say the same thing. Christian Moore reached Double A 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.080 last year pretty much, you know, seemingly a couple of 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.120 hours after he signed, which is not that unusual for 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:36.880 the Angels and what they do at their top picks. 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.000 As Jeff mentioned, this is really kind of a strange 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:44.560 situation where the Angels don't really use their High A 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.880 or their Triple A clubs a whole lot for their 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.720 best prospects, which kind of. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.720 Makes for an uneven. 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.840 Development process because you're asking guys a lot of the times. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:56.800 Nelson Rod is another one we saw this with, who 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:58.760 jumped straight to Double A and was one of the 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.080 youngest players in that league. Probably should have been in 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.040 hig A. But the Angels don't really send their top 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:07.200 prospects to HIE. Their top college draftees often go to 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.320 Double A, you know, almost straight from the draft. We 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.920 see that over and over and yeah, there are examples 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.920 where it's worked out. Zac Netto's a guy where it 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.520 worked out. There's also a lot of guys where it 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.040 hasn't worked out, where you look back and say, okay, 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.960 you know, Nolan Shaniel has already burned a year plus 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.160 of service time trying to figure it out in the 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.000 big leagues, and he's not like completely lost up there, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.520 but he's nothing. He's not making a big impact or 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.160 anything like that. And by pushing guys that quickly, you 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.240 kind of are asking them to figure out some of 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.120 the toughest things to figure out at the toughest level, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.920 rather than letting them figure that out in the minors 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:46.880 in games that don't count the same way that they 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:47.600 count the big leagues. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:53.280 JJ philosophical question for you why, I mean, you know, 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.960 do the locker rooms smell in triple A? Why would 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.760 they do this? And the reason I ask it with 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.280 such curiosity is it's one thing. If this is being 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.760 done by many other organizations, I don't feel like the 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.200 Angels have earned the recent right to be going against 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.600 the grain or setting a tone and saying, you know what, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.280 this is the right way to develop prospects. 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:17.680 That's what confuses me. 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.200 I mean, I obviously always have this cynical brain that says, 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.320 you know, does ownership want to see who he picks 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.080 as a shiny toy in the big leagues too quickly? 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.320 But you can maybe bring me back down to Earth 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:31.720 and tell me what's happening here. 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.320 I'd say two things. One I do follow like, Salt 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.560 Lake is not a fun place to pitch, so there 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:39.760 is a little bit of an aversion not just there. 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.920 But you're playing salt Lake, you're Reno, You're in parks 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.800 that are really tough pitchers parks, So okay, maybe you 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.040 want to avoid some of that, and that there's some 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.560 logic to that. But the other thing is that we've 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.520 just seen over and over is that it's kind of 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.360 this never ending cycle, which is the team has lacked 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.400 upper level minor league depth, which kind of then means 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.600 that your best options sometimes are these players who really 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.879 may not be ready. Right, So it could be something 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.640 where you say, Okay, you know, well this guy could 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.719 use some more time. But if you're really looking and 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.280 asking the question, saying, well, who's our best option, in 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.640 a lot of these cases, these have been the best options, 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.679 these players who may not be fully ready. But the 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.399 Angels kind of have never. We saw this with the 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.359 show Eyotani final year of his contract, right, there's just never. 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.000 Even though this is a team that has not gone 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.359 to the playoffs in a really long time, you know, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.680 and Mike Trout is still sitting on one career postseason hit. 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:44.880 This is the team that never has that year where 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.000 they say, you know what, we know that realistically we're 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:50.200 just not there. We need to take a step back, 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.879 to take a step forward. That's not been something that 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.399 the Angels have been willing to do. And again, I 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.600 would say under this ownership, under multiple front offices, under 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.240 this ownership, because of that, you see guys kind of 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.320 pushed up there faster than maybe they're ready in some 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.520 cases because well, we don't really have another good option. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:10.160 This is a team that has not had a whole 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.919 lot of triple A kind of that depth that you 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.560 can just plug in when an injury arises, and there 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:17.880 have been plenty of injuries also obviously for the Angels. 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.359 Yeah, it's a very unique organization and of course it 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.359 always looks weird when you match them up with the 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.919 team that's pretty close by in the Dodgers. But it 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.400 is what it is right now and they're going through 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.280 it still as an organization. Hope you enjoyed this one. 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.479 Obviously got some good Caden Dana and a little bit 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.359 of Christian Mortok in there, and if you get yourself 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.160 a Baseball America's subscription. You can learn a lot more 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.879 about the Angels organization, specifically their farm system. We do 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.320 these for every single team, going through Top prospect by 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.400 top prospect, so check out some other videos. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:50.800 Let's see how this goes. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:52.560