Speaker 1: And he swags to high understand that.
Speaker 2: Deep just center field, and it's gone, Wow, his first
Speaker 2: big league swing is gonna be a gland slam, a
Speaker 2: home line swing.
Speaker 3: Good time to look to them. So welcome back to
Speaker 3: the Call Up, your go to podcast on the future
Speaker 3: stars of Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1: You got arm Light and Jack.
Speaker 3: McMullen, and we're gonna talk about the top ten prospects
Speaker 3: in baseball right now. And we're not going to just
Speaker 3: do the here's ten, here's nine, and do a breakdown
Speaker 3: of them, because we talked about it.
Speaker 1: We've broke down the top one hundred update.
Speaker 3: Enough, but we kind of figured, hey, we are just
Speaker 3: checking in on some of the top top dogs in
Speaker 3: the minor leagues and how's the season going for them,
Speaker 3: what are the chances that they get promoted?
Speaker 1: Where are they at in their development?
Speaker 3: And I felt like that would be a very fun
Speaker 3: conversation with the ten names that we have at the top,
Speaker 3: especially because number ten is pitching like the best minor
Speaker 3: league arm I can remember in a long time, and
Speaker 3: then his organ made as number five.
Speaker 1: Number four is on a heater after for his standards
Speaker 1: a slow start.
Speaker 3: Number two is having some ebbs and flows in the
Speaker 3: big leagues, but showing some really good things, Like there's
Speaker 3: so many fun things to dive into with these players,
Speaker 3: so I figured, why not dive into some storylines and
Speaker 3: talk about the top ten prospects overall for us in baseball.
Speaker 4: One hundred percent. We got a couple of promotions as
Speaker 4: well that I know you want to hit on off
Speaker 4: the top. The o'gillan got the promotion, I saw Chase Harlan,
Speaker 4: the Dodgers got promoted as well, So we can talk
Speaker 4: about some of those other promotions. But excited to do
Speaker 4: a different look at the top ten because with the
Speaker 4: mid season update, you never want to do like and
Speaker 4: at seven Max Clark. This guy's a really good defender
Speaker 4: and there's more power every time you check in, like
Speaker 4: it's just a rinse and repeat conversation. So excited to
Speaker 4: take that new lens. But you want to start with
Speaker 4: the promotions.
Speaker 1: Yes, let's start with theo Man.
Speaker 3: You talked about him a week or two ago about like,
Speaker 3: is this a guy that could be you.
Speaker 1: Know, minor league player of the year. Conversation. Now Eric
Speaker 1: Hartman may have something to say about that.
Speaker 4: Dude, He's already got it in the bag I am.
Speaker 1: I I agree, unless I do think level matters some too.
Speaker 3: If Fiogillen keeps doing what he's doing at double and
Speaker 3: Hartman's at High A longer, it'll be an interesting conversation.
Speaker 3: But point being, Fio Gillen's, you know, a serious contender
Speaker 3: for this, and I really do feel like beyond that.
Speaker 3: This is the test now, not the test to like,
Speaker 3: will Theo Gillen be a good big leaguer? This is
Speaker 3: the test of, like, will Theo Gillen stay on track
Speaker 3: to be potentially the next top prospect in baseball or
Speaker 3: potentially at least a top five prospect. I already think
Speaker 3: with the way he's playing since our update, you can
Speaker 3: start to make the case that our number nineteen prospect
Speaker 3: is really closer to like our number ten prospects. A
Speaker 3: couple of graduations as well help that, But I think
Speaker 3: he's weak frogs already a couple of the guys ahead
Speaker 3: of him, and I just I look at what he's
Speaker 3: doing from a power speed, improved defense conversation.
Speaker 1: Yes, we saw it at High A.
Speaker 3: Now if Fio's doing that in the Southern League and
Speaker 3: we're seeing the same things there, I think that's where
Speaker 3: the prospect hype and the excitement around him kicks into
Speaker 3: overdrive because there was just some like, Okay, well.
Speaker 1: He's swinging miss a little bit too much.
Speaker 3: I think that's maybe the one that and injuries are
Speaker 3: like the one little nitpicks that you're like just kind
Speaker 3: of waiting.
Speaker 1: To maybe put that to bed a little bit.
Speaker 3: Being able to perform in the Southern League puts swing
Speaker 3: and miss concerns to bed pretty quickly relative to where
Speaker 3: they would be at High A. You know, if you're
Speaker 3: striking down around twenty three twenty five percent of the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, freak athlete obviously, And it's really fun
Speaker 4: to see what this climb could possibly look like for him.
Speaker 4: Do you think this is his final stop this year?
Speaker 4: I mean, we've got some time to see a positive impression.
Speaker 4: We're talking at the end of June right now, he's
Speaker 4: got three more months to work with in minor league baseball.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if we see that the classic
Speaker 3: like Double A season's over, let's go get you some
Speaker 3: more games in Triple A because that season is still
Speaker 3: going and he plays a full games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I would imagine, because look, this is
Speaker 1: going to be a test.
Speaker 3: Like I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little bit
Speaker 3: of a bump in the road. I also wouldn't be
Speaker 3: surprised to be torches hit. We're talking about a guy
Speaker 3: then fifty seven games, three forty two with four forty
Speaker 3: nine five eighty nine slash line, a one sixty six
Speaker 3: WRC plus twelve homers, twenty eight bags.
Speaker 1: It's it's crazy stuff, but twenty four percent k rate could.
Speaker 3: Balloon to twenty eight twenty nine kind of quickly, just
Speaker 3: because it's a Southern league. I don't think it will
Speaker 3: with him with everything that I've seen, But at the
Speaker 3: same time, like it is a big leap, this is
Speaker 3: an exciting challenge for a twenty.
Speaker 1: Year old here to really be able to prove like, hey,
Speaker 1: I am one of the best all.
Speaker 3: Around prospects in Major League Baseball, and I'm excited to
Speaker 3: see more from the glove there as well.
Speaker 1: And that's why the other reason why I think going
Speaker 1: to want to get him a lot of reps.
Speaker 3: And remember he only played seventy three games last year
Speaker 3: at dealing with a calf injury and maybe some other
Speaker 3: minor ailments.
Speaker 1: So he's already coast to last year's total.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure they'd love to get him as many
Speaker 3: reps as possible this season.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about what DOUBLEA could look like with him.
Speaker 4: Two other promotions that I want to hit on before
Speaker 4: we get to the top ten here, Chase Harlan gets
Speaker 4: the bump up to Higa Great Lakes from the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: Chase Harlan spent the first couple of months with the
Speaker 4: Ontario Tower Buzzers, not the Rancho Cupamonga Quakes. The Ontario
Speaker 4: Tower Buzzers now age nineteen season for Chase Harland this year.
Speaker 4: Harlan the third round pick in twenty four out of
Speaker 4: high school in Pennsylvania by the Dodgers. But Harlan after
Speaker 4: sixty eight games last year the complex in Rancho had
Speaker 4: an eight hundred ops this year in fifty seven games
Speaker 4: with Loway Ontario hitting three point thirty with ten homers,
Speaker 4: forty six driven in walking nearly as much as he's punching,
Speaker 4: and an ops over one thousand and ten to oh nine.
Speaker 4: What have you made a Harlan season? And why do
Speaker 4: you think it can continue? With great legs?
Speaker 3: Uh, this guy's got some legit legit power, man, And
Speaker 3: I don't even know if it's getting enough notoriety right now.
Speaker 3: And maybe that's partly partly because he's been, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of buried relative to the other prospects in this system,
Speaker 3: Like Chase, Harlan's not one of the first eight, maybe nine,
Speaker 3: maybe ten names that you're discussing in this Dodger system. Harlan,
Speaker 3: at nineteen years old, has reached one hundred north of
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifteen miles per hour on three different
Speaker 3: occasions this year, one fifteen point six on a single,
Speaker 3: one fifteen point three on a homer, and one fifteen
Speaker 3: point two on a double.
Speaker 1: That's craziness, man, Like, that's nuts.
Speaker 3: We're talking about I think fifteen batted balls one ten
Speaker 3: and above, and they're all it's not like straight into
Speaker 3: the ground.
Speaker 1: These are all in the air like these.
Speaker 3: Are all extra base hits, homers or line drive singles,
Speaker 3: that kind of power. And it's not coming with you know,
Speaker 3: a sixty two percent contact, right it's a seventy two
Speaker 3: percent contact right now?
Speaker 1: Is he a plus hit or no?
Speaker 3: But if he's even fringy, I mean that that's seventy
Speaker 3: raw power right there without a doubt. I mean, you
Speaker 3: can make the case that there's room for even more,
Speaker 3: and he's finding waft consistently and the approach has been good.
Speaker 3: I think this is another player where it's like, okay,
Speaker 3: clearly huge bat speed, huge power, physical guy that was
Speaker 3: banged up last year and built on what he's been
Speaker 3: able to learn last year, and just also I think
Speaker 3: just getting healthy but now against high a arms, you know,
Speaker 3: just just a little bit more whipt creep in as well.
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
Speaker 3: And I think he's he's really kind of figured growing,
Speaker 3: growing into his body physically, but also kind of figuring
Speaker 3: out who he is as a hitter. It's there's a
Speaker 3: field to airpool, but because of the bat speed he generates,
Speaker 3: he can just clip balls that carry out.
Speaker 1: The other way.
Speaker 3: This guy could be a monster if the hit tool
Speaker 3: doesn't like degrade, you know at these higher levels, which
Speaker 3: I don't think it will because for how powerful he
Speaker 3: is at such a young age, he's not that stiff.
Speaker 3: So this is another really fun up arrow prospect with
Speaker 3: top one hundred type of upside very quickly. There's not
Speaker 3: a lot of guys at the lower levels at one fifteen.
Speaker 3: Several times already this year.
Speaker 4: Only other guy that we want to talk about that
Speaker 4: is outside the top ten before we get into the
Speaker 4: top ten and how they are doing Merrick Houston and Minnesota.
Speaker 4: Houston officially got a bump up to double A Wichita
Speaker 4: from High A Cedar Rapids. Mark Houston last year right
Speaker 4: sixteenth overall pick by Minnesota in twenty five and twenty
Speaker 4: four games. He struggled in pro ball. It was twelve
Speaker 4: games at four Myers, twelve games in Cedar Rapids, but
Speaker 4: off a ten to fifty five ops at Wake in
Speaker 4: his draft year in twenty five so far this year
Speaker 4: in fifty six games in High A, hitting three twenty five,
Speaker 4: just five homers, but twenty four for twenty six in
Speaker 4: the stolen based department, getting on base at a clip
Speaker 4: over four hundred and an eight seventy ops for Mark Houston,
Speaker 4: and now he gets to go up to double A.
Speaker 4: Do you foresee maybe some growing pains for Marik Houston.
Speaker 1: I think those were kind of last year, you know.
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of improvement this year in
Speaker 3: the areas that you'd want to see.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: This is like a whiz of a defender at shortstop,
Speaker 3: which is why he was always so valuable, despite the
Speaker 3: fact that coming out of the draft there was questions
Speaker 3: of like, you know, is this like twenty like maybe
Speaker 3: thirty at best grade power?
Speaker 1: Is this going to be somebody that hits a lot
Speaker 1: of homers for you know?
Speaker 3: But I felt like that at points the quality of
Speaker 3: contact was so light that you're like, he's just going
Speaker 3: to kind of get frustrated with the balls even he
Speaker 3: hits well in the gap, just dying and maybe not
Speaker 3: being able to sneak balls through as much and whatever
Speaker 3: it may be. Like, I think we saw a little
Speaker 3: bit of that even in the brief pro debut. But
Speaker 3: this year, man, I think it's been a lot better
Speaker 3: across the board. He continues to look like that fantastic
Speaker 3: defender that he is at shortstop, and he's giving you
Speaker 3: value on the base pats as well, twenty four for
Speaker 3: twenty six, and the stolen base department is as efficient
Speaker 3: as they come.
Speaker 1: But average EXI velocity.
Speaker 3: I know we're working with a small sample last year,
Speaker 3: but up three miles per and even from the college numbers,
Speaker 3: I think there's some better specs on the bat of
Speaker 3: ball data. A hard hit rate up sixteen percent and
Speaker 3: he's pulling the ball in the air more consistently. He
Speaker 3: doesn't need to be much more than you know, close
Speaker 3: to an average league. He could be a ninety five
Speaker 3: WRC plus and have a long career because of the
Speaker 3: defense and the speed. But if he's a one oh
Speaker 3: five WRC plus, he's going to be a multi one
Speaker 3: shorts oot for a long time. So this is another
Speaker 3: player where it's like, okay, college bat with polished back
Speaker 3: to ball. I just want to see what double A
Speaker 3: looks like for you, because if you can maintain that
Speaker 3: you know, advanced bat to ball, then you're going to
Speaker 3: be on that high floor, you know, crash course to
Speaker 3: be able to impact the major leagues.
Speaker 1: That's the last thing we're waiting on those.
Speaker 3: Can you just maintain those really solid bat to ball
Speaker 3: specs and the improved quality of contact at double A
Speaker 3: being that you are a college bat.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, let's pivot into the top ten here,
Speaker 4: and let's talk about the best arm for the Arkansas
Speaker 4: Travelers at double A for the Seattle Mariners, And for
Speaker 4: your money, you just said it maybe the best arm
Speaker 4: in minor league baseball that you've seen in a long time.
Speaker 4: And I'm going to put this to the test, you
Speaker 4: said ten minutes ago, he's pitching like the best minor
Speaker 4: league arm I've seen in a long time. Pade Anderson,
Speaker 4: the left hander and the number three overall pick by
Speaker 4: the Seattle Mariners last year out of LSU. Anderson, in
Speaker 4: his last five starts has not allowed a run, not
Speaker 4: only an unearned run, but has not allowed a run.
Speaker 4: It's twenty seven and two thirds scoreless over his last
Speaker 4: five starts. This guy in three starts in June five
Speaker 4: innings a one hit shut up ball, six and two
Speaker 4: thirds a three hit shutout ball, and six innings a
Speaker 4: two hit shutout ball. So so far in three starts
Speaker 4: in June, opponents are six for fifty eight against him.
Speaker 4: That's a one zero three batting average against. He's walked
Speaker 4: one guy and punched out twenty three in seventeen and
Speaker 4: two thirds, so that's a zero point four whip and
Speaker 4: over his last five turns. Doing a quick tally here,
Speaker 4: twenty three plus sixteen is thirty nine and he's walked
Speaker 4: three thirty nine to three in the k to bb
Speaker 4: department in his last five starts, again, no runs. Opponents
Speaker 4: are hitting right around one hundred against him over this
Speaker 4: stretch and on the year, in sixty one and two
Speaker 4: thirds innings in double A across twelve starts, He's got
Speaker 4: a one point h two ERA. Opponents are hitting one
Speaker 4: fifty two against him. He's allowed two home runs, and
Speaker 4: he has ninety punch outs to eight walks. And the
Speaker 4: craziest thing is looking at the strikeout to walk month
Speaker 4: by month for him, because it's not like he had
Speaker 4: a weird command month and then turned it on and
Speaker 4: was diabolical for two months. He's been diabolical for all
Speaker 4: three months. Kate Anderson in April four starts thirty punch
Speaker 4: outs in four walks. Kate Anderson in May five starts
Speaker 4: thirty seven punch outs, three walks. Kate Anderson in June
Speaker 4: three starts twenty three punch outs and one walk, Rinse
Speaker 4: and repeat. So I'm putting it to the test. The
Speaker 4: best minor league arm that we've seen in a very
Speaker 4: long time was Paul all Schemes in his very very
Speaker 4: brief sample and Schemes I believe in that six week
Speaker 4: stretch in Indianapolis had a zero point nine to nine ERA.
Speaker 4: Is that six week stretch better than what Anderson's doing?
Speaker 4: Right now or is this Anderson more impressive because he's
Speaker 4: done it for longer.
Speaker 3: I think doing it for longer and I know it's
Speaker 3: double A, but doing it in the Texas League there's
Speaker 3: at least a case that you could get clipped a
Speaker 3: couple more times, right, like just some some cheapy homers
Speaker 3: and from a lot of these really good lineups that
Speaker 3: he's facing the fact that he's limited damage the way
Speaker 3: that he has, and he's doing it as long as
Speaker 3: he has.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's it's gotta be Anderson with what
Speaker 1: he's doing right now.
Speaker 3: And again, to be clear, this isn't like a Hey, Kate,
Speaker 3: Anderson's going to be, you know, a ace to the
Speaker 3: level that Paul Skeens is. I mean we still have
Speaker 3: Ryan Sloan ranked ahead of him, and that's some more
Speaker 3: you know, open ended conversation. I just think when you're
Speaker 3: projecting long term, I think Ryan Sloan, you know, has
Speaker 3: the potential to be you know, a front line, front
Speaker 3: line SEP guy. What's allowing Anderson to do this is
Speaker 3: I think the stuff is obviously really good, but he's
Speaker 3: so advanced. This looks like a big league arm rehabbing.
Speaker 3: But just for like ten starts. It's unbelievable because it's not.
Speaker 3: In watching through his starts, it's so much fun. You
Speaker 3: don't get a lot of minor league pitchers that can
Speaker 3: go to any pitch in any count we like whenever
Speaker 3: they want right. And he's got the four seamer, the
Speaker 3: change up, the slider, and then the curveball, and he
Speaker 3: will go to any of them in any count wherever
Speaker 3: he wants them.
Speaker 1: And they're all above average at worst pitches.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the biggest thing is some of
Speaker 3: the secondaries that looks above average four maybe are closer
Speaker 3: to plus. Like that curveballs, it's just disgusting, just absolutely
Speaker 3: dives off the table. But for a curveball with that
Speaker 3: much depth, how is he so consistently landing it. His
Speaker 3: field to pitch was already lauded, like everyone knew that
Speaker 3: Kate Anderson had a fantastic field pitch, but just seeing
Speaker 3: it translate so immediately to double A and I would
Speaker 3: say it actually got better.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure some of that was through throwing in.
Speaker 3: The bullpens, and you know, with with Mariners pitching coaches
Speaker 3: and Mariners pitching development, and also just him maturing and
Speaker 3: getting older as well. And I know when we talked
Speaker 3: to the Mariners, some of the Mariners brass early in
Speaker 3: spring training, they were immediately so impressed with how Boughten
Speaker 3: Kate Anderson was on their you know, philosophies and their
Speaker 3: approach to things. So you imagine, you know, Kate Anderson,
Speaker 3: with his abilities, you know, just immediately buying into an
Speaker 3: organization that does has done a really good job on,
Speaker 3: you know, just the philosophical side and how to attack
Speaker 3: hitters and all these things. And he's surrounded by all
Speaker 3: of these really advanced and established big league arms, and
Speaker 3: you can just see it's just it's just amazing how
Speaker 3: quickly that's just seeped into his game. It's a seventy
Speaker 3: percent strike rade on heaters, it's a sixty seven percent
Speaker 3: strike rade on breaking balls, and it's a seventy percent
Speaker 3: strike rate on the change up.
Speaker 1: How do you game plan for this guy? If you're
Speaker 1: a minor league hitter.
Speaker 3: When all of his pitchers are good, he can go
Speaker 3: to any of them in any count and he will
Speaker 3: go east, west, north, south, and and I just I
Speaker 3: don't know what you do. He's kind of wasting his
Speaker 3: time in Double A They're not gonna send him to
Speaker 3: the PCL because like, why why would you do that
Speaker 3: other than just unless you wanted to just have a
Speaker 3: fun experiment.
Speaker 1: But like, I guess he's just gonna have to wait.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just one of those really unique situations,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't mean that it'll immediately translate to this
Speaker 3: level of dominance at the big league level. But again,
Speaker 3: I can't tell you the last time I've seen opponents
Speaker 3: and a guy's first full pro season slashing at the
Speaker 3: upper miners one eight seven to two oh five over
Speaker 3: this large of a sample with a forty one percent
Speaker 3: strikeout rate, Opponents are hitting below one hundred against this
Speaker 3: slider and he's only allowed seven extra base hits all season.
Speaker 3: And that's the biggest thing I think that's gonna translate,
Speaker 3: and that's that proves that this is a guy that's
Speaker 3: just fully ready. Is you're gonna see some really good
Speaker 3: hitters and really advanced hitters that you know, maybe have
Speaker 3: a better approach than everybody else. And those are the
Speaker 3: guys that may sneak in the doubles or the homers, whatever,
Speaker 3: it's just not happening. Nobody is comfortable against him and
Speaker 3: nobody is getting that good swing off to have those,
Speaker 3: you know, just a couple homers and be able to
Speaker 3: clip them like seven extra base hits of all the
Speaker 3: hitters that he's faced so far. The fact that they're
Speaker 3: slugging two h five, it's just crazy stuff. And it's
Speaker 3: been really really fun to watch, and in terms of
Speaker 3: aesthetically pleasing, you know, like pitchers to watch right now
Speaker 3: in the minor leagues, I don't think there's gonna be
Speaker 3: anything more fun than Kate Anderson and watching him mix
Speaker 3: and match and locate for six plus innings.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm trying to think about the Mariners' best course
Speaker 4: of action. You have to assume that Kate Anderson, assuming health,
Speaker 4: is going to be in the minor leagues for the
Speaker 4: entirety of the season. Now, they would love to get
Speaker 4: out of Castillo. It seems where Luis Castile could be
Speaker 4: gone by the deadline, but after that you still got
Speaker 4: five legit starting pitchers. So do you entertain the thought
Speaker 4: of moving a guy like Kirby or a guy like
Speaker 4: Bryce Miller this offseason to open up a runway for
Speaker 4: Kate Anderson. I think the answers yes, I think they
Speaker 4: fit figure out their offensive shortcomings, and then you move
Speaker 4: a guy that you feel like could be a big
Speaker 4: ticket trade target this offseason, Like Kirby is the one
Speaker 4: that's coming to mind right now because it feels like
Speaker 4: you would feel the departure of Wu or Gilbert even more.
Speaker 4: And then Handcock, it feels like you're kind of playing
Speaker 4: with house money right now. So like Kirby as he
Speaker 4: gets closer to free agency, could be on the move,
Speaker 4: and then Kate Anderson immediately plugs in plays and you're
Speaker 4: cooking with serious gas again next year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the really interesting part too.
Speaker 3: So I have to Kirby off two years of control
Speaker 3: and I don't know what the ARM three number will be,
Speaker 3: but he's at six and a half right now, so
Speaker 3: like he's not.
Speaker 1: Going to be cheap, cheap, cheap compared to some of
Speaker 1: these other arms.
Speaker 3: And maybe they could just say, hey, let's move off
Speaker 3: of Hancock and you're not gonna get as much of
Speaker 3: a return there.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing. But I think it allows them
Speaker 1: to be very creative.
Speaker 3: And you might say, well, you don't want to move
Speaker 3: an established starter in the name of a prospect, but
Speaker 3: you also like if something weird happens with Kate and
Speaker 3: Ryan Swan's not far behind to be.
Speaker 1: Your other option to potentially plug in as well.
Speaker 3: So I think we do see that move finally made
Speaker 3: this offseason, and I think it's a great situation for
Speaker 3: the Mariners to be in because it just allows them
Speaker 3: to You don't have to do it, but you can
Speaker 3: shop around creatively and see what's out there.
Speaker 1: And look, I think Tyler Bremner is going to be
Speaker 1: a great arm But I.
Speaker 3: Do wonder what the Angels are feeling right now and
Speaker 3: what they're thinking having passed on Kate Anderson.
Speaker 4: Yeah, seriously, So I don't know, man, you'd assume Kate
Speaker 4: Anderson would be eating inning right next to Tetvers and
Speaker 4: Soriano and everybody's favorite Walmart Garina. We'll talk about slowing
Speaker 4: here in a matter of moments, but I do want
Speaker 4: to pivot to Ethan Sallas and make it a quick conversation.
Speaker 4: We already talked about Sallas, the padre catching prospect, who's
Speaker 4: number nine for you. We talked about him on the
Speaker 4: Biggest Risers because he literally went from what one hundred
Speaker 4: to nine? Right, Yeah, But Ethan Sallas so far in
Speaker 4: the month of June, been struggling a bit about seventy
Speaker 4: eight with a five oh five ops in twelve games
Speaker 4: in June. Now, in forty five at bats, five played appearances,
Speaker 4: he's only punched out three times. What do you make
Speaker 4: of Salas' recent stretch on the heels of two really
Speaker 4: good months at the outset of the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think I felt like it was
Speaker 3: there's gonna be some sort of adjustment period. Remember, he's
Speaker 3: coming off of, you know, a major back issue, a
Speaker 3: stress fracture in his back, and that wiped out his
Speaker 3: entire last season, So you figure there's gonna be a
Speaker 3: little bit of a point where he's feeling the workload
Speaker 3: and also just just maybe the body just feeling it
Speaker 3: a little bit as well. And he hit at the
Speaker 3: il with a minor oblique thing. I don't think they
Speaker 3: expected to keep him out very long. But you know,
Speaker 3: when you look at Salas's professional career so far, he's
Speaker 3: already caught the second most games he's ever caught in
Speaker 3: a season. I think twenty four was obviously that the
Speaker 3: most where he was at eighty three, but then other
Speaker 3: than that, he had not really been close to that,
Speaker 3: And that's including the Fall League, so there's a little
Speaker 3: bit of a gap between there. He's already caught forty
Speaker 3: three games this year, then played another eleven, you know
Speaker 3: in the DH spot, So I think he's just feeling
Speaker 3: it a little bit.
Speaker 1: I still think that, you know, and I think some
Speaker 1: people may say.
Speaker 3: Well, maybe we were a little you know, everybody was
Speaker 3: a little bit too reactive to Salas, like we need
Speaker 3: to see him do it over a larger sample.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Like, I think everything that we've
Speaker 1: seen so far.
Speaker 3: Even with the struggles, Remember this is a kid that
Speaker 3: was nineteen years old at the start of the season
Speaker 3: at Double A.
Speaker 1: He's kind of bound to.
Speaker 3: Have a little bit of like a dip in production
Speaker 3: as he just gets acclimated, and it's a tough league
Speaker 3: with some of these arms.
Speaker 1: So I think ultimately it's all looked good.
Speaker 3: It's been fun seeing the bags be a part of
Speaker 3: his game too, and the athleticism, so like he's been
Speaker 3: pushing himself physically. I think plenty off of the back injury,
Speaker 3: and I think he was playing through a little bit
Speaker 3: of an oblique thing that was holding.
Speaker 1: Him back some.
Speaker 3: I think he comes back and he picks right back
Speaker 3: up and heats back up again and proves he you
Speaker 3: know why he's the best catching prospect in baseball Walker Jenkins.
Speaker 4: It's a real quick conversation, but he did just get
Speaker 4: activated from his rehab assignment. He was smashing the baseball
Speaker 4: on his rehab assignment. The Minnesota Twins prospect is your
Speaker 4: number eight prospect in baseball and just Baseball's top one hundred. Update.
Speaker 4: As Jenkins comes back from his rehab assignment and is
Speaker 4: activated back in Triple A, what do you hope to
Speaker 4: see before he presumably gets to the big league's post headline?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think just to get him up there,
Speaker 3: I don't really even need to see much else in
Speaker 3: Triple A.
Speaker 1: I know he could have.
Speaker 3: Turned the evs into more slug in that just start
Speaker 3: to the year in Triple A, but the uptick in
Speaker 3: EV's was all I really needed to see.
Speaker 1: He looks great in the box right now and then
Speaker 1: in the rehab auting games.
Speaker 3: Just to already be back to hitting the ball hard
Speaker 3: and seeing that that quickness that has just been improved
Speaker 3: this year be back there and prevalent again. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is the guy that this year too is running
Speaker 3: a ninety two percent in on contact right with the
Speaker 3: improved evs. I want to see him just at the
Speaker 3: big league level. I don't want to worry about him
Speaker 3: getting injured in a Triple A game.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 3: Maybe I know he can get injured in a big
Speaker 3: league game too. I would just rather see it happen
Speaker 3: up there. I know that there's a little bit of
Speaker 3: a clutter up there at the big league level, and
Speaker 3: this is another team where it's like, what's your plan?
Speaker 3: It seems like ownership doesn't quite want to sell, but
Speaker 3: the front office wouldn't mind, you know, cashing in some chips.
Speaker 3: I would love for them to clear a little bit
Speaker 3: of room here for Walker Jenkins because twenty one years
Speaker 3: old here, just even though he's only twenty one, it
Speaker 3: feels like he's been I'll put I don't even know
Speaker 3: what the way to describe it is because he hasn't
Speaker 3: played that many games, so I understand it from that perspective.
Speaker 3: But I also feel like he's looked the part of
Speaker 3: a guy that's kind of just ready to be tested
Speaker 3: at the highest level for a little bit now, and
Speaker 3: then the injuries kind of derailed that timeline. He should
Speaker 3: have been a guy that was debuting at twenty years old,
Speaker 3: and injuries have slaid that, which I understand. But now
Speaker 3: seeing the best form of him this year, once I
Speaker 3: think we get a few weeks of him looking healthy
Speaker 3: and performing, I think you should, you know, go make
Speaker 3: the thirty minute drive over to to you know, Minnesota,
Speaker 3: tugtfield and play for the big league team.
Speaker 4: It is amazing that twenty three draft. You just look
Speaker 4: at how it all unfolded, and you know, like it's
Speaker 4: Minnesota that's kind of the last one standing. And Walker
Speaker 4: Jenkins if and when he does get up to the
Speaker 4: big leagues, and if he does rake up there, we're
Speaker 4: looking at Dylan Cruz of all players, being the most
Speaker 4: disappointing of the bunch. And Cruise is finally starting to
Speaker 4: show signs of life with Washington. He's been impressive over
Speaker 4: the last couple of weeks. But I mean, it's amazing.
Speaker 4: If you were to tell me in that draft process that, hey,
Speaker 4: in three years, Dylan Cruz is going to be the
Speaker 4: most disappointing of the top five taken, I would have
Speaker 4: called you absolutely insane.
Speaker 1: But that's kind of what you would have thought.
Speaker 3: No chance in the world, And that's the craziest part
Speaker 3: about how unpredictable the draft can be. And then last
Speaker 3: note on Jenkins average exivelocity is up from eighty seven
Speaker 3: miles per hour last year. I always thought that was
Speaker 3: the most underrated thing about him. Is like, well, other
Speaker 3: power is coming. I'm like, it really needs to come,
Speaker 3: because it's not there right now in terms of like
Speaker 3: the raw power he had the angles, but now up
Speaker 3: to ninety two miles per hour this year. This more
Speaker 3: than it's almost five mile per hour leap. You know
Speaker 3: it was from eighty seven point two to ninety one
Speaker 3: point nine. I mean that's a huge shift from Wakar Jenkins.
Speaker 4: We're gonna talk about Max Clark in a moment before that.
Speaker 4: Sh Max Clark the Tigers checks in at number seven
Speaker 4: for you, and Max Clark is experiencing his best month
Speaker 4: so far with triple A Toledo fifteen games in June,
Speaker 4: hitting two seventy with an eight point fifty ops for Clark,
Speaker 4: he also has four homers, He's walked ten times, he's
Speaker 4: punched out eleven times so far this month. It seems
Speaker 4: like he is playing exceptionally well and maybe big league
Speaker 4: caliber if the Tigers snink it up over the summertime.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like they're just kind of buying Max
Speaker 3: a little bit more time to find his groove and
Speaker 3: trip Awa, Like there's no one really in his way
Speaker 3: at this point. James Outman was claimed, right, and so,
Speaker 3: and like, I get it, maybe you catch lightning in
Speaker 3: a bottle. I think a few different teams have already
Speaker 3: tried that now, and it just doesn't seem like it's
Speaker 3: gonna happen with Withoutman.
Speaker 1: So it just feels like a time buyer, right And
Speaker 1: and I get it, like you want to bring your.
Speaker 3: Blue chip top prospect up when he's got some momentum,
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, I think as shaken off a
Speaker 3: little bit of the slow start, as you mentioned, Max
Speaker 3: is starting to you know, kind of settle in here
Speaker 3: and and hit his stride.
Speaker 1: You're seeing the slug creep back.
Speaker 3: In and and the thing with him is the bats
Speaker 3: of ball is always going to be there, the speeding
Speaker 3: defense is always going to be there.
Speaker 1: So the floor is high, but.
Speaker 3: Just when you have that highly end and this is
Speaker 3: going to be one of the more highly anticipated big
Speaker 3: league debuts that we've had in a while because of
Speaker 3: the fanfare and the excitement that comes around with with
Speaker 3: a Max Clark. You want that guy riding high into
Speaker 3: a big league debut, and so I think that's that's
Speaker 3: the biggest thing for the Tigers right now. I think
Speaker 3: there is a case to be made that I think
Speaker 3: he could go up there and give them better at
Speaker 3: bats and than James Outman. But do you want Max
Speaker 3: Clark up there working through some mechanical things at the
Speaker 3: at the highest level, or do you want him hammering
Speaker 3: home those those feels and adjustments that he's found over
Speaker 3: another one hundred at bats at the minor league level
Speaker 3: and then go from there.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what they're leaning on right now.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned it like it has been a lot
Speaker 1: better of late. He looks more comfortable.
Speaker 3: I know he's adjusted the minor, minor little things in
Speaker 3: the box to kind of find to find his stride
Speaker 3: here and be able to tap into more impact.
Speaker 1: The bat speed has been there over his last thirty games.
Speaker 3: Seventy five mile per hour average bat speed for Max
Speaker 3: Clark is pretty crazy stuff, da. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 3: well above average for a guy that's also running a
Speaker 3: ninety percent zone contact right in a fifteen percent chase rate.
Speaker 1: Like, even when this guy is off.
Speaker 3: I feel like the peripherals and the other aspects of
Speaker 3: his game make him kind of I don't want to
Speaker 3: say slumpproof, because nobody is in this god forsaken sport,
Speaker 3: but I do feel like he's in a spot where
Speaker 3: like his slumps are not going to be like negative
Speaker 3: war like just catastrophic, you know, types of situations compared
Speaker 3: to a lot of other guy swamps because he's gonna
Speaker 3: draw his walks, he's gonna put the ball in play,
Speaker 3: it's go and give you productive outs, and like that's what.
Speaker 1: I saw even through the start of the season. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a good example of that.
Speaker 3: It's like Clark was playing poorly by his standards and
Speaker 3: it wasn't like, oh my gosh, you know, the slash
Speaker 3: line is terrible whatever.
Speaker 1: So now as he's picking up the overall numbers, quickly
Speaker 1: pick up two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, Seth Hernandez the Pirates. Next guy that
Speaker 4: we got to talk about, and you know, we get
Speaker 4: into the point of the top ten where we've talked
Speaker 4: about these guys at nauseum constantly this year, so it'll
Speaker 4: kind of be a quick check in on these guys.
Speaker 4: But Seth Hernandez just put up a heck of a
Speaker 4: start a couple of days ago in Appleton, Wisconsin, six innings,
Speaker 4: a one hit, shutout, ball walked one, punched out eight
Speaker 4: of the nineteen hitters that he saw. Seth Hernandez on
Speaker 4: the season in fifty seven the third innings between Lowe
Speaker 4: and Hia, sporting a two zero four ERA, opponents hitting
Speaker 4: under one sixty against him, and in fifty seven and
Speaker 4: a third he's punched out ninety three guys so far
Speaker 4: in the month of June, twenty five punchouts in sixteen
Speaker 4: and two thirds innings. So Seth Hernandez seems like finding
Speaker 4: his footing in Hyae.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a little bit of an adjustment there and
Speaker 3: for his standards right like at Hia, that was interesting
Speaker 3: to see, And I don't know what exactly it was,
Speaker 3: like just the pitch shapes were a little bit different
Speaker 3: out of the gate.
Speaker 1: The command was there's a little bit more scattered.
Speaker 3: But it seems like it's already starting to just go
Speaker 3: away now, like he's already starting to settle in to
Speaker 3: where he's right back to where he was. But just
Speaker 3: for his standards, I think there was just also a
Speaker 3: little bit of a difference where it's like, Okay, these
Speaker 3: aren't standing bullpens anymore like it was.
Speaker 1: In low A. This is these guys even from Loway
Speaker 1: to Hya. Now he's overpowering the majority of hitters.
Speaker 3: But there's a few guys in every lineup now that
Speaker 3: like George Wolcow got him for one hundred fourteen mile
Speaker 3: a hour, Homer, I don't know if that's happening in Lowe.
Speaker 3: So there's just some guys that can gear up for it,
Speaker 3: and if you make a lazy pitch or a mistake
Speaker 3: like they can get you. So I think there's just
Speaker 3: a little bit more intent that was required from Seth
Speaker 3: and he immediately saw that pick up, you know, in
Speaker 3: the last few outings. It also like and it might
Speaker 3: just be the angle, So I don't want to put
Speaker 3: too much into this, but it seems like the arm
Speaker 3: action is just a little bit smoother and more in
Speaker 3: rhythm with his lower body, and it seems like that's
Speaker 3: allowed him to repeat it and and be I think
Speaker 3: more on time and have the release point more consistent.
Speaker 3: So just something to monitor there, But you know, the
Speaker 3: command is is just the variable there that I think
Speaker 3: is going to be interesting to monitor, Like he doesn't
Speaker 3: need to be elite command wise, obviously, but there's some
Speaker 3: starts where it's been expectedly and understandably a little bit
Speaker 3: below average for a nineteen year old with crazy stuff
Speaker 3: that moves in all different directions than there are other
Speaker 3: addings where it's it's above average. So just trying to
Speaker 3: find that consistency part, I think is just the next
Speaker 3: thing with Seth And the other interesting part will be,
Speaker 3: you know, how do they handle him if he keeps
Speaker 3: rattling off really good high A starts. This is a
Speaker 3: guy that we see maybe make a starter to a
Speaker 3: Double A by the end of the season. I think
Speaker 3: I think maybe, yep.
Speaker 4: Hopefully so. Ryan Sloan in Seattle, next guy that we
Speaker 4: got to talk about here. Sloan had the best start
Speaker 4: in minor league baseball, it seemed like on May thirtieth
Speaker 4: against Frisco six perfect with eleven punchouts. After that, laid
Speaker 4: an egg in Corpus Christy three third, eight hits and
Speaker 4: five runs, including three homers. But since then bounced back
Speaker 4: well eleven innings, two earned runs. He's punched out twelve
Speaker 4: and walked one in that stretch. It is amazing that
Speaker 4: you've got Ryan Sloan, the number five prospect in baseball,
Speaker 4: not even being the headliner in the Arkansas Travelers rotation.
Speaker 1: I know that is crazy. It is crazy, and.
Speaker 3: There might be a world where it's like, maybe did
Speaker 3: we get a little bit too cute with it? Like
Speaker 3: looking at the ceiling of Sloan, are looking at this
Speaker 3: ceiling of Swoan over like what you've got with Anderson.
Speaker 3: But I still go back to, like, Ryan Sloane just
Speaker 3: turned twenty years old and he's thrown in that Texas
Speaker 3: League right now, and he's already shown us flashes of
Speaker 3: like dominance, dominance, it's just stringing it together. And that's
Speaker 3: what I was talking about with Kate, the fact that
Speaker 3: Kate hasn't had that like, oh, they clipped you a
Speaker 3: couple of times because it's a Texas League start. Like
Speaker 3: we saw from Sloan, like that three homer allowed start,
Speaker 3: broke up a stretch where he was autoly dominant. You
Speaker 3: mentioned the six shutout from him there, or there's six
Speaker 3: perfect from him there and then the two others to
Speaker 3: follow up that have been fantastic.
Speaker 1: Six innings of no earned.
Speaker 3: Run, one run ball seven ks, no wah or one walk,
Speaker 3: and then five innings of two run ball, no walks,
Speaker 3: five k's, and before that there was multiple quality starts
Speaker 3: as well, Like it's just going to happen sometimes in
Speaker 3: the Texas League. But this dude averaging ninety six and
Speaker 3: a half with the heater and having two different heaters now,
Speaker 3: like to add the sinker.
Speaker 1: The way that he has the sweeper is unbelievable.
Speaker 3: Then you have the cutter, the splitter, and then variations
Speaker 3: of the breaking ball, like it is so much fun.
Speaker 3: I think the ceiling here is just so ridiculously high,
Speaker 3: but it does become a fun kind of floor ceiling
Speaker 3: conversation with these two.
Speaker 1: And this is we're working on a video right now.
Speaker 1: I'm working on one with Peyton.
Speaker 3: About you know, just is this the best pitching duo,
Speaker 3: pitching prospect duo we've seen ever. I wanted to corroborate
Speaker 3: that with JJ Cooper Baseball America because I don't know
Speaker 3: anyone better to ask than.
Speaker 1: You, So I sent him a DM as well.
Speaker 3: I know he's on it for me too, to see
Speaker 3: if they can find any time in their list where
Speaker 3: they've had two guys in the top ten there. And
Speaker 3: I mean the fact that JJ Cooper didn't immediately say
Speaker 3: oh this because it JJ and JJ. JJ's got everything
Speaker 3: off the dome. That tells me, even if there is one,
Speaker 3: you gotta dig. So it's it's as fun of a
Speaker 3: duo I think as we.
Speaker 1: We've really ever seen.
Speaker 4: It's so cool, man. All right, let's play a game.
Speaker 4: What new Julio Rodriguez, Jacksenturio, and Leo Devrees have in common?
Speaker 1: Leo Riguez, Jackson Troy and Leo Deprize, I'm in common.
Speaker 4: I will throw Kyle Schwarber into that conversation too.
Speaker 1: That made it so much worse. I know now now
Speaker 1: you just you just completely disoriented me.
Speaker 4: A little bit to get going. Yea is naturally a
Speaker 4: slow starter. Jack Centurio naturally a slow starter. Kyle Schwarber,
Speaker 4: we always talk about June with him, and he's on
Speaker 4: this Homer tirade to push in front by a country
Speaker 4: mile in the Major League home run lead. Leo Davries
Speaker 4: just seems like a guy that is fine, fine, fine,
Speaker 4: and then boom, here he is. And that is what
Speaker 4: Drees's June has been. You know, this guy was good
Speaker 4: in April in double a in April he had an
Speaker 4: eight to fifty ops, but in May he ticked down
Speaker 4: to his six fifty ops. And now in seventeen games
Speaker 4: in the month of June, Devrez is hitting two ninety
Speaker 4: walk thirteen times to sixteen punchouts. He's got four homers,
Speaker 4: he's got six bags in as many attempts, and he
Speaker 4: is a nine to thirty ops this month. DeVries it
Speaker 4: takes him some time, it seems like, to really like
Speaker 4: get going. But once he gets going, you see why
Speaker 4: he is a super prospect.
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. It's your spot on there. It's it's
Speaker 3: become now. And it feels funny to say, like, oh,
Speaker 3: like we can kind of we see a theme with
Speaker 3: this nineteen year old every year, but like it's really
Speaker 3: been a theme now twenty four, twenty five, and twenty six,
Speaker 3: and with him, it's like it's very very clear because
Speaker 3: when he's good, he's as good as anybody.
Speaker 1: So you really see that.
Speaker 3: Uptick right around this time of the year, and then
Speaker 3: it's a sprint through the finish line. And I think
Speaker 3: that's the interesting part with Devrees is like if he
Speaker 3: does what he's done the last two years in the
Speaker 3: second half and then the Athletics are presumably anywhere near
Speaker 3: in it. They might have to ride that hot hand
Speaker 3: and bring that bad up to Sacramento. The other part
Speaker 3: that I'm really excited about it you mentioned the six
Speaker 3: for six. He's now twenty two for twenty six in
Speaker 3: the stolen base department, and like, this has not been
Speaker 3: a part of Devires's game. He was eleven for nineteen
Speaker 3: last year with on the stolen base side of things,
Speaker 3: So to be a factor there at double A I
Speaker 3: think is really encouraging. But he's That's the big story
Speaker 3: with Devrise here is he is really really really picking
Speaker 3: up and it wasn't bad. And that's the nice part too,
Speaker 3: is like even through somewhat slow start to the season,
Speaker 3: you're just seeing him, i think, raise his floor as
Speaker 3: well with the approach and the field to hit and
Speaker 3: everything like that. But I mean, over the last twenty
Speaker 3: five plus games, he's been walking, he's been slugging more,
Speaker 3: he's been putting bad on ball, he's been stealing more
Speaker 3: bags as you mentioned, and it just looks like Devrez
Speaker 3: is really hitting his stride here in his age nineteen season.
Speaker 3: And I'm just interested to see what this means because
Speaker 3: a guy like him where the bat and ball angles are.
Speaker 1: So good, the PCL is going to be a joke.
Speaker 1: It's going to just be even more of the like
Speaker 1: get him up to the bigs, Get him up to
Speaker 1: the bigs.
Speaker 3: So him showing it in the Texas League right now,
Speaker 3: I think is really exciting because the PCL will be
Speaker 3: even easier for him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, three more guys that we got to
Speaker 4: hit on here. This has been an awful month for
Speaker 4: franklin Arius in Boston. He's only opsing eight thirty five
Speaker 4: this month on the heels of an eleven ninety six
Speaker 4: in April and an eight eighty four ops in May,
Speaker 4: slashing two seventy one on three seventy seven four fifty
Speaker 4: eight in the month of June. Through sixteen games, he's
Speaker 4: walked ten times to thirteen punchouts. Franklin Ari is with
Speaker 4: double a Portland fifty seven games, hitting three point fifteen
Speaker 4: with fourteen homers, thirty six driven in and a nine
Speaker 4: to seventy four ops. Is he impervious to slumps this year?
Speaker 1: It seems like it. It seems like it. I think
Speaker 1: with him too.
Speaker 3: You take a you know, elite bats to ball guy
Speaker 3: and we talked about one of the best bats to
Speaker 3: ball guys last year, and you had the power that
Speaker 3: we've documented so much on this podcast.
Speaker 1: He uptick in power, and.
Speaker 3: It's like, how does this guy swamp Even when the
Speaker 3: power's not there, he's gonna put bat on ball, He's
Speaker 3: gonna get on base whatever, or even if the bats
Speaker 3: to ball is not there.
Speaker 1: Like it normally is, he's gonna clip his homers. So
Speaker 1: it's like there's so many different ways he could have
Speaker 1: different versions of a slump and still be productive.
Speaker 3: And then the other side of it is like, even
Speaker 3: if he's not giving you a ton offensively, and this
Speaker 3: is more on the big league side of things, he's
Speaker 3: gonna defend.
Speaker 1: He's made two errors all year, and I think.
Speaker 3: People might be talking about, like, oh, what about Eui
Speaker 3: Will it's in terms of the top ten. He's just
Speaker 3: spread the thought thing that guy's only made one error
Speaker 3: this year. Well, it's ten prospect as well, which he'll
Speaker 3: be in the next update. What he's doing right now
Speaker 3: is outrageous. But when it comes to like the offense
Speaker 3: defense combination, I think of Arius and Willets right now
Speaker 3: as the two guys that are just really showing it
Speaker 3: on both sides of the game, and I agree. I
Speaker 3: think that's just what we're seeing now with with Arius Is.
Speaker 3: It just feels like he's impervious to slumping because there's
Speaker 3: different ways that he can go cold and then still
Speaker 3: be able to provide value in so many different areas.
Speaker 4: Yeah, two more guys here, Colt Emerson. This is a
Speaker 4: big league conversation with the Seattle Mariners. Uh, Colt Emerson,
Speaker 4: Why should nobody be concerned that the savant page is
Speaker 4: really blue and the bubbles are blue?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think I would be too worried about it,
Speaker 3: but I do I do get that, Like, hey, the
Speaker 3: big leagues are tough here. This is a big leap
Speaker 3: for him, you know, and I think I think the
Speaker 3: big league spin is affecting him some. Uh.
Speaker 1: He's still hitting his.
Speaker 3: Which I think is encouraging overall, and you've seeing that
Speaker 3: power that we've talked about just that's continue to grow
Speaker 3: for him, shine through. But also like he's got a
Speaker 3: seven to seventy six oh ps. I know a lot
Speaker 3: of that is Homer driven, but what if I I
Speaker 3: don't think anybody would have expected Emerson to be getting
Speaker 3: his power wise in his first stace of the big leagues.
Speaker 3: But the bats of all not being there, point being like,
Speaker 3: the bats of all is going to come along. He's like,
Speaker 3: that's I have zero concern about that. When you've seen
Speaker 3: this kid swing at every.
Speaker 1: Level and you see that just the feel for the
Speaker 1: barrel that he has, that part's going to come along.
Speaker 3: The fact that while he's battling through that, he's still
Speaker 3: able to get his a swing off enough to hit
Speaker 3: six homers, have a triple five doubles, I think. I
Speaker 3: think overall, it's still encouraging. He's got to be more selective, right,
Speaker 3: He's got to cut down on the whift. I'm not
Speaker 3: too worried about that when that's the most confident aspect
Speaker 3: I have of his game.
Speaker 1: So I feel like with Emerson, and also you know.
Speaker 3: He's bouncing back and forth from short and third and
Speaker 3: whatever it may be, and I think he's going to
Speaker 3: contin need to develop into a really solid defender in
Speaker 3: either of those spots.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be too concerned about Colton.
Speaker 3: I think this is really good opportunity for him to
Speaker 3: get these abs now, because I mean, this is a
Speaker 3: team that should be in the playoffs pretty much. No
Speaker 3: matter what, it's just gonna be kind of where given
Speaker 3: how soft the al is, and you want this kid
Speaker 3: working through all this stuff so that he's hitting his
Speaker 3: stride in August September, and I think that's exactly what's
Speaker 3: going to happen. It took him a few weeks to
Speaker 3: get going and triple A. And mind you, this has
Speaker 3: still only been one hundred and one played appearances at
Speaker 3: the big league level.
Speaker 1: I think he'll get going.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, we judge politicians for their first one
Speaker 4: hundred days, so why can't we judge major league baseball
Speaker 4: players by their first one hundred played appearances. Last guy
Speaker 4: that we're going to talk about the top prospect in
Speaker 4: baseball Jesus mid Day, just to quick check in, there's
Speaker 4: not much new with him. Honestly, it's kind of like
Speaker 4: a whole Serve month for him. It's just been solid
Speaker 4: the entire time. And he's nineteen years old in the
Speaker 4: Southern League with an OPS over eight ten. It's just
Speaker 4: hard to wrap your brain around what this guy's doing
Speaker 4: month in month out, day in day.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: For the Biloxi Shuckers, Yeah, I think Holden Serve is
Speaker 3: the number one prospect in baseball is not easy to do,
Speaker 3: right with all the talent you got behind you.
Speaker 1: So I think that's that's just the big story there, right,
Speaker 1: It's just the dude.
Speaker 3: Is consistent, and we talk about just the challenges that
Speaker 3: kind of come with being that one of the youngest
Speaker 3: players at the upper levels, and he's the youngest player
Speaker 3: at the upper upper level. You figure there's going to
Speaker 3: be a slump at some point, right, there's gonna be this, Okay,
Speaker 3: you hit the wall, because it's just a difficult, just
Speaker 3: consistent battle. As for just personally life wise, being the
Speaker 3: youngest guy out there all the time, but also just
Speaker 3: the quality of pitching you're seeing day in and day out,
Speaker 3: the guy that these pitching staffs don't want to beat them,
Speaker 3: even in the minor leagues. Like, there's so many different
Speaker 3: things that I think that feed into that, and it's
Speaker 3: just really not affecting him, and I just think he
Speaker 3: exudes superstar Like I just don't think he feels like
Speaker 3: the youngest player out there, and I think he feels
Speaker 3: like he's the best player on the field. At least
Speaker 3: he looks like it when you when you just watch
Speaker 3: the way he goes about his business. Every time he's
Speaker 3: out there, he's already eclipsed you know, the most homers
Speaker 3: he had, he had he had six homers in one
Speaker 3: hundred fifteen game. Last year we talked about like the
Speaker 3: raw power turning into more game power. Seven and sixty
Speaker 3: two games already this year, it's been really fun to watch.
Speaker 3: And the fact that he's cut the strikeout rate by
Speaker 3: five percent jumping up to double A compared to playing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: his strike up rates on five percent from where it
Speaker 3: was at at low A last year. Now in the
Speaker 3: Southern League this year, that is ridiculous. We're going to
Speaker 3: see him in triple A, I think, sooner rather than later.
Speaker 3: And then I'm very fascinated by the big league situation here.
Speaker 3: I don't see him getting up there this year unless
Speaker 3: he just goes scorched earth and in triple A. And
Speaker 3: you know, some of the guys that they audition at
Speaker 3: third base don't work out and they want to get
Speaker 3: him some reps there.
Speaker 1: But I think it's going to be a next year thing.
Speaker 3: That said, though, it seems like he depending on how
Speaker 3: the whole lockout thing goes and everything, he could be
Speaker 3: an Opening day like surprise Opening Day candidate I think,
Speaker 3: depending on how he finishes this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and a big thing is they won't need to
Speaker 4: add him to the forty men roster this offseason, so
Speaker 4: they won't they'll be able to work with him throughout
Speaker 4: this process. So that'll be an interesting wrinkle to this.
Speaker 4: But that's what we got, man, that's your top ten
Speaker 4: check in and yeah, easy piece.
Speaker 3: Last question I have with for you real quick is
Speaker 3: what are the odds you think they could pull off
Speaker 3: a pre or pre debut extension with him close to zero.
Speaker 4: At this point?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I agree, I just he's going to play this thing through.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you never know. Can't rule it out.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think that's the part that's going to
Speaker 3: be tough. But I won't count the Brewers out on
Speaker 3: being able to pull off one of these deals. We'll
Speaker 3: talk prospects with you later this week. We've got a
Speaker 3: heat cheat coming up. Thanks as always,