Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome in the latest edition of Birdland Territory
Speaker 1: with Steve, Tim and Brad and a special guest today.
Speaker 1: The MLB Draft is coming fast July eleventh, at one
Speaker 1: thirty that's when it will be this year, Saturday, ahead
Speaker 1: of the All Star Game Sunday. They'll wrap it up
Speaker 1: twenty rounds and our guest today is Jim Kallus. I've
Speaker 1: known Jim for a long time, back to his Baseball
Speaker 1: America days and since twenty thirteen senior writer for MLB
Speaker 1: dot Com and mlbpipeline dot Com. One of the best
Speaker 1: analysts of young players out there. And you'll see Jim
Speaker 1: live on draft coverage Saturday and Sunday. Check your local
Speaker 1: listings if your networks are involved, including NBC, MLB Network,
Speaker 1: MLB dot Com, Mlbpipeline. Jim, we're gonna find you everywhere,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be a busy couple of days.
Speaker 1: And thanks for joining us today in the midst of
Speaker 1: all your prep for this thing.
Speaker 2: I know, I'm glad. I'm hoping you guys can tell
Speaker 2: me who the Orioles are taken at seven, since nobody's.
Speaker 1: We're gonna throw darts here in about five minutes and
Speaker 1: see where it lands. Because but it does sound like
Speaker 1: Jim and oriole fans love to talk about wanting those
Speaker 1: to drafted picture highly up the board, which they haven't
Speaker 1: under Elias. We you and I've been through this a lot.
Speaker 1: Fifty eighth Joseph Jerwhile last year was their highest drafted
Speaker 1: picture Underlias, it sounds very unlikely this year that that
Speaker 1: pick will be a picture at seven. Is that a
Speaker 1: fair statement?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think there's really a picture who fits
Speaker 2: into the mix. And even if there were, I just
Speaker 2: don't think. You know this Orioles regime, I would be
Speaker 2: shocked if they ever take a picture in the first round.
Speaker 2: I remember, I guess it was two drafts ago. We
Speaker 2: were in Fort Worth and the draft was at this
Speaker 2: rodeo venue, so it wasn't near the ballpark, so it
Speaker 2: was like thirty minutes away. I was right, I know,
Speaker 2: over there with Mellie Newman, who does all kinds of
Speaker 2: oriol stuff. And I always in that kind of year,
Speaker 2: I'm always asking, like if I bumped into you guys
Speaker 2: on drive, like, hey, who are the Oils taking seven?
Speaker 2: I always ask people and I and I think that
Speaker 2: was a year I had maybe I had him taken
Speaker 2: Birdy Bread. I projected them to take a picture because
Speaker 2: they need to take they need pitching. So I had
Speaker 2: him taking a picture like twenty I think it was
Speaker 2: the Vance honeycut pick. I had him taken a picture
Speaker 2: as I asked him, Elanie, It's like, oh, so, who
Speaker 2: the oil's taking a twenty three or whatever it was,
Speaker 2: And She's like, all I know is it's not going
Speaker 2: to be a picture. You know, never take a picture
Speaker 2: in the first round. I was like, damn it, Like
Speaker 2: I think, you know, unless you had They're looking up
Speaker 2: and Paul Skeen's is staring them in the face. I
Speaker 2: would be surprised if they ever took a picture in
Speaker 2: the first round.
Speaker 1: The only guy who's projected high up the board pitching
Speaker 1: wise is Jackson Flora, right the UC Santa Barbara right hander,
Speaker 1: who most mock drafts have him being taken in the
Speaker 1: five range.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, he probably fits like somewhere in there, four
Speaker 2: to six. I agreed, and like, but I do. And
Speaker 2: again I'm not claiming I know this for a fact,
Speaker 2: but if Jackson Flora was there at seven, I don't
Speaker 2: know that I project the Orioles take Jackson Fall. I
Speaker 2: just don't think they're gonna take a picture. I'd be
Speaker 2: surprised if they took a picture in the first round,
Speaker 2: and I'd be shocked if they took a picture with
Speaker 2: the top ten pick, because I just don't think they
Speaker 2: believe that you should take pictures that early in the draft,
Speaker 2: and they've obviously not done that the whole time they've
Speaker 2: been in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Last thing for me, and I want to these other
Speaker 1: guys that jump in with Jim Kalls from MLB dot
Speaker 1: com mlbpipeline dot com. So Jim's a lot of mock drafts,
Speaker 1: including yours at MLB dot com. Most recently had them
Speaker 1: taking Drew Burris, the outfielder from Georgia Tech. I see
Speaker 1: his name link to the oriols constantly. What can you
Speaker 1: tell us about Drew Burris?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's funny. So there's there's there's six guys,
Speaker 2: so I think are the consensus top six. You got
Speaker 2: rach Alowski Easila shortstop, Braye Emerson is Texas shortstop. Those
Speaker 2: are the top two guys they're not, and that un
Speaker 2: lack of Georgia Tech catchers maybe like a half tier
Speaker 2: behind them. And then you have you mentioned Jackson, Flora.
Speaker 2: And you've got a couple of high school guys. You
Speaker 2: have Jacob lombardho high school Shortstop Florida and Eric Boothy's
Speaker 2: High splot of Florida, Mississippi. Those are kind of the
Speaker 2: clear top six and after that it's wide open. I
Speaker 2: do think Drew burse would be the consensus next best
Speaker 2: guy for most teams, and I like him Alai. I
Speaker 2: actually think he's slightly underlated than should hire a list
Speaker 2: because we have number seven on our list as well
Speaker 2: as projecting to go seven. But the knocks on him
Speaker 2: are he's like five foot I think he's listed at
Speaker 2: five foot nine, and he hits right handed, and you
Speaker 2: wish he was a little bigger, and you wish he
Speaker 2: was you hit left handed. This guy's produced for three
Speaker 2: years at Georgia Tech. He's and he's got you know,
Speaker 2: it's solid tools across the board. I mean the power.
Speaker 2: He hit a bunch of homers is I can't remember
Speaker 2: how many it was his first ten games in college.
Speaker 2: I think it was ten or twelve homers his first
Speaker 2: in games as a freshman. And the power is this
Speaker 2: tool that jumps out the most. But this guy hits
Speaker 2: for average, he controls strike zone, he's a solid runner,
Speaker 2: he can play center field. He's got arm strength, so
Speaker 2: he could play all three. And I just think in
Speaker 2: this class, most of the college hitters have an obvious flaw,
Speaker 2: and Drew's flaw is he's a little bit short and
Speaker 2: he hits right handed. It's not any flaw in particular
Speaker 2: with his game, and so I think he's he would
Speaker 2: be easy if the top six guys go one, two, three, four, five, six,
Speaker 2: he would be an easy number seven pick for me
Speaker 2: because I don't think there's anything wrong with his game,
Speaker 2: and I think he's he's more polished than some of
Speaker 2: the high ceiling hitters Oils have taken recently, and I
Speaker 2: think he would get to the big leagues pretty quick.
Speaker 2: And you know that's that's a bonus. I'd rather get
Speaker 2: the most talented player. But I just think he's got
Speaker 2: solid tools across the board.
Speaker 1: Very interesting. Jim kallis whether it's today talking draft and
Speaker 1: some other those topics here with their group on Birdland Territory.
Speaker 3: Brad Hey, Jim, to me, the draft still fascinates me,
Speaker 3: even after playing all the years I did and everything,
Speaker 3: it's just such a craft shirt. So you're talking about
Speaker 3: college hitters and everything. Do you think they have gotten
Speaker 3: better over the years, that the reason why they're getting
Speaker 3: pushed so quick to the big leagues or is it
Speaker 3: you just think it's the way the game has gone.
Speaker 4: I know it's kind of a general question, but do.
Speaker 3: You think these college hitters are more polish than they
Speaker 3: have been, let's say, ten years ago, fifteen years ago,
Speaker 3: from what you've seen.
Speaker 2: I do. I mean the twenty twenty four twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four draft was an outlier where you guys like traspas On,
Speaker 2: Nick Kurtz and Jack kagleone and a bunch of other guys,
Speaker 2: you know, Matt Shaw, Kyle Teal rushed to the big
Speaker 2: like that was an outlier. Like usually isn't that many
Speaker 2: Christian more, usually isn't that many guys. But I do
Speaker 2: think one I do think college baseball is better than
Speaker 2: it was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. It's just in
Speaker 2: terms of quality of depth of teams. I do think
Speaker 2: you just look at the amount of instruction players get
Speaker 2: even before they get to college. Now. I mean a
Speaker 2: lot of it's private lessons, but I do think you
Speaker 2: have guys who just play a lot more. They've seen
Speaker 2: them more. You know, the showcase circuit has grown to
Speaker 2: where like you can spend the whole summer facing you know,
Speaker 2: quality competition rather than you know, hey, I live in Illinois,
Speaker 2: for example, and you know, during the high school season,
Speaker 2: how many guys you can see throw higher than eighty
Speaker 2: miles an hour? But you can see that all summer.
Speaker 2: I think with the metrics, I think teams also can
Speaker 2: kind of hone in on how to help guys get better.
Speaker 2: I think it's definitely a case where when I started,
Speaker 2: and I mean I started working in Baseball America back
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine out of college. Back then, I
Speaker 2: think there was this thought that players weren't necessarily one
Speaker 2: hundred percent fully formed, but there's only so much you
Speaker 2: can do. How much you could get guys better, you know,
Speaker 2: like natural talent was going to be the driver, and
Speaker 2: like you couldn't get guys to throw much harder or
Speaker 2: spin the ball much better, or develop more power and
Speaker 2: you know, or bat speed or whatever. And now teams
Speaker 2: know how to do those things, So I think that
Speaker 2: helps too. But then I also think eliminating a level
Speaker 2: of the minor leagues just naturally forces guys to move quicker,
Speaker 2: and so the guys who jump on the fast track
Speaker 2: and have success just get to the big leagues quicker.
Speaker 2: So I think it's I think it's true, Brad, for
Speaker 2: a lot of reasons.
Speaker 5: Okay, Jim, kind of a two parterre you saying, starting
Speaker 5: Baseball America in nineteen eighty nine, just how have you
Speaker 5: seen the popularity of MLB's draft and then the prospect level?
Speaker 5: I feel like, especially in Baltimore where the Orioles went
Speaker 5: through a tremendous rebuild, where you're looking ahead to some
Speaker 5: of these top prospects and fans are more knowledgeable about
Speaker 5: these guys than they ever were in the top one
Speaker 5: hundred list and the top thirty list within the organization.
Speaker 5: And part of that is I think minor league Baseball
Speaker 5: has done a much better job of marketing these players.
Speaker 5: Just how have you seen the draft grow and also
Speaker 5: the minor league grow?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean it's exploited. I mean, I'm old enough. We
Speaker 2: didn't have the Internet when I started, honestly, and at
Speaker 2: Baseball America we were pretty much you know, Alan Simpsons
Speaker 2: started the magazine because Sporting News kind of expanded and
Speaker 2: still went from being the Bible of Baseball to cover
Speaker 2: in the big four sports. And Alan loved the draft,
Speaker 2: and he loved the minor leagues, and he loved college baseball,
Speaker 2: and so I started Baseball America. It had been around
Speaker 2: for eight years when I got there. Nobody else was
Speaker 2: covering that at all. But we were print publication that
Speaker 2: came out every two weeks, like people love them, even
Speaker 2: though minor league stats by time you got them were
Speaker 2: probably two three weeks old. If you wanted how guys
Speaker 2: were doing the minor leagues, that was the only place
Speaker 2: you saw the stats, Like there was no other way.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess maybe if you went to a
Speaker 2: minor league game, you might get an insert that have
Speaker 2: the team stats in there. And the draft, like there
Speaker 2: was the draft on like not only would it was
Speaker 2: the draft on TV a foreign concept and will be
Speaker 2: at that point wouldn't even release the draft list, like
Speaker 2: like you'd have the fifth round. They would release those
Speaker 2: picks in order to the AP so you know who
Speaker 2: was draft in the first round one order, but other
Speaker 2: than that, it would just be okay. The Orioles drafted
Speaker 2: seventy two players and they'd list them in alphabetical order
Speaker 2: and you wouldn't know who the rounder was. And that
Speaker 2: again Alex Simpson, who loves baseball, priam like all aspects
Speaker 2: of baseball more anybody I know, and started Baseball America
Speaker 2: in his garage with no publishing experience, just because he
Speaker 2: felt like baseball needs an magazine like this. Anyway Alan
Speaker 2: would get so we would come out every two weeks.
Speaker 2: We probably would come out, you know, ten days after draft,
Speaker 2: and like when I started, Allan would call the teams
Speaker 2: individually and he put the first five rounds together, so
Speaker 2: we'd print that, and then we had and they still do,
Speaker 2: I think, a yearly almanac, and we would get the
Speaker 2: complete draft order in order for the almanac, which was
Speaker 2: a book that had all these statistics in that would
Speaker 2: come out in the off season. But that was that.
Speaker 2: So finally mid nineties Alan was get a point where
Speaker 2: he could get more and more of the draft quickly.
Speaker 2: So I think it was I don't know if it
Speaker 2: was ninety five, ninety six, somewhere around there. Alan felt like,
Speaker 2: I can get the draft order. I could put the
Speaker 2: draft order together within two or three days. So again
Speaker 2: just to show you the technology at the time, we
Speaker 2: were going to sell it to you via facts, like
Speaker 2: if Steve wanted to know the Oriols draft order, we
Speaker 2: would fact, like, I don't know, we'd sell it to him.
Speaker 2: I don't know, two bucks, we would fact Steve the
Speaker 2: Orioles draft in order. And so basically at that point,
Speaker 2: because nlb's attitude always was they didn't want the college
Speaker 2: coaches to know where gods were getting drafted because they
Speaker 2: felt like maybe it was different back then. I find
Speaker 2: it a little hard to believe that teams were recruiting
Speaker 2: in June, like wait until to recruit, but like, I
Speaker 2: don't know, if you saw somebody was drafting thirty second
Speaker 2: round or the twelfth round, you're like, oh, let's go
Speaker 2: get that guy or whatever. So that's why MLB didn't
Speaker 2: want the draft rounds out there. And I think it
Speaker 2: didn't hurt that the players didn't necessarily know where they
Speaker 2: were drafted when they were trying to sign them. But
Speaker 2: because Baseball America was good, you know, I don't know what,
Speaker 2: we would have faxed you the whole draft, but if
Speaker 2: you want the whole draft, we'd fax that to you too.
Speaker 2: When we announced plans to do that, MLB is like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we'll release the draft so we've gone from that where
Speaker 2: MLB didn't even want people to know what round guys
Speaker 2: were getting drafted in to now like it's all lot
Speaker 2: Like I forget how many years even before I know
Speaker 2: the first broadcast like network broadcast was ESPN in two
Speaker 2: thousand and seven, and I think maybe a couple of
Speaker 2: years before that, MLB dot Com did some online commentary,
Speaker 2: like you could used to be able to listen to
Speaker 2: the conference call. But I remember again when I started
Speaker 2: Baseball America, like I thought the coolest thing in the
Speaker 2: world was so we would do this press conference in
Speaker 2: omahaber year at the College World Series for our college
Speaker 2: Player of the Year and we'd have the all If
Speaker 2: there were All Americans first Team All Americans who are on
Speaker 2: collegoral Turis teams, they'd come too, but MLB would let
Speaker 2: us pipe in the first round of the draft the
Speaker 2: conference call into our press conference, and so like I
Speaker 2: remember being there when Todd Helton found out the ro
Speaker 2: he was thrilling the Rockies drafted in. I remember there
Speaker 2: brooks Keishnick can go in the first round. The Cups
Speaker 2: took him. But like it seemed like the height of
Speaker 2: technology in the early nineties, to just to be able
Speaker 2: to listen to the conference call live as picks were happening.
Speaker 2: That just seemed like the coolest thing like finding out
Speaker 2: right when guy like this is pre internet, Like like
Speaker 2: you wouldn't know, like honestly until you got the paper
Speaker 2: the next morning and maybe they would list the first
Speaker 2: round picks on the aget page. So we've come a
Speaker 2: long way. And I agree to him. I mean, like
Speaker 2: like there's obviously a lot of outlets and it's instantaneous,
Speaker 2: like like just even the concept you can watch I
Speaker 2: think virtually every full season minor league club. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: all of them, it's not, it's almost all of them.
Speaker 2: I can watch them on my phone. Like if you
Speaker 2: took that in the early nineties, I'd be like, like,
Speaker 2: how big is my phone going to do?
Speaker 4: What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: Like it's just crazy the amount of information that's out
Speaker 2: there in video and yeah, and the people, I mean
Speaker 2: people don't know the draft players as well as they
Speaker 2: know the NFL NBA players because those guys are going
Speaker 2: to step right in. But they still Again when I
Speaker 2: started covering it, I think ESPN might broadcast one game
Speaker 2: a week, like on like a Sunday night college game
Speaker 2: and maybe during the postseason if you were lucky, you
Speaker 2: maybe get two regional games before you know, they broadcast
Speaker 2: the college Old Series. Now you can watch it seems
Speaker 2: like almost I mean it's not every D one game,
Speaker 2: but it seems like you can watch almost every Division
Speaker 2: one game somewhere. And then you know, now ESPN's got
Speaker 2: squeeze play. I mean, all the regional games are live
Speaker 2: or you can watch them as they do whip around
Speaker 2: show like again. But I think these guys are you know,
Speaker 2: and just the high school guys like the showcase. There
Speaker 2: were maybe a couple of showcases when I start, but
Speaker 2: it's not like it is now and there's nationally televised
Speaker 2: games and we're going to do the High School America
Speaker 2: and MLB does They're going to do from Field of
Speaker 2: Dreams in August like that, like having a nationally televised
Speaker 2: high school All Star game, like so you like see,
Speaker 2: you know, like the guys for next year's draft on TV.
Speaker 2: There was that was never gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Before A long Way, Come a long way. The Oose.
Speaker 1: The Oos have, by the way, three top one hundred picks.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Jim Kallus about the draft number seven,
Speaker 1: number forty six, and number eighty two, and we'll continue
Speaker 1: with Jim in a minute. Here on Birdland Territory.
Speaker 5: The Orioles are trying to get back in the mix,
Speaker 5: and you don't want to miss the upcoming action this
Speaker 5: home stand. I would look to go to Wednesday for
Speaker 5: a little weekday day game action.
Speaker 6: Twelve thirty five.
Speaker 5: First pitch, I would suggest getting tickets in the Burbeth
Speaker 5: because it is supposed to be insanely hot this week
Speaker 5: in Baltimore.
Speaker 6: But make sure your tickets to the game.
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Speaker 1: Seek Jim Kallus with us today here on Birdland Territory. Jim,
Speaker 1: one thing it's always fascinating to me over the years,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure what the latest numbers say. You
Speaker 1: might have some thoughts on it is how few players
Speaker 1: need to make the major leagues to make a team's
Speaker 1: draft successful. I've learned history talking to guys like you
Speaker 1: and JJ Cooper and scouts over the years, and this
Speaker 1: is going back to when a draft was fifty rounds,
Speaker 1: then it was forty outs twenty. What's a good draft
Speaker 1: numbers wise?
Speaker 2: I mean, this will sound kind of funny, but if
Speaker 2: you get honestly, if you get a solid big leaguer
Speaker 2: out of the draft. You're doing better than most teams.
Speaker 2: I mean haven't studied this over the years, and a
Speaker 2: tiple draft there will be say five to ten star
Speaker 2: level players if that like true stars in a draft,
Speaker 2: and then you'll have maybe a couple dozen players who
Speaker 2: you know, like I don't mean up and down like
Speaker 2: the back forth major mind I played lot of good year,
Speaker 2: Like maybe they're not a statey performer, but they'll they'll
Speaker 2: be decent players over the course of their career. And
Speaker 2: then after that it's kind of guys who have a
Speaker 2: good year. Here there a cup of coffee and like
Speaker 2: it's funny, Like just illustrate this. Every year MLB dot
Speaker 2: Com has me do it a story where I redraft
Speaker 2: the first round from ten years previously. So this year's
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen number thirty four first round picks that year
Speaker 2: of the top fourteen, well as I have it sorted
Speaker 2: out now the top fifteen players from that draft based
Speaker 2: on what they've done, what we project them to going forward.
Speaker 2: Only one the top fifteen guys who signed was a
Speaker 2: first round pick, and that was probably the best one
Speaker 2: of them, Will Smith. But not to disparage these guys
Speaker 2: because they're big leaguers. But right now, the bottom of
Speaker 2: my first round is guys like Alex call, Anthony Bender,
Speaker 2: John Schreiber, Tobias Myers, Recoo Garcia, Jojo Romero, and Brian Baker.
Speaker 2: Like again, and not to disparait those guys, but if
Speaker 2: we were redrafting the twenty sixteen draft today, those guys
Speaker 2: potentially be first round picks. And I don't think anybody
Speaker 2: when they their teams million first round pick is going, oh,
Speaker 2: I hope we get a reliever who has a couple
Speaker 2: of decent seasons in the big leagues. But that's that's
Speaker 2: the reality of the draft, like it's it's now. The
Speaker 2: flip side is, because you get these guys and you
Speaker 2: control they're earning power, essentially for three years, they have
Speaker 2: to take what you're willing to give them, and for
Speaker 2: three more years they're limited by arbitration where they'll get
Speaker 2: more money but not what they get in the free market.
Speaker 2: Like you, if you get a solid big league regular.
Speaker 2: Let's say I take a guy in the middle of
Speaker 2: first round and I give him five million dollar bonus.
Speaker 2: If that guy's a big league regular for the first
Speaker 2: six six years, or his career, most of it he
Speaker 2: might be worth. You know, even if he's only worth
Speaker 2: let's say he's worth one win above replacement per year,
Speaker 2: just he's around number, which is like more of a
Speaker 2: you know, part time type of guy that's like a
Speaker 2: fifty or sixty million dollar value and talent, and you're
Speaker 2: probably only paying that guy his bonus plus a salary.
Speaker 2: He's like maybe ten million dollars. You're coming out way
Speaker 2: So you've come out way ahead financially because you're you're
Speaker 2: when you hit on a start, like when you hit
Speaker 2: on Gunner Henderson. You know, he signed for I don't remember,
Speaker 2: like what two or three million. He was overslot, but
Speaker 2: like Gunnar Henderson on the open market would be making
Speaker 2: much much more than he's been paid so far. So
Speaker 2: it even though you don't it doesn't seem like a
Speaker 2: huge return on investment, like, oh, we're getting four big
Speaker 2: leaguers out of one draft for like big league regulars.
Speaker 2: If you just hit on one of those guys, you're doing well.
Speaker 2: I mean, the draft, the draft is hard. The draft
Speaker 2: is very very hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3: I remember, Jimmy, we were talking about seeing it come
Speaker 3: up on the computer.
Speaker 4: Screen when I got drafted. That's what happened.
Speaker 3: I saw my name come up on the computer screen
Speaker 3: before I got the phone call from the scout. So
Speaker 3: bring me back to the draft of the mid two
Speaker 3: thousands there.
Speaker 4: But Jim, do you think it's more.
Speaker 3: Satisfying being finding kind of a dark horse in the
Speaker 3: draft or being kind of hitting on.
Speaker 4: Someone you predicted to be a superstar? Do you?
Speaker 3: I know it's kind of apples and oranges, But it
Speaker 3: is it cooler for you kinda to find somebody and say,
Speaker 3: the fifth to tenth round that ends up becoming a
Speaker 3: major league regular that you kind of had predictions that
Speaker 3: might play better than where he gets drafted.
Speaker 4: Or is it pretty cool hitting.
Speaker 3: On a guy that goes top three and he's what
Speaker 3: everybody kind of expected when he got drafted.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think on the top guys, I
Speaker 2: think it's it's more you like finding the guys that
Speaker 2: are kind of hidden gems because the guys go at
Speaker 2: the top of the draft, Like if Rachlowski and Great
Speaker 2: Emerson are superstars, everythings, those guys are going to be great.
Speaker 2: So it's like, I mean, not that it has to
Speaker 2: be hey look at me, but like I'm not really
Speaker 2: telling anybody anything that they don't know, like the one
Speaker 2: I'll go back. And I was lucky on this because
Speaker 2: I think there are three guys on this guy in
Speaker 2: high school, and I happen to, like I don't talk
Speaker 2: to every area scout for every team, like it's impossible
Speaker 2: because I have half the I have half the country.
Speaker 2: Jonathan May and I split it up, but I'll try
Speaker 2: to talk to I don't know, four or five area
Speaker 2: guys cross checkers for each of my states, so you
Speaker 2: get a sampling of information. But anyway, so there were
Speaker 2: three guys on this guy in high school, and I've
Speaker 2: happened to three teams on him in high school. I
Speaker 2: happened to talk to two of the teams that were
Speaker 2: on him. But we had Jacob Mizarowski on our list
Speaker 2: in high school and he had not played on the
Speaker 2: Showcase Circus. He had a hamstring injury and he didn't
Speaker 2: have a senior season because of COVID, So we had
Speaker 2: him I don't know, like number one eighty, but nobody
Speaker 2: else knew who this guy was. And so I continued
Speaker 2: to be very proud of that one. And then we
Speaker 2: were on the bandwagon, like he was weird. He went
Speaker 2: to junior college. He he tores meniscus his first start,
Speaker 2: so he barely pitched a freshman, and then when he
Speaker 2: came back he was raw. He wasn't thrown nearly as
Speaker 2: many strikes as today, but like just the metrics and
Speaker 2: the arm strength, and you're like, man, this guy got better.
Speaker 2: Like he's he's had so little playing time. He could
Speaker 2: be really good. So like that one's fun. Like I
Speaker 2: will continue, but again I will say I was lucky
Speaker 2: because I happened to talk to two of the three
Speaker 2: teams that were on him, were like, hey, this guy
Speaker 2: could be interesting. You have to throw him on the
Speaker 2: back of your list. And so we did. And and
Speaker 2: I still, we just got back from the draft combine,
Speaker 2: and you're two. I told. I remember telling him, you know,
Speaker 2: you have to get in Mirowski on camera. This guy
Speaker 2: will throw better than anybody does at the combine. And
Speaker 2: I remember I was sent with Dan O Dowd and
Speaker 2: he and he got ready to pitch, and Dana Dud's like, Jimmy,
Speaker 2: here's your guy. Let's see what he's got. And I
Speaker 2: don't remember. The first pitch was like one oh one,
Speaker 2: and I mean it's a bullpen, but like like his
Speaker 2: extension and the men like it was crazy and and
Speaker 2: Dan's like pretty good and like he was going like
Speaker 2: three thousand spins sliders at like eighty nine miles an
Speaker 2: hour and wound up going second round. So like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it's cool. It is kind of cool when
Speaker 2: you're like, hey, I somebody told me about that guy
Speaker 2: before anybody else knew about it. Like that's like those
Speaker 2: are kind of most fun. Like just like I mean
Speaker 2: we were saying, I mean, Brad, I mean you were
Speaker 2: a forty second round pick and you pitched what was it,
Speaker 2: like five hundred games in the big leagues. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool. Like like I don't like, give your
Speaker 2: who's your ear scout, give your ear scout some love.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, Jim Brett, sorry you got Yeah, Jim Brett's sorry,
Speaker 3: Yeah I didn't.
Speaker 2: But I was just saying, like Jim bred I mean,
Speaker 2: he obviously wasn't pound the table. We gotta take this
Speaker 2: guy eighth round, but he saw something and like, I mean,
Speaker 2: how many I'm gonna guess that the prior many players
Speaker 2: taken after the forty round. He pitched five hundred games
Speaker 2: in the big leagues and like, I'm sure I don't
Speaker 2: know who else Jim Brett sign, but I bet you're
Speaker 2: one of his favorite signings because of what you achieved
Speaker 2: relative to where you were picked.
Speaker 1: Awesome stuff from Jim kallis here on at Birdland Territory.
Speaker 1: More coming up.
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Speaker 5: Jim, I definitely want to ask you about I'm sure
Speaker 5: you've seen and thought about the proposal that MLB put
Speaker 5: out changing the draft rules, and we're a long way
Speaker 5: away until the CBA expires December first. But in this proposal,
Speaker 5: having the rounds go from twenty to twelve eliminate high
Speaker 5: schoolers eligibility to be drafted, you have to be twenty
Speaker 5: years old.
Speaker 6: Just what did you think of that proposal?
Speaker 2: I have to choose my words carefully here because we're
Speaker 2: not really I work for MLB. I'm obviously not involved
Speaker 2: in negotiations, but they don't really want as commenting on
Speaker 2: sure proposals. Guess I will say from a player development standpoint,
Speaker 2: I don't think it would be great for player development.
Speaker 2: Some of the things were proposed, but what winds up
Speaker 2: happening more long way off though, I'm just not supposed
Speaker 2: to comment much on specific proposals. They would be great.
Speaker 2: Anderson wouldn't be eligible in this year's draft, and he
Speaker 2: might be the number one overall pick.
Speaker 5: Well, here's a transition then, Jim Jackson Holiday. He of
Speaker 5: course was a high schooler who was drafted number one overall,
Speaker 5: still very young in his career and making the transition
Speaker 5: from shortstop to second base. And this year got off
Speaker 5: to a little bit of a funky start with a
Speaker 5: Hama bone surgery. Just what have you thought of Jackson
Speaker 5: Holliday from the time that he was the number one
Speaker 5: overall pick to his initial part of his MLB career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I know Andrews had played someone apart.
Speaker 2: I'm a little surprised he hasn't been better, because, man,
Speaker 2: that first full year in the minor leagues, I mean,
Speaker 2: he rocketed from single A to triple A. I remember
Speaker 2: we looked back. I mean outside of somebody like a
Speaker 2: Rod who means the greatest prospect I've ever seen, who
Speaker 2: went from singlely to the big leagues in his first
Speaker 2: full season. You just don't see guys do with Jackson Hall.
Speaker 2: And he's such an advanced to bat. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: a little surprised, like I said, that he hasn't based
Speaker 2: on the trajectory he was on, I would have probably thought, Okay,
Speaker 2: Jackson Holliday he'll be an All Star by now, and
Speaker 2: he hasn't quite gotten there yet. I still think, I mean, man,
Speaker 2: he's so young. What is he twenty two this year?
Speaker 6: Twenty two?
Speaker 2: I still think he's going to be a star. I
Speaker 2: just don't think you hit like he did at that
Speaker 2: younger age and you don't become a big league star.
Speaker 2: It would shock me, Jim.
Speaker 1: In our final moments, you want to ask what your
Speaker 1: take is on O's, the O's farm system overall. Right now,
Speaker 1: I think if we were to look at organizational rankings
Speaker 1: by a lot of outlets, the Ools will be somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle of the pack. Oriol fans know they
Speaker 1: were number one there for quite a while. They had
Speaker 1: three straight number one ranked players three years in a
Speaker 1: row with Rutchman and Gunner and Jackson. Only one of
Speaker 1: those three are really selling as we tape this this year.
Speaker 1: It's hard, man, I guess, to produce players. But what
Speaker 1: do you like about what the O's are doing right
Speaker 1: now and what are some things that are challenges for
Speaker 1: their player development and their minors?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think they have a pretty good
Speaker 2: core of prospects. You know, at the top of our
Speaker 2: prospect list, I mean, I know Nate George has been
Speaker 2: banged up a little bit, but like, I mean, that
Speaker 2: was a great late round. Fine. I like Irish and
Speaker 2: beheaval Lay from last year's draft or off the pretty
Speaker 2: good starts in Hia. Aeron Estrada is having a good
Speaker 2: year in Double A Lease Da Leone like e ra
Speaker 2: is high, but he's missing a ton of bats. He's intriguing.
Speaker 2: Trey Dick Gibson got to the big leagues. We've seen
Speaker 2: Joseph jurwa is having a really good year, you know,
Speaker 2: as Obama Hea. I mean, he's got to throw more strikes,
Speaker 2: but he's got a really live arm. Boston Bateman's interesting.
Speaker 2: I mean, I do feel like their pitching depth is
Speaker 2: a little better than it has been recently. Itty Quinn,
Speaker 2: another guy they drafted fairly early last year's pitching pretty well.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the biggest challenge for the Orioles,
Speaker 2: and we've seen this at the big league level, is
Speaker 2: to come up with pitching. You know, when Michael aast
Speaker 2: came over from the Astros, and the Astros pretty much
Speaker 2: never I mean, they took Mark pell which didn't pan out.
Speaker 2: But if you look at the guys who A lot
Speaker 2: of the Astros' best pitchers were either like really inexpensive
Speaker 2: international signings or later round draft picks like say fifth
Speaker 2: round on or they went out and they made big
Speaker 2: trades to get Garrett Cole and Justin Berlander and Zach Grinke,
Speaker 2: who are three Hall of famers. But the Astras didn't
Speaker 2: invest a lot of early picks in pitching. And you've
Speaker 2: kind of seen Michael Lies do that in Baltimore, but
Speaker 2: they haven't had the same success you're finding international pitching
Speaker 2: or necessarily finding hey, here's a guy like we took
Speaker 2: Connor Brown in the fifth round and he's you know,
Speaker 2: like a top three al Cy Young Award finisher or
Speaker 2: you know, and they have any outside trading for Corbin
Speaker 2: Burns to haven't made like the big, splashy trades. So
Speaker 2: I think that's kind of the biggest challenge is coming up,
Speaker 2: you know, whether it's going to be developing pitching or
Speaker 2: trading for pitching or however they can to come up
Speaker 2: with pitching. They hadn't quite had the same success they
Speaker 2: had in Houston of finding pitching, even if they aren't
Speaker 2: spending earlier around picks on it.
Speaker 1: Very interesting the dollars are pretty massive here for some
Speaker 1: of this stuff, Jim, as you well know, you put
Speaker 1: this out every year. The number one pick, which will
Speaker 1: be the White Sox this year, has a bonus slot
Speaker 1: of eleven point three to five million. The number one
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, the Oriel seventh pick, has a
Speaker 1: bonus slot of seven point three to two seven million,
Speaker 1: which is more than half of the Orioles total pool
Speaker 1: for ten rounds of picks. And then it's still eleven
Speaker 1: for eleven and twenty gym, isn't it one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand tops? If you go over, it comes out
Speaker 1: of the pool for those picks.
Speaker 2: Correct. Correct. So the Oriels have, you know, like you said,
Speaker 2: thirteen million, little over thirteen million. If they spend five
Speaker 2: percent over the pool, which is the max you can
Speaker 2: go without losing first round picks, they can get closer
Speaker 2: to fourteen. They'll be You know that pick seven is
Speaker 2: gonna be interesting from a financial standpoint, because, like I said,
Speaker 2: you have your it doesn't always work out this way,
Speaker 2: and it probably won't. You have your kind of clear
Speaker 2: top six guys, and everybody thinks they're going to go
Speaker 2: one through six. So the Oyls could entertain like, let's
Speaker 2: say there's four guys they like the same, or similarly,
Speaker 2: you take the guy who's least likely to go high
Speaker 2: and maybe you can save some money there without sacrificing
Speaker 2: talent in your mind compared to who's on the board,
Speaker 2: and then spend it later. So it'll be really interesting
Speaker 2: to see what they do with that. They'll be interested
Speaker 2: see if one of the top six gets to their pick,
Speaker 2: and then if they just pounce on that guy.
Speaker 1: I'll end our show with this note. The last time
Speaker 1: they drafted number seven, it worked out. The Oils would
Speaker 1: love to duplicate two thousand and three, when they drafted
Speaker 1: a young kid out of a junior college in Georgia
Speaker 1: named Nick Markakis. That worked out pretty well. They'd love
Speaker 1: to hit like that again when they draft number seven
Speaker 1: on July eleventh. Jim Man, great to spend time with you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us today on Birdland Territory. The
Speaker 1: draft is July eleventh and twelfth, the Saturday and Sunday
Speaker 1: ahead of the All Star Game. And if you watch
Speaker 1: Jim and Jonathan Mayo and Melanie's with you again, right,
Speaker 1: Melanie Newman from Yes.
Speaker 2: I think I think we well I'm not sure, but
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure we're gonna be solo for like Melanie
Speaker 2: and the sides. I'll be on the sideset with Melanie.
Speaker 2: We'll be two through four, I think, all by ourselves
Speaker 2: on day one, and then Melanie, I almost she'll be
Speaker 2: with us for day two. She has been in the past.
Speaker 2: She probably will for rounds five or ten. I'll do
Speaker 2: whatever they tell me when I get there.
Speaker 1: Yes, I had an administrative assistant to walk you from
Speaker 1: room to room. Listen, man, good luck with the coverage, Jim.
Speaker 1: I'm marvel when they get the rounds fifteen and sixteen
Speaker 1: watching Jim and Jonathan Mayo know so much about these
Speaker 1: young men, and it's a credit to you, guys, but
Speaker 1: it also means a lot to the people watching those kids.
Speaker 1: That's a big day for them, and you make it
Speaker 1: better for him with your coverage. Jim, thanks so much,
Speaker 1: my friend. We'll look forward to watching you on July eleventh.
Speaker 1: And thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 2: Oh no, great talking to you guys.
Speaker 1: I had a good time, Jim Gallas with us on
Speaker 1: Bird and Territory. Those fans, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2: H