Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. It's
Speaker 1: a special edition of the show. I'm joining right now
Speaker 1: by Scott Coleman. Scott, we have a guest coming in
Speaker 1: a second. How are you hello, Brad? We do have
Speaker 1: a very special guest, Carlos Colazzo, a national correspondent for
Speaker 1: Baseball America in my eyes, like the leading authority on
Speaker 1: MLB draft coverage. And of course this is a massive
Speaker 1: draft on the horizon for the Atlanta Braves. I mean,
Speaker 1: in some ways it could be like a franchise altering draft.
Speaker 1: They have the number nine pick, where they are picking
Speaker 1: in the top ten for the first time in many years.
Speaker 1: They also have the twenty sixth overall pick because of
Speaker 1: Drake Bald and winning Rookie of the Year. Very important
Speaker 1: draft on the horizon and very happy to have Carlos
Speaker 1: on the show to talk about it all. Absolutely so
Speaker 1: we are running this the week of the draft. It
Speaker 1: was recorded a couple of days ago. Nothing has changed.
Speaker 1: A m will be draft World. Just want to give
Speaker 1: that PSA out there. And the draft is this Saturday.
Speaker 1: So if you didn't know that already, now you know
Speaker 1: it's draft week. The draft is this Saturday, we'll talk
Speaker 1: all about it with someone who's actually qualified to talk
Speaker 1: about it. It's not us, So stay tuned. We'll dive
Speaker 1: in right now with us and Carlos Colaso on all
Speaker 1: things Braves and m'll be draft.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: We're now joined by good friend, and I mean really
Speaker 1: good friend. I said that all the time, really good
Speaker 1: front of the program, Carlos Colaso a Baseball America.
Speaker 3: What's up, man? How are you? Hello?
Speaker 2: Hello?
Speaker 4: I am good, glad to be here. As always, it's
Speaker 4: fun to do the annual Hammer Territory adventure. So what's up, Brad?
Speaker 4: What's up? Scott? Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1: Every once in a while we'll get a question about
Speaker 1: the draft, and as we always say, we don't know
Speaker 1: anything about the draft really, and I always know in
Speaker 1: my back pocket, I'm like, I do have someone we
Speaker 1: can call that will probably take my call based on
Speaker 1: our history, and his name is CARLS. Colosso, so thank you,
Speaker 1: sir for doing this. We're thought mostly drafts on this discussion.
Speaker 1: But as we're talking about this sports started recording, we
Speaker 1: have to ask you about Eric Cartman. Hey, Eric Cartman,
Speaker 1: is like the mania has taken hold nationally, especially locally,
Speaker 1: and this might be the only guy we talk about
Speaker 1: for much. This is in the system already, but uh,
Speaker 1: what's the buzz beyond our walls? Obviously he's become a
Speaker 1: big time prospect everywhere, but like, you're a national guy,
Speaker 1: what's your thought on Eric Cartman right now?
Speaker 3: Because it's crazy.
Speaker 4: I'm very torn on Eric Cartman, because part of me
Speaker 4: is very excited because when I did the Prospect Handbook
Speaker 4: chapter last off season, I tabbed Eric Cartman as a
Speaker 4: breakout prospect. But at the same stage I ranked Eric
Speaker 4: Cartman in the twenties on the Braves List, which looks
Speaker 4: egregious and horrible right now, because we recently updated our
Speaker 4: top thirties, we recently updated our top hundred. He is
Speaker 4: a top twenty five prospect in baseball. He is the
Speaker 4: number one prospect in the CISM. So I can kind
Speaker 4: of lie to myself and say, oh, I had him
Speaker 4: as a breakout, But truthfully, I never expected this sort
Speaker 4: of season from Eric Cartman. The tools that he has shown,
Speaker 4: in addition to the pure hitting ability he has shown,
Speaker 4: is exceptional. I mean, there were some traits he showed
Speaker 4: a year ago that I was like oh there, these
Speaker 4: are kind of interesting. Maybe with some continued polish, you
Speaker 4: can get to like a low average in game power,
Speaker 4: which would be good for a center fielder with his speed.
Speaker 4: And it's like he's on pace for a forty sixty
Speaker 4: season in seventy one games. It's it's utterly insane. He's
Speaker 4: been one of the most impressive players in all of
Speaker 4: minor league baseball. He's still twenty years old. The guys
Speaker 4: that I've talked to on our staff who are more
Speaker 4: focused on the prospect side of the game at this
Speaker 4: point in the calendar, are talking about just like how
Speaker 4: scouts are drooling over him, and like the continued development
Speaker 4: and potential you could see with a player like him
Speaker 4: who really doesn't have the same sort of background in
Speaker 4: reps in baseball. It's just been insane to see. And
Speaker 4: I think for Brave fans, they've got to be thrilled
Speaker 4: about what he's done. I don't know if they are
Speaker 4: in the camp of like, oh, this player is the future,
Speaker 4: or hey, we can really trade him for an impact
Speaker 4: player now. Because he has only played at HIA, I
Speaker 4: don't know exactly what his ETA timeline is going to be,
Speaker 4: but it's certainly not a bad thing when you're getting
Speaker 4: a performance like this from your farm And I also
Speaker 4: feel like he's one of a number of offensive players
Speaker 4: in the system who are really doing well, which is
Speaker 4: great news for the Braves because for years and years
Speaker 4: now it's been such a picture heavy system. And I
Speaker 4: say that, but you have guys like Drake Baldwin and
Speaker 4: Michael Harris, but I guess Michael Harris has been up
Speaker 4: for a while now, so no, just really really cool
Speaker 4: story and one of the best in the miners right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, Carlos, we were fortunate enough to have you
Speaker 5: on the show I don't know, eight months or so ago,
Speaker 5: and I think you know, objectively, the farm system was
Speaker 5: not in a great place. I think it was fair
Speaker 5: to say that maybe a little better than what it
Speaker 5: was in like twenty twenty four, So it was just
Speaker 5: completely void of real talent outside of one or two guys.
Speaker 5: But you know, the farm system as a whole as healthy,
Speaker 5: and obviously, I mean that has layers to it because
Speaker 5: not only does it help the big league team, but
Speaker 5: as the trade deadline approaches, I think you can say
Speaker 5: with a straight face that if the Braves want to
Speaker 5: go out and make a real trade of substance for
Speaker 5: like an impact. Let's go all in or at least
Speaker 5: really try to give ourselves a chance. You have Eric Hartman,
Speaker 5: you have Cam Kimminetti who was just named to the
Speaker 5: Futures Game. Tate South, the scene, who was the first
Speaker 5: round pick a year ago, has really come on after
Speaker 5: a pretty disappointing kind of mini debut as a professional.
Speaker 5: So it just you know, I think, I mean, you're
Speaker 5: the expert at Baseball America. I think BA does the
Speaker 5: best job of anybody covering the farm systems in the draft.
Speaker 5: But it feels like this is the healthiest the Braves
Speaker 5: farm system has been in I mean years at this point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does feel like it. I think having a
Speaker 4: couple of young headliners offensively is good. They always seem
Speaker 4: to have pictures and consider duration. Cam Kemminiddie, we've had
Speaker 4: in the top one hundred for a while now. Jed
Speaker 4: Richie got in that top one hundred range for the
Speaker 4: first time, I believe at the start of our preseason
Speaker 4: list this year. I'm so pretty excited about him. The
Speaker 4: improvements that we've seen from Tate South Asceene and his
Speaker 4: approach this year. It almost makes me feel like his
Speaker 4: debut was just a blip because pre draft we expected
Speaker 4: Tate south Assen to be a much more polished offensive
Speaker 4: player than he showed in his debut, And it really
Speaker 4: does just make me wonder, Okay, do we just have
Speaker 4: a terrible entry point for young high school players in
Speaker 4: minor league baseball these days? Like there's no real appropriate
Speaker 4: level for them to play in official games. If you
Speaker 4: want to get them in official games, it does seem
Speaker 4: like it's probably too advanced for them, especially after coming
Speaker 4: off a full spring season. Tate south Asen absolutely looked
Speaker 4: over match. I don't think it's hyperbole to say he
Speaker 4: was one of the most disappointing players of any player
Speaker 4: in that draft class. For how bad the approach was.
Speaker 4: The one kind of glimmer of hope for him was
Speaker 4: that he was hitting the ball exceptionally hard when he
Speaker 4: did make contact, and now the swing to sessions are
Speaker 4: far better. He's getting the ball in the air a
Speaker 4: lot more frequently. I'm still not entirely sure where he's
Speaker 4: going to play defensively, but the fact that he has
Speaker 4: a chance to play a handful about the middle premium
Speaker 4: positions is really exciting for him as well. So it's
Speaker 4: great to see that pick already aging really well. And
Speaker 4: the Braves have just shown a knack for hitting on
Speaker 4: value late in the draft, and getting Hartman in the
Speaker 4: twentieth round is kind of egregious for everyone the other
Speaker 4: team in the industry at this stage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's also it's also like maybe a reminder not
Speaker 1: to overreact, especially a high school kid coming up. You know,
Speaker 1: as much as I don't know much about this stuff,
Speaker 1: Like my prior is to hey, like, let's not overreact
Speaker 1: to a handful of games for an eighteen year old,
Speaker 1: even if as bad as he looked, Like I I
Speaker 1: heard the same things the limit time that I saw
Speaker 1: it didn't look good. But it's like, hey, that was
Speaker 1: six it was six eight months ago, and now it's
Speaker 1: like a totally different world for Salvastine and that's just
Speaker 1: one player.
Speaker 3: Is that reasonable?
Speaker 1: Like, how do you approach like the first time you
Speaker 1: see a guy after the draft, especially when they're eighteen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think what was tricky about Tate was it
Speaker 4: wasn't just like it was kind of disappointing, Like the
Speaker 4: approach was just horrendous. In Yeah, fifteen games, sixty six
Speaker 4: and then it's not that much time. But he also
Speaker 4: cleared like what I think of as the stabilization rate
Speaker 4: for strikeout rate in particular, and that was the number
Speaker 4: that really concerned me. I think I'm quicker to react
Speaker 4: to strikeout rate and contact rate noise for players, but
Speaker 4: for me, it's served as a very good reminder of, like, hey,
Speaker 4: especially when players are entering pro ball for the first time,
Speaker 4: with our understanding of where the minor league system is now, yeah,
Speaker 4: it is probably a good idea to kind of pump
Speaker 4: the brakes, be cautious, let them get acclimated, let them
Speaker 4: get some more time under their belt, let them start
Speaker 4: the season fresh, and then see what you've got. It's
Speaker 4: always tricky, and we do this with our n season updates,
Speaker 4: both on the draft side and on the pro side.
Speaker 4: We want to be reactive to new information and to
Speaker 4: things that have changed with players. But if the more
Speaker 4: you iterate on a list, I think the more you
Speaker 4: open yourself up to react too much. And so kind
Speaker 4: of striking that balance and trying to figure out what
Speaker 4: the best lane to take is I think a persistent
Speaker 4: question mark and one we're kind of always grappling with.
Speaker 4: So it's tough, but I mean he has what seventy
Speaker 4: one games now of really impressive performance, So it's nice
Speaker 4: to see.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, we'll take
Speaker 5: the wins. You know, you use a first round pick,
Speaker 5: and you know, there's so much nuance to a draft,
Speaker 5: and it's you know, he's eighteen years old playing pro
Speaker 5: ball and he was facing high schoolers three months before.
Speaker 5: I mean, there's obviously a giant leap and just everything.
Speaker 5: You know, you're on your own for the first time,
Speaker 5: you're in a new city, sometimes you travel all the
Speaker 5: way across the country. It's very, very different, a lot
Speaker 5: beyond just trying to hit a baseball, which in and
Speaker 5: of itself is is plenty difficult to do. Carlo is
Speaker 5: the last prospect I wanted to ask you about. Is
Speaker 5: the bravest first round pick two years ago, Kim Keminetti.
Speaker 5: We mentioned he was the team's lone futures game representative.
Speaker 5: You know, two years in you mentioned just before we
Speaker 5: started recording that you like Cam and Eddy and the
Speaker 5: progress that he's made. But kind of where does Cam
Speaker 5: Kemedy sit two years after being the club's first round pick.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still pretty excited about what he could provide
Speaker 4: to a starting rotation. I think there is a really
Speaker 4: electric fastball in the tank for him from the left side.
Speaker 4: I think what we've seen from him throughout his basically
Speaker 4: two plus years now in pro bawl. I guess, not
Speaker 4: two full years, but what does he have like one
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty ish innings total at this stage. I've
Speaker 4: been my concerns with him, I guess coming into pro ball,
Speaker 4: where what's going to be the development of his breaking
Speaker 4: ball and what's the control going to look like? And
Speaker 4: I think, especially after the full season a year ago,
Speaker 4: what he did from a strikeout and walk perspective was
Speaker 4: really exciting to me. I was very happy to put
Speaker 4: him onto our top one hundred as soon as we
Speaker 4: possibly could. I don't think my perspective of him has
Speaker 4: changed too dramatically at this stage. He's still very young.
Speaker 4: It's crazy to think of him still being just nineteen
Speaker 4: years old. I don't know if he's turned twenty yet
Speaker 4: as of this recording, but he did stand out as
Speaker 4: like one of the younger players in the class. And
Speaker 4: when I look down and just see the agent what
Speaker 4: he's done so far ready getting to Hya I think
Speaker 4: it's just a really appealing combination of athleticism, arm talent,
Speaker 4: a change up that I really like, and better strikes
Speaker 4: than I was expecting at this stage in his career.
Speaker 4: Although I guess you could say that's still an area
Speaker 4: where you're gonna want to see a little bit more
Speaker 4: sharpness and Christmas crispness from him moving forward. But I
Speaker 4: think if he developed into a made rotation arm, that
Speaker 4: wouldn't shock me at all.
Speaker 3: Sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 1: Okay, Carlos, We're going to use your giant pervasive expertise
Speaker 1: on the on the MLB drafts momentarily because were gritten
Speaker 1: very close to that first thoughts.
Speaker 3: You have to work more partners on today's show.
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Speaker 3: Okay, Carl.
Speaker 1: Before we dive back in Baseball America, there's been a
Speaker 1: little bit of a promo with us. So if you
Speaker 1: go to Baseball America dot com, I believe is the
Speaker 1: place you can tell me if I'm wrong there it
Speaker 1: is on the street US. You can see this, but
Speaker 1: we have a promo code for you. It's Hammer thirty
Speaker 1: for thirty percent off the first year of any annual
Speaker 1: digital debscription at Baseball America dot com and as of
Speaker 1: course war Carlos works, so please support Carlos and also
Speaker 1: get great content all joking aside, So check it out
Speaker 1: and we appreciate, of course you're being here and also
Speaker 1: Ba's work all year round. Look, the draft is coming.
Speaker 1: The draft is on Saturday the eleventh. I believe Carlos
Speaker 1: will be on TV again. We get to watch your
Speaker 1: shiny face on the big screen. Yapen, sorry about that.
Speaker 4: You will have to uh, you will have to deal
Speaker 4: with me on the draft this year again. Yes, first
Speaker 4: four rounds.
Speaker 1: First four rounds. You have a lot better hair than
Speaker 1: either the people on the other than yourself. So that's
Speaker 1: that's part of the appeal here. But look it's coming.
Speaker 1: And for the first time in a while, the breaks
Speaker 1: up a top ten pick. They have the number nine pick.
Speaker 1: Obviously they didn't want to have an m y pick
Speaker 1: because that means they were bad last year, but they
Speaker 1: were and that's what happened. Look, without happened to get
Speaker 1: crazy into intel, Like there's the intel side in scouting side.
Speaker 1: Have you heard anything on the intel side yet that
Speaker 1: points you in any specific directions around the braves? Because
Speaker 1: it gets a little bit it's a little bit easier
Speaker 1: maybe maybe I'm crazy. You can tell me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: But higher you go, maybe a little bit easier to
Speaker 1: like narrow things down a bit on that first pick.
Speaker 4: Yes, that is typically how it works, although this year
Speaker 4: we feel like there is a group of six players
Speaker 4: who are the clear top players in the class, and
Speaker 4: so it is difficult to envision scenarios where all those
Speaker 4: six players aren't off the board inside the first six seven.
Speaker 4: Once you get to eight picks, it feels really unlikely
Speaker 4: for those players to be off the board. So if
Speaker 4: you're the Braves, you maybe don't like that because after
Speaker 4: that range, I think this class is maybe more muddled
Speaker 4: and difficult to separate and full of players that the
Speaker 4: industry has been incredibly split camp on, Like, there are
Speaker 4: players who should be available for the Braves, college hitters
Speaker 4: in particular, who I talk with some teams and are like,
Speaker 4: this guy is a no doubt top ten prospect, and
Speaker 4: other teams say we wouldn't take this player in the
Speaker 4: first round. And so depending on your scouting philosophy, your
Speaker 4: preference on tools and athleticism versus performance or contact ability,
Speaker 4: I think there is an incredibly wide range of opinions
Speaker 4: on the players that Braves are likely to be picking
Speaker 4: from now. If they get one of these players in
Speaker 4: the top six range to fall to them at nine,
Speaker 4: I think that's probably a win, regardless of the player
Speaker 4: who that is. I wouldn't bet on it now. And
Speaker 4: for the first pick for the Braves in particular, we
Speaker 4: hear a lot of college hitters and they are one
Speaker 4: of the landing spots that seem most likely for the
Speaker 4: first high school pitcher off the board, in left hander
Speaker 4: Jioe Rojas. Whether or not that's because the Braves historically
Speaker 4: have just loved taking high school pitchers. Alex Anthopolis seems
Speaker 4: really just geared towards getting as much pitching as he can.
Speaker 4: I'm uncertain, but I know that they have spent time
Speaker 4: on Jioe Rojas. I know there is a collection of
Speaker 4: college hitters that make a lot of sense for the
Speaker 4: Braves at nine. And I'm unsure if last year's draft
Speaker 4: of them taking three straight shortstops, is that an indication
Speaker 4: that they are flipping into a more hitter centric draft.
Speaker 4: Is that just an indication that a year ago the
Speaker 4: best players on their board were hitters and that's just
Speaker 4: kind of how it fell. We'll get a better understanding
Speaker 4: of that on Saturday, hopefully, But those are kind of
Speaker 4: the names that I'm hearing right now, or the profiles
Speaker 4: I should say, you.
Speaker 5: Know, in terms of you know, this is a unique
Speaker 5: draft for the Braves just because they have not had
Speaker 5: a top ten pick in a long time. So not
Speaker 5: only do they have the ninth pick, but they also
Speaker 5: have the twenty sixth pick and all of the money
Speaker 5: that comes with those two top selections. You know, Historically
Speaker 5: it's been kind of a mixed bag, I feel like,
Speaker 5: in terms of whether the Braves go for best player
Speaker 5: available or if they go for cutting a deal with
Speaker 5: a player who maybe isn't as high up on the
Speaker 5: consensus board. But of course there's ways to manipulate a
Speaker 5: draft pool, Carlos, Which is kind of your read on
Speaker 5: the Braves, who generally have not picked this high in
Speaker 5: about a decade. You know, do you think they're gonna
Speaker 5: go best player available? Do you think they're going to
Speaker 5: try to cut a deal and really make the most
Speaker 5: of it. I mean, of course, this is probably something
Speaker 5: that changes by the hour, depending on who the Braves
Speaker 5: feel like they're going to be able to draft. But
Speaker 5: just kind of your read on the Brave strategy in
Speaker 5: the next ten days or so to the draft.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think most teams will tell you that they're
Speaker 4: drafting best player available, even if maybe that's not true
Speaker 4: in some sense. Yeah, they're not going to draft a
Speaker 4: guy and tell you that he wasn't the best player
Speaker 4: available on their board. But the Braves have been a
Speaker 4: team who are very willing to take players on underslot
Speaker 4: deals with their first pick and then push that savings
Speaker 4: to players with the next few picks. I think in
Speaker 4: the last four or five drafts they've done that every
Speaker 4: single year, actually, and they could be in a position
Speaker 4: where that strategy makes a lot of sense. I was
Speaker 4: talking about this with an Orioles podcaster. Or they're picking
Speaker 4: number seven, and I think they're in a similar range
Speaker 4: of talent. Both those teams are tied to a lot
Speaker 4: of the same players. If you're in a situation where
Speaker 4: you have six college hitters who your scouting department is
Speaker 4: torn on, you viewed no real separation, I think that
Speaker 4: creates a situation where there could be a lot of
Speaker 4: value in saying, hey, we don't feel confident that we
Speaker 4: can separate the talent here. We like all these players
Speaker 4: in a similar range. Let's get the best deal we
Speaker 4: can here and then add some value later on. Again,
Speaker 4: the Braves have done a great job of this in
Speaker 4: the past. Them signing Briggs Mackenzie a few years or
Speaker 4: last year in the third or fourth round. I think
Speaker 4: he got the biggest bonus in their entire draft class
Speaker 4: that could easily happen this year. I think the talent
Speaker 4: of this year's class is extremely deep with high school pitching.
Speaker 4: So even if they don't take a high school pitcher
Speaker 4: ninth overall, I think there are a number of appealing
Speaker 4: options that will be available for them at twenty six
Speaker 4: with their second pick in the first round. What's interesting
Speaker 4: to me is the last time the Braves picked inside
Speaker 4: the top ten range. I believe it was the twenty
Speaker 4: nineteen draft. They took Shae lang Elier's ninth overall. Then
Speaker 4: they took Brandon Shoemake, so they went college heavy in
Speaker 4: that draft. I actually think there's a college catcher this year.
Speaker 4: It makes a lot of sense for them and Ryder Helfrick.
Speaker 4: I haven't heard his name super tied to them right now,
Speaker 4: but given how the Braves have been able to identify
Speaker 4: and develop catchers that could be an interesting name. There
Speaker 4: are guys like Drew Burriss Out or Georgia Tech, who's
Speaker 4: the local product of the Braves that interest in out
Speaker 4: of high school. I know he's going to be a
Speaker 4: popular name, one of the most productive players in college baseball,
Speaker 4: but I think there are a lot of avenues to
Speaker 4: value for the Braves here. And we've also talked to
Speaker 4: a lot of teams who say, hey, this is a
Speaker 4: draft where we would rather be picking a little bit
Speaker 4: later and have multiple picks because there is just no
Speaker 4: separation after that top six. So if you view the
Speaker 4: draft in that lens, you could even say the Braves
Speaker 4: are pretty well equipped to tackle the strength of this draft.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, there is that creativity aspect that we I think
Speaker 1: you and I talk about every every year when you
Speaker 1: come on about you know, it's just different than football
Speaker 1: and basketball. It just is there's more of that moving
Speaker 1: money around and being strategic, and the Braves having these
Speaker 1: two picks in the top thirty can get a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of creativity if you if you want to.
Speaker 1: You nutioned a couple guys we were going to ask
Speaker 1: you about, one being Geo Rojas, who I think was
Speaker 1: in a recent mock of yours as the Braves pick,
Speaker 1: and then also Drew Burris. Is I mean unsurprisingly the
Speaker 1: name we get asked about the most local guy, Like
Speaker 1: you said, the Braves do. They have a lot of
Speaker 1: lots of local history. The Braves do take local pretty often,
Speaker 1: like a lot of teams do. But you can talk
Speaker 1: about either one of those guys if you want to.
Speaker 1: But is there like even beyond that. They're like a
Speaker 1: if it's Carlos making the pick and you don't know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen ahead of you. But is there like
Speaker 1: a best case scenario that's realistic. I'm not saying they're
Speaker 1: gonna get Rock is they're not.
Speaker 3: But like, what's gonna happen? What's what's the best realistic
Speaker 3: scenario in your mind?
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Giants must still think that they have a
Speaker 4: chance of getting Rock. I don't think that's gonna happen
Speaker 4: even at four. But for me, I mean I would
Speaker 4: be thrilled if Eric with Junior slipped out of that
Speaker 4: top six and got to me. I think he's the
Speaker 4: most exciting player outside of the top three we have,
Speaker 4: which is Rock, Chulawski, Grady Emerson, von Lackey. We expect
Speaker 4: those players to go inside the first three picks in
Speaker 4: some order. If I'm setting aside the top six, who
Speaker 4: we view as as the top players in the class,
Speaker 4: and it's it's a chalk draft. Then I'm looking at
Speaker 4: this next tier a really college hitters. For me, I
Speaker 4: think Joe Rojas is talented. I would take some of
Speaker 4: these college hitters above him, just because I don't know
Speaker 4: that Joe Rojas is in the same tiers like a
Speaker 4: Seth Hernandez from a year ago, where I would have
Speaker 4: taken him with the first overall pick. I thought he
Speaker 4: was that tier of a talented high school player. Joe
Speaker 4: Rojas is very good. I think his talent would be
Speaker 4: warranted here, but there are some bats that I'm personally
Speaker 4: excited about. So if you're asking me who I would
Speaker 4: take in this range, I would be looking at Derrek Curriel,
Speaker 4: who's an outfielder at LSU. He's a draft eligible sophomore.
Speaker 4: He is one of the best peer hitters in this class,
Speaker 4: maybe the best peer hitter in the class. I think
Speaker 4: we have him graded out as the highest peer hit
Speaker 4: tool in this class. That is his game. He will
Speaker 4: get some criticism, and I think this comes back to
Speaker 4: the split camp. The split camp kind of bucket of
Speaker 4: these college players. There are going to be scouts who
Speaker 4: love Derek Curiel because of that peer hitting ability, and
Speaker 4: then there are going to be teams in scouts who
Speaker 4: look at him and say, hey, you're a lot smaller
Speaker 4: than we would like for a player in this range.
Speaker 4: You don't have this sort of power. You haven't hit
Speaker 4: over ten home runs in college. If you're very down
Speaker 4: on the power, you might not like curryel. But for me,
Speaker 4: I see a player who I think has a chance
Speaker 4: to be a plus hitter. He's going to get on base,
Speaker 4: he's going to play center field. He's also going to
Speaker 4: play that at a high level. He doesn't have the
Speaker 4: typical foot speed of an elite centerfielder, but his defensive
Speaker 4: instincts have been really advanced for a number of years now.
Speaker 4: And I think if you look at the history of
Speaker 4: the draft and you look at, like in hindsight, who
Speaker 4: are the players who are going in the middle of
Speaker 4: the first round, it is like regular, average, steady players.
Speaker 4: Once you get outside of that top three, top five,
Speaker 4: you're not getting a lot of all star players. And
Speaker 4: I don't think Derreck Curriel has all star upside, but
Speaker 4: I am maybe most convicted in him being a regular,
Speaker 4: everyday big leaguer who's going to provide value of any
Speaker 4: player in this class once we get outside of that
Speaker 4: top six range. So I've kind of been the high
Speaker 4: guy in Derreck Curriel on our staff be in the
Speaker 4: industry for a long time now, Like if I'm lining
Speaker 4: up the board, I would take him fifth overall, so
Speaker 4: he'd be the guy I look at for the Braves.
Speaker 4: But there are a couple other outfielders that I know
Speaker 4: my colleagues at BA prefer and I think also make
Speaker 4: a lot of sense. We can get into those if
Speaker 4: you want. Drew Burris at Georgia Tech. AJ Garcia at
Speaker 4: Virginia is another name, and then maybe even Tyler bellat
Speaker 4: Kentucky as both the name that I've heard with the
Speaker 4: Braves justin Lebron if you want more athleticism tools upside,
Speaker 4: and then I think the only I don't think a
Speaker 4: high school hitter is most likely here for the Bravez,
Speaker 4: just because there's not an obvious name that makes sense
Speaker 4: on talent. But this might be kind of the upper
Speaker 4: range for Trevor Condon, who is also a local kid,
Speaker 4: high school player out of Georgia who should be one
Speaker 4: of the next high school hitters after our elite top
Speaker 4: six are off the board.
Speaker 5: So Coylas, you just you mentioned a lot of names
Speaker 5: college talent, some prep arms. I mean, where's the strength
Speaker 5: in the twenty twenty sixth draft class.
Speaker 4: I think relative to a normal year, the strength as
Speaker 4: a whole is for high school pitching. It's a bit
Speaker 4: unusu to say because we don't have a high school
Speaker 4: pitcher ranked in the top fifteen, but I think outside
Speaker 4: of that range there are a ton of high school
Speaker 4: armsuit teams are excited about. So at the top of
Speaker 4: the board this year we expected to be very hit
Speaker 4: or heavy, probably pretty college heavy, but this has been
Speaker 4: one of the more praised high school pitching classes that
Speaker 4: I've covered at Baseball America. I know this is a
Speaker 4: demographic that a lot of teams are really hesitant to
Speaker 4: take early in the draft. The Braves are one of
Speaker 4: the outliers there, and I think they've done pretty well
Speaker 4: by that. There are a number of high school pitchers
Speaker 4: in this class that I would take. I would probably
Speaker 4: take four or five high school pitchers before the second
Speaker 4: college arm goes out the board. We have a clear
Speaker 4: number one college right handed pitcher in Jackson Floor at
Speaker 4: UC Santa Barbara, who should be a top ten overall pick.
Speaker 4: I think that once you get into the second half
Speaker 4: of the first round, once you get into the comp range,
Speaker 4: second round, even third round, there are going to be
Speaker 4: a lot of really appealing high school arms. So I
Speaker 4: think that is the strength of the class. I also
Speaker 4: think there are a number of college bats that are interesting,
Speaker 4: but who come with flaws. Like I mentioned, there's Derek Curriell,
Speaker 4: who you feel good about the hitting ability, he maybe
Speaker 4: doesn't have tools. You have a guy like Justin Lebron
Speaker 4: at Alabama who is like rivals any player in this
Speaker 4: class in terms of upside and tools. Say, if you
Speaker 4: see him on the right day, he looks like a
Speaker 4: franchise player. So there are going to be some teams
Speaker 4: who shoot for like the ceiling and shoot for the
Speaker 4: moon with players like Justin Lebron and Sawyer Strosnyder, and
Speaker 4: then there are going to be teams who maybe take
Speaker 4: a safer track and go for these like proven hit
Speaker 4: oriented players like a Chris Hiccopean at Texas A and
Speaker 4: M who I think is another player who could fit
Speaker 4: for the Braves. He's a player I've heard linked with them.
Speaker 4: He has very limited defensive ability, speed, arm strength, but
Speaker 4: his hit power combination is maybe one of the best
Speaker 4: in the class not named rock Chelawski or von Lackey.
Speaker 4: So I do think for me, the college hitting group
Speaker 4: is going to get a lot of criticism because there
Speaker 4: are obvious flaws with all these players you can point to.
Speaker 4: But I think depending on what you do well as
Speaker 4: a player development group, there's a lot of value to
Speaker 4: be had here, and there's a lot of depth of
Speaker 4: physical toolsy and infield oriented college players, which I think
Speaker 4: is just an appealing demographic generally.
Speaker 5: Kind of an adjacent question of that, but of course
Speaker 5: in college football college basketball, nil has just completely altered
Speaker 5: the way the drafts go with being able to retain
Speaker 5: players and maybe keep players around for another year instead
Speaker 5: of them going pro and maybe making not the greatest
Speaker 5: choice for them. I know college basketball college football are
Speaker 5: very different from college baseball and the prep circuit as well,
Speaker 5: but in what ways, if any, has kind of this
Speaker 5: modern era of college athletics impacted the baseball draft.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it sounds like MLB at least wants to go
Speaker 4: fully into that NFL and NBA direction and get rid
Speaker 4: of high school players entirely, which I think would be
Speaker 4: disastrous for Major League Baseball. But even beyond that, with
Speaker 4: the current system, as we're dealing with that, I think
Speaker 4: it is a lot easier for colleges to retain typical
Speaker 4: draft eligible juniors once you get into the four, five, six, seven,
Speaker 4: eight nine round range. And so I think from the
Speaker 4: team perspective, and this was brought up to me specifically
Speaker 4: at a field the other day when I was talking
Speaker 4: with scouts. I think the new five year eligibility rule
Speaker 4: that's gonna come and play I think in twenty seven.
Speaker 4: So players who are eligible this year and have remaining eligibility,
Speaker 4: it's not the case where hey, you're a junior, you
Speaker 4: can choose to take this deal or come back as
Speaker 4: a senior next year with no leverage. You're going to
Speaker 4: have two additional years. So I think the way that
Speaker 4: that leverage impacts signing negotiations for those players is just
Speaker 4: going to really make teams have to do even more
Speaker 4: due diligence. I'm making sure they have those signability numbers down.
Speaker 4: We say this every year. If a player is selected
Speaker 4: in the top ten rounds, you should assume they are
Speaker 4: signing because teams have a great hit rate on signing
Speaker 4: those players. I think in the bonus pool era, it
Speaker 4: is like ninety eight point five percent of players taken
Speaker 4: sign There are a handful of players each year who don't.
Speaker 4: That's almost always a mistake by the team. Either they've
Speaker 4: drafted a player blind, just assuming they're going to be
Speaker 4: able to get it done, calling a player's bluff and
Speaker 4: it doesn't happen, or a medical situation comes up which
Speaker 4: changes the money from the team perspective, and the players like, no,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to agree to that. I agree to
Speaker 4: something else. But I do think that's an element that
Speaker 4: is interesting. You also see a lot more withdrawals from
Speaker 4: the draft. We see that from high school players, we're
Speaker 4: seeing that from college players more this year. Steven Milom
Speaker 4: at LSU was a player we think could have fit
Speaker 4: in the third to sixth round range in this year's class.
Speaker 4: A very solid college player. Teams have the financial ability
Speaker 4: and the desire to get roster stability. College coaches are
Speaker 4: kind of hate. Everyone hates the timing of the draft
Speaker 4: these days. But there's transfer portal, there's draft. You don't
Speaker 4: know who's coming back to your team. You really have
Speaker 4: no certainty about who's actually going to be filling out
Speaker 4: your lineup and in your rotation, So teams are pressuring
Speaker 4: kids and saying, hey, we'll give you X amount of
Speaker 4: money if you pull your name out from the draft.
Speaker 4: So there are a lots lots of other elements, lots
Speaker 4: of other avenues for players to get money, which is
Speaker 4: probably good from a player perspective, but I know from
Speaker 4: the team perspective, just does complicate things. It makes it
Speaker 4: a little trickier. College is more competitive than it used
Speaker 4: to be in louring players away, so that's an element.
Speaker 4: I imagine we'll continue seeing fewer and fewer high school
Speaker 4: players as a total proportion of the whole draft. I
Speaker 4: think the last few years it's been like one hundred
Speaker 4: or so high school players signed. So yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 4: a real factor.
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Speaker 1: for the next shift. Now I know who to call
Speaker 1: if the if Bajor League Baseball does make those changes
Speaker 1: and uh, they agreed to not have players, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: call you to have you just unload on the podcast, because.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could probably get a bunch of scouts to
Speaker 4: call you up and unload as well. When we reached
Speaker 4: out to them, they were not happy. It's probably putting
Speaker 4: it lately.
Speaker 5: I wonder why.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, I can imagine. I look,
Speaker 1: you probably have already named a couple of these guys,
Speaker 1: but I want to give you the chance to. I
Speaker 1: have a feeling you have some favorites that are like
Speaker 1: your guys. I like to ask that question when I
Speaker 1: have people at cover drafts. I think is Curiel is
Speaker 1: probably one of them based on what you said earlier,
Speaker 1: but like it could be deeper too, like the Braves
Speaker 1: have picks at forty eight and eighty four and one
Speaker 1: twelve and down the board, like so fans will be
Speaker 1: interested in what you have even so wide open, like
Speaker 1: who are Carlos's guys like in big bold letters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, carry All has become the one I've already talked
Speaker 4: about him, so I'll move on to another. I really
Speaker 4: like saw Your Strosnyder and outfit or at TCU for
Speaker 4: maybe the exact opposite reasons that I like Derekkuryle, which
Speaker 4: is funny. He has some hit questions, some approach questions,
Speaker 4: but I think from really the entire draft, there are
Speaker 4: a few players who you could point to and say
Speaker 4: they have sixties across the board power, speed, fielding arm
Speaker 4: I think Sawyer strosnider is that he had an exceptional
Speaker 4: freshman season with TCU, maybe didn't quite live up to
Speaker 4: expectations the spring, hit under three hundred, which is a
Speaker 4: scary number to not cross for a potential first round
Speaker 4: college outfielder. He is one that I'm just really bullish
Speaker 4: on the athleticism and the upside potential. I think he's
Speaker 4: shown enough improvement with his approach this spring even without
Speaker 4: hitting three hundred, that I'm excited about what he could
Speaker 4: do moving forward. I think he's probably in between both
Speaker 4: of the Braves picks. Maybe there's a chance he slips
Speaker 4: to their second pick if they got him with their
Speaker 4: second pick. I would be thrilled if I was a
Speaker 4: Braves fan from the high school pitching demographic, which is
Speaker 4: a demographic that I always like more than the industry.
Speaker 4: Coleman Borthwick is right handed pitcher out of Florida. He
Speaker 4: is this like massive six foot six, two hundred and
Speaker 4: sixty pound right handed pitcher. He's also a really talented
Speaker 4: third baseman and hitter. He doesn't look like he would
Speaker 4: be a good infielder. He played shortstop for his team.
Speaker 4: Just imagine a six foot six, two hundred and sixty
Speaker 4: pounds player playing shortstop, and like for a high school player,
Speaker 4: he plays it well. He would be a real hitting
Speaker 4: prospect in college. I've talked to a few scouts. I
Speaker 4: think they're probably outlier opinions who'd like him as a
Speaker 4: hitter even in pro ball. But I'm all in on
Speaker 4: his pitching ability. It's a fastball up to ninety eight
Speaker 4: ninety nine. It's a power slider in the mid eighties.
Speaker 4: It's exceptional body control for a player of his size
Speaker 4: and just weight. He throws strikes at a high level.
Speaker 4: I think he has tremendous baseball IQ. He's actually gotten
Speaker 4: a lot of Austin Riley comps, which is interesting because
Speaker 4: Austin Riley, I'm not sure if you guys remember at
Speaker 4: the time, but like when he was coming out of
Speaker 4: high school, a lot of scouts thought of him as
Speaker 4: a pitching prospect.
Speaker 3: First.
Speaker 4: I think Coleman Borthwick is probably in the opposite direction
Speaker 4: where he's probably more likely to pitch at the next level.
Speaker 4: But I would take him in the middle of the
Speaker 4: first round. I don't hear about him going there a lot,
Speaker 4: So if he was another player who the Braves had
Speaker 4: a chance to get with their second pick, I think
Speaker 4: that would be great value. I could probably name some more,
Speaker 4: but I don't want to exhaust you guys. If there's
Speaker 4: any other specific players you want to hear about these,
Speaker 4: please let me know.
Speaker 1: You would never you would never exhaust us. This is
Speaker 1: it's actually it's always hard because like I'm almost gonna
Speaker 1: ask you, like, give me like a a later round
Speaker 1: guy that you like. But also if I ask that question,
Speaker 1: it's like that means you probably had that player rounds
Speaker 1: ahead of where he might be drafted, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. It's kind of like, hey, there are name
Speaker 1: a guy out outside of the top two rounds or
Speaker 1: something that you like that this is this.
Speaker 4: This is a good question, actually, because the way we
Speaker 4: try to build our list for people who are maybe
Speaker 4: unfamiliar with our process, it is less a this is
Speaker 4: like Carlos Clauso's opinion on the players, and more a Hey,
Speaker 4: We're trying to solicit as much feedback as we can
Speaker 4: from the scouting industry as a whole, and we're trying
Speaker 4: to create like a consensus industry list. So even if
Speaker 4: I really like a player, but none of the scouts
Speaker 4: I talk to you like that player, I'm going to
Speaker 4: have him placed where the scouts have him. I think
Speaker 4: that is a more valuable list for our players. I'm
Speaker 4: trying to get into the expertise of these guys who
Speaker 4: are doing it year round, seeing these players far more
Speaker 4: than I am. The coverage is far better. So there
Speaker 4: are always some players that I do like a little
Speaker 4: bit more than where we have him on the board.
Speaker 4: One that I'll name is another high school hitter listed
Speaker 4: as a short stop, probably not a short stop in
Speaker 4: the long term, but Connor Como out of Texas. He
Speaker 4: is the six ft four, one hundred and eighty pound
Speaker 4: left handed hitter with great natural hitting traits. I think
Speaker 4: a lot of physical projection in the future to dream
Speaker 4: on more power coming. But his swing is super easy,
Speaker 4: super loose, super repeatable. I think he's unfazed by velocity.
Speaker 4: There's a chance he goes in the twenties. I think
Speaker 4: with teams like the Tigers, who are picking in front
Speaker 4: of the brave second pick, he gets rumored there a
Speaker 4: little bit. I think he has a chance to go
Speaker 4: on the comp round range. We have him ranked on
Speaker 4: talent right in the middle of the second I like
Speaker 4: him better than that, so he's one another name I
Speaker 4: like in this range I will go with. There's so
Speaker 4: many guys that could pull up. Kaden McCarthy is a
Speaker 4: right handed pitcher out of Vermont, and I think that
Speaker 4: in and of itself is kind of unique. We don't
Speaker 4: often have Vermont prospects ranked on the BA five hundred
Speaker 4: at all, let alone a guy who we have right
Speaker 4: in the middle of the third round range. She's a
Speaker 4: six foot right hander who's been up to ninety nine
Speaker 4: miles per hour. It feels like every high school pitcher
Speaker 4: in this class is a fastball that gets into the
Speaker 4: mid nineties. But he's a dynamic mover. On the mound.
Speaker 4: He has elite spin capacity. I think a chance for
Speaker 4: multiple above average breaking balls, and even talking about him now,
Speaker 4: I feel like ten years ago that profile is like
Speaker 4: slam dunk first rounder, but just because like everyone throws
Speaker 4: hard and everyone has a banger breaking ball. These days
Speaker 4: it doesn't do quite as much. But I think his
Speaker 4: combination of youth. He's also a reclass from twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 4: so he's young for the class as well. He's another
Speaker 4: name that I like, kind of in that third round
Speaker 4: range for us.
Speaker 5: Can you imagine being a poor hitter in Vermont High
Speaker 5: school and here comes in the ninety nine fast I mean,
Speaker 5: I would wear every piece of protective gear. I could
Speaker 5: stand four feet off the plate and say, dear, don't
Speaker 5: hit me.
Speaker 4: Well, the craziest one is the Brody B. Miller, who's
Speaker 4: a left handed picture out of Massachusetts. I'm not sure
Speaker 4: if you guys have heard this name, but he's a
Speaker 4: six foot nine, two hundred and fifty five pounds left
Speaker 4: handed pitcher who's been up to one hundred and two
Speaker 4: miles per hour in high school. So, like, imagine the
Speaker 4: Massachusetts kids stepping in the box against Ham. I can't
Speaker 4: imagine being a left handed hitter.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it always went out. My hamstring's a little tight.
Speaker 5: I can't go to day sorry.
Speaker 1: Right right, yeah, Okay, this is gonna be incredibly self indulgent.
Speaker 1: Scot's gonna laugh at me. There is I have seen
Speaker 1: a few lists in like a top hundred range. There's
Speaker 1: a park you high school guy on this list, Malchi Washington.
Speaker 1: Do you have an opinion at all? You don't have
Speaker 1: to have an opinion, but look, I'm so old. It
Speaker 1: could be my son. He's not, but like he's part
Speaker 1: of you hig school guy, so I have to ask
Speaker 1: you the question. He's like on list.
Speaker 4: So we're talking about the draft, so there's almost always
Speaker 4: going to be a park for you guy. It feels like, yeah,
Speaker 4: he's one of the best athletes.
Speaker 1: I literally I literally looked at like, again, I have
Speaker 1: no idea, So I literally looked a much less.
Speaker 3: I was like, is there parkview control? F park view?
Speaker 3: We got a guy to ask Carlos about.
Speaker 4: There's always one. Yeah, he's one of the better athletes
Speaker 4: in the class. Elite frame, lots of physicality, advanced like
Speaker 4: muscular build. He's a seventy or sixty five or seventy
Speaker 4: grade runner. He has a ton of power. I think
Speaker 4: the question with him is like is he going to
Speaker 4: play center field? Is he going to be too big?
Speaker 4: Is he going to move to a corner? And what
Speaker 4: is like the peer hitting ability? The swing can get
Speaker 4: a little bit long, the swing decisions are a little
Speaker 4: bit more iffy right now. So I think he does
Speaker 4: fit into that bucket of like super tools, the big upside,
Speaker 4: real questions about the peer hitting ability, and I think
Speaker 4: that is like he's kind of in that bucket where
Speaker 4: if someone drafts him, I would understand entirely why if
Speaker 4: he was like one of the better high school players
Speaker 4: who got to campus because teams wanted to improve the
Speaker 4: hit tool, that makes sense as well. But he's certainly,
Speaker 4: I think, on a short list of like if you're
Speaker 4: picking out the best athletes in the class, he would
Speaker 4: be on there.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to LSU from what I remember seeing.
Speaker 1: Joking aside, but look that, uh Scott makes fun of
Speaker 1: my part few affiliation all the time.
Speaker 3: He should, But.
Speaker 1: Listen, the Braves have had the two best park Few
Speaker 1: players of all time on their roster and Matt Olsen.
Speaker 4: Mat Okay, Yeah, currently he's pretty good. Uh No, Matt
Speaker 4: Olsen is a park Few product. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1: He's a lot younger than me. Yeah, that's when you
Speaker 1: were not you weren't in the Southeast. I don't think
Speaker 1: when I was happening. But he's a lot younger than me.
Speaker 1: I don't know Matt. I do know Jeff, so I'll
Speaker 1: abstain from that. But they're literally the two best players
Speaker 1: in my high school sistory have been braves prominently so amazing.
Speaker 1: Just throw it out there, Scott, anything else you want
Speaker 1: to ask Carlos? Could we could keep him here all day?
Speaker 1: Just naming basically, just name some guys, Carlos, just key
Speaker 1: up names some guys, But we have nothing serious.
Speaker 4: You guys, you guys heard all in the team. You
Speaker 4: know the full system. How about like general profile? Like
Speaker 4: what what I know?
Speaker 3: Brad?
Speaker 4: I feel like you're always a hitter. You want hitters?
Speaker 1: I do like I do like hitting, And maybe it's
Speaker 1: a little bit just like going the opposite of what
Speaker 1: they've done, but I won't claim to Honestly, my genuine
Speaker 1: answer would be I would text you and say who
Speaker 1: should I want?
Speaker 4: Well, let me give you these profiles and you guys,
Speaker 4: tell me which is most exciting. Okay, polished, pure hitter
Speaker 4: with power questions in center field profile, well rounded, switch
Speaker 4: hitting shortstop with great on base skills, no caring tool,
Speaker 4: no great weakness, the most productive college player the last
Speaker 4: three years with power but no physical projection. Or power
Speaker 4: oriented catcher with hit risk but a chance to be
Speaker 4: a good defender. Which of those gets you fired up?
Speaker 5: Oh? Man, it's funny. I'm gonna say this. Drake Baldwin
Speaker 5: is awesome, But catcher is such a gigantic wasteland in
Speaker 5: Major League Baseball, and they are so valuable even if you,
Speaker 5: let's say it all works out, like we've seen what
Speaker 5: catcher's command in trades because they were in wrench demand.
Speaker 5: So my first answer what I want, I want a
Speaker 5: first ballot Hall of Fame or unanimous decision greatest player
Speaker 5: in franchise history. But if not, I think a catcher
Speaker 5: with genuine upside because they're so rare. And then I
Speaker 5: know they went shortstop heavy in last year's draft, but
Speaker 5: they they have to figure out shortstop like it's been
Speaker 5: Stansby Swanson left town.
Speaker 4: I mean, so, Scott sounds like you would you would
Speaker 4: be happy if Ryder Helfrick from Arkansas or Tyler Bell
Speaker 4: is the pick, and then Brad I.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I think you definitely described Drew Burris
Speaker 1: right with the product, with the production and limited physical profile.
Speaker 3: Was that was Drew burs for sure.
Speaker 1: He's the one guy I know anything about because just
Speaker 1: the volume of questions we've gotten about him. I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I I just I would like upside in general.
Speaker 4: Okay, so you can take Justin Lebron. Then there's your
Speaker 4: short stop.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got, he's got, he's got a cool name.
Speaker 3: Steven would be through.
Speaker 1: He's an Alabama guy, so Steven would love him because
Speaker 1: he's a roll tiede guy. So yeah, I'll take I'll
Speaker 1: take the swing. Give me the swing in the first round,
Speaker 1: especially when you have to pick this high. You don't
Speaker 1: always have to picked this high.
Speaker 4: I've got a second first round pick too to balance
Speaker 4: out the risky pick. So yeah, give me this wing.
Speaker 1: Beautiful, he genuine genuinely My answer would have been, I
Speaker 1: will I will text you the day before the draft
Speaker 1: and say, hey, who are the Braves going to take?
Speaker 1: And then who should they have taken? So when they
Speaker 1: take the wrong guy, I can say Carlos said this
Speaker 1: is the wrong pick.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know if there's one like huge red
Speaker 4: flag I have in this range, if it's chrys Ocopian,
Speaker 4: I'm just not a Chrys'copian fan as much. So like
Speaker 4: he can. But again there will be people who say, like, hey,
Speaker 4: he's the best here in the class.
Speaker 1: So if he if he's the pick, we're coming on
Speaker 1: the show that day or that night and saying Carlos
Speaker 1: did not want this guy. All joking, we might, I
Speaker 1: might beg you to come back talk about whoever they
Speaker 1: do take in the or months or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: know you're super busy and we appreciate you taking the
Speaker 1: time this close to your super Bowl. Basically, is that
Speaker 1: accurate to say this is a super Bowl the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: AFT Day is the biggest day of the year at
Speaker 4: Baseball America and for me in particular. So yeah, that is.
Speaker 1: You're you're on TV for hours, what's happening? You came
Speaker 1: to write new things, You're just sitting there talk so well,
Speaker 1: thank you, my friend for doing this. We were appreciative.
Speaker 1: I was going to just ask all of these questions.
Speaker 1: If you said no, I was going to say, Scott
Speaker 1: for an hour and we'll talk about it.
Speaker 5: Well, this is what I would do. I would go
Speaker 5: to Baseball America dot com and read all of their
Speaker 5: scouting reports and go, you know, Brad, I've been grinding
Speaker 5: the tape for nine hours on this player.
Speaker 3: This is what I can Baseball America dot com. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And we don't run codes that often. So if
Speaker 4: you've at all thought about a subscription to Baseball America,
Speaker 4: it's a great opportunity. And like I said, it is
Speaker 4: kind of our super Bowl, So we've got a ton
Speaker 4: of coverage already lined up and we'll have a ton
Speaker 4: of coverage throughout the weekend. So if you just want
Speaker 4: to know more about the players, definitely take advantage of that.
Speaker 4: And we really appreciate it because I cover the draft
Speaker 4: year round. To be able to talk about these players,
Speaker 4: it's not that I'm some expert. I just do nothing
Speaker 4: but watch these players and talk to smarter people than
Speaker 4: me about them. And I couldn't do that without our subscribers.
Speaker 4: So really, anyone who does support, whether that's through a
Speaker 4: subscription or just listening to the PO podcast or the
Speaker 4: YouTube videos, we really really do appreciate it so thank
Speaker 4: you and thank you guys for having me on like
Speaker 4: like always happy to happy to come on here.
Speaker 1: It is our pleasure. And the draft begins. I believe
Speaker 1: it's one o'clock pm Eastern on Saturday, July eleventh, is
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing in front of me right now. And
Speaker 1: watch Carlos on TV and just say, hey, I know
Speaker 1: that guy from ham Church twenty that guy used to
Speaker 1: host a Talking chot podcast.
Speaker 3: Would be what I would say.
Speaker 1: But that's okay, all right, everybody, Please stay tuned for more,
Speaker 1: follow Carlos, check out Baseball America, subscribe to this podcast,
Speaker 1: and we'll see everybody next time.