00:00:01
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Future Projection. This is episode 199 of the show. I am Carlos Collazo, joined by Ben Badler. As always, what's up, Ben? Ready for another mailbag episode of the pod?
00:00:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's get right to it.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: Let's hop in. I pulled a bunch of draft chat questions that we had from a chat last week. So hopefully you guys are still excited about 2026 draft, kind of putting a bow on the coverage here as we get a little bit closer to or just beyond the signing deadline. So we'll start to fully move on to future classes in earnest here. But it's always fun to continue talking about the players we just spent more than a year covering and are only just now in their new orgs. But first question I wanted to run by you was one on Von Lackey. And the question is, how does Von Lackey compare to Ethan Salas, Ryanel Rodriguez, and Alfredo Duno for the best catching prospect in the game?
00:00:58
Speaker 3: Those are three very, very good catchers. We have it ranked, what, Salas as the top, right?
00:01:08
Speaker 1: Salas is the top, right? I'll pull up our list and run through it. And the nice thing about our top 100 list is you can go to the list and just filter for whatever position you want. So our current list, we have Ethan Salas ranked as the number 11 prospect in the game. We have Ryan Rodriguez ranked as the number 22 prospect in the game. We have Vaughn Lackey ranked number 25. A bit of a gap down to Alfredo Duna, who's ranked 51, but that is the order, essentially, for catching prospects top 50-ish on our list here.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: I think, to me, the top of that group is Salas and Lackey, and I think it's pretty close between those two guys. I think they're very different types of.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: So you would take Lackey over Rodriguez at this stage?
00:01:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Lackey is a much better defensive... catcher than Rodriguez. And I think Lackey's bat power combination is just as good, arguably better than Rodriguez.
00:02:08
Speaker 2: So to me, yeah, Lackey ahead of Ryan Rodriguez.
00:02:11
Speaker 3: And I like Ryan Rodriguez a lot, but like Ethan Salas and Von Lackey are just like the elite of the elite catching prospects.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: I have, I think probably more just offensive questions about Von Lackey than I would, I don't know, maybe, Yeah, I just think Ryan Rodriguez is a more proven offensive player. My expectation for offensive outcomes for Von Lackey is probably a bit wider than most others on the staff. There is part of Von Lackey's performance in college that just makes me wonder. Players who have had one big breakout season kind of worry me a little bit. Not to say that I think Von Lackey's power It was like a ruse or anything. But there are more questions I would have in his pure hitting ability at the next level. I'm just not as confident as you maybe seem to be, although Von Lackey is an elite defender, elite athlete. So that's kind of where I'm at with that one. I like the order we have on the top 100.
00:03:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think– do you think Salas would be the– is Salas the top guy then, or are you taking Ryan Neal?
00:03:19
Speaker 2: No, I'm taking Salas, the top guy, yeah, for sure.
00:03:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, to me, it's closer between Salas and Von Lack. I mean, I think those are clearly– to me, those guys are the conversation just for best defensive catcher in the minor leagues, period. I don't think– with Ronnie Rodriguez, it's more like hopefully he can stay behind the plate. I think he will. I mean, he's still– that's still like 19 years old, right? So like there's– Normally, you would say plenty of time. He's also in AA, so there's kind of not that much time before he's bad as probably ready. But I think that there's a bigger gap. Like Ronnie Rodriguez, I like him a lot. There's still some swing and miss in there. It's not this complete offensive profile, and then there's defensive questions. Yeah, he's a great offensive player. player, and he's got a lot of power, and he's hit really well, and he's moved extremely quickly through the minor leagues. I'm not trying to disrespect what he's done, but when we're talking about who is the top two catching prospect in baseball versus number three, I think there's still a little bit more question for me of how good of a hitter is he combined with some of the defensive questions, whereas I think Von Lackey, nobody really seems to have any questions.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: Certainly, I don't.
00:04:49
Speaker 3: About how good he's going to be defensively. And I'm very bullish on what he can do at the plate as well.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:04:59
Speaker 1: Um, let's get into our next question here. What was your personal favorite player org match from the draft? So prospect and team pairing, um, my favorite. And I think this one, this one comes pretty easily to me because I was lower on Liam Peterson and before the draft than you were, than Jacob was, than some other people at Baseball America were generally, because I just had a lot of questions about the pure pitcher.
00:05:24
Speaker 3: I was pretty steadfast in my Liam Peterson belief. I think I swayed some more, or maybe other people swayed some more people.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: To join my bandwagon. Yeah, you haven't swayed me, but I do like Liam Peterson more as a prospect after seeing the Cleveland Guardians select him in the first round. I just feel like that is a great fit for him from a player development perspective, both on the field and off the field. I feel like Cleveland is going to create a really good environment for him to become a better pitcher. They've got a great track record of just developing arms in general. And even now when I think of Liam Peterson as a prospect, it is a more positive expectation for what he's going to be in the future. There are teams who could have drafted Liam Peterson where I would have all of my same concerns that I had before the draft as I do now. And I feel like there's just this more positive top spin I can put on the expectations for what he might be moving forward. So that is maybe my favorite because I think the pure talent and the stuff that he has is among the best in the class. So I think that one is pretty easily my favorite pairing. How about you?
00:06:35
Speaker 3: I could probably just as easily go with Savion Sims, who they took with their– Seventh-round pick, but I'll just maybe more of a blanket over just the Braves and high school pitching in general that they took. Obviously, they paid $ 4 million to Jensen Hirschhorn in the third round, Caden McCarthy in the second round, Cole Dennis in the fourth. Who else was it? It was Tyson Grolkowski in the sixth round. Cole Dorland, who I think is like a sneaky one from Canada in the 13th round. I can't remember if he signed yet. Already, we're recording before the signing deadline, but there's just a lot of good high school arms.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: Dorland has signed. Is that the one you were– yeah, he has.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dorland.
00:07:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Canada, Alabama– well, was Alabama committed?
00:07:31
Speaker 1: I believe we– We already have the Braves' entire class signed at this stage, so anyone in that class that you're excited about, they got them.
00:07:38
Speaker 2: They got them. Yeah, I really like the Braves' approach overall.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: I like the way they've developed some of their high school pitchers in recent years. I think they leaned into the strengths of the draft. I think that's a really good fit.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought about Hirschkorn in particular for the Braves, but I also really like Caden McCarthy. For the Braves, too. Not a big take here to say I like their two highly touted high school pitchers who got $ 2. 5 million or more in the draft. Toddfather, are you hitting some games this summer?
00:08:11
Speaker 4: What's the deal?
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Of course.
00:08:13
Speaker 5: It's real simple. Scotty Braun, you know how it is. You go to SeatGeek and you can find any deal you want in any section you want. Even if the game sold out, go to SeatGeek and you'll find something that you love, affordable for your family. that you can enjoy anywhere, anytime, at any ballpark and stadium you want. Enjoy it. It's the best opportunity to go see a beautiful game of baseball.
00:08:35
Speaker 4: And that's the thing. You can be so last minute. SeatGeek is the official ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball. They have you covered for all of your baseball ticket needs the entire summer. They also have over 70,000 events on SeatGeek. That includes concerts, festivals, all kinds of sporting events. So go check it out right now, FTFAM. The code is TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app. And then the code automatically is added to your account so you can use it later.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: Okay, unless you have any others to mention, we can go into our next question here. This one I thought was particularly appropriate for you, Ben. So I was curious about your your take on it. Someone asked, does Kevin Roberts Jr. have a similar offensive profile to Quentin Young from last year? The tools are super exciting, but I'm worried about Baltimore's track record of toolsy players who have hit tool concerns. And I do think that, I mean, you've pushed back on this. I do think Kevin Roberts has gotten a worse reputation as a swing and miss offensive player than he deserves. And I don't know that the Quentin Young comp is a great one because I think there's a maybe multiple grades, better contactability with Kevin Roberts than Quentin Young. But what are your thoughts on that comparison?
00:09:54
Speaker 3: And it's one I've heard from people with teams too. And I just think it's off balance. base because, look, I understand they're both very tall, strong, physical, right-handed hitters. So normally when you see somebody who's that kind of length to their body, they're just going to swing and miss a lot.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying it's like.
00:10:20
Speaker 3: This easy, pure, no doubt swing where he just dominated everybody last summer.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: That's not the case with Kevin Roberts. But with Quinn Young, yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: I mean, you saw monster right-handed raw power with him.
00:10:39
Speaker 2: But as an.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Underclassman and then the summer going into his senior year, there's a lot of swing and miss. They got the barrel tipped out. To the pitcher, it's a longer path. There was just a lot of swing and miss. It really scared me. I love the power. I love the arm strength. I wasn't sure if he was going to stay in the infield, maybe third base, maybe right field. The hit risk was very significant, especially just how much he would swing and miss in high school.
00:11:11
Speaker 1: My questions with Kevin Roberts Jr., are not nearly the same in terms of just contact in particular. We saw Quinton Young swing and miss regularly. That was a consistent question with him. I would be surprised if Kevin Roberts Jr. was a 40-plus percent strikeout rate guy in the low minors for multiple years, which Quinton Young has been to this point.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have some benefit of hindsight, too, where Quinton Young has just really, really struggled in the extreme derby.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Just thinking, kind of just trying to reinforce what you're saying here, but we just didn't see the same amount of miss with Kevin Roberts that we did see with Quentin Young. Right.
00:11:53
Speaker 3: I think Roberts makes contact, and I think he has a good understanding of the strike zone, too. He's also young for the class. I guess young was a reclass, but even still, young is... Excuse me, Roberts is– he was 17 on draft day. So he's even younger than Quentin Young was during his draft year. But it's something where also he– there was a game where he played this spring against EJ Booth, who the Orioles took with their first round pick.
00:12:33
Speaker 2: And I think Booth was like, fine. I don't know if he like, I didn't.
00:12:36
Speaker 1: Think he got pissed around a lot in that game. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker 3: Drew a bunch of walks and Roberts probably had like one of the worst games of his life. It sounded like, and then he was playing some shortstop too. And you know, that, that wasn't going well. Yeah. It's just more of a natural outfielder. Um, really, you know, played outfield for most of his high school career anyway. Um, So I think people came in, saw that, kind of soured them to an extent. But I think that Roberts is a much better contact guy compared to Quentin Young. I think he has a better idea of the strike zone. And he also has huge power and is a much better athlete too.
00:13:20
Speaker 1: I think part of the perception with Kevin Roberts as well is just the expectations for him coming into last summer. He was at the top of most boards. He was at the top of our board from the high school side, and when you come in.
00:13:32
Speaker 2: Top 10, yeah.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: He was not over Rock Cholosky, but he was just very high.
00:13:37
Speaker 2: I don't know that Quentin.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: Young was ever in the range where we started Kevin Roberts out at the beginning of last summer, and when... I think it is easy to be more skeptical of a player who has those big expectations and then just doesn't have the sort of summer you think they should have for whatever reason, but I do think there are different reasons to be concerned about what the offense might be from Kevin compared to Quentin Young. Like I would not, while they are both very physical, very toolsy, big upside players, I kind of agree with you that I have more confidence in just the foundational contact skills that Kevin Roberts brings to the table and just the understanding of the zone that should allow him to have a bit more success in the offensive department. Yeah, anything else on that one, Ben?
00:14:23
Speaker 3: I think the swing works better, too. There's some adjustments here and there he's going to have to make, but overall, better swing, better contact, better zone awareness.
00:14:34
Speaker 2: I expect him to draw a lot more walks, too, compared to Young.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, so far, Quinn Young has walked sub-10% in his pro career, which isn't horrible, but I could envision more walks for Kevin Roberts Jr. as well. Okay, our last question is another fun one. A couple fan favorites here. in the question, but this one is, how would you compare Rock Chalowski, Aiden Ruiz, and Rocco Maniscalco to Billy Carlson and Merrick Houston defensively? This is a murderer's row of shortstops, so I don't know if you have any difficulty in either separating them or lining them up, but I thought all of these guys are potential 70 glove spin. If you wouldn't put someone in that tier, please speak now or forever hold your peace, and then maybe we can talk through how we would line them up specifically.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: I didn't see Maniscalco in that tier.
00:15:24
Speaker 3: Um, but I know a lot of people did, um, even people who had a lot, a lot of questions about how much he's going to hit.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Um, I, I share those concerns.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: I think he's a good prospect, but, um, I think a lot of people who went in this spring and saw him, uh, have some rough games at the plate after last summer or mostly playing against 20-27s before he reclassed and not dominating that level. I think there are a lot of questions about the offensive side, but he's obviously drafted as a 14-year-old or whatever, like the youngest player. He was the youngest player in the draft. 17 years old, but the youngest player in the draft after reclassing. So I wouldn't have him quite in that tier, but I know a lot of people would.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: Okay, so my specific order of lining them up defensively will probably not be yours. But the order I put here was Merrick Houston first, with the caveat that I think all of them have a chance to be 70s. I think they're in the same tier. So separating them and lining them up, I think, is a real challenge. But my specific order was Merrick, then Rock, then Aiden Ruiz, then Maniscalco, then Billy Carlson, which even saying Billy Carlson last in any order of shortstop defenders feels... like it's wrong just inherently. Um, but that was, that was the order I came up with. I don't know if there is some recency bias to Ruiz and Maniscalco being above Carlson, but I also had more range questions with Billy Carlson than I do with either Ruiz and Maniscalco. And I also feel like Merrick Houston and Rock Cholowski are two of the better defensive shortstops I've seen in years. Um, and I was really torn on whether I prefer Merrick defensively or Rock defensively. I could, I could see that one going either way, but I think those are my top two pretty clearly.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think, yeah, they're all, at least those other than Maniscalco, the others are all kind of in the same tier for me. I think Ruiz probably has the, well, I don't want to say best hands, but it's.
00:17:37
Speaker 1: I think, I think Eric and Roxanne's are really, really solid.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:17:41
Speaker 1: Maybe has the flashiest hands.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, he gets rid of the ball so quick, and he makes up for having probably the worst raw arm strength of this group. He definitely doesn't have Billy Carlson or Maniscalcos. Yeah, he doesn't have that kind of arm strength.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Everyone else for him has at least a plus arm, and multiple other players have 70, and Billy Carlson probably has an 80.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: He might be the slow, Ruiz might be the slowest, just like in terms of like raw foot speed. But in the field, I feel like his range is.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: Up better than Billy Carlson's did. Because I think Billy Carlson's.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Also the fastest runner.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: I think you're right on Carlson's range. Yeah, I don't have any questions about that.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: I have some more range questions about Billy than these other guys, for sure. That's why I put him fifth, truthfully. I think everything else, it's a slam dunk.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
00:18:35
Speaker 2: I don't have a good order.
00:18:37
Speaker 3: I just think they're all, or most of them are potentially, you know, 60 to 70 grade type gloves, potentially at shortstop.
00:18:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a fun group to try and line up. And I guess you could say no order that you have is wrong, and you could say every order that you have is wrong, depending on how much you like these guys. But it's a fun group to watch. I would like to watch just highlights of all these guys playing shortstop. So someone has to create that reel for us. Okay, Ben, I think those are all the questions we had today. I'll encourage people to send us any questions they might have for future episodes. They can reach you on Twitter at Ben Badler. I'm Carlos A. Collazo. You can also email us, futureprojection at baseballamerica.com. Any final remarks or closing statements for you, Ben?
00:19:26
Speaker 2: No, no closing statements.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: All right. Well, we'll get out of here then for Ben. I'm Carlos. Thanks for listening, everybody. We will see you next time.
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Future Projection. This is episode 199 of the show. I am Carlos Collazo, joined by Ben Badler. As always, what's up, Ben? Ready for another mailbag episode of the pod?
00:00:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's get right to it.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: Let's hop in. I pulled a bunch of draft chat questions that we had from a chat last week. So hopefully you guys are still excited about 2026 draft, kind of putting a bow on the coverage here as we get a little bit closer to or just beyond the signing deadline. So we'll start to fully move on to future classes in earnest here. But it's always fun to continue talking about the players we just spent more than a year covering and are only just now in their new orgs. But first question I wanted to run by you was one on Von Lackey. And the question is, how does Von Lackey compare to Ethan Salas, Ryanel Rodriguez, and Alfredo Duno for the best catching prospect in the game?
00:00:58
Speaker 3: Those are three very, very good catchers. We have it ranked, what, Salas as the top, right?
00:01:08
Speaker 1: Salas is the top, right? I'll pull up our list and run through it. And the nice thing about our top 100 list is you can go to the list and just filter for whatever position you want. So our current list, we have Ethan Salas ranked as the number 11 prospect in the game. We have Ryan Rodriguez ranked as the number 22 prospect in the game. We have Vaughn Lackey ranked number 25. A bit of a gap down to Alfredo Duna, who's ranked 51, but that is the order, essentially, for catching prospects top 50-ish on our list here.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: I think, to me, the top of that group is Salas and Lackey, and I think it's pretty close between those two guys. I think they're very different types of.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: So you would take Lackey over Rodriguez at this stage?
00:01:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Lackey is a much better defensive... catcher than Rodriguez. And I think Lackey's bat power combination is just as good, arguably better than Rodriguez.
00:02:08
Speaker 2: So to me, yeah, Lackey ahead of Ryan Rodriguez.
00:02:11
Speaker 3: And I like Ryan Rodriguez a lot, but like Ethan Salas and Von Lackey are just like the elite of the elite catching prospects.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: I have, I think probably more just offensive questions about Von Lackey than I would, I don't know, maybe, Yeah, I just think Ryan Rodriguez is a more proven offensive player. My expectation for offensive outcomes for Von Lackey is probably a bit wider than most others on the staff. There is part of Von Lackey's performance in college that just makes me wonder. Players who have had one big breakout season kind of worry me a little bit. Not to say that I think Von Lackey's power It was like a ruse or anything. But there are more questions I would have in his pure hitting ability at the next level. I'm just not as confident as you maybe seem to be, although Von Lackey is an elite defender, elite athlete. So that's kind of where I'm at with that one. I like the order we have on the top 100.
00:03:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think– do you think Salas would be the– is Salas the top guy then, or are you taking Ryan Neal?
00:03:19
Speaker 2: No, I'm taking Salas, the top guy, yeah, for sure.
00:03:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, to me, it's closer between Salas and Von Lack. I mean, I think those are clearly– to me, those guys are the conversation just for best defensive catcher in the minor leagues, period. I don't think– with Ronnie Rodriguez, it's more like hopefully he can stay behind the plate. I think he will. I mean, he's still– that's still like 19 years old, right? So like there's– Normally, you would say plenty of time. He's also in AA, so there's kind of not that much time before he's bad as probably ready. But I think that there's a bigger gap. Like Ronnie Rodriguez, I like him a lot. There's still some swing and miss in there. It's not this complete offensive profile, and then there's defensive questions. Yeah, he's a great offensive player. player, and he's got a lot of power, and he's hit really well, and he's moved extremely quickly through the minor leagues. I'm not trying to disrespect what he's done, but when we're talking about who is the top two catching prospect in baseball versus number three, I think there's still a little bit more question for me of how good of a hitter is he combined with some of the defensive questions, whereas I think Von Lackey, nobody really seems to have any questions.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: Certainly, I don't.
00:04:49
Speaker 3: About how good he's going to be defensively. And I'm very bullish on what he can do at the plate as well.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:04:59
Speaker 1: Um, let's get into our next question here. What was your personal favorite player org match from the draft? So prospect and team pairing, um, my favorite. And I think this one, this one comes pretty easily to me because I was lower on Liam Peterson and before the draft than you were, than Jacob was, than some other people at Baseball America were generally, because I just had a lot of questions about the pure pitcher.
00:05:24
Speaker 3: I was pretty steadfast in my Liam Peterson belief. I think I swayed some more, or maybe other people swayed some more people.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: To join my bandwagon. Yeah, you haven't swayed me, but I do like Liam Peterson more as a prospect after seeing the Cleveland Guardians select him in the first round. I just feel like that is a great fit for him from a player development perspective, both on the field and off the field. I feel like Cleveland is going to create a really good environment for him to become a better pitcher. They've got a great track record of just developing arms in general. And even now when I think of Liam Peterson as a prospect, it is a more positive expectation for what he's going to be in the future. There are teams who could have drafted Liam Peterson where I would have all of my same concerns that I had before the draft as I do now. And I feel like there's just this more positive top spin I can put on the expectations for what he might be moving forward. So that is maybe my favorite because I think the pure talent and the stuff that he has is among the best in the class. So I think that one is pretty easily my favorite pairing. How about you?
00:06:35
Speaker 3: I could probably just as easily go with Savion Sims, who they took with their– Seventh-round pick, but I'll just maybe more of a blanket over just the Braves and high school pitching in general that they took. Obviously, they paid $ 4 million to Jensen Hirschhorn in the third round, Caden McCarthy in the second round, Cole Dennis in the fourth. Who else was it? It was Tyson Grolkowski in the sixth round. Cole Dorland, who I think is like a sneaky one from Canada in the 13th round. I can't remember if he signed yet. Already, we're recording before the signing deadline, but there's just a lot of good high school arms.
00:07:24
Speaker 1: Dorland has signed. Is that the one you were– yeah, he has.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dorland.
00:07:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Canada, Alabama– well, was Alabama committed?
00:07:31
Speaker 1: I believe we– We already have the Braves' entire class signed at this stage, so anyone in that class that you're excited about, they got them.
00:07:38
Speaker 2: They got them. Yeah, I really like the Braves' approach overall.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: I like the way they've developed some of their high school pitchers in recent years. I think they leaned into the strengths of the draft. I think that's a really good fit.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought about Hirschkorn in particular for the Braves, but I also really like Caden McCarthy. For the Braves, too. Not a big take here to say I like their two highly touted high school pitchers who got $ 2. 5 million or more in the draft. Toddfather, are you hitting some games this summer?
00:08:11
Speaker 4: What's the deal?
00:08:12
Speaker 2: Of course.
00:08:13
Speaker 5: It's real simple. Scotty Braun, you know how it is. You go to SeatGeek and you can find any deal you want in any section you want. Even if the game sold out, go to SeatGeek and you'll find something that you love, affordable for your family. that you can enjoy anywhere, anytime, at any ballpark and stadium you want. Enjoy it. It's the best opportunity to go see a beautiful game of baseball.
00:08:35
Speaker 4: And that's the thing. You can be so last minute. SeatGeek is the official ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball. They have you covered for all of your baseball ticket needs the entire summer. They also have over 70,000 events on SeatGeek. That includes concerts, festivals, all kinds of sporting events. So go check it out right now, FTFAM. The code is TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app. And then the code automatically is added to your account so you can use it later.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: Okay, unless you have any others to mention, we can go into our next question here. This one I thought was particularly appropriate for you, Ben. So I was curious about your your take on it. Someone asked, does Kevin Roberts Jr. have a similar offensive profile to Quentin Young from last year? The tools are super exciting, but I'm worried about Baltimore's track record of toolsy players who have hit tool concerns. And I do think that, I mean, you've pushed back on this. I do think Kevin Roberts has gotten a worse reputation as a swing and miss offensive player than he deserves. And I don't know that the Quentin Young comp is a great one because I think there's a maybe multiple grades, better contactability with Kevin Roberts than Quentin Young. But what are your thoughts on that comparison?
00:09:54
Speaker 3: And it's one I've heard from people with teams too. And I just think it's off balance. base because, look, I understand they're both very tall, strong, physical, right-handed hitters. So normally when you see somebody who's that kind of length to their body, they're just going to swing and miss a lot.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying it's like.
00:10:20
Speaker 3: This easy, pure, no doubt swing where he just dominated everybody last summer.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: That's not the case with Kevin Roberts. But with Quinn Young, yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: I mean, you saw monster right-handed raw power with him.
00:10:39
Speaker 2: But as an.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Underclassman and then the summer going into his senior year, there's a lot of swing and miss. They got the barrel tipped out. To the pitcher, it's a longer path. There was just a lot of swing and miss. It really scared me. I love the power. I love the arm strength. I wasn't sure if he was going to stay in the infield, maybe third base, maybe right field. The hit risk was very significant, especially just how much he would swing and miss in high school.
00:11:11
Speaker 1: My questions with Kevin Roberts Jr., are not nearly the same in terms of just contact in particular. We saw Quinton Young swing and miss regularly. That was a consistent question with him. I would be surprised if Kevin Roberts Jr. was a 40-plus percent strikeout rate guy in the low minors for multiple years, which Quinton Young has been to this point.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have some benefit of hindsight, too, where Quinton Young has just really, really struggled in the extreme derby.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Just thinking, kind of just trying to reinforce what you're saying here, but we just didn't see the same amount of miss with Kevin Roberts that we did see with Quentin Young. Right.
00:11:53
Speaker 3: I think Roberts makes contact, and I think he has a good understanding of the strike zone, too. He's also young for the class. I guess young was a reclass, but even still, young is... Excuse me, Roberts is– he was 17 on draft day. So he's even younger than Quentin Young was during his draft year. But it's something where also he– there was a game where he played this spring against EJ Booth, who the Orioles took with their first round pick.
00:12:33
Speaker 2: And I think Booth was like, fine. I don't know if he like, I didn't.
00:12:36
Speaker 1: Think he got pissed around a lot in that game. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker 3: Drew a bunch of walks and Roberts probably had like one of the worst games of his life. It sounded like, and then he was playing some shortstop too. And you know, that, that wasn't going well. Yeah. It's just more of a natural outfielder. Um, really, you know, played outfield for most of his high school career anyway. Um, So I think people came in, saw that, kind of soured them to an extent. But I think that Roberts is a much better contact guy compared to Quentin Young. I think he has a better idea of the strike zone. And he also has huge power and is a much better athlete too.
00:13:20
Speaker 1: I think part of the perception with Kevin Roberts as well is just the expectations for him coming into last summer. He was at the top of most boards. He was at the top of our board from the high school side, and when you come in.
00:13:32
Speaker 2: Top 10, yeah.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: He was not over Rock Cholosky, but he was just very high.
00:13:37
Speaker 2: I don't know that Quentin.
00:13:38
Speaker 1: Young was ever in the range where we started Kevin Roberts out at the beginning of last summer, and when... I think it is easy to be more skeptical of a player who has those big expectations and then just doesn't have the sort of summer you think they should have for whatever reason, but I do think there are different reasons to be concerned about what the offense might be from Kevin compared to Quentin Young. Like I would not, while they are both very physical, very toolsy, big upside players, I kind of agree with you that I have more confidence in just the foundational contact skills that Kevin Roberts brings to the table and just the understanding of the zone that should allow him to have a bit more success in the offensive department. Yeah, anything else on that one, Ben?
00:14:23
Speaker 3: I think the swing works better, too. There's some adjustments here and there he's going to have to make, but overall, better swing, better contact, better zone awareness.
00:14:34
Speaker 2: I expect him to draw a lot more walks, too, compared to Young.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, so far, Quinn Young has walked sub-10% in his pro career, which isn't horrible, but I could envision more walks for Kevin Roberts Jr. as well. Okay, our last question is another fun one. A couple fan favorites here. in the question, but this one is, how would you compare Rock Chalowski, Aiden Ruiz, and Rocco Maniscalco to Billy Carlson and Merrick Houston defensively? This is a murderer's row of shortstops, so I don't know if you have any difficulty in either separating them or lining them up, but I thought all of these guys are potential 70 glove spin. If you wouldn't put someone in that tier, please speak now or forever hold your peace, and then maybe we can talk through how we would line them up specifically.
00:15:21
Speaker 2: I didn't see Maniscalco in that tier.
00:15:24
Speaker 3: Um, but I know a lot of people did, um, even people who had a lot, a lot of questions about how much he's going to hit.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Um, I, I share those concerns.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: I think he's a good prospect, but, um, I think a lot of people who went in this spring and saw him, uh, have some rough games at the plate after last summer or mostly playing against 20-27s before he reclassed and not dominating that level. I think there are a lot of questions about the offensive side, but he's obviously drafted as a 14-year-old or whatever, like the youngest player. He was the youngest player in the draft. 17 years old, but the youngest player in the draft after reclassing. So I wouldn't have him quite in that tier, but I know a lot of people would.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: Okay, so my specific order of lining them up defensively will probably not be yours. But the order I put here was Merrick Houston first, with the caveat that I think all of them have a chance to be 70s. I think they're in the same tier. So separating them and lining them up, I think, is a real challenge. But my specific order was Merrick, then Rock, then Aiden Ruiz, then Maniscalco, then Billy Carlson, which even saying Billy Carlson last in any order of shortstop defenders feels... like it's wrong just inherently. Um, but that was, that was the order I came up with. I don't know if there is some recency bias to Ruiz and Maniscalco being above Carlson, but I also had more range questions with Billy Carlson than I do with either Ruiz and Maniscalco. And I also feel like Merrick Houston and Rock Cholowski are two of the better defensive shortstops I've seen in years. Um, and I was really torn on whether I prefer Merrick defensively or Rock defensively. I could, I could see that one going either way, but I think those are my top two pretty clearly.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think, yeah, they're all, at least those other than Maniscalco, the others are all kind of in the same tier for me. I think Ruiz probably has the, well, I don't want to say best hands, but it's.
00:17:37
Speaker 1: I think, I think Eric and Roxanne's are really, really solid.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:17:41
Speaker 1: Maybe has the flashiest hands.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, he gets rid of the ball so quick, and he makes up for having probably the worst raw arm strength of this group. He definitely doesn't have Billy Carlson or Maniscalcos. Yeah, he doesn't have that kind of arm strength.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Everyone else for him has at least a plus arm, and multiple other players have 70, and Billy Carlson probably has an 80.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: He might be the slow, Ruiz might be the slowest, just like in terms of like raw foot speed. But in the field, I feel like his range is.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: Up better than Billy Carlson's did. Because I think Billy Carlson's.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Also the fastest runner.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: I think you're right on Carlson's range. Yeah, I don't have any questions about that.
00:18:25
Speaker 1: I have some more range questions about Billy than these other guys, for sure. That's why I put him fifth, truthfully. I think everything else, it's a slam dunk.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
00:18:35
Speaker 2: I don't have a good order.
00:18:37
Speaker 3: I just think they're all, or most of them are potentially, you know, 60 to 70 grade type gloves, potentially at shortstop.
00:18:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a fun group to try and line up. And I guess you could say no order that you have is wrong, and you could say every order that you have is wrong, depending on how much you like these guys. But it's a fun group to watch. I would like to watch just highlights of all these guys playing shortstop. So someone has to create that reel for us. Okay, Ben, I think those are all the questions we had today. I'll encourage people to send us any questions they might have for future episodes. They can reach you on Twitter at Ben Badler. I'm Carlos A. Collazo. You can also email us, futureprojection at baseballamerica.com. Any final remarks or closing statements for you, Ben?
00:19:26
Speaker 2: No, no closing statements.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: All right. Well, we'll get out of here then for Ben. I'm Carlos. Thanks for listening, everybody. We will see you next time.
