00:00:00
Speaker 1: But I wanted to get on our guy, Aaron Layton, to talk about not just the draft, but the Red's farm system, guy who could be the starting catcher next year, and what one major league baseball team does that the Reds seemingly can't figure out. Aaron Layton, just Baseball dot Com, a great guest joins us next eleven away from four. This is esp In fifteen thirty on owegor. One of my favorite folks to talk baseball with is a guy by the name of Aaron Layton from jess Baseball dot Com, and we wanted to get him on around the baseball Draft, but right when it happened, I took off. So Aaron is here. Now I'll ask you about individual players, but start by giving me like a thirty thousand foot assessment of the Reds draft class.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: You go off the top right and it's this, okay, big boomer bus type of pick.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: But then from there I felt like it was pretty standard.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: It kind of felt like the best player available on the most public boards. And I don't mean that like an negg Way. It just kind of felt like it was the by.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: The book pick. A lot of the way you know, they go.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: College college college. But the first college pick was very, very high variance. After that it was you know, a handful of college picks that I think were a little bit higher.
00:01:13
Speaker 3: Floor, and that was the appeal.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: So to me, it was like, as risky as we could be with the first pick and then balancing it out with higher floor guys with the subsequent picks, all.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: Right, balance the risk reward. When it comes to Justin Lebron.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: I mean, I think this is the most polarizing guy in the draft. You ask some people, they're extremely concerned about, you know, some of the trends that we saw.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: You ask other people and you say, this.
00:01:35
Speaker 2: Guy could be a superstar, and they're neither are wrong, right. I think that's the really interesting facet of this. I think what's most fascinating about Lebron is that he's he has this huge gap of you know, what you see when he's going wrong and then what the flashes of what you see when he's going right on both sides of his game. So he could be this superb defender at shortstop. He has all the tools to be, but he made eighteen errors. Right, the routine plays are a little bit fresh training, but then he makes these acrobatic, incredible plays. You see the athleticism, I think offensively Ton of a similar story where when he's down in you see the plus power potential, the explosion just so much to like in the box. But he regressed a little bit and there was some swing and miss. So I mean, to be able to get a player there that, you know, at the eighteenth pick that has the upside of Lebron is pretty rare. But at the same time, you know, you are accepting that this is probably going to be a bit of a process and some risk, and you know, I think the Reds have kind of signed up for that when it comes to their picks. Steel Hall high school guy, but obviously huge tools, as high upside as anybody in the class. But also they knew he was going to be a little bit more of a process.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: It was there.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: Somebody that they could have taken that might have made a little bit more sense just in terms of a little bit less risk.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: It's interesting because again kind of in the eye the beholder, some had Lebron as a top ten pick, you know, in a top ten talent, and then others had him that I've talked to, you know, it's more of an end of the first round type of guy. So if the red skew towards that, you know, I can totally understand why they made that pick, especially at the eighteen spot. I think once you got to that range, it really tapered off, like in terms of I think the caliber of player, at least as you perceive it at this point in the draft, before these guys have made their pro debuts, Like, I think that was clearly the highest ceiling peaks piece available.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: I think you start looking at some.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: Arms if you wanted to go higher floor, or you have to do something, you know, super shocking, like the Red Sox didn't go with a super high floor bat and Jake Schaffner, but that was a huge underslot deal and I don't think anybody was expecting that.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: So I don't know if there was.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: A very obvious, you know, higher floor piece unless they wanted to go the pitching route. I really liked Kate Townsend, who ended up going to the Cubs a little bit later there. Ace Reese is a bat that a lot of people liked, a college bat, but he's most likely going to slide over to first, and he still comes with some swinging misconcerns. I really think when you go from the tier one bats in this class, and even just a couple of the Tier two guys that were higher for it drops off pretty quickly in terms of just what you're looking at from the four ceiling combination. And I think for that reason, the Red said why not shoot for the stars.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Here of their first eight picks, four of them are listed as shortstops. Now there's a part of me that says, well, that's the most important position. It's maybe the most difficult position. You could take a guy who plays shortstop and have them play at other positions. They still have Edwin Royo, for what it's worth, at least for the next few years. They still have Elie de la Cruz. Then there's a part of me that goes, you know what, I'm sort of tired of watching them try to take infielders and make them into outfielders. That is maybe a very myopic way of looking at things. What do you say to somebody who says, all right, these guys might be really good, but there's a whole lot of shortstop here before you find an outfielder.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think the idea of eventually having to convert them into outfielders, like is a little bit frustrating when you don't maybe have the outfield depth. But I think in general, if you go in draft shortstops, you're going to be in a pretty good spot. Whether those guys end up moving over to the second base, third base, or even eventually the outfield, I think generally speaking, you're going to be in a pretty good spot to you know, even if they can't stick there, you're gonna have a lot of positive outcomes. Whereas you know, I love the bat of Milvi LaVoo, but he's a first baseman, so if he doesn't absolutely mash, you're gonna be in a little bit of trouble there in terms of the value. So I do like the approach of shortstops, but I did find it a little bit interesting that, Yeah, in terms of a true outfield er, you didn't really see one of those until what the seventeenth round. But at the end of the day, if you draft the most athletic guy on the field that he's mostly on, which is typically going to be the shortstop, he's going to be able to survive and have some success in other spots.
00:05:38
Speaker 1: How much have they helped themselves when it comes to replenishing the stockpile of arms in the draft.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: This is where it's interesting because I think they could have went, you know, a little bit higher ceiling, but I think in this instance they wanted to just kind of go with the guys that they felt like were higher probability, you know, big league arms. And I think Ethan Norby is a guy that, you know, look at some of the success that they've had with with the left handers, you know.
00:06:00
Speaker 3: I think about Andrew Abbit.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I know he was a little bit earlier of a draft pick, but just seems to outperform the stuff gets out to the higher equipped than you would expect. I think Norby can kind of fit the bill of that where this stuff doesn't jump off the page, but he's a sneaky good athlete on the mound. He gets out the slider's probably the best pitch, but you know, everyone underestimates the fastball, and maybe he gets a few more outs and he would expect. I think tyner Horn is a guy that think they're a little bit more excited about maybe what could be in terms of the ceiling there. But another just just interesting arm where you have a slew of pitches, decent command, and hope you can build from there. But for me, it felt like they were going more with the higher floor arms and guys that they felt like could plug in and you know, have some big leak success right away, but may not profile as you know, number two or number three starters necessarily.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: Our guy, Aaron Layton is with us from jess baseball dot com. I think I asked you this. You joined me a couple of months ago when the Reds were close to bringing up Edwin Arroyo, and so I'll ask it again with the understanding that they've added to their farm system via the draft. The Reds have a good farm system.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think this gives them the opportunity to continue to lean into Hey, if we're not going to have like the deepest farm system in baseball or whatever it may be, we have a couple guys that could change this pretty quickly, and I think the Reds just added to that with Justin Lebron.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I don't think it's a bad farm system.
00:07:21
Speaker 2: I think it's right around the league average, maybe just below that. But the fascinating thing with them is if you look at the ceilings of the players that they have here.
00:07:29
Speaker 3: Alfredo Duno.
00:07:30
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm higher on him, I think than most out there, and we've got him as one of the best catching prospects in baseball, top fifteen overall.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: If it all clicks for that guy, he's a star. Steel Hall. If it all cooks for that guy, obviously he's a star.
00:07:42
Speaker 2: Tyson Lewis huge power, some whiff and chase concerns, But if it all clicks for that guy, he's a star. So I know that that's a big if with three of the guys at the top, but the ceiling is so high with them, and then you'll get Rodriguez swinging it and some of the other guys that have been performing pretty well this year. I think it drops off a little quickly, and I think they needed some arms that even if you don't get super excited about, you feel good about the chances of being big league pieces, and that's where they went. I still think it's probably more of an average or slightly below farm.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: You mentioned a name that I wanted to ask you about, Alfredo Duno, who I think you had eleventh in your top one hundred prospects. Right, So the Reds are I'll say likely, it's certainly a distinct possibility. They're going to trade Tyler Stevenson. He's due to be a free agent at the end of the season, so even if they don't, he could walk. And then I don't know that Jose Travino is going to be the primary catcher, which opens up room for Alfredo Duno to be the guy. Could he legitimately be the Reds let's just call it starting catcher in twenty twenty seven. And if he is, what can we expect.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: I think he's got a really good chance because this was the big and it's early, right, it's early in the double A promotion side of things. But he has really just risen to the occasion there in eleven games. You know, I think you saw the strikeout right a little bit higher on Hia. I think with patient at the lower levels, sometimes that can work against you, where this effective wildness of these pitchers, you almost your approach can almost work against you because you're waiting them out and maybe you take the pitch that you were probably should have jumped on, and then you get later into account and he doesn't even execute properly and ends up working against you with the way you're being selective, Whereas I think if you have a plan at the plate in double A and you're trying to kind of understand how the pitchers are trying to pitch you, usually they're gonna be able to execute what their plan was. And I think that actually can work in the favor of some of these guys have a really good feel for controlling there at bats and knowing how they're going to be pitched you instead of kind of the random mystery of what pitch and what location the guy's trying to throw and where it actually ends up. And I think we've seen the strikeout rate drop as the years, progressing very quickly. In the small sample at double A, he's very Samuel bisioish with the orioles and the respect that he has all the tools to be a great defender, but he's still refining some of the finer things, like the arm strength is great. He's a phenomenal athlete behind the day, but you know, the receiving could still be better. I think just the catch and throw in terms of just the quickness could.
00:10:05
Speaker 3: Be a little bit better.
00:10:06
Speaker 2: But when you see the power here, I mean, this is a guy with seventy raw power with a good approach that is just.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: Proving to hit. I think a little bit more than people were expecting.
00:10:15
Speaker 2: Even if he's close to an average catcher, you're going to pallet that because of the power and especially how that would play in great American ballpark. The patients to allow him to maybe hedge some of the swing and misconcern. And again, I think the approach that's translating better as he's facing more experienced arms.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: I think it would be aggressive next year.
00:10:31
Speaker 2: But if he finishes a year with a great you know, stretch and double A, I don't see how you can't give him a chance in spring training to try to win that job.
00:10:39
Speaker 3: All right.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: One more, and this is a question sort of from from left field. So we watch the Milwaukee Brewers every year run laps around the Reds, whether it's in the NL Central standings, whether it's when they play head to head, or when I look at various rankings of farm systems, I always see the Brewers ranked very, very high. It feels like they have this endless supply of guys who get to the big leagues. And some of these guys are players they acquire from other teams, but guys who get to the big leagues and they almost instantly stick, They almost instantly help. What are the Milwaukee Brewers doing that the Cincinnati Reds seemingly can't figure out?
00:11:13
Speaker 2: I think that the rest of the league almost can necessarily figure out.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: I mean, they are my favorite people to talk to.
00:11:20
Speaker 2: I learned something new every single time with anyone in the player development realm. They are just so in tune with their players from a scouting to a player development side of things. They identify the guys that they feel like are going to fit their system and that they feel like they can maximize, and then the player development people that they have in place to be able to just go.
00:11:39
Speaker 3: It's holistic too.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: You have a lot of organizations to try to cookie cut this thing, right, Oh, we're going to go for the high carry fastball guys and the gyro slider off of that, and we're going to make you do it the same way as everybody else. And instead, I think the Brewers look at it and say, Hey, this is a guy that's good at X and Y, but he's not great at Z. How can we make him better at Z? But the other guy may not be as good at Why? How can we make him better at why. And it's a very individual approach to each player, and they're really effective at being able to communicate that thing. The one thing that I noticed the most with them, though, is they pick their spots. Well, it's not immediately welcome to the organization. Here's forty things that you need to learn. They let these guys in adversity a little bit, and then they introduce some of the adjustments that they need to make maybe further along.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: In the process.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: And it's not just overwhelmed them, overwhelming them with information, but they scout really well, they develop really well, and they know their players, and I think that's just something that there's no magic sauce to it. I think it's just a lot of good people and a good position here, and the Brewers just communicate well from top to bottom.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: Well said, frustrating to watch, yet I admired them from afar jess Baseball dot Com and incredible resource, especially as we get to watch the Reds go into cell mode. I'm sure we'll be bucking you around August third to get your take on some of the guys the Reds acquire.
00:12:55
Speaker 2: I'm very excited to see, you know what kind of prospects they can bring in there, and I think this system, with things about some savvy trades, can get into the top third in the league.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: I know that is not what fans want to hear, though.
00:13:05
Speaker 1: What I want to do one year is at the trade deadline, I want to call you and ask you about the prospects the Reds have given up because they're.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: In by mode.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, I will say though, Alfredo Duno I think is going to be a game changer for this org. Other guys, it's kind of up in the air. I think Duno can really shift things for this franchise.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: Hope. So, Aaron, I can't thank you enough man, Thanks so much. We'll do it again soon.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to get on our guy, Aaron Layton, to talk about not just the draft, but the Red's farm system, guy who could be the starting catcher next year, and what one major league baseball team does that the Reds seemingly can't figure out. Aaron Layton, just Baseball dot Com, a great guest joins us next eleven away from four. This is esp In fifteen thirty on owegor. One of my favorite folks to talk baseball with is a guy by the name of Aaron Layton from jess Baseball dot Com, and we wanted to get him on around the baseball Draft, but right when it happened, I took off. So Aaron is here. Now I'll ask you about individual players, but start by giving me like a thirty thousand foot assessment of the Reds draft class.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: You go off the top right and it's this, okay, big boomer bus type of pick.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: But then from there I felt like it was pretty standard.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: It kind of felt like the best player available on the most public boards. And I don't mean that like an negg Way. It just kind of felt like it was the by.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: The book pick. A lot of the way you know, they go.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: College college college. But the first college pick was very, very high variance. After that it was you know, a handful of college picks that I think were a little bit higher.
00:01:13
Speaker 3: Floor, and that was the appeal.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: So to me, it was like, as risky as we could be with the first pick and then balancing it out with higher floor guys with the subsequent picks, all.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: Right, balance the risk reward. When it comes to Justin Lebron.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: I mean, I think this is the most polarizing guy in the draft. You ask some people, they're extremely concerned about, you know, some of the trends that we saw.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: You ask other people and you say, this.
00:01:35
Speaker 2: Guy could be a superstar, and they're neither are wrong, right. I think that's the really interesting facet of this. I think what's most fascinating about Lebron is that he's he has this huge gap of you know, what you see when he's going wrong and then what the flashes of what you see when he's going right on both sides of his game. So he could be this superb defender at shortstop. He has all the tools to be, but he made eighteen errors. Right, the routine plays are a little bit fresh training, but then he makes these acrobatic, incredible plays. You see the athleticism, I think offensively Ton of a similar story where when he's down in you see the plus power potential, the explosion just so much to like in the box. But he regressed a little bit and there was some swing and miss. So I mean, to be able to get a player there that, you know, at the eighteenth pick that has the upside of Lebron is pretty rare. But at the same time, you know, you are accepting that this is probably going to be a bit of a process and some risk, and you know, I think the Reds have kind of signed up for that when it comes to their picks. Steel Hall high school guy, but obviously huge tools, as high upside as anybody in the class. But also they knew he was going to be a little bit more of a process.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: It was there.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: Somebody that they could have taken that might have made a little bit more sense just in terms of a little bit less risk.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: It's interesting because again kind of in the eye the beholder, some had Lebron as a top ten pick, you know, in a top ten talent, and then others had him that I've talked to, you know, it's more of an end of the first round type of guy. So if the red skew towards that, you know, I can totally understand why they made that pick, especially at the eighteen spot. I think once you got to that range, it really tapered off, like in terms of I think the caliber of player, at least as you perceive it at this point in the draft, before these guys have made their pro debuts, Like, I think that was clearly the highest ceiling peaks piece available.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: I think you start looking at some.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: Arms if you wanted to go higher floor, or you have to do something, you know, super shocking, like the Red Sox didn't go with a super high floor bat and Jake Schaffner, but that was a huge underslot deal and I don't think anybody was expecting that.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: So I don't know if there was.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: A very obvious, you know, higher floor piece unless they wanted to go the pitching route. I really liked Kate Townsend, who ended up going to the Cubs a little bit later there. Ace Reese is a bat that a lot of people liked, a college bat, but he's most likely going to slide over to first, and he still comes with some swinging misconcerns. I really think when you go from the tier one bats in this class, and even just a couple of the Tier two guys that were higher for it drops off pretty quickly in terms of just what you're looking at from the four ceiling combination. And I think for that reason, the Red said why not shoot for the stars.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Here of their first eight picks, four of them are listed as shortstops. Now there's a part of me that says, well, that's the most important position. It's maybe the most difficult position. You could take a guy who plays shortstop and have them play at other positions. They still have Edwin Royo, for what it's worth, at least for the next few years. They still have Elie de la Cruz. Then there's a part of me that goes, you know what, I'm sort of tired of watching them try to take infielders and make them into outfielders. That is maybe a very myopic way of looking at things. What do you say to somebody who says, all right, these guys might be really good, but there's a whole lot of shortstop here before you find an outfielder.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think the idea of eventually having to convert them into outfielders, like is a little bit frustrating when you don't maybe have the outfield depth. But I think in general, if you go in draft shortstops, you're going to be in a pretty good spot. Whether those guys end up moving over to the second base, third base, or even eventually the outfield, I think generally speaking, you're going to be in a pretty good spot to you know, even if they can't stick there, you're gonna have a lot of positive outcomes. Whereas you know, I love the bat of Milvi LaVoo, but he's a first baseman, so if he doesn't absolutely mash, you're gonna be in a little bit of trouble there in terms of the value. So I do like the approach of shortstops, but I did find it a little bit interesting that, Yeah, in terms of a true outfield er, you didn't really see one of those until what the seventeenth round. But at the end of the day, if you draft the most athletic guy on the field that he's mostly on, which is typically going to be the shortstop, he's going to be able to survive and have some success in other spots.
00:05:38
Speaker 1: How much have they helped themselves when it comes to replenishing the stockpile of arms in the draft.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: This is where it's interesting because I think they could have went, you know, a little bit higher ceiling, but I think in this instance they wanted to just kind of go with the guys that they felt like were higher probability, you know, big league arms. And I think Ethan Norby is a guy that, you know, look at some of the success that they've had with with the left handers, you know.
00:06:00
Speaker 3: I think about Andrew Abbit.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I know he was a little bit earlier of a draft pick, but just seems to outperform the stuff gets out to the higher equipped than you would expect. I think Norby can kind of fit the bill of that where this stuff doesn't jump off the page, but he's a sneaky good athlete on the mound. He gets out the slider's probably the best pitch, but you know, everyone underestimates the fastball, and maybe he gets a few more outs and he would expect. I think tyner Horn is a guy that think they're a little bit more excited about maybe what could be in terms of the ceiling there. But another just just interesting arm where you have a slew of pitches, decent command, and hope you can build from there. But for me, it felt like they were going more with the higher floor arms and guys that they felt like could plug in and you know, have some big leak success right away, but may not profile as you know, number two or number three starters necessarily.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: Our guy, Aaron Layton is with us from jess baseball dot com. I think I asked you this. You joined me a couple of months ago when the Reds were close to bringing up Edwin Arroyo, and so I'll ask it again with the understanding that they've added to their farm system via the draft. The Reds have a good farm system.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think this gives them the opportunity to continue to lean into Hey, if we're not going to have like the deepest farm system in baseball or whatever it may be, we have a couple guys that could change this pretty quickly, and I think the Reds just added to that with Justin Lebron.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I don't think it's a bad farm system.
00:07:21
Speaker 2: I think it's right around the league average, maybe just below that. But the fascinating thing with them is if you look at the ceilings of the players that they have here.
00:07:29
Speaker 3: Alfredo Duno.
00:07:30
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm higher on him, I think than most out there, and we've got him as one of the best catching prospects in baseball, top fifteen overall.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: If it all clicks for that guy, he's a star. Steel Hall. If it all cooks for that guy, obviously he's a star.
00:07:42
Speaker 2: Tyson Lewis huge power, some whiff and chase concerns, But if it all clicks for that guy, he's a star. So I know that that's a big if with three of the guys at the top, but the ceiling is so high with them, and then you'll get Rodriguez swinging it and some of the other guys that have been performing pretty well this year. I think it drops off a little quickly, and I think they needed some arms that even if you don't get super excited about, you feel good about the chances of being big league pieces, and that's where they went. I still think it's probably more of an average or slightly below farm.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: You mentioned a name that I wanted to ask you about, Alfredo Duno, who I think you had eleventh in your top one hundred prospects. Right, So the Reds are I'll say likely, it's certainly a distinct possibility. They're going to trade Tyler Stevenson. He's due to be a free agent at the end of the season, so even if they don't, he could walk. And then I don't know that Jose Travino is going to be the primary catcher, which opens up room for Alfredo Duno to be the guy. Could he legitimately be the Reds let's just call it starting catcher in twenty twenty seven. And if he is, what can we expect.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: I think he's got a really good chance because this was the big and it's early, right, it's early in the double A promotion side of things. But he has really just risen to the occasion there in eleven games. You know, I think you saw the strikeout right a little bit higher on Hia. I think with patient at the lower levels, sometimes that can work against you, where this effective wildness of these pitchers, you almost your approach can almost work against you because you're waiting them out and maybe you take the pitch that you were probably should have jumped on, and then you get later into account and he doesn't even execute properly and ends up working against you with the way you're being selective, Whereas I think if you have a plan at the plate in double A and you're trying to kind of understand how the pitchers are trying to pitch you, usually they're gonna be able to execute what their plan was. And I think that actually can work in the favor of some of these guys have a really good feel for controlling there at bats and knowing how they're going to be pitched you instead of kind of the random mystery of what pitch and what location the guy's trying to throw and where it actually ends up. And I think we've seen the strikeout rate drop as the years, progressing very quickly. In the small sample at double A, he's very Samuel bisioish with the orioles and the respect that he has all the tools to be a great defender, but he's still refining some of the finer things, like the arm strength is great. He's a phenomenal athlete behind the day, but you know, the receiving could still be better. I think just the catch and throw in terms of just the quickness could.
00:10:05
Speaker 3: Be a little bit better.
00:10:06
Speaker 2: But when you see the power here, I mean, this is a guy with seventy raw power with a good approach that is just.
00:10:12
Speaker 3: Proving to hit. I think a little bit more than people were expecting.
00:10:15
Speaker 2: Even if he's close to an average catcher, you're going to pallet that because of the power and especially how that would play in great American ballpark. The patients to allow him to maybe hedge some of the swing and misconcern. And again, I think the approach that's translating better as he's facing more experienced arms.
00:10:30
Speaker 3: I think it would be aggressive next year.
00:10:31
Speaker 2: But if he finishes a year with a great you know, stretch and double A, I don't see how you can't give him a chance in spring training to try to win that job.
00:10:39
Speaker 3: All right.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: One more, and this is a question sort of from from left field. So we watch the Milwaukee Brewers every year run laps around the Reds, whether it's in the NL Central standings, whether it's when they play head to head, or when I look at various rankings of farm systems, I always see the Brewers ranked very, very high. It feels like they have this endless supply of guys who get to the big leagues. And some of these guys are players they acquire from other teams, but guys who get to the big leagues and they almost instantly stick, They almost instantly help. What are the Milwaukee Brewers doing that the Cincinnati Reds seemingly can't figure out?
00:11:13
Speaker 2: I think that the rest of the league almost can necessarily figure out.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: I mean, they are my favorite people to talk to.
00:11:20
Speaker 2: I learned something new every single time with anyone in the player development realm. They are just so in tune with their players from a scouting to a player development side of things. They identify the guys that they feel like are going to fit their system and that they feel like they can maximize, and then the player development people that they have in place to be able to just go.
00:11:39
Speaker 3: It's holistic too.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: You have a lot of organizations to try to cookie cut this thing, right, Oh, we're going to go for the high carry fastball guys and the gyro slider off of that, and we're going to make you do it the same way as everybody else. And instead, I think the Brewers look at it and say, Hey, this is a guy that's good at X and Y, but he's not great at Z. How can we make him better at Z? But the other guy may not be as good at Why? How can we make him better at why. And it's a very individual approach to each player, and they're really effective at being able to communicate that thing. The one thing that I noticed the most with them, though, is they pick their spots. Well, it's not immediately welcome to the organization. Here's forty things that you need to learn. They let these guys in adversity a little bit, and then they introduce some of the adjustments that they need to make maybe further along.
00:12:18
Speaker 3: In the process.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: And it's not just overwhelmed them, overwhelming them with information, but they scout really well, they develop really well, and they know their players, and I think that's just something that there's no magic sauce to it. I think it's just a lot of good people and a good position here, and the Brewers just communicate well from top to bottom.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: Well said, frustrating to watch, yet I admired them from afar jess Baseball dot Com and incredible resource, especially as we get to watch the Reds go into cell mode. I'm sure we'll be bucking you around August third to get your take on some of the guys the Reds acquire.
00:12:55
Speaker 2: I'm very excited to see, you know what kind of prospects they can bring in there, and I think this system, with things about some savvy trades, can get into the top third in the league.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: I know that is not what fans want to hear, though.
00:13:05
Speaker 1: What I want to do one year is at the trade deadline, I want to call you and ask you about the prospects the Reds have given up because they're.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: In by mode.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, I will say though, Alfredo Duno I think is going to be a game changer for this org. Other guys, it's kind of up in the air. I think Duno can really shift things for this franchise.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: Hope. So, Aaron, I can't thank you enough man, Thanks so much. We'll do it again soon.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
