Full Transcript for Prospect Promotion Incentive Ep. 41: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen

04:43.201 [SPEAKER_04]: It's an, an amalgamation of range and arm strength and body projection and what have you. 04:44.082 --> 04:46.863 [SPEAKER_04]: Run grade for the most part is based on your home-to-first in-game. 04:48.023 --> 05:07.667 [SPEAKER_04]: You know, there are some aspects of it that are maybe not picked up by traditional scouting, which is, you know, how often do you take an extra base, going first to third on a basic to the outfield scoring from second base, and how often are you a successful base dealer, those sort of things where it's real game application and it might not actually just be 05:11.327 --> 05:17.652 [SPEAKER_04]: Those would be really interesting to roll in, I believe, that's what the fan graphs speed stat accounts for. 05:18.973 --> 05:23.236 [SPEAKER_04]: But Bradfield is probably a true 70-grade runner. 05:24.257 --> 05:27.079 [SPEAKER_04]: Also a true 70-grade defender in center field. 05:27.119 --> 05:31.923 [SPEAKER_04]: So there is an avenue for value for a big league club. 05:32.623 --> 05:39.369 [SPEAKER_04]: What's interesting is Baltimore is really fired just about all of its bullets with Pesayo and Holiday and Mayo. 05:39.929 --> 06:00.963 [SPEAKER_04]: and beavers, and so on, and so forth, there's not a ton left that could really give them a boost this year, at least not the boost they're going to need, but Bradfield is interesting because you turned one of the sliders all the way up, maybe two of them, and he was doing a better job in the AFL, granted it's a launching pad. 06:01.884 --> 06:05.390 [SPEAKER_04]: of lifting and launching to the pull side, which was encouraging to see. 06:05.470 --> 06:07.393 [SPEAKER_04]: So he was also bonding a lot. 06:07.513 --> 06:08.235 [SPEAKER_04]: So there's that. 06:08.315 --> 06:14.806 [SPEAKER_04]: I guess when you're that fast, you can just lay one down on the grass and ask the pitcher and catcher to coordinate and beat you. 06:17.171 --> 06:18.572 [SPEAKER_04]: I went a different direction. 06:18.632 --> 06:21.333 [SPEAKER_04]: I did go the Detroit style pizza route. 06:21.373 --> 06:25.596 [SPEAKER_04]: And I really just went with who's a prospect in their system that I feel like talking about. 06:25.656 --> 06:34.080 [SPEAKER_04]: I went with Ben Jacobs, who was a 2025 third rounder, 98th overall out of Arizona State, short of a stout. 06:35.721 --> 06:47.935 [SPEAKER_04]: lefty without, you know, really stand out stuff at Arizona State, but has really performed well through his first almost 50 innings, 12 appearances as a pro. 06:47.996 --> 06:50.078 [SPEAKER_04]: He's got four games in 06:54.989 --> 06:56.872 [SPEAKER_04]: over that time he has a 270 ERA and a 37.8% strikeout rate. 06:56.932 --> 07:03.840 [SPEAKER_04]: He is walking 12.4% of batters, so it is not an outlier strikeout minus walk rate, but 25% is pretty fantastic. 07:11.510 --> 07:26.261 [SPEAKER_04]: what's interesting is the book on him was not necessarily that he was a stuff monster

at Arizona State, but rather that he was consistent and had pitchability and had a full repertoire, we're seeing him sort of bully the lower levels of the miners with. 07:26.981 --> 07:31.282 [SPEAKER_04]: You know, really what I think is a full stable of average pitches right now. 07:31.322 --> 07:32.642 [SPEAKER_04]: The fastball is not awesome. 07:32.662 --> 07:34.022 [SPEAKER_04]: He's not going to light up a radar gun. 07:34.463 --> 07:36.083 [SPEAKER_04]: The slider, I think, is just okay. 07:36.483 --> 07:38.083 [SPEAKER_04]: The curveball, I think, is just okay. 07:38.463 --> 07:40.844 [SPEAKER_04]: The change up, I think, is a chance to be above average or plus. 07:41.404 --> 07:49.986 [SPEAKER_04]: But for the most part, he's not going to miss a humongous amount of bats when he gets to double a or triple a more major league baseball. 07:50.266 --> 07:55.247 [SPEAKER_04]: But this is the sort of demographic that tigers have been interested in in the draft. 07:56.907 --> 07:58.969 [SPEAKER_04]: Occasionally, it works out really, really well. 07:59.049 --> 08:13.180 [SPEAKER_04]: I'd see Terry Scooble, who is not really an outlier athlete, you know, in the traditional sense of the word, but saw huge velocity jumps on top of some pitchability and is probably the best picture on planet Earth. 08:14.161 --> 08:18.605 [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe pre-loose body incident, nano-needle surgery. 08:19.125 --> 08:24.290 [SPEAKER_04]: I think there's an argument for Chris Sanchez or Jacob Miserowski at this point in the year. 08:24.870 --> 08:27.231 [SPEAKER_04]: Paul schemes obviously should be in that conversation as well. 08:27.251 --> 08:31.912 [SPEAKER_04]: Can't I'm sure, Hitler, maybe he's on the periphery. 08:32.252 --> 08:35.613 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, he's in the next room over just hollering. 08:36.474 --> 08:41.815 [SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, I think that's sort of the dream scenario for Ben Jacobs that is a 101st percentile outcome. 08:42.635 --> 08:49.318 [SPEAKER_04]: But he's pitched really well and I think he's still flying under some radars as of late June. 08:49.478 --> 08:50.238 [SPEAKER_04]: Let's see where 08:53.142 --> 08:59.564 [SPEAKER_04]: My friend and Idle, Chris Cleg has him ranked just outside 150 for Ben Jacobs. 08:59.584 --> 09:06.145 [SPEAKER_04]: He's a 22 year old pitching in high A. I think we really need to see more before we start considering him at top 100 prospect. 09:06.286 --> 09:11.627 [SPEAKER_04]: And honestly, I would love to see some more velocity that's probably an offseason program sort of thing. 09:13.088 --> 09:29.680 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you still have to take away right out of my mouth that the tigers have had success churning eyes out like this and instituting them into their pitching machine of chaos sounded like a perfect guy that you piggybacked or included in bulk in his current state. 09:29.740 --> 09:41.448 [SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, assuming he doesn't improve across the board or, you know, especially with the fast ball, but they've had success with this type of pitcher and so sounds like someone they could 09:41.688 --> 09:43.409 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, replicate that type of success with. 09:45.570 --> 09:46.390 [SPEAKER_04]: That's the whole point. 09:46.410 --> 09:48.251 [SPEAKER_04]: It comes to Ben Jacobs as of right now. 09:48.311 --> 09:53.453 [SPEAKER_04]: He projects like a maybe a five or like you said being successful with the piggyback or even long relief. 09:54.678 --> 09:55.679 [SPEAKER_04]: He's going to throw enough strikes. 09:55.979 --> 10:08.190 [SPEAKER_04]: I think he was a strike thrower at Arizona State, but you're really hoping that there's sort of a commonly early type velocity jump that makes him a little bit more fantasy relevant. 10:08.471 --> 10:17.619 [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't think that there are particularly similar pictures, at least not in stature, but that's the sort of jump that takes you from say 175 to inside the top 100. 10:21.952 --> 10:26.575 [SPEAKER_04]: All right, we have, I don't know if it's sad news necessarily. 10:26.835 --> 10:30.178 [SPEAKER_04]: I actually sort of chordled when I saw this. 10:31.058 --> 10:37.222 [SPEAKER_04]: Our did you see this segment is a farewell to Benny Montgomery, who was a 2021 first round pick. 10:37.463 --> 10:40.765 [SPEAKER_04]: He announces retirement on Monday yesterday. 10:41.285 --> 10:43.807 [SPEAKER_04]: Retirement from professional baseball. 10:45.428 --> 10:48.070 [SPEAKER_04]: Folks, is it good when your first round pick retired five years later? 10:49.475 --> 10:53.859 [SPEAKER_00]: not typically but they're just they could be playing a really long game. 10:54.019 --> 10:54.379 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 10:56.722 --> 11:01.946 [SPEAKER_04]: And and the what is the goal of said long game. 11:02.827 --> 11:04.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I'm not in the front office. 11:04.288 --> 11:07.111 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to claim to know what's going on over their endeavor. 11:08.312 --> 11:09.573 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's not a move I would have made. 11:09.733 --> 11:10.374 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just say that. 11:11.783 --> 11:13.125 [SPEAKER_04]: Montgomery for his part. 11:13.605 --> 11:28.842 [SPEAKER_04]: This was his third campaign in AA, he had played 41 games, he had a 37% strikeout rate, and an 8.6% walk rate, a 203 272 372 triple slap, a-shshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshsh 11:29.042 --> 11:32.163 [SPEAKER_04]: it was a 67 WRC+. 11:32.343 --> 11:33.783 [SPEAKER_04]: So, challenging. 11:34.003 --> 11:44.925 [SPEAKER_04]: This was also basically a copy paced of his line last year in which he went 201-274-263 with a 36.3% strikeout rate also in

AA. 11:44.965 --> 11:51.306 [SPEAKER_04]: So, topping out of AA for the average person, not a bad, that's a long baseball life. 11:52.266 --> 11:55.227 [SPEAKER_04]: For somebody who was picked in the first round, not so much. 11:57.179 --> 12:05.429 [SPEAKER_00]: No, we would have liked to have been seeing him in the big leads at this point, and it's a bummer that he didn't get to play in the PCL. 12:05.889 --> 12:10.534 [SPEAKER_00]: Had to end a Hartford, I believe, where the yard goats play in W.A. 12:10.675 --> 12:12.336 [SPEAKER_00]: there in the rocky system. 12:13.398 --> 12:17.462 [SPEAKER_00]: But we got eyes on Benny Montgomery one year in the Arizona fall lead. 12:18.243 --> 12:40.696 [SPEAKER_00]: passes the bus test looks like he's a ball player and unfortunately that's probably the extent of the stout in the rock he's might have done on him because we just never really saw materialize on the field but he always looked impressive and he swung the bat really hard but it never really worked out for him and when we saw him and clearly wasn't working out for him at AA either. 12:43.560 --> 12:44.781 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, he was pretty long levered. 12:44.801 --> 12:47.422 [SPEAKER_04]: He always sort of wondered if the mechanics would come together. 12:47.882 --> 12:50.623 [SPEAKER_04]: You know, he was six foot five and pretty watery. 12:51.244 --> 12:52.604 [SPEAKER_04]: I would have put him at like 190. 12:53.265 --> 12:58.887 [SPEAKER_04]: He was starting to put on some good weight, but it doesn't really matter if you're not connecting with that to ball. 12:58.967 --> 13:03.730 [SPEAKER_04]: So, happy trails, farewell to Benny Montgomery. 13:04.230 --> 13:09.692 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not sure if he's the first player in the 2021 first round to retire, but I put good money on it. 13:11.133 --> 13:12.494 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I bet on that side. 13:14.867 --> 13:18.230 [SPEAKER_04]: All right, in happy or news, we have some promotion. 13:18.270 --> 13:23.194 [SPEAKER_04]: So scully, why don't you take us through who got the call to Major League Baseball over the last week? 13:24.214 --> 13:26.856 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we got two guys going to the show. 13:27.697 --> 13:29.338 [SPEAKER_00]: And then several, two double A. 13:29.759 --> 13:31.020 [SPEAKER_00]: And we got some lower minors as well. 13:31.040 --> 13:35.403 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start with Cooper Pratt, short stop for the moment. 13:35.964 --> 13:39.867 [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to fact check me if he's been playing short for the brewers thus far. 13:40.708 --> 13:49.638 [SPEAKER_00]: But he was a sixth rounder back in 2023 out of high school and I went back to double check because I felt like I remembered he was a pretty hefty over-slot guide. 13:49.678 --> 14:00.710 [SPEAKER_00]: He was he was a nearly a million dollars over-slot to lure him away from his college commitment And just earlier this season he signed an eight year 51 million dollar extension 14:01.491 --> 14:21.632 [SPEAKER_00]: his 58-day AAA sample was good, strong, not sure if it necessitated a promotion quite yet, but it was 241 349 386 on the triple slash with six home runs, 17 bags and a 99 WRC plus and he struck out 14% of the time and walked 13%. 14:21.732 --> 14:23.294 [SPEAKER_00]: So more than holding his own, 14:23.915 --> 14:37.217 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you would be hoping for, you know, some better slog to come there, but that OBP Lens itself to what is a high floor with Pratt, but I'll let you kind of round out the rest of the profile and what the brewers will be working with here. 14:38.401 --> 14:44.482 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, he's played all of his time in Major League Baseball at the shortstop position, really eating into Joey Ortiz's role. 14:45.243 --> 14:53.144 [SPEAKER_04]: I do think there's an eventuality where he plays 30 as the arm to do so if necessary, and he's a little bit bigger for a shortstop. 14:53.324 --> 14:56.505 [SPEAKER_04]: I think the missing ingredient here has always been game power. 14:56.905 --> 14:59.366 [SPEAKER_04]: The assumption is that, you know, he's 20 years old. 14:59.726 --> 15:03.447 [SPEAKER_04]: He's going to grow into, I'm sorry, he's 21, there'll be 22 in August. 15:03.827 --> 15:07.508 [SPEAKER_04]: We're not doing our Bryce Eldridge bit where we, you know, 15:09.249 --> 15:09.550 [SPEAKER_04]: years. 15:10.651 --> 15:20.744 [SPEAKER_04]: I think the assumption has always been that he's going to grow into some game power, especially with the size of that frame, certainly room for good, good weight. 15:22.205 --> 15:25.448 [SPEAKER_04]: But the exit velocities have always been a little bit below average. 15:25.468 --> 15:27.390 [SPEAKER_04]: That's what we're seeing at the big league level as well. 15:27.830 --> 15:33.655 [SPEAKER_04]: The other thing to really watch out for is the chase rate has exploded, sort of predictably, at the big league level. 15:34.076 --> 15:37.519 [SPEAKER_04]: He's chasing over 40% of the time, I expect that to settle in. 15:38.079 --> 15:41.042 [SPEAKER_04]: It's, you know, a little bit astonishing that he's running the on-base percentage. 15:41.102 --> 15:45.626 [SPEAKER_04]: He is with that sort of, we'll call it temporary laps in discipline. 15:47.047 --> 15:48.307 [SPEAKER_04]: But it's all Babbit related. 15:48.327 --> 15:49.348 [SPEAKER_04]: He's putting the bat on the ball. 15:49.428 --> 15:52.088 [SPEAKER_04]: A tonney's making his own contact around 90% of the time. 15:52.648 --> 15:54.029 [SPEAKER_04]: And they're finding holes. 15:54.829 --> 15:56.369 [SPEAKER_04]: He has a 412 Babbit. 15:56.769 --> 16:05.671 [SPEAKER_04]: And so if you're looking at his line of 353, 391, 350, just know he's kind of squirting a bunch of singles through the infield. 16:06.111 --> 16:09.372 [SPEAKER_04]: Not my favorite choice of verb, but it happened and we're going to move on. 16:10.632 --> 16:22.778 [SPEAKER_04]: The one thing that I saw on socials about this is a

player comp to joy or tease his predecessor that I just want to take a moment to say, I don't really agree at all. 16:22.838 --> 16:25.479 [SPEAKER_04]: I was sort of famously high on joy or tease. 16:25.940 --> 16:29.581 [SPEAKER_04]: That was victory lapping his first half in 2024. 16:29.941 --> 16:35.024 [SPEAKER_04]: Then he got a neck injury and has been, how do I say this? 16:36.024 --> 16:37.525 [SPEAKER_04]: The worst hitter in baseball sense. 16:41.409 --> 16:48.897 [SPEAKER_04]: The statistical comparison was from joy or tease when he played in Nashville to Cooper Pratt when he played in Nashville. 16:48.917 --> 17:00.188 [SPEAKER_04]: The difference there is joy or tease was three years older and the only real similarity I see between the two of them is that they struggle to hit for power and part of that has to do with their bad at ball spray. 17:01.350 --> 17:05.135 [SPEAKER_04]: Neither of them are particularly prolific at getting the ball in the air to the pull side. 17:06.137 --> 17:11.004 [SPEAKER_04]: Pratt has a better approach, has, and will have a better approach than joy or tease. 17:12.125 --> 17:15.590 [SPEAKER_04]: And I do still think there's a chance for him to hit for power eventually. 17:16.509 --> 17:21.735 [SPEAKER_04]: Again, making a bet that 21 year old about to be 22 year old is far from a finished product. 17:21.916 --> 17:24.439 [SPEAKER_04]: So I think he's a top 100 guy. 17:24.499 --> 17:30.726 [SPEAKER_04]: He is certainly so in sort of real life baseball where he's a plus defender at the shortstop position. 17:31.967 --> 17:36.613 [SPEAKER_04]: The outlook for fantasy is a little less certain in my mind. 17:38.385 --> 17:41.627 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think bags, he's been to swipe his bags. 17:41.907 --> 17:45.229 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's where he's kind of making his name and he's written on base at a good clip. 17:45.449 --> 17:48.730 [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, is that a super high-floor ceiling? 17:49.131 --> 17:52.052 [SPEAKER_00]: No, but I think similar to his real-life outlook. 17:52.352 --> 17:55.954 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a high floor that he's not addicted to return you. 17:56.594 --> 18:01.657 [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, not a lot of those guys are sitting out there in the sixth round of drafts coming out of high school. 18:01.717 --> 18:05.399 [SPEAKER_00]: So, it's one of those interesting, like, moved and pretty quick to get him up here. 18:06.139 --> 18:07.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, those guys are hard to come by. 18:08.021 --> 18:20.992 [SPEAKER_00]: So, obviously, Kudos had to up to the Brewers front office, did it again, and found the rare, like, quick mover out of high school to play a short stop at a, at a very quick rate. 18:21.112 --> 18:26.777 [SPEAKER_00]: So, nice high floor for Pratt, both in real life and fantasy for my opinion. 18:27.818 --> 18:28.439 [SPEAKER_04]: I think that's right. 18:30.207 --> 18:33.792 [SPEAKER_00]: The next guy we've got here is another really good field good story. 18:34.372 --> 18:36.475 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess we had a few of those in recent episodes. 18:36.635 --> 18:49.091 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not going to spend a whole lot of time talking about Daniela Spino because the outlook for him is much different than it was maybe four or five years ago when he was considered one of if not the best pitching prospect in baseball. 18:49.691 --> 18:56.735 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, after he was the 24th overall pick in the 2019 draft, the problem with the spino is his skin is paper and his bones are glass. 18:57.615 --> 19:00.197 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, injuries have just plagued him throughout his career. 19:00.637 --> 19:05.260 [SPEAKER_00]: So that has led to him being transitioned into a relief role most likely for the guardians. 19:05.840 --> 19:10.422 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I think, you know, his 22 games in as 22 appearances at Triple Light. 19:10.803 --> 19:14.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, didn't necessarily, uh, demand a call up, but I think they saw. 19:16.102 --> 19:23.788 [SPEAKER_00]: Him being healthy and the fastball and sliders still be in nasty and saw 33% T-rate and said, let's call this guy up. 19:23.808 --> 19:27.491 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to give him a shot and finally give him that M.O.B. 19:27.511 --> 19:27.992 [SPEAKER_00]: debut. 19:28.692 --> 19:35.077 [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise it was a 5.30 ERA over 18 innings and he was walking 17% of guys. 19:35.318 --> 19:40.562 [SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see how it goes, but Kudos to Daniels Bino making it up to the show. 19:42.070 --> 19:49.054 [SPEAKER_04]: It's nice to see, I mean, he hasn't pitched meaningful innings since 2022, and he originally went down. 19:49.414 --> 19:51.575 [SPEAKER_04]: He's maxed out at 91 innings. 19:51.615 --> 19:53.276 [SPEAKER_04]: I believe that was in 2021. 19:53.316 --> 19:56.798 [SPEAKER_04]: And that's when he was in the number one pitching prospect conversation. 19:57.198 --> 20:08.585 [SPEAKER_04]: He is certainly a reliever now, but it's nice to see him come back and have really no qualms about letting the throttle go wide open, his average fastball velocity. 20:09.645 --> 20:27.439 [SPEAKER_04]: In the two games that we've seen him in for Cleveland has been 99.2, four miles an hour harder than the average right hander is throwing a slider at 91.3, which is again five miles an hour harder than the average ready and a curve wall that you know really has a ton of. 20:29.240 --> 20:30.360 [SPEAKER_04]: Velocity separation. 20:30.380 --> 20:32.301 [SPEAKER_04]: He's starting the curve ball at 75. 20:32.961 --> 20:36.462 [SPEAKER_04]: So, you know, it's, it's really nasty stuff. 20:37.762 --> 20:39.562 [SPEAKER_04]: You know, we'll see whether or not he can command it. 20:40.323 --> 20:42.683 [SPEAKER_04]: So far, he hasn't walked anybody, granted. 20:42.703 --> 20:45.824 [SPEAKER_04]: It's been two innings and he's recorded four strikeouts. 20:46.044 --> 20:47.484 [SPEAKER_04]: I think this is the right role.

20:47.644 --> 20:52.746 [SPEAKER_04]: For him, and it's sort of what people were pontificating about in like 2024 when he was in the middle of 21:00.929 --> 21:05.154 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, two, two, thirds of an inning before missing the entire season again. 21:05.174 --> 21:12.362 [SPEAKER_04]: So we're really talking about five years since he pitched in earnest, um, and it's a a really great feel good story. 21:13.524 --> 21:15.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, everyone's written for him. 21:16.915 --> 21:19.676 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna move into AA, no AAA promos, as I mentioned. 21:19.936 --> 21:21.757 [SPEAKER_00]: We got a lot of it, really exciting AA. 21:22.158 --> 21:23.538 [SPEAKER_00]: Guys moving into AA now. 21:23.738 --> 21:26.780 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna start with Theo Gillin, outfielder for the race. 21:27.500 --> 21:30.882 [SPEAKER_00]: He was their 18th overall pick in 2024 out of high school. 21:31.482 --> 21:34.704 [SPEAKER_00]: I've played in 57 high A games so far this year. 21:35.344 --> 21:37.485 [SPEAKER_00]: And he was just dominant. 21:38.245 --> 21:38.806 [SPEAKER_00]: 3342, 449, 21:41.567 --> 21:45.350 [SPEAKER_00]: 589 slash with 12 home runs, 28 bags. 21:45.590 --> 21:46.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, 57 games. 21:47.492 --> 21:49.674 [SPEAKER_00]: Good for all 166 WRC+. 21:49.714 --> 21:55.939 [SPEAKER_00]: He was striking out 24% of the time, so something to keep an eye on, I guess, but still walking 14%. 21:56.059 --> 21:57.520 [SPEAKER_00]: Gloves is a bit of a question. 21:57.600 --> 22:00.122 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's a centerfielder in his current form. 22:00.542 --> 22:08.849 [SPEAKER_00]: It could get better, but from a corner perspective, it looks like the bats going to stick or could stick there, but really exciting stuff out of Gill and so far this year. 22:21.012 --> 22:24.800 [SPEAKER_00]: apologies for the technical difficulties we're experiencing. 22:24.920 --> 22:31.873 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the joys of podcasting from a couple different states across, but yeah, feel Dylan, not sure he's got center field. 22:38.013 --> 22:42.075 [SPEAKER_00]: apologies times two for some technical difficulties on our side. 22:42.935 --> 22:53.320 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to wrap up with Theo Dale in here, emphasizing again that the love might not stick in center, but everything else looks like it would support a corner outfield profile. 22:54.101 --> 22:58.783 [SPEAKER_00]: So really excited about what he's been doing at high A, we'll see if he can carry it out into W. 23:00.747 --> 23:08.530 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think Theo Gillenford, the majority of his short professional career is really played to the scouting report. 23:08.570 --> 23:13.192 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a plus hit above average or plus speed sort of profile. 23:13.532 --> 23:24.316 [SPEAKER_04]: But this year, he's really done a lot more damage, which is a little bit confounding because he is hitting fewer flyballs, he's pulling the ball less, he's putting the ball

on the ground 23:28.317 --> 23:37.080 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm inclined to believe that that's a true jump in exit velocities that he's just getting more value on the balls that he's putting in the air, which is exciting for a player with this profile. 23:37.440 --> 23:46.883 [SPEAKER_04]: I will note he did start his professional career as a short stop and move to center largely because he didn't have the arm strength anymore to make throws from short. 23:46.923 --> 23:51.164 [SPEAKER_04]: He had a shoulder injury in his past that really sapped some of that arm strength. 23:52.985 --> 23:53.105 [SPEAKER_04]: So 23:54.550 --> 24:05.734 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if he's a center-fielder long-term necessarily if he is an outfielder and this is where it becomes challenging and he's not playing in center, it's probably left because you can't really have that arm plate and right. 24:06.194 --> 24:16.738 [SPEAKER_04]: I do see an eventuality where maybe they try him at second base, where he's going to be making fewer long throws, he's certainly got the build and sort of the profile for that, but 24:18.968 --> 24:26.133 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm really bullish on teogill and I think this is a pretty tantalizing profile even with the 24% strikeout rate. 24:26.533 --> 24:27.374 [SPEAKER_04]: He's still just 20. 24:28.414 --> 24:31.656 [SPEAKER_04]: And in high A getting the the bump to double. 24:31.737 --> 24:38.301 [SPEAKER_04]: So we'll see how he fairs, but I think he's like a top 40 prospect in baseball at the moment. 24:38.721 --> 24:43.684 [SPEAKER_04]: And it's it's based on some of that present athleticism and burgeoning power. 24:46.060 --> 24:58.870 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a good profile, and I think the rays sort of have an affinity for the, and Gillen doesn't necessarily meet this squarely, but sort of the underrated high school drafty. 24:59.410 --> 25:13.621 [SPEAKER_04]: Gillen was unknown quantity coming out of West Lake high school in Texas, but I like their sort of draft philosophy of high risk, high reward prepsters. 25:13.761 --> 25:14.342 [SPEAKER_04]: You're seeing this with 25:17.502 --> 25:18.463 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can pencil them. 25:18.523 --> 25:21.385 [SPEAKER_00]: And for that archetype, it feels like every draft. 25:21.825 --> 25:23.707 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, shocker, they hit again. 25:25.088 --> 25:27.950 [SPEAKER_00]: Another selection from that 2024 draft. 25:28.150 --> 25:30.132 [SPEAKER_00]: We've got second rounder, Caleb Bonnermer. 25:31.533 --> 25:32.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Call him a short stop for now. 25:32.894 --> 25:37.117 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about if he's going to stick at short stop in the White Sox board. 25:37.597 --> 25:39.799 [SPEAKER_00]: He was early second rounder. 25:40.059 --> 25:42.680 [SPEAKER_00]: and they overslauded him to get him out of his commit. 25:42.701 --> 25:43.941 [SPEAKER_00]: I remember that being a big deal. 25:44.582 --> 25:54.787 [SPEAKER_00]: He was sort of a risky draft pick in that draft because he was signability hard or extremely hard for those who used to play the show. 25:54.907 --> 26:01.411 [SPEAKER_00]: But they got him and he has been a very buzzy, successful draft pick and prospect for them. 26:01.491 --> 26:02.912 [SPEAKER_00]: 61 high age games this season. 26:02.952 --> 26:03.432 [SPEAKER_00]: He's produced 26:09.735 --> 26:11.577 [SPEAKER_00]: good for a 138 WRC plus. 26:12.357 --> 26:15.860 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we get into maybe some red flags with this 29% K rate. 26:16.360 --> 26:26.567 [SPEAKER_00]: He saves it a little bit with a 14% walk rate, but I wonder if this is a free swinging young lad or if he's having contact issues. 26:26.687 --> 26:29.149 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you ascertain any of that from the profile? 26:30.253 --> 26:49.179 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, what's really changed about this profile, and if you're curious to hear not just our perspective, but also a really brilliant baseball mind in my opinion, I was on Chris Blessings show at baseball HQ, it's called the eyes habit strongly recommend Chris has been doing work in and out of baseball. 26:49.679 --> 26:53.563 [SPEAKER_04]: for a very long time, and I really appreciate his perspective. 26:53.583 --> 26:55.945 [SPEAKER_04]: It's one of my staple podcasts to listen to. 26:56.405 --> 26:58.948 [SPEAKER_04]: We talked about Caleb Bonnermer on that show. 26:58.968 --> 27:04.012 [SPEAKER_04]: We also talked a little bit about Cooper Pratt, and later in the agenda, we have Andrew Fisher. 27:04.192 --> 27:08.216 [SPEAKER_04]: He comes up, I sort of stole the agenda from this pod. 27:08.476 --> 27:11.079 [SPEAKER_04]: But I think Chris's perspective is worth getting into. 27:12.720 --> 27:22.523 [SPEAKER_04]: The big change for Bonamer as he is sort of abandoned the all fields approach he once had and has been, you know, really pulling the ball a lot. 27:23.083 --> 27:32.967 [SPEAKER_04]: This is an approach that has changed to getting the ball in the air as much as possible and getting it to the pull side as much as possible, which means he's firing a lot earlier. 27:34.387 --> 27:36.348 [SPEAKER_04]: than he was in 2025. 27:36.368 --> 27:40.511 [SPEAKER_04]: The contact rate has subsequently really suffered. 27:40.551 --> 27:47.435 [SPEAKER_04]: It's gone from high 70s to high 60s, which is sort of teetering on the edge of viability. 27:47.936 --> 27:51.698 [SPEAKER_04]: What it has unlocked for him obviously is a ton of game power. 27:51.718 --> 27:57.222 [SPEAKER_04]: He's lugging 537 so far, but the batting average into a certain 27:59.123 --> 28:15.474 [SPEAKER_04]: have struggled and it's because it's really difficult to start your entire sort of hating process you're swing as early as you need to to wrap the ball around the left field foul pole with as much regularity as he has as far as like future defensive home. 28:17.553 --> 28:18.394 [SPEAKER_04]: He's a third baseman. 28:18.734 --> 28:22.677 [SPEAKER_04]: He has played two games this year at short

stop in 31 of them at third base. 28:23.057 --> 28:29.942 [SPEAKER_04]: He has dh once that came in double a. I didn't really think he was a short stop coming out of the draft. 28:29.962 --> 28:34.465 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, everybody's drafted is a short stop in very few of them stay that way at the big league level. 28:34.705 --> 28:37.947 [SPEAKER_04]: But his build didn't really make sense to me at short. 28:40.129 --> 28:41.890 [SPEAKER_04]: He came out of the draft really polished. 28:41.950 --> 28:45.090 [SPEAKER_04]: He is made of really concerted effort to do some things differently this year. 28:45.170 --> 28:48.571 [SPEAKER_04]: And it's paid off, but it's paid off in the lower levels of the miners. 28:49.332 --> 28:55.693 [SPEAKER_04]: And I think he could struggle in AA against better breaking stuff. 28:56.474 --> 29:01.215 [SPEAKER_04]: I think, you know, when we think about the quality of pitching across each of the leagues, 29:01.995 --> 29:08.005 [SPEAKER_04]: I think AAA on average is more polished pictures, but I think you see the best stuff in AA. 29:08.105 --> 29:12.432 [SPEAKER_04]: You're, you know, sort of willing to promote arms in your system that are really nasty. 29:12.772 --> 29:16.839 [SPEAKER_04]: That might be going down the reliever route to AA with just insane walk rates. 29:18.283 --> 29:32.647 [SPEAKER_04]: But generally speaking, I think you see the best pitch quality in AA, and I worry about that with Caleb Bonnermer, especially with breaking stuff because it's difficult to stay back when you're firing as early as he has been this year. 29:34.928 --> 29:48.435 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a with the draft coming up or the self coming draft the potential them have in Rock Chalowski and Taylor Bonumer on the left side of that infield is very exciting in the probably not so distant future on the south side. 29:49.396 --> 29:55.379 [SPEAKER_00]: So something to dream on in to add to that already very fun offensive core that they've got cooking there. 29:55.399 --> 30:00.222 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I was going to say one of them is going to have to displace Miguel Vargas for that to come true and he has been 30:00.902 --> 30:02.024 [SPEAKER_04]: simply fantastic. 30:02.104 --> 30:03.746 [SPEAKER_04]: I loved him like four years ago. 30:03.766 --> 30:13.819 [SPEAKER_04]: I think I put him inside my top 10 in my 2022 top 100 when he was just tearing up the lower levels of the miners in the Dodger system. 30:14.140 --> 30:17.965 [SPEAKER_04]: I think that broke in hand when he was getting ready to debut that happened in spring training. 30:18.225 --> 30:23.010 [SPEAKER_04]: And then he sort of just stood in the box all spring training and was told not to swing, but you're going to see live pitching. 30:23.410 --> 30:31.838 [SPEAKER_04]: I think that really messed with him and basically all Miguel Vargas has done this year is said, What if I did everything exactly the same except for us one way way harder? 30:32.378 --> 30:34.340 [SPEAKER_04]: And it's working, so that's being matters. 30:35.497 --> 30:38.160 [SPEAKER_00]: I like that he could have potentially gone to a swing coach. 30:38.200 --> 30:40.222 [SPEAKER_00]: And they were like, have you considered this? 30:40.823 --> 30:43.065 [SPEAKER_00]: Just swinging as hard as you possibly can. 30:43.085 --> 30:44.246 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, I hadn't. 30:44.486 --> 30:46.068 [SPEAKER_00]: And then that just unboxed something for him. 30:46.348 --> 30:48.751 [SPEAKER_00]: That's like the plot out of a TV show or a movie I feel like. 30:49.232 --> 30:49.472 [SPEAKER_04]: Right. 30:49.512 --> 30:55.515 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, like a bad, a bad baseball movie where, you know, this savant hitting coaches like just went harder. 30:56.235 --> 30:56.435 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 30:56.515 --> 31:03.059 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, testament to his ability, sort of, preternatural ability to put the bat on the ball. 31:03.379 --> 31:06.460 [SPEAKER_04]: He hasn't really sacrificed much in other ways, like his approach is basically the same. 31:06.860 --> 31:08.301 [SPEAKER_04]: His bath ball is basically the same. 31:08.541 --> 31:11.883 [SPEAKER_04]: It's really difficult to swing harder and keep all of those things level. 31:11.923 --> 31:16.645 [SPEAKER_04]: So I don't mean to trivialize what he has done, but that's essentially my analysis on 31:20.436 --> 31:24.743 [SPEAKER_00]: You weren't expecting to get some bonus Medellivargas talk in this episode, but here we are. 31:24.763 --> 31:27.247 [SPEAKER_00]: Were there really the whole package on this podcast? 31:27.928 --> 31:29.010 [SPEAKER_04]: I wasn't expecting it either. 31:29.030 --> 31:29.591 [SPEAKER_04]: It just started. 31:31.644 --> 31:33.967 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, we got two brewers here next. 31:34.427 --> 31:41.254 [SPEAKER_00]: Yippee, so excited to talk about how Andrew Fisher has been tearing the cover off of the baseball. 31:42.415 --> 31:49.783 [SPEAKER_00]: If you'll remember, he was the 20th overall pit in the 2025 draft out of Tennessee, and he is making the brewers look smart at once again. 31:50.857 --> 31:52.278 [SPEAKER_00]: 54 hi-A games this year. 31:52.438 --> 31:57.560 [SPEAKER_00]: Got a lot of high numbers going on in the slash line and then in this stat package that I've got. 31:58.401 --> 32:02.843 [SPEAKER_00]: 298, 443 and 675 on the triple slash. 32:03.103 --> 32:05.084 [SPEAKER_00]: He has trusted 20 homeruns already. 32:05.404 --> 32:07.365 [SPEAKER_00]: Has a 169 WRC plus. 32:07.925 --> 32:17.849 [SPEAKER_00]: He's striking out 33% of the time, but also walking 18% and as of yesterday, when I pulled these stats, he had two homeruns in his first four AA games. 32:19.595 --> 32:24.901 [SPEAKER_00]: Suffice it to say, power is the carrying tool, but he seems to be doing everything well right now. 32:25.442 --> 32:29.426 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you, I know you talked about, Fisher with Blessing. 32:29.886 --> 32:33.931 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we feel about this

overall profile and is this as legit as it appears? 32:35.532 --> 32:41.715 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, the only notifications I let go to my Apple Watch are from Twitter and their Jeff Passen and minor league stat updates. 32:42.376 --> 32:50.820 [SPEAKER_04]: And it feels like every day I get a vibration on my wrist that says, Andrew Fisher is gone Yabo again, and don't get me wrong. 32:51.380 --> 32:53.361 [SPEAKER_04]: he is hitting the absolute piss out of the ball. 32:53.681 --> 32:56.422 [SPEAKER_04]: He has a hard hit rate that is just unfathomable. 32:57.082 --> 33:00.623 [SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, it's really come with a ton of swing and miss. 33:00.643 --> 33:14.508 [SPEAKER_04]: We're talking about him striking out a third of the time with an overall contact rate of 62.6%, which is not quite Spencer Jones numbers, but he's a whisper away. 33:15.610 --> 33:16.470 [SPEAKER_04]: that's challenging. 33:16.711 --> 33:24.434 [SPEAKER_04]: And you know, again, there's another situation very similar to bottomers, a reason why we're talking about a back-to-back, where AA is going to be make it a break it here. 33:25.254 --> 33:33.998 [SPEAKER_04]: I think we could see him really try to clean up the swing decisions and give backs and power in favor of basketball. 33:34.519 --> 33:36.940 [SPEAKER_04]: Or I could think I think we could see him. 33:38.513 --> 33:42.196 [SPEAKER_04]: double down on the approach and see that strikeout rate really hover in the mid-30s. 33:42.576 --> 33:43.958 [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't know if that's viable. 33:45.679 --> 33:50.463 [SPEAKER_04]: You know, as he climbs the minor league ladder, as he matriculates through the system. 33:50.503 --> 33:50.603 [SPEAKER_04]: So 33:52.537 --> 33:54.679 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if he's a third baseman long-term. 33:55.640 --> 33:58.923 [SPEAKER_04]: The birds certainly have sort of plenty of options ahead of him. 33:59.183 --> 34:10.534 [SPEAKER_04]: At third, they have a rat who we talked about as a potential option, jet Williams as a potential, new gattams, Brock Wilkins, you know, there's sort of a lot going on there in the system. 34:10.974 --> 34:13.897 [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't think he is the best bet to stick there. 34:13.917 --> 34:18.081 [SPEAKER_04]: I think he's probably vying for some first base opportunity in 2027, 34:19.960 --> 34:27.704 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, you know, maybe later in the year in 2027, um, and all of this to say I really like Andrew Fisher. 34:27.904 --> 34:30.045 [SPEAKER_04]: I've obviously been pleased with his performance. 34:30.386 --> 34:33.968 [SPEAKER_04]: I think it's own him or roster him and in fantasy rather. 34:34.688 --> 34:45.314 [SPEAKER_04]: Now might be the time to sort of pulse check what you could get in return for him because the baseball card stats are pretty nutty and I worry that there's going to 34:51.825 --> 35:06.914 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's got his teammate joining him, moving up with him is Josh Adam Shesky, a different, much different route to the brewers and kind of profile in general for Adam Shesky who's a 15th round pit in 2023. 35:07.714 --> 35:17.820 [SPEAKER_00]: Name we've talked about a good bit on this podcast from the time we saw him in the AFL and just backs admiration for the profile and the kind of buying the 35:20.762 --> 35:38.359 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, doubt another one through 50 hi-A games he was slashing was slashing 331 464 572 with nine homeruns 10 stolen bases 162 WRC plus and he walked just ever so slightly more than he struck out at 19.4 compared to 19 flat 35:41.362 --> 35:46.548 [SPEAKER_00]: So, take your victory lap right now, as he does to double-eye on Adam Shestian. 35:46.688 --> 35:52.075 [SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, I don't know if you were expecting him to be this good, but he's having a damn good start to the year. 35:53.915 --> 36:03.439 [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, I don't know if this is like a never wrong, just early kind of thing, but I put him in my top 100 in August of last year and then I saw him in the AFL and he had made a shift to left field. 36:03.479 --> 36:11.062 [SPEAKER_04]: And I was cooling off on him a little bit just because I wasn't sure if the bat played very well in the outfield. 36:11.482 --> 36:17.725 [SPEAKER_04]: I really liked the profile when it was at second base and it was sort of modest, maybe average hit above average power. 36:18.665 --> 36:20.726 [SPEAKER_04]: Something to that effect last fall. 36:20.846 --> 36:37.373 [SPEAKER_04]: He has come into 2026 and started clobbering the ball and the approach and contact rate look pretty good to the big sort of nugget here is that he's running at 90th percentile eggs of velocity of like 106 miles an hour, which from his frame he's 511 190 listed on fan graphs. 36:39.574 --> 36:50.587 [SPEAKER_04]: That is meaningful raw power, that is plus raw power, and this suddenly looks like an offense of profile that could play a corner outfield position. 36:53.009 --> 36:55.712 [SPEAKER_04]: And that's a really meaningful development for him. 36:56.113 --> 36:57.354 [SPEAKER_04]: I do wonder. 36:58.235 --> 37:02.321 [SPEAKER_04]: About AA, uh, the suddenly is just a really challenging place to hit. 37:02.762 --> 37:04.384 [SPEAKER_04]: He is all of 21 years old. 37:04.925 --> 37:07.689 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, we've seen the sort of contact rate oscillate. 37:08.130 --> 37:12.917 [SPEAKER_04]: It has dropped off since he was promoted now in, you know, very, very small sample we're talking about here. 37:13.717 --> 37:25.705 [SPEAKER_04]: four games, 15 plate appearances, I think he'll round into form, but it's going to be a little bit of a slower burn than maybe some other guys in the system, you know, who could debut sooner. 37:26.506 --> 37:33.390 [SPEAKER_04]: The Brewers also have this sort of talent log jam where I think some of these guys are going to need to go for Adam Chessie to get a shot in Milwaukee. 37:33.771 --> 37:40.655 [SPEAKER_04]: And as I'm saying, all of this, I

didn't even mention Hayesu Somade as a potential third base option as well. 37:43.012 --> 37:49.878 [SPEAKER_04]: Again, maybe just more speaking to the bound to full talent in the system right now. 37:49.918 --> 37:54.021 [SPEAKER_04]: There's sort of a lot of guys to fist fight for a playing time. 37:55.982 --> 37:59.946 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'd like to see them fist fight each other potentially to injury. 38:01.387 --> 38:02.308 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's what it's going to take. 38:02.468 --> 38:05.390 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, brewers are cooking what's new. 38:06.331 --> 38:07.712 [SPEAKER_00]: Every level, it don't matter. 38:09.184 --> 38:20.619 [SPEAKER_00]: uh we're gonna keep moving on we got three more double A names here we're gonna go on the pitching side with Christian Zazweta ZAZU ETA right hand of pitcher for the Dodgers 38:22.260 --> 38:23.741 [SPEAKER_00]: pop-up name this year. 38:24.002 --> 38:27.104 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the biggest risers, especially on the pitching side. 38:27.625 --> 38:31.268 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had to look up his path because he was a new name for me to learn this year. 38:31.328 --> 38:34.251 [SPEAKER_00]: As I've seen him all over Twitter, I'm in all over rankings. 38:34.831 --> 38:40.096 [SPEAKER_00]: So side by the eighties back in 2022, eventually traded to the Dodgers in 2004. 38:40.997 --> 38:43.159 [SPEAKER_00]: for left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson. 38:43.559 --> 38:49.705 [SPEAKER_00]: So, of course, people wonder how the Dodgers turn these guys around and find these diamonds and the rough. 38:50.586 --> 38:56.532 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how got him from the eighties and then developed him into this beast. 38:56.572 --> 38:58.073 [SPEAKER_00]: 11 high age games so far this year. 38:58.493 --> 38:59.474 [SPEAKER_00]: It was 48 innings. 39:00.589 --> 39:07.074 [SPEAKER_00]: at a 388-ERA, a 35-fibb, and he's striking out 35% of guys and only walking six. 39:07.714 --> 39:13.739 [SPEAKER_00]: A pretty electric profile looks like, again, just hi-A, so we'll see how it goes for him in AA. 39:13.879 --> 39:16.661 [SPEAKER_00]: But what do you see behind Zaz Weta here? 39:19.070 --> 39:21.852 [SPEAKER_04]: It's one of the best fastballs in minor league baseball. 39:22.732 --> 39:26.194 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, all around, he's striking out nearly 35% of batters. 39:26.214 --> 39:27.515 [SPEAKER_04]: He's walking just 6%. 39:27.575 --> 39:30.177 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a 28.4% strikeout minus walk rate. 39:30.597 --> 39:32.438 [SPEAKER_04]: The fastball is taken several leaps. 39:33.098 --> 39:36.320 [SPEAKER_04]: It was sort of sitting around 93 in 2025. 39:36.360 --> 39:38.061 [SPEAKER_04]: It's more mid 90s. 39:39.182 --> 39:43.765 [SPEAKER_04]: Now, touching 99 with a 30% with rate and he's throwing it for strikes and like, 39:44.665 --> 39:49.066 [SPEAKER_04]: a really, really good fastball can carry you through a minor league system. 39:49.247 --> 40:06.052 [SPEAKER_04]: I think the development of his slider and his change up are going to be meaningful, but it gives him, you know, weapons against both rightes and lefties, maybe, you know, in a perfect world, you would see him add a second fastball variation, a sinker or something to that effect. 40:07.312 --> 40:10.633 [SPEAKER_04]: just to really bite in on right his hands, but he hasn't needed one yet. 40:11.033 --> 40:12.033 [SPEAKER_04]: He's still pretty young. 40:12.073 --> 40:12.853 [SPEAKER_04]: He's just 21. 40:13.694 --> 40:22.896 [SPEAKER_04]: And you know, it's been sort of a straight line up into the right for Zazweta who has put on good weight, seen as velocity tick up. 40:23.216 --> 40:24.236 [SPEAKER_04]: It's thrown a ton of strikes. 40:24.816 --> 40:31.358 [SPEAKER_04]: Just a really talented arm that I think should be in the conversation for a top 100 prospect in baseball. 40:31.738 --> 40:32.678 [SPEAKER_04]: He's got a pitcher's frame. 40:33.198 --> 40:33.398 [SPEAKER_04]: He was 40:36.499 --> 40:40.904 [SPEAKER_04]: but he's put it on like 25, 30 pounds of good weight and stand six with three. 40:40.944 --> 40:46.991 [SPEAKER_04]: So I think we are looking at a starter based on the strike throwing and worst case scenario that fastball continues to tick up. 40:47.472 --> 40:50.596 [SPEAKER_04]: It is excellent and he can sort of play it up in short bursts. 41:27.358 --> 41:32.043 [SPEAKER_04]: right up on our agenda with Hizu's bias of the St. Louis Cardinals, Vigaphora Scully. 41:33.224 --> 41:46.817 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so our Penultimate AA Primo T. Promote Hizu's bias was signed by the Met's back in 2022 and when then was traded to St. Louis and that Ryan Hellsley deal at last year's deadline. 41:47.037 --> 41:52.322 [SPEAKER_00]: He just got promoted from Pioria, my hometown, so I missed out on the opportunity to see him. 41:53.103 --> 42:02.153 [SPEAKER_00]: But in those 54 games in Pioria where he was a chief, he slashed 247-389 with 14 homeruns. 42:02.314 --> 42:03.455 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what really stands out. 42:03.975 --> 42:10.463 [SPEAKER_00]: He joined five bags all over an 89 WRC plus and a 16% K rate 7% walk rate. 42:12.475 --> 42:16.517 [SPEAKER_00]: He had a 112 WRC plus in 97 high-idames last year. 42:16.677 --> 42:22.380 [SPEAKER_00]: So if, as I was reading that, you said that doesn't really sound like a guy that is worthy of a promotion. 42:22.500 --> 42:27.263 [SPEAKER_00]: He spent some time at the level, certainly seems ready to go up. 42:27.523 --> 42:33.306 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's been very buzzy lately, writing at Power Driven Hot Street as of late. 42:34.447 --> 42:40.810 [SPEAKER_00]: What's your read on Hazard's Buy as, and is this kind of heater that he's on indicative of future success? 42:42.148 --> 42:44.489 [SPEAKER_04]: are we going to talk about you throw in the word pen ultimate in there. 42:44.869 --> 42:48.811 [SPEAKER_04]: It was like stononum, uh, good use of the word. 42:48.831 --> 42:50.852 [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, bias is interesting. 42:50.892

--> 42:56.995 [SPEAKER_04]: This to me, uh, this promotion felt like he is served his time in Pioria. 42:57.095 --> 42:58.256 [SPEAKER_04]: So let's just move him along. 42:58.636 --> 43:00.077 [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, obviously hadn't gotten better. 43:00.777 --> 43:03.799 [SPEAKER_04]: this year at Haye, now granted the power is there. 43:03.959 --> 43:06.901 [SPEAKER_04]: And if you like a pulled fly ball, he'll supply you with one. 43:07.361 --> 43:11.644 [SPEAKER_04]: But my read on bias is I think he's pretty physically maxed out. 43:11.804 --> 43:14.425 [SPEAKER_04]: So even well, it's above average exit velocities. 43:15.146 --> 43:18.268 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't see them peaking much higher than that. 43:19.028 --> 43:21.490 [SPEAKER_04]: And it's it's probably average or above average hit. 43:22.390 --> 43:25.272 [SPEAKER_04]: Ultimately, I think he's a roll 45, you know, 43:30.575 --> 43:32.297 [SPEAKER_04]: Most likely outcome here. 43:32.657 --> 43:44.448 [SPEAKER_04]: He's not, at least for me, you know, somebody that I'm running out to get based on those 14 home runs is very much a spray driven performance profile and he wasn't really performing. 43:54.897 --> 44:01.680 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, he was buzzing when he was a met, mostly, you know, predicated on the strength of his hit tool. 44:03.280 --> 44:09.803 [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe there was some hope that, you know, he would bulk up and get to, you know, plus or better raw power. 44:10.583 --> 44:12.264 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't really see that for him. 44:12.564 --> 44:15.065 [SPEAKER_04]: So that's, that's where I'm at personally. 44:15.960 --> 44:19.343 [SPEAKER_00]: That being said, of 242 ISO is pretty elite. 44:20.063 --> 44:21.925 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he is doing damage. 44:22.625 --> 44:32.993 [SPEAKER_00]: But all of those kind of, all of that's, all the stats kind of seen next to each other gives me the profile of a guy that wasn't necessarily bored, but was starting to chase one thing. 44:33.194 --> 44:35.315 [SPEAKER_00]: And that was the pulled fly ball, like you're saying. 44:35.896 --> 44:44.162 [SPEAKER_00]: And seemed to be swinging at a good clip to only have a 16% and then a 7% strikeout and then walk rate respectively. 44:45.575 --> 44:50.121 [SPEAKER_00]: but then the batting average in the OVP aren't that's are very high at all. 44:50.521 --> 44:54.807 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, put a lot of balls in play and truly doing damage on a lot of the ones he is. 44:54.827 --> 44:56.769 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's a very interesting profile. 44:56.869 --> 45:01.295 [SPEAKER_00]: One that we'll see the holes that are in the profile did it's posed in double I most likely. 45:02.285 --> 45:06.870 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the sort of one redeeming quality about the end of last year. 45:06.910 --> 45:10.254 [SPEAKER_04]: I believe it was a 112 of WRC plus in 2025. 45:11.636 --> 45:18.083 [SPEAKER_04]: He had really trimmed his chase rate, which was sort of the one big red flag in the profile. 45:18.444 --> 45:19.986 [SPEAKER_04]: He's now swinging much more. 45:20.026 --> 45:21.748 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't have his non-public. 45:22.969 --> 45:27.934 [SPEAKER_04]: swing decision profile in front of me, but this wing rate has jumped this year. 45:27.974 --> 45:29.036 [SPEAKER_04]: He's gotten more aggressive. 45:29.316 --> 45:39.847 [SPEAKER_04]: I part of that probably has to do with him firing a little bit earlier to get the ball in the air to the pull side and he may have relapsed on some of those improved swing decision. 45:41.097 --> 45:42.559 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 45:42.679 --> 45:49.508 [SPEAKER_00]: Our next guy, the final double a promoting that we have to talk about is Marick Houston, short stop prospect for the twins. 45:50.189 --> 45:51.591 [SPEAKER_00]: We talked about him last week. 45:51.631 --> 45:54.134 [SPEAKER_00]: He was actually my prospect comp of the week. 45:54.654 --> 45:58.079 [SPEAKER_00]: And so it was very interesting looking at the eight-day sample. 45:58.479 --> 46:02.202 [SPEAKER_00]: Since we talked about him to now and the improvement. 46:02.282 --> 46:11.410 [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to note at least the WRC plus so I guess at eight games since we last talked about him Sluckwell since I last pulled his numbers at the time of last episode. 46:11.470 --> 46:15.353 [SPEAKER_00]: He had 60, I'm sorry, where am I at? 46:15.373 --> 46:17.455 [SPEAKER_00]: 16 stolen bases? 46:17.495 --> 46:23.059 [SPEAKER_00]: 24 so he had one per game and he moved his WRC plus from 112 up to 126 so 46:25.241 --> 46:40.413 [SPEAKER_00]: bit of a heater of a date game sample that he was on and at the time of the prospect comp we were thrown around he looks like he's due for a promotion given that he was a pretty high floor college bat in his draft class and so the twins you can do agree with us and send them up to double 46:42.640 --> 46:44.221 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, it was about time. 46:45.062 --> 46:50.066 [SPEAKER_04]: His pre-draft billing of a batteball and speed guy have really borne true. 46:51.106 --> 46:58.272 [SPEAKER_04]: He's running about major league average in zone contact rates and overall contact rates in his first taste of professional ball. 46:58.312 --> 47:02.375 [SPEAKER_04]: He's obviously got the athleticism to play the position and just wipe a bag here or there. 47:02.775 --> 47:04.597 [SPEAKER_04]: He's not really going to hit for a ton of power. 47:04.757 --> 47:07.359 [SPEAKER_04]: This is somebody that I see maybe peeking at 15 homeruns. 47:08.259 --> 47:10.901 [SPEAKER_04]: But pouring in doubles and stealing a lot of bases. 47:11.882 --> 47:15.444 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and it was time for him to get some run at AA. 47:15.504 --> 47:27.111 [SPEAKER_04]: I wasn't going to pull up their roster resource because the twins have sort of been struggling for a true plus shortstop defender since, um, Andrewton Simmons wasn't on. 47:28.651 --> 47:35.955 [SPEAKER_04]: So, you know, you thought initially that

that might be Royce Lewis, but injuries have pushed him to he's getting a fair share of the playing time at first base now. 47:36.636 --> 47:36.876 [SPEAKER_04]: So, 47:38.972 --> 47:55.085 [SPEAKER_04]: Merrick Houston could be a plus short stop defender at the next level and so you're likely to see him ranked higher on non fantasy publications than elsewhere, but this is an athlete worth betting on with a hit tool that, you know, I would be comfortable betting on to play at the big league level. 47:55.185 --> 47:58.628 [SPEAKER_04]: I just don't think you're going to get splashy power numbers out of it. 47:59.929 --> 48:01.230 [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, I think that's the right read. 48:02.284 --> 48:07.207 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to move into an uncharacteristically long list of high-a promotions. 48:07.607 --> 48:16.053 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to have too many of these guys because it's a tough part of clear for us to want to talk about you at high-a, but this is a strong group of prospects we have here. 48:16.073 --> 48:27.840 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to kick it off on the mound in Kansas City yet, but maybe one day, with Kendrick Sherio, right-hand education prospect for the royals, he was a 2025 IFA signing out of Venezuela. 48:28.828 --> 48:40.662 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you remember him, his ton of meteoric rise with his helium last year, he from that signing immediately made it to Lowe, not immediately, but worked his way up to Lowe. 48:41.063 --> 48:48.351 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a very buzzy name, mainly because of his secondarys and his command, that really stood out to people, lesser so the fastball. 48:48.992 --> 48:50.993 [SPEAKER_00]: In 11 low A starts this year. 48:51.293 --> 49:01.918 [SPEAKER_00]: It was 48 innings at a 188 ERA with a 23% K rate 5% walk rate very indicative of how his professional career has been started. 49:02.548 --> 49:08.993 [SPEAKER_00]: He had a bit of a rocky hi-A debut, hit a tumultuous hi-A debut Well said, so it was all over the board. 49:09.614 --> 49:15.098 [SPEAKER_00]: Four and two thirds, seven hits, seven rounds, five of them earned, zero walks and ten caves. 49:15.538 --> 49:23.545 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it came against the brewers who have a pretty strong lower minor lead system, but just a very interesting start for Cheerio. 49:23.605 --> 49:25.426 [SPEAKER_00]: I know you were a big fan of his last year. 49:25.506 --> 49:27.688 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you feel about that profile still? 49:28.913 --> 49:30.554 [SPEAKER_04]: I remain a fan of Kendrick Cheerio. 49:30.794 --> 49:36.338 [SPEAKER_04]: I think the knocks on him or that the fastball shape and sort of spin traits are not elite. 49:36.458 --> 49:38.780 [SPEAKER_04]: And he is rather svelte. 49:38.920 --> 49:39.641 [SPEAKER_04]: We'll call it. 49:39.661 --> 49:41.262 [SPEAKER_04]: He's let's say that six foot 160. 49:41.282 --> 49:42.583 [SPEAKER_04]: I think that's right. 49:43.443 --> 49:45.084 [SPEAKER_04]: He could stand to put on a little bit

more weight. 49:45.585 --> 49:48.167 [SPEAKER_04]: That might introduce questions about whether or not he is a starter. 49:49.367 --> 49:59.553 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't think those questions should be too loud, because I think there's a pathway here to the potential for three or four secondaries that are all above average right now. 49:59.613 --> 50:07.697 [SPEAKER_04]: He's very heavy, curveball and change up both of which flash, plus he is a plus command guy at this point in his career. 50:08.438 --> 50:15.502 [SPEAKER_04]: And his feel for spin and relative maturity when it comes to command make me think that he could add more of a 50:17.023 --> 50:27.652 [SPEAKER_04]: a harder braking ball, it's curveball can be a little loopy, so something like a slider or maybe even a cutter could play well in this profile and he has the aptitude, I think to add a pitch, maybe even two. 50:28.352 --> 50:39.902 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a relatively full arsenal today and he doesn't really walk anybody, so the path to being a starting pitcher is obviously there, but I think he's going to continue to get questions for his size. 50:40.923 --> 50:52.973 [SPEAKER_04]: I think sort of upon Carter Jensen's graduation, Kendri Cheerio is the number two prospect probably in the royal system behind just Josh Hammond, who got a seven figure bonus last summer. 50:53.213 --> 50:56.176 [SPEAKER_04]: So Cheerio was a very quick riser. 50:56.196 --> 50:57.857 [SPEAKER_04]: They've pushed him very, very quickly. 50:57.877 --> 51:06.184 [SPEAKER_04]: It was a 2025 IFA signing who now finds himself in high A. I believe he came over stateside very quickly last year. 51:09.547 --> 51:18.359 [SPEAKER_04]: 17 innings in the DSL before coming over state side, which is a huge organizational marker of confidence in his ability. 51:20.251 --> 51:27.137 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, he's kind of got back and starter, written over him, you know, when the fastball isn't plus, but the command is there. 51:27.517 --> 51:29.619 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're going to kind of massage your way through lineups. 51:30.200 --> 51:33.082 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that also runs itself to why they're moving him so quickly. 51:34.103 --> 51:38.127 [SPEAKER_00]: So I could see that kind of profile in his future for Kansas City. 51:38.147 --> 51:40.969 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's very valuable, especially as you get those guys quickly. 51:41.069 --> 51:46.534 [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, from an IFA pool like that just last year, that's a major success story. 51:49.047 --> 51:50.308 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to move on to the next two guys. 51:50.569 --> 51:52.251 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's two guys in the Braves system. 51:53.172 --> 51:54.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Got promoted to Hi-A. 51:54.754 --> 52:02.362 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're tied together, not just because of this, the promotions kind of mean within the same week, but also their draft. 52:02.623 --> 52:05.746 [SPEAKER_00]: So the first guy is Tate, South of Seen. 52:06.387 --> 52:09.908 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to go very fanatic with that pronunciation. 52:09.948 --> 52:11.008 [SPEAKER_00]: I haven't really heard it before. 52:11.928 --> 52:15.129 [SPEAKER_00]: He was the 22nd overall pit in this 2025 draft. 52:16.089 --> 52:18.490 [SPEAKER_00]: He was under slot by 1.4 million. 52:18.670 --> 52:22.851 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's plain why that number was so important with the next guy we talked about. 52:23.431 --> 52:25.992 [SPEAKER_00]: In 51, low A games, four, tate. 52:26.432 --> 52:31.573 [SPEAKER_00]: He's slash 297, 429, 500, clearly showing he was too good for the level. 52:32.253 --> 52:33.753 [SPEAKER_00]: Put out eight homeruns, stole 36 bags. 52:37.095 --> 52:51.898 [SPEAKER_00]: struck out 21% of the time, walked 15% for 153WRC+, he had already played 12 games now at high-a when I pulled these stats earlier in the week, and he was holding his own about 99WRC+, so how do you feel about South of Seen? 52:53.215 --> 52:55.296 [SPEAKER_04]: Sofazine is an exceptional athlete. 52:55.956 --> 52:59.198 [SPEAKER_04]: He is a plus or better runner. 52:59.798 --> 53:03.220 [SPEAKER_04]: I think it is a pretty solid hit tool overall. 53:03.740 --> 53:10.623 [SPEAKER_04]: It's trended a little poorly as the season has more non, but it's a perfectly average contact rate. 53:11.043 --> 53:15.685 [SPEAKER_04]: So far, and when we think about hit tool, it's really an amalgamation of things. 53:16.186 --> 53:18.887 [SPEAKER_04]: Ultimately, it's your ability to put the bat on the ball. 53:19.867 --> 53:27.390 [SPEAKER_04]: to make sound swing decisions and to reach base on balls and play, I think he's going to index really high on the reaching base on balls and play. 53:27.751 --> 53:34.454 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a line drive oriented hitter with plus speed who's probably going to pour in extra base hits even if they're not over the fence. 53:34.974 --> 53:38.015 [SPEAKER_04]: This is a clearly a top 100 guy for me right now. 53:38.535 --> 53:41.057 [SPEAKER_04]: Whether or not he's ultimately a shortstop 53:43.178 --> 53:55.392 [SPEAKER_04]: I indexed toward him being a second baseman, which would probably be a boon to his value, just given the scarcity of fantasy talent available at the major league level today. 53:55.412 --> 53:59.196 [SPEAKER_04]: So I'm sort of putting that as a feather in his cab as well. 54:01.016 --> 54:11.367 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and the way that they handled this 2025 draft reminds you why Alex and Thopolis is regarded as one of the best GMs in baseball. 54:12.088 --> 54:16.453 [SPEAKER_00]: His popularity has maybe waned in the last couple of years as the braves had been faltering. 54:17.313 --> 54:31.558 [SPEAKER_00]: But this draft shows the he still got his fastball because they used those 1.4 million savings with his first round pick to get forth in the fourth round brings Mackenzie left handed pitching prospect out of high school for 54:32.558 --> 54:34.220 [SPEAKER_00]: two and a half

million overslapped. 54:34.300 --> 54:36.202 [SPEAKER_00]: So that 1.4 nearly covered that. 54:36.823 --> 54:43.531 [SPEAKER_00]: But Briggs, Mattenzie, looks like he could be that next high school pitching prospect that the brave found. 54:43.691 --> 54:46.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't call him a diamond in the rough because I think he was highly regarded in the draft. 54:47.115 --> 54:50.459 [SPEAKER_00]: It was just going to take a lot of money to get him out of his college commit. 54:51.700 --> 54:58.842 [SPEAKER_00]: He, very interesting progression so far, very brave fashion at the same time, made three starts at the complex this year. 54:59.943 --> 55:05.464 [SPEAKER_00]: At 11 and a third innings pitched, sub one ERA, striking out 22% walking five. 55:05.904 --> 55:12.666 [SPEAKER_00]: And he made one low A start at five innings, one hit, no earned, one walk, eight days. 55:12.706 --> 55:15.427 [SPEAKER_00]: And they were like, that's enough, go to double A. 55:15.467 --> 55:17.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, sorry, that'd be crazy. 55:17.228 --> 55:17.888 [SPEAKER_00]: Go to high A. 55:18.688 --> 55:20.610 [SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, maybe water found its level. 55:20.870 --> 55:22.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Hi, A, debut was quite rocky. 55:22.592 --> 55:23.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Three and a third innings. 55:23.853 --> 55:27.816 [SPEAKER_00]: Three hits, four earned, five walks, four kays. 55:28.777 --> 55:33.581 [SPEAKER_00]: Talk to me about Braids, because I know you had mentioned you've been hearing a lot of buzz around his name. 55:34.281 --> 55:53.030 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I talked about Briggs McKenzie on the eyes habit pod with Chris blessing Chris also happens to be quite high on Briggs McKenzie the background there is Chris is actually friends with the signing agent, uh, Briggs McKenzie signing agent, who described him to Chris as a diamond in the rough and a name to watch. 55:53.490 --> 55:55.171 [SPEAKER_04]: And then the braves were a little bit. 55:55.751 --> 56:00.273 [SPEAKER_04]: strange sort of regarding Briggs McKenzie's visibility. 56:00.293 --> 56:01.773 [SPEAKER_04]: They were hiding him on backfields. 56:02.133 --> 56:08.236 [SPEAKER_04]: They were very, very high on him internally and did not want other teams to get a look at him and his progression so far. 56:08.276 --> 56:09.936 [SPEAKER_04]: I think is really reflected that. 56:11.257 --> 56:13.938 [SPEAKER_04]: He has a, it helps that he's a lefty. 56:13.978 --> 56:15.438 [SPEAKER_04]: I'll just put that out there immediately. 56:15.498 --> 56:16.639 [SPEAKER_04]: But, um, 56:17.719 --> 56:18.619 [SPEAKER_04]: He's got to start his frame. 56:18.659 --> 56:23.142 [SPEAKER_04]: He's six foot two, six foot three, right around 190 or 200 pounds. 56:23.182 --> 56:26.023 [SPEAKER_04]: The fastball is maybe where I see the most developmental runway. 56:26.203 --> 56:34.747 [SPEAKER_04]: I think I mentioned it on Chris's pod, but I could see a development path similar to Connolly Earlies, where we are fastball change up curveball. 56:35.207 --> 56:42.090 [SPEAKER_04]: The two secondaries flashing plus and you're hoping for some fastball velocity development, which he has seen so far this year. 56:44.252 --> 56:46.754 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a really sound all around profile. 56:47.455 --> 56:51.839 [SPEAKER_04]: He's certainly hit some skids in hi-A. 56:51.859 --> 56:53.400 [SPEAKER_04]: He hasn't been as much of a strike theory. 56:53.420 --> 56:55.922 [SPEAKER_04]: He's walked nine batters and just under ten eightings. 56:56.303 --> 57:09.735 [SPEAKER_04]: But this is the sort of pitching prospect that I buy into while he's a top three-hundred guy and hope that I can ride that helium, predicated on the underlying talent here to something like top one-hundred and then ultimately flip. 57:10.275 --> 57:24.179 [SPEAKER_04]: And then the other thing that I would say is Atlanta's front office is maybe getting more guff, not for their ability to identify and develop minor league talent, but rather to ensure the cupboard isn't barren when a starter goes down. 57:24.399 --> 57:31.821 [SPEAKER_04]: We've seen like a really rag-tag bunch of injury replacements at the big league level, and I think that's where most of the IRAs coming from. 57:32.582 --> 57:36.243 [SPEAKER_04]: If I were a brave span, I would be very, very pleased with the way that they navigated the 57:38.585 --> 57:41.907 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, rightfully so that's a really good insight on Mackenzie. 57:43.948 --> 57:44.909 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, very cool stuff. 57:44.949 --> 57:57.677 [SPEAKER_00]: This braids draft looks awesome, perfect combination of the underslot high floor middle and fielder and the first round to save up and spend those on the high upside lefty prep. 57:58.017 --> 57:59.978 [SPEAKER_00]: That's that's kind of how you draw it up. 58:00.378 --> 58:02.600 [SPEAKER_00]: So good on Anthopolis there. 58:02.660 --> 58:04.681 [SPEAKER_00]: So far at least we'll see all these guys handle high A. 58:06.138 --> 58:13.080 [SPEAKER_00]: Next promotion we've got is JD Dix, middle-in-fielder, we'll call them for the D-backs. 58:13.180 --> 58:16.401 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've been on a heater that this is now two episodes ago. 58:16.581 --> 58:19.902 [SPEAKER_00]: I had him as my holiday prospect comp. 58:20.142 --> 58:28.284 [SPEAKER_00]: So everything I touch turns into a promotion that will not be happening this week with Bradfield, seeing as he's still on the shelf. 58:28.484 --> 58:31.825 [SPEAKER_00]: But I'll see if I can get back hot next week. 58:32.345 --> 58:36.069 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we just talked about JD Dix 35th overall picked in the 24 draft. 58:36.409 --> 58:37.911 [SPEAKER_00]: He'd been solid. 58:37.971 --> 58:47.119 [SPEAKER_00]: We call it pretty solid at low a so far slap in 48 games slash in 253 378 468 9 home runs 19 bags striking out 23% walking 14% for a 115 WRC plus doing what he's supposed to be doing 58:56.108 --> 58:57.590

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, how do you feel about Dix? 58:57.610 --> 59:00.553 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you have more of a buy or a hold? 59:01.233 --> 59:02.815 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you like about his trajectory? 59:03.773 --> 59:14.260 [SPEAKER_04]: I think he's a buy, and I think he's a buy because he is sort of flown under the radar, especially as he recovered from a shoulder injury, pre-derraft in 2024. 59:14.620 --> 59:21.225 [SPEAKER_04]: He's sufficiently well removed from that and is now performing in sort of the middle levels of minor league baseball. 59:21.385 --> 59:27.248 [SPEAKER_04]: He just reached high A. I think there's a lot of potential developmental 59:31.211 --> 59:32.451 [SPEAKER_04]: at six foot two one 90. 59:32.491 --> 59:33.652 [SPEAKER_04]: I could see him adding strength. 59:34.332 --> 59:39.473 [SPEAKER_04]: I think there's a wide range of outcomes here and he is not going to be difficult to acquire. 59:39.493 --> 59:43.414 [SPEAKER_04]: We're talking about a guy that is sort of consistently ranked around 200 or 250. 59:44.614 --> 59:50.496 [SPEAKER_04]: He's not a short stop mostly because the shoulder injury is his sapped his ability to to make that throw. 59:50.856 --> 59:54.177 [SPEAKER_04]: He's a second basement so appeals to me in the same way that Tate South as he does. 59:54.977 --> 01:00:04.986 [SPEAKER_04]: And I think we could land in a place where he is 50 hit 55 power or vice versa at the big league level, which is a meaningful fantasy piece. 01:00:06.287 --> 01:00:12.772 [SPEAKER_04]: But I like betting on these sort of athletic specimens and hoping that they figure it out as they entered their early 20s. 01:00:13.753 --> 01:00:18.738 [SPEAKER_04]: I was sort of expecting maybe a more muted early career for him given that injury. 01:00:19.458 --> 01:00:21.020 [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and that's sort of what we've seen. 01:00:21.060 --> 01:00:30.688 [SPEAKER_04]: And now, you know, this is maybe more of a projection than anything, but it's possible he turns a corner and his rock tools start to show up more prominently in games. 01:00:32.310 --> 01:00:32.470 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 01:00:33.754 --> 01:00:58.473 [SPEAKER_00]: very fun prospect to have out there in the desert and we'll keep it in the analyst with our final double a promotion sorry hi a promotion chase harland third base prospect for the Dodgers he was a third round pick in the 2024 draft out of high school and across the Dodgers 1.7 million to sign him I don't have that right in front of me but that's a pretty hefty over slot to get in the 01:01:00.114 --> 01:01:09.138 [SPEAKER_00]: seen as they were because they were very interested in him and so far he's made them look smart as if the Dodgers front office needed any help with that. 01:01:09.398 --> 01:01:15.860 [SPEAKER_00]: In 57 low-aid games this year he slashed 329 438 571 for a 152 WRC plus and he put out 10 home runs over that time. 01:01:21.362 --> 01:01:33.468 [SPEAKER_00]: When we start out 19% of the

time and walked 14% Chase Harlan is a dude and I know you had shared a tweet with me that showed he has some pretty preposterous pop coming off his bat this season. 01:01:34.515 --> 01:01:41.239 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't have it in front of me, but I remember the 90th percentile exit velocity being like 109 or 110. 01:01:42.020 --> 01:01:45.162 [SPEAKER_04]: And I think what I said was part of my language but holy fucking shit. 01:01:46.022 --> 01:01:51.626 [SPEAKER_04]: And that's about where I'm at, is you know, he's making enough contact for that power to play. 01:01:51.686 --> 01:01:56.229 [SPEAKER_04]: And I do think it is true plus if not seven grade. 01:01:57.204 --> 01:01:58.045 [SPEAKER_04]: raw power. 01:01:59.186 --> 01:02:01.107 [SPEAKER_04]: That could eventually play in games. 01:02:01.147 --> 01:02:02.349 [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, he's pulling the ball a lot. 01:02:02.369 --> 01:02:05.211 [SPEAKER_04]: He's getting the ball in the air, a fair amount. 01:02:07.173 --> 01:02:14.519 [SPEAKER_04]: This is sort of the rare third base prospect and minor league baseball that could probably play third base and have the bat to go with it. 01:02:14.899 --> 01:02:19.223 [SPEAKER_04]: So usually you have the bat, but you're going to play first base later, or 01:02:20.907 --> 01:02:25.076 [SPEAKER_04]: you have the glove and the arm, but you don't quite have the bat to justify the position. 01:02:25.557 --> 01:02:28.043 [SPEAKER_04]: And I think this is a scenario where he really has both. 01:02:29.477 --> 01:02:30.798 [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, I have a tweet. 01:02:30.918 --> 01:02:32.720 [SPEAKER_00]: It was from our friend, RMLatin. 01:02:33.260 --> 01:02:34.001 [SPEAKER_00]: We haven't shot it out. 01:02:34.381 --> 01:02:37.044 [SPEAKER_00]: Shout it out RMLatin on the pod. 01:02:37.124 --> 01:02:45.972 [SPEAKER_00]: But the highlights of that tweet where that Harlem has three balls over 115 off the bat this year and that EV90 of 109 as you were told. 01:02:46.332 --> 01:02:47.513 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's only 19 years old. 01:02:47.753 --> 01:02:52.658 [SPEAKER_00]: So tearing up low-A, now we'll see if he can do the same at high-A. 01:02:53.678 --> 01:02:55.999 [SPEAKER_04]: I don't, I didn't do my homework correctly. 01:02:56.059 --> 01:03:00.401 [SPEAKER_04]: This is something that I do for the book to help contextualize 90th percentile exit velocities. 01:03:00.781 --> 01:03:05.863 [SPEAKER_04]: But I'll pull them for Major League Baseball and then list the names around that player. 01:03:06.423 --> 01:03:14.086 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm reasonably confident that a 109, 90th percentile exit velocity would be like a top 25 mark in Major League Baseball. 01:03:15.126 --> 01:03:19.308 [SPEAKER_04]: So that's the sort of underlying pop we're seeing, show up in games. 01:03:20.453 --> 01:03:21.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, absolutely. 01:03:21.634 --> 01:03:24.656 [SPEAKER_00]: And exciting guy, good luck trying to buy him right now. 01:03:24.696 --> 01:03:29.619 [SPEAKER_00]: If you could find him from someone who isn't really paying attention, that would be a great opportunity. 01:03:29.779 --> 01:03:30.780 [SPEAKER_00]: But those are probably limited. 01:03:32.093 --> 01:03:43.258 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna end with the rare low-A promotion, but I know you this one's probably close to your heart as a brewers fan, and this could be one of those it pays to listen to this podcast moments. 01:03:43.798 --> 01:03:51.182 [SPEAKER_00]: Alexander Fries, I'll feel the prospect for the brewers was a 2025 IFA signing out of the DR. 01:03:51.762 --> 01:03:53.343 [SPEAKER_00]: 32 complex games this year. 01:03:53.403 --> 01:03:55.365 [SPEAKER_00]: I love complex slash lines. 01:03:55.545 --> 01:03:57.307 [SPEAKER_00]: They're so entertaining. 01:03:57.347 --> 01:04:02.231 [SPEAKER_00]: 441, 518, 678, the rare 4-5-6 slash line. 01:04:03.332 --> 01:04:10.418 [SPEAKER_00]: 4 homeruns, 12 bags, 15% K-8, 12% walk, for a 191 WRC plus. 01:04:10.498 --> 01:04:12.780 [SPEAKER_00]: I noticed you wanted to add him to the agenda. 01:04:12.800 --> 01:04:14.762 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll give you the floor to talk about the hype train. 01:04:16.395 --> 01:04:19.856 [SPEAKER_04]: It is looking like the birds may have done it again. 01:04:21.377 --> 01:04:27.499 [SPEAKER_04]: I was pretty skeptical, you know, the first week or two of complex ball when he was completely tearing it up. 01:04:28.080 --> 01:04:38.964 [SPEAKER_04]: This is the same sort of, I want to be very clear, promotional trajectory that we saw for Hazus-Made and Jackson Cheerio. 01:04:39.064 --> 01:04:41.365 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not saying they're the same player because they are not. 01:04:42.605 --> 01:04:47.588 [SPEAKER_04]: But it is reminiscent of their early career sort of pace. 01:04:47.769 --> 01:04:48.189 [SPEAKER_04]: We'll put it. 01:04:48.789 --> 01:04:51.991 [SPEAKER_04]: The numbers that he put up in the complex were absolutely preposterous. 01:04:52.051 --> 01:04:55.313 [SPEAKER_04]: He did that as a very, very young 18 year old. 01:04:55.353 --> 01:05:00.016 [SPEAKER_04]: He is just 18 years and three months old today, which means he turned 18 in March. 01:05:03.002 --> 01:05:04.103 [SPEAKER_04]: He hits the crap out of the wall. 01:05:04.363 --> 01:05:06.044 [SPEAKER_04]: He just hits the ball so, so hard. 01:05:06.345 --> 01:05:11.028 [SPEAKER_04]: And he's one of those guys where you watch the video on him and it looks real. 01:05:11.248 --> 01:05:14.531 [SPEAKER_04]: And I think we sort of discount the eye test as it were. 01:05:14.951 --> 01:05:24.979 [SPEAKER_04]: But you can sort of, when you watch enough of a player, you can tell whether or not this is gonna translate as they matriculate through the system or if this is, 01:05:28.638 --> 01:05:31.722 [SPEAKER_04]: Basically, you could tell whether or not this is ultimately going to work out. 01:05:31.762 --> 01:05:33.124 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a picturesque swing. 01:05:33.484 --> 01:05:43.778

[SPEAKER_04]: He has a ton of room to grow already demonstrating plus power traits, potentially better, and he's making a decent amount of contacts. 01:05:44.298 --> 01:05:46.881 [SPEAKER_04]: His overall contact rate in single a granite. 01:05:46.941 --> 01:05:48.202 [SPEAKER_04]: It's just a few games. 01:05:48.262 --> 01:05:58.252 [SPEAKER_04]: It's 85% right around 75% for the year He's obviously not striking out Looks like he's gonna be a corner outfielder and the bat is going to justify it. 01:05:58.632 --> 01:06:02.656 [SPEAKER_04]: So this is a player where if he is not on your radar 01:06:03.877 --> 01:06:22.208 [SPEAKER_04]: I was just seeing discussion today about is it too early to make him a top 100 prospect right now and a lot of the comments from people that I respect we're saying it might be you know at the end of the year top 100 right now might feel silly it might feel too low so 01:06:23.349 --> 01:06:26.152 [SPEAKER_04]: That's the kind of ceiling that we're talking about with Freyas. 01:06:26.252 --> 01:06:33.518 [SPEAKER_04]: I would recommend just pulling up again and watching him because he passes the bus test at least for me for an 18 year old kid. 01:06:35.138 --> 01:06:52.853 [SPEAKER_00]: My biggest worry when I was doing the agenda was that you were going to say the brewers may have done it again because this is this is the model and all it takes is every year or two to have another one of these dyes turn out and you're looking at another top 100 prospect to kind of keep that system churning. 01:06:53.713 --> 01:06:56.516 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was pretty much worse taste scenario. 01:06:56.676 --> 01:06:57.997 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for ruining my Friday. 01:06:59.018 --> 01:07:03.200 [SPEAKER_04]: the one thing that I'll note and I apologize, but I'm gonna see you tomorrow. 01:07:03.261 --> 01:07:06.522 [SPEAKER_04]: So like, we'll kiss and make up then. 01:07:07.103 --> 01:07:11.726 [SPEAKER_04]: Is the Arizona Complex League is rather hitter friendly? 01:07:12.646 --> 01:07:18.790 [SPEAKER_04]: I think before he was promoted baseball America was reporting that it had a league wide OPS of 800. 01:07:18.850 --> 01:07:26.334 [SPEAKER_04]: Now, obviously he clips that by a lot as on baseball slugging was like 1,300, but it was fairly hitter friendly. 01:07:27.775 --> 01:07:40.244 [SPEAKER_04]: the low-A environment that he's going to, the Carolina League slants much more as a pitchers league had a league wide 723 OPS, which is a pretty massive golf in the Grand scheme. 01:07:40.284 --> 01:07:52.373 [SPEAKER_04]: So given his age and how raw he is and the difficulty of making the transition to full season ball, and the run environment might be a little bit of a hiccup, but I present that to you as a buying opportunity. 01:07:53.734 --> 01:07:54.875 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well said. 01:07:56.680 --> 01:08:02.724 [SPEAKER_04]: All right, my friend, well, we're roughly 24 hours from your landing in Minneapolis. 01:08:02.984 --> 01:08:05.066 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm very excited to spend the weekend with you. 01:08:05.106 --> 01:08:06.907 [SPEAKER_04]: We have wonderful dinner plans. 01:08:07.648 --> 01:08:09.349 [SPEAKER_04]: And then we're going to go see a twins game on Sunday. 01:08:09.389 --> 01:08:15.533 [SPEAKER_04]: So perhaps the next episode will have just a few minutes of us recording something live in person. 01:08:16.734 --> 01:08:17.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Love a sound of that. 01:08:17.634 --> 01:08:18.215 [SPEAKER_00]: Can't wait to see ya. 01:08:19.656 --> 01:08:20.136 [SPEAKER_04]: Love you, bye. 01:08:20.877 --> 01:08:21.237 [SPEAKER_00]: Love you, bye. 01:08:23.267 --> 01:08:25.370 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching.