Orioles Draft Deep: High School Surge and Pitching Focus

WEBVTT
00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:40.283
3, 1, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,
00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:44.707
3, 2, 1.
00:01:46.627 --> 00:01:46.747
GO!
00:01:47.647 --> 00:01:51.717
What is going on, Bertland? Stephen Heckman here for the Baltimore Battery coming
00:01:51.717 --> 00:01:53.257
to you with the Final Strike program.
00:01:53.257 --> 00:01:58.097
And we have Zachary Bucklow here today with us after the Baltimore Orioles have
00:01:58.097 --> 00:02:01.997
kicked off the draft for the weekend, and they carried their first four-game
00:02:01.997 --> 00:02:03.974
winning streak of the season, eighth time's the charm.
00:02:04.368 --> 00:02:08.710
Baltimore Orioles swept the Kansas City Royals today with a score of 8-2,
00:02:09.007 --> 00:02:10.297
so good news on that front.
00:02:10.297 --> 00:02:13.467
Only bad news coming out of the game is Blaise Alexander did break his left
00:02:13.467 --> 00:02:17.087
hand later on in the game, so unfortunately we will probably lose him with a
00:02:17.087 --> 00:02:19.618
non-displaced fracture for approximately six to eight weeks.
00:02:20.077 --> 00:02:23.716
We'll wait for further tests to see what the final say is on that,
00:02:24.233 --> 00:02:28.645
but we are not here to talk about that because the All-Star break is now officially underway.
00:02:29.074 --> 00:02:33.407
We are here to talk about the Baltimore Orioles draft, and we have brought in
00:02:33.407 --> 00:02:38.850
our draft day specialist and our prospect specialist, Zachary Bucklow, to discuss that.
00:02:39.187 --> 00:02:42.577
Zachary, welcome aboard. Would you like to introduce yourself once again to
00:02:42.577 --> 00:02:44.951
our lovely, adoring fans out in Birdland?
00:02:45.909 --> 00:02:52.587
Absolutely. Hi, my name is Zach. I am the prospect analyst for the Baltimore
00:02:52.587 --> 00:02:57.380
Battery. I've been doing it for four years now. Jeez, time flies, doesn't it?
00:02:58.094 --> 00:03:04.547
Um but yeah i've been doing it for four years and yeah just been the guy to
00:03:04.547 --> 00:03:08.837
go to when it comes to prospects or drafts and just been keeping my eye closely
00:03:08.837 --> 00:03:10.701
on things as things keep rolling.
00:03:12.787 --> 00:03:15.592
We definitely like what you do here and we're glad to have you aboard and.
00:03:20.877 --> 00:03:24.516
Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Definitely. One of the big things going on this
00:03:24.516 --> 00:03:29.246
weekend is the, uh, draft. And of course, Baltimore Orioles had the seventh
00:03:29.246 --> 00:03:31.558
pick in the draft going into this year.
00:03:32.145 --> 00:03:36.376
And everybody has their ideas on where we should go, what we should do,
00:03:36.386 --> 00:03:40.466
how we should be, because one of the fun things about being a fan of baseball
00:03:40.466 --> 00:03:46.082
is being the armchair GM for the Baltimore Orioles. And, uh,
00:03:48.133 --> 00:03:53.246
I don't know. I can't honestly say I had a feel on what I think we should have
00:03:53.246 --> 00:03:57.296
done. All I know is I wanted to have a pitcher-heavy draft because I feel that's
00:03:57.296 --> 00:04:02.175
the one area we have never really fully approached under the Elias regime.
00:04:02.918 --> 00:04:04.892
And so far.
00:04:08.230 --> 00:04:11.496
We just drafted a guy, Victor Salazar. I don't know what his position is yet.
00:04:11.936 --> 00:04:13.896
I know, Emily. What is the position?
00:04:15.316 --> 00:04:18.946
So far, going into this most recent draft pick, We had picked 10 pitchers in
00:04:18.946 --> 00:04:25.696
the draft of the 18 picks, depending on what this pick is, which is kind of
00:04:26.036 --> 00:04:27.838
what I'm intrigued about.
00:04:27.942 --> 00:04:32.796
So what are your thoughts on that? And how did you think this was going to lay
00:04:32.796 --> 00:04:35.512
out before we start getting into the player analysis?
00:04:36.603 --> 00:04:40.296
I'm really intrigued because, like, you know, obviously day one,
00:04:40.296 --> 00:04:45.696
we had four rounds and we went three different outfielders into including two
00:04:45.696 --> 00:04:49.496
outfielders. who I already compared to outfielders that we have now in the system.
00:04:50.268 --> 00:04:52.826
But then you get more and more and you're like, all right, we want a lot of
00:04:52.826 --> 00:04:55.400
pitchers. We want a lot of righties.
00:04:56.177 --> 00:05:01.536
We had the one lefty in Zane Adams. We had possibly the lefty in Victor Salazar
00:05:01.536 --> 00:05:03.074
or whenever we find out what position he plays.
00:05:03.695 --> 00:05:09.912
But we went very right-heavy draft, which surprised me a little bit.
00:05:10.580 --> 00:05:14.045
Because I'm like, because we have the righties. Lefties are nice too.
00:05:14.742 --> 00:05:19.846
But we were talking earlier a lot of high school kids a lot of high school kids
00:05:19.846 --> 00:05:21.968
which is not the Elias way,
00:05:23.019 --> 00:05:31.936
in previous drafts no definitely not like looking at his 2025 draft we had Slater
00:05:31.936 --> 00:05:33.514
DeBrum was out of high school,
00:05:34.616 --> 00:05:37.836
Jaden Luray was out of high school and.
00:05:40.136 --> 00:05:42.767
Cole Johnson who didn't sign was out of high school oh and Connor Geert,
00:05:44.264 --> 00:05:49.614
20 rounds, I don't remember how many picks we had, or 24 picks in 20 rounds
00:05:49.614 --> 00:05:50.916
and four high schoolers.
00:05:51.961 --> 00:05:58.051
But now we get into this year, and our first overall pick of the draft was out of high school.
00:05:58.898 --> 00:06:02.689
Our fourth round pick's out of high school. Our eighth round pick's out of high school.
00:06:03.391 --> 00:06:07.490
Our 12th round pick is out of high school. Our 16th pick is out of high school.
00:06:08.053 --> 00:06:12.372
Our 18th pick is out of high school. And then our 19th pick is out of high school as well.
00:06:13.016 --> 00:06:16.196
So why out of nowhere the very high school heavy draft?
00:06:18.233 --> 00:06:21.362
Victor Salazar is an outfielder, by the way. Just to let you know.
00:06:21.513 --> 00:06:23.945
I was hoping with him being 5'11".
00:06:24.979 --> 00:06:28.964
Yeah, I'd hate to see a pitcher of 5'11". But I've been proven wrong before
00:06:28.964 --> 00:06:29.988
with those small pitchers.
00:06:32.014 --> 00:06:34.924
It's definitely, we were talking about that before we came on,
00:06:34.924 --> 00:06:39.271
is the amount of high school kids. Because that is something that...
00:06:42.203 --> 00:06:47.624
We're not used to seeing with Elias. Elias has always been one to champion college kids.
00:06:47.624 --> 00:06:51.504
Every now and then he will sprinkle in a high school kid here and there,
00:06:51.504 --> 00:06:58.264
but usually it's not his forte to draft kids that young.
00:06:58.664 --> 00:07:03.223
And, you know, Jackson Holliday is an exception to that rule.
00:07:03.964 --> 00:07:08.012
With his age, I mean, he's, what, he's just now 22.
00:07:08.465 --> 00:07:11.774
He was 19 when we drafted him. So, you know,
00:07:12.944 --> 00:07:18.554
you don't see him drafting many kids who are in their teens outside of coming
00:07:18.554 --> 00:07:23.984
from the Dominican Republic and, you know, Dominican and Cuban leagues.
00:07:23.984 --> 00:07:27.915
So, what do you think changed in the aspect of that?
00:07:28.037 --> 00:07:32.519
Is this something you believe Elias changed? Or is this something that,
00:07:33.169 --> 00:07:36.588
you know, something you and me were kind of discussing before we came on too?
00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:41.934
Is this a foretelling of somebody else running the draft other than Elias?
00:07:43.687 --> 00:07:47.432
I think it's a mix of both, if that makes sense. Because, like,
00:07:47.890 --> 00:07:52.238
I'm thinking he's been going what he thinks is best available.
00:07:52.987 --> 00:07:58.834
But he's also trying to build a little more because obviously the big question
00:07:58.834 --> 00:08:03.906
moving on after the all-star break is, are we buyers? Are we sellers?
00:08:04.179 --> 00:08:06.832
Are we going through another 2021 rebuild?
00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:13.754
Are we possibly bringing kids in? Well, kids, 17, 18 year olds to come in and
00:08:13.754 --> 00:08:16.287
we're using that as a chance to rebuild.
00:08:17.013 --> 00:08:21.014
Another thought process that i had is something that me and you talked about
00:08:21.014 --> 00:08:27.415
over the offseason when the same boss trade happened and a lot of players that were that were selected.
00:08:32.152 --> 00:08:41.341
And you said sometimes the pick is more so of value than need exactly is that a possibility yeah,
00:08:43.328 --> 00:08:47.302
is the idea of, say, Kevin Roberts Jr.
00:08:48.248 --> 00:08:54.314
We got him at 110. He was ranked by Pipeline at 136. He's a 6'5 outfielder.
00:08:56.028 --> 00:09:03.132
He can hit. He can run. Was that an idea of trading for the future instead of trading for need?
00:09:05.808 --> 00:09:11.468
Good way of putting it, and that's true. How are we stacking it up in that aspect?
00:09:11.468 --> 00:09:17.568
Is that the outlook that we're putting because we have been,
00:09:18.067 --> 00:09:22.728
one of the criticisms of Elias is we have been prone to holding on to prospects
00:09:22.728 --> 00:09:25.544
and not getting value for them,
00:09:27.436 --> 00:09:31.692
which has possibly cost us in our growth over the last couple years.
00:09:33.973 --> 00:09:39.568
And might be one of the reasons why our team per se underperformed.
00:09:40.168 --> 00:09:45.508
I don't believe we could say underperformed because some of the asking prices
00:09:45.508 --> 00:09:50.761
that these teams were asking when it eventually comes out were a little bit steep.
00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.048
And based off what we're looking at, like when we look at the McKenzie-Gore
00:09:57.048 --> 00:10:01.918
trade, what was Texas gave up for them when we look at our pipeline at what
00:10:01.918 --> 00:10:02.917
we would have been giving up?
00:10:03.573 --> 00:10:08.187
The prospects that we would have been giving up were in no comparison. Right.
00:10:09.278 --> 00:10:13.794
Value-wise to what Texas gave up. Our prospects were valued a little bit better,
00:10:14.717 --> 00:10:16.812
than what Texas gave up. So...
00:10:18.066 --> 00:10:21.619
You've got to take into factor that when you have a farm system that's one of
00:10:21.619 --> 00:10:27.964
the better farm systems and you compare it to a farm system that's one of the bottom farm systems,
00:10:28.724 --> 00:10:32.819
a number 10 pick for us compared to a number 10 pick for the bottom,
00:10:32.819 --> 00:10:36.944
a bottom farm system does not have the same value. 100%.
00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:42.053
You can't compare that in a trade. Right.
00:10:42.964 --> 00:10:46.882
And that's one of the things that I think a lot of people fail to look at.
00:10:47.260 --> 00:10:52.449
Like with Mackenzie Gore, the four players that were traded for him,
00:10:53.361 --> 00:10:58.149
when you brought that up and you compared them to what our prospects were compared
00:10:58.149 --> 00:10:59.729
to the system that Texas had.
00:11:02.074 --> 00:11:05.589
It was nowhere close. I mean, we would have been able to get Mackenzie Gore
00:11:05.589 --> 00:11:08.371
for two of our prospects compared to what Texas gave up.
00:11:09.747 --> 00:11:13.769
Right it was i have the trade up right here but like the big name was gavin
00:11:13.769 --> 00:11:17.856
fien who gavin fien was ranked,
00:11:18.652 --> 00:11:25.699
is it still here is it gone it's gone he was ranked like top eight i want to say in 2025.
00:11:27.255 --> 00:11:32.049
Um but he was also the 12th overall pick just a few months earlier the trade
00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:36.578
happened in january he was the 12th ish i want to say the 12th overall pick
00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:40.357
i remember correctly He had a 12th overall pick in 2025.
00:11:41.076 --> 00:11:44.329
So he's going to have a little more higher value. It's a 19-year-old that's
00:11:44.329 --> 00:11:46.707
coming out of high school who was just highly rated.
00:11:47.386 --> 00:11:49.529
Same thing would happen, like I said, with Shane Boz.
00:11:50.301 --> 00:11:57.127
I bet you Slater DeBrun is not in that trade. That trade never happens. Exactly. Yeah.
00:11:58.184 --> 00:12:02.665
And Gavin Feene was a name that everybody was talking about heading up until that July draft.
00:12:03.768 --> 00:12:08.903
But if we throw in our 2025 pick, in...
00:12:10.401 --> 00:12:18.284
Ike Irish, it doesn't compare. No. Because Irish at 19 was considered a steal.
00:12:19.317 --> 00:12:23.091
He was. Exactly. So that's my thing with it.
00:12:24.194 --> 00:12:27.918
And you take the growth. I mean, Ike Irish's growth has been tremendous.
00:12:27.918 --> 00:12:32.138
I was fortunate. Jared and me were fortunate to see him play in Delmarva.
00:12:32.138 --> 00:12:35.101
And I think you've seen him play a couple times, haven't you?
00:12:35.664 --> 00:12:39.763
Not live. Not live? Okay. No, once. I'm sorry. I was at the Keys game.
00:12:40.128 --> 00:12:44.650
Okay. So, I mean, he really does have potential. He's got a strong bat.
00:12:46.467 --> 00:12:49.908
He's definitely not going to be a catcher for us. So, I do see him probably
00:12:49.908 --> 00:12:51.808
developing into a decent first baseman.
00:12:54.188 --> 00:12:59.134
I'm not so sure. Maybe a fourth outfielder at best. Yeah.
00:13:00.231 --> 00:13:05.838
He's definitely not going to be a catcher. Now, we were fortunate to see the
00:13:05.838 --> 00:13:10.899
other catcher we drafted, excuse me, my catch, deciding to make me his... catchery.
00:13:12.368 --> 00:13:15.488
The catcher we drafted in the same draft with Ike Irish. I can't think of his
00:13:15.488 --> 00:13:17.505
name off the top of my head. Caden Bodine.
00:13:17.889 --> 00:13:22.378
Yeah, Caden Bodine. We saw him at the same time play in the same game,
00:13:22.378 --> 00:13:25.383
and that kid, he's got a lot of potential.
00:13:26.770 --> 00:13:32.238
Defensively, watching him behind the plate, he has got a lot of potential,
00:13:32.238 --> 00:13:37.468
and the one thing the Orioles are never short on in our farm system Miss catchers,
00:13:37.468 --> 00:13:40.458
which we only drafted one this, this draft, which I was shocked.
00:13:40.458 --> 00:13:46.798
It was only one, um, so far we still got one more round, but still the fact
00:13:46.798 --> 00:13:50.138
that we've gone as far as we have, and it took until the 12th round for us to
00:13:50.138 --> 00:13:52.922
draft a catcher was shocking. Um,
00:13:55.714 --> 00:14:03.341
You know, he's probably the next best prospect catching-wise that we've got
00:14:03.719 --> 00:14:06.424
behind your favorite guy, Creed.
00:14:10.098 --> 00:14:16.254
So it'll be interesting to see what, you know, Leo Marrero, if I'm saying his
00:14:16.254 --> 00:14:21.418
name right, he's out of high school, you know, what he's going to be bringing to the table.
00:14:22.109 --> 00:14:28.254
Yeah I mean well we talked about the Gore trade real quickly Gavin Feen is not
00:14:28.254 --> 00:14:32.154
even a top 100 prospect and he's ranked eighth in the system he's behind Harry
00:14:32.154 --> 00:14:36.389
Ford who's been in the system since I was in college and I graduated two years ago,
00:14:37.649 --> 00:14:42.908
like he was a first round pick back in 2021 and he's still rated higher than
00:14:43.187 --> 00:14:45.666
arguably the biggest name in the Mackenzie Gore trade,
00:14:47.041 --> 00:14:50.542
But back to what you talked about with catchers, you look at our farm system,
00:14:50.989 --> 00:14:54.158
Creed's a catcher. We got rid of Bodine.
00:14:56.668 --> 00:15:01.645
You still got Ethan Anderson. Miguel Rodriguez has looked really good in Delmarva.
00:15:01.918 --> 00:15:04.728
Ryan Stafford is an underrated catcher, in my opinion.
00:15:05.726 --> 00:15:09.372
You still have enough catchers to where you can build it up a little bit.
00:15:10.643 --> 00:15:12.861
You can always throw Ike Irish behind the plate if you have to.
00:15:13.064 --> 00:15:18.793
I know he's been used more as an outfielder who played in the Future Stars game today, by the way.
00:15:19.177 --> 00:15:22.213
Him and DeZerwa looked really decent from my understanding.
00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:27.687
I had to miss the game. But another year of...
00:15:29.208 --> 00:15:31.748
Well, I wasn't going to bring this part up, but that's another year that we
00:15:31.748 --> 00:15:36.237
had a picture. What did you have? Future's game.
00:15:38.350 --> 00:15:41.738
Yeah. We keep sending pictures to the Future's game. Now if we can just keep
00:15:41.738 --> 00:15:46.292
the picture with us to develop into Oriole would be great.
00:15:46.971 --> 00:15:50.053
We tried that. We shipped him to Los Angeles for Taylor Ward.
00:15:51.092 --> 00:15:53.788
Yeah, well, he's back on the IL, so it kind of worked in our favor.
00:15:54.968 --> 00:16:00.448
Unfortunately. Hate to say it, but I had all the hope and best wishes for Grayson,
00:16:00.448 --> 00:16:04.331
but sadly, it's not going to work for us. Anyway,
00:16:06.368 --> 00:16:09.695
let's dive into the first four rounds of the draft were yesterday.
00:16:11.988 --> 00:16:15.968
Our first pick Eric Booth Jr. out of Oak Grove High School that was kind of
00:16:15.968 --> 00:16:18.909
shocking we used to first round draft pick on a high school player,
00:16:21.183 --> 00:16:24.417
another EBJ ironically laughing.
00:16:28.957 --> 00:16:37.867
Drew Burris is right there. So, I'll admit, I was driving when this pick happened.
00:16:37.867 --> 00:16:44.142
So, I wasn't on my phone and didn't see it until I pulled into my driveway. And,
00:16:46.260 --> 00:16:54.947
I almost screamed in the car. Because, one, you already had a big reach in Zion
00:16:54.947 --> 00:16:56.167
Rose going to the Royals.
00:16:56.167 --> 00:17:02.158
And I'm like, I don't mind Eric Booth, to a point.
00:17:03.482 --> 00:17:10.192
But Drew Burris is right there. AJ Gracia is right there.
00:17:11.278 --> 00:17:16.997
And my other thing that I don't understand, the two big shortstops that are
00:17:16.997 --> 00:17:25.970
not Rock Chalowski and Grady Emerson in Jacob Lombard and Justin LeBron fell deeper.
00:17:27.497 --> 00:17:33.987
And those are two that you can put behind Griffo Farrell behind.
00:17:36.286 --> 00:17:40.407
Aaron Estrada who plays a little bit short you can put him behind these shortstops
00:17:40.407 --> 00:17:48.397
to take over at some point and you take a like I said Eric Booth is solid I'm
00:17:48.397 --> 00:17:51.187
not completely overall upset with the pick,
00:17:52.215 --> 00:17:53.417
but you already have an EBJ,
00:17:54.774 --> 00:18:02.233
you just drafted another EBJ and if he doesn't stay healthy it's gonna fall apart again,
00:18:03.922 --> 00:18:09.164
What's interesting about this kid is they say it could be the steal of the first round.
00:18:10.261 --> 00:18:14.040
And yet when I sit here and look at some of the things they say about him,
00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:17.889
very similar to Enrique Bradfield Jr.
00:18:18.324 --> 00:18:20.867
Right. He was,
00:18:22.876 --> 00:18:29.145
he was recruited to Vanderbilt, ironically. Base stealing instincts need to be improved upon.
00:18:30.167 --> 00:18:32.645
Reads and routes in center field need to be improved upon.
00:18:34.892 --> 00:18:39.582
His biggest weakness in his game is working to improve his arm strength and his batting average.
00:18:40.122 --> 00:18:43.507
All things that were very similar to what Enrique Bradfield Jr.
00:18:43.507 --> 00:18:50.607
Had going into his freshman year at Vanderbilt and coming out into the 17th
00:18:50.607 --> 00:18:52.467
pick of the draft by the Baltimore Orioles.
00:18:52.467 --> 00:18:59.217
So we literally are staring at the mirror of another player that we have in
00:18:59.217 --> 00:19:01.512
our farm system except the high school version of him.
00:19:02.935 --> 00:19:08.118
Right and my other thing that goes with it is we talked about having a pitcher heavy draft,
00:19:09.425 --> 00:19:13.437
Cameron Flukie Liam Peterson both names that I've talked about that are also
00:19:13.437 --> 00:19:17.720
right there that you let slide to AL central teams,
00:19:18.451 --> 00:19:23.227
including Cameron Flukie who you let slide to Detroit which we know is a good
00:19:23.227 --> 00:19:24.541
place that develops pitching,
00:19:25.731 --> 00:19:26.886
strong pitching at that,
00:19:28.169 --> 00:19:33.533
that's that's the thing that frustrates me is Elias is bound and determined,
00:19:34.038 --> 00:19:37.793
not to draft a pitcher in the first round.
00:19:38.084 --> 00:19:41.886
It's just, he will not do it no matter what.
00:19:43.018 --> 00:19:48.376
The first round is not a place to get a pitcher that's been an Elias thing since.
00:19:50.338 --> 00:19:54.513
He's been the GM. Well, now he's vice president of baseball operations.
00:19:54.513 --> 00:19:58.249
But, you know, it's pretty much been the same thing since he's been running the team.
00:19:59.207 --> 00:20:06.093
And, you know, this is something we kind of touched on before we came on the
00:20:06.093 --> 00:20:13.766
air is I personally, and I've talked about this with a couple people outside of,
00:20:15.554 --> 00:20:16.343
this,
00:20:17.443 --> 00:20:20.894
This is, I honestly don't believe that.
00:20:27.030 --> 00:20:33.381
Elias is the GM. I think he's got somebody running the GM spot.
00:20:34.298 --> 00:20:39.583
And towards the end of the season or winter, we're going to find out that they've
00:20:39.583 --> 00:20:42.403
been running it already during the season.
00:20:42.783 --> 00:20:46.384
And I have my idea of who it could be, which I told you.
00:20:48.213 --> 00:20:53.433
Offline I'm not going to go ahead and announce it yet Right Oh look we drafted
00:20:53.433 --> 00:20:58.230
another high schooler For the 20th pick Yeah Ross Davis just waiting for a position.
00:21:00.921 --> 00:21:05.881
Um, so I think that's, that's going to be the big surprise in the off season
00:21:05.881 --> 00:21:07.727
is we're going to find out that we had a GM,
00:21:08.505 --> 00:21:12.171
that had been in place all season and it was never announced until the end of
00:21:12.171 --> 00:21:17.201
the season, which you don't have to announce those type of moves until the beginning
00:21:17.201 --> 00:21:18.385
or end of the season anyway.
00:21:18.808 --> 00:21:24.201
Right. Especially if it's a person that's training for the position who,
00:21:24.677 --> 00:21:28.261
if anybody's anybody and paid attention to Orioles front office moves within
00:21:28.261 --> 00:21:33.600
the last year, the person was already training in that position last year anyway. Right.
00:21:34.679 --> 00:21:40.426
And if anybody's paid attention to the Orioles over the past three or four years,
00:21:40.833 --> 00:21:47.600
there's an outspoken former Oriole who has yet to say anything about the Orioles this year at all.
00:21:49.191 --> 00:21:52.116
So, take that with a grain of salt.
00:21:53.321 --> 00:21:59.796
That's who I think our GM is going to be and is currently probably running things right now.
00:22:00.911 --> 00:22:04.831
As a general manager. And I think we're going to see more of that,
00:22:04.831 --> 00:22:10.531
and I think that's probably why Elias is front and center on things while the
00:22:10.531 --> 00:22:13.461
other one is actually doing the work. Right.
00:22:16.677 --> 00:22:19.905
So, what do you think of our second pick? Ty Head from North Carolina.
00:22:21.263 --> 00:22:31.538
I like Ty Head. I think the problem that is going to be seen is the counting stats, as I call it.
00:22:33.459 --> 00:22:38.674
He only batted .279 in college. I know the agenda is if you're not batting .300
00:22:38.674 --> 00:22:40.797
in college, it's whatever.
00:22:43.177 --> 00:22:52.516
Reminder, .447 on base, .913 OPS, 105 walks to 50 strikeouts in his college career.
00:22:53.183 --> 00:22:57.386
That's pretty damn impressive numbers. Doubled the amount of walks to strikeouts.
00:22:57.932 --> 00:23:02.144
.447 on base percentage? You're getting on base 44% of the time you're at bat.
00:23:02.144 --> 00:23:04.277
That's pretty damn impressive. Yeah.
00:23:04.921 --> 00:23:08.914
931 slugging percentage, that means you're hitting the ball and hitting it with
00:23:08.914 --> 00:23:10.349
authority when you're putting it in play.
00:23:11.260 --> 00:23:14.724
They're not cheap shots. They're not singles. They're doubles, triples, and home runs.
00:23:15.747 --> 00:23:18.807
And 26 stolen bases. Shots need two.
00:23:20.403 --> 00:23:23.094
That's what they're saying with Booth. They're saying Booth has the ability
00:23:23.094 --> 00:23:29.224
to have power of 20-25 home runs and with the ability to steal bases that he
00:23:29.224 --> 00:23:33.638
could eventually be a 30-30 guy with the proper training.
00:23:35.972 --> 00:23:43.490
So first two picks, you're talking possibly 20 home run power from both of them? Right.
00:23:46.113 --> 00:23:53.265
What about Dominic, is it Vogel? I think it's Vogel. Okay.
00:23:54.159 --> 00:23:59.877
From Kansas. Yeah, I don't pay attention to Kansas, to be honest with you. But I think it's Vogel.
00:24:00.208 --> 00:24:06.982
And this is where, this is another conversation. People are going to see that 585 ERA and get scared.
00:24:07.475 --> 00:24:17.826
Because it's 585 ERA over 97 innings. and a .522 ERA in his collegiate career in 274 innings.
00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:24.632
But I want to use an example of a current Cy Young winner that dominates with
00:24:24.632 --> 00:24:25.976
Detroit and Tariq Skubal.
00:24:26.719 --> 00:24:30.469
When he was drafted out of Seattle University his final year, he had a .486 ERA.
00:24:31.444 --> 00:24:39.089
College is harder to hold an ERA, in my opinion, because it also depends on where you play.
00:24:39.856 --> 00:24:41.821
Kansas is in the Big 12.
00:24:43.708 --> 00:24:52.027
TCU, Baylor. It's a very tough conference, especially since the Pac-12 has disbanded.
00:24:52.520 --> 00:24:55.689
Some are in the SEC, some are in the Big 12, some are in the Big 10.
00:24:56.746 --> 00:25:00.514
It all depends on where you're at in the conference.
00:25:01.796 --> 00:25:04.967
You're playing at Kansas. You're going to play Big 12 competition.
00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:06.678
You're going to play top prospects.
00:25:07.504 --> 00:25:10.608
You're going to play young freshmen that are going to turn into top prospects.
00:25:10.736 --> 00:25:12.258
It's going to inflate your ERA.
00:25:14.499 --> 00:25:18.516
Ross Davis is a pitcher, by the way. Oh, let's go. Another pitcher. Yep.
00:25:19.906 --> 00:25:23.666
The other thing I'll throw into that, college pitchers do have a little bit
00:25:23.666 --> 00:25:27.436
more of a difficult time in college. In college, you're either a pitcher who
00:25:27.436 --> 00:25:31.821
completely misses that bat or misses bats, or your pitcher's going to get hit.
00:25:32.384 --> 00:25:36.226
Aluminum bats tend to give pop to the ball, so the ball's either going to fly
00:25:36.226 --> 00:25:41.146
out of the ballpark or you're just going to deaden the ball when it hits the
00:25:41.146 --> 00:25:42.976
bat, depending on how fast you can throw.
00:25:43.365 --> 00:25:48.682
That's why the likes of people like Steven Strasburg looked so amazing in college
00:25:49.054 --> 00:25:54.266
and came up, and not that he wasn't a good pitcher, but he was not the pitcher he was in college.
00:25:54.847 --> 00:25:58.156
So you've got to take pitching with a grain of salt when it comes to what you
00:25:58.156 --> 00:26:04.376
see in college, because like Jonathan Rocker, you know, those pitchers that
00:26:04.376 --> 00:26:09.836
dominate college are not always going to be the same pitchers come time in the big leagues.
00:26:09.836 --> 00:26:14.106
Pitchers who struggle sometimes in college become the better pitchers in the
00:26:14.106 --> 00:26:17.866
big leagues and the pitchers who dominate college and come in to be average
00:26:17.866 --> 00:26:19.547
pitchers in big league times.
00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:25.921
Those aluminum bats change how a pitcher can approach a game because...
00:26:27.081 --> 00:26:30.227
An aluminum bat is not solid.
00:26:30.941 --> 00:26:36.391
Right. It's air in the middle of it. So you can swing an aluminum bat a little
00:26:36.391 --> 00:26:39.771
bit easier versus a solid wood bat.
00:26:39.771 --> 00:26:44.851
So movement on a ball, you can get around quicker with an aluminum bat than
00:26:44.851 --> 00:26:49.098
with a solid wood bat. So when you have pits that is breaking left to right,
00:26:49.562 --> 00:26:53.016
or north to south, you can make that adjustment a lot quicker.
00:26:53.638 --> 00:26:57.131
With a wooden bat, you don't have the ability to do that as well.
00:26:57.131 --> 00:27:05.015
So a lot of these pitchers who throw sliders and two seamers more or cutters and sinkers,
00:27:05.683 --> 00:27:09.561
tend to be better pitchers in the big leagues than the pitchers who come in
00:27:09.561 --> 00:27:12.347
throwing 98, 99-mile-per-hour fastballs.
00:27:13.206 --> 00:27:16.601
That's why pitchers such as Gracer Rodriguez can hit the big leagues,
00:27:16.601 --> 00:27:20.041
and I'm only picking on him because he was throwing 100 miles an hour at one
00:27:20.041 --> 00:27:24.723
point and can't dominate with his fastball in the big leagues.
00:27:26.621 --> 00:27:31.353
Dylan Bundy. Yep, Dylan Bundy. Great. That's a great, great one.
00:27:32.201 --> 00:27:36.831
You can't Kevin Gosman early in his career. Until Kevin Gosman learned that
00:27:36.831 --> 00:27:39.473
you can use a two-seamer and a cutter and a sinker.
00:27:41.581 --> 00:27:45.231
You can't blow a fastball by these guys. These guys are sitting on it,
00:27:45.231 --> 00:27:49.184
and they're used to hitting 99 and 100-mile-per-hour pitches.
00:27:49.945 --> 00:27:55.343
Yeah. Got to develop secondary pitches. That's what makes Trevor Rodgers so dangerous when he's on.
00:27:55.866 --> 00:27:58.931
His fastball tops out at 93, 94 miles an hour.
00:27:59.564 --> 00:28:04.962
But because his cutter and his sinker and his two-seamer are so dangerous,
00:28:05.868 --> 00:28:11.830
he can use his fastball as a deceptive pitch by using those pitches to set it up.
00:28:12.950 --> 00:28:16.050
It's the same thing with Chris Bassett in a way, with that sinker.
00:28:16.369 --> 00:28:21.801
Yeah. Because when Bassett's sinker is on, it's disgusting. It is.
00:28:22.993 --> 00:28:26.708
And we're talking about college pictures that can fail. There's some that have
00:28:26.888 --> 00:28:29.076
turned out fine that have been top picks.
00:28:29.639 --> 00:28:32.060
We're seeing it now in Pittsburgh with Paul Skeens.
00:28:32.873 --> 00:28:38.741
Obviously, number one overall pick and is still dominant to this day and needs
00:28:38.741 --> 00:28:40.685
to get out of Pittsburgh, but that's a whole different conversation.
00:28:42.908 --> 00:28:47.851
But you look at some of the top prospects, if you go back, well,
00:28:47.851 --> 00:28:52.034
like Casey Mize out of Auburn was supposed to be this big deal.
00:28:52.579 --> 00:28:59.836
Unfortunately, injuries also hurt him, but didn't really turn into anything special yet.
00:29:00.526 --> 00:29:02.175
Things could turn with him. He's still young enough.
00:29:02.877 --> 00:29:08.619
There's plenty of college pitchers that you look and their ERA looks inflated,
00:29:09.222 --> 00:29:14.534
especially, and we'll talk about this when we get to him, if we go that far,
00:29:16.084 --> 00:29:17.901
especially if you're in the SEC.
00:29:19.922 --> 00:29:24.696
Quick update from Steve Maluski. Final tallies for the Baltimore Orioles in
00:29:24.696 --> 00:29:25.669
the draft, just real quick.
00:29:26.273 --> 00:29:31.689
Orioles drafted 11 pitchers, 9 position players of the pitchers, 10 righties, 1 lefty.
00:29:33.066 --> 00:29:37.036
We took 12 from college, 8 from high school. Selected 11 pitchers,
00:29:37.036 --> 00:29:40.150
1 catcher, 3 infielders, 4 outfielders, 1 utility.
00:29:41.102 --> 00:29:46.176
Interesting stat, from 2019 to 2025, we drafted 48.4% pitchers.
00:29:46.884 --> 00:29:52.404
In this draft alone, we drafted 55% pitchers. Something changed. Yep.
00:29:53.548 --> 00:29:56.546
Something definitely changed. And once again, I'll go back to,
00:29:57.026 --> 00:29:59.045
I don't think Elias was running this draft.
00:30:01.890 --> 00:30:08.516
My only fear is I'm really hoping that they're not seeing how development is
00:30:08.516 --> 00:30:12.153
with the pitchers we have from the 2025 draft and think that's the answer.
00:30:12.623 --> 00:30:15.806
Because that's not going to happen every single year. No. You're not going to
00:30:15.806 --> 00:30:20.338
have the Joseph DeZerwa, JT Quinn, Caden Hunters,
00:30:21.969 --> 00:30:28.070
and even Brayden Sloan of players that you've drafted as a pitcher and they've done a complete 180.
00:30:29.011 --> 00:30:34.876
DeZerwa is the top lefty in our system. JT Quinn has looked really solid for
00:30:34.876 --> 00:30:37.328
someone that didn't even pitch at all after being drafted.
00:30:38.808 --> 00:30:43.316
I mean, y'all hear me talk about Caden Hunter all the time. And then Braden
00:30:43.316 --> 00:30:47.266
Sloan, who I haven't even talked about, was a 17th round pick.
00:30:47.266 --> 00:30:51.150
And I think he could arguably be a top 100 prospect in two to three years.
00:30:51.916 --> 00:30:55.294
Well, what's bad is our best pitcher is not even pitching this year.
00:30:58.365 --> 00:31:00.618
Talking about Braxton Bragg? Yep. Yep.
00:31:03.315 --> 00:31:06.655
We probably won't even see him until next year. If they do it properly,
00:31:06.655 --> 00:31:07.961
we probably won't see him until next year.
00:31:08.506 --> 00:31:12.105
Yeah, he started throwing. I wouldn't be surprised if he does a random August
00:31:12.105 --> 00:31:14.654
thing with the Rookie Bowl team. Yeah.
00:31:16.041 --> 00:31:21.498
You might see him a couple times, but realistically, we're probably looking at next year. Probably.
00:31:23.019 --> 00:31:27.435
And you get him back to health. I mean, you're talking about,
00:31:29.835 --> 00:31:33.835
a number two pitcher easily for a rotation. Behind the air.
00:31:36.236 --> 00:31:41.355
If he continues to develop the way he was. Correct. But right now,
00:31:42.175 --> 00:31:45.845
you look at the Orioles, and I see a lot of people, and it's kind of funny,
00:31:45.845 --> 00:31:51.055
you see a lot of people on X, formerly Twitter, talking about how the Orioles
00:31:51.055 --> 00:31:52.795
need to get another starter, another starter. and.
00:31:54.835 --> 00:31:58.475
We don't need a starting pitcher. Right now, the Orioles have the fourth-best
00:31:58.775 --> 00:32:03.676
starting pitching over the last six weeks in the AL and seventh-best in the majors.
00:32:04.915 --> 00:32:08.175
You don't mess with that when it's working. We're going to be where we need
00:32:08.175 --> 00:32:12.732
the help, and right now, with some of the draft capital we have,
00:32:13.713 --> 00:32:17.805
we can definitely find a good lefty because more than likely,
00:32:17.805 --> 00:32:20.081
it looks like Keegan Aiken's going to be gone for the season.
00:32:21.306 --> 00:32:28.235
Um he's going to visit a surgeon tuesday uh helsley luckily is just inflammation
00:32:28.235 --> 00:32:30.993
but he's only put 17 games for us this year so,
00:32:32.344 --> 00:32:35.649
I'm not so worried about closer if we keep Wells back there right now.
00:32:35.649 --> 00:32:38.469
Wells is looking pretty good back there, which is where I thought he should
00:32:38.469 --> 00:32:39.607
have been all year anyway.
00:32:41.464 --> 00:32:44.899
But we do have some draft capital, and I'm sure we have a couple players that
00:32:44.899 --> 00:32:50.479
we drafted today and yesterday that some team might want.
00:32:51.449 --> 00:32:55.879
That's another beauty about the draft is there are teams that we got players
00:32:55.879 --> 00:32:59.859
that they're going to say, hey, hey, we wanted this guy. We'll give you this
00:32:59.859 --> 00:33:03.024
if you give us this, this, and this guy. Right.
00:33:03.924 --> 00:33:11.342
And like Zach was alluding to earlier, this is a conversation I think we had last year on the draft.
00:33:11.876 --> 00:33:20.599
Sometimes it's not about the need or the want, it's about the need because of
00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:23.724
what you intend to do with the draft play or with the pick.
00:33:25.489 --> 00:33:29.395
Right. I think baseball still needs to change it where you can trade draft picks.
00:33:30.009 --> 00:33:33.870
You can trade competitive balance picks. But you can't trade draft picks.
00:33:34.991 --> 00:33:39.095
Right. And we traded a competitive balance pick this year.
00:33:39.524 --> 00:33:42.619
Yeah, that's how we got Boz, the Wizard of Oz.
00:33:42.649 --> 00:33:47.814
And that turned into, what was it? CB, that's what I want, yeah.
00:33:48.644 --> 00:33:51.953
Turned into a shortstop from South Carolina, high schooler.
00:33:53.904 --> 00:33:57.890
And I'm sorry, I think Biles' pit's pretty well for us. He's gotten shorter
00:33:57.890 --> 00:34:00.348
than the stick a few times. Unfortunately, like today.
00:34:03.216 --> 00:34:07.490
The error by Blaze, which no fault to Blaze because he's a utility guy.
00:34:07.490 --> 00:34:08.922
He's playing different positions. But,
00:34:11.099 --> 00:34:15.180
I don't know where he was throwing that ball. But unfortunately,
00:34:15.180 --> 00:34:18.836
it extended the inning longer than it had to, affected Blaze's pitch count,
00:34:19.423 --> 00:34:23.491
which unfortunately, it's a trickle-down effect, which costs him innings.
00:34:24.204 --> 00:34:27.820
So, you know, those small little details, but we're not here to talk about that.
00:34:27.820 --> 00:34:28.890
We're here to talk about draft.
00:34:31.031 --> 00:34:34.280
All right, moving on, we're going to go down to Kevin Roberts Jr.
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:36.371
Out of Jackson Prep High School.
00:34:38.037 --> 00:34:43.523
He's another one. The thing that impresses me, he's 6'5", and he can run.
00:34:44.951 --> 00:34:48.951
MLB Pipeline gave him a 60 speed. They gave him a 55 power.
00:34:51.853 --> 00:34:58.710
Now something I realized and this could have just been a website mix up or something
00:34:58.710 --> 00:35:02.343
but I put this in the article that came out yesterday about the draft stuff,
00:35:05.890 --> 00:35:08.110
the Jackson Prep baseball roster
00:35:08.510 --> 00:35:13.639
on their website has them listed as an outfielder and a pitcher that's.
00:35:20.565 --> 00:35:27.187
That's interesting because it'd be interesting. It looks like we drafted him as an outfielder.
00:35:27.995 --> 00:35:30.515
Remember we had that last year with a player we drafted.
00:35:35.375 --> 00:35:38.751
He was a third baseman and a pitcher, but we drafted him as a third baseman.
00:35:43.075 --> 00:35:44.515
We didn't draft a third baseman last year.
00:35:47.574 --> 00:35:51.684
It is second baseman. It was an infielder and a pitcher, but we drafted him.
00:35:52.961 --> 00:35:57.228
Who was it? Scott from North Carolina, if I remember correctly.
00:35:57.861 --> 00:36:00.095
The University of North Carolina or North Carolina in general?
00:36:00.415 --> 00:36:01.475
I think it's University.
00:36:02.415 --> 00:36:05.732
It might have been University of North Carolina, if I remember correctly. It's Carolina.
00:36:06.429 --> 00:36:11.205
But I think he was a pitcher and an infielder of some sort, but we drafted him
00:36:11.205 --> 00:36:15.920
as an infielder, not a pitcher. Actually, no. No.
00:36:16.915 --> 00:36:19.235
It was an outfielder. as the outfielder for North Carolina?
00:36:21.675 --> 00:36:25.514
Horvath? Oh, Matt Horvath from a few years ago.
00:36:26.072 --> 00:36:34.445
Was it a couple years ago? Yeah, because he was in the Dominguez trade in one
00:36:34.445 --> 00:36:37.943
of the trades that went to Philly.
00:36:39.441 --> 00:36:41.437
Yeah, that was 23, I think.
00:36:43.266 --> 00:36:49.779
I think he was after EBJ. Yeah. He was the second round pick in 23.
00:36:51.939 --> 00:36:57.285
Because he was both. He was listed as both, but we drafted him specifically
00:36:57.285 --> 00:37:00.466
as the outfielder. Right.
00:37:02.869 --> 00:37:06.498
He's with Tampa Bay now, so I'm trying to think, who did we get from Tampa Bay?
00:37:07.786 --> 00:37:09.969
Because he wasn't in the boss trade.
00:37:14.839 --> 00:37:18.375
I don't know, we trade so much with Tampa Bay, it's hard to remember them all. I know.
00:37:28.486 --> 00:37:30.587
Another guy could have played for Florida.
00:37:34.523 --> 00:37:36.659
We love our Gators. We do.
00:37:39.544 --> 00:37:44.815
Oh, he was in the Eflin train. Okay. With Etzel and Jackson Ballmeister.
00:37:45.657 --> 00:37:46.835
That actually makes sense.
00:37:50.794 --> 00:37:56.776
Yeah, because I remember when me and Justin did the commentary with Michael
00:37:56.776 --> 00:38:04.860
Marcantoni, he got to commentate Corvath's last ever Orioles home run. Okay.
00:38:12.458 --> 00:38:14.663
I'm not seeing anything about him being...
00:38:16.816 --> 00:38:20.752
Like I said, it could have been a website thing.
00:38:23.759 --> 00:38:30.446
Ah, here it goes. is utilized at times as a pitcher hitting mid-90s on the mound. Is that Roberts? Yeah.
00:38:32.926 --> 00:38:38.776
I was like, I was I was actually sitting at Camden Yards yesterday and was looking
00:38:38.776 --> 00:38:41.127
at it and was like, wait a minute, that says pitcher next to him.
00:38:42.329 --> 00:38:45.742
And then I looked and some of the others had it, but I'm also like it's high school.
00:38:46.084 --> 00:38:51.791
Sometimes they have just POs, sometimes they have position players that can also pitch if needed.
00:38:52.992 --> 00:38:59.175
But, I mean, You can also play for the Anfield. Wow.
00:39:01.955 --> 00:39:07.526
I saw a lot of, like, I think it was Joe Doyle.
00:39:07.606 --> 00:39:10.715
It's going to be a steal at 110.
00:39:13.304 --> 00:39:20.380
I mean, we literally, one of the things I know we like to do as a franchise,
00:39:20.380 --> 00:39:23.826
and this dates back to before Buck Showalter,
00:39:24.476 --> 00:39:30.752
we like our players to be able to play multiple positions, which I think benefits a player, period.
00:39:31.379 --> 00:39:37.085
Right. Because it gives them the ability to break into the big leagues quicker. Right.
00:39:38.333 --> 00:39:45.467
Kevin Roberts, with his frame, has the ability to be a good corner outfielder.
00:39:46.640 --> 00:39:51.600
But they say his biggest thing is he's got to stop chasing fastballs outside
00:39:51.600 --> 00:39:53.414
the zone and adjust to breaking balls.
00:39:54.210 --> 00:39:59.533
Now, what comes to mind is 6'5", chasing breaking balls.
00:40:02.310 --> 00:40:08.606
At that frame, that's a huge problem because... And it took,
00:40:11.027 --> 00:40:14.530
two years for them to realize that with Colton Couser, just threw breaking balls
00:40:14.530 --> 00:40:17.324
or change-ups to him, and you got him off his game.
00:40:17.620 --> 00:40:21.097
That's exactly why I chuckled a few seconds ago. I'm like, it's just Couser.
00:40:21.515 --> 00:40:28.255
It is. It's Couser. And that's what it is. It's just Couser.
00:40:30.150 --> 00:40:35.302
Couser went to work. Now, that's the thing. is Couser actually put in the work to adjust and become,
00:40:36.335 --> 00:40:41.500
a better player because of it, and he's grinded his way into this season and
00:40:41.500 --> 00:40:45.942
improved, but you still see some of the flaws come through here and there.
00:40:47.214 --> 00:40:52.270
But he has definitely improved his ability to hit secondary pitches.
00:40:52.665 --> 00:40:57.384
He's improved his ability to actually notice and pay attention to the strike zone.
00:40:57.831 --> 00:41:02.950
So it's not a slow it's not a quick process that you can actually teach a batter
00:41:02.950 --> 00:41:06.359
that one of the things that,
00:41:08.344 --> 00:41:13.970
they have provided players with that helps now is the indoor batting cages,
00:41:13.970 --> 00:41:18.470
but the virtual reality programs that they utilize now where you can actually
00:41:18.470 --> 00:41:20.649
simulate facing a pitcher.
00:41:24.672 --> 00:41:32.350
Which helps when you have inclement weather, but how it helps with you batting, I don't know.
00:41:34.297 --> 00:41:39.410
So what I'm seeing here is a lot of the players that we've drafted are very
00:41:39.410 --> 00:41:42.888
similar to a lot of the players we already have. Right.
00:41:43.782 --> 00:41:50.570
Outside the pitching combos. But, I mean, I'm looking at sizes and builds and,
00:41:51.270 --> 00:41:57.070
what they're pointing out as flaws, and there's a lot of similarities to players
00:41:57.070 --> 00:41:58.701
we already have, and it's just like,
00:41:59.235 --> 00:42:01.058
put them in the mirror. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:02.770 --> 00:42:10.153
Yeah, because you can even discuss that with the next guy, the fifth-round pick. Jimmy Anderson.
00:42:10.675 --> 00:42:15.180
Jimmy Anderson. My thing with Jimmy Anderson is, you obviously liked something
00:42:15.180 --> 00:42:18.245
in him. 19th-round pick last year, didn't sign. Yep.
00:42:19.557 --> 00:42:24.800
Was one of three players that didn't sign. And he's a contact guy that can smack
00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:30.755
doubles, knock in ribbies, walks a lot, and steals bags.
00:42:34.819 --> 00:42:42.087
Yep. Jackson Holliday. I was thinking Blaze. Oh, Blaze, yeah, that's true.
00:42:43.526 --> 00:42:49.796
That's what I was thinking. You know who else he kind of can sound like is Westberg
00:42:49.796 --> 00:42:53.458
before he kind of adjusted his game.
00:42:54.005 --> 00:42:59.612
Right, coming out of Mississippi State. Yeah, that's definitely who I would have.
00:43:02.740 --> 00:43:05.823
Now I know we're kind of just jumping around,
00:43:06.642 --> 00:43:10.416
but I'll even talk about the next one Zane Adams because I talked about the
00:43:10.416 --> 00:43:17.456
SEC pitching earlier he's 6'5 guy isn't he 6'8 no that's um he's 6'4 you're
00:43:17.456 --> 00:43:20.787
talking about Ross Norman who was drafted later he's 6'7,
00:43:23.074 --> 00:43:30.319
or Colin McKinney he's 6'5 from Alabama but or Arizona I'm sorry but Zane Adams,
00:43:33.466 --> 00:43:40.436
he stays at 93 miles an hour, between 92 to 94, has a changeup that's a high
00:43:40.436 --> 00:43:44.825
70s, low 80s, and a curveball around 85 to 87.
00:43:47.391 --> 00:43:53.411
It's Trevor Rogers. How are you 6'5 and have a fastball that maxes at 94?
00:43:54.938 --> 00:43:58.833
That's what Perfect Game College Baseball had on their tweet back in April.
00:44:02.724 --> 00:44:08.502
That just, at 6 foot, I was throwing 95 in 9th grade.
00:44:09.944 --> 00:44:12.734
There's something, somebody's got to do something with his mechanics.
00:44:12.734 --> 00:44:20.820
There's no reason he's maxing out at 94 at 6 foot 5. He should easily be in the upper 90s. Yeah.
00:44:22.344 --> 00:44:27.604
Something's wrong with his windup. Yeah. Sorry, I just. Yeah, you're good.
00:44:28.627 --> 00:44:31.754
But my thing is, he also, like, he gave up a lot of contact,
00:44:31.754 --> 00:44:33.704
But like I said before, it's the SEC.
00:44:34.496 --> 00:44:39.088
Yeah, you're facing the SEC where you basically have pro-style players.
00:44:39.349 --> 00:44:45.433
Yeah, and a lot of it came against Texas in the College World Series. Texas blew them up.
00:44:46.257 --> 00:44:49.584
Oh, Texas was phenomenal this year. Yeah, Texas blew them up.
00:44:50.286 --> 00:44:55.673
I can go back and look. I wouldn't be surprised if Georgia had something to do with it.
00:44:57.838 --> 00:45:02.128
Because Georgia is Georgia. Shout out, Jared. I was going to say, Georgia's just...
00:45:03.604 --> 00:45:07.827
You know, Jared's laughing in the background. Oh, 100%.
00:45:08.837 --> 00:45:12.512
Okay, he never went up against Georgia. He went up against Texas twice, though.
00:45:13.307 --> 00:45:19.356
And the first time, he shoved. Six innings, five hits, no earned runs, two walks, seven Ks.
00:45:20.087 --> 00:45:24.673
But then in the College World Series, one and two thirds, seven earned runs,
00:45:24.859 --> 00:45:26.548
three walks, two strikeouts.
00:45:28.296 --> 00:45:31.906
So my question then is was it the pressure or was it just a bad game,
00:45:33.816 --> 00:45:37.073
Looking at it, it was his worst game of the year.
00:45:37.317 --> 00:45:41.598
And he also went up against Oregon State, Kentucky, Florida,
00:45:41.998 --> 00:45:48.735
Auburn, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Vandy, South Carolina, St. John's.
00:45:50.285 --> 00:45:54.302
And that was his worst start, which was his last start of the year.
00:45:55.144 --> 00:45:58.441
So it could have very well just been too much pressure. Could have been nerves.
00:45:58.998 --> 00:46:03.235
Yeah. Because even when he went up against Vanderbilt, He gave up eight hits
00:46:03.420 --> 00:46:05.063
and didn't let a run score.
00:46:05.621 --> 00:46:09.198
Yeah, if you do that well against Vanderbilt, I mean, that's the team.
00:46:09.518 --> 00:46:12.488
If you're going to have a bad game, Vanderbilt's the game you're going to have it against.
00:46:13.208 --> 00:46:14.738
Yeah, and Vanderbilt was even
00:46:15.118 --> 00:46:19.727
not great this year. No, but even a bad Vanderbilt team's a good team.
00:46:20.618 --> 00:46:24.098
Yeah. I mean, that's like facing.
00:46:26.304 --> 00:46:29.055
North Carolina ACC on a bad year.
00:46:29.816 --> 00:46:37.531
Yeah. And like I've said in looking at it, he has done something different because
00:46:37.699 --> 00:46:42.703
his first year as a freshman, he had a 5.37 ERA in 58 innings.
00:46:44.050 --> 00:46:48.624
His second year, he had a 554, and then his junior year, he had a 458.
00:46:49.657 --> 00:46:53.796
And that was a 458 with more starts and a lot more innings.
00:46:55.317 --> 00:46:59.212
There's a 25-inning difference between his sophomore year and his junior year.
00:47:00.854 --> 00:47:06.248
He hasn't He's not a walk person So he had to have developed He had to improve
00:47:06.248 --> 00:47:08.841
his curveball And that change up.
00:47:11.361 --> 00:47:16.107
Most likely, yes. And coming into the majors, I can guarantee somebody's going
00:47:16.107 --> 00:47:17.909
to teach them a cutter or a slider.
00:47:19.697 --> 00:47:23.191
Preferably a cutter if you're throwing 93. Yeah.
00:47:24.120 --> 00:47:27.488
Well, if you're throwing 93, you definitely need to learn how to throw a two-seamer.
00:47:27.999 --> 00:47:31.137
Yeah. Because the two-seamer, and that might be what he's throwing.
00:47:31.137 --> 00:47:34.779
If it's fastball is only sitting at 93, he might just be throwing the two-seamer.
00:47:35.249 --> 00:47:38.493
He might not be throwing a four-seam fastball. Let me see if I can.
00:47:41.988 --> 00:47:45.738
Because two-seam fastballs come in around low mid-90s.
00:47:48.211 --> 00:47:52.158
If it's got movement on it, it should be a two-seamer.
00:47:52.426 --> 00:47:57.037
If he's throwing a straight four-seamer, he should be up in the mid because
00:47:57.037 --> 00:48:01.907
at his size, just the push from his leg through his hips should be pushing that
00:48:01.907 --> 00:48:04.167
ball up another three miles an hour. Right.
00:48:12.492 --> 00:48:18.011
Especially being a lefty. Exactly. Well, it's like what I saw with Trevor Rogers
00:48:18.011 --> 00:48:22.825
this year, and it used to frustrate me that, you know, I could hear Ben McDonald talking about it.
00:48:23.301 --> 00:48:27.031
I heard Jim Palmer talking about it, but the one thing that they never said
00:48:27.031 --> 00:48:33.024
that he was doing was every time he would pitch, he would fall off the mound a different way.
00:48:33.785 --> 00:48:37.616
It was never the repeated way, which means his mechanics weren't being repeated.
00:48:38.382 --> 00:48:46.811
And it was the smallest thing, but it was the reason why his pitches on 0-2,
00:48:46.811 --> 00:48:50.861
3-2, 2-2 counts were sailing so far inside or,
00:48:51.321 --> 00:48:53.841
sitting down the middle of the plate because,
00:48:54.526 --> 00:48:59.047
he couldn't get that pitch to slide further in,
00:48:59.877 --> 00:49:04.741
the strike zone because he was already lining up in the strike zone or the way
00:49:04.741 --> 00:49:07.661
he was falling off the mound, he wasn't able to complete the motion to get it
00:49:07.661 --> 00:49:11.121
to come through the strike zone because he was already starting outside the strike zone.
00:49:13.083 --> 00:49:17.391
Those are the little things that these pitchers are going to experience coming
00:49:17.391 --> 00:49:18.505
through the minor leagues.
00:49:19.231 --> 00:49:25.181
We have a whole new coaching staff in the bigs. So most of our minor league
00:49:25.181 --> 00:49:29.952
teams are still pretty similar coaching staffs that they've had for the past few years.
00:49:31.292 --> 00:49:37.408
But in the big leagues, it's a whole new coaching staff. So what these players
00:49:37.408 --> 00:49:41.218
have experienced in the minor leagues over the last seven years,
00:49:41.218 --> 00:49:44.859
eight years, is now different up in the big leagues.
00:49:45.787 --> 00:49:52.758
And I think some of that might be part of the issue with, I would say, you know,
00:49:54.321 --> 00:49:59.748
maybe your Jackson Hollidays, your Gunnar Hendersons, Colt Cousers,
00:49:59.748 --> 00:50:03.416
because they were taught one thing coming up through the minor leagues.
00:50:04.293 --> 00:50:09.842
And the big leagues were, they were all one fluid unison all the way up.
00:50:10.672 --> 00:50:14.945
Now what's being taught through the minor leagues is being completely different
00:50:15.154 --> 00:50:18.408
in the majors. And that could be one of the reasons why our offense is struggling.
00:50:18.408 --> 00:50:23.554
And I can't believe I just said that out loud and not thought about that until now. Yeah.
00:50:26.415 --> 00:50:29.707
But you know These are the things that I think,
00:50:31.181 --> 00:50:34.159
are going to be hit and miss throughout the year.
00:50:35.994 --> 00:50:41.526
These players are going to experience going through, and I think that's one thing that,
00:50:42.756 --> 00:50:48.020
Elias, as the president of baseball operations, needs to sit down and get all
00:50:48.020 --> 00:50:51.853
these groups together to be on the same wavelength.
00:50:52.370 --> 00:50:55.610
If you're going to teach this up in the majors, you've got to teach this all
00:50:55.610 --> 00:50:57.297
the way down from rookie ball on up.
00:50:57.453 --> 00:51:02.300
And I know you love hearing me say rookie ball, but you really do you've got
00:51:02.300 --> 00:51:05.453
to have the same fluidity,
00:51:06.254 --> 00:51:13.350
from the very beginning all the way up to the very end so you're not altering too much.
00:51:15.019 --> 00:51:18.346
From what these players are going to experience from rookie ball,
00:51:19.459 --> 00:51:25.240
single a high a double a triple a to the majors right and something i think
00:51:25.240 --> 00:51:29.620
is going to help the future generation is the Orioles have gone out and grabbed
00:51:29.620 --> 00:51:33.172
former prospects from their system and have turned them into coaches.
00:51:33.822 --> 00:51:41.507
Exactly. Taron Vavra is a coach over in the FCL. Nolborth Romero is a coach over in the DSL.
00:51:42.204 --> 00:51:45.770
Those are two prospects right there that have grown up in the Orioles system.
00:51:45.770 --> 00:51:50.092
Now, Romero was a part of the Andrew Kashner trade.
00:51:50.546 --> 00:51:54.520
So he hasn't grown up in our system, but he was also I believe 18 or 19 when
00:51:54.520 --> 00:51:58.793
we traded for him. But Taron Vavra is a player that has made it all the way up to majors.
00:51:59.181 --> 00:52:04.418
Yep. And has gotten to play and now is going to coach these kids. Well, I say kids, but.
00:52:04.888 --> 00:52:07.837
They are. They're kids. Young prospects. Most of them are kids.
00:52:08.771 --> 00:52:15.946
And, like, something that I thought of, is that what changed, like, Jaden LeRae?
00:52:16.625 --> 00:52:21.531
Like, Jaden LeRae was a six-year-old pick coming in, didn't play at all last year.
00:52:22.401 --> 00:52:27.090
And now look at him. Yeah. and I'm also saying his name because he just popped
00:52:27.090 --> 00:52:32.148
up because Delmarvo did something but anyway Jaden LeRais looked like a top prospect,
00:52:33.849 --> 00:52:39.385
So what changed? I think those little things help because these players know
00:52:39.385 --> 00:52:40.955
what they went through and what.
00:52:42.748 --> 00:52:49.760
Experiences they had coming up through the system from college, from high school.
00:52:50.369 --> 00:52:55.695
What to expect, what to expect at each level, and what type of coaching you're
00:52:55.695 --> 00:52:59.088
going to get. Also, how the game is different at each level.
00:52:59.749 --> 00:53:06.309
We see it from a fan's perspective and because we watch it nearly every single day,
00:53:07.135 --> 00:53:11.595
different angles we write about it we read about it we see about it on,
00:53:12.370 --> 00:53:16.955
whatever sports platform we're watching or social media platform we're looking
00:53:16.955 --> 00:53:26.104
at we see it find it computer wise tablet wise cell phone we can always find it and see it so,
00:53:27.224 --> 00:53:31.387
our perspective is definitely going to be a lot different than the perspective of actually living it,
00:53:32.832 --> 00:53:37.627
and it does i think that's going to help a lot going forward right,
00:53:38.805 --> 00:53:43.475
so we could easily sit here and go through every pick the rest of the way but
00:53:43.475 --> 00:53:47.008
i think we've hit the top five picks which i think is probably the most important,
00:53:47.768 --> 00:53:52.265
um looking at picks one through 20 i know you haven't been able to research
00:53:52.265 --> 00:53:54.838
the last two picks all too well.
00:53:56.010 --> 00:53:57.868
Who would you say right now.
00:54:00.074 --> 00:54:06.471
Are you most excited about and your biggest concern is out of the draft?
00:54:07.794 --> 00:54:15.525
Who I'm most okay I'll do biggest concern because I had this concern 10 minutes
00:54:15.525 --> 00:54:17.396
before we started when I was pulling up all this stuff.
00:54:20.281 --> 00:54:21.186
I look at this correctly?
00:54:23.938 --> 00:54:25.906
Yeah, I did. Wait a minute.
00:54:30.231 --> 00:54:35.589
One, two, three, four, five, six, that's more than seven.
00:54:38.607 --> 00:54:45.335
All right. So now my biggest concern might have changed. This is not right.
00:54:49.625 --> 00:54:55.238
Let's go here. Okay. It's still going to be Ross Norman. Right-hander.
00:55:00.846 --> 00:55:04.497
Out of Coastal Carolina. He made 16 starts last year.
00:55:06.610 --> 00:55:10.546
He was high in the innings, high in wins, which whatever.
00:55:11.620 --> 00:55:15.587
He had a 6-7 record with a 6-46 ERA. The thing that scares me,
00:55:15.927 --> 00:55:18.888
78 innings pitch, 65 strikeouts.
00:55:21.070 --> 00:55:25.314
So he's not a strikeout pitcher which scares me it's the MLB,
00:55:26.666 --> 00:55:30.562
if you're not a strikeout pitcher you better be a darn good ground ball pitcher,
00:55:31.432 --> 00:55:38.741
that's true you better not pitch a sinker ball yeah that is one of my biggest scares,
00:55:40.047 --> 00:55:47.487
one that I'm actually excited for after looking at it for a little bit is he the 10th round pick,
00:55:49.304 --> 00:55:50.207
Carlos.
00:55:52.671 --> 00:55:58.058
Sanchez, that's a tongue twister. Because this is a Juco player.
00:56:00.449 --> 00:56:06.727
Just real quick, his build. 6'1". When he was drafted, he was originally put
00:56:06.727 --> 00:56:09.093
down as a catcher. Now he's a utility player.
00:56:11.248 --> 00:56:16.356
37 for 41 on stolen bases. 388 average.
00:56:16.356 --> 00:56:22.909
88 hits 13 triples in 57 games,
00:56:24.627 --> 00:56:30.438
that's impressive 13 triples in 57 games good lord and he's supposed to be a catcher,
00:56:31.966 --> 00:56:40.689
there are players who's only had 13 triples in 162 games yeah 13 and 57 good lord,
00:56:42.036 --> 00:56:48.595
that's what one triple every 3 games 4 games it's almost one trip over four games.
00:56:51.062 --> 00:56:54.115
Yeah, and he only had one game where he had two trickles in that game.
00:56:55.212 --> 00:57:00.258
And his last triple came on April 3rd. He still played another month without
00:57:00.258 --> 00:57:03.577
having a triple, meaning it's 13 triples in less games. Yeah, that's...
00:57:05.719 --> 00:57:12.046
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
00:57:12.046 --> 00:57:16.215
19 less games. So like 13 triples in 36 games.
00:57:17.788 --> 00:57:19.808
So that's one triple every three games. Yeah.
00:57:24.017 --> 00:57:27.947
And you still have 20 doubles, and you also walk more than you strike out.
00:57:29.671 --> 00:57:33.473
Not by much, but... I'm most excited for Dominic Vogel.
00:57:34.483 --> 00:57:38.233
Yeah. The reason being is we selected a pitcher in the third round.
00:57:39.011 --> 00:57:45.395
Yeah. I can't remember the last time we selected a pitcher that high since D.L. Hall.
00:57:47.008 --> 00:57:50.567
DeZerwa was the second round pick. Okay.
00:57:51.142 --> 00:57:55.444
I honestly, I don't, when did we, did we draft him last year? Yeah. Okay.
00:57:55.838 --> 00:57:59.028
I honestly did not remember that. And I know we did this last year,
00:57:59.028 --> 00:58:00.552
but I honestly did not remember that.
00:58:01.336 --> 00:58:06.428
So forgive me for not remembering that. I apologize. But Vogel,
00:58:06.428 --> 00:58:12.133
I'm kind of excited about, especially since he's coming out of a school like Kansas. Yeah. Um.
00:58:16.214 --> 00:58:25.014
He's ranked 205th, so of course a lot of people are going to think we're overreaching and underslotting.
00:58:26.471 --> 00:58:31.121
I don't think so. I think there's actually a lot of upside with him,
00:58:31.121 --> 00:58:35.028
and I think that we have the ability to turn this into a better pick,
00:58:37.051 --> 00:58:40.431
than what people think. And I think this is actually something that's going
00:58:40.431 --> 00:58:42.751
to benefit us, whether it turns into
00:58:42.751 --> 00:58:47.565
a trade capital piece or a piece that benefits the team in the future.
00:58:48.663 --> 00:58:54.391
We'll have to come back and visit this in three years and find a way to actually
00:58:54.751 --> 00:58:58.723
see if it benefited us. But I'm most excited about him.
00:58:59.675 --> 00:59:04.139
I am most concerned about EBJ 2.0.
00:59:04.551 --> 00:59:07.711
Yeah. For the same reasons that we were discussing earlier.
00:59:07.711 --> 00:59:12.649
He honestly is another version of Enrique Bradfield, who,
00:59:14.228 --> 00:59:17.441
no, honestly, I will say Enrique Bradfield in the second part of the season
00:59:17.441 --> 00:59:23.261
has started out a little bit better up in AAA, but he was hampered by a hamstring
00:59:23.261 --> 00:59:27.121
injury that might have sapped some of what he was doing up in AAA Norfolk, but...
00:59:28.769 --> 00:59:30.313
There's still a lot of issues there.
00:59:32.328 --> 00:59:37.175
The defense is there, but he's making too many running mistakes on base.
00:59:38.728 --> 00:59:43.368
He's making some blunders at the dish.
00:59:43.819 --> 00:59:48.020
I've seen some video of his at-bats, and it's like, why are you chasing some
00:59:48.020 --> 00:59:49.322
of the pitches he's chasing?
00:59:50.055 --> 00:59:54.890
And whether it's impressing, I don't know, but he is definitely striking out
00:59:54.890 --> 01:00:00.140
way too much for AAA if he wants to be up in the big leagues as a starting center
01:00:00.140 --> 01:00:02.343
fielder in the next year or two. Right.
01:00:02.894 --> 01:00:08.210
I mean, Gunnar Henderson coming into majors did not strike out half as much
01:00:08.210 --> 01:00:09.339
as he was striking out now.
01:00:10.297 --> 01:00:15.920
His walks and strikeout numbers were pretty even, and here we are three years
01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:20.096
later or four years later, Gunnar Henderson striking out nearly 150 times a season.
01:00:21.257 --> 01:00:25.512
Right, and something that scares me, and that's what I was looking at,
01:00:25.512 --> 01:00:30.927
is the development of first-round picks recently.
01:00:31.844 --> 01:00:35.682
And, like, you go back, I mean, you can go back as far as you want,
01:00:36.075 --> 01:00:42.062
but I want us back as to the Elias era, so 2019 on.
01:00:42.062 --> 01:00:44.932
Adley's developed into an all-star catcher, but he was also a first overall
01:00:44.932 --> 01:00:50.744
and was arguably the best college prospect since Dansby Swanson, maybe.
01:00:53.211 --> 01:01:00.804
That I can think of. But he's also arguably the best catcher prospect since Buster Posey. Agreed.
01:01:02.203 --> 01:01:03.753
Or even Matt Wieters, if you want to go that far.
01:01:05.622 --> 01:01:10.072
2020 was Heston Kerstad. Now, granted, he had the, you know,
01:01:10.072 --> 01:01:13.273
the correct way to say it. Oh, he had COVID, then myocarditis.
01:01:13.656 --> 01:01:19.902
And then he got hit in the head. And I think his problems have turned mental, and he's gotten better.
01:01:20.994 --> 01:01:24.822
Yes You have Couser Couser looked really good in the minor leagues Brought it
01:01:24.822 --> 01:01:28.332
up to the major leagues And he can't hit a breaking ball That well He's gotten
01:01:28.332 --> 01:01:34.611
better First two years he looked really good Last year and a half he's been Meh Yeah,
01:01:35.476 --> 01:01:40.522
Jackson Holliday Who I still say to this day Was the consensus number one overall
01:01:40.522 --> 01:01:43.260
pick That 2022 draft class is just terrible right now,
01:01:44.177 --> 01:01:47.266
But Outside of like a few names But Jackson Holliday,
01:01:48.374 --> 01:01:53.431
He had a great start but I also do think that he was rushed in 2024.
01:01:54.359 --> 01:01:58.411
He also has yet to play a full season, mind you, just because he missed two-thirds of this season.
01:02:00.462 --> 01:02:03.032
Me and Nathan were talking about this the other day on his podcast.
01:02:03.032 --> 01:02:05.743
He has yet to hit 1,000 at-bats. Yeah.
01:02:06.614 --> 01:02:11.712
So. Yeah. But my thing with Holiday is I do think he was rushed,
01:02:11.712 --> 01:02:13.655
and I do think this is why...
01:02:15.994 --> 01:02:19.856
This is why social media can be a bad thing. We all won a holiday.
01:02:19.856 --> 01:02:24.521
We got holiday, and then we were all upset that holiday did not look good, like he did in AAA.
01:02:27.886 --> 01:02:31.853
I still think he's going to be the player we all think he's going to be.
01:02:32.566 --> 01:02:33.936
I think his brother will be better.
01:02:34.893 --> 01:02:37.146
Don't get me wrong. I think he's going to end up being better.
01:02:37.146 --> 01:02:41.666
But I think Jackson Holiday is going to be a good ball player,
01:02:41.666 --> 01:02:43.427
one, because the genes are there.
01:02:43.955 --> 01:02:48.198
And he knows how to conduct himself properly because of his dad,
01:02:48.965 --> 01:02:53.136
he's got his dad to fall back on when things aren't going right so his dad will
01:02:53.136 --> 01:02:54.433
be up front and honest with him,
01:02:55.031 --> 01:03:00.856
um I think him missing two-thirds of the season kind of cost him but you know
01:03:00.856 --> 01:03:04.066
something Nathan brought up the other day is you know he's hitting the ball
01:03:04.066 --> 01:03:07.106
pretty decent he goes three for three or four for four the other day and then
01:03:07.106 --> 01:03:08.144
they bench him the next day,
01:03:08.719 --> 01:03:11.576
not bench him but you know they sit him down the next day and it's like how
01:03:11.576 --> 01:03:13.607
is this kid supposed he's the number one overall pick,
01:03:14.199 --> 01:03:17.056
he should be playing how do you sit him down against left-handed batters if
01:03:17.056 --> 01:03:21.629
this is the guy who's the number one overall pick and is supposed to know how to hit these people,
01:03:22.192 --> 01:03:26.776
right and isn't that what stowers said when he got traded the up and down up
01:03:26.776 --> 01:03:30.576
and down up and down that's for them and look at stowers the consistent playing
01:03:30.576 --> 01:03:33.923
time the guy hit 28 home runs and became an all-star right,
01:03:34.898 --> 01:03:41.545
so right I mean you also have EBJ which is some injury problems some health concerns,
01:03:42.526 --> 01:03:47.153
um I mean you have a guy who still bases in Vanderbilt that has hamstring issues.
01:03:49.103 --> 01:03:55.516
Don't remind me and then you have Vance Honeycutt now granted I said back in
01:03:55.516 --> 01:04:00.754
2024 I did have in my draft article that Vance Honeycutt would be a pick,
01:04:01.909 --> 01:04:05.369
But there's a reason why he was an honorable mention. I like Vance Honeycutt.
01:04:05.769 --> 01:04:09.716
I know you do. And we discussed him when he was actually ranked ahead of EBJ.
01:04:11.196 --> 01:04:15.656
Yeah. I think the problem that Vance Honeycutt has, and, you know,
01:04:15.976 --> 01:04:20.090
we discussed this before, is this is his third season in high A. Yeah.
01:04:21.316 --> 01:04:23.976
Which, anybody who's anybody, I know this is the first season of Frederick.
01:04:23.976 --> 01:04:27.836
Now, I have not been to the Frederick Key Stadium, so I don't know what it looks
01:04:27.836 --> 01:04:32.496
like and how it affects hitters. but I do know Aberdeen is the worst place for
01:04:32.496 --> 01:04:35.246
hitters to go if they're going to succeed.
01:04:35.698 --> 01:04:39.633
So I kind of give him an albatross his first two years in high end.
01:04:41.080 --> 01:04:44.666
As far as Frederick Stadium, you know more about that.
01:04:45.938 --> 01:04:51.256
Is the problem still it's not a hitter-friendly park, or is it definitely,
01:04:52.166 --> 01:04:58.465
maybe Aberdeen sapped him mentally and he just is not adjusting properly,
01:04:58.465 --> 01:05:03.074
or does he possibly just need to get up to double-A to get the adjustments properly?
01:05:03.625 --> 01:05:05.995
I probably still think he wasn't a first-round pick.
01:05:06.581 --> 01:05:08.862
He might not be a first-round pick, but do you think... But,
01:05:09.756 --> 01:05:10.785
yeah, I get what you're saying.
01:05:11.205 --> 01:05:15.747
Um, first off, I will say Frederick is a much more hitter friendly ballpark.
01:05:16.147 --> 01:05:20.646
Um, we are seeing it with Aloy's doing fine. Irish is doing fine.
01:05:21.127 --> 01:05:26.455
We're seeing what Victor Figueroa is doing. And he came from a San Diego system
01:05:26.455 --> 01:05:28.870
where everyone says stadiums are nice. Yeah.
01:05:29.265 --> 01:05:36.173
Um, but overall, I think it's all mental. I think it's the fact that it's a guy who came in.
01:05:36.602 --> 01:05:41.435
He struggled everywhere. He struck out a lot in the ACC, which the ACC is a
01:05:41.435 --> 01:05:42.547
tough conference as it is.
01:05:42.790 --> 01:05:45.252
It is. Second best conference in baseball in college.
01:05:45.519 --> 01:05:50.732
Got drafted, went to Aberdeen, and fell off.
01:05:51.649 --> 01:05:54.865
And he's just having a hard time getting back into it. Well,
01:05:54.865 --> 01:05:59.225
it's funny. He posted on social media. I really thought it was kind of funny and comical.
01:05:59.785 --> 01:06:03.545
At first, I thought he might have just done it as a joke. But I really think
01:06:03.545 --> 01:06:08.795
he's serious. But he posted on social media. He is open to any suggestions anybody
01:06:08.795 --> 01:06:12.765
has to help alter his swing to help them out. Right.
01:06:14.166 --> 01:06:19.188
And my thing with that comment is I think back to something that,
01:06:20.523 --> 01:06:26.925
was it Wade Boggs or Pete Rose, where altering your swing does nothing.
01:06:28.765 --> 01:06:32.555
You either choke up, choke down, move up, move back. Or you fix your timing.
01:06:33.937 --> 01:06:39.243
So I just think he's thinking too much. I mean, he's 23.
01:06:40.032 --> 01:06:43.370
I think a lot of baseball players' problems now these days is they're thinking
01:06:43.370 --> 01:06:44.990
and trying to go up there and guess the pitch.
01:06:45.524 --> 01:06:49.175
Don't go up there and guess the pitch. Go up there and do what brought you here.
01:06:49.796 --> 01:06:52.002
Just go up there and produce.
01:06:52.751 --> 01:06:55.328
Don't try to guess what's coming based off what you see.
01:06:56.222 --> 01:07:01.197
And don't base off what people on social media say either,
01:07:02.085 --> 01:07:07.680
exactly like i mean you played high school ball yeah did you play college or
01:07:07.680 --> 01:07:13.370
did you just play high school uh i tried out for college i i played in the scrimmages
01:07:13.370 --> 01:07:16.360
and i was told to come back the following year because i was too young,
01:07:18.235 --> 01:07:20.116
fair but you played high school ball.
01:07:22.043 --> 01:07:26.064
A long time ago. We won't go there. We'll say 90s.
01:07:26.657 --> 01:07:31.765
90s sounds nice. It was 90s. You're right. There was no social media back in
01:07:31.765 --> 01:07:34.075
the 90s. If there was, it was AOL.
01:07:35.265 --> 01:07:39.085
Or not AOL. You're right. AOL. Hey, look at me.
01:07:40.403 --> 01:07:45.395
But there was no videos of being trolled on the internet. There was no videos
01:07:45.395 --> 01:07:49.395
of people being like, oh, this is easy.
01:07:49.737 --> 01:07:52.265
And I'm not trying to bash fan bases. I'm just saying in general,
01:07:52.265 --> 01:07:53.656
because I see it everywhere.
01:07:54.120 --> 01:07:58.033
You have no cell phones to instantly upload things or share with people what's going on.
01:07:58.619 --> 01:08:03.835
Right. And my thing with that is, like, even if you want to look at the 2024
01:08:03.835 --> 01:08:06.165
class and think, oh, that class looks solid.
01:08:06.786 --> 01:08:09.788
It looks solid because there are people having good rookie years.
01:08:10.159 --> 01:08:15.796
But if you look at it, the people having good rookie years, they were chop picks for a reason.
01:08:16.365 --> 01:08:22.875
Travis Pizana, Chase Burns, The Athletic Nick, J.J. Weatherholt,
01:08:22.875 --> 01:08:24.728
Jack Caglione, Connor Griffin.
01:08:26.098 --> 01:08:31.605
Top nine picks. We're talking about a guy all the way down at 22 who are behind
01:08:31.605 --> 01:08:34.562
names that are not even top prospects in their own system.
01:08:35.461 --> 01:08:38.080
Yeah. Three years or two years later.
01:08:41.017 --> 01:08:44.332
And you see why he's our number one prospect guy, right?
01:08:48.871 --> 01:08:50.502
All right, before we wrap things up,
01:08:53.341 --> 01:08:58.751
grading skill, what do you give the Orioles draft? Overall? Overall.
01:09:00.452 --> 01:09:05.956
I guess C+, because it's average. We got what we wanted. We got a lot of pitchers.
01:09:07.221 --> 01:09:11.929
What knocks it down a little bit is a couple is...
01:09:15.139 --> 01:09:17.635
Honestly, if it knocks down a little bit, it's a little too many high school kids.
01:09:20.001 --> 01:09:25.211
I give the same grade, honestly. I'm a C-plus with you. I kind of differ with
01:09:25.211 --> 01:09:26.541
you on why it knocks it down.
01:09:26.961 --> 01:09:30.944
I kind of think our first pick,
01:09:33.412 --> 01:09:37.711
is one of the reasons it knocks it down. And too many of our picks mirror a
01:09:37.711 --> 01:09:40.824
lot of players we already have that are still in the minors.
01:09:42.339 --> 01:09:46.223
If they're still in the minors, Why are we drafting players that are similar to them?
01:09:48.045 --> 01:09:55.591
They're in the minors for a reason. Yeah. So why are we drafting another player
01:09:55.591 --> 01:09:57.433
to look in the mirror at? Right.
01:09:59.046 --> 01:10:03.051
And I know it's, I will say, and we've said this, I think every year we've done
01:10:03.051 --> 01:10:09.553
this, it's very hard to sit there and grade a draft class because we don't know what it's going to do.
01:10:10.099 --> 01:10:13.911
If you come back three, four years from now and give it a grade you're probably
01:10:13.911 --> 01:10:17.441
probably better off grading it and that might be something we have to revisit
01:10:17.441 --> 01:10:21.434
in the future we come back here and look at 2019 2020 or something like that,
01:10:21.910 --> 01:10:25.721
and give it a real grade oh please say when yeah,
01:10:26.401 --> 01:10:30.925
we might we that's something we we we probably go 23 and back because yeah,
01:10:32.921 --> 01:10:36.201
it might be a good idea to do that because we can actually give it a better
01:10:36.201 --> 01:10:38.461
grade, but I agree. I think it's about a C+.
01:10:41.041 --> 01:10:44.001
I like the fact that we went heavy pitcher-wise. It's the first draft class
01:10:44.001 --> 01:10:47.516
I think we've actually gone heavy-wise under the Elias era.
01:10:48.102 --> 01:10:51.771
It's also the first draft class I can remember was drafting as many high school
01:10:51.771 --> 01:10:55.811
players as we did under the Elias era, and I think there's a method to that
01:10:55.811 --> 01:11:00.548
because he's not too worried if they go to college and we lose them.
01:11:02.330 --> 01:11:07.981
My biggest concern that I have is looking at some of the situations that we're looking at,
01:11:09.447 --> 01:11:15.101
I would bet money by the end of the signing period, six players don't sign. Minimum.
01:11:15.543 --> 01:11:17.765
We have until July 27th, and we'll find out.
01:11:18.368 --> 01:11:20.377
Yeah, because I can already see three.
01:11:22.072 --> 01:11:24.864
I can see four or five off the top of my head that don't sign.
01:11:25.259 --> 01:11:31.202
Well, the good thing is the way we've picked most of these players we over-slotted,
01:11:31.202 --> 01:11:33.514
which means we'll have more money to spread around.
01:11:33.740 --> 01:11:36.312
So the players we really want, we can offer more money to.
01:11:38.251 --> 01:11:41.484
Yeah. And that's a good thing. That's how we got Gunnar Henderson.
01:11:42.999 --> 01:11:50.638
When did first overall pick start making $11 million? When you underscotch them.
01:11:51.552 --> 01:11:54.783
Because that is the approximate pick for Rock.
01:11:55.149 --> 01:12:01.790
11.35. Yeah, well, just saying I never became a first-round draft pick then.
01:12:04.210 --> 01:12:08.672
But I played, I would have, back in the time when the Orioles traded for Glenn
01:12:08.672 --> 01:12:12.332
Davis and he signed a record-breaking contract of $1.1 million.
01:12:13.713 --> 01:12:17.044
Yeah. It's like we've talked about before.
01:12:18.118 --> 01:12:21.200
Snellmail was how we got it. It was a pigeon through the ear.
01:12:21.990 --> 01:12:30.332
Yeah, well, just like I've said before, Jackson Holliday's 2022 money is more
01:12:30.652 --> 01:12:36.775
than what Jim Palmer made in a 23-year MLB career. Yep.
01:12:37.466 --> 01:12:43.579
And I think it was doubled. Yep, and Jim Palmer's a Hall of Famer with three Cy Young Awards.
01:12:44.362 --> 01:12:48.382
Best Orioles pitcher of all time. Yep, has three World Series rings.
01:12:48.382 --> 01:12:50.719
Three-time World Series winner. Yep.
01:12:52.193 --> 01:12:56.485
So, anyway, on that note, we're going to wrap things up here.
01:12:56.485 --> 01:13:00.895
I want to thank Zach for joining us for the special, well, it's supposed to
01:13:00.895 --> 01:13:04.585
be just about the draft, but we seem to talk all things together when we get
01:13:04.585 --> 01:13:06.195
with Zach. We do this all the time.
01:13:07.155 --> 01:13:09.845
One of the great things about having Zach on is we can talk about everything.
01:13:09.845 --> 01:13:12.168
But this was our draft day special.
01:13:12.573 --> 01:13:15.225
Thank you all for joining us. I want to give a big shout-out to the Baltimore
01:13:15.225 --> 01:13:19.485
Battery because without the Baltimore Battery, we would not be doing this at
01:13:19.485 --> 01:13:21.077
all. I wouldn't even know Zach.
01:13:21.709 --> 01:13:23.887
I wouldn't have confidence to do this.
01:13:25.964 --> 01:13:29.375
But don't forget to check out the BaltimoreBattery.com. Be on the lookout for
01:13:29.375 --> 01:13:33.615
Zach's articles on draft day one and two, where he goes a little bit deeper
01:13:33.615 --> 01:13:35.148
into the prospects that were drafted,
01:13:35.612 --> 01:13:39.245
and gives you a better understanding of what these draft picks are made of and
01:13:39.245 --> 01:13:41.012
the quality of the draft picks.
01:13:41.586 --> 01:13:45.655
Also be on the lookout for what the prospect piece is, right?
01:13:45.655 --> 01:13:47.495
End of the month prospect piece, Scott?
01:13:48.244 --> 01:13:49.855
Yeah, two more weeks of the month.
01:13:51.622 --> 01:13:55.419
I think the next thing we really have is that and any trade deadline stuff.
01:13:55.808 --> 01:13:57.712
Yep. Deadline is August 3rd.
01:13:58.536 --> 01:14:00.395
The great, the good, and the ugly is getting ready to come out.
01:14:00.815 --> 01:14:08.933
We are on the all-star break, so mid-summer classic with only one Baltimore Oriole there. So far.
01:14:10.095 --> 01:14:15.675
Yeah. Crazy things can happen. I could go on about that. Anyway, let's move on.
01:14:17.349 --> 01:14:20.845
Don't forget to head over to thebaltimorebattery.com. Make sure you find an
01:14:20.845 --> 01:14:25.412
article that you like Look for one of your favorite authors You have Zachary Bucklow, you have.
01:14:28.524 --> 01:14:35.148
Justin Supton, R.J. Delberto, Jared Watson, myself. You can also find the Baltimore
01:14:35.148 --> 01:14:38.427
Battery on X and TikTok at the Bmore Battery.
01:14:38.781 --> 01:14:43.468
You can find myself on X and TikTok at SRJ Heckman. You can find Zach on X at?
01:14:46.108 --> 01:14:51.291
Zach Attack 8211. And are you on TikTok as well?
01:14:53.520 --> 01:14:58.698
For scrolling. Okay. Yeah, and you can find the Final Strike on X at the Final
01:14:58.698 --> 01:15:04.098
Strike underscore. You can also find the podcast on YouTube at SRJ Heckman or
01:15:04.098 --> 01:15:06.517
wherever your favorite podcasts are played.
01:15:06.813 --> 01:15:10.778
I also want to give a big shout-out to our sponsor, Advanced Mobility Solution,
01:15:10.778 --> 01:15:12.068
formerly Scooters for Rent.
01:15:12.068 --> 01:15:16.454
If you're over in the Maryland, Delaware area and you're looking for any products mobility-wise,
01:15:16.907 --> 01:15:20.248
that means mobility scooters, manual wheelchairs, beach wheelchairs,
01:15:20.248 --> 01:15:23.748
electric wheelchairs, or lift recliners, Don't forget to give them a call at
01:15:23.748 --> 01:15:28.290
302-280-6203 and tell them Stephen from the Final Strike sent you.
01:15:28.645 --> 01:15:31.988
Until next time, Birdland, remember to keep that beer cold, keep cheering the
01:15:31.988 --> 01:15:34.635
birds on, and peace out. We'll see you next time.