[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everyone, it's Eric.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quick note before the podcast starts.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was recorded on Monday night.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you hear me and my guest on this episode, talking about JJ Weatherhold and where he might play this season, we mentioned that Ariinado might get traded.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, this happens right after we recorded that trade happened on Tuesday, we recorded them Monday.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we didn't know about the trade at that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, of course, you were kind of confused as to why we're talking about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is why, but let's cue the intro music.
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to the Toolshed, a podcast covering all levels of professional baseball to help give you the edge in your dynasty leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: From the MLB draft, all the way to the show, the Toolshed podcast has you covered with rankings, player analysis, and in-depth discussion.
[SPEAKER_02]: And now, here's your host, Eric Cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's up, everyone?
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome into another episode of the Toolshed Podcast brought to you by Rotoballar.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is episode 434.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Eric Cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Going through a short stop prospect ranking today, kicking off these always exciting, short stop position, both from a dynasty and a prospect perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have one of the best in the business here to break it all down for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: with baseball America, prospect writer, ML, MLB beat, also a BB, WAA member through a first-pitch strike at McCoy Stadium.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's always impressive.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get to get the ball over the plate there at Jeff Ponds, BA on Twitter, Mr. Jeff Ponds.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jeff, how's it going, man?
[SPEAKER_03]: Pretty good.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I was 11 years old and like you were more impressive.
[SPEAKER_03]: I threw it from from the mountains like full full full speed like full board like I let it fly Eric Eric wedge was the catcher for Oh, yeah, all right.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you remember he was a manager many years later for was the Indians now like audience and the mariners after that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So little little baseball nugget for you
[SPEAKER_00]: Man McCoy I remember I think you and I I think first met at McCoy Stadium.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we were a conia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, back in 2018 Yeah, I think first met at McCoy Stadium.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we were a conia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah back in 2018.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I've never conia got called up.
[SPEAKER_03]: It might have been 17.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like Wasn't that was that the Louise go horror like rehab outing too or am I as I different one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was I can't remember
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it was, yeah, because there was another one I was at.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you were there or remember Kyle Wright, like shoved and Pedroi it was like when he tried to come back and then like called it a career was like when it was last professional games and it was against, yeah, Kyle Wright, the good that day.
[SPEAKER_03]: You had a one good season with the braves.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he absolutely did.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was remember the first time I went to McCoy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like you're just driving through Pursacca, Rhode Island.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, you're just like, on the back roads, you know, and then it's also, oh, boom, there's a stadium kind of just popping up in the middle of nowhere as if it was, it was like a weird spot for our stadium.
[SPEAKER_03]: I remember, yeah, I grew up like 15 minutes away from a
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's just kind of buried in like this industrial area near the railroad crossing tracks like and yeah, but yeah, I mean, you know, it had some charm it's it's a big part of my childhood to the fact that it's knocked down and gone.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I didn't get to say goodbye, it's the last year that we were supposed to have games and puttuck it before they moved to Worcester, was 2020, and of course the season was canceled.
[SPEAKER_03]: So they did have some alternate sight stuff, but they didn't allow any media into those games.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, got you, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I fired a call quick in my last game there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I forget what season it was, but it was a playoff game.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was, I had a buddy who lived down in Providence or Island at the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was down visiting him and Dan Butler hit two solo homerons.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like a two to one game or something like where there's like no scoring, but besides Dan Butler hitting just random, you know, journeyman catcher, Dan Butler hitting a couple solo shots to win the game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as my, I can't remember what year that was.
[SPEAKER_00]: 16, 17, how do you remember?
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us are not what I'm in like maybe 19.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember, something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, good times, good times.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, shortstop prospects, lots of intriguing names here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, top of basically every prospect ranking these days has in some order of Connor Griffin and Kevin McGonagall.
[SPEAKER_00]: So once you start there with our personal top 10 rankings for this shortstop position, Jeff, who do you guys got in the
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so Connor Griffin, number one, Kevin McGonagall, too.
[SPEAKER_03]: JJ Weatherholt III, he zoos mod A4, 8 and Miller 5.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sebastian Walcott, six, Leo DeBreeze, seven, Bryce Rainer, eight, Colt, Emerson, nine, and then Caleb Bonamer at 10.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that Bonamer call.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just talking him up last episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a fun prospect for sure, but one of many fun prospects at this position for me here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also lead with Griffin and McGonagall and then these next few are basically almost interchangeable in my opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got mod A3, Devries 4, Weatherhold 5.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sebastian Walcott 6, 8 Miller 7, Cole Emerson 8, Luis Pignan 9, and Bryce Rainer.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the 10 spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's just start with the two big names here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Griffin and McGonagall, obviously very different players, a couple years apart in age, different profiles, but both very, very exciting long-term aspirations for these two guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll start with Griffin, I think you can make a strong case that he has the highest.
[SPEAKER_00]: upside of any prospect in the minor leagues today coming off the 21 home or 65 steel season with a 33 35 15 5 27 slash line as a 19 year old getting up to double a his first season didn't have any time you know he's not in actual minor league games before 2025 just hit the ground running and never looked back so
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I hate to make comps, Jeff, I really do have for prospects, but, you know, I've said if any one prospect currently were to become a first round like fantasy guy, I feel like Griffin is the kind of leader in the club out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like what do you think we're looking at, you know, when is all said and done with a player to think we're looking out here with Connor Griffin.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I think you in first round, my P. Um,
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, sort of conservative, I think this is where he's got the number one player in fantasy, you know, I'm not sure that we've had a high school player with this combination of tools, athleticism, you know, polish and defensive ability like
[SPEAKER_03]: in a really long time because, you know, I think that the comp is probably Bobby Witt Jr. right like that sort of what the high end is he's a bigger guy than Bobby Witt Jr. a more polished defender at this point than Bobby Witt Jr. was and it's a more polished hit tool than Bobby Witt Jr. had at this point in time, you know.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I think that's what the craziest part of this is, there's probably more power to come.
[SPEAKER_03]: Angles will probably get even better.
[SPEAKER_03]: But the changes that he made to the swing between the end of his senior season and the beginning like of spring training last year were immense.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, like, you know, we showed up in pirate city and seeing Griffin for the first time, it was like seeing Fernando to tease in the backfields.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was like, all right, like this is a major guy, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think,
[SPEAKER_03]: Josh Norris and I who were the two that were that were down there and Brandon's in.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was kind of like all right like this is a easy top 20 prospect.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's no way he's not top 20 right now.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then it was like how high could he go?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think both Josh and I were like this could be a top five guy at the you know by the end of season now.
[SPEAKER_03]: There were a lot of questions about the hit tool.
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't hit a ton on the showcase circuit.
[SPEAKER_03]: He had someone was obviously an impressive player.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, played against lower level competition in Mississippi, frankly, like it's not bad high school baseball, but it's not great high school baseball.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're not talking about like the CIF Southern section.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, you know, it's at the top high school conference in the country and anything like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So there are some questions on that.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think like if you remember, you look at his game logs.
[SPEAKER_03]: his first game he struck out like three or four times and he had like six strikeouts over his first two games and that like because a small sample size it's skewed his strikeout rate for like a month or so.
[SPEAKER_03]: But if you remove those couple of games then go and like drops down to like 20% or something.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's goofy.
[UNKNOWN]: So
[SPEAKER_03]: The bat's a ball was there, and the power obviously, just look at the EVs and stuff that's been reported, you just kind of watch the film, you see him physically.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, Eric, he found before I'm a fairly large human, and he's probably got like two or three inches on me.
[SPEAKER_03]: and his built little like a like a tight end like you know he's just a monster and he's a really good defender of shortstop and he's probably a 60 at short he's probably a 70 in center field and I've seen him play both and just be phenomenal at both you know plus plus runner I don't think the speed's gonna go away and yeah I mean there's like
[SPEAKER_03]: 30 home run 40 steel 300 average 100 runs 100 RBI is kind of upside like this could be could be a Hall of Famer.
[SPEAKER_03]: You don't want to put that on a 19 year old kid, but this is different.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is you know these
[SPEAKER_03]: We've seen a lot of guys come through the minor leagues over the last 10 years that have turned out to be big stars, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Acunia, Titis, like a, you know, flat, like I've seen so many of these guys that were humongous stars and Griffin is every bit as good any of those guys at the point that I saw.
[SPEAKER_03]: And just, you know, he's, and he's, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: three or four times, because I went and presented the minor league player the year awards to him.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's just really humble down to Earth.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, kind of not like a guy who's going to get in any trouble off the field or anything like that, so yeah, I think the pirates got themselves a good one and you know, maybe this is what finally him and schemes and some of the pieces they put together, maybe this is what finally sort of breaks up that, you know, long suffering period of misery and despair for pirates fans, but yeah, I mean,
[SPEAKER_03]: I know it sounds like hyperbole, but he truly is as good as good of a prospect as I've seen or I've covered.
[SPEAKER_03]: And the first year I was at BA, like the top three choices were for number one prospect, Bobby would junior, Adley Rushman, and Julio, and honestly, Connor is pound for pound as good as those guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I'm saying like we hate doing it and I know a lot of us, you know, the rank and the value of prospects is hate putting those lofty comms.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes you have to, sometimes it just fits and you, especially with a generational talent like Connor Griffin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you mentioned, even the areas where he, there were some concerns that you mentioned like the hit tool, you know, contact maybe a little bit too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: miss when he was drafted, but he cleaned that up, you know, throughout the season while still hitting for power and doing everything else he was doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I looked that up, you know, while back,
[SPEAKER_00]: Looking at the in the first two months of the season's April and May, he had a 5% so he could combine those two months.
[SPEAKER_00]: 5% while, block rate, 24 and a half percent strike out rate, but then the remainder of the season, so June through the end of the season, 11% block rate down to just over 20% strike out rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, in fact, he, you know, the one or two little areas of concern, he improved upon.
[SPEAKER_00]: and just the upside is so immense.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if look at what he did as a 19-year-old, like, you know, already talked about all the stats here, he had the highest WRC plus by a teenage prospect in the last decade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like,
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a head of the other names that were in that top list where Jackson Hall day, a couple years ago, Vlad Jr. and Akunia back in 2017, Jr. Cameron Arrow in 2023, like that was the top five and he was a bit ahead of all of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, it's just really really exciting what he can do, and yeah, Pirates fans, Scenes and Griffin, they have a chance to really do some damage here.
[SPEAKER_00]: They can build around that and hey, there's something to spend some money, so maybe that's
[SPEAKER_00]: sign of things to come here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pittsburgh fans deserve a competitive team here.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the other guy Kevin McGonagall, very different, but still a very, really, really could all round prospectus and much different way here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, probably one of the more polished guys I have seen.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I saw him both in double way.
[SPEAKER_00]: and out in Arizona.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you got it, had more walks and strikeouts this year, 15% will walk away, 11 and a half percent strikeout rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Slash 305 408 583 had a 182 WRC plus, which I believe led the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, him and Park Sharber were the top two, if I recall correctly.
[SPEAKER_00]: 19 bombs, 10 steals, and 88 games between mostly high-a and double-edited
[SPEAKER_00]: six games down in low A as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think here with McGongle, you know, Jeff, obviously a little bit of a smaller guy, but really packs a punch, you know, that power is really sneaky good and not I guess flashy as a kind of griffin, but yes, I think one of the higher floor guys in the minor leagues right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think he turns into one turn?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I think it's one of the best hit tools that I probably have evaluated, and that's why he's even in the conversation with a guy like Griffin because he's not the defender, he's not the athlete.
[SPEAKER_03]: He will run a little bit, I think for sure, and kind of has that like gritty, and this isn't just a small guy comp, but I think maybe sometimes that.
[SPEAKER_03]: goes hand in hand with a little toughness.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's kind of got that dust and petroleum edge to him.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a Pennsylvania kid that just wants to win and it's kind of a maniac in that regard.
[SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, you look over under the hood this year, 13.8% in zone with 18.1% with overall.
[SPEAKER_03]: 20.3.
[SPEAKER_03]: percent chase rate and when I look at chase rates I always balance it against the swing rate so like you know 45.4% swing rate that means the delta between his chase and swing was 25.1% which is like in a lead number.
[SPEAKER_03]: The reason that I look at that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Eric, is it sort of a way, if I don't have like heart swing rate or zone swing rate, it's a way for me to sort of reverse engineer played approach metrics, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because
[SPEAKER_03]: It's one thing to just not swing and any pitches out of the zone because you don't swing it any pitches like you're you're running you know you're like the O'Gill in and you're running like a 30% swing rate.
[SPEAKER_03]: When you see low chase rates with higher or average swing rates, what you do with McGonagall and you have that higher delta between the chase and the swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: That tells you that they're going to have a higher heart swing and they're going to have a higher zone swing because those swings obviously have to come from certain point.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's sort of a way to reverse engineer, but not in a precise way, zone swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: He had one of the higher chase minus swing rates.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then you look at the angles.
[SPEAKER_03]: You look at the EVs, it's a 105.39Eath.
[SPEAKER_03]: He had a 13.3 with his max eggs at this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: X-Woe, but 384, you know, X-Woe become 381.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you look at all these numbers.
[SPEAKER_03]: that ties all this together, it's just the battle control.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he has the Bats of Ball skills.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's got the excellent, you know, plate discipline, and the discerning eye to be a great hitter.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's able to generate a lot of power despite being, you know, it's a smaller frame, but he's boxy.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he's broad, very broad shoulder and like, you know, kind of strong in that regard.
[SPEAKER_03]: But it's, it's the angles are really consistently good.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he pulls the ball as well as anybody.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, just, you know, a hitter that consistently is able to backspend the ball to his pull side.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's, you know, he's a left handed hitter on top of that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So those like short porches, like if he plays at Yankee Stadium,
[SPEAKER_03]: He could have some monster weekends, especially if you try to jam a fastball in him inside on him.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a guy that just turns on stuff and it's true pull backspin, you know, just really, really clean barrels.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think that the concept that hasn't necessarily been like,
[SPEAKER_03]: put out there in a public way.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I think the concept of like clean backspin and clean barrels and spin efficiency on batting balls is sort of a skill and something that certain hitters do better than others.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's the reason that Alex Braggman, despite middleing EVs, is able to hit as many home runs as he has.
[SPEAKER_03]: We've auto when he sort of figured it out there was something he talked about
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I think, you know, just like with a foreseen fastball where, like, you know, a foreseen fastball, like, guys throw it different ways.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's guys that have, you know, really true spin that get behind the ball.
[SPEAKER_03]: And there's like 99% active spin, you know, on their foreseen, those are the guys that typically are able to write it or create really flat angles on the foreseen.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's other guys that
[SPEAKER_03]: cut their forcing fastball, you know, and, you know, that causes it to be a little bit less efficient and on the plane.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think it's the same thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's why you'll see a guy hit a ball 115 and like, you know, goes the warning track and another guy hits a ball 106 and it flies out to right field.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think McGonagos, one of those guys that does that really well, just based on all these metrics having watched him, you know, I saw him for
[SPEAKER_03]: four series last year in the future's game and spring training for about five or six games.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I had a really good chunk and sample size with him over a couple of years.
[SPEAKER_03]: The other thing is, you know, he just plays the game at a hundred percent all the time.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, he never takes plays off.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he's going to be a fun player to own, a fun player to root for.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think he's the kind of guy
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, new school fans are going to love him and because of his hustle and grit old school, you know, come on, Jenny, grandpa, you're going to like him too.
[SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I think he's a great player.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think these are two top-notch prospects.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think they're two prospects where it's going to translate for fantasy.
[SPEAKER_03]: But God knows not going to steal 30 bases.
[SPEAKER_03]: But he might steal 15 to 20, like he's that kind of a player.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you don't want to necessarily write it off.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think there's
[SPEAKER_03]: 15 to 25 home or power probably right off the bat.
[SPEAKER_03]: If he was playing in a place like Cincinnati or New York, I might say it's 20 to 25 right off the bat, but Detroit isn't necessarily the easiest place to hit him out of.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, we'll see how it all plays, but yeah, I think there's power.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he's going to hit for a high average.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's going to be great.
[SPEAKER_03]: No BP leagues.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's going to be an absolute star in points leagues because he just does so many things that contribute.
[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, scoring points.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't strike out much at all, draws those walks, probably you got to just hit some ton of doubles, probably one of the league leaders and doubles every year, just extra maintenance and general.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just hits.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, exactly the guy that you can pencil in like 200 hits for a bunch of years, you know, and if he gets up early enough, like it wouldn't be shocking if he's maybe, you know, one of the next guys to flirt with like 3,000 from this kind of generation.
[SPEAKER_03]: We'll see if that ever happens again, but it doesn't feel like it's going to happen for a lot of these guys that had chunks of their careers, you know, sucked up in 2020, where they only played 50 games.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm now going to realize how much it's going to like impact historical numbers and Hall of Fame voting, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was total bummer for a lot of less.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially a lot of those guys are at the tail end of their career.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the Albert pool, it says, and you know, the McGee's and all of them to see what they could have done with another, you know, 100 whatever games that year.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I fortunate enough to have seen McGonagul as well, probably.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, six, seven, eight games, whatever it was between AA and the AFL and yeah, he just everything was loud with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is out to allow it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw him at two pull side home runs on one the right one more so that the right center, you know, I saw him and Max Clark go back to back this open up a game.
[SPEAKER_00]: in any area that was pretty fun but yeah just he is just a hitter through and through I think you can say maybe he's the highest floor prospect and that's not to say like you mentioned it's going to translate for fantasy too so just saying he's a high floor guy doesn't mean that he's boring or doesn't have good amount of upside because he absolutely does I agree like I think you can be looking at a 20 plus homer guy 15 mid teens kind of steel guy that's hitting
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for our super high average, great OPP, scoring a ton of runs, driving in a good bunch too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So might not be as flashy as a Griffin, but still really good five category guy without any real weakness in the profile and you know, I assume is going to be at sure stop maybe he moves over to second base at some point will see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless, it's going to be fun, especially if it's that second base.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, that position's a little less exciting from offense of, you know, fantasy perspective these days.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in McGonagall is one of the, one of the better peer haters, like I've seen personally in my time doing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you've done it longer than I have.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but yeah, McGonagall was just such a...
[SPEAKER_00]: So, how was that?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's an I agree.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just look at a guy here's a guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy passes the I guess.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this guy, this guy's going to be a major league hitter and a very good one for a very long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this guy's going to be playing 15 plus years in the big leagues and like to maybe even flirting with some pretty historic numbers by the time it's all said and done.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, and I think it's pretty easy right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next tier of guys all get into it in a second are all really fun as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's clear a cut like these are the top two dudes right now, both for adding for real life and fantasy purposes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, all right, getting to the next tier guys here kind of like tier two, and we got two guys are really looking to, you know, possibly make a pretty good impact at the major league level this year, Gigi with the whole with the cardinals and Eden Miller.
[SPEAKER_00]: with the fillies, but it's the real question is at what position?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, both those teams have pretty good short stops right now, tray turn and Mason win.
[SPEAKER_00]: You kind of get a wonder does that mean Miller moves over to third and boom gets traded or whatever it could be, whether whole second or third, maybe with Mason win at short stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what type of impact do you think weatherholds and miller make this year, Jeff and kind of where do you think they kind of slot in initially and maybe even long-term for their respective teams?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I think that whether halt, I think Aronado, something will probably happen if they can make it happen over the next couple of like months.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it wouldn't shock me if weather halt breaks camp.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hit and triple A for half the season more or less, because I think you got called a couple of weeks before the futures game when we saw them.
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, it is,
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, plus plus hit.
[SPEAKER_03]: Another guy's gonna hit for a really high average.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's power there, but he doesn't sell out for it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Obviously, you know, the park and St. Louis might limit some of those home run numbers.
[SPEAKER_03]: I do think he's a guy that's gonna compete for an L-Rookie of the Year.
[SPEAKER_03]: Probably at third base, you know, it wouldn't shock me if he plays some games at second, plays some games at short when when get some days off.
[SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, I think it just comes down to them being able to move Aranado, if they're able to do that, that opens the spot.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, probably fits in perfectly.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's a really good, you know, left side of your infield there.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Jay J. Weatherhall, who I think is probably in above average defender at short stop.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he's pretty good there.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a, it's a, it's above average arm.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, he runs pretty well as well.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I think he's going to contribute.
[SPEAKER_03]: It just maybe does.
[SPEAKER_03]: It, it's maybe not.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, the the peak home run or power output that you're going to see from him early.
[SPEAKER_03]: I do think he eventually probably gets there where it's like 25 home run seasons for a good string of seasons.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be a lot of devils probably is more like in the 14 to 17 home run range, but probably hits 280 get some base, you know, scores of fair amount of runs and you know, racks up some counting stats.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's just a really good all around player.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, he absolutely is and yeah, it would be kind of a crime for the Cardinals not to give them a, you know, the vast majority of his time, if not all of his time this upcoming season in the majors, you know, obviously they're going through a bit of a rebuild now and already have traded off a couple of those pieces to the red socks, no less, but yeah, I think weather holds, you know, I'm not entirely sure, obviously, you know, you said Ari Nato being traded with free up that spot for sure, but
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's kind of bouncing around between those three spots that you mentioned, yeah, whether I'll almost, you know, again, kind of a more closer to a, to a, to a mechanical type player than a Griffin type player, where it's just really good across the board, you know, he, he hits for power.
[SPEAKER_00]: A human type of as many walks of strikeouts, you know, this past year, you know, 20 homer guy, 20 steel guy, high average, high OPP, and just really does a lot of things well.
[SPEAKER_00]: on the field and you mentioned you know the plus plus hit doesn't swing and missed too much only 8% swing and strike rate this past year's a lot of good in that profile with weather hold to guide that you know I think is going to be you know when those top maybe maybe even like a top 5 fantasy option at whatever position he winds up at you know maybe not shortstop you know because of you know it's how stubly this position is but
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to have a second or third, I mean, maybe, would it shock you, Jeff?
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see, he goes the second base route, you know, a couple years from now, that weather halt was like the number one, due to this position, or at least up in that conversation with like, you know, the holidays of the world, I think that upside is absolutely there.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think he's got more upside than Jackson Holiday does.
[SPEAKER_03]: I agree, if he outproduced Jackson Holiday, this season it wouldn't shock me.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just think he's a better hitter.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's more power, you know, it just happened to go to the college route as opposed to be in the one one.
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
[SPEAKER_03]: But could have been, I mean, he was in conversations to potentially go with that pick, the
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I would imagine he begins the season in AAA and probably sees, you know, maybe the for at least the first two months, I'd probably bet more like a late June July type of call up.
[SPEAKER_03]: We'll depend on certainly some of the moves that they make or don't make on is one that you mentioned.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he probably is a third baseman long term and not necessarily a short stop, but
[SPEAKER_03]: really good defensive reports from scouts this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: That.
[SPEAKER_03]: like, are much higher than what mine would have been and it was universal.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, you know, our reporting is that it's potentially a plus short stop.
[SPEAKER_03]: And like, the metrics back it, the looks back it, it's a big arm.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, maybe he is the short stop of the future.
[SPEAKER_03]: And they move, you know, trade turner to second or maybe he even moved turner to third.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, you know.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I do think he's going to be on the left side of the infield.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's big raw power.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the angles will get better.
[SPEAKER_03]: You had to make some adjustments in his swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you kind of look at the early swing, it was just like,
[SPEAKER_03]: The way his hands moved, it wasn't really a hitch, but the way that his hands moved, it sort of left the barrel out so it was a constantly like op-o contact and a lot of ground balls.
[SPEAKER_03]: They've made some adjustments to try to get to better angles, as he went on his like hot streak at the end of the season, that was some of the adjustments that started to take flight.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think once he gets to better angles,
[SPEAKER_03]: 20 home run power in a great park, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, these might even say that it's a little more than the 20 home runs that might be being a little conservative.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a plus runner, stole what 50 bags, 40 something bags last year, for 59 bags.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there you go.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, obviously that's probably translates to maybe 30.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, um, so and the hit tools always been there as well.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it took a little while to adjust the AA, um, but once, you know, he sort of got his feet set and got his feet under it and it seemed like the production really came and there's a lot of things to like about Miller, um, and I wasn't, I mean, I kind of a convert.
[SPEAKER_03]: I wasn't a huge Miller fan out of the draft.
[SPEAKER_03]: and even his first year, I thought he was a little overrated, but I'm kind of in crawling that one, you know, and he's now, you know, a top 20 prospect, I think whether it's fancier or real-life list, you got to put him up there because of the balance of defense and and hitting ability.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm right there with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was definitely, I liked Miller coming out of the draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I was super high on him, but especially earlier this year, I just kind of, I thought myself dropping him further down my rankings, then in hindsight, I definitely should not drop him down as far as I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like you mentioned, making those tangible changes with the swing that kind of unlocked that hot funnel, we know what are 50, 50, 60 games, whatever he had in the season.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, this is a guy that I'm now really absolutely excited about.
[SPEAKER_00]: have definitely adjusted my rankings accordingly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even when I'm talking about it right now, I feel like I want to move them up another spot, a couple of spots higher just because you look at, regardless of its short or third, I mean, you mentioned that that blend of power speed, above average context skills, high walkerate, it was about 15 and a half percent walkerate this year as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So probably a good OBP guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he's given you 20 plus, 20 plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: At third base, I'll be phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, we don't get a ton of those 20 plus steel guys at third base.
[SPEAKER_00]: So getting him over there, I think it'll be phenomenal, even as a short stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is a really fun, very fantasy friendly, you know, a whole round profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, Eda Miller, I'm going to do it with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I dropped not too far, but I've adjusted accordingly and now I have him ranked very highly as he should be.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, last guy here in this kind of top 10 range, Bryce Rainer with the Detroit Tigers, 11th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Sanford, a little bit under $5.8 million in their high school guy, made his debut in low A.
[SPEAKER_00]: this past year, the only 35 games though, season ended prematurely due to a dislocated shoulder unfortunately, but Narayana was really showing some pretty exciting skills before he got her five home runs, nine steals in 35 games and a walk rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: of over 13% right around 22% K rate slash 288383448 and so I mean Jeff I think Reiner is ranked fairly highly is not he's sneaking up on anybody, but is this a guy that you think could maybe with a full health the year here.
[SPEAKER_00]: in 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I take that next step and maybe join the truly elite kind of prospect rankings range.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, obviously a little bit of a different guy, you know, big power shortstop, big body shortstop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not a burner.
[SPEAKER_00]: along the term, or I got to give you a ton of speed at the saves on these runner, but definitely that that could be truly, truly special.
[SPEAKER_00]: So do you think Bryce Rayner right now is just a really good buy in Dinosaur leagues before that value potentially really takes off this year?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think so.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the fact that we're saying it probably makes some less of a good vibe, but like because it's already out there.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think maybe the window was during last season when people saw that the hype and then they're looking to make some moves looking to improve their teams and might be willing to part with a younger guy who has been a little injury
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a Cory Seaguer Cup and I think it's funny that we said he's injury prone because that certainly has been a good point.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that fits Seaguer too.
[SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, he's a bigger body, shortstop, you know, Zander Bogard.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, there's a bunch of guys within that sort of range.
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, I think it's very similar.
[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe more power than Bogart's.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's probably 30 home run type of pop with a hit tool.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's probably a little more swing and miss than there is with Griffin, less running ability.
[SPEAKER_03]: But he is really, really talented.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm excited to see what a full season is because it's not easy to hit in the Florida State League, especially early in the season.
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, prior to the injury, he was doing it.
[SPEAKER_03]: He looked very good in spring training.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, he was getting off to a really good start and really starting to make that big ascension up rankings, fortunately that darnish older injury put a screeching halt to a pretty good start to his professional career, but yeah, I like Reiner a good bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: That bad is really exciting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can't wait to see him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't know if he'll get the W this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he gets a cup of coffee there later in the year, but I'm probably I'm sure I'll probably see him a good bit next season as in
[SPEAKER_00]: Looking forward to that for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's move over to the next set of 10 here 11 through 20 in our short stop prospect rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jeff, who do you guys got in those spots?
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, you said, sorry, you said 11 to 10, I mean, 11 to 20.
[SPEAKER_03]: 11 to 20.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
[SPEAKER_03]: So we have a Louis pain.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Joe Swargonzollas, DAX Killby, Jojo Parker, Katelyn Call Pepper, who I think probably moves the second base.
[SPEAKER_03]: but it's technically a short stop.
[SPEAKER_03]: Eli Willets, then a couple of international free agents.
[SPEAKER_03]: I have these guys listed, so I can list a couple more because they haven't officially signed until Thursday.
[SPEAKER_03]: But Louie Hernandez,
[SPEAKER_03]: or Luis, excuse me, Luis Hernandez, the Giants, and then Joe Hensie, Callame, who despite not getting as high of a bonus as rent to Rhea, we have rank a sort of the number two guy in just from a talent-based ranking and the feedback that Ben Bathers been doing.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't rank any of the international guys.
[SPEAKER_03]: I have been
[SPEAKER_03]: is an expert in that area.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I have pretty much a hand in my FYPD list and I'm like this time of year and we come back from our little break for Christmas and new years and I'm like, hey, here's my list, plug in, you know, whatever international guys you think should be there.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Hernandez
[SPEAKER_03]: and then Cooper Pratt and Ava Arquette.
[SPEAKER_03]: So there's a lot of like the FYPD tier in here, but I do think one of the strengths of this class where there were some really interesting high school short stops.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely, and we'll get to one of them in a second, but let me get my 11th to 20 here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, I got Emil Morales, Jojo Parker, Eli Willitz, and then Kael and Cole Pepper, Ethan Holiday, who I don't even like that ranking out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jet Williams, Joe Swarkin, Zollas, Caleb Bonnermer, Carson Williams, and Philanin Celestin, are my 11th through 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: But while on the start, before we get to, you know, one of the, kind of buzzy F.I.P.D.
[SPEAKER_00]: guys right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to get the Kale and Cole Pepper, he's like a personal, really became a personal favorite of mine over the last year or so, 21st overall pick out of Kansas State
[SPEAKER_00]: went to the twins for a little under a $4 million signing bonus got a little bit of time in after the draft last year 26 games but then played 113 games in 2025 nearly split between
[SPEAKER_00]: in AA put together a 2025 season, so I should $2.89, $3.75, $4.69, walk right just to hair under 10% and a key rate around 17 and a half percent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you mentioned Jeff, you think he probably moved over the second base, he even better.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, not like, I'm not saying culpa prescabed you a stud or anything like that, but yeah, I like the all I'm, you know, blend of skills here, you know, pretty solid contact skills,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, a little bit power, a little bit speed here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is going to be this like a sneaky five category guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think on Kael and Colpip or long-term here?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think he's going to run.
[SPEAKER_03]: I definitely think that he's going to hit for a decent average on-base percentage and like, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: He chases a lot, it's kind of an overly aggressive approach.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's kind of a concern.
[SPEAKER_03]: The power, like EV-wise, is like,
[SPEAKER_03]: at least like 40, maybe a little below that.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's like an 86 mile per hour average EV at a 102.690th.
[SPEAKER_03]: He did hit a ball 112.7.
[SPEAKER_03]: But it's a contact you're buying here.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's the speed, it's the 14.4% in zone with rate.
[SPEAKER_03]: All that sort of stuff is what you're buying into.
[SPEAKER_03]: And the fact that he's a twitchy athletic player that's gonna probably hit at the top of the lineup.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, yeah, I don't know about five categories.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's probably going to be more like 12 to like 14 home runs, you know, but could score a lot of runs, could steal 30 bags, could hit, you know, 275 or better, probably going to be better and more of your like standard five by five than a points or an LBP format, but we'll still be pretty solid there because he's going to contribute in, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: I guess five categories, but I just I question the home run power a little bit.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that those numbers are little like what he did this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's just a little beyond what his ability is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of feels like this is not a direct comp by any means, but just a kind of like the the staff you were just mentioning is where he could be feels kind of like where a lot of people kind of projects, you know, another Minnesota guy, Luke Kieshal to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think there's some similarities between Coppiperoon Kieshal?
[SPEAKER_03]: uh... yet probably i think that's that's probably fairly similar maybe there's a little bit more power with kishul long term uh... and you know he's not not as good of a defender uh... but yeah i don't i mean i think it's the same sort of bucket of players in terms of tools and attributes
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm a pretty big Keisha guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like him a good bit, so maybe I just kind of like this, you know, profile a little bit more than most do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it just just give me, I mean, yeah, I don't think he's a be like a massive power guy by any means.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you mentioned the EVs are kind of middleing, but yeah, just give me if he gives me like, you know, 12, 15 summers like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's getting at least in that double-digit range consistently with home runs, given the rest of what the profile could be, you know, good average or some, you know, decent amount of 20 plus deals, whatever it might be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they could be a pretty solid player, especially from second base, too, if he does move over there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we'll see, one of them moving parts there in Minnesota, they get a lot of pretty decent hitting prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see how that kind of all unfolds as they kind of go into a little mini rebuild here over the next few years.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think one of the more buzzy guys, especially from this past draft class,
[SPEAKER_00]: Dax Killby.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think when kind of FYPD like rankings came out and it was really, you know, you had the top guys, you had the Jojo Parker's Eli Willets, you know, the the obviously the Ethan holiday, but now I think the busiest name probably is Dax Killby.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean 18 games after the draft 16% walk rate, only 13 and a half percent K rate hit 353 457 4441
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the 180-1 player pair and it's just not like take a lot from that, but you know, also at 16 steals kind of ran wild.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a really exciting 18 games for Dex Killby, and I think you've seen, it's over the last like four or five, six months or so, that height train just, you know, really getting more and more and more momentum to the point where, you know, I'm seeing people put him top five FYPD right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and obviously, you guys haven't ranked pretty highly here.
[SPEAKER_00]: at the short stop position.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, what do you think here on Dax Killby, Jeff?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is the hype in the buzz right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it warranted?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think it is.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you're also talking to somebody that I put out an F-L-I-P-D list a couple days after the draft.
[SPEAKER_03]: We had Killby 13 before you even signed a professional contract.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, so I think there is a narrative out there that this is just like, oh, he hit and he's a Yankee's prospect and everyone's going crazy.
[SPEAKER_03]: This dude blew up the combine.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, and I have some access to athletic testing and stuff like that much earlier in the process and I'm aware of who the best athletes are in the class.
[SPEAKER_03]: And this guy was one of the top four athletes in the class.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, blew up the combine testing, you know, put up a bunch of really loud EVs there.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then goes to the Florida State League, which is just a very tough place to hit, particularly, you know, in the golf course side.
[SPEAKER_03]: And just went crazy.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, though the ground ball rate is a little high.
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't hit any, you know, any homers over that sort of sort of small sample size.
[SPEAKER_03]: But he was also playing a high school baseball a couple of months before that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So one thing to keep in mind and put up phenomenal numbers, he's going to run all the EV data, which is public at that point in the Florida State League was excellent.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, I think when you take a look at a FYPD class on the high school side where you have some guys that
[SPEAKER_03]: have major hit tool questions.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if what is some questions like an Ethan Holiday, who's not a very good athlete, probably has zero chance of sticking it shortstop, he's had hit tool questions dating back to his junior year in high school.
[SPEAKER_03]: We've known about this.
[SPEAKER_03]: We talked about this.
[SPEAKER_03]: I never were a couple of videos and tweets and stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, no, this guy's gonna have a great hit tool and no, his dad is Matt Holiday.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he's been in his brother's Jackson, so he's gonna, like, I don't know if that's the case, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he's always had that.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's always been Matt Holidays kid that from the moment he came into the earth as far as I know, he conception, he had Holidays kid.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
[SPEAKER_03]: And this problem is existed and it existed going into the draft and you think about the team that drafted Ethan Holidays and what their track record is with high school players.
[SPEAKER_03]: What their track record is, with $1 million plus bonus and no national guys over the last five to ten years, it's awful.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I just don't think he's in a great spot.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think you need to take all that in consideration when you're ranking for fantasy, because your team and your situation and your development opportunities that are in front of you based on your organization,
[SPEAKER_03]: dictate a lot of how the next three to five years goes, frankly, unless you get traded, you know, and the Rockies never trade anybody, particularly prospects.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's sort of what the issue is with me and like, look at how it evices some of these other guys, like, I look at a Killby, I look at a Jojo Parker, I look at Eli Willitz, and it's like, well, Killby's got the athleticism, we saw the underlying data that back the hit tool,
[SPEAKER_03]: We know that Parker was one of the most polished, and he's just watched the swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's buttery smooth.
[SPEAKER_03]: Most polished combinations of hit tool and power in the class.
[SPEAKER_03]: So even if he's not a short step, what she probably isn't, it's maybe third base or second, fine.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then Eli Welitz, you know, 17.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he really, he should be a high school senior this year because he reclassed.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he's super young.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's,
[SPEAKER_03]: 70 bat the ball skills with some speed switch hitter.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's maybe some projection to add power.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not someone that thinks he's going to turn to a 20-home run bat.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, it's, but you know, it might be enough that it's productive and he's sort of this lead off hitter that steals bases and hits for a super high average and does all those things.
[SPEAKER_03]: But there's also some upside, like that the kid was 17 when he debuted in Pro Ball, you know, and that's just kind of a ridiculous thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I think you look at that, you look at Steele Hall, who is the best athlete among any of these players in the class and, you know, get straight turner comps in terms of what his upside is from a lot of evaluators and decision makers.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then, you know, someone like Gavin Fiend, who's
[SPEAKER_03]: one of the more polished hit tools and power.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, like all the analysts, the database guys in front offices, he was like the guy that everyone stand, the Red Sox love, the Rangers love them.
[SPEAKER_03]: So many teams really like fine.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, theme.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, I think you look at this class, you look at all these high school short stops that are available, and it's like,
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, like at this point, I'll let someone else draft Ethan holiday.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I have them just outside of my top 25 for short stops.
[SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I think there's a lot of power there.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's on base ability.
[SPEAKER_03]: Certainly that could play in cooler's long term.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I think you do have to question a little bit the quality of the hit tool.
[SPEAKER_03]: And there's guys that could swing a miss with power
[SPEAKER_03]: your hit tool dictates how much your power you get to, and how impactful you are ultimately.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's what my big concern is and my red flags are with, with Ethan Holiday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I found that every time I kind of look at whether it's my F.L.I.P.D.
[SPEAKER_00]: rankings or just my overall prospect rankings, I feel like I'm just, I'm, I keep sliding holiday further for their down.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the sale, I'm like out on holiday, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that hit tool concern is valid and it didn't really help that he didn't look that great.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to try to bury him for a super small simple stuff at the draft for anything, but didn't it didn't help that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's bad.
[SPEAKER_03]: Those post draft they've used man or sticky, but there's not a lot of guys that have, you know, if it's like five games, like throw it out the window is ten games, whatever.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's not a lot of guys that get, you know, a decent month that a level that, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: don't fully shake that like how many guys run strikeout rates in their debut and so it was 18 games so 84 plate appearances that like 40% that's a 40% strikeout rate and I can tell you can I have I have the data in front of me when you look under the hood it's even worse.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, he ran a 39.2% this is every, every at bath that he took as a professional, 39.2% in zone wiff rate.
[SPEAKER_03]: How does that tell me, Eric?
[SPEAKER_03]: How does that get to a 60?
[SPEAKER_03]: How does it get to a 55?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because for me to call it a 55, you'd have to have like a 17% in zone wiff rate a 42.8% a wiff rate overall.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, and he wasn't chasing like crazy and he had a lower swing rate, you know, the power is good though 105.5 90th percentile.
[SPEAKER_03]: So if you do have Ethan Holiday on your team, I have him on one open universe league, or I picked them up off the wave of wire like two years ago.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you have Ethan Holiday, you can at least take solace in the power.
[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe it's a Charlie condon thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe it's just a bad debut.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you figured everything out and has a pretty decent season, I'm still not in like the camp of I believe in Charlie Condon frankly, but I kind of don't believe in any of the Rockies at this point.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's a generationally bad organization.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I actually think those teams the last couple of years and maybe this year are worse than that white socks team that set the frigor record.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I learned my lesson with the Rockies guys like you know, with you know, I was a big Garrett Hampson guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously that did not work out whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I was a big vingue guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He still maybe has a chance of being something, but you know, he's kind of been more down than up and just so many more examples.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like like when I figured what draft class it was, I wanted to like 2021 when maybe 2022 and they got Benny Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, look at this, you know, Benjamin Montgomery going to Cours is just I get, you know, I got sucked in too many times with the Rockies and for just not to work out 99 times that I have 100 on my guy right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got all of my lesson and, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing you're happening over and over again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to listen to it and it's right there in front of my face.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I'm not saying I avoid all Rockies prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I do pitching prospects for most part, but yeah, I definitely don't go as Gaga when a fun guy goes to Colorado.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you'd want him to go to Colorado as opposed to, you know, a bad future ballpark, but yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: It almost offsets like their bad development history,
[SPEAKER_00]: excitement you could get about having chorus field as their future home ball parks.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah Ethan holidays got keep sliding down and even just talking to her now with you about Dax.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to move Dax.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be even higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's really exciting for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate to see Yankee though.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like him more than George Lumbar too, like I think Dax is a better, like more fantasy family.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think for fantasy for sure, like Lumbar, I think, you know, it's thanks because like if he had stayed a little longer in high A, I think that like the numbers, but it looked much better.
[SPEAKER_03]: He really got his teeth kicked in those first couple of months at AA.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a great defender though, like really heavy, shortstopping does all those things really well.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, I think that's, you know, part of the reason that he's ranked as highly as he is on like real-life list, but for fantasy, yeah, I would go kill me.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a pretty bad Yankee system, frankly.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's definitely kind of gone down less a couple years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I saw Lumbard, I think for two different series this past year, kind of like when you mentioned we just get this teeth kicked in, I saw him a little bit during that time frame and yeah, I great.
[SPEAKER_00]: He looked really good at sure stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, yeah, this guy's going to stick there, no doubt about it, but how is this really underwhelmed at the plate, but I'll start to keep in mind, he was very young.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was 20 just past season of our talk, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We saw, you know, it's still very young for a double-a-guy as you know, the eastern league, you know, not the most like hit or friendly environment in general.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's not like this like fun league where, you know, offense is a button everywhere, but yeah, definitely he'll be more fantasy-friendly profile here too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, one more guy in this range where we go into the last set of 10 Joe Swarb and Zollas, who thankfully kind of, you know, for the most part, drop the the Haseus part from his listing name.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my name column on my spreadsheet isn't isn't quite as wide.
[SPEAKER_00]: any more, but, you know, one of the top international guys from last year's signing period came out of the Dominican Republic, and a pretty good first season down there in the DSL, 228 plate appearances, more walks and strikeouts, it's pretty fun, 288 404 455 slash line,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I could run wild in the DSL, so could do Jeff, but you know, you know, because all is obviously as being one of the bigger, bigger interaction guys last year had a lot of hype just because of that, and now I think that hype has continued to grow.
[SPEAKER_00]: little bit here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So do you think Gonzales, you know, is a guy that, you know, if we're talking again this time next year, is a guy that has jumped into like that it leaps range of short stop prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that potential is there for him in 2026?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, 100%.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, he gets a lot of Francisco indoor comps.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the power will come, the underlying stuff is there.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's also, you know, I think you got to keep in mind with a guy like Joe Swar is he's super young.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, he only signed what, you know, a year ago.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, was 17 years old.
[SPEAKER_03]: So also a switch hitter.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he's got multiple swings to maintenance and, you know, sort of stay on top of and improve.
[SPEAKER_03]: The EVs are there when you think of 17 year old, like a 103.690 if you had a 110.2 max, a 9.7 average EV, 11% zone width, really chases.
[SPEAKER_03]: The angles aren't real great at this point, but it's also tough to know those, because they don't have them broken down by writing in lefty swings.
[SPEAKER_03]: My understanding is the left-handed swing has a little bit.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is natural side and has a little bit more lift to it in terms of the bat path and it's just able to backspend the ball a little bit better.
[SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I mean, I think that he's a guy that you could probably, if you're real high.
[SPEAKER_03]: on him, Brankham is high as 25, somewhere in that range.
[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe for a lot of people more, like the 30 to 50 tier.
[SPEAKER_03]: I do think he's a top 50 prospect, universally fantasy real life.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, you're only rankin' short stops with, you know, name the letter J in their names, whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's top 50 for almost no, but, you know, good defender, he's gonna stick at the position, really versatile, he's gonna run,
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think, you know, there's like five category upside here.
[SPEAKER_03]: know, I don't, it sucks it like Wander Franco is a creep in a criminal because he's such a good comp for guys like this and you can't use it.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that will be my comp, but it's strictly from a baseball perspective, because you know, yeah, as far as I know, just where it goes, I was just not a criminal.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to not the comp that I'm making
[SPEAKER_03]: Lots of contact, good EVs, anchors got to get a little better, no doubt, short stop.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's one of those guys.
[SPEAKER_03]: So this is one of the international players that I think you should buy on now, because a year from now, as you said, this could be a guy we're talking about top 10, top 5, fiascence, phenomenal season.
[SPEAKER_03]: As we saw with Hayesu Smade, he could be in the top 3 to 4, 5 conversation.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, maybe number one, you know, Connor Griffin and Kevin McGoniglaw are going to graduate.
[SPEAKER_03]: Someone's going to jump into that spot, Eric.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, yeah, I mean, a lot of a good chunk of the top 10 is going to graduate.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, whether whole it's going to graduate, maybe wall cuts up enough to graduate, you know, guys like Pesayo, you're going to graduate.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's going to be a lot of those guys near the top and that they're going to graduate, you know, some of the pictures as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, McLean is about to and
[SPEAKER_00]: You savage and all of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, like that top like 10 to 15 range, maybe has half of it or even up to two thirds of it graduate in 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, definitely some spots there for For guys like Gonzalo's to maybe jump into especially with the nice power speed when he has and, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously don't take, you know, these DSL numbers with, you know, that face value.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, he had full home runs 52 games, but there's definitely a lot more power there to be had as you mentioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and obviously pretty good approach for his age, pretty polished for an 18 year old, a young 18 year old, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just turned 18 back in mid-October.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we'll play the entire 2026 season as a 18 year old and come in state side.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think, you know, he keeps doing what he did last year and serves him putting the ball over the alpha offense a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that hype is going to be super, super high on a Joe Swarkins.
[SPEAKER_00]: All is so very exciting here, it was going to the next the last set of 10 here,
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, let me take a look here.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I had mentioned Pratt, our cat is 2021.
[SPEAKER_03]: Emil Morales, the 23 Jet Williams, the 24 Carson Williams at 25, Ethan Holiday at 26 George Lumbar Junior at 27, Argyndamala at 28, Tyson Lewis at 29, and Juan Sanchez at 30.
[SPEAKER_03]: Frank would Arias at 31, I am, I am not, I am a Frank when Arias Hayder at 30's at fine.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just don't buy any of that profile.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, you think a 40 runner, there's not a lot of pop.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a ton of ground balls.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's like batting average that you're buying into.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, is can he become Jacob Wilson like possibly?
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you even believe that Jacob Wilson can replicate what he did last year?
[SPEAKER_03]: Possibly.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's just not going to be on any of my teams, Eric.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, it's just not a profile that I'm really going like seeking out in in Dynastia league.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a post at getting a guy like that if the values right and that they're like second or third player involved in the deal, whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never going to be like, oh, no, I'm never going to have areas ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it's just not a profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really liked that much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad that you said that you know a big argue sky is I'm really not either I still have him like back in top 100.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I like that to be honest with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was kind of hoping.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's so could happen that if the Red Sox were to go up make another you know sizable trade for you know a front line got like a pretty proud there or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they use an RIS size on the right fits in this this infield picture for Boston long term.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I'm not the the biggest Franklin RIS guy either.
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely hit tool leading tool or profile should say with what do you think power wise like 12 to 15 maybe in that range?
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's more like at this point I think it's more like five to nine.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so you know even thinking double digits here.
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, I mean, unless the angles change, the EVs are fine, but they're not great, that he's really going to have to figure out as we talked about with Kev McGonagre before.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a guy that has to figure out a backspin the ball that was full side.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you can't do that, there's probably not 15 to 20 home runs projection.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I would think it's just more, he just catches one clean, you know, and it maybe happens 15 times a year and eight of them go over the fence.
[SPEAKER_03]: How many homers did Arias have last year?
[SPEAKER_00]: Once it was like seven or maybe not even that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Look right now, it might have surprised me.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it might have been more than I remembered.
[SPEAKER_03]: But no, it's eight, eight last year, 116 games.
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, he was playing a majority of those games in Greenville, which is a great place to hit home runs.
[SPEAKER_03]: You get to hit an Asheville, which I think down the line is like 289 to right field, you know, stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like so, you know, I'd have to look at where the home runs were specifically, but this isn't a guy that's going to hit a ball, like 425 feet very often.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just, you know, unless he just absolutely, like I said, catches it perfectly clean.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and this guy that just a little bit aggressive, you know, doesn't walk a whole lot, live swing rate was kind of closer to the 50% range, but what's the bad on the ball?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, high 80s contact rates.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, a lot of good there in terms of just.
[SPEAKER_00]: putting the bat on the ball, which is obviously a very important tool to have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen plenty as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: These guys that just can't make contact with have like a really sexy profile elsewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just not, you know, fizzle out and not ever make it as a major league or so.
[SPEAKER_00]: At least he's got the hit tool going for him, making a good contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, for fantasy, maybe he's a little more valuable in a point format, I guess.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, there's this not one where I'm looking at him and I'm like, yeah, I'm excited about him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just not so Well, we'll see.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's still young.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just turned 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll play the entire year and I probably double a little bit triple a 20 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: So get a factor that in a little bit, but yeah, just just not a super high upside guy here for fantasy purposes
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, my 21 through 30 here, I got DAX Killby, who I'm already probably going to pump up here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I go, I have our cat, Johnny level, oh, shoot me Tyson Lewis, then Johnny level, urgent namala, George Lumbard, Lyon Painya, Gavin Feene, K-Son Cunningham, and Steel Hall,
[SPEAKER_00]: is Franklin ROS, who gets right around the back end of the top 100, so, you know, a few more FYPD guys that we already kind of talked about some of these guys, but another one that's kind of a kind of a fun little fantasy-friendly type of profile potentially here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't really throw them on the out line here, but once it's just we talked a lot of FYPD guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Case on Cunningham, you know, Jeff, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: there's one that's got a pretty sought track record getting these kind of fun, toolsy prep guys over the last handful of years and you know they've been doing pretty well I think in developing these guys you know obviously like the slate called while types most recently but you know what do you think about case on cutting-hand long term it needs to be a fun fantasy player here too?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah you know I think it's probably speed and batting average probably
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's, I don't know about the power projection there.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's another guy where that's what's kind of questionable, but I mean it could be like a frankenarious with speed type of situation.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not crazy about him.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm higher on some of the other guys in the class.
[SPEAKER_03]: Probably won't be in a lot of my teams.
[SPEAKER_03]: I could see they're being fantasy upside where he,
[SPEAKER_03]: kind of contributes in a lot of different ways and it's just a really good baseball player.
[SPEAKER_03]: You'd have some positional versatility, but I have to see it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just don't know how much impact there is.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I like power, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm a horror for power.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, I think you're not the only one that is a whore for power.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good way to put it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that you put it that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: But especially at this short sub spot where now I'm like growing up where I was like, you know, you had some of the power guys, you know, like the kind of stood out, like obviously like eight rods and the no Mars and the Mickey to hot is all those guys, but I think it wasn't looked at as a, you know, power, like a big power spot, but now it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, all these, you know, premium athletes that are really getting into that power and you see a lot of these,
[SPEAKER_00]: 20, 25, 30 plus home run short steps nowadays.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess we're really exciting.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it's a factor that into the prospect side where, all right, what type of power does this guy got to get to?
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times that could be kind of the X-factor in between just being a decent fantasy player and more about a high impact to one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, basically it got to him really fun player.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he's kind of fits into that mold of, where does that power wind up long-term?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is he just a decent little fantasy option?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a top 100 fancy guy, which I think is the upside if the power comes along a little bit, but we shall see, and you see still pretty young as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But kind of a fun part of my ranking scenario, with the theme, cutting him, steel hall, all in that range, kind of all in like that back end, top 100 range for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And another guy that I didn't have on the outline here, but I wanna get your thoughts on here, kind of had a rough,
[SPEAKER_00]: last couple of years, especially here in 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Arjan Namala with the Toronto Blue Jazz.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got that, I had a decent amount of hype coming in to 2025, even 2024, but it hasn't really put it all together, kind of lower batting averages last couple of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like the prospect shine on an Arjan Namala has dulled a little bit, over the last couple of years, Jeff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, are you looking like by low on him at all in the diet?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I think you look at his two seasons and you got to look at, you know, the fact that he probably shouldn't have been assigned to dinner and he's super young.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, he was 17 at the time of the draft didn't turn 18.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it took December.
[SPEAKER_03]: after his draft year.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, he is super, super young.
[SPEAKER_03]: And probably wasn't ready for full season ball.
[SPEAKER_03]: They made some adjustments to his swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you remember the second half, he was literally one of the best hitters in, like, a ball in the second half.
[SPEAKER_03]: I believe that he had the most,
[SPEAKER_03]: extra base hits of any player 18 years or younger in pro ball in 2024.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then the beginning of this year, the first two months of the season, people were shoving them up to like 25 on fantasy lists.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was because he was the youngest player in the North West League and was one of the best hitters over the first two months he was phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then things started to fall apart.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it was a timing issue.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you look, his strikeout rate did not jump.
[SPEAKER_03]: His strikeout rate went down this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: And his contact number is went up this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: And the EVs went up.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he just tries to catch everything out front.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was just a lot of like pop ups and flyballs.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you watch, like I've dug in on Arginamal lock because I cover the blue jays and, you know, he's a top four prospect for the jays.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, there's some timing stuff with him that's kind of funny, and there's some postural stuff that they've changed with him a few times.
[SPEAKER_03]: He got him a little bit more upright.
[SPEAKER_03]: They moved him a little bit more into the play.
[SPEAKER_03]: One of the things that he was having trouble with in his first go in 2024 and to need him before they shut him down and then sort of reworked the swing and then sent the back out.
[SPEAKER_03]: was like, he was, he was not like behind in the ball, but it was almost like where he was catching it, like timing wise wasn't good.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's not a contact thing with him.
[SPEAKER_03]: The bads of ball skills are fine.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was just more of like the angles, but in a weird way that wouldn't show up in like launch angles.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_03]: It was more like, it was more like, it would show up in like contact point metrics
[SPEAKER_03]: just in terms of like swing depth, you know, like you talk about like Kyle Tucker takes things really back here.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's catching everything way too far out front that I think like when he's covering the outer half of the plate and his posture is right, like he's catching stuff middle and driving it to his pull side.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I still think it's really interesting.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's still really, really young.
[SPEAKER_03]: 20 years old for all next year.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's a plus defender at short stop with a plus arm you're going to see him a lot next year in New Hampshire and I'm interested to see if he takes some steps forward because he's had
[SPEAKER_03]: two great halves and then two bad halves more and this second half this year if you look, it's just like really low batting average on ball and play type of stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's not like his strikeout rate jumped to 31% and his whip rate, like bottomed out.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was like, no, he wasn't striking out.
[SPEAKER_03]: He just wasn't
[SPEAKER_03]: He wasn't whatever balls weren't dropping for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Super low Babop as you mentioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: 266 Babop, which is about 35 points lower than it was the previous season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then that definitely factors in.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like you mentioned, dropping that key rate was really.
[SPEAKER_00]: encouraging because you know 30.7% K rate in 2024 down to a 21.4% K rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's you know little over 9% drop, you know, keeping that walk rate right around 10% definitely has some pretty good power projections.
[SPEAKER_00]: think you could even add a little bit more bulk to that frame.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I was never the biggest demolog guy, but even at this point where I think given how much the perceived value and, you know, the associated price, I think dropped over the last 12 months or so, I think he is at decent buy at this point.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, the first 46 games of the season at the same level.
[SPEAKER_03]: He hit 291 382 527 with like 8 or 9 home runs, 17.5% strikeout
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, at that point, it was a 319, you know, baby, you then go from, like, June 3rd until the end of the season.
[SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, it's a sample of now 74 games.
[SPEAKER_03]: But,
[SPEAKER_03]: It was 231, you know, 23.9% strikeout rate over that period, 9.1% walk rate.
[SPEAKER_03]: So like the strikeout rate jumped a little bit, but it's the 23.9% for a 19-year-old in high A is not high.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's how you had it all, yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_03]: Not high.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was just like the luck just bottomed out with him.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think some of it, like I said, was timing and like the quality of the contact.
[SPEAKER_03]: But he was making the contact.
[SPEAKER_03]: He wasn't like he was behind on fast balls.
[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't like he was getting chewed up on spin.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's just, you know, some timing stuff that I think he needs to work through.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think that was always part of the package with the Mala that he was younger and a little bit more raw.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since you do, you know, have a lot of insight into Toronto on to pick your brain on one more player.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I already discussed in the previous episode, but when I get your thoughts on him, because I am pretty high in this guy, one Sanchez.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, played some thirds, some short this past year, in the DSL, you know, one of the kind of bigger body, projectible, short stops.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're probably doesn't have a lot of speed, but that back could be truly impressive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously still a long, long way to co in this development, but early returns are pretty impressive, so what do you think on one Sanchez?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, he probably moves over to third base, big power bat, you know, we have some video up on socials.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's a pretty impressive swing.
[SPEAKER_03]: tons of power, I don't think it's Junior Cameron Arrow anything like that, but I think could be, you know, a top 100 prospects this time next year and somebody that once he comes state side could, if you're really mass in the mass's in the complex and gets the need and could be a guy that makes a big jump this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, not super twitchy, he's not gonna run a ton, but could he hit for average with some power?
[SPEAKER_03]: And there aren't a lot of guys like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last little question here for Jeff for we get out of here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, obviously, not all these guys are playing short.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's only so many short sub-spots for these players to kind of fit into at the major league level that we do see a lot more, you know, dual and and triologicality guys than we used to, but
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've very talked about some of these guys that are probably going to move off, you know, like weatherhole, maybe to 2nd or 3rd, 8 in Millward to 3rd, you know, a few others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are there any other names kind of out of all these names that we talked about in this episode, Jeff, that you feel, you know, pretty confident that, you know, there's a 50 plus percent chance that they're going to move off to another spot, maybe a Lewis Payne year or any other names you think you're going to move off this position in the coming years.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think Paine moves off the position, I think there's a good chance Rainer maybe moves off the position.
[SPEAKER_03]: We didn't talk, you could call them or send them, but if he moved over to third base, that wouldn't shock me, same with Bonmer.
[SPEAKER_03]: Luis Paine for sure, you know, I don't think there's any chance he plays shortstop frankly.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Killby could move to third base.
[SPEAKER_03]: That would shock me, Jojo Parker, for me, is definitely moving off.
[SPEAKER_03]: Call peppers, definitely moving off.
[SPEAKER_03]: Gavin Feene is going to end up moving off.
[SPEAKER_03]: Our kit could, but he is a pretty good defender.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's short.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think Ethan Holiday, no doubt, is going to move off the position.
[SPEAKER_03]: Jet Williams, probably isn't a short stop-long term.
[SPEAKER_03]: Probably more second-basement and center-fielder.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think of the names that we talked about, you know, Sanchez, you know, those guys are going to move off.
[SPEAKER_03]: Areas probably sticks around because he is a very good defender, actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I wish we can get to some of these names, like we didn't even get to Colt Emerson or some other guys, Emiel Morales, a few more names that we didn't get to talk about really, because so many good short stops and we could talk for hours upon hours at this position, but we will wrap it up there, but the hour 15 mark here, Jeff, I always appreciate chatting with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always feel like I learned something every time I talk with you and you're one of the first people I kind of,
[SPEAKER_00]: met in this industry, you know, back in the day and especially in in person from the every time we cross paths somewhere at a ballpark in New England here, but always appreciate you man and, you know, before we get out of here, what do you guys got going on over at baseball America?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so all of our, our fantasy rankings are up now.
[SPEAKER_03]: We actually have some redraft rankings dropping tomorrow or Tuesday or maybe today when you're listening to this.
[SPEAKER_03]: So go and check those out.
[SPEAKER_03]: Those have done by Dylan White.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's retired from the NFBC main event circuit.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he won a few years ago and these are the actual redraw fran kings with like NFBC in mine.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm just saying there's probably not a lot of NFBC main event winners that have published rankings out there for you to consume doing did that and of course we get all the top 30s up we were in the middle of updating you know college top 25
[SPEAKER_03]: and all of our draft rankings for 2026.
[SPEAKER_03]: So really any avenue of baseball that you're interested in, we have something for it, we even have baseball card stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, we kind of cover the full gamut of, you know, all things baseball, baseball, America touches it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and short stuff prospect rankings are going to get, you know, obviously, I've a lot of good new players in the upcoming draft, but one really big name that could go one one overall rush to all oski from UCLA, that could be a really fun addition to these top of these rankings next year, but that will wrap up this episode, thanks again to Jeff Ponds of baseball america for joining me to break down all these exciting names.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be back with you all in a few days for short-stop dynasty rankings, but until then everyone take care.