[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to another baseball America fantasy podcasts as your host Jeff Ponds alongside me as always is still in white he's back for a couple of weeks down we are jumping through divisions Dylan you missed a at least Ian Cundell did a solid step in last week we're moving to the a.l.
[SPEAKER_01]: central this week so you got a lot of interesting teams interesting prospects to talk how's it going up there on the great white north man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not bad, not bad, just recovered from the hockey final, both hockey finals, but it's good, you know, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there you go, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the right way to look at it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're plenty of those.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, hey, I'm a middle aged man.
[SPEAKER_01]: I turned 44 last week and actually on the day, because my birthday, the day of the gold medal game,
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the first time they've won it in my life because I was born 82.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I miss the 1980 Olympics.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I played hockey as a young young man.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was in a bad hockey player pretty good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And went to a lot of different camps.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you, and all these different development camps, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mike Eruzioni, the captain of that 1980 team, they kept showing them during the game.
[SPEAKER_01]: That guy has made a living talking to youth hockey players.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not kidding.
[SPEAKER_01]: He talked to seven or eight different development camps I was at between like sixth grade and eighth grade.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like every time I went to a development camp, we'd be like, here's an NHL or Kevin Stevens, and then Mike Eruzioni, I felt like you were a person.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was like Uncle Mike by the time I went to high school.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I know, as a USA hockey guy, it was, you know, it was better sweet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love watching this Canadian team too, like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the craziest part of it is you're going to look back on the centers on this team.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be like that 87 like Canada Cup team where they had like Gretzky, Messier, like Doug Gilmore and like you know all these all these Hall of Fame centers and Bork and coffee and Larry Murphy, it's like the same thing you know and I could watch and I could watch Connor McDavid skate like all day long.
[SPEAKER_01]: that's one of my favorite players of all time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just love the skills as a forward myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: So hey, that's too much hockey talk though.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Americans at least are going to be okay with it this week for my Canadian and our ace fans.
[SPEAKER_01]: I salute you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I got nothing to love.
[SPEAKER_01]: for our Canadian readers.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's jump right into it with A.L.
[SPEAKER_01]: Center.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a lot of players to cover here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's kick it off with a Cleveland Guardians.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won the division last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just in case you don't remember to those out there and Dylan who wasn't here last week, give three different categories.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talk about a couple of players.
[SPEAKER_01]: First categories, a 2026 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second is highest upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: followed by underrated player.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to start with the Cleveland Guardians and we're going to start with a 2026 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to kick it over to you first.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's your pick, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who are you going with?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think there are a couple of options here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to go with the guy who missed a game, I think yesterday or today, for a lower body injury.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think if he can be on the field, he'll be a guy who has a good hit tool, pretty good power, like a nice kind of solid, you know, like 260 with 20 home runs type of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: probably good defense, so he'll play a lot as long as he's not injured.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went with Chase to Lauder, I kind of looked at ADP for the last bit and he's kind of going in the in the 20s, and you know, I haven't won a couple of teams.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's pretty good value there.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has some upside if you can say on the field, I like he said that if you haven't noticed.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I went with Chase to Lauder.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to love that picked on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really do.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's one of my fair players, you know, a guy that was there as I like to say when the gospel was was written on the lotter on the Cape Codlie to saw a ton of them and you know, it's not the talent.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the ability to stay on the field and one Roman Anthony once said to me that the
[SPEAKER_01]: Best tool is availability.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think Roman was talking about that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Staying on the field is incredibly important, especially if you want to be a 26 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: For that reason, I'm going to pick a different one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to go with Parker Massick.
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw a little bit of it at the end of the season.
[SPEAKER_01]: A pitchability lefty, unusual body, very funky mechanics, but very good release traits.
[SPEAKER_01]: And lots of pitchability, lots of command.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, do I think this guy is ever going to be a fantasy 1, 2, or even 3, no, but in deeper dynasty leagues, this is the kind of depth starter that really can make a difference because I do think he's going to provide pretty good ratios.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to rack up huge strikeouts, but it's not going to be, he's not going to kill you and that strikeout category.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to help you a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think there's some runway for him at the back of this rotation.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he's competing with a couple other guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think ultimately he's going to be victorious earn a rotation spot and make 20 plus starts for the guardians.
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be pretty darn good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, this is a guy dating back to college.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's never had the biggest stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's an undersized lefty, it's unusual body.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't necessarily look the part of a big league, a big leagueer or an athlete.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's probably, I don't know, he's listed, but he's probably five, 10, like, 220.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he just knows how to pitch, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's been true since he was at FSU and he's just always been a guy that it's really hard angles and I think what we're learning more and more whether it's hitting whether it's pitching is sometimes angles angles are the great equalizer you don't have to throw as hard you know look at a Joe Ryan and some other guys were you know any of the Rogers right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he has that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm into Messick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's a 2026 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: The upside is not as high as it is with the lotter.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I probably would have picked a lotter if I went first.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm with you there, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Any thoughts on on Messick at all?
[SPEAKER_00]: I do like Mystic.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has like a 106 plus or 106 pitching plus on Fang Graf.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I talked about the pitchability like he's above average on combining the stuff with the location.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have them in some D.C.s too.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually going ahead of Deloader from what I see on the ADP.
[SPEAKER_01]: Might make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: For a recap, like it might make sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's a solidly average pitcher who, you know, playing for the Guardians, they should get some wins.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like a four year A and like a 125 whip that type of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of pitches in the arsenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I do like, I do like a.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's good stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on to the next question here, and I'll kick it over to you first, once again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who do you think has the highest upside among the prospects in this system, Dylan?
[SPEAKER_01]: You got a couple different ones to choose from.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm gonna go with a guy who I kind of wasn't even on for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ralphie Velasquez.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's a talk, he's not gonna stick a catcher as he first plays at a DH.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was kind of like not really on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But last year, he kind of really popped on the stack cast.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a really good bail rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: His contact was better than average, and his 90th percentile exhalosity was very good too, as a 20 year old.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he had like a 128 hit plus number, which is one of the higher ones.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think just based on the underlying, I see a guy who is like better than average batting average, better than average, OBP, and like 120 WRC plus with like 25 to 30 home runs at peak.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that'll play it first base and for a guy who I was off, I'm kind of on.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you know, a guy who's gonna have a 120 WRC plus with 25 to 30 home runs is pretty good upside.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think just like once the weather got a little better, things started to kind of click for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has a sole calcati who's a Huntington Beach guy played for my guy, Benji Medour, out of Huntington Beach, one of the great public baseball schools in the country.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, a guy that was known for the hit tool, I think he's at a little bit better athlete than people even realizing it moves a little bit better.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they tried him in the corner out, field spot, but it wasn't great.
[SPEAKER_01]: He clicked, it seems like things just kind of clicked like June 1st on.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was another one of those guys where like almost like Colt them or something like, he figured something out and it was just a massive step forward that he took.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's always had that pedigree date and back to his years as a prep.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to go with a different guy here for my highest upside down.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is their first round pick this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a guy that coming into this draft cycle.
[SPEAKER_01]: But a year ago now, Dylan, he was considered the number one player in the draft.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's James Level left.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jason level that dealt with some injuries was a hand injury, dealt with a complete shake up at his school in terms of the entire coaching staff leaving and going to Texas after they made the college world series final, um, you know, I think there's some some of that stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a weird year to be at Texas A&M.
[SPEAKER_01]: He dealt with some injuries.
[SPEAKER_01]: He struggled early, starting to get his footing late, the shut them down.
[SPEAKER_01]: The ability is there.
[SPEAKER_01]: The guy that I saw on the Cape Cod League is a sophomore, looked like a future superstar.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's six, four, six, five, built like a house, athletic, you know, the athletic isn't backed up a little bit last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if maybe he comes into better shape, like a Josh Bias type comes into better shape.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see him moving a little bit better out there, you know, all the injuries, all the nicks, the bruises, etc, have healed and he's going to hit for power.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to get on base and their speed upside here.
[SPEAKER_01]: that when I look at their system, he's the guy that has the best chance of being a 30, 30 guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for fantasy, ultimately, that's what you're chasing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I ranked him higher than he was drafted in RFYPD rankings, and I think one of the reasons for that is because of what the upside is here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think there's a tremendous amount of downside.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of the same things that you like about like a Spencer Jones profile, one of those type of guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think with less hit to risk, it's not that catastrophic in terms of the
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a 40, you know, it's like it's like both slightly below average contact with good swing decisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can imagine doing it's like, you know, probably a guy is going to have a 20 to 21% in zone with freight, but isn't going to chase a whole lot lower swing rate guy is going to take his walks is going to hit his tanks is going to find his barrels.
[SPEAKER_01]: sunshine and rainbows and rubber duckies, J-slavo let, you know, it could be the highest upside guy in this system.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you've dug into that level and I know he hasn't debuted yet, but obviously saw some of the the college data and like all that sort of stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do like him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do like that, you know, I had to eat a downier.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's probably undervalued.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't even in the NFBC player pool because I think he could debut.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very possibly debuts at the end of the season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was considering taking him at, you know, in the 50th round or something like that, but I never pulled the trigger, but I think, you know, he could be a sneaky guy to take the last last round of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what's the move on to the next question here and finish off these guardians?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's the most, excuse me, underrated system for a player for you in the system, Dylan?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went with the guy who, it's kind of the, the pedigree's fallen off.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been makeup issues, there's been in question, he's been traded, he was a high traffic and then kind of fell off the map and that's Kaleel Watson.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that people are kind of off him completely, well, maybe not, but much, much lower than they were before.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, under the hood, it's not too bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: The 90th percent times 105 miles an hour, he really burls it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has good angles on this, like his hard hit launch angles are good, pulls it in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: The contact is a little bit below average.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also chases a bit, but, you know, he kind of put it all together last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: More than he has in the previous years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Robasco has him as a above average WRC plus like a 250 batting average 320 on base.
[SPEAKER_00]: So not great, but you know 20 to 25 home runs and like 10 to 15 stone bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a nice little player if he makes it to the majors.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's at peak.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still pretty young.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just think he's undervalued for what he could deliver.
[SPEAKER_00]: Khalil Watson.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I liked that one, and was added to the 40-man roster this year too, so, you know, there's a chance that a very good chance that he debuts and
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if he hits and maybe the contact gets to a point, which is when decisions get to a point where he's consistently getting to those barrels, he's improved a lot over the last couple of years, and I think kind of under the radar, because as you said, some of the off-the-field stuff, things like that, a lot of people had written them off.
[SPEAKER_01]: The name that I'm gonna throw out there is a picture actually doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: By the name of Yorman Gomez,
[SPEAKER_01]: Gomez was, I think, actually added to the 40 men roster as well alongside Khalil Watson this off season and Gomez was up to double a hasn't been up to triple a yet did have a really good season as thrown a lot of innings last two years.
[SPEAKER_01]: So last three years.
[SPEAKER_01]: 122.1 in 2023, 122 in 2024, 121.2 in 2025 and Dylan, you know what that tells me?
[SPEAKER_01]: That tells me that he's a starting pitcher.
[SPEAKER_01]: The numbers have gotten progressively better as well, 4.40 ERA in 2023, 3.98 in 2024.
[SPEAKER_01]: At his highest level, he's been a 296 ERA 12 and 2 record across those 121.2 innings more than a strike out in inning.
[SPEAKER_01]: The command is pretty well, pretty good as well was a 1.16 whip, so he's not hit particularly hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the stuff is really bad, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like he's one of the more underrated pitching prospects.
[SPEAKER_01]: At present and it's funny because he's close to the majors and he's a guy that maybe should be a little more relevant than he is an NFBC because he is on that 40 man roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're talking about the pitch mix forcing fastball sits 94.5 so 94.95 96 was up to 97 averages 17 to 18 inches of induced vertical break.
[SPEAKER_01]: 7 to 8 inches of arm side run.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a 4.5 degree VA so it's pretty flat.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're on 6.3 extension and Gomez is 511.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's it's above average extension when you factor in height.
[SPEAKER_01]: plus how far you get down the mound, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mix is a harder sweeper, like 84.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a ton of sweep, but it's got that ride sweep shape that works, gets it in zone a lot, gets the fastball in zone of decent amount, gets whiffs with the sweeper, gets chases with the sweeper.
[SPEAKER_01]: This sweeper last year, at a 43.4% whiff rate, with a 42.4% chase rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also mixes in kind of a cut gyroslider,
[SPEAKER_01]: a shorter kind of curve ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got to change up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's mixed in some cutters as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a deep arsenal of pitches.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a bunch of different break and ball shapes.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not super high spin on anything, but really has that pitchability element in terms of being able to ride, sink, cut, sweep, and run the baseball, which is something that's becoming more and more popular.
[SPEAKER_01]: More and more prevalent is pitchers that have deep
[SPEAKER_01]: in different counts and situationally.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really like Norman Gomez.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that he's a guy that should be rostered in most fantasy leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're 250 plus prospects are rostered.
[SPEAKER_01]: Simply because of the short to the major's element.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy could be somebody that gets a call up in April or May if they need a starting picture of some injuries happen to that rotation.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's pitched enough innings that this isn't a guy that you're like, hey, small, he's going to the bullpen.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, like he's handled 120 plus innings in multiple seasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a great indicator that he can build up to 160 to 171.80.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what you want from a starting pitcher.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's got weird traits, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know how much you've dug in on your arm and go, man, but that's my pitch.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just called up his robot scout here and like he said, debarsinal got a 108 normalized stuff plus, which is pretty good.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like, that's a higher than Carson Millbert to break Jacob Brutner's heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: who's a popular kind of sleeper this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a, who had, he, Carson Milbert has a 106, Yorman Gomez 108, and just to put it into perspective I've just looking at these AA guys, Tanner McDougal, who are very popular.
[SPEAKER_00]: Prospect this year, also being taken in some NFBCs and the White Sox, maybe I should have mentioned them because maybe he'll come up later in this podcast as a 111 normalized stuff plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like he's in good company there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, he's definitely underrated.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like that call.
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate that do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to let it breathe for a minute there just because you'd like that call.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move on to our next team here in the AL central the Detroit Tigers.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the 2026 we are this one's probably going to be a little bit easier.
[SPEAKER_01]: But do and hit me, who is your 2026 contributor with the Tigers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go with a guy named Kevin McGonagul.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, middle in fielder who will probably play in 2026 and do well, just because they hit it so good underrated power, even a little bit of speed, um, I mean, I don't have to explain to the listeners who Kevin McGonagal is, um, his ADP is said are like 19, 18, 19, probably.
[SPEAKER_00]: even higher now like being taken earlier and I think that's a good spot like I would take them if not for a guy named Connor Griffin or JJ weatherholder kind of going in the same area.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think he's going to be a guy that hits, you know, 250 plus like that's his floor and like average number homer and average number, so on basis I think so Kevin Magadogal pretty easy pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that is a really easy pick, and I don't even know if there's like another option.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like you could obviously go with Max Clark, if you think Clark gets up this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a good shot that he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they haven't broken up him in McGonagall to date.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't know if they'll do it?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think this could be the year where that could happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So with that said, I had to come up with a different 2020 race contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the name that I came up with was Tray Cruz.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is a guy that was really off the radar a year ago, and still probably is fantasy relevant outside of deeper leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, your 30 team leagues, your leagues where there are 400 prospects for roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've grabbed him in a couple of spots.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's probably going to be like an interesting
[SPEAKER_01]: utility guy that can play a few different positions, you know, especially at a team that's maybe desperate for some defense in the infield, he can play third base, he can play a short stop, he's played in the outfield, he's played centerfield, he's played a little right as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: It never really hit, he comes from a big baseball family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Finally last year things started to come into focus a little bit for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had a good year at AA then moved up to triple A half with you the season put up a 144 WRC plus a triple A over the course the year hit 279 411 456 the biggest thing which Ray Cruz has been the improvement in the
[SPEAKER_01]: Click this a plan and on base skills.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a little power to go with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And a little bit of speed as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's not a speed demon.
[SPEAKER_01]: But with enough at bats, I think double digit home runs, double digit steals this and out of the realm of possibility.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is 27.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a little bit older.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this could be the kind of guy that even fits that with a tiger, is it could be with another, like the white socks, a team like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: A below average team, it's not really competing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has it bats.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he gets moved for a reliever at the deadlift.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a guy that having around your dynasty roster regardless of size.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a certain point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, 250 prospects are under you're not going to roster trade crews, but he could be kind of sneaky and if we're to talk in 2026 contributors that aren't Kevin McGonagill or Max Clark, we got to go sneaky.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on to the next question here, then who is your highest upside player in the Tiger system doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to I'm going to leave the guy who I think you're going to want to take and I'm going to take host labor saying you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's a guy that we really like both of us really like to couple years ago that he had a bit of a down year, but it was kind of entry play and then he kind of bounced back last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rob was going to has him as like a 30 home or a potential that really good numbers under the hood as well, high EVs, a better than average contact doesn't chase all that much barrels that are easy on.
[SPEAKER_00]: may not be a catcher, but that'll play it first base, 30 help runs place, kind of no matter where you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: He takes his walk, so he's going to have a good OPP, and he's got good contact and good barrel control, so it's going to be a good batting average as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got host weight per seeing you well above average WRC plus with 30 home run potential.
[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't have to be so nice, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have been more than happy to hand you my guy, Bryce Rainer, and I think there's an argument that could be the highest upside guy in the system, because if the hit tool continues to improve, it's huge power, there's athleticism.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he's a short stop long term if he is, it's kind of a Corey Seagur, a bigger guy, but could be an excellent third baseman.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have,
[SPEAKER_01]: the hit tool of Kevin McGonagall.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I really, like, I struggled to say that he has a higher upside than McGonagall or Clark.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he might, I mean, he's a big guy with power, with skills, with some athleticism, could stick at shortstop.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think with all those things kind of hanging in the balance, he could be the highest guy upside guy in the system.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's saying a lot, because this is a very high upside, positional prospect, late in system.
[SPEAKER_01]: particularly at the top, we've already talked about a few of those guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yeah, I'll go with Bryce Rainer here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think I have to kill it or beat a dead horse.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know how good Rainer is and how highly he is ranked.
[SPEAKER_01]: Underrated player here, we already kind of threw out one in tree crews, but there are a few in this system.
[SPEAKER_01]: You had two in particular, you called out a hitter in a pitcher.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you talk about both of those guys?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, how you Lee, he always pops up on Robo Scout.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of like a tweeter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't really have a position.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't really have like, then he like plus skills, but he's just kind of solid all around.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's always kind of been a bit younger than the level.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he always projects out well, if he makes it to the majors.
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of better than average WRC plus solid power, solid steels, like you've got a contributing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not going to win you any leagues, but he's the type of guy that, you know, he as a as a depth player, he adds value.
[SPEAKER_00]: He always pops on Robo Scouts, so I have to mention him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the one I was really surprised at kind of grab my eye is Andrew Sears, the picture that you're talking about.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't really know much about him, but just he's popping on a bunch of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: His stuff plus is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: That normalized stuff plus I was talking about is a 11, which is better than your Mongo as and tied with tander McDougall.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a.
[SPEAKER_00]: forseamer, a slider, a change up, and he also throws a sinker forseamer sits 94.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty flat at minus 4.5.
[SPEAKER_00]: True to the tigers, like with cigarettes and long, and guys like that, he's got big extension, it's like 6.8 feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Sliders 83, kind of a tight gyroslider with kind of high above zero IVB, which kind of does well metrically for Sliders.
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes deep into games.
[SPEAKER_00]: He averaged like over four ratings, just below five innings per outing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's a starter.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I kind of have him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a control too.
[SPEAKER_00]: He only has like a
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't strike out that many, but I think he's just a solid picture that probably could make it in the majors is maybe the back of the rotation guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, considering he's not really on anyone's lists in a top 400 or some way that I think he's underrated.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he is.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a D3 guy out here, pitched at Rhode Island College, which like when I first learned that, I was like, that's crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then transfers, spent a year at UConn and it up, you know, in Pro Ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I've seen him pitch a few times in the backfield and it is good stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the pitchability is there.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's definitely interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I agree with you there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a good call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: My guy that I'm going to call out here,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a former high school teammate.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a nice, nice and old trivia question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Former high school teammate of Thomas White and Jonathan Santucci at Phillips and over in Massachusetts.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's Jack Penny.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people may know from his time with Notre Dame.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's another tiger's prospect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Left-hand hitting short stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do the underlying data with Penny is really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: The angles aren't great.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't pull the ball in the air very well, but he does catch barrels.
[SPEAKER_01]: and his swing decisions and contact your excellent doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: 15.7% in zone with rate this season with a 16.7 chase, a 39.7% swing rate, which means he's got a 23% chase minus swing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You look at that metric as well as I do, you know that's a really good number 23% and she's swinging in the zone a ton.
[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't miss in the zone.
[SPEAKER_01]: He would be does swing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the EVs are pretty good.
[SPEAKER_01]: 90.
[SPEAKER_01]: 0.7 mile per hour average EV a 104.5 90th percentile had a ball 110.2 this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And a 22.4 percent barrel rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess that the angles aren't great.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to see him lift the ball a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he's doing everything else really well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not a bad defender in the infield.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think Penny is kind of an underrated guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know how
[SPEAKER_01]: how things shake out with the tigers because this is a very talented system.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of middle infielders, but he could be a guy that ends up in the big leagues in the next couple years and could be kind of interesting, just based on the underlying data and all that stuff Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's take a quick break.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we come back Dylan, we're going to talk about our next team in the A.L.
[SPEAKER_01]: Central, the Kansas City Royals.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be right back.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are back.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the baseball-american fantasy podcasts as Jeff Ponce alongside me is Dylan White.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking A.L.
[SPEAKER_01]: Central prospects for 2026 and beyond kind of going through each team.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've already done the Guardians and the Tigers.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're moving on to the Kansas City Royals here, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is another one where there's only one answer on 2026 contributors.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will let you wax poetic on that gentleman.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be Carter Jensen, catcher.
[SPEAKER_00]: Always been a robot darling, a came in south stewarder, always the guys who pop and that's like hard to hard to push them and trade for them because he's not really getting the love, but you know, last year, both of them, south steward and Carter Jensen got the love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Carter Jensen debuted.
[SPEAKER_00]: He did quite well with the Royals.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was leading off a couple times.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that's going to split some time with Sal Perez behind the play, but also play DH.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oopsie pulling up Oopsie as him is a 240 batting average, which is pretty good for catcher and 18 home runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Five steals.
[SPEAKER_00]: Robo Scout has him at peak with like 22 home runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: What a way WRC+.
[SPEAKER_00]: got good contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: The 90th EV is 107.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't chase that much.
[SPEAKER_00]: He burles it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got everything going for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could stick behind catcher, I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that is going to contribute in 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's being taken pretty early.
[SPEAKER_00]: His 80p is like 14th round.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a two catcher league.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's why people want him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's probably going to meet that 80p with the valley.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I'm not even going to give you a second one because I don't think there is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's Jensen and, you know, I was searching for a second one and I really was kind of stretch in there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Highest up side down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who was your aunt?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a couple.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to go, uh, Kendry Churreal.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a guy that flew through the system DSL complex and even the low-A, I think 17 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus can always written about him a couple times.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just really good stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do we have here?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have him with a 104 fastball, one of six curve ball and a change up that's better than average for change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stu with a 108 normalized stuff plus just the fact he's so young and he throws 95.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's added 10 pounds of muscle.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what he's who's reported today and his guys who are impressing on the back fields article.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just impressive to go through the system so fast, kind of like the Yuri Perez track.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not comping them, but just the guy who's young and has the staff and has the competitive ability and ability to kind of command the pictures too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Kendra Curio, I think, has high upside.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we have him like ranked second in the top 30 for the Royal, so it's not like we don't believe in the upside there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, 100%.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Cheerio definitely a lot of upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: I struggle with pictures like this where they're so young and the stuff is good, like not great.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's really got to be command and you kind of hope that power continues because to add power and you know, maybe adds a few more varieties of breaking ball shapes, etc.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's not an arsenal that I look at and, you know, my jaw drops, like it is with some of the, like a college picture, like Dax Whitney, for example, my jaw literally drops when I look at that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's different baseball and some of those things, you know, but it is, it is still a really high upside player.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's a profile that worries me a little bit of a profile that worries me a little bit less though, doing is a guy like Josh Hammond, who's my pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guy was a two-way guy in high school, could have been drafted as a pitcher, things really started to trend in the right direction at the plate and then teams fell in love with them as a position prospect.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think there is a lot of room for growth within his first year as a professional, his first year as a full-time position prospect and shortstop third baseman.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a big arm.
[SPEAKER_01]: maybe he moves over to third based long term, but there's big power projection here, with some plate skills, and a little bit of athleticism as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: So kind of put all those ingredients here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was one of my favorite targets outside of the big names when it came through the perk short stops in this class, and there were a lot of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Hamon is a really, really good one to go after.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think somebody that an FYPD could potentially really pay dividends for his managers.
[SPEAKER_01]: So
[SPEAKER_01]: should be interesting to see how that shakes out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like him and a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully I don't come back here in a year and have egg on my face if he doesn't produce.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's go to most underrated player here and wrap up the Royals Dylan, who are you going with for the most underrated player in the system?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're only two guys and the Royals in the top 30 that have been taken in in NFBC, that's Carter Jensen and this guy, Lewinder Avila pitcher,
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, the stuff's fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it's a forseomer that's 95.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not that flat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, he's got a higher lease, uh, point.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's, uh, well, not high release, but not a low release point.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not that flat.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got good extension.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's not bad 95 is pretty solid.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a good curve ball, which is actually his primary pitch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, they got 45% whiffs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year in triple A, he also has a slatter, he also has a change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's got like a starter's arsenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember before spring trading started.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was the GM for the Royals was kind of hinting that of Elon might be, you know, next up if they needed someone in the rotation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that might be able to contribute and, you know, be back at rotation starter, maybe nothing down guy, but, you know, no one's really taking them.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was available in my F like PD and I don't think he was taken.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's not really on anyone's radar But I think he could attribute in he might give some sneaky value Yeah, I liked that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that you know when we're talking about underrated players We're kind of talking about guys like that that you know could get innings and could produce and there's some trades to like and You know sometimes it's especially with pitching I think so much of the battle was just getting to the big weeks
[SPEAKER_01]: And then getting the access to all the training and focus coaching and just kind of learning what it's like to face certain types of lineups day after day, it's just it's hard to replicate that, you know, you can hop in the rap soda and you can replicate.
[SPEAKER_01]: facing Gary Cole.
[SPEAKER_01]: And frankly, you may face the best version of Gary Cole that's humanly like not even humanly possible, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's literally machine repeating his best pitches over and over and over again.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't really replicate that when it comes to the big leagues and pitching.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're never going to see a lineup like that in AAA.
[SPEAKER_01]: You might see it in spring training or some backfield stuff work and things like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you're not going
[SPEAKER_01]: prime MLB lineups in June when they're in full swing.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're in gear.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're ready to hit their altitude.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're doing their thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really tough to replicate that outside of the big league.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I 100% agree with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The name that I'm going to put out there, though, is Carson Rock of Forte,
[SPEAKER_01]: outfielder pretty athletic a guy that they signs in the second round couple of years back still another year through his 40-man roster year, but he had a really good year last year between a high A and AA strikes out quite a bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: walks quite a bit, hits for some power.
[SPEAKER_01]: He runs as well, he had 18 home runs and 43 stolen bases.
[SPEAKER_01]: So like I said, it's kind of an all or nothing guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a risky profile, but when the cost is as low as it is with rock a four day to get him and dynasty leagues, you know, I honestly think it's a worthy gamble because this is a guy that with playing time could hit 15 home runs or more and steal 25 or more bases.
[SPEAKER_01]: run a high OBP, so particularly attractive in OBP leagues and we'll see in the batting average, but we've seen guys like this recently come up and have some success on a nowhere, like a Zach Cole with the Astro's last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Rock of 40 might have a little better of a hit tool swinging misses and quite as bad, but there is big power here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a lot to like.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so he's a guy that I'm going to call out as the most underrated in that system and kind of a fun player to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I look at it here and Rob was going to ask his peak at 101WRC plus 18 homer on 18 cylinder bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's that's pretty good contribution from someone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's it's not it's not a bad player.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move on to the white socks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we'll have some more interesting answers here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Twenty twenty six contributor Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's few that you can pick from.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who are you going to go with?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go with Hagen Smith.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of being taken in the 47th round ADP.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't hate it as a flyer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's never really kind of met the potential that he was being touted as coming out of the draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's still pretty good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Arsenal 95 or 93 to 95 coming from a low low spot, good extension.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's got a slider coming in from that kind of tough look and he also has a change up there's a lot of tail on the on the fore seam and the change up so I think if you could put it all together and he makes it into the into the majors which I think he will this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He may not start, but in 2020, he may contribute in the bullpen.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I just, I think he kind of turned it around last year compared to the year before.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm hoping he can carry it through.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the white trucks are kind of a sneaky team this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I kind of like where their farm system is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of like where the major league system is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is kind of a pick up on faith of Chicago Whitezock, which I don't think anyone's ever said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't think it's a bad one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Noah Schultz, another left-hander that was in the upper minors last year, has a really good chance to contribute as well this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna go with the different one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's one just kind of reading the T-Leave, some of the comments that have been made about freeing him a Montgomery in the off season by Chris Gets and others.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know, Chris Gets thought that Louis on Hell at Coony was a switch hit or both.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he always tries everything he says, but I do kind of trust him about the roster and I think is a good chance that Brandon Montgomery is up kind of early this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was much better than I think people even realize, especially down the stretch on the second half of the season, the powers there, the on base ability is there.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he's going to have a strike out.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do think that he could hit the middle of this lineup with another guy like Colson Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a double Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got some exciting players coming up.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some guys that set the table in front of them and chase my draw with some others.
[SPEAKER_01]: Could be a pretty dangerous power alley in the middle of a line up for the white socks and there's upside there that all those guys could get better as the season progresses and they, you know, get their sea legs on to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Brandon Montgomery's the guy that I'm going to call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he's a bad sneaky grab in your last couple of rounds in a redraft leak.
[SPEAKER_01]: I took Colton Colton Emerson in my, my tout that I drafted earlier this week in my last round pig.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just kind of like those guys where it's like, you can forget a hold on to for a couple of weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a chance that there is a fab, uh, uh, a get-in or whatever, where there's nine people who are spending seven hundred dollars or their thousand dollar fab in week five, four or five.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think Montgomery could be a guy like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a team that there's nobody holding them back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they want to see their returns.
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to see their returns for Garrett crochet.
[SPEAKER_01]: So wouldn't shock me if Montgomery is up pretty early.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't want to move out of the next topic here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's your highest upside?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some really good picks in this white sock system for this question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to leave the guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you're going to take.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to take no
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of good options.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just like the fact that you could take, you could take bonamer bro, because I am, I am a hundred percent cute up to talk about glee Carlson.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you want to take Caleb bonamer, then I'll just have to talk about boulder football, but you want to take bonamer, he's not yours.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I'll take bottom or he's the guy that yeah, I think you were getting cops to Gunner Henderson last year and just under the hood, better than average contact better than average 90%ile, better average barrels doesn't chase 119 hit plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just arrow up for this guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he'll be a contributor in the middle and field for the white sucks for a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kailabonmer Yeah, and he is he is the easiest pick there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Kailabonters one of my favorite prospects agree that what you said I'm gonna throw out Billy Carlson as the highest upside, you know, long-side bottomer I don't think that he is Connor Griff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't No, right that's the same body
[SPEAKER_01]: He is a phenomenal athletic tester, similar to Conagriff.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is untapped potential with his swing and the development of him in terms of timing and approach and all that sort of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like Conagriff, and though, that was another thing that we said about Conagriff, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy was an excellent two-way player, just like Conagriff, he said, he's a smaller athlete.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect him to be the number one prospect in baseball.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could go Mason Win, he could be a great defender that is an average, just slightly above average hitter.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can get to more contacts.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there is more power projection here than people realize, and there's probably some speed to steal some bases.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know if this comes to fruition.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a project in terms of him as a hitter.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not a project as a defender.
[SPEAKER_01]: As a defender, he's a 70 defender
[SPEAKER_01]: If the bat comes along and like I said, the engine is there that this guy could take a massive leap next year, this could be another top 100 guy in the system and could maybe push bottom or permanently over to third base or second base because this is their short stop of the future if everything clicks.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen it happen recently, so you know, I don't want to write it off.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a great athlete played high level high school baseball.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a matter of kind of working out some of the kinks in the swing.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they can do that, they can get his timing on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Billy Carlson could be a huge upside pick for for somebody this year in FYPD.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's going really late.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of people wrote him off.
[SPEAKER_01]: So good reason.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk most underrated player for you in this white Zock system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dylan, where you go with who do I pick?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go have your moga
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, he was a guy that Rob was scouted like not like two years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was like maybe number one in the system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, he hasn't really come through on the projection, but, you know, he's got pretty good stuff underneath the hood.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's got a 104, uh, 93% elective velocity with contact and ins and contacts slightly below average, but he's quite young.
[SPEAKER_00]: He steals bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: He chases about average.
[SPEAKER_00]: He barrels it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just he's, it's a power speed combination that I, he started to put together last year that the second half the last year from what I remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I forgot in about him, he didn't do too well two years ago, but last year, he started coming on the second half as what I recall so I just think he's a guy that, you know, people have forgotten about maybe they heard his name once or twice and I think he's going to crawl up the system because I think they've done your lines pretty good and he, he's still young.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, have a year mobile young is my underrated guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a good call up, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I think you look at the underlying data, as you said, he's always a guy that pops for me and I look at the slash line and I'm like, why is he producing more?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of it is those parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they don't play in a ton of offensively conducive leagues or parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's some time, until you get to AAA and the Charlotte's great place to hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that gets lost in the wash sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: teams that play in the Cow League and the Texas League and all these places where it's like all great Pacific Coast League, all these great parks and leagues to hit in.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's guys that are in the Southern League and the Cow in the Carolina League and and etc where Midwest League with a ball just does not travel nearly as much.
[SPEAKER_01]: So obviously, you know, white socks aren't Midwest League, but some of those other ones they are.
[SPEAKER_01]: The guy that I'm going to call out is my most underrated.
[SPEAKER_01]: As somebody that you maybe wanted to target is underrated player and that is Gerald Perez or Harold Perez, he was traded to the white socks from the Dodgers a couple years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's excellent angles.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Scott catches the bow a ton pulls the ball in the air consistently his hardest hit balls are always at really good angles.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a really high sweet spot rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: The EVs are you know, okay, he's still pretty young 20 years old.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's about average EVs, but he'll get to more power than his body might necessarily project because of how clean he backspins it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Average skills, average swing decisions, average contact, but the production and the expected production is pretty good because of how clean his backspin and angles are.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see a lot of guys like that get a ton of production.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, out of that ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a hero Perez is one that I will call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Dylan, let's take it home now with the Minnesota twins and our 2026 contributor for the Minnesota twins, who is who is that for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am probably going to go, I, with a recent see by a series, he had a couple of homeruns and spring trading.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's always been good on Robo's scale, but he hadn't down your last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a manual Rodriguez.
[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of like where he's being taken ADP wise to compare to, maybe the guy you're going to take.
[SPEAKER_00]: A manual Rodriguez.
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes so many walks of very good at NOPP leagues, which NFBC is not, but if you're redraft league is, it's a good got to take is 90th percent elects of losses are always very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was up a trip away last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's playing center field.
[SPEAKER_00]: He may not stick there long term by 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: He may play center field, power speed, maybe a low batting average, but he's hit two homerons from training already.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a guy who may make it up this year and have the 25 homeron pop in the bat on a per plate appearance basis with some stolen bases as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's a guy that has had injury problems in the past.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's, it's a more of a per plate appearance contribution in 2026 for a manual read Regus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Totally.
[SPEAKER_01]: Totally understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to walk your Jenkins as much as my 2026 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like Rodriguez a ton too, I think it's a really good call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jenkins just does the power projection hit because he's always been able to hit the underlying plate skill data.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the contact stuff, the inzone rate, the contact rates, all that sort of stuff, the swing
[SPEAKER_01]: Excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: All plus plus.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no questions there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Angles are bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: The EVs, the underlying power hasn't been there, especially for how big and strong and athletic Jenkins is.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think some of it has just been him not being healthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get a little bit more health last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I see him getting to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's just going to be like a switch gets flipped.
[SPEAKER_01]: And all of a sudden we're like, oh, he's going to 105.7, 98th percentile with everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Walker Jenkins is about to hit 25 home runs.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like it's going to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It could also be a fool's errand of me just continue to dream on this, and maybe it just never comes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, another guy I'll call out here, Dylan, just just, uh, uh, the sake of it being another 2026 contributor who's in the 40 man roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of pre-lib.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, really good feel for spin.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got power left handed arm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Biggest issue with him has been getting deep into starts and really maybe kind of fit more as a reliever early on.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be interesting to see how all of that tracks he had his healthiest season today in 2025.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was your highest upside guy in this twin system.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of some interesting options if we stay away from the 2026 contributors.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is the guy who, I think it's gonna be my breakout pick.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's Kendri Rojas, he was a guy who was on the J's.
[SPEAKER_00]: This carving up double lay, he had a 40% strikeout rate in a 3% walk rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: that 57% ground ball right like it was just ridiculous 22 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: They traded him the Jay's traded him for varland.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rohas was in AAA and he kind of lost the command.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a 14.7% walk rate, which is very bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: in 32 innings, the ground ball rate, kind of went away as well, didn't really strike out as many, but the stuff underneath was still good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a just calling it up right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sat 95.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a lefty.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sat 95.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good extension.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was 6.6.8 feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the fastball's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's flat coming from the left side.
[SPEAKER_00]: 95 is very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: that got 40% whiffs and he has a slider, a tight little slider that sits 87 and also about 40% whiffs.
[SPEAKER_00]: So all the tools and the ingredients are there and then he debuted this year in spring training and he's now sitting 97.
[SPEAKER_00]: in spring training.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's maybe another mile an hour that could be built up.
[SPEAKER_00]: The slider is now 88.
[SPEAKER_00]: The extension now is 7.2 7.3.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't know if this is a hot track-meter hot guy or what, but like he's taking a step forward in the stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as good as he was last year,
[SPEAKER_00]: Like RoboSco had some as a sub for ERA guy, even with a bad triple A, a 123 whip just because he's young, he's 22, he was 22 in triple A.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now if he's sitting 97 and his extension is seven and a half feet, that's that's pretty wild.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm picking him as kind of my high upside guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he could be
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like the maybe same conversation as Peyton Toli ish in that like this is a guy with a big fastball from the left side huge extension and he I mean he's got a three pitch arsenal kiddie rojas does so I kind of like What he's showing this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I I want to see another start just to make sure it was just a fluke or a hot gun or something But Kendri rojas is my thing
[SPEAKER_01]: he's shown that in spring last two years like last two I think it's hurt so as long as he doesn't get hurt and he holds the v-low man I'm all in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the biggest thing is another guy has just been a health question.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll make this one quick my highest upside guy is quaint young
[SPEAKER_01]: First rounder for them this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think nephew of what Dimitri and Delman young, just some baseball bloodlines, but he's a big, and not physical like those youngs were a more tall, like strong physical.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a James Wood type projection in the infield.
[SPEAKER_01]: If all this clicks, that's the kind of player you're looking at.
[SPEAKER_01]: Got that gets on base, got his for some power, runs, and it's just kind of this freakish, you know, athlete that hits,
[SPEAKER_01]: light tower power, you know, gasp, home runs.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're into that, you're probably going to be into Quentin Young.
[SPEAKER_01]: So really interesting name and FYP this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: But a high risk, high reward type guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see all that goes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's bring it home here with the last question, most underrated player in the twin system, Dylan, who is that for you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go Henry Mendez, either guy who's always been young for the level has shown incredible contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year he had an 85% contact and 91% in zone contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was 21 made it to double I had 500 plate appearances in AA.
[SPEAKER_00]: His 90th percentile X of loss is good too.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was 105 last year, which is quite good for 21 year old Lottaloma 21 year old in AA.
[SPEAKER_00]: The knock on him has always been the ground ball rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's always been a lot of ground balls.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was traded to the twins from the fillies.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully that, you know, change a senior reel.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd lock something, I don't know, but like, because he's so young, he's got such a great contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has such good exit philosophies.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he's not the greatest angles, but like, maybe he could figure it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just a robot darling, and so I have to go with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully he can put it all together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, the big question even with him behind, but beyond the ground ball rate is like the ability to play a position is kind of a question mark with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, that's been something that's lingered as well and kind of like, all right, how do you fit this guy into a 40-minute roster and all those sort of things?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, but the stuff is, I mean, under the hood stuff is really, really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna call it a weird one.
[SPEAKER_01]: This wasn't the easiest question, frankly, in terms of this system and who you're looking at and who you want to call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to go with Gabriel Gonzalez.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had a really good year last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a different type of hitter that I typically like because the angles aren't pretty great.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's contact over approach, she swings a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he hits the ball pretty hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he knows how to hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: He finds the barrel enough, kind of despite some of these traits, there's some really good under the hood stuff too.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's enough power there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was the bad body.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's kind of showing that he can play a solid enough coin around field spot where I do think this guy could potentially go up to the big leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: See some regular time.
[SPEAKER_01]: maybe be like a sneaky fantasy contributor because they'll hit for batting average and it'll hit just some home runs and get you some counting stats and it's really good in five by five type leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if he gets the opportunity in the run, I do think it translates because he's kind of hit at every level he's been at.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, I definitely like him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a, he's also a young AAA.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's being taken in NFBC, he's being taken on average, like 59th round, which sounds silly, but like he's being taken at the bag and because he's young, he's in AAA, he's got good contact, and like he said, is the, the viola exibules aren't that bad either.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that can contribute.
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there you have it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the A.L.
[SPEAKER_01]: Central Dillon.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whole full hour of A.L.
[SPEAKER_01]: Central Nuggets for everybody that's out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Want to thank everybody for tuning in, want to thank everybody for supporting baseball and Americans, why we get the opportunity to do what we do because it's described.
[SPEAKER_01]: Subscribeers like you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every day we are trying to listen to your suggestions, give you more and more content with the roots of the prospect side, the college side, the draft side,
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course with me in doing on the fantasy side.
[SPEAKER_01]: So once again, we want to thank all you guys for contributing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Going check out we've got a ton of videos on YouTube, ton of podcasts coming out this year this time of year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like 78 podcasts a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we got,
[SPEAKER_01]: plenty of stuff and then you go over to baseball america and there's lists there's in-depth articles there's break downs there's data break downs there's robo scout there's all the stuff you could possibly want we even got hobby break downs now from that paycheck and Seth internally who do a great job of kind of breaking down the card mark in the collectibles market all that sort of stuff so once again Dylan for Jeff thank you for tuning in this has been the base ball america fanciful podcast