[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to another space ball, Mary, if Pheneas, you podcast, this is your host, Jeff Ponds, live and direct from Florida alongside me is Ian Kundel, step in and for Dylan today, this is just more of a scheduling thing because I've been bouncing around Florida at WBC for
[SPEAKER_01]: Three days, Sunday through Tuesday, you know, hit some back fields on Wednesday on the other side of the state before Myers stay in up in Sarasota hit the twins versus Philly spring break out yesterday Ian was also in attendance and we got to see the best of Emmanuel Rodriguez yesterday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was his the I think we got the full of manual or on regus experience, uh, he had the two hardest hit balls of out of the swing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't get hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, uh, he didn't get hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a premium pack.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the deluxe.
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't get the triple crown.
[SPEAKER_00]: We only got two of the three.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, he had the two hardest hit balls of any player in the spring gray hair game.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a single at 115.6 and then a double.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's usually me a triple at 113.2 miles an hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he also struck out twice looking.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, everything we've talked about where there's a, he's a little passive at the plate.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of swing and missy at several whiffs and they're also.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when he does connect, he can really impact the baseball end.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, I think something that kind of and this I think good lead into some of the one of the underrated aspects of his game we're going to talk about underrated prospects a little bit later, but is his speed he's actually sneaky fast and I think you saw it on that triple like When he gets going he can really run.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that his speed is just kind of they've kind of hidden it for the injury reason so far, but it'll be interesting to see if he starts, you know, if he makes the big leagues if he starts running a little more because there's definitely some aggressiveness and some amazing running instincts there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I think that from like a fantasy perspective, from like an excitement perspective, just in terms of like watching a game and somebody on a baseball field that can just really flip a game on its head with a couple of plays.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rod Regas is right up there, like hot.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are organizations throughout the game over the last couple of years that have viewed him as potentially a top 5 to 10 upside type of prospect in the game.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you see that, right, because even the looking, even the looking strikeouts, right, like to justify the approach a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: five to six pitches.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they're not three pitchers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Super deep in accounts like he beats up on the they're posing pitching staff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you give him a cookie, you make a mistake.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to jump on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he is fairly for a guy who is as passive as he is, he's fairly aggressive on pitches in the zone, which would lead to some of the whiffs too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he didn't want to take the daddy hacks, but
[SPEAKER_01]: We just get here.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's angles and it's it's plus speed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when he turned on the jets there, it was easy to see.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there were after watching the Dominican and Venezuela.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then there's a little like a little kudya like kind of excitement there are the bases.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the helmet flies off.
[SPEAKER_01]: He comes in with a crazy athletic slide.
[SPEAKER_01]: He can play center field.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the upside is still there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a matter of him staying on the field.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think if you're in an OBP league or a points league, I think you can really tolerate some of the whips.
[SPEAKER_01]: A batting average league is standard five by five.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's always going to take a little bit of a hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he's going to be a weird guy that hits like 220, but has like a 380 OBP because his on-base abilities are so, you know, so extreme.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's, you know, with that three that really treat true, like three true outcome profile, you know, it's kind of gives in it and it kind of takes a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're not here to talk about a manual Rodriguez, but I think it was both fresh under minds and I wanted to wrote about it this morning, so I wanted to mention it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to go into the NL Central here.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you haven't been following a log over the last four weeks, we did all the AL divisions be the NL East next week, we'll finish it off with the NL West.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of good organizations here, interesting prospects across the board, I think particularly at the top, let's start with the division winners last year in the Milwaukee Brewers, interesting because they're willing to shape things up a little bit in a choir prospects, despite being a perennial contending team, are they going to win world series?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if things will shake out in that way, but they're always in the mix for the division.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's very rarely the years where the breweries are bad bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're putting a little bit by some teams in this division, like the Pirates and the Cardinals over the last couple of years, who have been pretty bad, or in the Cardinals case kind of trending to bad, and I think we'll
[SPEAKER_01]: as they kind of, you know, go full force and they were rebuilt for the first time and like 60 years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Brewer's though, we do three different categories if you haven't been following along at 2026 contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Highest upside underrated player, because on the dealer, I'm gonna kick it over to Ian, and I'm gonna let you pick the first 2026 contributor who you're going with for the brewers.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a tough one, because they have a lot of options, like if you just look in their top 10,
[SPEAKER_00]: four guys you probably could realistically pick for this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm going to go one of those guys that they acquired this off season and that's Jet Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jet Williams, obviously came over in the Freddie Pearl to trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been great this spring training, 375 average, 500 OBP, 625 slug.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a pair of doubles, a triple, four walks, three strikeouts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Proach metrics look really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's
[SPEAKER_00]: hitting the ball hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: The one concern obviously continues to be, you know, how much impact is there going to be?
[SPEAKER_00]: But the reason I'm picking him is the brewers made that interesting trade a couple weeks ago that we talked about actually on this podcast when they traded Caleb Durbin of the Red Sox and that opened up an infield spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And right now they have joy or tease holding it down and joy or tease is a very good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't add a lot of the plate offensively.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I look at this Burst team, I think that what they're missing right now is just an impact player who could play third or shortstop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jet Williams has the potential to be that player.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's, you know, he's going to be probably to be able to open this season in AAA, but I would not be surprised at all if he's someone that we see up in the big league's pipe, you know, maybe end of May, early June, something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that he could be a really interesting contributor there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not on the power category, but I think he's going to add some speed.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to get on base, give you runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he might be able to contribute to pretty much any other category.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that's a really good take.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think on top of it, he's versatile defensively.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think people have kind of been like, I don't know if he can play shortstop.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he can play shortstop well enough that in this infield where they're prone to kind of move guys around, especially if you know, say Ortiz is slumping or something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could fill in a short stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could play third base.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could play second base.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could play in the outfield.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could see time and center field, left field, right field even.
[SPEAKER_01]: They could kind of plan them all over the diamonds.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if he kind of turns into, it's not like for like, but like we'll say a Tommy Edmund that's maybe a little bit lighter on the stolen bases and a little bit maybe a little bit more pop in the back, especially in that park where the ball can fly and the fences are short and all that sort of good stuff that kind of get you a couple of wall scraper creepers, I think the numbers can be really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you can be a really productive fantasy player.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, he's just, it's just not a traditional look of like this guy's a short stop, but I think when you come from like a prospect conversation, that's where a lot of the knocks are.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in reality, it's, it's, I think in everyday big, bigger, and a guy that can contribute in a bunch of different categories, and it's going to be really good in OPP League as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And these days, I don't know if I find myself playing in points or OPP leagues, much more frequently than stared at five by five.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to have to think.
[SPEAKER_01]: and be constrained by the concept of batting average.
[SPEAKER_01]: The guy that I wanted to throw out there was another player that they had acquired from the mess, and that's Brandon's wrote.
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw him up in New York a little bit last year at the end of the season.
[SPEAKER_01]: The stuff is obviously there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very deep arsenal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's something that the Mets did a really good job on is giving him a few variations of that fast ball because the force team shape is good, but it's hard and is useful.
[SPEAKER_01]: What it's used with, you know, a cutter and a tartar, a harder slider, you know, a few different breaking ball shakes and some off speeds.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then a good sinker and I think the introduction of the sinker really allowed him
[SPEAKER_01]: to be a little bit less split heavy in terms of his fastball usage, kind of give different varied looks and moving the ball all over the zone with a lot of power and just like enough strikes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think in work, he's also a guy that gets a lot of tops been on contact, which is going to lead to a weaker contact round balls, should be a pretty good defensive in field as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's the brewers, you know, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: The brewers to me are almost like the best finishing school of any of the pitching development organizations that they take the ball of clay that's already been molded a little bit and they sort of make the little tweaks and pieces whatever to make it more stable and then you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes right into the mantle of that rotation and we saw we couldn't prester.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen it with numerous guys that have come through from them from their own organization.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, they've acquired that they developed a little bit, like a pretty parole.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have so many of the top 25 to 30 pictures.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a couple of seasons that it's kind of remarkable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, with the injury to prester and probably going to be out for the first half of the season, if not most of the first half of the season, there's opportunity here for, for sprotes to see some starts at some point in the first half.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think he could be a really good contributor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move on to the highest upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is an easy one, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's his mod A, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's he's a mod A. I don't know if you have another name you wanted to throw out there if you're an eighth and you wanted to say a mod A.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I mean, I think he's looked great this spring when he's got in a game, he's, you know, the fact that it's kind of crazy what he's been doing at such a young age.
[SPEAKER_00]: The polish is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I almost wonder if you, you know, looking at the Jackson Chariot approach is would it be crazy to think you could be in the big leagues at some point later this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I think it's unlikely and I think next year's model.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he goes crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean like, because that's what that's always what you can't predict.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, let's say mod A goes to AA, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first three months of the season, he does something stupid like, yeah, he's got 18 homerons and 30 steals and he's hitting 330 right with like a 400 plus OVP and they call him up the AAA and the first two weeks in AAA, all he's doing is hitting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, there's no point.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't care if the defense is if he's coming up, he's, you know, he's going to be in the big leagues and he never went back down.
[SPEAKER_01]: And body is that kind of a town where we're talking about the elite players, the guys in the top 10 to 15 prospects.
[SPEAKER_01]: If those guys perform in the first half of the season and really push the team, they get up the big leagues and they never go down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got that kind of upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would put it below a 50% probability.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I mean, like, it's probably more like a 25% that happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he could still be really good and finish the season in Triple A. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, but that's just crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: That works really hard to fully manage and all sorts of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy though that we're even suggesting there's a 25% chance for a kid who's, you know, 18 right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's got a ton of run this spring, you know, spring training numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, great to solve, but he's hitting three, 10 with a 355 OPP.
[SPEAKER_00]: The EVs look good, max of 110.7.
[SPEAKER_00]: His 90th is 106.8, this spring, which if you're a big leagueer, you're happy about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wait, he's 18.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I mean, I think the sky's the limit here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, you know, Connor Griffin, Kevin McGonagall, top two projects in baseball, like, modays not that far behind than I think at third.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this could be the season where he really just establishes himself that maybe does, even, is not a tier below them, maybe he belongs to a tier up closer to them than we realized.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that's true.
[SPEAKER_01]: Other name that you had listed for highest ups about to go into is Bishop Letzon, good extension, good stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another one of these brewers pitching prospects where you can kind of look at a little bit in the dream that like, this could turn into something.
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see what's the way to stay spring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the stuff's up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just got to stay healthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: If he stays healthy, I think that he can easily be a top 100 prospect by Joe and July.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about underrated players here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll kick it over to you for first pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have my guy that I'll go into a long time fan of my guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: My choice was a Josh Adams and
[SPEAKER_00]: Adam Chewski, Adam Chewski, we're going to, I just think there's really interesting metrics here, like, takes good at bats really good approach.
[SPEAKER_00]: I showed that off this spring to carry over what he did last year in the minors, EVs are solid and I think that, one of the reasons he's a little down prospect list is defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't really care about defense and fantasy as long as you can get on the field and I think there's enough offense of upside to get on the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's someone that you might be able to get it kind of like a lower price than the talent more with his offensive ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Name I'm going to throw out there is Brock Wilken.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Brock from his time on the cake.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say like in a personal level, probably one of my favorite people in baseball and players has had just a ruff string of injuries.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, got hit in the face and had some eyesight stuff that he had to work back from, literally had to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote a story about it last year above.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sort of his off season and some of the things he had to do just sort of like train his eyes to get back to where they were like actually did like rehab first vision Which was kind of interesting and then this year having an awesome first half I think some of the vision stuff like in terms of his contact
[SPEAKER_01]: Swing and miss that stuff had improved and talking to him at that point in time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He kind of had mentioned that that he was seeing the ball better than he'd ever seen it before in his life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they went out first half championship and he's you know with the luxe's celebrating with the team and ends up getting injured and just like an unfortunate sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the performance really stood out last year in terms of he was getting to the power consistently and a place that's really hard to hit for power.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Southern League saps home runs, you know, there's a Marine layer there, it's heavier air, there's just, you know, there's more drag on the ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: You just look historically, it's one of the toughest places to hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was performing there like I said strikeout rate was at a very tolerable rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's a guy that can bust out this year and
[SPEAKER_01]: maybe even get up to the big leagues will be sort of interesting to see what direction this all goes.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the power is still there and even like the defense seemed to be a little bit better less years moving a little better.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll be interesting to see how he comes back from injury.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, but kind of just some some really freak things that are in common, you know, getting hit in the face in a way that causes some sort of vision stuff and then getting hurt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, celebrating which we've seen happen, but always really unfortunate when that
[SPEAKER_01]: come to fruition.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on to the Chicago Cubs.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is an organization that I cover.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll bat first on the 2026 contributor here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to go with Moise's Bob Esteros.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually got to see him for a few major league games last year in Pittsburgh.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I was swinging through in the fall, he didn't absolutely monster home run off of
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was maybe like 113 and nearly left PNC Park, like it was a bomb.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't get to that all the time, but I think that's lurking here.
[SPEAKER_01]: The bat speed, his high-end bat speed when he really explodes is there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just he's such a contact hitter or professional hitter that he doesn't unleash that all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the bat can still work.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just so young and it's just how does he fit into this cup's picture.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, is he there every day, DH?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I do think that he will contribute at some point because he's going to be injuries, something's going to get shuffle the rounds and, you know, he could get every day at bats.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just a little wary of like what it's going to be like over the first month, maybe two months of the season.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you have a moysous ball of stairs taking.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I, I, I apologize to my, my computer was, we're on one Airbnb internet here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a little tricky at times.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, I, I, I like baliceros a lot of by stairs a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there's a really good combination of hitting ability and on base and then he's got a little bit of pop and it looks like he's at a great spring and after being delayed a little bit through some I think there's some visa issues but he looks like he's going to probably be at least a platoon dh to start the year and it'll be interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the one hold up I have with him in fantasy is he's going to qualify a catcher and
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a pretty big value swing there if he qualifies it catcher versus if he ends up being like you till only or maybe first base Because if he can qualify a catcher even get you know 20 games there that that really raises his ceiling.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think in fantasy terms I mean if he's if he's a hundred percent and I think there's a good chance that he makes the team out of camp if he makes the team out of camp
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's crazy that he could see maybe like one start back there a week so we'll take take it a month or two.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I could see I don't think they're all the way gone on him catching and I think they like having that flexibility and versatility.
[SPEAKER_01]: They'll pick whoever it is in the rotation that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's probably not going to be like Edward Cabrera.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, somebody hard to catch, probably not.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like I don't, he certainly has thrown to Kate Horton before.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, maybe they make him like Horton's personal catcher and he catches for six innings and then moves to DH and they, you know, they put in Carson Kelly or Amaya.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always sort of gotten the feedback that no we're not like, you know, we're not just going to kill catching with this guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's still young.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's 22.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes catchers a while to learn the position professionally, even when they're good defensive catchers in college.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a shaylang lears was a phenomenal defensive catcher at Taylor.
[SPEAKER_01]: and then gets into pro ball and was just kind of okay and there were things that he had to work on and he's a solid everyday defense of catcher now and big leagues, but he's not a league.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's a position that you have to learn the pro game.
[SPEAKER_01]: And handling pro pitching staffs because you're just seeing a level of stuff and performance and asks to do and task with a lot more now Calling games and that sort of thing is is you know seems to be going away and is good at end up in the dugout But which me and and maybe with the challenge system and the auto zone and stuff maybe that opens up an opportunity
[SPEAKER_01]: unity for a guy like Balistero who does have a good arm.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll be interesting to see where that goes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you want to bring up Jackson Wiggins as a potential performer as well?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just think that I look at this cup's rotation.
[SPEAKER_00]: James and Tyon has really struggled this spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's old Matthew Boyd is also, you know, old then has had some injury issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wiggins is in his role five years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's no reason not to if they need to go to a starter.
[SPEAKER_00]: at him if they're going for upside and you know I don't it's I don't think it'll be out of the gate because they have been brown also on the 40 men roster who's on the 40 men roster right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if it gets into the summer and they're looking for a ceiling raiser in that rotation especially if they have some injuries I just don't see a ton of pitching depth I think Wakens could easily pitch his way into consideration for a call up at some point this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk a little bit about highest upside.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's your first pick there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I'm going to have to go with Ethan Conrad, who I know was an FYPD favorite of years, but uh, you know, I, this is, this is a tricky one because he's been hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we don't really know what it's going to look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe he's played yet to spring either.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're still kind of waiting, Seemode, but no, they said he's delayed that I'm late.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Playing games until like maybe a little bit later, I have to double check on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I thought it was maybe like late April or early June.
[SPEAKER_01]: like he may end up playing in complex and then going to a full season level, which I'm surprised by unless there was something that happened in the offseason and I'll have to get more information on that because he was swinging a bat and hitting in the fall.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think the offensive upside there is substantial, but it's a wait and see right now just because as you said, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not playing right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not probably not going to play for a little bit longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think when he gets on the field, he's someone that, you know, size is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a first round pick for a reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was really breaking out at Wake Forest, obviously before he was injury.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that, yeah, this is the type of guy when you're looking for an outfield prospect.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I'm going for shielding.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the type of profile I'm targeting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with that pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe Jefferson, Rojas is another option, but I don't know if the upside is like crazy with Rojas, then he just be like a very good kind of all around player or could just end up like a bench guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know?
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see, underrated player, let's move on to that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got two favorites here, mine in King Capley, who I really think could break out this year, especially if like,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny that the high-end EVs are not crazy, like he's not a guy who's going to blow up your 90th percentile.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty good not bad, but he's one of these guys that like he hits a ton of balls between like 85 and like a hundred, you know, so there's a lot of consistent hard contact, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: mile per hour line drive isn't technically a hard hit ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a harder hit ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not soft.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the high end of media, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He just kind of like peppers line drives all over the field.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's added a little bit more power.
[SPEAKER_01]: This offseason it seems like some of the reports I've seen is that he's been driving the ball a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a ton of speed here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a winning, heavy ball player that does a lot of things really well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's a guy that could steal like three plus bags.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I could see this being like a turbo Caleb Durbin type of profile on center field, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where it's like the contact guy that's like pesky, but we'll sneak a little pull side home run and resell off and you know, hit some doubles, steal some bags, you know, and
[SPEAKER_01]: defense in center field.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm a fan of King Capley.
[SPEAKER_01]: I almost feel like he can maybe even be considered within the highest upside guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I like that pick a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also think it's Chicago in the summer when the winch blowing out like he's got plenty of power to play into that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So could definitely raise his offensive up our ceiling there.
[SPEAKER_00]: My choice is Cole Mathis who is a
[SPEAKER_00]: Cubs drafted him in the second round of 2024, who's a two-way player in college and he had to have Tommy John surgery after signing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that kept him out and then he got hurt again after coming back in 2025 with a right elbow sprain.
[SPEAKER_00]: So a couple of arm injuries.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's barely played since he was drafted.
[SPEAKER_00]: You went to the AFL last year, played pretty well there, hit 28439, 400, slug and 66 plate appearances.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just think that the combination of hit tool and power potentials there, the EVs were good, upon his return, which is encouraging to see after a couple of arm injuries, his plus raw power, it's got good contact skills, and he has a good approach.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that this is someone who, when you go back to when he was in college,
[SPEAKER_00]: was seen as a potential high end offensive prospect, and we just haven't had a chance to see it now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's someone that could have a breakout season and who I really like the offensive potential here for 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love Mick Cole, guy that played, you know, at Contuit, had a phenomenal summer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I might have set the single season home run record for Contuit a couple of years ago when the ball was flying out in the Cape God League.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's an underrated athlete.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's actually someone who tested really, really well as a plus athlete.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I don't know if that ever translates to defense.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've kind of wondered if maybe he could end up a corner outfield guy and be like a pretty good right field.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're almost like Adam Duvallish kind of a profile that that's really what I that's the comp that I would put on on cool matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: because he's got that power like Devol had, kind of an interesting approach.
[SPEAKER_01]: Injury concerns like Devol had, and is a better outfield than people realized, because he was a third basement and he had a yacht of, but was a two-way guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always kind of been intrigued by the idea of maybe he could, maybe he's a 45 runner, but like his routes, if he gets routes good enough, the arm is good enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe that could all work out, and he's a above average runner once he's underway.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on to the show here, all right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pittsburgh Pirates, 2026 can share with your highest upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's be frank, it's kind of riffing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have, we don't have to go into a big tirade here about how good kind of riffing is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think everybody out there knows, this is maybe the highest upside prospect that I've covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: going back to like a coonian to tease like it's like that, you know, it's, I think he's special.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see if it comes to fruition or for eating a whole bunch of crowing here, but I think he's going to be a big deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So who's another 20, 20, 16 contribute with a pirate?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they have an interesting youth movement that's been going out for a few years here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, definitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they got obviously Griffin's coming, but they, I think they have a lot of pictures that are interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: You easily, I think, could have picked Hunter Barco for this, or I don't think he has a rookie eligibility still, but Braxton Ashcroft is another one.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm going to go with Baba Chandler.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Baba Chandler, I feel like we've been waiting for this for several years now, and it keeps kind of stopping and starting for various reasons, but there's a clear lane to a rotation spot on opening day this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's at his ups and downs in the spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's still some definitely some concerns about the control.
[SPEAKER_00]: But his stuff when he's on is electric.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can miss bats.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got multiple pitches and that you lease plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just think that it's kind of a maker break time where he's going to be in the rotation now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see what he's got.
[SPEAKER_00]: If things break right, you know, this is a guy who could easily establish himself as kind of what the pirates have been looking for at that number two starter pine Paul schemes, you know, it might take a few years to get there, but the raw talent is there and it's just a matter of, you know, how much how long is it going to take and is he going to be able to say healthy because that has has has had some injury concerns in the past.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that's probably a good one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Highest upside, outside of Conagriff and for me, I want to say, I might even be Seth Hernandez.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like his stuff, I really looked insane the other day when Josh saw him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If he's still in strikes, and he's just competing in the zone and working both sides of the plate, like it looked like in that video, being swear to him, and good luck, good luck with that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you want to mention another hitter here because I do think there's somebody else kind of lurking in this system?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, oh yeah, I'm surprised you can take it because I know this is your guy Edward O'Forentino and, or Edward O'Forentino, excuse me, unfortunately he's not playing right now, which I think is part of why he's a little out of sight out of mind because he's not on their spring break out race roster right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the offensive upside here is just tantalizing like this is a guy who the EVs he put up last year at his age were just remarkable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that, you know, once he gets back on the field this year, it could be, I mean, he's already, you know, one of the top prospects in baseball, but he this ceiling is even higher there and it's just a matter of basically just getting back on the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's it's kind of crazy that the pirates have as much I mean it's not crazy given they've struggled but the young talent they have coming through it's just I think it's kind of the Inverse of what we're talking about with you other systems in this where it's like hard to find someone with ceiling there's so many guys which is usually you could put above a channel and this you obviously corner grip it is the easiest choice, but there's two more right here like There's even some other guys further down the list that you could you could argue with for taught for high ceiling, but
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, quarantine is someone that I just really like the offense of potential for and it's just a matter of, you know, getting on the field out this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I think that's true.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to kick it back to you for underrated prospect.
[SPEAKER_01]: You had an interesting pitching name that you had listed here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Talking a little bit about that and we'll move on take a little break and then we'll move on to our final two systems.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just think it's Randall Navaro.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's someone who I believe Josh saw him recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is another guy where it's extreme risk.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if things break right, there's a lot to like here.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a left-handed pitcher.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is still super young.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he was born in 2006, signed in 2004.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a huge fastball.
[SPEAKER_00]: it's a big breaking ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no control.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he can start throwing strikes, I mean, last year was 40 walks and 32 innings.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he threw strikes when Josh saw him this spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that carries over to the regular season, like this is the kind of arsenal that can really can really shoot up the rankings very quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're going to really pop in those stuff models.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, if he can cut down, as I said, 40 over a walk and ending last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can't really get worse than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you can just cut that walk
[SPEAKER_00]: Down maybe this year you have down below 20% the year after you get down below 15% incremental progress like the skies limit here with this type are you know it's not a lot of guys can combine the fastball and breaking ball capacity that he has.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I think you're totally right about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a really interesting one to watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Frank, if the pirates have done some really good things in the pitching side of the last year's, they deserve credit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think people want to poop through the whole Paul schemes thing because he was highly rated.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the same guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like when we started, you started digging some of the numbers, like, be low at the arm slot, and I don't know if it was all of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: The slot chip and he was with West Johnson before that means with a legitimate MLB pitching coach.
[SPEAKER_01]: Spouseball should drive it at a different point.
[SPEAKER_01]: They added a splinter which has become a huge part of his arsenal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just saw him again the other day against the Dominican
[SPEAKER_01]: like you're a public with phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Mike, they deserve some credit there.
[SPEAKER_01]: They deserve some credit for turning a two-way guy like Bubba Chan, which is always a really risky kind of pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: That can go a lot of different ways turning him into what he's become and several others.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, credit to them, and I'm interested to see where this can go with Ronald Levaro.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's take a quick break here.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we come back, we're gonna talk Cincinnati Reds.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna talk a little St. Louis Cardinals.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the Fancy Broadcutt podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be right back.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, and we are back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fantasy podcast, Jeff Ponzi, and Kindle based ball America.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking the NL Central.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've already gone through the Brewers, Cubs, the Pirates.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're moving on to the Reds.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the 20, 26 contributors probably pretty easy here.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a couple that picked from.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's your pickin'?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think the obvious one is South Stewart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stuart, you can just really hit and I know there's some question about where's ultimate defense of home is, but again, as long as you can get on the field and fantasy baseball, you don't care about that so I think he's he's got the offensive upside where I don't think it really matters.
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy who potential plus to better hit tool above average power.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it might not look pretty, but when he gets out there physically, but when he gets out there, he just do just hits and I think we're going to see that this year and I think he's going to be a key contributor in the red line up for the season.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think you're right.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other name that I would call out is Rhett Loutter.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's now in the mix for some starts, potentially, I think maybe Chase Petty might be in the mix for some starts, especially with Hunter Green going down.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do have some pitching depth, but that's a big one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Loutter, you know, for some of his flaws, maybe a little bit of lack of stuff, like he's not,
[SPEAKER_01]: My favorite arm, you know, just pitching prospects or in general, it's not the style of player I go for.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think you can be a good contributor, you go deep in the start, especially the good quality start.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I think you can probably provide.
[SPEAKER_01]: some decent value.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that'll be interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's with on a highest upside?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a really fun conversation with this particular organization because they have some guys you can really dream on.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of them for me is Steel Hall.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the best athletes in the class is a ton of upside here, one of the cops that I got from evaluators out there that her fans was straight turn that like, if this goes right, this could be straight turn or kind of an upside, I think that gets you out of the bed in the morning if you're a fantasy owner.
[SPEAKER_01]: So definitely a name that people knew in FYPE was a top 10 pick, this is no shock.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's other guys too.
[SPEAKER_01]: So who are you going to go with here for you know highest upside with the reds organization here?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think for me Tyson Lewis is that guy and he's someone um if you go in the Prospo Tamboc he was uh voted uh best powerheader in the organization and when you look at his EVs it's easy to see why he had the highest 90th percent dollars of lossing the system max EV of 119 as a 19 year old.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know just talking to some scouts this off season.
[SPEAKER_00]: He, his name came up a few times as someone who can jump into the top 100 pretty quickly in this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in 2026, and the big thing with him is just going to be the contact skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: like last year, Chase Ray was very, was high in zone with Ray was high.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just crossed the border was high, but he's young.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was 19 years old, if he can take step forward in those areas, I think that the impact the potential is, is the norm is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the type of guy that, you know, if you're really swinging for the fences or you're in a rebuild, I would be very interested in targeting, because I think that you can get him as, you know, maybe not even the lead piece in a deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if he breaks out like he has the potential to, it's going to be a key contributor for the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's just, it's just two really exciting players.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys that you want to roster all over the place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jump into underrated player Ian, who was your pick for underrated player in the system?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's actually someone who he homeworked in the spring break out game yesterday, and that's Hector Rodriguez, and I think he also could have been a pick for the closest to the big leagues or big league contributor this year, because he's going to start the season in AAA, but he's under size left handed hitter outfield there, he's listed a 5-10-200, but it's really good approach metrics, and I think that he can just hit, and you know defense, we're maybe
[SPEAKER_00]: Good breads have some room in the outfield like this isn't you know this is I think one of the areas that there could be an opening a lane for him to get up there this year and he's just if he continues to hit like he has the past couple years you know you could be a guy above average hit tool
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think he's a great call out here and somebody that you're right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think particularly in five by five standard leagues, he's going to be a fun one because he's going to hit for average because it's like a hyper-resistant approach, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the contact rate is insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just the chase is elevated, but if he makes contact, you know, early.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he cares.
[SPEAKER_00]: He catches balance.
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so there's some given some take with this player, but like he's gotten a power and like enough twitch that it all can kind of still work.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think he's an interesting call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a good one.
[SPEAKER_01]: God that I wanted to just throw out here was a really good
[SPEAKER_01]: pretty big, you know, just in terms of like, well, excuse me, of 25 drafts, I'm wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a name that I really like this year in FYPD.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's speed, there's upside, and, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see more of it this year, we haven't seen it yet as a professional, but a name to sort of know.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think a guy that we're talking a year from now could be maybe in the conversation for highest upside because of some of the tools and stuff he has.
[SPEAKER_01]: The reds have done a really good job of targeting big tools recently and kind of did that.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, once we move on to the cardinals here,
[SPEAKER_01]: JJ weather halt.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like Connor Griffin.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we know he's going to be the easiest 20, 20, 26 contributed to back on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, quick math uses kind of in the conversation as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: But JJ can hit JJ can play a bunch of different spots.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's more power there.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's showing more power.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a part to hit for powering, but I think he'll get his numbers.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll get
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in a better park, in a better lineup, I think the numbers could be bigger.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he maybe could get into, there's maybe MVP upside here, but it like it needs to sort of just grow and continue to expand with the power.
[SPEAKER_01]: He does so many things while in a baseball field.
[SPEAKER_01]: Queen Matthews to me, I think is like a back-end starter.
[SPEAKER_01]: The stuff seems to be back a little bit this spring.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, hopefully he can kind of get back on track after kind of miss and most of last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Highest upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a couple of good names here, Ian.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who didn't you want to mention?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to leave you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I guess since you have the Cardinals system, I guess all you can talk about both of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think Raynell Rodriguez, just the offensive upside here is a man's, you know, this is a guy at 18 years old, 104.8 90th percentile eggs of velocity 1113.4 max.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good, it doesn't chase that much, good contact rates.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know like during the top 100 process, he was someone a lot of scouts, we're saying that is a good, good one to push a little higher because the offensive upside is that high.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I just think that if you're going just strictly on offensive upside in this system, you could probably make a case that he might have more than JJ weatherhole.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's not gonna steal bases, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: The hit power combination here is just unique for a teenager and yeah, I just think that hit, that he, the ceiling here, especially since I think he and you probably have a better hand on this than I do, I think he's got a decent catch to stay a decent chance to stay a catcher to, if you can say a catcher like there's not going to be a lot of guys who can match his hit power combination.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I agree there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh buys another one to call out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, guys, home running work today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, the power is there, the speeds there.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's hitting more.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think like, whatever he did in the off season at the end of 2024, really just kind of trampoline to go and forward and the tools, everything hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything we thought that he could be in terms of the upside, he's kind of growing into.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did use out in the woods for a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another good example of sometimes, you know, you don't want to fully quit on the guy with the loud tools and upside.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, by as is there, underrated guy, I'm gonna throw out another player from Massachusetts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's Danielle Ortiz, how do I find for them in the later rounds a couple of years ago?
[SPEAKER_01]: The bats of ball skills are very fringy, but he's got good approach, can play a few different positions, at all that well, but maybe confidently.
[SPEAKER_01]: runs a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's really good power in angles.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when I'm buying into here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's kind of an underrated guy and a really talented cardinals farm system.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Ian.
[SPEAKER_01]: Justin and Nick a time of 45 minutes in exactly what we said all to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've gone through the entire NL Central talked about a whole bunch of prospects here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope that all those that are out there enjoy.
[SPEAKER_01]: For Jeff, for Ian, this has been the base