[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Toolshed, a podcast covering all levels of professional baseball to help give you the edge in your dynasty leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: From the MLB draft, all the way to the show, the Toolshed podcast has you covered with rankings, player analysis, and in-depth discussion.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, here's your host, Eric Cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's up, everyone?
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome into another episode of the Toolshed podcast brought to you by Rotoballar.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is episode 448.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Eric Cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry for the delay between last episode and this episode had a little technical difficulties with my old laptop.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to get a new one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I caused a little bit of delay.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then my voice has been total garbage for the last week or so.
[SPEAKER_00]: due to me yelling too much at a minor league hockey game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So at this sums up me as a person, but I didn't want to sound like crap.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody wants to hear my voice when it sounds like it did a few days ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: It still sounds a little raspy, but I'm getting there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So apologize for the delay, but I have a fun episode today, and we'll have another episode on Friday.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be breaking down my April top prospect rankings in this episode discussing some notable movers and intriguing names in general, just dropped the top 500 on Monday and as you listen to this on Wednesday, have my top 500 dynasty rankings out as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we'll have top 100 OPP dynasty on Thursday and redraft on Friday.
[SPEAKER_00]: So big rankings week over on my Patreon toolshetfantasy.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you check out all of those.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before I get into the prospect of rankings, the usual housekeeping.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you like the show, please rate and review on much of a platform you listen on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Twitter at Eric Cross MLB and the show is that toolshed pod.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The app is loaded with news alerts, injury updates, DFS embedding, and it plenty of articles each and every day to help you succeed this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I write multiple articles a week over on Rotabollar and there's so much great content.
[SPEAKER_00]: can be that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You can download it today by going to erotobar.com slash app.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, erotobar.com slash app APP to get that great app.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get right into the prospect rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is the last rankings that will feature my current top three of Connor Griffin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kevin McGonagall and JJ Weatherhold, they all are going to graduate within the next week or two.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think McGonagall will graduate this upcoming week, Griffin, the next week, so we'll have a little bit of a different looking top few spots.
[SPEAKER_00]: in May, you know, the current leaders in the clubhouse.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's as a group of four in my opinion at this point and these guys are all four through seven right now in my rankings that being Hazel's mod day of Milwaukee, Leo the Rees of the Athletics, Max Clark of Detroit and Edward Florentino of Pittsburgh, so another Pittsburgh prospect, they have two inside my top seven, so good for Pittsburgh there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rounding out the top 10 and we get chased a lot or who graduate soon, trade a savage, who will graduate probably in a month or so, maybe he's still on next up.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will see Walker Jenkins at number 10, 11 through 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got Araniel Rodriguez, Joe Swayday Paula, Kayla Bonner, took a nice big jump up to 13.
[SPEAKER_00]: eight in Miller, Cole Emerson at 15, Mike Sarota, Thomas White, Edward Cantaro, Joshua Bias, and Ryan Walchman at 20, rest of the top 25, we got Zayir Hope, Keating Anderson, Sebastian Walcott, Seth Hernandez, and Jojo Parker.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's talk about some of these guys here.
[SPEAKER_00]: First one I wanted to dive into is Caleb Bonner, is he took a, again, pretty sizable jump from 53 to 13 in this particular update, off to a phenomenal start to the season in high A, 270, 396, 662, slash line.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got eight doubles, seven home runs, a 169 W.
[SPEAKER_00]: to RC plus and an 11% walkerate, now this coming after a really good year last year between low A and then a little cup of coffee and high A, he had 12 home runs 29 steals last year, 281 with a 401 OPP.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only the ones steal this year, after 29 last year, I never thought he was like a 30 steal guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a solid runner and it's probably around average.
[SPEAKER_00]: But probably more of like a 10 to 15 steel guy, but it's really nice to see that power really take off this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think bottomer can be a 25 to 30 home run bat that can give you double just deals.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the one thing with him from last year to this year, the carates ticked up from 21 to nearly 30% and the contact rate has dropped.
[SPEAKER_00]: a good chunk actually it's gone from 78% down to around 66% swing the strike rate gone up from eight and a half percent to just over 15%.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that happy medium needs to be found.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've always talked about the happy medium with hitting prospects, especially ones that's either for a lot of power, but struggle with contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they start making more contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the power drops off or vice versa.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finding that blend where you don't have to sacrifice one for the other, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You can increase the power without sacrificing a ton of contact, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And as of now, bottomer has not done that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do believe he can find the happy medium though.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm confident in him doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Given what we saw for him in the last year, again, a 78% contact rate last year, only an eight and a half percent swing strike rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now high walk rate, kept the key rate in check.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's shown that he can.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that'll be the real key for him taking that next stab.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's already jumped into my top 20, but to stay in the top 20, and then maybe even jump into the top 10,
[SPEAKER_00]: finding that medium get that contact rate backup over 70% and maybe running a little more to not help.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, to show that he's still looking to, you know, steal a bag here and there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, I think the upside's 25 plus home runs 10 plus deals.
[SPEAKER_00]: Gotta, I think, ahead at least 260 or so with a good OBP.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's gotten on base everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: A 400 OPP in low A last year, 409 in high A last year, 396 in high A this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, a little bit of a bump in OPP formats, but I like bottomer a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he's a cup of coffee in AA this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then maybe maybe a late, 2027, second half debut, if the whites, that's why I want to keep pushing him a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so a nice jump up the rankings for bottomer this month.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next guy wanted to talk about here is Eduardo Cantaro.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still in my top 20, but he did fall from nine to 18 in this update.
[SPEAKER_00]: Been a pretty rough start to the season for Cantaro and NIA 158 256 250 slash line.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only a 39 WRC plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: does have two runs and three steals, but yeah, not the greatest start of the season for him, but when you pop the hood, I mean, it's not all bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the striker rate has ticked up 29.1%.
[SPEAKER_00]: After being at 22 and a half percent last year, but he's still making contact, rare on the same clip where he's pretty much always been in that 78, 79% range.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still right there.
[SPEAKER_00]: swing the strike rate still right in line with his career numbers around seven and a half a percent he's always been in that range so it's like he's you know swinging in missing more he's not you know chasing more he's not making less contact it's all still there you know it's a little bit of bad at ball you know on luckiness uh that's a little bit of doing not not entirely but he doesn't have a 204
[SPEAKER_00]: I would look to buy low right now on Contaro.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very fantasy-friendly profile, good contact, gets on base, a lot, so he's a nice boost in OPP format.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good runner, 30 plus steel upside, at 47 steals last year, fairly efficient base steel or as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's got like 50 amid the upper teens home run pop as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a guy that can give you a bit of everything and I still think the perceived value is a bit lower, you know, for a conterell then, you know, I think he probably deserves like I think he deserves to be a top 25 fantasy prospect, but I don't think.
[SPEAKER_00]: the perceived values there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think perceived values a little lower than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So even before the slump, I thought he was a good buy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still think he's a good buy because there's some skeptics out there now with Kintero, kind of wondering, you know, he legit was last year legit, so I'm so forth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like Kintero as a good buy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not super worried.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he had to drop him a little bit in my rankings because, you know, the top, it's so tough, you know, a little bit of a slump you can
[SPEAKER_00]: five ten spots.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how it is with other guys moving up as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So had to do it, but still think he is a good buy in Dynasty leagues.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at some a couple of pictures now that have moved up a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you're looking at like Seth Hernandez is now my number three on number four technically pitching prospect.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he'll be number three when you savage graduates.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the next month or so, you know, already having a 19 year old pitching prospect at number 24 overall is pretty unheralded for my prospect rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, obviously, pictures gets a little higher in real life prospect rankings as they should, but they get things a little bit, not drastically, but a little bit in my prospect rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, if I'm going to put a picture top 10, it's either a strong top 10 or I really love that picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this in general, not many pitchers make my top 25.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say on average, it's probably three or four, that's at four right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is number four, and he's at 24 overall.
[SPEAKER_00]: but he is just so damn good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it is pretty unfair to have his blend of stuff and, you know, a command control at such a young age, again, he's not even gonna turn 20 for a little bit now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, on top of having a mid to upper 90s fastball, he has a phenomenal change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: he has two good breaking balls and he can command him all he missed bats them all it's just it's truly ace caliber like stud ace caliber potential here with Seth Hernandez that Pittsburgh rotation has the potential to be absolutely filthy in a couple of years it's already getting there
[SPEAKER_00]: and if they keep all these guys and play it right, they're going to have one of the best rotations in all baseball on her end as it could be right there near the top of that rotation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe even one B2 schemes is one A.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the upside.
[SPEAKER_00]: I might say things that would be schemes, but the upside is one of the best pictures in baseball.
[SPEAKER_00]: plain and simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hernandez is absolutely nasty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, being 24th for a 19 year old pitching prospect from my rankings personally is pretty rare, which should show how high I am on Southern Andez.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, right behind him, Peyton Toli, just made his 2026 debut and is pitching again tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not watching the game.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure how he's doing tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure you already know, but time you listen to this as he's a, you know, he's pitching right now and the game will be in books.
[SPEAKER_00]: Time you listen to this, but it had a phenomenal debut, you know, on what day was that last.
[SPEAKER_00]: Saturday, Friday, I asked to remember what day, I was on vacation for my day job last week, saw all the days kind of blended together, but you know 11 strike out, six innings, one run, which was a, you know, a little bit of a whole run to chism if I recall correctly.
[SPEAKER_00]: totally look phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's a much more diverse picture now than he was last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was very forcey and heavy last year, but this year he's working in, I added a sinker, he's thought in fewer force emers, he's working in the cutter, the curve, change up like he's really becoming a more well-rounded picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Toby's going to be stout.
[SPEAKER_00]: I truly do him and early.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like early.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still think he's going to be a good arm, but I love Peyton.
[SPEAKER_00]: Totally.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's got that demeanor.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got the stuff, you know, good community control as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, if you fast forward, even just maybe 12 months or now, middle or early the mid part of next season, hopefully there's a season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Toby is the number two pitcher on this
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he has a chance to be a top 20, top 25 fantasy arm.
[SPEAKER_00]: The upside is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love them more well running at Arsenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the key for him taking that next step.
[SPEAKER_00]: He went from in just a thrower to more of a picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said this offseason and in Spain training, like that was his goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: All offseason and in Spain training, working on becoming more of a picture more of a well-rounded, diverse arsenal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's absolutely done that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's still early, but what we've seen remember in Triple A and now in the majors, really exciting as he's my SP5, from my number five pitching prospect.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's at number 28 overall.
[SPEAKER_00]: So behind Hernandez, who's my fourth best pitcher prospect, Katie Anderson, and the three spot, Thomas White, in the two, and a tray established.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the ones, but in the number six, it's Ryan Sloan, who's absolutely
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, some people like him more than Hernandez, I've always gone to Hernandez aside, but Sloan made this high already as well is another testament to how good he really is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Sloan is my number was at six pitching prospect.
[SPEAKER_00]: Early is number seven, Robbie Snelling, after a great start, should be debuting anytime now.
[SPEAKER_00]: his number eight, Miller Schultz's number nine, another guy that just recently debuted and looked pretty good so far for the white socks and to round up my top 10 picture prospects is Travis Sakura, I mean missing the entire year, but still phenomenal upside and maybe a little bit risky having him that high, sure, but I love the upside, I think he's one of the highest upside arms
[SPEAKER_00]: in all of baseball, so still one to have him, you know, as a top 10 pitching prospect right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next name, I wanted to get into now going out to San Francisco with a little Johnny level, you know, phenomenal start to the season for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's in low A right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: End of the low-way last year didn't really fare too well held his own E9 WRC+.
[SPEAKER_00]: But 18 years old, you're not going to fault them for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's still pretty young for the level right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: 17 games this year at low-ay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Four bombs, 60els, 364, 417, 649, slash line of 163 WRC+.
[SPEAKER_00]: 17.9% straight got right 7.1% walk right so the walk rate has ticked down it was 11.5% last year but the key rate's gone down as well and he's making more contact and three and missing less.
[SPEAKER_00]: 83% contact rate, so he can strike rate right around a percent, so becoming a better pure hitter, he is ensuring as a hitter, while having a solid power speed what I mean, he's not a masher, he's not a burner,
[SPEAKER_00]: But I got that could give you a 2020 caliber season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it could be above average power and speed.
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, you're not a 25 plus 25 plus guy, but I got that could flirt with or even give you some 2020 seasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he's improving the context skills on that sacrificing power, he's still running.
[SPEAKER_00]: So everything is really pointing in the right direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not to say that he had contact issues last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was pretty solid last year around 76% contact rate last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you say then that nice step forward this year again, well, not sacrificing power.
[SPEAKER_00]: from Johnny level.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think many are still more so at Joe Swagganzall as being the best shortstop prospect in this system, but I think it's a pretty close between level and Gonzalez.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think level is the more affordable dynasty targets and the price actually is high.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like level as a great buy right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He jumped into my top 50.
[SPEAKER_00]: He went from 87 to 44.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually, I didn't realize this until right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's back to back, which is for our good Zollis.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was number 43.
[SPEAKER_00]: Both are phenomenal targets by thinking level is more affordable than Zollis.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had to pick one to really target right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would go with joining level.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another short stop prospect that took a sizable jump from 94 to 50 is a Franklin area of the Boston Red Sox.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think people expected me to have him hire, you know, being in Red Sox fan, but I mean, this shows I don't have bias.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, have I gone too high on Red Sox prospects before?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, that's not because they're on the Red Sox, you know, Franklin Ares is a guy that I've always been a bit lower on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that that happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was lower on on our fellow Meyer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been lower on Red Sox guys, that most other, you know, rankers and evaluators.
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, with areas, he was like a fringy, top 100 guy for me in fantasy rankings entering the season mainly due to just like an underwhelming power speed blend, you know, this guy that, you know, he had a solid year last year, you know, he had 278, 8 home 12 deals on the end 10% walkerate, 160 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I kind of thought he was just hit tool first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wasn't sure if he was more than like a 10 to 15 homer guy or more than a 10 steel guy, long term, but he's hitting for a lot more power this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Already a seven bombs in 16 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's one home run less than last year in a hundred fewer games and 463 fewer play appearances.
[SPEAKER_00]: and he didn't sacrifice any contact or approach.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not swinging in missing more.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually has a lower key rate than the last year, 7.9% also a 7.9% walk rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never really been a guy that walks a ton at least last year, only a 7.2% walk rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: So not a big walk rate guy, maybe that changes, but
[SPEAKER_00]: the power coming along this year has been huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like absolutely monumental for his value because if he can just be a 20 Homer guy, I don't need him to be 30.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm thinking he will be 30.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he can just be 20 though, give me 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go with a high average.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that'll play.
[SPEAKER_00]: That'll play.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still waiting to see, like, is this power surge?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how much of it is legit?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying it's fluke, but I want to see, like, how much of this is legit?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, where does the power settle in that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because obviously he's not going to have a home on every other game.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just not going to happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to see where that settles at.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it settles at just, you know, a 20
[SPEAKER_00]: But still don't think he's much of a runner long term.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm wondering, is he just a five to 10 seal guys?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of why I haven't gone too crazy with my ranking of Franklin areas.
[SPEAKER_00]: But love seeing what he's doing and start the year, having that nice blend of contact and power now is huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this continues, he'll obviously take another big jump up my rankings in my may update coming up in.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, another four weeks from now, I'll be doing most of my rankings at the end of the month.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, another four weeks of this, yeah, he's probably closer to 25 than 50 right behind him, a few spots back.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Theo Gillen of the Tampa Bay raise.
[SPEAKER_00]: off to a ridiculous start to the season.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a guy that I liked a lot coming out of the draft couple years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's shown some good skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got inconsistent laying in the last shows a little bit up and down.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's now up to 61 in my rankings from 101.
[SPEAKER_00]: So a nice little 40 spot jump.
[SPEAKER_00]: they are for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, it's deserved.
[SPEAKER_00]: It absolutely is deserved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Six moments for steals in 14 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's already surpassed last year's home run totally.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to get a five last year in 73 games, so I'm
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's walking a lot less, you know, so he's being more aggressive, like he's hunting out those pitches.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to see if he could find the happy medium.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, is he going to be a guy that can still get, you know, a good walk rate?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can he make sure he makes enough contact?
[SPEAKER_00]: The contact rate is almost identical to last year, so it has the fall and off at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he hasn't sacrificed contact, but that walk rate has dropped dramatically.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to see I'm going to back up over 10%, but he's keeping the key rate in check.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the most of the same as last year, a little over 23%.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's around an average contact hitter, but this nice power speed blend.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could be an 18 to 20 homer guy, 20 plus deals.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully he's got it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It could still give you a good OPP.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year was 433.
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite hitting 267.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to see if he can kind of get that walk right back up, but still be aggressive enough to hunt out the pitches early in the count, he can really do damage on.
[SPEAKER_00]: So love the jump here for Gillon, love seeing him hit her power again, I was a big Gillon guy, but
[SPEAKER_00]: to know he was kind of stalling out in low A a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: So a guy that was slipping a little bit in my rankings, but right back up there into the top 70 for the O'Gill and maybe see him up in that top 40 to 50 range, you know, in my next update, next up here is now 75th overall,
[SPEAKER_00]: quietly off to a really good start to the season, not really getting a lot of, you know, fanfare.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't seen a lot of people kind of, you know, hyping him up on Twitter, you know, pumping him up, not really a lot of talk about Louis Lara.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some right now, but I think this should be, he should be talking about a lot more right now with what he's doing in AAA.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a 347, 439, 561 slash line in 26 games, 114 played appearances, 5 bombs, 12 steals, 10 total extra base hits, as many walks as strikeouts, 15 of each.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a 13.2% rate for both, 170 WRC plus,
[SPEAKER_00]: he's making plenty of contact zone contact well over 90% overall contact around 80% only a four and a half percent swing strike rate and he's a plus runner you know plus or better runner he had 44 steals last year 45 in 2024 already as 12 this year so he's still running
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's hitting for solid power too, like this kind of the sneaky part of the profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got an average EV of 80 Nm now, or Max EV of 109.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hard hit rate around 43%.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think he's more than like a 15-ish Homer guy, but if he's 15 home runs with 30 plus deals, to go along with a good average and a high LBP,
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I feel like I'm talking pretty similarly to like the skill set I was talking about with Edward up against arrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, 75 overall, honestly, it might be too low.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this continues and the power continues to be like it is, because he only had two of them runs last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the reason why I was not super high on Mara.
[SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't a home run guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And guys that project to be single-digit home run guys are never ever gonna be super high in my rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is because there's so much variance for these guys, so much margin for error that I just don't wanna put them too high.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you mischame, again, give me 15, like that's like the magic number.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can misbe a 15 home or guy that just gives you some added benefit
[SPEAKER_00]: where he had what two of them runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to do a quick matter two, two, four, and two.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the 10 home runs answering this year, I already has five.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if this continues, he's at the very high in my May Prospect Rankings, because this is a very fantasy-friendly profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 21 in AAA, so aged to level, proximity, and that's all on his side as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dynasty buys on the prospect side right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely love Laura.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go out and get him right now because I think that ranking is only going to continue to go up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next up is another speedy outfielder on the rise who almost jumped into my top 50 and that is a jewing of the New York Metz who just got the bump to triple a.
[SPEAKER_00]: After a pretty good start to the year in double A, 18 games, 81 played appearances at that level.
[SPEAKER_00]: 349, 481, 571 slash line on 181, WRC plus six doubles, two bombs, 12 steals, more walks and strikeouts, 21% walkerate to an 18 and a half percent strikeout rates.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so seeing him already get a couple of home runs under his belt is great because this
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, these single-digit home run guys, not ranking highly for me, viewing perfect example.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three home runs last year in 124 games only had a 113.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got that, you know, was still in the top 100 consideration, but not any higher because I just don't rank these guys that highly.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, if he's going to be tapping to that power a little more consistently, that's going to be huge, but he's also making a little bit less contact this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not super concerned about that, but, you know, I want to see if he can maintain the high averages, well, getting up into that 10 to 15 home run range.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he did have, you know, 10 home run near back in 2024 in 90 games, you know, most of that coming in low A also had five home runs in 19 games in the complex that year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's not a zero in the power department.
[SPEAKER_00]: but I below average power projection till now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I still say he's fringe average, but again, get that 12 to 15 homerage while giving me 30 plus deals.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a plus or double plus runner.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, depending on where you look, he's 60 to 70 grade, speed, elite, OBP guys, always got on base at a high clip, always walks,
[SPEAKER_00]: at a really good clip outside of a 5% walk rate in AA, he's always been well above a 10% walk rate and keep in the key rate and check the last couple of years after being a little bit higher back in 2024.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if he's a give me 12 to 15 homeruns on top of everything else, he brings the table then he's going to be a pretty fun little fantasy outfielder.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe like a Luke key show outfield type
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, I'm not putting him higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't really go higher than the top 50 ish on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think people want me to put him higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, until I see like a little more sustained power, I can't go really higher than where I have him now.
[SPEAKER_00]: But still, nice little jump.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the two biggest jumps in this particular rankings update belong to these next two guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: One hitter, one pitcher, the hitter, Pedro Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs.
[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I love this name just because as a Red Sox van, you know, the first name, Pedro and the last name Ramirez, hold a little weight in Boston, you know, Pedro Martinez,
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've always loved the name Pedro Ramirez.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good, good Boston name, but you know, he's on the cup.
[SPEAKER_00]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: really good season though so far for a page or a mirror as you know phenomenal start to the season that I don't think is getting talked clearly enough 323 396 626 slash line 7 home runs 8 steals 10 and a half percent walker 8 K rate right around 18 percent 303 ISO 158 WRC plus it's a really everywhere you look it's really impressive
[SPEAKER_00]: he's making plenty of contact zone contact well over 90% average contact or overall contact excuse me around 85% only a 6% swing strike rate and there's a little bit of power here too I mean pretty good power this year actually he's at a 45% heart hit rate average EV of 91 and a half miles now our max EVs are on one 11 right now
[SPEAKER_00]: Not a guy that I think is to be a big power speed guy, but I think he could be like a 15, the 20-home or type, maybe 8 to 10 steals.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's any much more than that in the stolen-based department, but a guy that can give you a good average, he always has.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's hit above 280, each of the last three seasons, OPP above 340, K-8 under 20% everywhere he's gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Usually
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's not like a super sexy profile, but it's one that's A, I undervalued coming into the year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm fully admitting that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He should have been ranked higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was just outside my 500 entering the season.
[SPEAKER_00]: That might be bad for me to admit that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a missed on my part.
[SPEAKER_00]: 100% admit that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should have had him ranked higher.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now he's up to nearly the top 100.
[SPEAKER_00]: So huge jump for him, that that's a sizable jump, but that's partly me correcting my previous misq and obviously just adding and the really good start to the year for Pedro Miroz.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's playing some second base, some third base, not really sure where his long-term defensive home is going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, it's not sure when he gets a shot with the Cubs to be a MLB regular, maybe an injury needs to happen, and they're still kind of using Matt Shaw as like a utility guy, not getting in the lineup every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure where and when Ramirez fits into the Cubs long-term plans, but he deserved a nice jump.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just turned 22, so still on the younger side in Triple A.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the metrics are pretty good right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I think Page Ramirez is going to be a pretty fun little utility type guy that can be sneaky good value and maybe I'm under selling the speed and he's already eight still this year, so I might be under selling the speed he's not burned by any means, but he's a decent lower runner, but
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, more of I think of a fringe average runner, but I got it likes to steal, so maybe I'm under selling this still amazed total, but yeah nearly top 100 for Ramirez right now and probably it's going to be top 100, you know, but this time next month assuming this continues and he doesn't fall off in the next few weeks and the picture with the biggest jump.
[SPEAKER_00]: going from around my number 400 overall prospect to nearly a top 100 guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is Anthony Ian Sin of the boss in red socks number 103 now 406 last month.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a guy I was intrigued by, you know, third ground pick by the red socks, good stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the fast ball was the question, you know, was it, you know, is it going to be an effective fast ball?
[SPEAKER_00]: The answer is yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he's, you know, so far, so good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Chris Clegg has seen him a couple of times already down there in Greenville, because all the good pitching prospects for Boston are down in Greenville right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be really excited to see Ionson and Phil Ups and witherspoon appear in Portland, hopefully within the next month or two.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Ionson has been the most impressive of the three.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been more impressive so far than witherspoon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still have witherspoon right ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that might not be, you know, for too much longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I insin might jump ahead of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, fastball mid 90s, you know, solid writing action as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's been a pretty good pitch for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and he's got a trio of secondaries to two breaking balls or ahead of the change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he can miss bats with both a curveball and a slider.
[SPEAKER_00]: The slider is the better of the two.
[SPEAKER_00]: A huge wiff rate on that change up is a serviceable.
[SPEAKER_00]: forth offerings to add another look, you know, to hiters, especially to left-hidden batters.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's got pretty good communities, you know, above average or better command and control.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we put that all together and it's a really fun profile and I haven't even gotten to the stats yet because the stats are just stupid good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think I said it wrote recently in an article that I don't think you can get these stats on and we'll be the show on rookie mode with a created player with the you know all the skill sliders maxed out because in his first four starts.
[SPEAKER_00]: 16 and 2 thirds innings, he is a 0.54 ERA, 0.36 whip, a 109 batting average against 0% walk rate and a 48.2% strikeout rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is just insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's at 27 strikeouts in 56 batter space and nearly two strikeouts per inning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's only four starts.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a small sample size.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm sure some of you out there are like, how could you move them up three ender spots over 16 and two thirds and things?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, with pitchers, you can usually see the, you know, the big jump quicker than with hitters.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because you could see it all right, the stuff is good, the fast most better than we thought.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can miss bats.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's keeping the locker right in check.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think you can make bigger jumps quicker with pitchers than opposed to hitters.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you need to see hitters, you know, a bigger set besides for them, you know, four games for a hitter is nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Science in is a beast right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's having the probably the best start to a season of any pitching prospect and baseball right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't expect this to continue obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is pretty unustainable.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you could use to show that the fastball is good, the second areas are good, strike out rate high, walk rate low.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be much much higher and well instead of my
[SPEAKER_00]: in my name update.
[SPEAKER_00]: So go by, I intend the price tag is soaring.
[SPEAKER_00]: The stock is storing everything is pointing up in a big, big way for Ionson right now, but go pay the price because I think he's going to be the latest edition of a breakout pitching prospect in Boston organization.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's plenty of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ionson looks like 2026's edition of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last name, I want to talk about here on this episode, probably a name that if you look at the rankings, you're like, hey, why is this guy not in Eric's top 100, he's off to a beastly start to the season and that's James Tibs the third, you know, he's a guy he's already bounced around a little bit went from the
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, the giants to the Red Sox to the Dodgers, three organizations already, you know, didn't really do well in Boston, so he was weighed down my rankings last season, but he's been off to a ridiculous start here, interpolate this season, already as 11 home runs in 27 games,
[SPEAKER_00]: 291 40699 slash line a 172 WRC plus seven doubles as well, 20 walks for a 60% walker rate, that's all great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything I just said sounds phenomenal, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, he's running a strikeout rate just to hear under 30% and the
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's sacrificing some contact to get into that power more, so he can strike rate is jumped to 4% up to 14% this year, zone contact is around 75% overall contact around 65, 66%
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this is down around nine, ten percent from last year, so that's concerning.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get a wonder if the average has got a greater here coming up, it's great to see him hitting for more power.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got 25 home or power in the bats.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, but the contact skills, the swing and miss.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a bit concerning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, where and when does he fit in?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you thought Pedro Mirra might be a little blocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: James Tibbs is absolutely block is he got to get a shot at someone this year probably this got to be an injury, you know, or, you know, poor performance, you know, some guy goes on, you know, gets sat for a few days, maybe some of the goes and paternity leave, whatever, you know, something will happen where an opportunity pops up, it already has for Ryan Ward, Ryan Ward's another guy that's in the mix, and he's been never really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the older age 28, but he's been a phenomenal, you know, AAA header.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he'll be again in the shot and then they have the
[SPEAKER_00]: of DePaula, Cantaro, Hope, and Sarota, you know, winning in the wings, you know, probably not this year, but maybe next year, those guys started getting up to the, the major level.
[SPEAKER_00]: They already have a great, a major league out field, you know, Pahas, Tucker, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, you don't know, you know, when and where this guy's going to fit in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wonder where the key rate ends up, where the contact skills end up, where the average ends up, like power, but so I'll have some questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why he's not top 100 for me right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually, I would say, he's more of a,
[SPEAKER_00]: sell high right now in dance leagues because given the hot start he's already been on I think you can get a pretty good return and swap them over for an MLDP so or another prospect on the rise something like that's I would probably look to do that so yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: So high on James Tib is the third, but that's gonna wrap up this episode but a lot of good names aren't in this episode a lot of fun names and buy some sells, you know more so guys on the buy side guys that are rising up So it's gonna be a fun next month or so with a lot of these other graduations coming up to see you know kind of hooth
[SPEAKER_00]: takes off and gets into those top spots.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to be vacated by the top three as I mentioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of fun here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really enjoyed diving into my April prospect rankings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will do the same with some dynasty rises and followers on Friday and episode 449.
[SPEAKER_00]: So stay tuned for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But until then, everyone take care.