[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_02]: What's up everyone, welcome into that episode of the tool shed podcast brought to you by Rotobar.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is episode 456.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm your host, Eric Cross.
[SPEAKER_02]: And joining me is my co-host, Mr. Toby Sholman.
[SPEAKER_02]: Toby, how's it going, man?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going great.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like the first half of this season's flying by, but it's great to hop on and then talk about it once again.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, how is it already like the middle of June?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it feels like the middle of June, it's starting to get pretty warm here and humid, and all that fun stuff, the bugs are back out, and I'm sure you're dealing with the same stuff, but it feels like the middle of June, but yeah, it's crazy to think that if you're just starting to season back in late March and
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, now we're, you know, everyone's played about like what 70-ish games, 72 games, something like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think we're the halfly mark is what like late next week, so like next weekend or something like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Crazy to think about.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we've had a lot of, a lot of fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: And not so fun, things happen this season.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got this has been one of the more weird seasons.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like all the star players are struggling, like Tatees and Vlad Jr. hitting like three homerons and then you got like guys pop out of nowhere that are having like huge breakout seasons.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just crazy, but.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's why we got to try to stay at top of as much as we can, especially when prospects are involved as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's what the focus will be on this episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, love some prospect promotions to talk about some guys that are up in the majors now.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I was ahead of that.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll go over a lot of this really exciting names that are having really hot, you know, month, there are less couple of months that are really shooting up rankings on the hitting side.
[SPEAKER_02]: They get six names like that and the show.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, talk about Jordan Lawler, talk about again, some of those prospect emotions.
[SPEAKER_02]: We had four pretty fun ones over the last week and also a pretty big name going back down Triple A.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we'll cover all of that in this episode, but before we do,
[SPEAKER_02]: the usual housekeeping.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you enjoy the show, please rate and review on which of our platform you listen on.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Toby is at T-Shillman Report, SCHULMAN.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am an Eric Cross MLB and the show is at Toolshed Pod.
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[SPEAKER_02]: There's a ton of great content and tools available with Rotobar premium.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I highly recommend grabbing that along with downloading the free Rotobar app on your phone, but you can find at Rotobar.com slash app.
[SPEAKER_02]: Alright, let's start out with the four Prospect Promotions here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was sort of a braided Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_02]: Another fun name called up here by the Chicago White Sox, a team that's one of the surprise teams this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: What a good young talent on that team.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Montgomery is just adding into the mix.
[SPEAKER_02]: in 56 games in between double A and triple A nearly split there.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had 10 homeruns, five steals, 15% walkerate, 25% carry, and a 314, 422, 548 slash line.
[SPEAKER_02]: That'd a nice 152, WRC plus, so one of the higher WRC plus in the triple A this season, or in the upper miners I should say.
[SPEAKER_02]: yeah my government is a pretty fun player to be a guy that's got pretty good power he's always been kind of lauded for his power upside could run a little bit to know we've seen him at some steals in the minor leagues but the one area of concern I kind of had with Montgomery and the context skills have been a little on the lower side not terrible like we're not talking like spent your Jones levels and he's ever had like a you know alarming carate like Jones has and he's at their low contact guys but
[SPEAKER_02]: kind of wonder is he more like a 250 hit or a long term even though he's hit for a pretty good average into minor league so what do you think of the profile here with Montgomery and you know how much of an impact player do you think he can be moving forward?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can be a huge impact, and you know that's what the White Sox traded for when they got rid of Garacoshe.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was a guy that they wanted to step up in big moments, and he showed that right away with that walk-up home, and his MLB debut, which was really cool, and that's the type of moment that you want to see out of a guy that you think will be a big contributor down the line, and even more so a guy that you traded for as kind of the headliner in a big ace to another team type of deal when you're just trying to really put your team into a
[SPEAKER_00]: landscape of winning in the future, but I love the profile with Braden Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a guy who really still out in college when he was at Texas A&M, switchheader, a guy that I feel like we still just got robbed of seeing in that college world series, Ron, and I think about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially this time of year when the college world series is going on, Braden Montgomery just on the scooter to Texas A&M's runner up Ron.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, the profiles, you know, you mentioned it, it's not much consistent contact with him, but this is a guy who's going to hit the baseball really hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a guy that's going to provide you some skill in the outfield as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he just seems like a team player.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never heard anybody say anything bad about what he will bring to, you know, just the overall.
[SPEAKER_00]: team nature and overall clubhouse and dugout and that's what I expect him to bring even more so at the highest level here in Chicago.
[SPEAKER_00]: His debut has been really cool, Eric, and I'm interested to see what you think of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be at five games so far, but he's shown that this jump from Triple A was something that he was ready for.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: That nice walk off in his debut, which I think is parents were there and a lot of his family members and friends were there too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's got to be a really cool moment to see that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Especially for the family members.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've always loved when I get the chance to talk with certain players family members and whether it be like a mother father on uncle cousin brother sister or just even a friend just seeing.
[SPEAKER_02]: you know how proud they are.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really cool I think that doesn't get talked about nearly enough and it's how much he's family's go through to get these players to where they are the highest level of baseball in the world but yeah it's really it's really cool to see that with right him on Gunmerin.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah you've heard it's nothing but good things about Montgomery.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was super excited as a Red Sox family drafted him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like if he was a guy that if you didn't have that injury that you just mentioned and he was a 12th overall pick he was probably going to be a top five or six pick probably And that middle part of the top 10 but he thought of the red socks at 12 and they signed number five million dollars which I believe was a little bit above slot value if I recall correctly At the time and you know obviously you make that deal 10 times of a 10 if you're the red socks to get got it year crochet but
[SPEAKER_02]: I've always been pretty high in the bat, you know, he's, I got that really this looks like a your typical good corner out filter.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to get you, you know, 25 to 30 bombs.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe throw in the handful of steals, five to 10 steals.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think the average we find, like I mentioned the context skills, but again, they're not terrible.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then once you factor in, you know, how much damage he does when he does make contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: And those contact rates will absolutely play.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, look at what it was in AAA, it was a 54% heart hit rate, a 10% barrel rate, an average exephalosity of around 93 miles now or so.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now that's a plus power right there with a good approach.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he walks well, keeps the key rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been pretty consistently in that mid 20% K rate range, which is, I guess, a tick below average, but not bad by any means.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think he can give the average 250 in above and give you the 25-30 bombs, maybe even a little bit more than that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think he's a good like number five hitter for this White Sox team.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this is becoming a really fun lineup.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, with the white socks, obviously, you know, Miguel Vargas has been, you know, breaking out this year, close to Montgomery, you know, more economy before he got hurt, you know, trace my drops when like sneaky decent.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's in like 280 or something like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, Antonachi too, he's been a fun little spark plug.
[SPEAKER_02]: as lead off hitter, and Jacob Gonzalez, it's brought up, Christian Peters has been like sneaky good too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they've been really getting a lot of good value out of a lot of players this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're still going to figure out, you know, the rest of the pitching staff.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, this lineup is,
[SPEAKER_02]: pretty decent now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know where they're at in terms of league ranks in terms of runscorer and all that jazz, but a lot of fun players on this team and now they got two Montgomery's batting back to back with Coles in the rain and hit in four or five right now in this white stock slaughter.
[SPEAKER_02]: So.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, pretty fun player here with brought by the Montgomery another fun player though and a much different way though is co-curric with the call at a rockies and he's come up he came up I think they they got announced on the same day but I think Craig.
[SPEAKER_02]: debuted one game one day sooner.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's played six games to Montgomery's five.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's already get two home runs slash in 253.08.
[SPEAKER_02]: Five eighty three in those six games and and fifty seven games in Triple A 338 414 529 slug six home runs 30 steals 10.5% walk rate
[SPEAKER_02]: And a 15.2% K rate, you know, Toby, this was a guy that had, you know, good amount of helium attached to his name in 2023 2024, you know, last year slash line wasn't great.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think some of that helium got let out of the balloons out of speak, but really had a nice bounce back a year and triple a this year and now up in the major league.
[SPEAKER_02]: So now, what do you make of the profile here with the cold correct.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the fit for Colorado, given that it's such a hitter friendly ballpark, obviously, that we know that with course field, the speed that he's going to be able to cover ground out there, and as well as being impact on the bases, I think that's going to be huge for Colorado.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the fact that he's already showing that at the big league level, again, it's only been
[SPEAKER_00]: you know a handful plus one of games but he's looked great in that time he's already hit a couple of homers so the bat and the power will benefit from playing at elevation especially at home and it looks like again he's another guy like Braden Montgomery who's only continued his success from the AAA level and you know when you look a little bit deeper
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't hit the ball as hard as a guy like Brayden Montgomery does, but you don't need a guy like him to when you have the ability to just simply get on base Steel bases and produce runs that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not gonna hit it on my homers He's showing that and you might hit might have a little more pop in the tank than some people thought.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't strike out too much Okay, right right now in the big leagues under 20% you want to see him maybe walk a little bit more especially again
[SPEAKER_00]: because of the impact that he has on the bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he should be a guy that fits in well with this current Colorado roster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Guy that maybe just needed the height to kind of die down off his name a little bit to truly succeed and truly elevate his game.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it looks like he's had a great season in AAA.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's the only continuing that so far at the highest level.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this is a guy that no matter how things are going for him at the plate, he's always been a guy that got on base and had to add decent clip.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then when he was on base, he would steal a lot of bags.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, look at what he's done.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, this year already at 30 steals and 57 games.
[SPEAKER_02]: The last two years combined.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had 99 steals in 238 games.
[SPEAKER_02]: This guy that's just always run early and often.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll keep it in the carate and check pretty much Average should above average contact rate guy this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: They actually have ticked up to Career best marks use around 80% or just to hear under 80% Interplay this season.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know last couple years.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's more like in the 75% range, but
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I got that's, you know, I think decent with the bad.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you'll see get most of your impact from him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sound, you know, in the stolen base department.
[SPEAKER_02]: But this guy, you know, once you factor in cores field, as well, I think you can get 12 to 15 home runs, you know, with a, you know, 262 to 70 type of average to go along with all those deals.
[SPEAKER_02]: And, yeah, another fun, you know, mine up there building there and call Rado, they're going to bring up Zach Bean, Charlie Condon here at some point too, you figure.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe Condon, you know, in the next week or two, but pretty good little roster to the putting together on the offensive side for Colorado, obviously the pitching is a mess as usual, but, you know, a lot of good young talent there in Colorado, you know, they're always trying to wait a mess up, but hopefully not with all these guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they get a lot of fun hitting prospects right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, in Kokurig and you guys that's just been, you know,
[SPEAKER_02]: pretty fun in the minor leagues you know that fantasy friendly profile so as long as he can you know you said I want to see him walk a little bit more as well but you know even if he is not the super high walk rate guy got that could hit 260 keep the OBP reasonable and give you double the jahom runs and maybe 30 plus deals as well so
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that'll absolutely play.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, he's a very fantasy friend of the guy and maybe even there.
[SPEAKER_02]: I said he might have more like pure like upside then I break them on gummery.
[SPEAKER_02]: If he gets like 15 to 18 bombs, he's giving me like 30, 35 steals and hit for 26, 27 the average.
[SPEAKER_02]: That might be, you know, a level higher than Montgomery can provide just because he doesn't give you a lot of steel.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think everything clicks, like total like sealing upside with these guys, correct might be a little higher or at least on on the same range, but he's got this a lot cheaper right now and Dynasty leaks that's for sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: Next game here, Blaze Jordan, because of the name we've been talking about for a long, long time, but having a similar resurgence with the St. Louis Cardinals, I thought I saw him in Double A Portland forever, which I really digs, he was in Double A Portland for the last
[SPEAKER_02]: What three months of 2023 all of 2024 in the first three, you know, two and a half three months of 2025 and then he went triple and then over to St. Louis after that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he was a guy that, you know, while he looked fine, I kind of thought, all right, this guy just never got really amount to anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then he went to St. Louis, finished the year, actually on a pretty poor note in Triple A last year was saying Louis hitting 198, but this year was hitting 313, 373, 548, and Triple A Memphis, 11 bombs, 7 and a half percent walkerate, and 11 and a half percent strike out rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just pretty far for the course with Jordan, he's a guy that, you know, we all remember the, you know, this,
[SPEAKER_02]: was, I think it was, it was ESPN or Sporchler to do the 500 for home runs.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was 13, which I still, I'm still calling BS on that.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know it was with a metal bat, but I'm still calling BS on that.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, that's, that's another story for another day.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, I got that was Lauder first power when he was, you know, drafted.
[SPEAKER_02]: And people, all right, well, we'll see where the context goes wind up.
[SPEAKER_02]: But he's got this always bade, at least the last like few years, starting in like 2023 or so.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been a pretty good contact rate guy, but then the game power kind of went the other way.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a really interesting profile here, Toby.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, what do you make of the former, you know, teenage, phenom, blaze short, and how good do you think he's going to be as a major leaker?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think at the moment, he's in a pretty good spot to be a good major leagueer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that with this Cardinals lineup where, you know, according to Fang Graf's roster resource, but they don't have a bat under 30.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very young lineup that's looking to take steps forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're rallying with the fan base, you know, you see the whole tarps off crew that they started.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like a whole trend around major league baseball.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you already mentioned kind of the things with his profile that have been kind of up and down in a bit different over the last few years.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he is an interesting case because this was a guy that again when he was a teenager was hitting quote and quote 500 foot bombs and I think it was chase field with a metal bat like you already mentioned, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this guy, you limit strikeouts pretty well, at least that's what he did in Triple A versus both sides very well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not really high average exit velocities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tens to find the Barrowmore against left-handed pitching.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a really good platoon option for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If they want to go against left-handed pitching, I think this is a guy who's going to destroy it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if they want to play him every day, I'm not quite sure you know what the ceiling is there anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: To start, he's shown that you can hit the ball really hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not sure if that's just the adrenaline from making your debut or, again, just being part of a young line up that's feeding off the energy of the crowd.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think this is a really solid at the least, you know, at the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got that you'll play every day against left-handed pitching and, you know, who could give you really solid swing decisions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Limit strikeouts, but, you know, still at the same time won't walk a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll chase a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's just kind of how I feel about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just a really solid blitzoon bat that you could have match against left-handed pitching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would be surprised that they play him every single day.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm kind of right there with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think though, if everything were to click and any does become a regular at the major day level, this comp, I usually suck with comps, but this one's kind of come to me, and this is not a skills comp, per se, but more so like what he could do statistically,
[SPEAKER_02]: He just made some alcohol vibes where it could be like 27280 with 15 bombs, maybe 20 bombs, something like that, you know, you know, bomb, you know, he had more power and then the heart hit rates were great.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bobby said his issue was hitting the ball to the ground too much, but he was got to just kind of went around and did this thing, you know, again, hit 280 with 15 to 18 home runs.
[SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that could be.
[SPEAKER_02]: the, you know, possibly the path for for Jordan, if he's a regular, but yeah, I do agree that you know, we'll see, they have a lot of bats, they could like the mismatch there, you know, in St. Louis, like they're still rolling out there, you know, Nolan Gorman's one of the guys, so we'll see if this guy becomes an everyday player and talking about plays Jordan.
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, definitely got that I like more now than I did two years ago.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was about ready to throw in the towel with Jordan after seeing him for the third straight here in W.A., but he's definitely turned his career around, you know, the contact rates have gone, you know, from good to, you know, well above average, especially, you know, this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, this is definitely majorly bad, but yeah, just how impactful he'd be for fantasy.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm so kind of lukewarm there and broy, I could say at the same thing with this next guy Who is the most recent one to get the call up to the major says yet to make his debut though he might be making it tonight I don't know it's Milwaukee playing right now or they get the off day at earth Let's see I think they're actually I think they have the off day if I recall correctly, so
[SPEAKER_02]: Regardless, he has not made this debut as of when we are recording this, but Cooper Pratt is name I'm talking about here with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Triple A this year 58 games 261 plate appearances, kind of underwhelming 241 349 386 slash line, which is
[SPEAKER_02]: pretty darn close to his last year in AA.
[SPEAKER_02]: They've really slow played him.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been young for the levels.
[SPEAKER_02]: He got up to high A as a 19 year old.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's been all of last year in AA as a 20 year old.
[SPEAKER_02]: All of 2021 or at least the first two and a half three months or so in AAA as a 21 year old.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then they also signed up for that contract extension back in late March as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that really,
[SPEAKER_02]: brought the ETA a little bit closer than we might have thought it was going to be the start the season.
[SPEAKER_02]: And now you see him here up here with Milwaukee in the middle of June here, but again, Toby, this is guy that, I mean, he's a solid bat.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no denying he's a solid bat, you know, he's pretty solid contact, the approach is really good.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, almost as many walks of strike out, it's going to steal you a bag here and there, even though he's not a burner by any means, but.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, the area I'm just not super high on is the power.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just I don't know, maybe maybe maybe you think differently, but just I've seen a lot of Pratt.
[SPEAKER_02]: I kind of look into him a lot because he's a guy that I think everyone else was always always higher on than I was, but I just don't seem as more than like a, you know, maybe low double digit home run that at this point in time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe a 10 to 12 homer 15 the 20 steal a type that can hit you for decent average.
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, he's he's still a solid player.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just don't see you know the reason to like one out there and then try to get him in the fantasy leagues right now, but
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you think here Toby on a Cooper Pratt?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I agree with that 100%, you know, I think he's going to be, you know, this classic pesky brewers bat, and I think for their roster it'll work, but if you're looking to go out and get this guy in fantasy, you know, again, I agree with you, I don't think you shouldn't necessarily run out, and, you know, make any rash decisions to go out and get Cooper Pratt, but, you know, what I do like about him, he has great with avoidance and especially against right-handed pitching, which has a right-handed hitter, that's, you
[SPEAKER_00]: when they are calling him up and giving him the extension, I think, only made it look even more promising that he was going to be a guy that fits in there every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, not a huge power guy like you said, but slugs better against lefties than he does against righties, so there's something there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think he's going to be a pest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the entire Brewers lineup is, and I think he's going to succeed there pretty well.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be a guy that'll probably still 30 to 40 bases a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other than that, not really.
[SPEAKER_00]: much more that you're getting with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they'll play him at shortstop either.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just kind of interested to see how it goes given that he's only 21.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, he's still pretty young and I think he was one of the younger guys in triple Adam and obviously now one of the youngest guys in the major leagues, but you know the one area I'm 100% sure on is that this guy's got to give you a good LBP and the average I think the average is going to be better than the 240-inch range where he's been the last two years.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean he makes too much contact like when she doesn't strike out, doesn't whip too often, doesn't chase.
[SPEAKER_02]: So this guy's going to put the bat on the ball, get on base and then give
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, if you're looking for that 15, the 20-hunter pop, I don't see it with Cooper Prep up.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's also a player, just not really a guy that's going to knock your socks off when it comes to fantasy production.
[SPEAKER_02]: But while these four guys got the call up, one notable name as I mentioned in the intro got the,
[SPEAKER_02]: ago got sent back down with in a very surprising move, which I think really irritated a lot of errors on the fans, what I saw on Twitter, that's Ryan Walshmit, you know, they're 31st overall pick from 2024, who, by and large, he was not.
[SPEAKER_02]: care in the cover of the ball.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he was sitting 259.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: But 314 will be p. 357 slug, still waiting for his first home run.
[SPEAKER_02]: 122 placards, 10 zero home runs.
[SPEAKER_02]: They did have five steals, you know, playing a solid defense as well out there in the L field.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, really, kind of a shocking move from the send him back down, given just the underwhelming options.
[SPEAKER_02]: They have, you know, obviously corporate generals great, but, you know, like the all the
[SPEAKER_02]: and you've got got like Ryan Walshmit, but tell me, what do you make of Walshmit's first taste of the majors here?
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's some good, some bad.
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, he's at God.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was pretty darn good in the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: God, I think by and large, mostly at top 25 guys for most people, or at least top 30 to 40 when he got the call.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, has your thought on him change at all?
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you still pretty high on him?
[SPEAKER_02]: Or did you see something with this debut that makes you think twice?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still pretty high on Waldstrom.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he is a great bat, a polished bat coming out of the SEC that I have, you know, good amount of faith and still.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we talk about how prospect progressions never linear.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I trust that he's going to go back down and he's going to get right and then find his way back up and be better.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was just surprised to see him struggle to make consistent contact and limit that with.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, while he did limit Chase a little bit better, he didn't hit the ball hard, which I thought was concerning.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a guy that we've seen hit the ball hard in the past, so I was just kind of wondering where that really went.
[SPEAKER_00]: He struggled a lot versus breaking offerings from, you know, what I saw at least on his profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, it seems like the jump maybe from Triple A just in the longer period of time was it was a greater challenge.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, just as a polish back coming from a really tough
[SPEAKER_00]: to see him struggle given the fact that, you know, this was a, one of I'd say, you know, the more highly touted prospects to get in early season call up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I had him, I think top, uh, I don't know if I didn't have him top 10, I think I had him again, the teens.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got that and didn't have that one super loud, you know, didn't have huge power, huge speed, but did a lot of things well.
[SPEAKER_02]: If it was like he kind of gave me, you know, not in the exact comp, but gave me something like some Matt Shaw type of vibe is where it wasn't again, it was more of the some of the parts as opposed to.
[SPEAKER_02]: having that one loud tool that there would provide a value.
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, he's a plus runner.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a 91% tile sprint speed with Arizona.
[SPEAKER_02]: He played a pretty solid defense as a good arm in the outfield.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he provides value to Arizona in that regard.
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, I mean, he had a 56.2% with rate on breaking balls.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he didn't hit them at a 90 mile hour average EV when he didn't make contact, but it didn't make a lot of contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: on them.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, use a guy that I thought would be more like a 15, the 20 homer guy, you know, maybe gotten to the low to mid 20s at peak.
[SPEAKER_02]: Never probably not a 30 homer guy, but you look at the quality of contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's always been like kind of middle of the road, and even with Arizona, I mean, the average EV was a little low at 86.8, but he had an 8.3% barrel rate, 36% hard hit rate, and pretty good angles as well, 25% polyarrate,
[SPEAKER_02]: sixty nine and a half percent air rate so i must have surprised he didn't have any not even one or two kind of sneak out over the wall in his uh... you know was it five weeks or so with Arizona uh... i i'm still pretty high on on waltsman i still can be the guy that i thought he could be in when he got the call up to Arizona you know back in it was april early may whenever he got the call up so
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I haven't really changed my mind on Walsh, but at all, it's only a pretty solid player.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I do think he's back up with Arizona.
[SPEAKER_02]: And within the next meal month or two, I can't imagine he's back down in AAA for too long, but I do think they want to see him get that whiff right down, get that K-Ray back down.
[SPEAKER_02]: That was the one thing that was pretty high.
[SPEAKER_02]: 33% K-Ray, so I do think we see Walsh, back up pretty soon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Another Arizona guy that's I feel like I've talked about a million and one times on this podcast over the years, but he's back, Jordan Lawler Toby, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Jordan Lawler because I feel like no matter who you talk to,
[SPEAKER_02]: person A, have a thought process on law or person B will be completely different than person A.
[SPEAKER_02]: Person C will be completely different than person B.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's such a wide kind of range of opinions on law or because there's a lot of talent there, so minor league success.
[SPEAKER_02]: but the major success has not been there in jury's factor in.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a lot to really put to look at here with Jordan Wallace profile.
[SPEAKER_02]: So are you a lawyer guy, Toby?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, where are you out on this guy this point?
[SPEAKER_02]: Still only 23 years old, too, so he's so pretty young.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And being that young, I never want to say I'm completely out on a guy who has picked that high in the drafts.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: going into the air, I wasn't given much thought to Jordan Lawler, honestly, and now I'd say I'm given a little bit more thought in this first eight games this year, he was a lot better, kept a K rate under 25 percent, 155 WRC plus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to say now, at the moment, you know, until he shows the ability to produce more consistently in a larger sample size that I'm not really bought in right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think it could be a really sneaky snag for somebody in fantasy, honestly, if you can keep that production up and, you know, who knows, maybe something to be clicked with him because didn't you have a really good spring training or am I am I misremembering that because I think he.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he did a good in spring training.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to take a look at that, but he might have.
[SPEAKER_02]: That kind of sounds, I'm trying to stick me down.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to put up here quickly, but 178 WRC plus and then spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, still with spring training, like I don't take much consideration into that, because other guys had really good springs that aren't doing so good now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something to think about, you know, he's done good this year when he's healthy, it's just a matter if he can stay healthy and produce more consistently and until he does that, I'm not really going to react, you know, to praise he about Jordan Moller.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Jordan Lollard, he falls into the buckets, you know, I think I could be Mayo, could be in that bucket as well, probably several other names, but I thought hard enough, but the guys that once had a lot of intrigue, that had a lot of things go wrong, you know, whether it be performance, you know, durability or both, in this case for Lollard's both,
[SPEAKER_02]: But the upside is still pretty high in the price tag in fantasy is so low where it's not going to cost you a much to go and get law or go and get Kobe mail or any of these other types of guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we're if it doesn't work out and they continue to kind of go down the path that they're already on you're not going to be too upset about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got well, I didn't give up a lot to get this guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: So.
[SPEAKER_02]: It won't kind of set you back at all.
[SPEAKER_02]: But if it does work out and something clicks, they make a change, you know, law or magically stays healthy, it could be a pretty fun player for you that you didn't give up a lot to acquire.
[SPEAKER_02]: So those are guys where I'll take a stab on these hips, like guys every now and then, not too many of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think if you go too hard down this road and getting these, you know, by low types that have a lot of things go wrong for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: It could put you in some hot water, but if you kind of sprinkle in one or two here and there, especially if it's someone that you feel pretty good about So I know there's some some big lower people out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's so some big could be male people out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I still have some faith in law or just because, you know, I've seen him, you know, what, or what he's capable of When things are going right, so I'm kind of hoping that guy is still in there, but yeah, he's at the point where he has to show me that he can a
[SPEAKER_02]: string together, you know, more than a few games of good performance, you know, two weeks, three weeks, a month, two months, and also at the same time stay healthy over that time, which is the other big thing with Loller.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, I'm not, I'm not out on Loller by any means, but yeah, he's definitely in the, you gotta show me something camp at this point.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, going over to some hot prospect names here on the hitting side that are hitting very, very well, lately, first aim, I wanted to talk about today Eli Willitz, former number one overall pick.
[SPEAKER_02]: in the 2025 draft for the Washington Nationals just got the bump up to high A as an 18-year-old he wouldn't even be 19 until early part of December.
[SPEAKER_02]: So entire rest of this season will be at age 18 and he already has four bombs in the first five games in high A, after hitting six in 47 games in
[SPEAKER_02]: percent key rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: You had a 148 WRC plus in low A, 213 so far in high A, you know, granted it's only five games, but 400 runs, four steals and five games is pretty fun with it twice the money walks as straight out.
[SPEAKER_02]: So just to just about as good of a five game start to a level that you could have.
[SPEAKER_02]: And overall, I mean, obviously he went number one for a reason, even if it was, maybe that the consensus choice, there wasn't really a standout player in that draft, which at the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think you could have gone, or the gnats could have gone multiple ways with them to one pick.
[SPEAKER_02]: But.
[SPEAKER_02]: they like what they saw with Willets.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're seeing it all now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he didn't really do a whole heck of a lot last year, only at 15 games.
[SPEAKER_02]: But this year, we're seeing all the skills come to fruition.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Toby, I think the thing that's been pressed me the most, I mean, we know he, you know, make contacts, steel bags, draw walks all of that.
[SPEAKER_02]: But he's hitting for a little more power than I think a lot of people thought he would hit for.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what have you seen so far from Eli Willets and, you know, how especially do think he can be down the road?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how special do I think he could be?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a future top five, top three prospect and baseball.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's really no doubt in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: This year, you could easily be at 20 home run, 50 stolen base guy, which would be insane to see at a him like you already mentioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the fact that he's already hit 10 home runs, I'd
[SPEAKER_00]: didn't think a lot of people would think he would hit more than 15 in his debut season.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, that's just incredible to see from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, we're seeing him just across both levels of Abel make great swing decisions.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's pairing that with it with his plus speed as well, a great love at shortstop.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's a real possibility here with Eli Wilets that, you know, we see him develop into one of the best pure all around talents in the sport.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: I forget how many games exactly he's played but in the first half of his first professional season I don't really think that's a ridiculous thing to say anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I've been seeing more people lean that way Then you know the other way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it just shows how good the nationals were at drafting in the early goings of this past draft and
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think that they got an absolute steal honestly at the first overall pick.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of people, like you mentioned, there wasn't a consensus name, but I think looking back on it, maybe Eli will let's should have been that consensus name because it's hard to find a real hole in his game right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely, and I love that short stop, the prep short stop debate in between him, Jojo Parker, and obviously Ethan Holiday, who was unfortunately hurt, and he was on a break of season for he got hurt, but, you know, I was, you know, I liked all three to various levels, but I was, you know, middle-lead team Parker, and I still like Parker, I could bet, but Willis has jumped.
[SPEAKER_02]: Parker in my rankings, you know, Parker I have.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think in the thirties right now and and Willis is I'm just going to figure out where I want to put him because When you look at the top of prospect rankings right now, I mean with all the graduations we've already had for a lot of those big names, obviously Griffin,
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, there's not really like those few guys that stand down.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you got a top tier where you know, you put Hazard's mod day and there Leo de Vries Kate Anderson, probably Seth Hernandez, but after that, I think there's like a massive glob of this a lot of really good names.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, a lot of Dodgers names obviously are up there.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, one of what you'll talk about here next.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you put Eli Willitz up in there, you know, Walker Jenkins, Max Clark, so a lot of really fun names that's, you know, I'm sure, you know, some of those of those names will separate themselves.
[SPEAKER_02]: at some point.
[SPEAKER_02]: It always happens, but yeah, I think it's kind of a pretty fun range of rankings where you could recognize these guys any which way.
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you want to tell me you have either will it's top 10 right now, number 7 overall, you know, that's fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you have them 20 overall, I think that's fine too.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think this is a matter of, you know, highlight the profile, but
[SPEAKER_02]: if if this power sticks with him and he's got this going to give you some home runs because at first I thought it I'll maybe this guy's like a 15-hunter guy but if he's more like a 20-hunter guy as opposed to like 10-15 you know if he's given you on you know upper teens low 20s home runs
[SPEAKER_02]: with all the steels, you know, good average, high LBP, it's a really fun player, guys, probably get hit, you know, lead off, number two in the order, something like that, score a year, time of runs, maybe sitting in front of James Wood, that's pretty fun, spot the B, and so exactly.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think we'll let's get to be pretty fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: I might even have him top 10 myself in my upcoming rankings.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see him.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm still trying to slot all those guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mentioned, so it's going to be, I'll figure it out at some point.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure, but yeah, he's definitely in that mix along with the next name here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Josue, they Paula, you know, he's got that.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been pretty highly thought of and highly ranked for the last couple of years now.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think this is finally the year where
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, even the people that were high on him were waiting for like the number to get a little bigger, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Especially in the home run department, and that's starting to happen this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: In AA, 60 games, 284 plate appearances, these flashing 33, 433, 567 with a 163 WRC plus more walks than strikeouts.
[SPEAKER_02]: 14.8% walk rate to a 13% K rates, 19 steals and already is 11 homeruns and 21 doubles as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think he's near the top of the extra base hit lead to board as well with 33 overall 21 doubles, one triple 11 homeruns.
[SPEAKER_02]: In the last year he had 12 homeruns and 102 games.
[SPEAKER_02]: 2024 he had ten and a hundred and seven games you know so he's finally starting to translate that raw power Work is asleep into game power so what have you made of just way they Paul us so far this year Toby
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we finally seen both the plus hit to on the plus power come out in game, which like you already alluded to has been really great to see I looked at a and he actually was the only Prospect in the double a level to have at least 10 homers and more walks and strikeouts which as a 21 year old at the hardest level of commander leagues
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't look at that and not be at least a little bit impressed and the power surge is just a direct result of just how well he's seen the baseball I'm looking at his walk right right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe it's over 14.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, over 14% Strike out right down to 13 so he's just seen the baseball so well.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's making great swing decisions and
[SPEAKER_00]: There's hosted in a lot of extra base hits, another guy who's near 20 stolen bases as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we could see, I don't know if we'll get 20 homers out of him this year, but if we do, I mean, it's a short 20, 20 guy and the Dodgers don't necessarily need in that outfield for the future, but I got that they're probably going to get sooner rather than later, and I got that they're going to enjoy a lot there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, just an embarrassment of riches.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, the Dodgers and the Dodgers in the outfield and the Mariners in the pitching department, it's just like, where do you fit all these guys?
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the Mariners already have six pitchers and then they get key Anderson's kind of chill in a double A, dominating like we've never seen before.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Dodgers have four of what the seven top outfield projects in the game or something like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I love Saroda.
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, Ziya or Hope, you know,
[SPEAKER_02]: as well, some really fun outfielders and with very different profiles, you know, when he compare all the four Dodgers outfielders, but yeah, would they Paul or you're like, all right, this guy has always made a lot of contact and he's even making more contact this year than he did last year, which I think is the most impressive thing for me that not only is he hitting for more power in games and you can kind of attribute a little bit of that to him being more aggressive.
[SPEAKER_02]: and he's he's swinging about 8% more often last year swing rate 37.8% this year swing rates 45.3% which is the highest mark he's had since, you know, way way back in, you know, 2022, 2023 when he's in rookie ball.
[SPEAKER_02]: So.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love to see them be a liberal regress of hunt out those pitches that he can really drive because the broad power has always been pretty solid, not like super loud, but I thought he'd be got that could eventually be maybe got a 30 home regard, but definitely like a 25-ish home regard and even you got that can steal some bags as well, not a burner by any means, but got that's always run pretty often and in good efficiency as well, only caught four times this year in 23 attempts.
[SPEAKER_02]: and while he's being more aggressive and getting from our power, he's also improved the contact rate by about like six and a half percent and in trim the swing strike rates.
[SPEAKER_02]: So he's just really improving across the board this year and really coming into his own and I think showing that he's going to be a guy that's an impact bat in a lot of ways.
[SPEAKER_02]: Is that going to be with the Dodgers?
[SPEAKER_02]: I have no idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, if you have a crystal ball, I can tell me which of these four outfield projects will still be with the Dodgers when they get to the majors, then I will pay you a lot of money to give me those fortunes.
[SPEAKER_02]: But at this point, who knows?
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell me, you kind of will imagine.
[SPEAKER_02]: they trade one or two of these guys, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it go out and get, you know, obviously school, this is a big name being talked about that everyone thinks he's going to the Dodgers.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you gotta imagine that Detroit would get back, you know, a couple of these guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: So hopefully some of them get traded, but, um,
[SPEAKER_02]: If not, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to get too worried about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: People have kind of tripped at me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, oh, why do you have them rank so highly because they're blocked.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, well, you don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't know what, you know, the next year, 18 months are going to hold none of these guys are debuting this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, we still have an at least another year or so for that to be kind of figured out.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hopefully, you know, some of us traded, someone else who got hurt, these things have a way of figuring themselves out.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, de Paula really really excited about what he can be and I think he's a middle of the older bats, but Speaking of these four guys told me like not to put you on the spot, but I don't know the four outfield prospects How do you like rank them one through four?
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you like these outfield guys?
[SPEAKER_02]: So so Rota hope they Paula Can terror how do you rank those four?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd go to Paula one, surrounded two, hope three, and Quintero four.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the one and two guys have a pretty substantial gap over the three and four, but I think as a whole, they're all amazing prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you can make a case for Quintero being third as well, but I think DuPolans and Surhoda are comfortably one and two there for me right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I agree.
[SPEAKER_02]: I do flip flops road.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I'm admittedly a huge Cerodic guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: I always have been.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I thought him going to the Dodgers for Gavin Luxe was just a steal by the Dodgers.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I do have Cerodas slightly had, but I mean, I think in my overall rankings, he's like two spots ahead of the Pala.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's basically like a coin flip between those two.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and then I have hope third as well, and I think his hopes upside if he can you know, it's making up contact like that power Speed blend really, really fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think he could get right up there in terms of upside and then King Taro.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean had the really poor start to the year his balance back a lot lately He's getting on base at like a super high flip again, which is good to see but yeah, he's fourth at this point, but I mean hit him having and him being fourth is still like you still really get prospects And that's like no slouch on on contaro.
[SPEAKER_02]: So
[SPEAKER_02]: It's always fun to see how people rank these dodges prospects because they're very very fun prospects So the Paul off finally tapping into that power maybe it got us going to hit 20 25 home runs this year We've open waiting for it, and it's finally here
[SPEAKER_02]: Next up, we're going to actually know what, you know, I kind of got these guys out of order here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I have another Dodger on the list here.
[SPEAKER_02]: You might as well stick with the Dodger before we go to another team.
[SPEAKER_02]: Chase Harlin, as a guy that has really been hitting very well this year and not really getting a lot of recognition and he popped up on a tweet I did.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, maybe a week ago, five days ago, and I forget what the tweet was at this point in time, but I thought people know me that if all my work going, I love to sometimes I look at certain combinations of stats, or they'll be like, you know, hard hit rate and walk rate or ISO, I'll be paid this various combinations just to see like what names.
[SPEAKER_02]: I get sometimes you get a name that you don't expect that makes you open your eyes about that name, but you know, I forget what what it was, but it was a good grouping of metrics and harlan popped up there because he's having a pretty good year down in low as a 19 year old.
[SPEAKER_02]: 335, 455, 63 slash line, 155, WRC plus eight home runs, 15 doubles in 243 play appearances, 15 and a half percent walk rate, 17.7 percent K rates.
[SPEAKER_02]: Had a pretty good year last year as well between the complex and low-A, but really starting to break out here as he's back in low-A to start this season.
[SPEAKER_02]: Chase Harlan told me, is he a guy that you'd be targeting and you know, dynasty leagues because I feel like even though he's been hitting well and he was a pretty high pick you to third round pick so there was some some draft capital there as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just given all the other big names in this Dodger system, I feel that he still flying under the radar a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do you think here on Chase Harlan?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that him and a bunch of other names of the lower levels of the Dodgers Minor League System are guys that should go ahead and go get But Harley and especially at the at the top of the bunch He had a brief stint and low-way last year to end the season I believe it was and now in in 2026 he just looks so much more well acclimated to the level He showed plenty of pop, but you know what I love on multiple occasions that I've seen from you know going back and watching some of his at bats is
[SPEAKER_00]: He can just go out and either poke something the other way, or can turn on an inside pitch and take it down the line for a double.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have to kill you with the home run.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can kill you pretty much any way that you really need him to.
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be a bloop guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It can again be a gaps in down the lines type of guy, but he also has a good amount of power in the tank as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's shown it to all fields this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the main improvement with him,
[SPEAKER_00]: And we talked about how, or you talked about how House Way to follow a big improvement for him was kind of being more aggressive in how that kind of led to him having more of a, you know, more game power, more impact in the results.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for Harlan, it's really been the opposite, you know, he's kind of become,
[SPEAKER_00]: less aggressive at the plate this season and you know that's shown in the swing decisions that it seems to be what is made for the most improvement.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's made a noticeable drop in the K-percentage and you know when he does swing he does it with authority now like I said he's going to kill you with an extra race hit in one way or another.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can really do it all at the plate and that's what I really have been loving seeing from him and I wonder at this point you know when he gets that promotion up to Haia
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you get to imagine it's coming here with the next month or two.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they give them at least like a month or the six weeks or so in high year.
[SPEAKER_02]: I feel like kind of a similar thing to what they did last year, given them that month or whatever it was in low A and then you can get more acclimated for this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that'll be the case again with the high-a level for him later on this season, but yeah, he just looks like your typical slugging power hitting third baseman.
[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe he'll ask him to move over to first eventually, we'll see, defense has been kind of a question for him, but the power
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely has not and this guy's got a really really strong frame really solid frame Again, he just looks like he's already should be in the major leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like now like six three six four You know two ten two fifteen whatever he is.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's listed at 205.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think he's a little bigger than that at that this point But I'm just getting up going up what I see on video, but he's looks really really strong You know very lean frame, but very strong frame as well So got that can really get to that power You know get really thick legs gets to the zone really quick and go up that speed as well
[SPEAKER_02]: And like you mentioned, I got that is more than, I think, more than just all or nothing sluggered too.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, contact rates are okay, it's like the 72% or so, but he's really trimmed the strike out rate this year down the 17 and a half percent.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was 26% in his first taste of low-A last year.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's swinging in missing less in general, swinging the strike rates down to 10%.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's being a little more patient this year as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of good things here with Harlan.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the battle of the carry-ins again, he's not a guy that has a lot of defensive impact, and a guy that's going to give you a many steals.
[SPEAKER_02]: So it really all comes down to the bat, and even if he just hits 250, I think this could be a 30-home repats, and that gets on base at a high clip as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, pretty exciting here from Chase Harlan.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, like you mentioned, there's a lot of Dodgers.
[SPEAKER_02]: in the low levels that are pretty exciting that, you know, feel like they'll be that next wave of top prospects for the Dodgers once all the outfielders get up there next year.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, Chase Harlan definitely had named the target in dinosaur leagues and this next name, probably you mean probably miss the boat on.
[SPEAKER_02]: getting him for any type of reasonable price tag, but I think you used to go out and get him but the price tag much higher now on Josiah Hart's horn, they 6th of their own pick last year, 180 first overall, let's just go this show, like don't let the draft slots affect where you value these guys.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I got an I did not rank Hart's horn nearly high enough, but you know, you see all these guys all the time pop out from the fifth round, the sixth round, the seventh
[SPEAKER_02]: and become you know some of the best projects in the game it look at Eric Hartman and their example of that so you know who we talked about a few weeks ago on this podcast but you know Hartson has been just phenomenal I mean he was already hitting very well in in low way get five home runs four steals more walks than straightouts four 24 O B P 149 WRC plus
[SPEAKER_02]: And then in high A's, just been phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_02]: Eight home runs already in high A, four doubles as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: So 12 extra base hits in the first 18 games at the level, be slashing 422, 474, 859, with a two 11 WRC plus.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this is a guy that for the season is not the 13 bombs in 57 games, still has Milwaukee's in case 16 and a half percent walk rate for the season 16.1 percent strike at rate with a 320, 439, 586 slash line.
[SPEAKER_02]: lots of power here, you know, the raw power easily plus and got us, you know, making, you know, decent contact as well Toby.
[SPEAKER_02]: So really doing it all with the back contact approach power, there's a lot to like here with just how it hurts horn.
[SPEAKER_02]: So are you, are you buying the hype right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah I think I'd be pretty silly to say I'm not.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just not being challenged at all right now and that's crazy to think as a 19 year old in high A right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right could he be pushing for a double A promotion but I don't think the cubs are necessarily rushing him there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're just going to sit back and enjoy what they see at a him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know I'm interested to see the numbers on this but again when I was looking back at you know his previous at bats.
[SPEAKER_00]: He seems to be crushing fastballs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like everything he's doing damage on seems to be the fastball.
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, I don't have those numbers, but I'm interested to see what those are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's shown the pop, he's a pull heavy guy, but he's shown the power to all fields.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has an opposite field of Homer in high A.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, just has done it to all fields.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not a huge dip in contact too on that promotion to high A, which I think is an encouraging sign.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the same thing with Swing and Miss, since being promoted,
[SPEAKER_00]: really gone up that much.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gone up a bit but it's not warming at all and he just looks like he's seen a beach ball up there and he's being thrown like it looks so easy for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure you know if that's gonna be sustainable over a very long period of time and hi A will see but that whole staff then cubs line up right now is a lot of fun to watch and he's
[SPEAKER_00]: really the, you know, main reason why they've got some, some guys there, but like I think Ken Keppley's there, uh, Ty Saladazine and some other names, but uh, it's, it's, it's all him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's done these been doing it, doing it all at the play.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, just the power has been so much fun to watch.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for a 19 year old to already be, you know, one of the best hitters in that league in this first, you know, like 33 and a half weeks after getting the bump to that level is really, really exciting to see and you got that, this does it all with the bat, I mean, I don't know how much he's going to give you on the base path to this at five stills this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: I kind of wonder if he's going to make a 5 to 10 still guy, you know, as he fills out, you know, in over the next couple of years, but I mean, this could be a 30 home or bat.
[SPEAKER_02]: Got this making plenty of contact.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your approach is really good and makes everything with the bat.
[SPEAKER_02]: Everything offensively is really, really good right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: only a 7.2% swing strike rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: So pretty high floor.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I'd like to throw on the high floor thing a lot with a 19-year-old, but when it comes to 19-year-olds, he's probably got a higher floor than most you'll see, especially at this level.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's crazy to see what he's done so far.
[SPEAKER_02]: Another good player out of orange, Lutheran high school.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's been so many good players to monitor that high school.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's probably one of the better high schools and producing
[SPEAKER_02]: Heart Sworn is the lead example of that.
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of good cups put prospects right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, O and A are just like going berserk and double A are now too.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, he's a little bit, you know, 24, 25 year old catching prospect, but, you know, Heart Sworn, you know, little bit more intriguing for fantasy purposes.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, he's a guy that, I mean, probably is getting in that top 50 range.
[SPEAKER_02]: If he's not already there, he's getting pretty darn close to it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: a lot of a lot of fun things here with Josiah Hart's horn.
[SPEAKER_02]: Keep it right there in the National Accents or go to the Milwaukee Brewers and after what two two and a half months of absolutely just demolishing high-a pitching.
[SPEAKER_02]: Andrew Fisher finally got the bump to AA along with Josh Adam Seshki as well, and both of them going up to AA Biloxi, the shuckers from my favorite names in the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had 20 homeruns and 54 games with a 29844-43-675 slash line a 169-WRC plus,
[SPEAKER_02]: an 18.3% K rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's going to be 18, whether you send walk rate, that all looks great.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then you got a factor M, the 33.3% K rate, and the contact rate, that's what hovering in the low 60% right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: But Toby, it has been improving.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to live it better at limiting those strikeouts recently.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do you make of this pretty, you know,
[SPEAKER_02]: hot and cold profile or there's so much power, you know, some, you know, gets on base at a super high clip, you know, 402 last year, 443 this year, but does have some sweet and misconcerns and some contact concerns.
[SPEAKER_02]: And how are you valuing all that and kind of what do you think, you know, what do you think, what have a player do you think Andrew Fisher is down the road?
[SPEAKER_00]: Down the road, I think this is one of those classic, you know, big league sluggers that you see that, you know, has so much of a power output and can still kid on base at a high enough clip where you just kind of accept the high strike out rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's funny because one of my friends from college grew up with Andrew Fisher up in New Jersey and they're still pretty good friends now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we've been texting a lot of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: He texted me a couple of days ago and he was like, I think this is the weekend where they're actually going to promote fish from what I'm hearing and I was like, I'd
[SPEAKER_00]: love to see that because like you already mentioned the carate has been kind of going down a bit uh it's it's fluctuated up and down you know over the last few weeks but i i mean you got to just give this guy shot at double a i mean you can't keep a 22 year old who played in the SEC down in high a baseball for that long um
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this could be a guy that just struggles at first with the new pitching that he's seeing, but then after a while, you know, the power comes through becomes more confident at the plate, starts to walk more and I think that's what we're probably going to get in double a might struggle a bit at first, but I think when it comes down to it, this is a guy that's going to give you 30 to 40 home runs a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, depending on how much you value that, the brewer's don't have a lot of guys who can do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think they're going to value that quite a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, um,
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to get a lot of strikeouts, but at the end of the day 40 home runs looks a lot prettier than 20 home runs in a 30% strikeout rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, they've had a lot of power hitting corner and filter just not work out less couple years.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's kind of the one area where they haven't done, you know, well in terms of the development of those guys, but yeah, I think Andrew Fisher is going to break that trend.
[SPEAKER_02]: He's easy to buck the trend because yeah, I think this is again, a 35, 40, 100% with you there.
[SPEAKER_02]: And even if the, you know, the contact rates are blow average,
[SPEAKER_02]: What damage he does when he makes contact is so loud that I think he can kind of he could run like a higher Babip than most so but same time I want to see him get at least get him that contact right up and collect the 67-68% range is 62% that's just not going to get it done for the most part.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean that's a very thin margin for error
[SPEAKER_02]: as opposed to like I mean like Raphael Devers was it was a guy that would run like 67 68% contact rates, but he hit them also hard that he so hit for a good average.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that could be the path for Fisher and that's actually, I mean, I get I hate cops, but I kind of see a little bit of Raphael Devers in Fisher in terms of like, you know, the skills put together, but yeah, I want to see him get the contact rate up a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that will be a good test for him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like can he make those adjustments as
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that was demolishing hi-a, can you make those adjustments?
[SPEAKER_02]: Can he improve over the rest of the season?
[SPEAKER_02]: Can he keep getting that carried down a little bit?
[SPEAKER_02]: That below 30%, so I love Fisher.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's some areas I want to see him improve on, but if he does, yeah, I think this definitely is a middle of the order, measure in the making for them walkie-brower.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see.
[SPEAKER_02]: We found the see how he does in double a here.
[SPEAKER_02]: And speaking of mashers and other master from the end of central got it will close up the show with Alfredo do know.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got that ended last year on this crazy crazy run.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's care that over into this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: 263, 382, 531 slash line this year.
[SPEAKER_02]: 15 homeruns already in 55 games as a 20 year old in
[SPEAKER_02]: It also has 11 doubles as well, 38 walks for a 15% walk rate.
[SPEAKER_02]: Kira, a little bit higher than last year, it's up to 26.7% but not super alarming as of yet.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, this is guy that just has so much power.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, one of the, I think one of the top raw power guys in all of the minor leagues.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he had like I was a 445 foot blast the other night where he hit his own name on the scoreboard out in left center field, which is really fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is stupid good power.
[SPEAKER_02]: I hear what do know, you know, guys always go out and I'm based at a high clip.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we'll see where the contact ends up settling in at.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's the kind of like the X factor here would do know.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a guy that's just really, really exciting and I mean, everyone has been gushing over radio Rodriguez and rightfully so, but I think Duno should be at least in that same rankings area with Rodriguez.
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you think on that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can throw them right up there with them and, you know, I'll try to keep it quick here, but like the real deal breaker for me is the fact that, you know, radio does have plus power, plus raw power at least.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do know has plus plus raw power, and, you know, you talked about it already, he's had that net.
[SPEAKER_00]: scoreboard shot off of his name.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he has one that's upwards of 480 feet this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw him at the tail end the last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hit a bomb off of Liam Doyle in his debut.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was really cool to see and kind of just like, okay, this guy is for real at the play and
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you have to put them up there with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: If not above him, I know Raniel's been at a harder level and he's been picking it up as a late.
[SPEAKER_00]: But with do know, I mean, just the raw power that's turned into game power.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think is undeniable and you can't at least look at that and not think.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, maybe there is a conversation here as to who the top catching prospect and baseball really is.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, for fantasy purposes, I think it's a two horse race with these two.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, obviously some people will throw Ethan Salus in there and obviously he's having a great year in AA as well, but yeah, I think when it comes to do no verse Rodriguez, I think you can make the case that Rodriguez, you know, maybe a little bit of better pure hitter makes more contact, probably it's for a higher average, and that's pretty good power in his own right as you mentioned.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think do know, maybe a little bit less on the context, I live a little bit lower of an average long term, but has more power upside.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think Duno could be a guy that's hitting in the vicinity of 250.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, obviously his future home ball park would definitely give him some favors over there.
[SPEAKER_02]: But this could be legit, even as a catcher, a 30 plus home or bat.
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't really see that too often.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, love, love do know.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think he's definitely like a top 25-ish guy right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's, again, a lot of names in there.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, he can have so many guys in the top 25, obviously, but he's definitely got that's in that discussion.
[SPEAKER_02]: I still have Rodriguez right ahead of him, but, yeah, I don't think there's a large gap whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would even have them in the same tier, which I don't think many people have them.
[SPEAKER_02]: in the same tier, but I absolutely would.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'll further do know if you missed out on Rodriguez and you want to get the other elite catching prospect and with maybe a little bit of a lower price tag, do know as your guy.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, that's going to wrap us up, you know, thanks to Toby for joining me once again.
[SPEAKER_02]: This was was a lot of fun, a lot of fun names to break down here in this episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, check out all of our work on our Patreon for me too, Shelfanity.com and Toby Substack, both of those linked in our Twitter bios.
[SPEAKER_02]: Check out my work on Rotobauer, get that Rotobauer app, use that code tool, try to get it 50% off.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rotobauer premium, what a good stuff there.
[SPEAKER_02]: And we will see you again next week, but until then, everyone take care.