Dynasty Baseball Pickups: Ep 111 - Orelvis DFAed and Week 23 Pickups

On this episode, Kyle (X:@Sonny_108/BS:@Sonny108) and Taylor (X/BS:@DynastyPickups) discuss the DFA of Orelvis Martinez, as well as the latest injuries, promotions, and this week’s recommendations including Kemp Alderman, Enrique Jimenez, Adrian Bohorquez, and Zach Cole.

Topics Discussed:

• Injuries, News, and Notes - 7:11
• Promotions - 21:40
• Kemp Alderman - 26:45
• Enrique Jimenez - 34:13
• Adrian Bohorquez - 39:54
• Zach Cole - 46:04
• Recommendation Rankings - 58:29

*Send us an email to [e-mail] to have your question answered on a future episode of the podcast*

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello, and welcome to the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast. Today
is September twelfth. We've got another Friday night recording this week.
I am Kyle SONTEG and I'm joined as always by
Taylor Corso. How are you doing today? Taylor?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm doing good. Thanks for again being flexible, Kyle. I'll
be driving up to la tomorrow to see Lincoln Park,
so that's why we're doing this on a Friday night.
I'm pretty excited, also excited that Drew Gilbert is driving
my giants to be in the wildcard hunt again, which
is pretty cool. But what are you excited about, Kyle?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
I am excited about Fantasy playoffs right now. Maybe excited
isn't necessarily entirely the right word. I'm very stressed. I've
got a lot of very close matchups this weekend that
I am definitely stressing over, including one finals matchup with
our friend Enrico that is looking like it's gonna come
down to the wire. There are a lot of close

(00:59):
category in that one. But all in all, I'm having
a very good fantasy season. I hope that that can continue.
I'm very excited for the way things are going. But again,
it leads to a lot of stress this time of
year when you've got a number of teams. I know,
I'm complaining about my team's doing well, but it leads
to a lot of stress. Nobody wants to hear me
complain about that.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I hear you, though. It's definitely a stressful time
with the playoffs going, Fantasy football season starting up. Just
you know, this whole long six month season comes down to,
you know, these few weeks. So you're hoping at the
end you're holding some championships and a little bit richer,
but it doesn't always work that way. So definitely understand
that the stress aspect of it.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Absolutely, Let's keep our fingers and toes and everything that
we can cross for more good fortune for both of
us and all of our listeners out there in our
playoffs going forwards. Here, But Taylor, you're asking me what
I'm excited about. One other thing that I am excited
about is the Arizona Fall League because those rosters were
just announced earlier this week and we've got some big
names headed to the AFL, including Kevin McGonagall, Sebastian Walcott,

(02:03):
host Way to Paula, Johnny Farmelo, Charlie Condon, Aden Miller,
and then we've got some risers from this year too,
like Alfredo do know, David Hageman, as Merlin Valdez, josh Adamschevski.
So there are a lot of exciting players headed to Arizona,
but as usual, most of the big names are on
the hitting side of things. I think the biggest name
on the mound is probably Hagen Smith. So as always,

(02:25):
we will need to take the numbers coming out of
the AFL with a bit of a grain of salt.
But Taylor, what are you most interested in paying attention
to for this year's AFL.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, I mean I try to take anything away from
the AFL, Like we've talked about it, you know, it
could be very misleading. It's a weird environment end of
the year, so I don't try to draw too many
conclusions from it. But I just want to see some
of these players in persons like I'm really excited to
see Sebastian Walcott because I will be at the AFL
this year. I'm going back to first pist Arizona. It's

(02:57):
going to be during the Fall Stars Game, so I
would imagine, you know, some of these big name prospects
are going to be in there. I'll get to see them,
and I think that's gonna be the the fun aspect
of it. But yeah, in terms of like their performance
or anything, you know, I just don't want to see injury.
I don't think there's really anything that they can do
in the AFL that's gonna really sway me one way

(03:18):
or the other.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, I think when we're talking about the big names again,
the mcgonagall's, Walcotts, de paul Is, those kind of guys
like they should kind of dominate the AFL. But at
the same time, like you said, it's the end of
the year, it's a weird environment. I don't think you
can knock them too much if they don't kind of
do what we're expecting of them. And then on the
flip side, some of the guys that you know, we

(03:40):
maybe don't know as well. We maybe need to again
take everything with a bit of a grain of salt,
because we don't want to fall into another Matt Mirvis
situation where we get somebody hyped up on this AFL
performance and then we come into the next year and
they're pushed way up rankings and they just kind of
fall flat.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, I mean, Matt Murvy, Jacob Marcy. But you know,
obviously this year, you know that that's panning out, but
it wasn't panning out a year ago. And then Caleb
Durban was the one from this last year that everyone
was super hyped on and you know he's fine.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, he's been fine. And like you said, Marcy's been
fantastic this year, but coming out of the AFL he
sure looked like a bit of a disappointment. So there
are things that we can gather from this league. It's
just you know, we we kind of need to be
careful about how much we buy into this stuff.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, definitely, And I'm gonna be very dismissing of a
lot of the AFL performances. Now, there are going to
be some that you know, preclude, you know, a good
season next year. But you can say that about spring
training as well. And it's like, you know, a lot
of noise, and if some of it happens to be predictive,
then that in itself is probably just random chance versus

(04:55):
like the AFL actually meaning anything.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
So but with that, Taylor, I think we've probably given
enough time to the AFL, because, as you said, it's
not something that we are necessarily going to give a
lot of time and thought to as those numbers come out.
So let's move on. Let's start thinking about all of
the great baseball discussion that we have coming today, and
that includes a lot of news and notes from around
the baseball world. Once again, we do have a retirement

(05:22):
announcement to talk about, but we've also got some injuries, demotions, promotions,
and a big league debut that went very well. Along
with our main topic, the discussion focused on some of
the names that you can find in our Dynasty Pickups
written articles this week. But before we get to any
of that, I do want to remind everyone about all
of the incredible content that we have been pumping out

(05:43):
at Prospects Live. That includes the Daily Sheets, the Dynasty
prospect and Open Universe lists. There's the Trade Analyzer and
Trade Matchmaker. There's p Live Plus and Hobby Plus. There's
the Dynasty Closer hierarchy, our Dynasty Baseball Pickups written articles.
There's Sunday Smoke from Darren Eisenhower, Diamond diplomas from Lucas Morell,

(06:03):
three up, three down from Tom Gates, Who's up from
Andrew Dahl? And on the podcast front, Episode eighty three
of the p Live Dynasty Pod dropped as Greg Hucamp,
Lucas Morell, and Tom Gates all answered your questions in
the latest installment of the Mailbag Pod. So, as you
can tell, there's a lot of awesome work being done
up and down Prospects Live as we get into the

(06:24):
end of the season here. And whether you like to
read articles, listen to podcasts, or consume your content in
any other way, whether you are into fantasy baseball, the
amateur side of things, card collecting, you name it, we
have something for every kind of baseball fan and it
is all available for as little as five dollars per
month in one convenient place at Prospectslive dot com. And

(06:46):
if you enjoy our podcast, please rate and review us.
We really appreciate the support and please give us a
follow as well. You can find me at Sunny Underscore
one eight on X and Sonny one O eight on
Blue Sky. You can find Taylor at Dynasty Pickups on both.
You can also get ahold of us with all of
your Dynasty Baseball questions at Dynasty Baseball Pickups at gmail

(07:06):
dot com. Now let's get into some of those news
and notes from the baseball world. And let's start with
an official retirement announcement, as Anthony Rizzo is retiring as
a Cub Now, I think most of us are going
to remember him as, you know, one of the key
players on that Cubs team that broke the curse and
won the World Series for the first time in over

(07:27):
one hundred years. But Taylor, is there anything else that
stands out to you about Anthony Rizzo's career.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Definitely his time with the Cubs there, you know, you
mentioned the twenty sixteen World Series. He had three home
runs in that playoffs with the eight sixty six ops.
Was part of the Brizo years with Chris Bryant where
really the Cubs sort of had maybe the best run
in franchise history. So just amazing, three time All Star,

(07:53):
four time goal Glove winner, Platinum Glove winner. But what
really kind of sticks out to me is, you know,
so he got traded in three different times and kind
of very interesting deals. So originally drafted by the Red Sox,
was traded to the Padres before his debut for Adrian
Gonzalez debuted with the Padres, then was traded from the

(08:14):
Padres to the Cubs for Andrew Kashner and then finally
was eventually traded to the Yankees for Kevin al Katara.
So a lot of very interesting players in Adrian Gonzalez,
Andrew Kashner, and a pretty interesting prospect who's yet to
really get it going in Kevin al Katara. But you know,
forty woar across his career as a first baseman, is

(08:35):
he a Hall of Famer? Probably not. I don't think
he's quite there, but he's definitely like Hall very good.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, I think there will be people arguing for Anthony
Rizzo in the Hall of Fame, if for no other
reason then the role he played on that twenty sixteen
team that won the World Series. But Taylor, what I
remember most about Anthony Rizzo is far less thoughtful than
where you went with it, because all I think about
when I think of Anthony Rizzo is that clip of

(09:04):
the Rundown with Freddie Freeman where he just starts yelling
Frederick and everybody starts busting out laughing. I absolutely love
that clip, and that is the first thing that always
comes to my mind when I think of Anthony Rizzo. Yeah,
that's a great shout out, all right, Taylor, Let's move
on to some injuries here and some more meaningful ones,

(09:26):
and quite a few that are hurting me in some
of my championship pursuits. Here, if I'm being honest, let's
dive into him though. We've got Trey Turner with a
hamstring strain. We've got Sean Murphy with a labral tear
in his hip, which has reportedly been a bit of
an issue for three seasons now, but Murphy only recently

(09:46):
let the Braves know when it became unbearably painful. He
is reportedly has undergone surgery already this past Thursday. We've
also got Logan o'hoppi on the concussion al Tyler Locklear
is dealing with elbow inflammation, Dustin May has elbow neriritis,
Bobashett has a knee sprain, Kyle Tucker a calf strain,

(10:07):
the astros pitcher Luis Garcia is dealing with elbow discomfort,
and just earlier today, Jose Alvarado went on the IL
with a forearm strain and it looks like he is
done for the year now, Taylor, the one I want
to focus on real quick here is Sean Murphy, because
if this is something that has been bothering him for
three years, and he hasn't told the team. This feels

(10:29):
like something that is going to really create a divide
between him and the organization, maybe his teammates as well.
And with the fact that they've got Drake Baldwin there now,
I wouldn't be surprised if we see Sean Murphy get
moved in the off season, maybe somewhere that he has,
you know, more of an opportunity than it looks like
he might have in Atlanta. Now with Drake Baldwin emerging,
could this actually be a good thing for his fantasy value?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, I think so. I think it, you know, and
I agree one hundred percent. I don't really see him
as sticking around with Atlanta next year. You know, when
you don't tell a team about an injury like that
is going to create a divide. And with them having
that option there with Baldwin, you know, it just makes
so much sense for them to move Sean Murphy. So
I think it's going to help everybody. You know, the

(11:15):
Murphy situation with Baldwin there, you know, it kind of
hurts both their their fancy value. So if they can
move Murphy and we've seen, you know, their willingness to
move a catcher before, right, and the William Cancerero steal.
So I'm hopeful that that happens. And you know, from
one sort of like team conflict standpoint to another, I

(11:37):
want to talk Aboutdustin May for a little bit, because
how bad does that trade look right now? You know,
Red Sox got a lot of grief for it at
the time they traded for Dustin May at the deadline.
The two pieces they gave up were James Tibbs, who
was one of the main pieces back in the Devor's trade,
and Zach Erhart, who I wrote up this week. Both
have been way better since getting traded to the Dodgers. Meanwhile,

(12:00):
Destin May has a five to forty ERA with the
Red Sox. It is likely going to be done for
the rest of the year. I don't think it's official,
but at this point with the elbow neuritis, probably not
very likely that he returns at least in the regular season.
And then, as I mentioned, Tibbs was part of the
return for Rafael Devers, which was another trade that the
Red Sox got a lot of grief for. And you

(12:22):
look at the other pieces they got back, and it
hasn't been great for them. You know, Harrison's only pitched
three innings for the Red Sox this year, Jordan Hicks
has an eight to twenty ERA before getting hurt with
the Red Sox still in a contract for two more seasons.
And Jose Beayo, who's kind of the minor league reliever,
has been fine, but he's been worse since coming over
to the Red Sox. I Meanwhile, Devers has a one
thirty three WRC plus with the Giants and has played

(12:44):
like twenty games at first base, which was seemingly the
sticking point with the Red Sox. There so not a
good year for the Red Sox in trading. I gotta say.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
No, it hasn't been for their sake. Thankfully, They've still
been developing very well, but yeah, they have not done
a great job on the trade front.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Taylor.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
There are some other big names in this group, though,
guys like Turner, Bashett Tucker. Does anybody here really concern
you down the stretch for your fantasy playoffs because it
is that time of year where an injury means we
just might not get them back.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, I mean we've seen sort of Tucker have these
long stints where it seemingly minor injury turns into a
major thing. So I think Tucker is the one that,
you know, obviously the most highest end name on this list,
but the one that concerns me the most, but not
a name that you mentioned, but just wanted to give
him a shout out. Luis Scarcia of the Houston Astros.

(13:40):
You know, one of those things where it's like he
fought his way back from injury, finally got back on
the mound, look good, and now's gonna be out for
a long time. And it's just I just feel for
the guy because, yeah, it's just been a long road
and then now to be heard again, it just sucks.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, it was just his second or third game back too,
so it like it's almost immediately after he came back.
It's really unforfortunate for him, Like you said, somebody, let's
put in a ton of work just to get back
to where he was. But we will move on to
a couple of injury updates here. The first one is
a player that hasn't actually been put on the il,

(14:21):
but apparently Anthony Volpi has been playing through a partial
labrum tear in his shoulder that could potentially explain some
of the problems that he's been having really on both
sides of the ball as of late. And David festa
news is that he has a compressed nerve, not thoracic
outlet syndrome as it was once thought. So this is

(14:43):
actually good news for Festa and he should be ready
to go for spring training. It sounds like there is
still a procedure that he'll have to go through, but
far more minor than the surgery that thoracic outlet syndrome
would require, which for some guys, you know, they don't
ever come back from that the same some don't ever
come back at all. So this is very good news
for Festa, but not so much for Volpy. So what

(15:05):
can we gather from this really going into next year? Taylor,
do we think Volpi maybe takes a step forward? And
is there a buy low opportunity on Festa?

Speaker 2 (15:15):
I was just gonna swing it back your way and
ask you which one would you rather buy low on
this offseason, Vulpi or Festa.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
I think I would rather buy low on Festa, just
because even when Volpi is healthy, we have seen him
having some issues where with Festa. We we really haven't seen,
you know, a true opportunity for him in the big leagues,
and given you know, all the moves that the Twins
made at the deadline this year, there's going to be

(15:42):
plenty of opportunity for him next year.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I it's close for me. I think I'm gonna
buy low on Vulpy. I think we've seen some improvements.
We've seen like little facets of his game get better
here and there. You know, the ground ball rate is
down this year, the powers up, even with the issue
with the shoulder there. Like I I kind of feel

(16:06):
like he's a sneaky Bilow. You know, he's still just
twenty four years old. I don't know. I think now's
maybe a good time to shop for him. I like
Fest as well. I think he's another good Bilo, but
the injury stuff for a pitcher scares me off a
little bit more than for a hitter.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah, and that's fair. I will say. I do like
the bi Loo opportunity on both of them. So I
think if there's anything that listeners out there can take
from this, it's that we like the Bilo opportunity on
both Volpi and Festa. We just maybe have different preferences
as to which one we would go after first. All right, now,
one potential injury and a potential big one here, Taylor,

(16:42):
because Trek Scouble has left tonight's game early with what
they are calling left side tightness. That likely means an
oblique that likely means an injury stint. Hopefully again fingers crossed.
Knock on wood. This is Viner and he's going to
be okay. It wasn't his best to begin with, so
maybe it was a bit precautionary, but this potentially could

(17:04):
be pretty devastating for a lot of fantasy teams out
there at this time of year.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, and for the Tigers as well, you know, being
in the playoffs there. So yeah, just a really unfortunate situation.
Terror Schoogle, I mean, just a fantastic pitcher. Are you
reably the best pitcher in the game right now? And yeah,
you just you hate to see it. I don't know
what else to say but that like it sucks.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
It definitely does suck. And as someone we talked about
it before, I almost forgot the fact that the Tigers
were in a playoff race and this was hurting them too,
because I have him in a few of my playoff races,
and I'm really feeling it today. Let's move on, though.
We've got one minor league injury to discuss, because Braden
Montgomery is dealing with a foot fracture. So this is
a guy that ended last year after the draft with

(17:52):
an injury. He's now ending this year with an injury.
They are, you know, relatively fluky things. They're not soft
tissue injuries. But are you may be a little bit
concerned with the mounting injuries or is it not such
an issue because it's not a repeat injury because it's
not a soft tissue problem.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
I think it's more the latter I'm I'm not loving it,
but I think if we start to see more injuries
again next season, then it becomes like, Okay, this is
this is now a trend. But I don't think it's
to that point quite yet. No, I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
I don't think he's quite at like the Chase the
latter levels of things. I think, like you said, if
we see some more injuries next year, we start getting concerned,
but he's he's not quite there yet.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, exactly, all right.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Now, a couple demotions as Houston and the Dodgers have
had some players get healthy and have potentially had some
promotions here as well, but Jacob Melton and Alex Freeland
have been sent back down to the miners. Neither of
them Taylor got you know, much of an opportunity in
their most recent stint in the big leagues, but neither
of them did a whole lot with the opportunity that

(19:03):
they did get. So is there one of these guys
that you're maybe you know, more worried about than the other,
and is there one that you might still be looking
to buy low on, similar to the discussion we had
with a Volpi and a Festa.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I really like Jacob Melton. I think that's one
where I would be more willing to buy low. I
know the performance at the big league level has been awful,
you know, just terrible, but you know, he was good
in Triple A, still young, like the the elements are
there for a good player, and he vastly I think

(19:37):
underperformed his stackass, which was still bad, but he did
underperform it. So one of those where I just think,
you know, there's enough tools there that I believe in
the profile. I'm less sort of enthusiastic about Alex Freeland,
particularly in that organization. I just don't think he has
the sort of you know, skills that the the Dodgers

(19:58):
are really gonna make him like an every day at
any point did perform better than Melton, but I still
like Melton better long term.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
There, I think I'm with you one hundred percent there.
So let's move on to a DFA actually where this
is one that pains me to be right on because
this is a player I was never a big fan of,
and Orrelvis Martinez was recently dfaed by the Blue Jays.
That's why it pains me to be right on this
one because it is my blue Jays. But with Alec

(20:27):
Manoa being reinstated off the IL but assigned to Triple A,
they had to make room for someone. It was Aurelvis Martinez.
He frankly was having just a dreadful year down in
Triple A. So, Taylor, is there really much of any
hope for or Elvis at this point? Or is this
somebody that you are kind of knocking off your your
fantasy rankings and someone that you are maybe looking to

(20:50):
get rid of on your fantasy rosters.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
If I have him on a roster right now, I'm
probably gonna wait it out till, like he a fish
gets released or traded or claimed. I think there's you know,
organizations that if they pick him up, I'm gonna wait
and see. Because no offense to the Blue Jays, but
I don't consider them a top tier development organization. I

(21:15):
don't consider them an awful one. But I do think
you know, if the Dodgers or the Rays or you know,
one of those type of organizations steps in for Elvis Martinez,
then I'm gonna want to keep my shares, but I'm
gonna sort of wait toll the best settles, and then
if I don't like where he ends up or nobody
claims him, then yeah, he's off my rosters. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
I at this point, thankfully don't have anywhere Elvis shares,
so I don't have to think about that. But let's
move on to some exciting news, Taylor, because with a ball,
Single A and Hi A finishing last weekend, we've got
some promotions to double A of some really exciting players,
and that includes Jesus made Irun Escobar, Dante Nori, Jose Wade,

(21:56):
De Paula, Zayer, Hope, and Liam Doyle so we've got
number of players that obviously organizations wanted to see more
from this year. Is there anybody in this group whose
performance in double A might push themselves up your rankings
a little bit more to end the year here?

Speaker 2 (22:13):
I mean, I think all of them, but I think
the most interesting one is Hazy's Made, And I hope
this sort of decides the Made versus PAYNYA argument. Made
got promoted double A, Penia did not. So yeah, clearly
we know who the brewers are higher on and it's
worth noting. You know, Penia struggled it at Hi A there,

(22:34):
but but yeah, I mean Made, with a strong performance
at double A, you know, he becomes top three easily.
So I think that's the that's the one that you know,
we could be talking about, you know, with a strong
finish to the season here, we could be talking about
him potentially number one if it's really good. So he's

(22:57):
the one that I'm like, really paying attention to what
he does. I think the rest of them definitely, you know,
if you have a strong performance in the high minors
your first look there, it's definitely gonna boost your stock.
But it really Made is the one that I'm most
excited to see what he does.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
I'm with you one hundred percent there. So let's move
up to the big name moving to Triple A, and
that is Aiden Miller of the Phillies, who's put together
a nice season in Double A. He's now one step
away from the big leagues with a strong end to
this year and a strong start next year. How early
do you think we might see Aiden Miller in the
big leagues in twenty twenty six, Taylor.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, that's a good question. I don't think we're gonna
see like him out of camp or anything like that,
but I think we could see him, you know, maybe
in the the middle of the season. I don't think
we necessarily might have to wait till the end. I think,
you know, obviously it's going to come down to how
he performs and what the roster looks like. But yeah,
I think we should see him, uh, you know, maybe

(23:53):
by midseason.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, this is one that I've been excited about for
a while. I've been holding him maybe a little bit
higher than I should have been on my rankings for
a while, but that's starting to look a little bit
better and I'm pretty excited for what could be. Yeah,
by halfway through next year. I'm with you one hundred
percent there. So let's move on to a couple of
players who are returning to the big leagues. First in

(24:16):
Kyle Harrison, who you mentioned earlier, and Moyses by Asteros
for the Cubs. Now, neither of these guys have been
you know, stellar in their big league samples this year.
But is there one that you think might be able
to help some fantasy teams in their playoffs playoff push here?
Not really, that's the correct answer.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
I really don't think we're gonna get much run for
either one. To be honest, like you, by Steros is
not an everyday starter at this point. In Kyle Harrison,
it seems like they're using him more in limited stints.
So so yeah, I just don't don't really think there's
there's a whole lot there.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, I'm with you one hundred percent there. I think
Harrison's gonna be some kind of weird middle relief or
maybe get two or three or four innings here and there.
He's gonna be really hard to predict. And Biasteros just
isn't going to get meaningful at bats at this point.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, exactly, all.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Right, So, lastly, Taylor. Let's get into the big big
league debut of the past week, and that is Connolly Early,
and what a debut it was, as he struck out
eleven batters over five shutout innings. Now, Early is one
of really many breakout arms in that Boston system. But
compared to somebody like a Peyton Tolly that came up

(25:31):
just a couple of weeks ago, how excited are you
for Connolly Early?

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, I mean one of the better debuts you know
in recent memory. I I'm fairly excited. I don't have
many shares of him, but you know, we saw a
Peyton Tolly and a lot of excitement over his debut,
and then he's kind of fallen flat at his next
two starts. So I think it's one of those where
you you can't like, obviously you're gonna start early again

(25:56):
in like a redraft league or something, or in your playoffs,
but just that there's gonna be some bumps in the road.
You know, one fantastic debut does not define a career
there and if I'm not mistaken that eleven strikeouts was
actually a professional career high.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
For him, not only professional, but the fun fact here
it's more than he ever struck out in college as well.
So this is a high since going all the way
back to high school for Connolly early.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, I mean, the adrenaline must have been pomping. He
had the game of his life. But don't don't let
that sway you too much on your evaluation, you know,
before his debut. I think he should be valued, you know, higher,
but not too much higher than what he was valued before.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Absolutely with you, one hundred percent, Taylor. So let's move on.
That's the end of our news and notes this week.
Let's get into the players everybody needs to know, and
let's start with your first recommendation, Taylor.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, this is what I'm pretty excited about. Went out
and grabbed him in a bunch of leagues over the
last week. And this is Kemp Alderman, so twenty three
year old outfielder in the Marlin system at TRIPAA. I
know I've gotten some flat about my dismissal of Martlin's
hitting prospects, but I'm more willing to buy in when
they're close to the big leagues and Kemp Alderman is

(27:09):
knocking on the door. Six two two thirty five is
what he's listed that right, handed hitter six percent rostered
on fan tracks. When my article came out yesterday, he
was five percent, So you know, maybe maybe I had
something duo that. Not sure, but I'll take credit regardless.
But all serious, this just a really fantastic season that
he's had between Double A and Triple A fourner and

(27:31):
nine nine plate appearances two eighty five through thirty nine
four to seventy ninth slash twenty one to twenty one seasons,
so twenty one home runs, in stolen bases each, seven
point four percent walk rate, twenty three percent k rate,
and he was the forty seventh overall pick in the
twenty twenty three draft. He's a guy I've been kind
of intrigued by just because of his power upside, But

(27:52):
what really impressed me was his Triple A debut that
he had this year. He homered in his first four
games at the level and has six home runs. Now
through eleven games, he's hit three twenty four, three sixty six,
eight sixty five. Is his lugging, that's what happens when
you hit six home runs in eleven games. But you know,

(28:12):
as you can imagine, the quality of contact is phenomenal
with the stack cast there. It's a ridiculously small sample,
but he ranks ninety third percentile higher in wOBA ex
wOBA average EV, ninetieth EV max EV. I think in
his first game he said a max of one fourteen
point four. He's ninety third percentile higher. And barrel rate
and hard hit rate as well. I think he's one

(28:33):
hundredth percentile and hard hit rate if I'm not mistaken.
So just fantastic quality of contact, and that really tracks
because the raw power with Alderman has never really been
a question. Fangrafts give his raw power a eighty grade,
which you do not generally see, so just off the
charts power. He's living up to that reputation so far

(28:56):
in Triple A. However, that hasn't always been the case.
He posted just a one eleven ISO in his thirty
four game professional debut in twenty twenty three. He posted
a one to forty nine ISO in twenty twenty four.
It was only a seventy seven game season because he
fractured his hand during the twenty twenty four season, and
then in the first half of twenty twenty five, Alderman

(29:16):
posted that exact same one forty nine ISO in his
first seventy six games there with nine home runs heading
into the All Star Break. So really, up until the
All Star Break this year, he's looked like a guy who, yes,
he has this incredible raw power, he's not necessarily hitting
the ball at ideal angles. He's grounding out too much
and that's preventing him from getting in that game power.

(29:36):
And I say he's been grounding out too much. You
look at his ground ball rates throughout his career. He
had sixty one point five percent mark in twenty twenty three,
forty nine percent mark last year in DOUBLEA this year
of fifty four point two percent mark. So the ground
ball rates are definitely the issue, the thing that's been
holding back his power. However, coming out of the All
Star Break, something looks to have changed, because in his

(29:58):
last thirty four games prior to this insane Triple A stretch,
he raises ISO to two O two. He had six
home runs in those thirty four games, and then obviously
getting into Triple A. You know, I described the run
he's been on. But all told, since coming out of
the All Star Break between Double A and Triple A,
he slashed two ninety two, three fifty two five to
seventy one since July twenty second, with the two to

(30:20):
eighty ISO twelve home runs at seven steals in forty
five games there And why can't split his ground ball
rate to see like what he's done since the All
Star break. I do know the ground ball rate is
down significantly at Triple A. It's down to thirty four
point five percent. So it's really easy to understand why
he's getting into more power because he's lifting the ball more.

(30:41):
And the other interesting thing this year is that Alderman
has kept the strikeouts down twenty three percent mark overall
on the year. He's posted contact rates in the low seventies,
which is not great, but it's not you know, awful either.
He's stealing a surprising amount of bases twenty one stolen
bases this year. He had a previous career high of five.
I've stolen bases in twenty twenty four. On the negative side,

(31:03):
it's a really aggressive approach. He's got chase issues. All
of his approach and contact metrics at Triple A are below average.
He's striking out more at a triple A sample. The
pole rate has fallen from double A. The airpole rate's
not good, So there are some major major question marks here.
But he's got massive power, he's got proximity. He's definitely

(31:28):
showing more ability they show in the past to get
into that power. You know, he hasn't had a lot
of experience between you know, kind of his truncated draft
year and then the injury last year, So you know,
we're talking about a guy who you know, potentially still
has some development in front of them, and you know,
right now it's one where I think it's worth the
risk to pick him up, but I don't know that

(31:48):
everyone's going to agree for me. He's a pickup in
leagues of two or fifty plus prospects.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, this is a really interesting one because what he's
been doing this year has been really encouraging. As you noted,
the fact that he is getting to more contact, he's
lifting the ball more, he is being more selective is
really encouraging for a profile like this with his kind
of massive power potential. But again, as you noted, all
of those metrics are still kind of below average and

(32:15):
have even taken a little bit more of a step
back since getting to triple A. So I'm not going
to go too far into that because you did a
really good job kind of covering both sides of the
coin with those improvements while still being kind of below average.
The one thing I did want to touch on more
so though, is the stolen bases, because yes, he has
twenty one steals on the year, but he's also been

(32:35):
caught nine times and he typically receives very poor run grades.
So I don't think that this is something that is
going to continue in the big leagues. I could be
wrong with that. I just don't see him being much
of a contributor in the stolen base category for Fantasy
going forward. All in all, I do really like the
strides that we've seen him take this year. He's absolutely

(32:56):
done what he's needed to to move up the ranks.
I really want to see if he can keep it
up at the start of next season. And if I
was still allowed to adjust my rankings at this point,
this is someone that I probably would move up a
little bit from where I've got him. I think i'd
have him more in the kind of three fifty range,
so a little bit behind where you have him, Taylor.

(33:16):
But what you ended your article with I think really
hits the nail on the head. Because you said invest
appropriately for your risk tolerance, and this is a player
with massive boom or bust potential and for that reason,
there's really a wide range of where somebody might be
willing to pick him up.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, and I think that's a really good call out.
And I think the other part of it is like
the proximity, right, because if this guy was in single A,
you might say, ah, it's not worth it for that
boom or bust potential because I got to wait so
long to really see if he can overcome these hitual questions.
Whereas he's in triple A. There are opportunities in that
Marlins organization seemingly all the time for hitters to come

(33:56):
up and perform. And so you know the fact that
you'll have to wait long, potentially to see if he's
going to boom or bust, I think it also makes
it worthwhile.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Absolutely, And Taylor, we are going to get to another
big boom or bus type of player at the end
of this episode, but before we do that, I want
to touch on an interesting catcher actually, a nineteen year
old named Enrique Jimenez who ended the year in single
A after being traded to the Minnesota twins from the Tigers
in the deal that sent Chris Paddock the other way. Now,

(34:29):
Jimenez is listed at five foot nine, one hundred and
seventy pounds, just one percent rostered and unranked in our
last update, But our scouts did grade his tools in
the offseason when he was a part of the Tigers system.
They gave him a fifty grade hit tool, forty five power,
twenty run, with a fifty on the glove and a
fifty five arms. So there's an interesting kind of tool

(34:51):
set here, especially on the defensive side of things, which
could give him some opportunity going forward with.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
The bat as well.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
On the year, though, he has slash two fifty six
three seventy one four seventy six with twelve home runs,
five stolen bases, a twenty two percent k rate, and
a sixteen percent walk rate in seventy one games. He
was especially strong in his twenty three games after being
traded from Detroit to Minnesota, though, and as I said,

(35:19):
they promoted him directly to single A and with a
two sixty nine four thirty one, five point fifty one
triple slash. He had a very strong end of the
year for his new organization. He chipped in six more
home runs there, twenty three and a half percent strikeout
rate and a crazy twenty two and a half percent
walk Right now, that does come from a bit of passivity.

(35:40):
I'll get to that more in a moment, But in
his preseason report on Jimenez, Reyes White actually mentioned that
he isn't built like a prototypical catcher, and that's pretty
clear to see when we look at those listed measurables
of five, nine, one seventy. But Reese also noted that
Jimenez has all of the ingredients to develop into at
least solid backup catcher with room for more if he

(36:03):
can continue to hit and unlock more power. And at
that time, Jimenez had just five career home runs in
eighty nine games across his first two professional seasons, but
he really outdid that number this year with his twelve
bombs in seventy one games. He boosted his ISO from
one thirty four in twenty twenty four to two twenty

(36:23):
in twenty twenty five, and more specifically it was two
eighty two after his promotion to single A following the trade.
Not only did he improve his power output, but he
also improved his contact ability, jumping from sixty eight percent
contact in twenty twenty four to seventy three in twenty
twenty five and seventy seven percent in single A specifically. Now,

(36:44):
while there have been improvements in both his contact and power,
it hasn't been all positive in those regards because, as
you might expect from a player listed just five nine,
one seventy, the upper end velocities haven't been anything to
get excited about. He did post a strong eighty nine
mile an hour average exit velocity in single A, but
he had just a one oh three mile an hour

(37:04):
max and he did have a twenty six percent home
run per fly ball rate. So with those kinds of
upper end exit velocities and a home run per fly
ball rate that's about two and a half times what
you would expect, this really just isn't a sustainable pace
at this point. Now, further to that point of kind
of the the cons of some of the things that

(37:25):
he has actually improved this year. The contact rate, the
contact has been solid, but it's come with a fairly
passive approach, because Jimenez swung at just forty five percent
of pitches on the year and just forty percent in
single A. Specifically, getting back to the positive side of things, though,
Peli Plus really likes Enrique Jimenez. He ranks one hundred
and forty first overall in the system right now with

(37:48):
a score of one thirty four, and he compares very
favorably to other single A hitters. I will note I'm
much less bullish on the power potential than our projection
system is, but I do think he's an intriguing name
in deeper leagues of maybe four hundred plus prospects rostered
and with a solid glove behind the dish, he could
be fantasy viable in even shallower leagues where two catchers

(38:10):
are started. But with Taylor neither of us typically being
a big fan of catching prospects and not typically being
a big fan of players with limited power potential, I'm
really interested to hear your thoughts on Enrique Jimenez.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, he's a very interesting player. He's actually one that
I've had my eye on for a couple weeks now,
just haven't for all the reasons you mentioned, you know,
not the typical profile that we we right about. You know,
this is looking like a fleece in that trade for
the twins because Chris Baddock has been absolutely awful with
the Tigers since that trade, and Jimenez just what a

(38:47):
huge step forward he's taken with his new organization at
a new level. I think it's just like you mentioned it,
but it's super impressive. You know, the swinging strike rate
has fallen five percent, the walk raise up ten percent,
ISOs up ninety two points, that contacts up seven points,
and a big part of it, like you mentioned, is
he went from sort of this more aggressive approach to
maybe more of a passive, you know, maybe a little

(39:09):
too passive approach. I think there's a sweet spot in
the middle there where he can sort of perform at
this higher level without being too passive. But I agree,
I still have the questions that you do about the power.
I mean, he's undersize. The other thing is, like you know,
he's sort of playing catcher first base. Is he a
catcher long term? I know you mentioned there's some hope,

(39:31):
but I think it's going to be an open question.
And then obviously he's going to provide you nothing in
the speed department. So I agree, I think he's a
decent prospect to have in deeper two catcher leagues. But
that's about all I'm really interested in him.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I think that's really the only place to be interested.
There is some some interesting skills here, but still a
deep league name for now. Let's move on, though Taylor,
from one Twins prospect to another, and let's get into
the loan pitcher that we will be discussing today.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yeah, that is Adrian Bohorquz. I don't know if I'm
pronouncing that right, but bo h o r ku e Z,
twenty year old starting pitcher in the Twins organization at HYA.
Listed six one ninety pounds right handed thrower, one percent
rostered on fan tracks, so out there in a ton
of leagues. Overall, his stats on the year aren't going

(40:21):
to jump out at you. Seventy one and a third inning,
pitched a four point two nine ERA one point one
to eight whip across single A and HIA with a
twenty seven point two percent strikeout rate, and sneaks just
under the ten percent walk rate mark with a nine
point nine percent walk rate there. Adrian Bojorquez was a
twenty twenty three j fifteen signing out of Venezuela. Struggled

(40:42):
in his initial DSL season, but put together a strong
twenty twenty four season. However, even during that breakout season
in twenty twenty four, he struggled with the walks, finishing
the year with a twelve point three percent walk rate
across both the complex in single A levels. Last season.
This year, Bejorquez started out at Single A and struggled
out of the gates. He had a fourteen point three

(41:03):
to four ERA a sixteen point seven walk rate through
his first four starts. Yeah, not not what you wanted
to see at that point, but Jorquez suddenly went eleven
days without pitching. Now, I don't know what happened in
that eleven days, but that's an unusually long amount of
time to go between starts. No injury was reported, but
I'd like to think he spent that eleven days making

(41:25):
some mechanical adjustments, because when he came back, it was
a completely different pitcher. Since his return from that gap
in time on June first, he's thrown to a two
point five to two ERA, a zero point ninety seven whip,
twenty eight point two percent strikeout rate, and just an
eight point three percent walk rate. He was promoted to

(41:46):
Hya in August and since then seen his walk rate
to fall all the way to six point one percent
at the new level in five outings, and the stuff
is absolutely fantastic. With Behorcz, He's got a mid nighties
fastball that reaches up to ninety eight. Fangrafts gives it
a plus grade. He pairs that with a hammer curveball
that Fangrafts gives a double plus grade to a seventy grade,

(42:09):
and they also grade his cutters average. We see it
also classified as a slider at times, and he has
a blow average developing change up. In their scouting report
for Bejorquez, Fangrafts says he badly needs to harness his control,
but they're exciting wrong ingredients here and still plenty of
time to polish them. I think we're seeing him start
to polish them, particularly with the command and control. Since

(42:32):
his promotion to the higher level to High A there
and his last five starts, he's bumped his strike throwing
rate from sixty percent to sixty three percent. Fangrafts also
are a big fan of his delivery. They say it
looks effortless and the statcast that he's posted from his
time in Single A is really impressive. With his fastball, cutter,
and curveball all receiving above average stuff grades. And you know,

(42:56):
obviously it's a short track record. There's a much longer
track record of him struggling. But he doesn't pitch that
deep into games. You know, of his nineteen outings, just
five of them have been five innings or more. But
that's not unusual for a young pitcher like this. And
to me, he's just a really interesting arm that's flying
under the radar, still young and developing, but the potential

(43:20):
for two plus or even better pitches vastly improve recent control.
I think there's a ton to like here. I think
this is a guy who could move up rankings of
this offseason as more and more people become aware of them.
Right now, I think he's more of a deeper league arm,
but a guy who I'd be willing to pick up
in leagues of foreigner plus prospects. But I'm really curious, Kyle,
what your thoughts on him are, because I think he's

(43:40):
really interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I think he's really interesting too, Taylor. I think this
is a great call out for deeper leagues. That fastball
curveball combo looks fantastic, The delivery really is effortless. I've watched,
you know, some of the video on him. It's one
of those deliveries that makes you wonder how he produces
so much velo with how low effort it looks. And
I love the control games we've seen. I think those improvements, though,

(44:05):
actually started back in single a a little bit later
than that June first start that you mentioned, But his
first seven outings of the year he walked two or
three batters in all of them, but that leads into
the last one being June twelfth. Following that, from June
twentieth on he walked two or more batters just three

(44:27):
times for the rest of the season, So he really
turned things on after that, really seeming to figure things
out a little bit. Obviously a big step in the
right direction with his control. So while the numbers in
HIA specifically look really good, I think that change actually
happened a little bit earlier, and because the delivery looks
so effortless, I tend to believe the control games can stick.

(44:50):
But he does need to develop a more effective off
speed pitch for me to really buy into him as
a starter long term. Now, he could be a very
good reliever with that fastball, curveball combo. Obviously, the real
value comes in his ability to start though, so I
think that will be a major factor in his development
going forward. Something to track, But I love this call out,

(45:11):
and I think you nailed the recommendation of four hundred
plus prospects.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Yeah. I mean, if he doesn't develop that third pitch,
he's you know, Ben Brown potentially. Yeah, so we need
to sort of see that. But he's got plenty of time.
I mean, just twenty years old in hya. You know,
this is his third professional season, and obviously he's making
adjustments what you want to see, getting better and better
every season. I just think there's a lot to like there,
and I think that four hundred mark makes sense for now.

(45:37):
But I think he's going to be a big riser
over the next year as long as he stays healthy.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
I am with you there, especially like you said, if
he can stay healthy. But if he can develop that
third offering, maybe it's a splitter, maybe it's a kick change,
maybe he's got trouble with a more traditional change up.
But I think there's something there that could really elevate
him to another level. And I think that we will
see him really take off next year if that third
pitch gets added to the mix. Absolutely all right, Now, Taylor,

(46:05):
let's get into the other big boom or bust player
that I was alluding to earlier, and that is Zach Cole,
twenty five year old outfielder who is now all the
way up to the big leagues. When I started writing this,
he was still in Triple A. But he is a
Houston Astros outfielder listed six two one ninety and with
him just recently being promoted, his roster eight has already

(46:28):
started to climb. It was one percent when I last
looked yesterday. I took a look just a few minutes ago.
It's up to three percent now, and that's because of
his stellar performance today. My plan was to talk about
how good Zach Cole has been since being promoted to
Triple A, and I still will, but I do have
to start with the fact that he got the call
to the big leagues. He made his debut today and

(46:50):
on the very first pitch he saw, he blasted a
ball one hundred and fourteen miles an hour to write
center for a home run. He ended the day three
for four with four RBIs and absolutely stellar debut. Now,
as I said three percent rostered on fan tracks. At
the moment, he is ranked five seventy one currently as

(47:10):
of our July update, and shout out to Tom Gates
because he was the only one to rank him. But
I can tell you right now that will not be
the case in the coming update, because even in the
minor leagues, he was having a very good year, slashing
two seventy nine, three seventy seven, five thirty nine, nineteen
home runs, eight stolen bases. The big kind of you know,

(47:31):
red flag in the profile here is the thirty five
percent k rate, but he also walked at a twelve
and a half percent clip. And when we get into
what he did specifically after being promoted to Triple A,
we start to see some changes that lead you to
believe there might be something here, because he slashed three
fifty three, four fifty nine, seven forty five with five

(47:51):
home runs, three steals, a twenty eight percent k rate,
so things were trending in the right direction, and a
six percent walk rate. Now, our scouts in the offseason
gave him a thirty grade hit tool. More on that
in a moment, because I do think it has improved,
but they also gave him fifty power, sixty run, sixty field,
and a seventy arm. So, as you can tell, he's
always been pretty tooled up, but that hit tool has

(48:14):
been a major question mark. And while that remained mostly
true in Double A, it took small strides to start
the year, his fifteen games in Triple A were much
better because his zone contact rate jumped from sixty eight
percent in Double A to eighty five percent in Triple A,
and he cut his wiff rate from thirty nine percent
to twenty five percent. And that much improved contact was

(48:37):
key to his success in Triple A because it allowed
his raw power to really shine through, where Cole posted
a one to twelve mile an hour max EV, which
again he already bested in his first major league swing
with that one hundred and fourteen mile an hour bomb.
He also, though in Triple A, had a one to
ten mile an hour ninetieth EV and a ninety one

(48:58):
mile an hour average exit for law while posting stellar
barrel and sweet spot rates of twenty six and fifty
two percent respectively, which according to TJ Stats were both
tops in all of Triple A during that time, as
well as a nearly fifty percent hard hit rate. Now,
despite the greatly improved contact rates, he still had a
k rate of around twenty eight percent in triple A,

(49:20):
and that is due to an extremely passive approach, which
really isn't anything new for Coal, but it was more
extreme following the promotion, and while it does help him
limit the chase significantly, it also had him swinging at
just around forty percent of pitches overall and watching a
lot of pitches in the zone that he could do
damage on. Furthermore, he has also displayed some issues with

(49:43):
non fastballs because those have traditionally been the pitches that
he does tend to chase a little bit more often,
and they are also the pitch types that he tends
to whiff.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
On more often.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
Getting back to the positives though, on top of the
tantalizing power and speed I mentioned, our scouts also gave him,
as I noted, the sixty glove and seventy arm, which
means that he should get plenty of opportunity not only
to end the year, but to start next season in
what frankly is a very talent starved Big League outfield
there in Houston. There's still a pretty low floor here

(50:14):
if he can't maintain those contact games. So coming into
this I was going to recommend him for leagues of
three hundred and fifty plus prospects rostered. But given the
fact that he just made his big league debut is
already seeing his roster rate climb, that debut was stellar.
I think this is a player that you can jump
on in even shallower leagues. And I know it can
be tough to trust somebody like this who just came

(50:37):
up to the bigs, who traditionally has had some swing
and miss issues. But Taylor, if you are in your
fantasy playoffs right now, is this somebody that you might
be looking at for, you know, a potential power speed
boost to your lineup to end the year here if
you are maybe needy in your final outfield spot.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Oh absolutely, I did that today. We both grabbed shares
maybe an hour or two ago. Yeah, you sent me
the the post about his home run, and then I
looked at my leagus and looked at you had already
picked up shares in most of them. So I just
went and grabbed those shares and the rest of them, because, yeah,

(51:16):
I could really agree with everything you're saying, and it'll
be very interesting when we get the conversation between him
and Kept Alderman, because they're kind of similar but also
in different ways. They both have massive upside, they both
have massive risk, but they kind of get there in
different ways. Zach Cole, he had the weirdest start to
his season. Started the season with an oblique injury, came

(51:38):
back April sixteenth, and you know, basically got placed on
the il again June second. I don't know what the
injury was the second time around, but in that stretch
before June second, had a forty one point five percent strikeout, right,
So look at that season long strikeout, right, That's where
a lot of it comes from. Is he was just
dreadful through his first twenty nine games. But even then,

(52:00):
even with striking out more than forty percent of the time,
he still posted at one fourteen WRC plus, so like
it still shows the upside. He came back from the
aisle on June eleventh for the second time this year
and then posted a thirty two point four percent k
rate the rest of the way, so still not great,
but definitely lowered. You know, you covered what he's done

(52:21):
since he got to triple A pretty extensively, but Obviously,
it's been like night and day the contact and the
strikeouts since coming to Triple A. I would love to
hear if there's some sort of adjustment he made or something,
but it certainly looks like it. It's, you know, really
exciting to see what he's done in his you know,
his debut. Obviously, I think there's enough there that you

(52:44):
have to grab him for the upside. You know, you
mentioned the big tools that we gave him. I know
Pipeline also gave him big tools. They said he had
thirty thirty potential. So this is a guy who you know,
the hit tool's really the question. The hit too can
come along enough like the there's a lot to like here. Now.
The other thing holding me back, besides they had tools,
the fact that he had two il stints this year.

(53:07):
He had two il stints last year. This is becoming
a little bit of a little bit of a pattern here.
I don't know what all the ale stints are because
obviously the miners you don't really get that kind of information,
but just something to keep an eye on, and you
never know what the astros are gonna do, right, you know,
I've I've bemoaned Shae Whitcomb's lack of opportunities. I don't

(53:27):
know if they're gonna give a lot of opportunities in
z that Cole. Now, the difference is Zach Cole is,
you know, potentially a good defensive center fielder. He's primarily
played center field, so that could be his route to
getting more playing time. But I think it's one of
those where we don't know if he's gonna play every day. Yeah,
he played in his debut, but I think jan Or

(53:48):
Diez was out of the lineup today. So is this
just sort of he plays once or twice a week,
or is this you know, performance that he had today
going to maybe give him more opportunities. We'll have to
wait and see on that one.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what kind of opportunity
he gets going forward here. I did want to backtrack
a little bit, tailored to something he said about a
potential you know, swing change or adjustment. One thing I
noticed in watching some video on Cole was a bit
of an inconsistency in his kind of pre swing setup
and load, where on some pitches I noticed him really

(54:22):
tip his barrel back over his shoulder, it almost point
down towards the ground a little bit, where on others
it stays more parallel to the ground and he's able
to get it on plane a little bit quicker when
he starts his swing. So while I don't know for
sure that there has been a change to help with that,
it's entirely possible that he's found more consistency with that

(54:44):
going forward. Again, it was kind of a one or
two game sample where I noticed this inconsistency, so I
can't say for certain if that has changed, but if
it has and he has found that consistency in that
pre swing setup, it would make a lot sense as
to why he's making so much more contact all of
a sudden.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Yeah, that would make sense. And what I like to
see too, is ridiculously small sample. I mean, we're talking
about sixteen games between you know, the Majors and Triple
A there. But you know, you look at the the
reduction in strikeouts that comes with a reduction in swinging
strike rate, that comes with a improvement in contact rate,
a massive improvement in contact rate. So he's kind of

(55:26):
showing like across the board, better hit tool skills, you know,
better walk rate. So I think there that sort of
reinforces that this isn't potentially an illusion, right, Like these
are these all kind of are coming together to show
that he is improving in that regard. So I think
that aspect of it is encouraging. Now he's a funny

(55:48):
one because you know, he's a guy who I put
on a list every week of like, oh, this is
the week I'm going to write up Zach Cole. And
then I kind of look at his numbers, I do
the kombucha girl thinger, I'm like, well, maybe, and then
I see that strike. I'm like, na, no, I can't
so well no, No, I'm glad you brought him up
because I do feel like this is a pretty exciting name.

(56:09):
And obviously the timing couldn't be better with his debut
here today.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
Yeah, and that was the debut that we almost missed.
I kind of caught the the clip. I didn't know
he was called up until I saw the clip of
the home run maybe you know, half an hour to
an hour before recording here. So really good timing to
be catching that, Really good timing to be discussing Zach Cole.
But Taylor, that brings us to the rankings portion of
our episode here, So how would you rank Kemp Alderman,

(56:36):
Enrique Jimenez, Adrian Bajorquez, and Zach Cole.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Before we get there, did you give his full line
today or just the home run? I think I did.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
It was three for four with the home run and
four RBIs two runs.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Yeah it was. It was a performance.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Yeah, it was a really strong debut.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
But yeah to the ranking. So we talked about it,
Zach Cole versus Kemp Alderman. If you would have asked
me twenty four hours ago, I would have said Kemp Alderman. Today,
I gotta put Zach Cole first because he's up in
the bigs. Again. When you're talking about this sort of
risk reward, roll the dice. The sooner you find out,
the better because if it doesn't work then you can

(57:15):
move on, and we're going to find out sooner with
Zach Cole. I think there's probably just as much upside
with Cole as there is with Alderman, and probably just
as much downside. So take your pick, but right now
I'm going with Zach Cole. But I really do like
them both. I think they're they're fairly close for me.
I think i'd have them both in the two fifty
range at this point. After that, it's Bjorkaz I just

(57:37):
I think he's so underrated. I really like him. The
more I dug into him, I was like, the more
I like this guy, so hopefully we see him tick up.
But yeah, he's going to be my third on the list.
And then Jimenez again, interesting prospect for a deeper two
catcher league, but not really somebody I'm super jazzed about.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
We did it again, Taylor, I've got the same rankings.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
I won't go into the Bohorquez versus Jimenez because I
think that that is pretty clear as to why we've
got Bejorquez three and Jimenez four. I do want to
touch on Cole versus Alderman, though, because even prior to
the call up, I still had Cole ahead of Alderman.
For me, it was the fact that the improvements we
are seeing are yes, small sample, same with Alderman though,

(58:23):
but to a much greater extent, where the contact is
not only you know, improved, it's bordering on plus over
this most recent sample. And there's speed with Zach Cole too.
I know Alderman has stolen some bases and actually stolen
more bases on the year than Zach Cole has. But
Zach Cole is just a much more athletic fast player.
I think he's despite the shortcomings for both of them,

(58:45):
I think Cole has a little bit more well rounded profile,
So I think I still would have taken him ahead
of Alderman even before the promotion. But it is just
a very easy decision for me now that he is
in the big leagues and could pretend actually be a
difference maker to end the year. Yeah, all right, that
is everything we have for you guys today. Thank you

(59:08):
all for joining us. Make sure you tune in next
week and give us a follow while you are at it.
You can find me at Sonny Underscore one eight on
X and Sonny one O eight on Blue Sky, and
you can find Taylor at Dynasty Pickups on both. You
can also get a hold of us with all of
your Dynasty Baseball questions at Dynasty Baseball Pickups at gmail
dot com. All of that contact info will also be

(59:31):
posted in the show notes, and as always, please consider
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(59:52):
for listening, and we'll see you next time.