Episode 389 - Underrated Prospects with James Anderson of Rotowire - Prospect One

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
In this league podcast that work present Prospect one, So
Fantasy prospect Podcast Prospect one with your host Chris Wells.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the Fantasy Baseball prospect podcast. It's Prospect one.
I'm your host, Chris Welsh, who you can find on
the socials at is it the Welsh and on Patreon
at in this League dot com. In this League dot
com the home of my top five hundred prospect list,
my top four hundred dynasty over ninety first year player
organized in ranks, P one ADPs, everything I do in

(00:37):
this League dot com and the Patreon appreciate your support.
There's some lower levels where you can access the ranks.
You can access some of these sheets. You want to
go a little bit higher. Higher support you can get
in our group me rooms where we have a Prospect
one room. We're doing more content into the year, probably
some AMA's. We're going to do some live streams. You
can check it out in this League dot com check
out what's your speed. But just know that the top

(00:59):
five hundred prospects, the Dynasty list, updated just like a
week or so ago, is available at in this League
dot com and we've got more updates coming up because
of some important stuff. Obviously, the Jay fifteen is coming
up today. We are not talking about the Jay fifteen.
We are talking with James Anderson from Road to Wire
underrated prospects. We're gonna be going through a handful of hitters,

(01:20):
a handful of pitchers. These are majority of them are
James's designation for underrated. I'm gonna throw a couple names
out there, so I think roughly, if I wanted to
get like, you know, like a social media tag, I
could be ten underrated prospects for the twenty twenty five season.
That's roughly what we're going to go into. We got
some other conversations that are going to be thrown out

(01:40):
there as well, but we are talking underrated prospects, and
of course that is a big bag in itself, and
we discussed that in there. I don't want to like
always do the narrativey type of thing, but you know,
clearly what is underrated to like one person is not
underrated to another. There are just so many people talking
about so many prospects. That's where that whole like sleeper

(02:01):
stuff it kind of fades away. But I do think
there's a line between whether it's like the analyst ranker
or like really really hardcore person that's into prospects and
stuff like that to then like the consumer level of it,
and that consumer level might be complete. I don't know
anybody outside the top ten to I know a lot

(02:22):
of the decent names, but maybe some of the values
I don't quite understand, so I don't know. Hopefully this
helps you that person specifically in a better understanding, but
also maybe you know, some of the hardcore guys might
not even have these guys in their underrated plane. James
got some great ones in here. So that's what we're
gonna be talking about today, the Underrated Prospects for the
twenty Underrated Prospects for the twenty twenty five season. Wanted

(02:46):
to remind you guys, as I had mentioned in the
last episode, some stuff finally going out on the YouTube.
I'm also going to be putting up, you know, just
as I go here the collections of some of the
prospect videos. That's something I've just never done. I put
them always on Twitter, but I should probably put some
stuff actually out there, and I'll probably start with some
of the AFL guys. What I'm getting at is go
and check out YouTube YouTube dot com slash in This

(03:08):
League and follow along. That's where Prospect one lives. I've
already got the video up from Dennis Sidler if you
want to check out the autograph walkthrough. This episode is
gonna have not the full length episode, but we're gonna
have portions the underrated hitter, the underrated pitcher, and then

(03:28):
probably what we're gonna talk about in some first year players.
So three different sections will be up on YouTube. So
if you want to see the video, if you know
the visual medium is easier for you, just know that
some of the stuff is going to be out there
as well. You know, we talked with Dennis about doing
some type of a giveaway, so here's what I want
to do. Go and make sure you're subscribed and comment
on the autograph video and comment on your favorite in

(03:53):
person autograph, the favorite autograph you have, or something you
loved of Dennis on the Dennis autograph video. I will
pick one person from that to win an autograph item
from from the Chris Sale signing. That's pretty cool. So
YouTube dot com Slash in this League. There's the autographs
with Dennis Sidler, and just comment on there with something
that you love that your favorite or something that you

(04:14):
loved from the episode, and like I said, we'll pick
somebody and we'll give away a Chris Sale item. So
you know, nice little giveaways we're going to be doing
into the new year. And as I mentioned, you will
see some of these James Anderson stuff up there. You're
going to see some prospect clips I'll be putting, you know,
throughout the next month or two, and you're just gonna
see a lot more. So definitely go to the YouTube
and the Patreon as well, because that's where we'll be hosting,

(04:34):
you know, some of those Amas. Bog and I are
gonna be doing some live streams. There'll be some prospect
stuff in there as well. And we are full under
on the baseball season, so make sure you're tied into
the Fantasy Baseball Podcast for all your redraft stuff. We
just did a mock draft and we got a ton more.
But I'm excited to have this conversation. You guys know,
I love James. James and I got to spend a
little bit more time than usual when he was out
here in the Arizona Fall League, and we are going

(04:57):
to be tackling all of this great stuff and tackle
a little bit about what we some of our time
spent there is on a fall again a couple of
those prospects as well. So let's get to the interview
after I will tell you what is coming up in
the next episode, so make sure you stick around. But
here it is James Anderson and myself talking about twenty
twenty five underrated prospects.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Shay, I like you. I like you so much. I'm
going to make you my partner. All he has to
do is find the gold and I'll share it with you.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Fifty to fifty prospect.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
He is mister James Anderson from Rode Wire, one of
the best prospect minds out in the world. James, what's up, buddy.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Not much man, Good to be chatting with you. It's fun,
fun catching up in Arizona and the happy New Year.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, happy happy New Year as well. We got we
got our fun. I feel like I get this once
a year during first pitch, first pitch, if people haven't
ever gone or know about it, or they have to
have heard us all talk about it. But like you know,
it's chaos. There's like you know, talks and there's games
and people are going on. But I feel like once
every folly. I get to like spend some time with somebody,

(06:08):
and James, James was nice enough to spend some time
with me. We rolled out to a nice dinner. We
were talking prospects and just game and industry and stuff
like that, and it was a great time. I think
we caught a couple of games and we got to
see I think you and I were together during the
Was it the Jack cagleone two home run day? I
believe it was. Wasn't it Caglione and Leo Davrees the

(06:29):
all they all three of them hit homers together in Peoria.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yep, it's all same game. Two homers for Jack, and
I think that was Leo's. Is that his only one
or his first one?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
I think it was his first one. They put him
on the board as like one of three eighteen year
old the three youngest players to ever hit a homer
in the AFL. It was him, his buddy Solace, and
then Bryce Harper and that that was a wild game.
We went to too because it was you me, Blessing.
We had Johnny Farmelos sitting behind us for a while.
Cagleons just crushing bombs. I'd love to get your take.

(07:02):
We We talked about it like off air and everything
like that. But what did you take away with that
with Jack? Because you know the Fall League, the conversation
is always like, hey, don't read too much into da
da da da da, But like you did see him
just crush some crazy bombs.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
And Rab Dpatrow was there and I was I was
sending Rab Sopranos gifts during the game. Yeah, no, that
was that was a blast. Because AFL games can just
be they can be terrible, they can be really fun,
and this one was a really fun.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
One that was fund. Were there any takeaways on Jack himself?

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, I mean I think he's uh, well, it was
it was fun being able to watch him and Nick
Kurtz from you know, twenty feet away and just kind
of compare their bodies and you know, keg Leon I
think is really challenging player to value at this point
in time because he was just on fire to kind

(08:04):
of close the AFL. I don't think he showed anything
troubling in his debut, but he also didn't set the
world on fire. I think there's a chance he could
be end up being the best guy from this draft.
There's a chance Kurtz could be the best guy from
the draft, And it's just fun being able to see
those guys sort of side by side in the AFL
and just kind of be like, yeah, this is the

(08:26):
gap in terms of their kind of you know, Keaglan's
sort of an Adonis and Nick Kurtz gets Jim Tomy komps.
So just kind of being able to put eyes on
that was fun. And you know, he's just really impressive obviously,
but we just don't have a ton of pro data
that's all that relevant given the caliber of pitching he's

(08:47):
been facing. But yeah, I think he's got an extremely
high ceiling.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
I like the Tellmate com too, and it kills me
because Tomy was out there. Tell Me was around right
around the first week or so of the all working
with a white Sox. I think I mentioned it on
a show like three different days he was he was
in Puria multiple times. I'd have killed to see Toeman
Kurts like yapping with each other.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
That would be great.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, that would have been awesome. But also with CAGs,
what's interesting is like there was the developmental change because
you know, you got to see him at a really
good time because he was atrocious to start the AFL
just back to and I've got some video from what
was it, like uh, instructional, the Bridge League and whatever
it was, where you know, he's just he's swinging at

(09:31):
just awful breaking pitches low you know the sword if
you will. He's sorting himself, just really bad decision making.
But I got to see progression, which I which I
will take is like a positive that it wasn't just
all of this free swinging, because it was like, you know,
he wants to hit high fastballs or whatever, and then
he wasn't getting it looking bad. He progressed and he
got better and then he ended up you know, as

(09:52):
he told me that one five hundred footer and just
like ridiculous stuff, really making better swinging decisions. And he
talked about it after or towards the end of the AFL,
about trying to make better decisions and trying to shorten
his swing when needed, Like those are the things I
wanted to hear. So it's like I'm not you don't
want to look at like the Homer and be like
tags is the number one, but you're like, well, he's

(10:13):
got some of the tools to be the top guy,
and he's progressing which makes you feel really good. The
only other one, just since we were there together was Leo.
You know, same thing, like, was there anything you took
from the AFL After seeing Leo in person?

Speaker 3 (10:27):
I think he was really advanced for his age, but
he is, you know, he's I would say, multiple years
away probably. I came away pretty impressed. I think he's
got a good frame, Like that's kind of the biggest
thing I'm looking for with a player that young is

(10:47):
just sort of what does the body look like and
what might it look like in three or four years?
And I thought he was doing well in that regard.
I know, the defense questionable where he's going to end
up necessarily, but I don't think, uh, I don't think
you would have to move off of a premium position
due to just getting an athletic or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah,

(11:11):
thought I thought he was. You know, he was just
so much younger than most of the guys there, so
it's tough. You're kind of grading him out a curve,
But I was pretty impressed.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Dude. It literally turned eighteen during the Fall League. It
was like a Friday. It was like this first or
second Friday, dude turns eighteen. It was really crazy, But
this is not a Fall league conversation, and those guys
are not underrated prospects. There's a degree that maybe like
Caags might start to get into that because CAGs used
to be you know, he was like he's the number one,
and then he's falling down to five six. Some people
had him, you know, outside the top ten of first

(11:42):
year player, but it's still probably not underrated. That's what
we're gonna be talking about today. We're going to be
talking about some underrated prospects going into twenty twenty five.
And really that kind of brings in the question of
like what is that, and it molds into like what's
a sleeper who's going to break out? You know, those
type of questions who is and who can be underrated?

(12:04):
In another world, you know, maybe five years ago, someone
like Jelsue Bersinho, who was in the Arizona Fall League,
who was a relative nobody for everybody going into the
Fall League very young, has the Triple Crown. In a
year's past, that guy would probably be somebody that people
would be talking about as like an underrated prospect going

(12:24):
into this year because there's you know, less less AFL coverage,
just less people covering the space. But now we have
so many people in the prospect space, the fantasy prospect space,
that it really does it makes like what is underrated
kind of a whole nother ballgame and probably subjective. And James,
I'm curious, like in that same thing, like when I

(12:45):
asked you this when we were going to do this,
like what kind of pops into I mean outside the
obvious like underrated to you might be like you rank
this guy higher than what you've seen with some of
the others, or you know, you like this guy even
though he maybe doesn't check all the boxes. I think
the first guy we're going to talk about doesn't check
all the boxes, but check somewhere he can be this
massive underrated. So like, what's your interpretation when you were

(13:07):
when someone asked you, like, who's this underrated prospect and
how you're presenting them to them?

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, I guess for me, it's kind of just sort
of weighing the amount of chatter and the amount of
hype that I see because I try to follow pretty
much everyone that does fantasy prospecting, and it's you kind
of get a sense of which people are generating a
ton of hype, like you're brisayno example, I would say

(13:34):
like anyone who really shows out in the AFL is
going to be overrated a.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Hundred And that was my point. Like now I think
it does fall into that where five, six, eight, ten
years ago those might be definitions of the players that
we do. You're one hundred percent right, Jacoby or Jacob
Marcy is a prime example of someone that I definitely
shoved in people's faces. Last year was a failure.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Right, Yeah. I mean it's just it's the only show
in town and there's so much passion for prospecting that
you've just got, you know, people out there sitting on
weeks worth of AFL games and then writing about these guys.
So if you're a player who has a really good AFL,
there's just gonna be a ton of hype about you.

(14:20):
And if you don't go to the AFL and you're
just kind of a guy that was at high A
and then at double A and you know, for whatever reason,
people just weren't talking about that much, that's how you
could be underrated. I guess in my mind, I also
will factor in, you know, if these guys are close
to the majors, like what's their ADP and draft and holds.

(14:41):
That maybe gives me a sense of how people are
valuing guys, but it's it's just kind of a feel
thing for which guys do. I think I don't see
people talking about that. I like a lot or that
type of thing.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, and I think that's interesting. There's a couple of
things in there, you know, a better example of your
AFL one, it's probably your Hope because I'm not sure
like how far Rasigo has really gone up to people.
I think a relative number is probably large. Like let's
say he was outside of like all these prospect people's
top two fifty three hundred. Now he might be hovering

(15:14):
in the top one hundreds. That's a bit's significant, but
it might not. It might not warrant Like, boy, this
is way over hyped range where I think Zayr Hope
lives a little bit in that world. Because Zayr Hope
did have just some really fascinating crazy numbers early on
before the AFL started up. Then people just got to see,
like in person, you know, for elongated period of time,

(15:36):
just this big body guy who destroys fastballs, puts up
big evs, and then and then he went to the moon,
and I know some people already had him ranked kind
of high, but that kind of jumps out to me
is a little bit of maybe maybe more like when
you were saying that AFL, do you think Persinio is
the prime example of the over hyper Do you think
it's more of the Zayr Hope?

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (15:56):
For me, I'll say Personio And like you're your Marcie example.
Like I I like I bought into what Trianto's did
in that AFL. I didn't really buy in as much
with Marcie, and then like I buy into what Hope did.
And just you know, you talk to so many like

(16:18):
scouts at at when you go out to a FL,
you know that there's just a very strong approval rating
with Hope. Sure there's PERSONO. I think it's you know,
he was really hot for a month and uh put
up monster numbers, but there's still questions with the profile.

(16:40):
I guess you could argue. You could argue like we'll
we'll see if Hope is overrated, right, like we don't
really know. We won't know for you know, maybe a year.
But I would bet on I would rather buys out
her Hope at his increased price than Brisano, like I
just wouldn't be acquiring Brisanno really under any circumstances.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Well, and the big tricky thing on all of this
when you're talking about the underrated players again is there's
the space is bigger, and there are so many more
voices and there are so many so more players are covered.
It's the same thing as like they're no longer ever
a sleeper anymore. So you know, we can talk about
players and are they underrated? My interpretation of this moves

(17:25):
a little bit away from are is everybody talking about
this player NonStop? Just because there's too many people. Everybody's
talking about everybody. Someone will have a claim on it,
and I look at it. It's a similar lens, but
maybe more so that not everybody has moved into a
range where this person's value has gotten there. People may
have not caught up to this player and looking more

(17:47):
consumer for the people that are digesting these shows instead
of like our peers and you know, are these people
being presented with this player that this guy is X
when maybe you have half of the industry here, half
of the industry. You'll see what we're talking about when
we get into this. So talking about underrated prospects. I'm
going to present a few names as we go. James

(18:08):
has brought along a few of the names that he
is going to put as qualifiers for underrated prospect And
the first one up is a fascinating name. Someone that
we've watched really for quite a long time, and I
got to see during instructs this past year finally after
missing him for quite some time, Cam Collier only twenty
years old when he had come in, you know, he

(18:29):
had actually been a reclassified prospect. I think a lot
of people forget that. So he's been in here for
three years now but only twenty years old, and I
think he's going to be Yeah. I mean it looks like, yeah,
he just hit that as well. So twenty homers this
past year to forty eight batting average not much on
the stolen based market. You're seeing the extra base hits.

(18:51):
He was able to turn those extra base hits into
more power. He had this really good street going for
some period of time this past year, git a month
or two where he was really hot and kind of
tapered down. Breakdown why Collier kind of fits this mold
because I thought this was a super fascinating one, because
I think there's like post hype sleeper in him. There's
some people that are very worried still about his body.

(19:14):
His body didn't look fantastic when I saw him recently.
But we might be moving past like that being a
big major focus of what the bat is because the
bat really has a chance to be top notch. So
talk to us about why Cam Collier is underrated.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, Well, you know nineteen year old who finished his
run at Hia incredibly strong. Over his final sixty five games,
he had a four h four OBP, seventeen percent walk
right and a twenty three percent strikeout rate and hit
ten homers in those sixty five games. Again as a

(19:49):
nineteen year old at HAYA, very impressive stuff. I think
I think you should be people should be comparing Cam
Collier to the best first base press in the game
and just sort of because that's that's sort of where
the body is, that's where the power projection is, and
you know, maybe he ends up at third base. They've

(20:10):
they've kept him there so far, but I'm kind of
viewing Klier as a future first baseman. And if you
just kind of look at his hit tool compared to
you know, Xavier Isaac, Like I think, I think there's
a pretty good case for Collier and the power is
obviously part of the appeal. I think that's in that park.

(20:33):
You know, he's going to have all fields power, could
be a thirty homer guy annually, and uh just really
really impressive strides as a as a pure hitter and
OBP guy. So it's it's a pretty weak prospect class.
I'll probably have Cam Kalier as a top thirty prospect
on my next update. So I I think it's a.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Good top What did you say that?

Speaker 3 (20:55):
A top thirty?

Speaker 2 (20:57):
No, oh, top thirty overall prospects. Oh, okay, sorry, I
mean that's huge with I like the I like the
Xavier Isaac comp with it too, because you know, I've
I always wanted to be really high on Isaac and
I kind of stayed there for a while and then
you know, I ended up getting to see him obviously
in the AFL Live. First thing that stood out was

(21:17):
how he had transformed his body, because there was a
time where Isaac was a little Cam Collier, you know,
body kind of had a similar representation. It was like,
which direction is this gonna go? He's really thinned out.
I don't remember if by the time you got here,
if he was already gone, because he ended up leaving
I know about a week or so before and then
and then he hadn't played the week really prior. Did

(21:38):
you get to see him?

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, I got to see Isaac. Yeah, okay, I just
couldn't remember. Great body for a sid, good ethic for.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
His But you start to s see some of the holes.
You know, he does struggle versus lefties, which Collier also has.
You saw some of the limitations as far as the
back goes very very chase heavy, which I don't think
is white there with Collier. But you know, as showing
on here in Dayton, you know he'd only hit one
seventy four against lefty, so you know some of that

(22:06):
struggle is still there with Cam Collier. But I mean,
top thirty is pretty big. I mean I'm with like
there's an age to levelness, the ballpark is huge. This
is a good representation of an underrated prospect if you've
got him that high, because I would bet you most
people don't have him in that range. Though, I will
say I'm in your camp because I felt like, can

(22:26):
you tell me if I'm incorrect here? I felt like
there was a time where a lot of people had
given up on Collier and we're not interested, And maybe
I'm wrong and maybe people kept on him. I don't
look at everyone's prospect list. I've kept him. I never
let him leave really outside that top one hundred, like
always right in that vicinity. But I felt like there
was a time where people pushed him out. You definitely

(22:48):
have jumped past me on this, but like, do you
think like that's kind of the existence of where he
falls in here? I mean, it's a very good, hyper
aggressive rank of him, but I felt like people maybe
had pushed him outside of like maybe even the maybe
not quite their total rank list, but probably like top
two hundred or am I making that up?

Speaker 3 (23:05):
I think you're probably right on that. You know, for me,
I just kind of wanted to see how the game
power would develop. There were some questions about his bat
path and just whether he's going to have hit too
many ground balls, and he kind of showed me what

(23:25):
I wanted to see last year. So it's probably more
about how bad I think the prospects are kind of
outside of the top fifteen or so that as how
you're pushing top thirty for me. But you know, if
I can find a position player that I believe in,

(23:50):
that's just there are that many of them out there,
and he definitely is won. And I think if he
ends up at first base, all the better because I
think it's just an incredibly shallow position and really tough
to find, like your first basement of the future in
the Dynasty League.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
So that's a good point. And and you know, he's
got the pop that can stay there. You know, sometimes
you have these guys that are moving around and it's like, no,
I don't want him here. Who do you have higher?
Collier or Isaac?

Speaker 3 (24:15):
On my current rankings that are on the side, I
have Isaac higher, but I will have Collier higher on
the update that'll be releasing it a couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Okay, So that's a pretty big one there. Number two
is another Red that you're throwing in here South Stuart.
And it's just funny because like one of the days
I was at Red's during instructs, like I saw both
of these guys, Collier was out here. It was funny.
Collier had like arrived late and he was running. I
don't know if it was late, but you know, it's
all practices and stuff. Drove up, gets in dresses, gets

(24:45):
out to a game he's playing in, and then you
got salth Stuart who was rehabbing. You had also had
Christian and Carnolci on strand Edwin Arroyo. I mean, it
was like a superstar pack of guys that were at
instructs and South Stuart had obviously missed some time this
past year, but two seventy nine average, eight homers, surprising
ten stolen bases. He is a big boy, a big boy.
When you get him out there and you see him,

(25:07):
was even a little surprised, looks like, you know, I
don't say like packed it on, but it's like he's
he's a big dude. Like his stat line or as
far as like you know, his height, weight, I don't
think quite give out to it. But you know, three
year career twelve homers, the prior year twenty career homers.
He's got like it's like two hundred and five games,
so it's a little over a full season. The power
hasn't quite developed. He's had very surprising speed, but also

(25:30):
one hundred and thirty eight walks to one hundred and
thirty nine strikeouts an incredibly impressive number and other high
OVP guys. So Sal Stewart versus Cam Collier, let's talk
about Stuart.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
Yeah, you know, I got I'll have Callier. Yeah, twenty
spots probably higher on my rankings. But I just I
I think I've mentioned Stewart on your podcast before. But
I just I believe in the bat. I think he's
going to be an everyday player, and I think it's
just a question of how much power he gets to
whether he's a twenty homer guy or a thirty homer guy.

(26:04):
I'm not factoring in the steals at all, really, Like
he always just logs OVPs close to four hundred, and
you know, if you do that and you're at high A,
you should be able to steal some bases. But I'm
factoring him in as like a zero in the speed department.
So it's just I love the average, I love the power,
I love the OBP, and I love the fact that

(26:26):
he's not going to need a platoon. He's split time
this past year at second base third base. I think
he probably ends up at second base, you know, maybe
he moves between the two spots depending on who's performing.
Of the big club, and then he did have risk surgery,
so he might get off to a slower start at
the beginning of twenty twenty five just coming back from

(26:49):
that risk procedure. But I just think he's just about
as safe of a prospect as you'll find outside of
top twenties. And debate on the long term power potential,
but I just think he's one of these years. If
it's not this year, maybe the year after, he will
take a big step forward as a as a power hitter.

(27:11):
But even if he doesn't, you know, just a twenty
homer high average, high OBP guy. I think that's got
plenty of value.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
When ranking him out South Stuart or Moises Ballasteros Stuart
by a wide margin, Yeah, by a wide margin.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
I just I have no idea what Biasteros's future is
with position, playing time, Nick, He's just got a he's
just got such a weird body, and I have no idea, Like,
I'm not a guy that's going to be grading someone's
catcher defense, but you will struggle to find anyone who

(27:47):
thinks he is a good defensive catcher. And then it's like,
is he a DH Are they going to actually give
him every day? Run is a DH Are they going
to give him run at first base? So just too
many questions with via stereos For me, I feel much
more secure in what I have in South Stewart.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
How about Stuart versus Davis and Dala Santos.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, Stuart pretty easily for me? There too, pretty easy, okay.
I think like I think Stuart might be a fifty
five or sixty grade hitter and I think Dalla Santos
is like a forty grade hitter.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, I mean the the like the power versus the
hit tool is the question with Dayla Santos. Like Dala
Santo's power I think is un question. It's a matter
of like can he ever tap into it? And I
think to your point, what you would worry about is
that like Dala Santos is like a Maximuncy type of player,

(28:36):
probably without the OBP. That's probably a bad comp to
Stuart being maybe more like a Tristan Cossas type of player.
You know, a guy that you can hit for average
pretty consistently higher OBP and then is going to be
able to tap into the power number. So I kind
of get where you're going with that. With South Stuart
is that kind of fair.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, I'm always going to go for the hit tool
over the power when I see the gap being that big.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Jonathan Rodriguez is another name that you put up here.
Let's hear the underrated. This is a really good one.
I mean, I think Sal Stewart and Cam Collier has
been in a lot of people's minds. This is a
deeper play, curious to see where you've ended up pushing him.
So hit us with Jonathan Rodriguez.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah. So it's a theme with the position players that
I mentioned is none of these guys are guys I
expect to run much, and I just think it's it's
really hard to actually be underrated. If you have five
category potential, like guys that can run, guys that are
good athletes, that show good hit tools and good power,

(29:38):
those guys just aren't underrated. Rodriguez is another just power first,
no speed corner bat might get strong side platooned, but
I believe in the power. I think he will do
enough with the power of the OVP to be a
guy that gets you know, five hundre played appearances a year,

(29:59):
and uh, I think he's fine in right field. So
he's kind of like a Matt Wallner type to me,
where I just think he's not sexy at all, like
when we do like your P one a DP max.
I think I probably got Rodriguez with my last pick
or something like that, just because nobody's taking the like

(30:20):
power guy where it's questionable on the hit tool, who's
close to the majors, Like there's just nothing sexy about him.
But I think he could be playing a ton as
early as as this year and hitting for power. So
you know, we all we all need guys like this
as our fourth or fifth outfield there in dynasty leagues.
And he's extremely cheap right now, I'm gonna have him
like borderline top one hundred.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
A borderline top one. I was about to say, this
also sounds like a guy that you're probably tagging in
like NFBC leagues.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
I right, I got a lot of Riguez and leagues.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, that's you know the other thing people forget with James.
James is like such an accomplished prospect person, but an
accomplished like high higher stakes guy like I was actually
probably you up to do a high stakes thing on
Fantasy pros too, because you know you've been doing like
NFBC and all those type of leagues for a long time,
and this you know, the strategies are different. I burned

(31:10):
myself this year with I actually went a little too
hard on some of the upside potential as my depth,
and that killed me when I lost my starters. And
like I hit in a few spots, I had had
my shares of Jared Jones was a big hit that
I had this year in quite a few NFBC leagues,
But I missed in some of those spots a on
taking too much upside and be taking these shots on

(31:32):
players that I thought could get called up. And where
I'm going with this is like, you know, there are
the higher ranked and this is I guess I'm doing
a little NFBC, But like there's those higher ranked players
that you're like they might have a shot to get
to the majors, and then there's those players that it's
like they may be not as sexy, but you know
there's going to be time in the near future. Last
year that was kind of like a chase. The latter

(31:52):
was chasing. The latter did not end up panning out
and working out with the injuries. Where Rodriguez is one
of those guys that yeah. I mean it's an interesting
perspective of like it's a power hitter that is probably
going to get some playing time and things might work out,
and it probably I guess also speaks to I don't know,
you're you're kind of concern or there's a better word

(32:13):
that I'm not coming up with of like what the
hitting prospects are outside of the top fifteen your pessimism,
I guess with hitting prospects in general, that is it
fair to say that maybe you're speculating less than you
have in the past and you're just kind of going
with what you know. Is that like a fair assessment.
Maybe I didn't say it correct.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, I mean it's you know, always chasing value where
I think it is. But yeah, I think, like I
think like your P one a DP max is a
is a great example of that. Like I a lot
of the times in those I just gravitate towards the
guys that are close to the majors, where you know,

(32:51):
they're not perfect prospects, but they're really close to contributing,
if not like going to contribute on Opening Day, And
I just think that's where the value is a lot
of times versus the you know, extremely exciting tools. You guys,
you kind of got to get in on the ground
floor with those types and you got to get them

(33:13):
in your fypds. But you know, if we're just talking
about picking up guys, if we're doing like a startup
dynasty draft, like I'm going for the proximity guys usually
just because I think that they're devalued in my mind
relative to some of the tools your guys who are

(33:35):
further away, Like, you need those guys, but you have
to get them in your fypds.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Basically, I've always felt too, there's such a discrepancy in
how we have to talk about prospects between what you're doing,
and there's such a different market gap of like if
you're looking at a list and you're in a league
where you know you're just looking to trade, or you're
in a league where you can pick up free agents, prospects,

(34:01):
how big it is and then are you starting fresh?
And what I mean by that is like, you know,
we can talk about prospects specifically of what you're saying.
You can talk about prospects that you're into or not
into as a better example, that you're not into. But
that's more from I don't want to pay their current
market cost of what I have to buy them for.
But if you're in a restart or a fresh new
dynasty league and you're drafting and you can have just

(34:23):
free equity, then that can change your perception on a prospect.
And same thing, you know, you with a couple of
these guys knowing that you're higher on like Cam Collier
and Sell Stewart. That's one of those things where it's
like I want those I want to understand the market
might not be as high, and I don't want to
take them quite at that value, knowing I can get
them a little bit later, versus like wanting to buy

(34:44):
them at their cost in a already started up dynasty.
Like those values can change, which is really interesting. I'm
gonna throw two guys at you. Neither one of these
are unknown players by any mean. They're not insanely insanely underrated.
But my point back to what I opened up with
of saying that the perception of how we speak about

(35:04):
players and how people are talking about them maybe throws
a few of these guys in as underrated. And the
first guy is on Hell Genoah. With the Guardians, they've
got quite a few players people people know the name.
He's really really risen. This is another twenty year old
bath that we're talking about. Ten homers, twenty five stolen bases,

(35:25):
a three thirty average this past year, higher OVP. There,
there's a lot of qualities of like this is like
a classic Guardians type of player. The power took an
uptick this past year. He has you know, he's kind
of done the trajectory. He has done the ladder of
what you've wanted from you know, Dominican into the rookie
leagues into a ball. He hit over three hundred across
both levels this past year. He went to a and

(35:47):
high A three eighty, three forty one and three twenty
two Power ticking up their stolen bases. You saw those
counting stats. Just kind of take that big, big jump,
and also just from you know, the underlying stuff. Just
make solid, consistent contact, a little bit harder hit than
you would expect, a little bit of a smaller guy.
I think he's floated in a lot of people's top

(36:09):
one hundreds. But I also think there's some scenarios where people,
you know, maybe only be putting them him there statistically
and maybe not understanding that there's this just really great
hit tool behind it. What do you think? What do
you think about on hell, you Knowah being an underrated
prospect do you I mean, do you think he truly is?
And do you think he belongs in that conversation positively

(36:29):
or negatively?

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Well, I've got him as like a borderline top seventy
five guy. So I don't know if that makes me
like high or low on him, but I like him.
I think he he could be underrated. I think this
is just a massive like seeing how he does against

(36:53):
double A pitching, Like I just want to see where
the power is at, because you know, I like Brian Rochio,
for instance, someone that I was too high on as
a prospect, and I kind of got suckered into his
power output at lower levels and just sort of projecting,

(37:18):
you know, thinking like, well, look at this ice that
we had at high A, Like, he's this young, and
he's probably gonna be a fifteen to twenty homer guy at
least by the time he gets the big leagues. But
sometimes guys just get into those hitters counts at really
low levels and then they just swing for the fences

(37:38):
when they know they're getting a fastball, and that just
accounts for all of their power, and then they get
up to a level where guys can actually throw their
off speed stuff for strikes and they can't really get
by on that as much and just get to all
their power and these advantage counts, and so I just
want to see how that translates at double before pushing

(38:01):
him into the top fifty. But I think he's got
an incredibly high floor worst case scenario, He's basically Brian Rochio,
and I think Rochio is a Mixed League player this year,
so really high floor. I don't know where he ends
up defensively, but I think he can play any of
those spots as he did short step, second, third, definitely

(38:22):
gonna chip in some steals. So I love the HITDL.
I think it's just a question of is he is
he like Andre Semenez type or can he actually get
to like twenty homer power consistently against.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
And that's a scary one right there, because Amenez is
another one of those and the Guardian, I mean the Guardians,
like that's been like the joke for a long time.
They just breed out these shortstops. It's like they get
the same type of player over and over, and Jimenez
and Rochio both really I mean Jimenez ha is like worked,
He's been viable for fantasy and significant stolen bases and
stuff like that. But I think a lot of what
you spoke to is actually why he does sit in

(38:57):
that underrated territory. I think you want to see him
do it again and there's a waiting period. But floor
sometimes also screams underrated to me because I think we
overrate the upside while playing down, or maybe it's the opposite.
We overplay, yeah, the upside of it, and we forget
about that floor. And I think that's what Genoah has.

(39:19):
That hit tool is phenomenal, and he did not only
you know, increase that power output, but also increase the
double output thirty eight doubles this past year to twenty
the prior year, so you know, doubles being a precursor
to some power. You got to look at the levels,
like you mentioned, you know, hitting in those lower A levels,
that jump to double A is probably going to be big.
But I think he sits in that qualification because I

(39:42):
think seventy five is probably the high that most people
have him. And if he's sitting lower there's a lot
more upside still in play for him. The other one,
this is another one of these type of guys, and
he's gotten a lot of hype this past year. Demetrio
Crisantis with the Arizona Diamondback too. I got to see
most recently in a little bit of rookie ball. Seven homers,

(40:04):
thirty stolen bases. He hit three forty with a four
to twenty nine OBP when he was out here, when
I saw him three point fifty five. Not much in
that power department. But then he went to the Cow
League as a colleague, might power output increased, stole a
bunch more bases, maintained a four hundred OVP at both
of those levels. Incredible, incredible sense of contact, kind of

(40:27):
like Genoa, Like, this is another guy that like there
was so much floor. This guy just screams of the
type of player that's going to be a major leaguer.
I also have questions about what his power is going
to end up looking like. But he is twenty years
old through the majority of this season, and he should
go to high A. It might touch double A. Dimitrio,
What do you think is Demitrio an underrated prospect?

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Uh? I mean I might be underrating him. I don't
have him. I have him more kind of in that
one hundred to two hundred greeene. So I you know,
I like the hit tool. I think it's just a
hit tool driven profile. He's not that close to the
big leagues, you know. I know he stole twenty bases

(41:12):
in sixty three games at Single A, but I think
most places have him as like a forty forty five
grade runner. So I don't know if you disagree with that,
but I'm not really factoring in steals a ton with him,
just given his speed grades. But you know, I think

(41:32):
how much power he taps into eventually will be huge.
But I would definitely bet on I'd bet on the
hit tool working out. I just am sort of waiting
to see what else I think will be there.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah, I think it's an interesting assessment. I guess I don't.
I guess I don't want to take and pull apart
a player where there are so many things like in
the major leagues that change bases, have changed a team
context for aggressiveness of stolen bases that I wouldn't dismiss.
I think he's a better runner than that grade. If
the power word to develop. With that hit tool you're
talking about, you're legitimately talking about a twenty twenty player.

(42:05):
I'm unsold more on the power than I am that
the stolen bases are going to go away. I think
a floor would be like a ten to fifteen with
twenty five plus stolen bases, and he could be a
high order hitter if the things continue to develop. But again,
I guess, you know, maybe my qualifications on some of
these is going to be closer to floor and hit tool,

(42:27):
Like I'm going to bank more in hit tool than
any like certain extremes. So Demetrio, Croissantes, Genoa, who are
the Jonathan Rodriguez, Sal Stewart, Cam Collier, some pitching market
or some hitting market that we can kind of focus
on from both James and I. The pitching market though,
what I was leading to coming in at your top

(42:50):
underrated pitcher. I really love these pictures that you put together,
and I'm gonna kind of poke at a name that
is a little bit bigger as well. Let's start with
the Pirates and Thomas Harrington. You got Thomas Harrington as
an underrated pitcher. I think it is a great bet
on any pirates Pitcher, I actually would have even said,
like Ashcraft, I feel like people are still kind of
sitting back on Ashcraft a little bit. They've got Bubbach.
I mean, they just got a ridiculously have a glut

(43:12):
of great pictures that they're developing really well. So talk
to us about Thomas Harrington.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Yeah, I love I love Harrington. I think he's he's
got a bit more respect from the Redraft crowd maybe
than the Dynasty crowd. He's got five average or better pitches,
which is very rare for a pitching prospect, and he
also has plus command, which is very rare. And I

(43:38):
think he's got the second best command of any top
one hundred pitching prospect outside of Andrew Painter. So he
doesn't have premium velocity, but decent movement on the fastball
and just a ton of ways to get you out.
And I'm just I'm going to bet on a guy
with that type of command and that deep of an arsenal,

(44:00):
Like I think there's kind of shades of like Jack Flaherty.
Maybe just a guy I think is just massively underrated
because people aren't seeing him throw ninety seven ninety eight
or seeing a bunch of gifts of like a seventy
grade breaking ball or anything like that. But I just
think he's a really complete pitcher, and I like the

(44:22):
fact I kind of like the fact that he isn't,
you know, living in that extreme v low range as
a young pitcher, and he's had success with the kind
of more ninety three ninety four mile an hour fastball.
And obviously the Pirates, I think, have kind of flipped
the narrative about how they do with pictures. So Harrington
to me is like a borderline top fifty prospect and

(44:45):
someone I trying to get as much as I can
up in rejaft. But his price keeps going.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Up comparative to those top one hundred pictures. I'm going
to just throw someone because I'm not looking at your
list to go off of it. But let's say Tom
Harrington or Thomas.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
White Harrington, but you know, Thomas White's, you know, one
of the best pitching prospects who isn't that close to
the big leagues in my opinion, But you know, I mean,
you know, I'm just a mask like when it comes
to pitching prospects, Like the two biggest things for me
are proximity and health. And so I'm just always going

(45:25):
to gravitate to the guys that I think are going
to be up the current the current year, and guys
that I don't have to worry about, like needing Tom
John surgery right when they show up to spring training.
So yeah, that's that's kind of where I go with
pitching prospects. But Tommy White, I mean, he's a hell
of a upside play, but I would I would go
with Harrington because I think there's plenty of upside there too.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
What about the Pirate's rotation of prospects, Bubba Chandler, Harrington, Ashcraft?
How do you rank those.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Three in that order? Chandler, Harrington, Ashcraft. I just worry.
I just don't think Ashcraft can handle the starter's workload.
I think he's got probably better stuff than Harrington. If
you look like the top two pitches, Ashcraft probably has
better stuff. But I've got impeged as a future reliever
just due to the durability issues.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Some I gotta ask if this is not on the
underrated but I was just thinking about it. Are you
terrified of Rokie? Are you just terrified of Sazaki? Like
with all of the conversation around I say this all
the time, but like you know, Brasdowski did just a
great video breaking down so much. I think we probably
all consumed it, but that highlighted just stands out to

(46:37):
me NonStop where they talked about the poor health of
his arm and then the obvious like concerns of like
UCL and stuff. Is that sitting with you because I
feel like that's the total battle of like you have
this proximity pitcher who probably goes right into theoretically probably
goes right into a rotation, great stuff, but then you
have the stuff has gone down and arm concerns right

(46:57):
off the bat, Like what's your vibe Roki? Because I
feel like he tags the positive and extreme negatives of
what you're concerned about with pitching prospects.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Mm hmm yeah. I mean I I think you gotta
just kind of bet on the talent at a certain point,
Like I just think it's really bad for sure player
draft class, Like I think you just have to take
Sasaki and just hope for the best. I'm not trading
up to take Susaki. I'm not gonna take Sasaki in
redraft leagues at his current price, and I'm not gonna

(47:29):
trade for Susaki or take Sasaki in like a startup
dynasty league. But if you're just sitting there on the
clock for sure player draft number one pick, I think
you got to take him. And maybe he needs Tommy
John surgery, but he's young enough that I think you
got to look at it as an investment in your
dynasty league. Like, even if he can't help you for

(47:49):
a stretch due to needing a Tommy John surgery, you
might have him for another seven eight years and really
productive after that. So I'm plenty worried, But I also
just don't know what you're supposed to do other than
trade out of the number one spot.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yeah, trading out might end up being in play, but yeah,
you're like facing this young pitcher who could be phenomenal
for many, many years to come. And you know, you
could look back if if Yamamoto was available in a
first year play and you're like, man, did I really
give up on that? I just I think it's it's tough.
Like you said, you kind of just got to take him.
You got to close your eyes and take it. But
you know, pending what's floating out there. I've actually quite

(48:24):
a few people hit me up about like offers they've
received on their first year player. And I do think
you should maximize. I think you should get like you
should get a haul if you're doing it, because it's
unlike most classes, that person whoever has at number one
does get to take a major league ready pitching prospect
who's young, and it's probably going to be ranking redraft
wise higher than most. You got to get like an

(48:46):
absolute hall for it. So I think that's a good play.
Next up on this list. I think it's a great name.
I'm excited to get your take on it for underrated.
You oniell correct hopefully I'm saying I'm probably not saying
it right, but you onlyell correct with the Tampa Bay
Rays twenty two year old pitcher who put up a
significant amount of innings this past year around one hundred

(49:06):
and twenty, had a sub three e strikeouts through the roof,
a little bit of a whippi whip issue. But talk
about correct because that's a guy that has continued to
move up lists. But I know you are a lot
more aggressive. So Corret underrated.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
Yeah, I love Corret and I think he he would
be my target, Like if if I'm doing like a
dynasty startup or something like that, and I'm taking a
pitching prospect who I don't expect to be up in
the first half of twenty twenty five. It's going to
be Corret. Like, I think he's just got the type
of upside to chase, and I think he is close,

(49:42):
Like I think I think we'll see him, you know,
maybe late twenty twenty five, certainly early twenty twenty six
if he stays healthy. He is already on the forty
band roster. He's got just some of the easiest velocity
you'll see. I love that, Like I love when you
can kind of tell that a guy isn't throwing that
hard like max effort and still mid nineties with ease,

(50:04):
and he just he's a guy that coming into twenty
twenty four, I had pegged as you know, potential late
inning reliever with a chance to be a starter still,
but I think it was probably more likely entering twenty
twenty four that Kurret would end up in the bullpen.
But from like June June eleventh on, he had a

(50:28):
one ten era, a one oh seven whip and one
hundred and six strikeouts with twenty nine walks in seventy
three and two thirds innings, So twenty nine walks in
seventy three and two thirds innings still a little high.
But I just love that he seems to be getting better,
Like you know, I love when a guy finishes a pitcher,

(50:48):
specifically finishes much stronger than they started, because you can
just get better as a pitcher as the season goes on.
Your your stuff gets better, your command gets better, you
get better at sequencing. So I think he's trending way up.
Has really just dynamite stuff, like I said, just easy

(51:09):
mid nineties velocity plus slider change ups getting better. So
we'll see how legitimate those control games were over the
final three months. But I think he's got a very
very high ceiling, and he's not going to be up
super early in twenty twenty five, but I think he
could be up later in the summer.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Where do you have him ranked as far as like
overall top one hundred and among pictures.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
On my update? You know, I've had him kind of
borderline top fifty. He'll still be there among pictures. I'll
have him. I will have him eleventh among picture.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Can give me a rough number, okay, eleven, Okay, So
that's what I wanted to do. I kind of wanted
to see what the general ranges. Let me ask you,
Curet or Misrowski.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
That's a good one. I'll go with Corret. I think
Miserowski's even riskier in terms of his command and control.
So if I I'm just betting on which one of
these guys makes it as a starter, I'll take correct.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
I'm I'm worried about Miserowski. I don't want to be
because like the stuffy he has, like it's like ridiculous.
There's ridiculous stuff in there, especially baut I think of
that Futures game. What was it like that? It was
inside like two seamer he threw throwing breaking pitches inside.
But the command is just wild, and it's just consistently wild,
and it's it's feeling more Bullpenny than ever. But I

(52:39):
think that's like a really fascinating name. Let me throw
how about nobel Meyer or correct?

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Yeah, I'm I'm much lower on Meyer after what he
showed with his control. So that's that's an easy one. Correct.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
I feel like I know this is going to go
just decisively in this direction. But Brandon Sprott. Sprot's got
to probably be you have him higher because of proximity.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
No, I've got Correct higher.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Oh really, okay, I'm not like.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
As in unsproute as everyone. Uh, I don't know, not everyone. Obviously,
everyone's got different opinions. But you know, I know that
he probably wore down a little bit at Triple A,
but I mean, the quality of hitters at Triple A
were just not very good when he was there, and
so I just I'd like to kind of see how

(53:29):
he does again this year. But even though he's theoretically
like closer because he got to Triple A and Correct didn't,
I think when we see the settle this offseason, it
might be tough to envision a path to Sprote getting
starts anytime soon in the season. So I don't really

(53:51):
view it as that big of an edge with the proximity,
And I just like Correct more as a as a picture.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
This guy, this next guy, the last on your list,
and I'm gonna just throw picture at us was involved
in a lot of trade talks. There's a lot of
rotation talks in there. I would guess proximity is going
to play a role in a decent amount of this.
But you know, you break it down here Sean Burke.
Sean Burke with the Chicago White Sox. I did get
nineteen innings with the major league team one four two ERA,

(54:19):
pretty solid minor league season last year. He'd been around
for quite some time. I mean, if you look at
the totality of you know, of his career, it doesn't
jump out to his top prospect, but the team seems
very very high on him. They didn't end up moving him,
So talk to us about Sean Burke and how he
is underrated.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
Yeah, I had Burke ranked briefly as a top four
hundred prospect in May of twenty twenty two, in January
of twenty twenty three, but he was just kind of
one of those guys who was always sort of off
the list on the list, and I didn't have him
ranked at all until he came up late in the season,

(54:59):
and I just thought he looked absolutely electric as a
big league starter, and like he dominated padres lineup with
everyone healthy. Cut his walk rate like this has been
kind of a trend where guys walk more guys at
triple A than they do in the big leagues, especially

(55:19):
on these bad teams because the balls and strengths challenge
system at Triple A. And then also I think these
guys just get much better coaching once they're up with
the big league coaches and big league pitchers than they
do at Triple A. And like, Burke's got legit stuff.
This isn't a you know, command control deception guy. Like

(55:42):
he's got a big time fastball, big time breaking ball
his I know it's like a it's a ridiculously small sample,
but just for the sake of referencing it, his his
nineteen point seven K minus walk right in the big
leagues would have ranked fifteenth among qualified start in between
George Kirby and Michael King. So like, that's how good

(56:03):
he was pitching just in that tiny sample in the
big leagues. He might not be able to recapture that form.
He's dealt with some durability stuff in the past. I
think the ninety point two innings he had last year
is a career high for him. But I just I
think the stuff is really good and he's going to

(56:24):
be in the opening day rotation. So obviously not a
good team context with just like defense and run scoring.
But he's a target for me inside the top four
hundred as a redraft pick, and so for me, that
translates to dynasty as an easy top one hundred prosspan.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
I laughed because it is funny because it's like from
a team contact standpoint, it couldn't be worse, Like everything
is bad, except you do have to give a little
bit of credit developmentally of like what the White Sox
at least are doing with pitching at the major league level.
It's work. I mean Garrett Croche, Garrett Crochet kind of
defied odds not saying Sean Berke is Garrett Crochet. But
you know, as you were focusing on the game logs,

(57:04):
it is impressive. Three of his four starts five plus
strikeouts in the majors the batting average two of those
four starts held batters to under two hundred. That is
pretty impressive, like start, and you know he was talked
about in some trade rumors early on and they didn't
end up moving him. You know, they didn't end up
moving him to like go and get something else. So

(57:25):
I think that is a super sneaky one for sure.
Where did you say you have him in your own
personal ranks? He's going to be.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Like I've got him around like forty five right now,
borderline top ten pitching pressmen.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
So he's like right above Curette yep, Okay, the picture
I'm going to put in here again poking around at
like I think this name rose a pretty dramatic degree
this year, maybe in how I feel about them versus
what the market value is and calling it semi underrated.
This also might be too maybe not the hard heart,

(58:01):
hardcore people, but the people that are, you know, dialing around,
maybe not understanding that Travis Sikora is I think what
I mean, obviously one of the best seasons last year
among overall pitching prospects, but I think is exceptionally valuable
inside that top one hundred list. I had a two
three ERA this past year, a ridiculous amount of strikeouts.

(58:22):
I think it was a splitter that started just going nuts.
He's a big, huge body guy, six six, two thirty.
Didn't finish at a wish I could have seen a
little bit more that would have whipped lowly ridiculous. The
Nationals have got a few of these guys, I know,
y'all and Susana you know. Ridiculous strikeout numbers had some

(58:43):
ups and downs to core, it didn't This to me
is kind of like that public perception versus the value.
What do you think about Travis Sakari? I don't know
where you have him? Do you think this is ridiculous?
You think he's already too high? I think for prospect
people that rank and do list, Socora is probably pretty
much up there. But like when you compare him against Kuret,
where are you at?

Speaker 3 (59:04):
I've actually got him right next to Kurrett. I've got
I got my draft of my next update. I've got
Corret at forty nine and Sikora at fifty. I've got
Sikora of of all the pitching prospects who I don't
think are going to reach the majors in twenty twenty five,
I have Sikora ranked highest, Like I've got him ahead
of Hagen Smith, ahead of Chase Burns. I had a

(59:26):
Brandon Sproute ahead of Rowski. So I got I dig it, man,
I'm I'm I'm right there with you.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Okay, I'm over Hagen Smith and stuff. That's a that's
a pretty big marker too. And I like how you
said it because it's of all the pitching prospects you
don't expect in the majors, that's a pretty high marker.
But also you know you do you are going to
rank guys higher up there? Do you view Hagen Smith
as a pitcher, by the way, that can get to
the majors this year?

Speaker 3 (59:53):
I think Smith or Burns could be up this year,
but I I wouldn't, like I'm not banking on it,
Like I don't. I wouldn't touch of those guys in
a drafting hole. For instance. I think there's just there's
just this really big it's just everyone's chasing their tail,
like trying to find the next Paul Skins, and it's
just a fruitless effort. And I just would not recommend

(01:00:16):
looking at a Hagen Smith or a Chase Burns, and
like I gotta get this year's Paul Skiings, Like that's
that's not what it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Is, Okay, So let me do a rank.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
Let's do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
Chase Dolander, Quinn Matthews, Travis Scora.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
I have Matthews Sacora.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Dolander is Dolander purely because of Colorado.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Yep, yep, which is by the way. Yeah, I mean
he's tough to rank. I don't. I don't think we're
gonna know just but like it might turn out like
a couple of years from now that it's just like, oh,
you idiots didn't have Dolander as a top twenty five prospect.
But it could also just be like a, oh, you
idiots had him ranked and like you can't even use

(01:00:58):
him in his roads his home starts, so like, I
just I don't know where it's going to go with Dolander.
I know he's a really really good picture. It's just
we got to value the coust thing. I would.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
I would say that if Chase Dolander was a brave
he would probably be a top three pitching prospect in
baseball right now. I mean ridiculous. What he did across
the board is strikeout numbers. But the problem is is
you have a high level college pitcher at lower levels
going and then you've got the Colorado factor in there.
Not to be dismissive, because I probably have Dolander higher

(01:01:33):
than most people. I've got him very high on that list,
Like I would rank who the hell that I just
ask you, I have it, I actually have it Dolander,
Matthew Sokora, because I think his stuff is so ridiculous.
But to your point, Colorado can ruin him, can absolutely
ruin it. But that that's a stuff play. But it
is tough because also it's not organizationally. I mean, maybe

(01:01:54):
they're changing, you know, Sean Sullivan put up you know,
big numbers, like maybe they're fixing something as far as
the pitching develop but there's nothing in the Rockies development
that gets any of us excited outside of wanting to
throw up thinking about the environment that they pitch it.
But this is more about a Travis Sacora thing, Travis
Sacora underrated prospect pending what you're looking at. The last

(01:02:15):
question here, James first year player, and the reason I
just wanted to throw this out to you first year
player is tough because can anyone really be underrated or
is there nothing but underrated? Because we have for the
most part small sample sizes. The Bridge League this year
took away a decent amount of I guess stats and

(01:02:35):
like looks that people were going to end up getting
because they were untelevised, unsanctioned, unstat counted games. Braylan Payne
would have been a prime example. If he didn't get
that last little run, that would have been one of
those super sneaky ones. So Bridge League kind of ruined
some of those things. So the question I ask is
is first year player full of underrated prospects or canny

(01:02:55):
prospect even be underrated when we haven't seen enough. I
got a couple guys in my mind that I think
might fit the bill of underrated to different degrees, but
that overarching question, do you think it is full of
or can't be for first year player?

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
I would say it can't be. I think it's just
like you have targets, But I don't think just because
they're targets means they're underrated. But you know, maybe it's
just like underrated is my board versus your board, And
I've got a guy five spots higher, and that means
he's underrated. But I just don't think we can say

(01:03:34):
with any certainty right now what these guys are going
to be. So I'm sure there will be guys who
were drafted too late in the first year player draft,
but I would kind of just refer to him as like,
these are my targets in this range, and I hope
that it works out and it looks like a good pick.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
But maybe maybe maybe what it is is it's it
they can't be underrated relative to the top five hundred prospect.
You know, that's like you and I do a top
five hundred, they can't really be relative to that, but
maybe they can be underrated relative to their peers of
first year players and how they're being drafted. A prime example,
I probably, I think would be Brailn Pain. I think

(01:04:12):
Braylan Pain. There's a serious power question in Brailn Payne's game.
He was, you know, kind of reminded they're nothing alike,
but it reminded me of when the Rays took Xavier Isaac.
There was a little bit of a like what like
huh and Brailn Pain, I think kind of threw some
people off, but then I got to see him. I
can see him in his pro debut in the Bridge League.

(01:04:34):
Fastest can be crossbody hit tool, great, great control of
the zone. It's something we use a lot when I'm
just trying to describe a player that like they're not fool.
It's a great hit tool, it's a overall great hit
tool with aggressive a great aggressive base stealing. Reminds me
of the type of guy that's going to steal fifty bases,

(01:04:54):
but there's a really serious power question in him. I
still kind of think from like the unknowns that are
floating out there like Brayln Payne is like an underrated
first year player relative to his peers. But I do
know that people have started to catch up and rank
him higher. I don't know where you have him. Do
you think maybe relative to the rest of the crew,
he's a guy that could qualify as far as first

(01:05:16):
year player versus each other, could be underrated or do
you have him too high?

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
Now I've got him nineteen for first year player, but
I've got him in a tier from eleven to twenty,
So I think, like, I think he's just a really
solid second round pick and first year player.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Do you got a couple I got a I'm gonna
throw out a couple guys here, and if you've got
a couple guys, again, underrated relative to the entire class
of prospects, no, but maybe underrated comparative to the first
year player. I think Bryce Rayner might still be a
little and that's like a high end player. I think
there's a lot of focus on you know, Griffin and
obviously the top college bats, and I think Rainer is

(01:05:57):
one of those guys that in those low teams of
you know, like between eight and fifteen, somewhere where he's
gonna get drafted as underrated Braylin Payne as well. Tyson
Lewis is a much deeper play. I think is kind
of underrated relative to the class. With the Reds, really
good hit tool. Kind of all of these guys came
up together. I got to see him a bunch. One
of those players I would liken to Cooper Pratt in

(01:06:19):
that every day you see him, it's a hit. And
I went out to Red's quite a few times. Every
time I saw him, He's getting hits. There's good speed.
And Dylan Dryling also with the Rangers of College Bat,
wasn't it College World Series MVP? Just like really solid
overall Bat. I think he's just going so low in markets.
He's a great bet for someone that could move up.

(01:06:40):
Those are a couple of players that I think are
maybe underrated in the first year player. Do you have
a couple you want to throw at us?

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
I do. I think you're gonna like it because they're
all Diamondbacks.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
Oh we get Waldschmidt, let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
I think I think Ryan Waldschmidt, I think Slade Caldwell,
and I think Jays.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Are all Wow. The whole class.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
I'd like all three of them a lot. I've got
them all in my top twenty. I expect to end
up with at least one or two in all my
first player gaps basically, So yeah, I really liked what
the Diamondbacks did on the position player side. I think
wald Schmidt has a very high ceiling and a very

(01:07:23):
low floored. He's missed a ton of time, but when
he's been at his best and as healthiest, he's looked
like a five category guy, really shaky defensive profile despite
the speed. So that's a question. But I just think
he's he's got a really high ceiling and then called well,
like where you at on like Caldwell versus Pain.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
I've got called well, I called well is So like
on my board, I do my first year player ranks,
I separate them so people could view them like from
a round perspective, So I do top fifteen that's like
round one, and then data dot. Caldwell's in my round one,
he's in my top fifteen. I will say I didn't

(01:08:05):
get to go and see him. Diningbacks a little bit
of a trek for me, and I wasn't sure if
they were opened during the Bridge League and ended up
they were but I got to get some video for
some people. See he like, you don't want to focus
on this stuff. He's a little alarmingly smaller than you think.
And it's like, why are the Diamondbacks only draft these
five foot you know, seven outfielders or whatever. But big
stocky guy, great athlete size be damned. I think there's power,

(01:08:28):
definite power in there. There's great speed. I like called
Well to burn. But I've got Caldwell and Schmidt both
kind of in that first to second round. Cusp, are
you top fifteen on Caldwell.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
I've got him at sixteen, so maybe maybe he's not underrated.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
I mean, well, I haven't a fourteen, like by the way,
I've been fourteen, so we're not that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:49):
But then I've got JD. Dix at twenty. I think.
I think Dix is just a really good hitter who
his shoulder surgery just kind of prevented him from proving
that he was, you know, one of the best prep
guys in this class. But just for the stuff we

(01:09:10):
care about in fantasy, I think Dix is really solid.
So I've got I've got all three of those guys
in the sixteen to twenty range for me, and then
like a deeper two deeper guys. I really like Levi
Sterling Prepriety that the Pirates took, and I really like
Kale Fountain prep Third Basement that the Padres took. But yeah,

(01:09:30):
I mean just pure flyers. But I think there's upside
worth chasing there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
I saw Kal Kale and Cobb Hi Tower. Kale's a
big dude too. He's one of those guys you look
at and you're just like, yep, those are the like
I remember seeing like Batanti and like George Walco last year,
and you get excited. Caale Fountain kind of has that
same vibe. It's a pretty interesting class out there. I
was about to say, do you notice we didn't say
a lot of pictures. My most underrated thing would be
taking taking college pictures that drop in first year player.

(01:09:58):
That's the fun. And taking late high school arms. You know,
so if people are like reaching super super high on
like a Gerangelo or something like that, you know when
you can get maybe you know, a falling I don't
even cash Mayfield falling, but you know when you can
get some of those falling arms. Tray Savage tends to
fall a bit.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
Yeah, one college guy that might fit the bill for me.
There is Jonathan Santucci, the lefty that the Mets took.
He's just going to be really cheap. So I agree
with you college college if you like a college starter
in like the third or fourth round or your FYPD
and that's two great use of resources.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Yeah, like Drew maybe Drew Beam. Really late Royals have
done some good things with pictures, Gauge jump, you know,
with the A's something like that. Just a couple of
guys to go really late. Tons of underrated. James Anderson
is not underrated. He's the star. He's our dude. He's
my buddy, James. What's going down in your world?

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
Just writing a bunch of outlooks for the site on
prospects and working on the big top four hundred updates
in the fort Sure Player Draft rankings, First Sure Player,
Deft Blueprint, and I'll be having a Welsh on the
podcast January fifteenth for a for Sure Player Draft Mack,

(01:11:14):
which will be a lot of fun. So I'm looking
forward to that. I love doing those.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
We'll have a blast doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
James Anderson, Real j R. Anderson. You can find him
on X the Twitter. You go over to rote a
Wire check out his dynasty list, his prospect list. You
can sign up today get access to that support the
people that are doing cool stuff. James. Love you, brother
and appreciate you talking about some of these underrated prospects
with me.

Speaker 3 (01:11:36):
Thanks for having me on, Buddy, always a good time.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Thanks again to James for taking the time as he
always does. He's the best, you know, hit him up, Hey, James,
can you make it? Yep, he got it. That's just
our relationship.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
Maybe we don't talk for a month or two or
something like that, and then all of a sudden, Hey want
to having a pod? You bet you got it. I'm
on with James coming up in I think two weeks here,
I guess. Now at this point, it's a week from today,
as I'm recording this and posting this, I will be
on the Rota Wire podcast with a couple of the
boys as well on the podcast. Speaking of this podcast
next week, talking j fifteen prospects. Yes, the day, well,

(01:12:11):
if I go one week from today, that would be
January fifteenth, the day that the international signing period becomes official.
But we kind of know all the information, like there's
not a lot of surprises. The only caveat is the
Roky Suzaki stuff. It seems pretty clear. You know, there's
a team that doesn't really have any affiliations with any
of the top international prospects, the Dodgers, so that seems

(01:12:35):
to line up. There are teams that have, you know,
this type of affiliation connection with some of the top prospects.
You would think they're out Otherwise, you know, if they
have to clear their entire minor league international signing pool
for Roki Suzaki and they're tied to someone else, you'd
have to break that off, and that could that could

(01:12:56):
really like tarnish some relationships stuff. So I'm not really sure.
I think it kind of clearly speaks to itself, but
that's beside the point. I guess my point to that
is is like all of the top international guys have
their affiliations locked in unless something with I think the
Rokie stuff would change that. So we already know where
it is. But next week I'm going to be breaking
down some of the work I've already done in my

(01:13:19):
prospect update. The top five hundred, I've actually already put
in the international guys. They're also on the first year
player ranks I have, so if you guys want to
check that out, you can. So this next episode will
be a breakdown specifically of the top ten, because that's
kind of where I it drew a little bit of
a line, and you'll see in my ranks the line
is actually a little bit further away. But we'll talk

(01:13:41):
about the top international, what some of the scouting reports
are out there, my feelings, my ranks, and we will
go through the J fifteen class. Then we're going to
move into a more traditional Prospect series where I'm going
to be having guests on every single week. Looks like
I've got Eric Cross set up, but we're going to
be talking about, you know, the collection of who is

(01:14:02):
in the top ten, and then we'll we'll just kind
of keep going with that. That will also lead in
to the P one eighty p's. We'll be doing a
new version of that, probably setting it up towards the
end of the month to start the first week in February.
I'm then gone for a week in February for a
Fantasy Pros trip, and then when I'm back, we would
do like a breakdown of all the results of the

(01:14:22):
P one ADPs and stuff like that. But if you
want to take part in that as listeners, I fill
it in our group me rooms on Patreon. So we
have a Prospect one group me room just like discord.
If you're in there, that's where I drop and I'll
drop them on Patreon as well to some of the
lower levels as we go. But it's an opportunity to
like you get to draft with I don't know, maybe
people you follow like James always does it, Cross Clagg

(01:14:44):
and my cell, you know, bunch of people and we
usually have like anywhere from three to five industry people
and then the rest are like you know, Dynasty guys
that know prospects and we create an ADP for prospects.
So we'll have an updated version of that for February.
We'll have one prospect update before that. So that's kind
of your outlook for the near future here. So there
you go. J fifteen coming up next week here on

(01:15:07):
Prospect one and what you guys need to know about them.
We'll do that giveaway as well. Make sure that you
go over to the YouTube YouTube dot com slash in
this League on the Dennis Sidler autograph section. I'm gonna
give you up until the signing, So you've got a
couple of weeks, just go and post something that you
really like, something you like from the episode. Make sure
you subscribe to the podcast and I will pick somebody

(01:15:28):
there as a winner for that. And that signing is
coming up in the near future. And if you want,
you still have an opportunity to send in your own stuff,
or you can purchase some killer stuff from Dennis. Go
to sidsgrafs dot com sidggrafs on the social He's got
like these awesome cy young like printed balls from fanatics
and jerseys and you can send in cards all that
great stuff, so you can go and check that out,

(01:15:49):
plus the rest of his clientele. But the Chris sale
one is on the top of mine, so sidsgrafs check
him out today. Friends, that is it. Thank you so
much for hanging out. You can find me on the
social app is it the Welsh you know, the Patreon,
you know everything else. So just thank you as always
for hanging out and I will talk to you next
week right here on Prospect one

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Episode 389 - Underrated Prospects with James Anderson of Rotowire

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 389 - Underrated Prospects with James Anderson of Rotowire