Episode 399 - Troy Collins Baseball Life

New Prospect One Podcast


I'm joined by 🎙️ Troy Collins to talk about his Instagram rise of almost 1 mill followers, ACL prospects and more!


✅ Plus the latest prospect news, injuries and standouts


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Find Welsh on Twitter @IsItTheWelsh and on Instagram @IsItTheWelsh

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
In this League podcast that work present Prospect one. So
Fantasy Prospect Podcast Prospect one with your host Chris Welch.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the Fantasy Baseball prospect podcast. This is Prospect One.
I'm your host, Chris Welsh. You can find on Twitter,
Instagram at is it the Welsh and of course over
at in This League dot Com on the Patreon. If
you're listening to this on Friday, the updates should be
there for the Top five hundred Prospects, Top four hundred, Dynasty,
some other fun information. Just all of my stuff is

(00:36):
floating around there, and next week I'll be doing an
episode breaking down some of the biggest rank changes, because boy,
there's a lot of stuff. But go to in this
League dot Com today you can support me by going
checking and you get access to the list. There's a
community and a bunch more and I very much appreciate
you for doing it. In this League dot Com. I
mentioned the social Instagram. That's definitely one of the key

(00:58):
words of the day. Because my guest, he's a very
good friend of mine out here in Arizona, Troy Collins,
And as I will say on here, because I'm doing
the open after the interview Troy Collins has one of
the craziest Instagram social followings in the prospect world, just
about a million followers and Troy is one hundred percent

(01:21):
Prospects and that has to be the biggest social account
dedicated to prospects in all the land. I've known Troy
for a couple of years. He kind of does the
things that I do, but at a much more successful rate,
of course, and has just built this conglomerate. He sees
these guys, he's friends of these guys, and he's on
the show today. Troy Collins Baseball Life. You've definitely come across.

(01:43):
If you're into socials whatever, Instagram or Twitter, you've definitely
come across.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Videos that are his.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
They get shared like crazy, and you know, he's got
really good takes. We talk about prospect all the time
I see him. We're talking about you know, who's shining,
who's lighting up. I might, you know, push out a
prospect like oh, this is a guy you know from
like a fantasy perspective, and you know Troy will be like, oh, yeah,
really like this guy. That was something we had talked
about with Tyson Lewis last year in the Bridge League

(02:10):
or whatever. When he wasn't playing sanctioned games. It's one
of those guys that stood out. And you know, Troy
lives this probably to a bigger degree than I do.
You know, I can't get out every single day.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Troy's out there every day.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
So seeing lots of prospects kind of has a history
in the baseball world, and we're going to talk a
little bit about that. We're going to talk about some
of the prospects that him and I have seen a
bunch his takes on them. It's a very fun conversation
with a great guy. Good vibes, positive vibes, and some
giveaway stuff he's got to give away going on that
you guys can so Troy Collins Baseball Life, making it

(02:42):
to Prospect one or Troy Collins ex Prospect one.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
For the episode today.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I've got some news and notes that we're going to
hit that are also floating around the prospect world, and
then we're just going to get right into it. But
want to give a shout out to my friend Dennis
Sidler over at SIDS Grafts. Gotta want to check out
all his stuff going on today. He's actually got a
nice signing come up with a major leaguer. I don't
know what I gotta ask him. I don't remember sometimes
what I can say and what I can't, But Major
Leaguers Prospects doesn't matter. You got to go and check

(03:09):
it out. Dennis has got the latest and greatest and
it can do cards, you know, hats, baseballs, whatever it is.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Bats.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
There's lots of really cool, unique things that you can
get from some of the game's top players. Go and
check him out today at Sidsgrafs. Sidgraf's on the social
and on eBay, where a lot of his stuff lives.
Go and check it out today from my buddy, Dennis Sidler. Okay,
let's talk about some news and notes in the prospects
space before we just start breaking some stuff down with Troy.
Before Troy joins me here. Biggest piece of news Travis

(03:39):
Bozana out eight to ten weeks with the dreaded, the
absolute dreaded, oblique strain.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Wompwomp.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Not great Travis Bozana at this point, I think it's
gonna leank closer to the ten weeks. It obviously depends
how he's going to heal. As far as I know,
I believe he's already out here.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
In Arizona. He's just going to be chilling.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
They've got a bunch of these guys, I mean, the
Guardians rehab of prospects.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Not every team does this, but a decent.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Amount to when a prospect is out for you know,
more than like a minimal amount of time, they go
back to complex. Major leagues, it's different. I don't understand why. Sometimes,
like I understand why Arizona. You know, if Corbyn Burns
has heard or something like that, or could tell Marte
send him a complex. It's the same state. But not

(04:27):
every other team does this, you know, from maybe sometimes
it's a big star or something. But like take Logan Web.
You know, Logan Web is just hanging. He's hanging in
Seattle doing that stuff. But then on the other side,
you know, you'll have I guess it's a little bit
different with a guy like Shane Bieber. But like Shane
Bieber is out here in Arizona with the Guardians and
he's been here for the entirety of it, and I

(04:48):
guess he's kind of working up. But still you would
think Gilbert would be here major leaguers, it's not so much.
It's pretty much a foregone conclusion. That any minor leagueer
is going to go back to complex. They're going to
be hanging, They're going to be rehibh and the Guardians
have had everybody, I mean everybody has been on that list.
Last time I talked to you, I saw the Guardians

(05:10):
over the weekend. George Valera is rehabbing hit a homer.
I got a video of that if you want to
check it out.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Looks okay.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Still love the swing, but I just don't know if
it's still there. You know, there's still some of the
same intricacies of swinging through stuff, and the body is okay,
and I'm off of the the love train that I
used to have as far as where he can be.
But I still think he could be a major leaguer.
You know that bad is still there, he cried. I
want to say it was maybe a secondary pitch, like

(05:42):
a slider on the outside, and he just took it
over the wall and right. But my main point wasn't
necessarily that. I mean, we can talk about live looks,
of course. It's just the Guardians have a gajillion rehabbing guys.
You've had chased the latter you had George Valera, they
had David Fry and Nick Mitchell. The latter's back up,
So that's a piece of news. He's back off of

(06:02):
his rehab off the Triple A. I actually had talked
him on Saturday and he said he had a couple
more days that he was out here.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Looks okay.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Also, you know, he could be a kind of very
decisive hitter and trying to you know, pick and choose
where he's going with stuff. Didn't make a bunch of
great contact when I saw him, but he hit a
homer I think in the final game before he's running.
He's playing some in the field, So I think those
are really big positives.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
And he's back.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Nick Mitchell's off, David Fry's gone, But then they've got
another group of them. Jason Curio and Anil Hanoah are
both out here and they're going to start a rehab assignment,
I believe tonight as I'm recording this, and I may
see them over the next couple of days. And then
Bazana hanging. Bazana's hanging out and Shane Bieber. It's not
a good complex to for access and stuff like that,

(06:51):
but there's a ton of dudes, a ton of guys
that are hanging out there, and I think this is
almost a foregone conclusion that Tryvis Bason is going to
play in the AFL. No guarantees on anybody.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
But.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
If you want the poster child of how does a
player get to the AFL, how about a completely shortened season,
missing two one hundred and fifty to two hundred plus
a bats that they should have gotten. That's the framework
for an AFL guy.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
He's in Double A. He was okay, this would.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Have been like the first full season of ball. He's
in a miss significant time anywhere from two to three months.
It's going to the AFL.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
There's no doubt about it. They did this with Chase
the latter.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
So you know that list that I make, I'll talk
and I do this breakdown of the AFL. There it
is Travis Bazana. He is number one on the list.
I think there's some other guys. You know, Kevin McGonagall
has missed a ton of time this year, maybe the
second half.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
They're just not going to care.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
But I could see that being something where you know,
the Tigers want to get him going. Just that injuries
just drug on and on. But it really does look
like Travis Bazana is going to be the first of
the crew of AFL guys missing significant time and you know,
probably a decent buy opportunity in the fantasy space. He
didn't light the world up. He's going to miss this time.

(08:11):
He'll come back at the back half of the year.
He'll get some work in the AFL. I think his
value is going to pop back up.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
In the AFL.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
So if you are in the quote stock market of
you know, prospects and stuff, it's a great time to
buy in Travis Bozana because he should be moving back up.
We had another guy that left here, Charlie Condon or
another Arizona based thing, Charlie Condon, who you guys know.
I'll talk with Troy a little bit about Condon. It's
a little tenuous with what I've seen. There's the possibility

(08:41):
that Condon is my new James Wood, where when I
see them they look bad, but the skill sets still
come through. You guys have seen the video I put out,
the three strikeout game video. Then he happened to happen
to be in the right spot where he was playing
at another game and there's another bad, really bad three
pitch strikeout. Then I don't see him for a couple

(09:04):
of days, and he starts popping off. He had a
three for three game, he had another the hit or
multi hit game, and then he moved up. He's moved
up to Spokane. He's back in High A and his
first game back in Spokane went two for four. So
that's a really good sign, especially being able because he's
not just going to a ball he should be in
Hi A. He is old enough, but like, you know,

(09:24):
maybe he found some confidence. Maybe it's in you know,
God knows what it is. The ump stuff out here
is really bad, but it doesn't take away like what
you could see on the video of like there's a
there's a breaking pitch I issue going on with Condon.
But hey, he just kind of met the call at
hi A. So maybe competition's up. And I'm not one
hundred percent how he feel about it. He's lower in

(09:45):
my ranks for sure, but Condon up at HIA is
a good sign. And I'll I'll tell you this. I
don't know if people paid attention to this. Very interesting.
He's playing first base. He played a first base two
or three games out here in Complex, so they might
be playing a with some flexibility. Maybe there's some injury stuff.
You know, he was playing left field when he was
out here. Maybe they want to see if he's got

(10:05):
a first base body for sure, but he played some first.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Base out here.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
That might be something more of what we see. And
maybe that's going to be like a future look for
condent that they just don't want him in the outfield.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I'm not one.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Hundred percent sure, but his value is definitely kind of tanking,
but very very good sign that at least, you know,
he gets up to hi A and he kind of
takes that confidence and builds it with a couple hits,
but he is out of here. Robert Hassel to the
major leagues. Robert Hassel. I think I even took a
stance like a year ago of just being like, it's
just not a thing. And the one thing I will say,

(10:36):
and this is why the process is not linear.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
He just finally changed a bit of who the guy
he was.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
You know, I bet if we had it could be
wrong about this, But if I had, like attack angle,
a new thing that they're giving to us on Baseball Savant,
giving us so much great stuff we have, like batspeed
data in batting stance data, and then now we're getting
like swing data, we're getting how the angle of the

(11:06):
attack of the bat on the ball, what is that
and how that correlates to like other major leaguers in
success and stuff. I would kind of guess there's been
some changes in regards to potential bat speed and length
and attack angle with a guy like Robert Hassel, because
it seems to me he's he's a little bit less

(11:26):
in that territory of like I'll cheat to hit breaking
pitches because i got bat speed to hit fast balls
and I'm going to tank them to being probably letting
the ball travel a little bit more, getting more hits,
not trying to get the ball in the air as much,
not worrying about empower impact, and just making better decisions.
And it's gotten to the major league, so there really

(11:48):
might there might be something there with Robert Hassel, but
he's up in the majors. Demitrio Crossantis, I probably should
have just put this with injuries. Very highly touted prospect
with the airson a diamond and highly touted for his bat.
A lot of discussions, there's so many interesting diamondback guys.
I'm not sure, like, well, it's not that. I'm not
sure there aren't elite diamondback prospects that are floating out there,

(12:13):
you know, that are sitting at the top of any
ranks outside of I guess Lawler if you want to
call that. But there are there's like this core of
like from the fifties to the one fifties of like
said Caldwell and Ryan Waldschmid is sitting out there.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Maybe Jon Hill, Luis JD.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Dix to Maitri Casantis has had a lot of people,
I mean, just popping his value maybe beyond what I
thought it should have been, simply because of the hit tool.
He is going to miss it looks like the rest
of the season with season ending shoulder surgery. So that's
not looks like that is official. He's gonna miss the

(12:48):
rest of the year. You have to wonder because the
statistically he was a bit underperforming and you have to
wonder if maybe that was due to the shoulder.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
Something to consider.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
But he had only two fifty two in hi A
after hitting three forty one across two levels last year.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
OBP dropped by seventy points as well.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
He did.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
He was still walking more than striking out. He had
twelve of his thirty one hits were still extra base
and he stole some basses. It's just everything was not
quite as impactful if it was whether that's you know,
a maduration. I mean he's at the same level Charlie
conton In is, and he's like two years younger or
you know, his that shoulder related. But Chrossantis is going
to miss the rest of the season, so I don't

(13:29):
I don't know the timeline.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
I just realized this.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
He could be an AFL guy, But I'm not really
sure if the timeline is like an eight to ten
month situation or is this like I mean, it would
have to be for five months for him to get back.
But now now I want to click and read and
see what they're if.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
They said.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
It looks like this happened during it at bats, so
it doesn't look like a lingering thing, but you know,
there always could have been something in there.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
No, they say he will build back up.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
And spring of twenty twenty six. So not an AFL candidate.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
So he's going to miss the rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Again, maybe a guy that you can look at for
trading because he's not going to produce anything and people
will be a little off of him some promotional stuff.
Christian Moore up to triple A. He's kind of struggled,
but up to triple A, which is kind of an
uncommon Angels thing, to be honest with you. So that's
interesting to see. And Jose Anderson, I'm super pissed about
this one, and I think I talked about it on shows,

(14:25):
but Jose Anderson has been one of one of the
best complex players out here. If you remember James Anderson
and I talked about him, I believe on Rode Wire,
and Jose Anderson was like tippy top outside of Victor Figueroa,
who Troy and I will talk a little bit about.
Jose Anderson was leading in like almost every category. You know,
he was right there with homers and slug and everything.

(14:47):
And when you know what, the Brewers bring him on up,
bring young kid right up into into high or to
not high, but a ball where he's going to play
with Jesus made Luis Pana. So another transactional piece. Luis
Pania is on the al. This is the second time
this year too. Just want to throw that out. I
don't know if it's anything serious, and for indications is

(15:12):
like if this were a longer more serious. Like I
said before, probably send out here to Arizona. Tyler Black
is rehabbing Jefferson Quero, but from what I've garnered, it
sounds like he's staying, so that's probably shorter variety. Same
thing happened before, but two injuries floating out there. But
Jose Anderson moved up to a ball is. I think

(15:34):
it's very telling of the talent. They're not afraid to
move those guys up. As soon as they get going,
they just boom. They move their prospects or they challenge
them to a higher degree. And Jose Anderson, I literally
missed him by a day. I hit the Brewers on
he Goes Monday, and that was the day he got
called up. I did get to see Jaden Fielder, Tyler Black,

(15:57):
caro Ethan Dorchies, who is a an up and coming
Devin up and coming prospect, probably one of the best
pitchers out here in the ACL. I know that Chris
klaig Is tweeted about him. A big kid, almost unhittable.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
He looks.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
I was talking with him at the game and I'm like,
you're not going to be here for long, and he's like,
that's the plan. He's like, that's what I'm hoping. He
was a very nice and very nice kid, just big
boy with big stuff, a bunch of great guys. But
I really was there to see Jose Anderson, and I
unfortunately did not get to. He leaves the ACL hitting
three thirty three, three homers, two triples, two doubles, eight

(16:33):
to nine walk to strike out ratio with three stolen
bases in only ten games. First game up, didn't do anything,
strikeout in three at bats, thinking he he must have
got on.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
He has a little OVP on there, but no walk.
We'll see where it goes.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
But Jose Anderson has got to be on your radars.
Big old jump in my ranks. You know he's going
to show hi ish. I'm always battling the stock market
excitet nature of prospects and just murder balling their rank
up versus the totality of it. So what I mean

(17:10):
by that is like, you know, Jose Anderson might justifiably
you throw him in the top one hundred if you're
talking about these are trajectory, these are arrow moved players.
He probably belongs in probably the most the top one
hundred or top seventy five of most interesting players so
far this season, But in the grand scheme, have we

(17:31):
seen enough? Sometimes it doesn't matter in fantasy, and that's
where I'm still trying to find a happy medium. I
think some others might do a better job of, like
just just vaulting some dude way up the ranks. I
tend to think sometimes I can backfire, but people sometimes
don't care about that. You just want to see, like,
who are the guys that are moving up that I
should pick up, and if they fail, you move on.

(17:53):
But I think it shows itself where if it's like,
you know, Jose Anderson is super, you know, he's going
nuts and stuff. Should I know Jose Persano for him,
Persono is only hitting two fifty and he was on
the IL, and it's like, I wouldn't want to do that.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
That's not what I would want to do.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
But if you're talking about buzz, Jose Anderson has it
over Personia right now, so he's definitely way up this list.
Another guy I'm gonna throw out to you. I kind
of not remembering if Troy and I. Troy and I
might have like just briefly talked about him on here,
but one of the biggest pop up players out here
in the ACL that you know. So there's like there's

(18:30):
like the quote stars, the guys that you totally know,
and you know, Josue Lugo is a player that you
know is on everybody's minds. I'd even say Johnny Level's
maybe not necessarily there. Then there's that medium range Jose
Anderson that Johnny Level's another that's a better example for
that Johnny Level. Jose Anderson. You know, those are guys
that it's like you're aware of and they're popping off

(18:53):
and you're like, okay, sweet. And then there are just
players that just come poof, just out of no where.
And Darry Fernandez with The Guardians is that player d
A U R I for anybody listening out there, Darry Fernandez.
And it's funny because Darry's actually hit me up multiple

(19:14):
times for video and stuff like that. Because when I've
been out at the I was at The Guardians so
much compared to where I have in the past. I
can't even believe it. But it was, you know, to
see David Frye and de Lauter and Valera and Tristan
McKenzie was supposed to pitch and stuff like that. But
one constant has been Darry Fernandez out there. Darry's hitting

(19:35):
four to sixty five in Complex League. It's thirteen games,
but four sixty five a five to sixty six ovp
our thirteen ops.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Right now. He has a ten to four.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Walk to strikeout ratio, so he has more than double
the walks than he does strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Crazy.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
He has nine extra base hits of his twenty hits,
zero homers, though six doubles, three triples. He also has
four stolen bases. I've got some video on him, and
I believe I shared it on Instagram. It's one of
his triples from not too long ago. Troy has also
got one of these doubles that he put out there

(20:18):
and he made. He's really really easy at the plate,
doesn't mess with the bat too much, gets it in
the zone, makes really good contact and flies across the bases. Now,
he's not the biggest guy. He's listed around one fifty five.
That's probably believable. He's eighteen years old. He's a middle infielder.
But Darry Fernandez is just absolutely dominating out here. He

(20:40):
makes way too much contact. I don't know if he's
gonna end up ever being like a big impact bat
as far as like power and stuff like that. Could
he become a perdomo though, Yeah, there's some prodomo like
tendencies in there. So if you guys want to pop
up player, Darry Fernandez has been absolutely dominating. I've seen
him three different times. I'm so far also a great kid,

(21:02):
Like I said, he said, up Troy hits up me,
you know, chatting about you know, trying to get video
and stuff. I think he's pretty excited about it, so
look out for him. Only other things I want to mention.
I thought this was really really interesting. The Chicago White
Sox are doing some random shutdowns of players and it
was announced I think it was two days ago that
Hagen Smith and Hiro Iriarty are taking a pitching break

(21:25):
to do some biomechanical work.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
That's crazy cool. I love hearing that.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I think it is presented in a really cool way
versus players that are just being thrown on the quote
developmental list. I am seeing a little bit more of
that that's happening out there, but I don't think that's
a bad thing. I think people should pay attention when
teams are doing that. The biomechanical work is you know,
they're going to take a look at the stuff and
it's going to be pitch mixed stuff. It's going to
be how they're throwing. There might be health related stuff.

(21:53):
But I thought that was super fascinating, especially Hagen Smith
doing that, because you know, he's been pretty dang good
early on. Kind of like to see it with Noah Schultz.
But maybe the stuff that they needed to do they've
already hit over the last couple of years, where Hagen
Smith has been here only so long. And then this
isn't really like a note, but Jacob Miserowski and Chase
Burns right now, I think in let's presume Andrew Painter

(22:19):
gets to the majors soon. He's already in triple A.
Looks like he's very close. I'll say let's go August first.
That gives a little time to maybe graduate. So let's
presume job is off, Sazaki's off Painters off. I think
those might be your two top pitchers in the minor leagues,

(22:40):
Miserowski and Chase Burns. Miserowski his ability, he's a little
tick down of the fastball, which is creating better command
and is lowering his walks by like two per nine.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
It's com completely changing the scope of the type of
picture that he is, and.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
He's also changing his pitch mix around, and Chase Burns
is just continues to be ridiculously unhittable.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
That fastball as well.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Sometimes there's like little vibes of like old Hunter Green
where Hunter Green sometimes it looks flat, but at that
top angle that Chase Burns throws it at that ball
just like it rides, it rides up, and I think
it's that fastball is really difficult to really difficult to
get on, and then he combos that with this devastating slider.

(23:21):
Those are top two guys. I mean, let me look
at my list whom I forgetting. Noah Schultz is out there.
Jeff Ponce put out a really interesting thing about maybe
some negatives. I guess I didn't say Bubba Chandler. I
would say, let's throw Bubba into that six week like
graduation range. If Bubba's there, he's number one. But I
think those are your that's that is in theory, your
top guy. Chase Burns, I can tell you right now,

(23:44):
will default to being my number one. Missarowski's got some competition,
you know. Hagen Smith is out there Noah Schultz is
out there, maybe Thomas White for some people. Quinn Matthews
has struggled. Jacob Mazerowski, I think is just right in
that grouping. So, you know, the top end, and this
is something we'll talk about next week. We'll talk about
my rank update where I've got some of these guys

(24:07):
and you know, we're really floating into like a very
important time amongst ranks.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
You know, it's with.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
The sample sizes and everything like that. It's pretty crazy.
So we can also do some Q and a's on that.
I want to do a P one.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Q and A show here in the very near future.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
All right, those are some updates. That was a lot
of stuff, but there's a lot going on. There's plenty
more in the prospect world that I didn't even give you.
Let's go to my friend though. This is Troy Collins,
Troy Collins Baseball Life. He does these Instagram reels where
he does giveaways every single week.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Sometimes it's just.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Like a couple prospects. Here's there just at a Jackson
Merrill one. He's a great dude, and we talk about
it on there, you know, kind of why he does
it and what was the impetus to all of it,
and then just talking about prospects in general, you know,
and I get to see Troy a whole bunch. This
is the first setting that we've gotten to, you know,
speak for half an hour plus.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Just straight about prospects. We'll just talk about.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Anything in baseball and goofy stuff. And then also not
to mention, we're bouncing around. You know, he's doing a video.
I'm trying not to talk in it. Sometimes, you know,
vice versa. Sometimes we're filming the exact same thing. Be
a funny game where if we're at a game together,
you can look, you can see how close we were
at angles. But Troy's a great guy. I think you guys,
you'll enjoy it. So Troy Collins myself talking some prospects

(25:22):
out here in the ACL We'll do it right after this.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Shay, I like you.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
I like you so much.

Speaker 4 (25:29):
I'm gonna make you my partner. All he has to
do is find the gold and I'll share it with you.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Fifty to fifty Prospect was.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Joining me on the podcast the first time on this show,
but first time not with me, of course. This is
one of my friends out here in the Arizona complex
League got really anything, Arizona based, and one of the
most fascinating things about it is, mister Troy Collins has
maybe the most prominent minor league Instagram account in the world.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
I didn't even realize this.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
I was talking with someone about this Troy Collins Baseball Life.
You can find him and close to a million of
his friends. Troy, what's up, buddy, how's it going. We're
doing good, dude. I've done Troy for a little while.
Troy does much more successfully the same stuff that I do.
Will like, we have this funny joke where there'll be

(26:24):
like photos or videos out there and you'll see two shadows,
and the two shadows we had with the Jackson Merrill
one recently was us because Troy is out there every
single day getting video and Troy, You've taken a really
interesting path to this, and we'll kind of talk about
the path, and then we're going to talk about a
bunch of these really great prospects that have been or
are out here in Complexly and kind of your take

(26:46):
on some of them. But Troy, you've built up this
absolutely absurd Instagram account based solely on the world of prospects.
I mean we're talking MLB pipelines like two hundred thousand,
probably near the tippy top. You know, I didn't even
think to look at like Baseball America. I'm gonna look
at that as we're talking. And Troy has built up

(27:07):
this following of almost a million followers based on prospects,
which is almost infallimable. And by the way, Baseball America
two hundred and thirty eight thousand on there. So, Troy,
how did you even stumble upon this crazy success of
like you know, Instagram, prospect World, all of it, I mean,
doing video and everything.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
You know, It's been quite the ride a lot of people.
I'm gonna take it back a little bit because a
lot of people don't know that. You know, my whole
history in baseball. I started out in scouting. I created
the Poweraide Player of the Year program for the Coca
Cola Poweraid Company. Then, you know, there's not a lot

(27:51):
of money in scouting. So I was lucky to know
a big time guy from Lee Steinberg back in the day.
Him and I got together and we started our own
baseball agency. So we built that up out of Newport Beach, California.

(28:11):
We had great, great lawyers, working with us, I was
kind of the face of it, going out, you know,
to to meet the families, meet the kids, the players.
We built it up really good and ran for nine years,
and then we had a lot of interest in other
companies wanting to merge or you know, take over, so

(28:33):
we decided to to let it go and take the
money and run and and just that's how everything kind
of got started for me as as I transitioned, I
during the during COVID, I wanted to do something that
lifted people's spirits, and I started doing a lot of

(28:54):
giveaways on Twitter for you know, all through COVID. I
mean I'd have several every week. But one day, unfortunately,
I say, unfortunately that there has to be people like this,
but my that account got hacked. But fortunately for me,

(29:14):
it created the huge craziness and party on Instagram I've had.
And so I've had a lot of the impact I
had over my years in baseball has helped me with
my Instagram success. A lot of people that know me
and knew me back fifteen years ago, you know, I've

(29:36):
started following me and I've just had a lot of
been a lot of luck. A lot of players I've
had Hall of famers you know, follow me post, you know,
repost to their story. A lot of my videos, a
lot of them appreciate the attention and love I give

(29:59):
to the young player because not not a lot of
people do, you know, especially at the low levels. And
it's created such a big force of every family and
extended family member of these players have all followed me,
all the academies, all the coaches and the dr and

(30:23):
it goes on and on everybody. I can imagine. It's
it's been a whirlwind, but I'm just riding it out
having fun.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
That's definitely That's definitely a like right there, that's a
line if you know Troy of just you're writing it
out and having fun.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
And you know, I knew Troy.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
I think when you were in the like two to
three hundred range. I think on Instagram and it's blown
up and you know it's and listeners of this show
will know, like it's in the same realm. They're gonna
understand what you're saying because it's the same realm of
like how I've been, but smaller degree of like with Twitter,
and you know it's mckenjigor and his parents hitting me
up and these parents. But what Troy has done and

(31:01):
it's a really good outlet. I mean it's similar to
when you think about places like Pipeline and Baseball America,
where you know, if you go on their youtubes, what
are you going there for? Where you're going to look
for video of a certain prospect? Well, that is what
Troy has done with his Instagram in that pretty much
every single prospect you've got some video for, and you
definitely don't I get more pick and choosy where it's

(31:22):
like I'm looking for, you know, plays that have higher
substance of like actionable items like you know, Homer or
here's a double or here's.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
A big strikeout.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
But Troy will get videos of everything happening from just
highlighting a catcher to a picture and that that has
kind of taken this steam and it's just rolled. And
we've asked you, you know, some of us and I've
asked you before, like on the fields of like you know,
how's it going and you know, how did it happen?
And you've always you're just like I'm not sure, you know,
You're just like you just it just goes and it's happened,

(31:52):
and you know closing in And I don't know if
you've like thought of it in that direction, Troy, but
it's like the most successful minor league baseball probably social account.
I think social is a way is a better way
to say it, because I don't think there's anybody. I
don't know what Baseball America is on Twitter either, but
I'd have to say it's got to be close to
one of the most successful minor league accounts across social media,

(32:14):
which is pretty impressive. And you've kind of done it
all off of sharing, sharing the good word of prospects
and good vibes, right.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
Yeah, exactly. It's just it's the law. It's it's I
hope the work shows the love and passion I have
for the game of baseball. Some of my best memories
are my little league days playing baseball, going to the
baseball field first thing Saturday morning, chasing them balls to
trade them in for packs of cards back then, and

(32:45):
just playing the game and All Stars and all that
fun stuff. And I'm just fortunate that I'm in a
position where I can spend the time doing it now,
you know, every day and like I tell that the guys,
I'll be out here with the guys when it's one
hundred and ten, I might be the only one out here,
but I'm going to be out here with you guys,

(33:06):
and it's just because I love the game, that's right.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Well, you know it'll be you and me. At least
it be you and me.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
But yeah, you were rhetorical of like you're bringing them
out there when people aren't going to see it. And
we'll tell you at the end too. Something you guys
want to pay attention to that it's not only just
great videos, but you've you've brought the giveaways back and
we'll talk about it after we talk about some players
at the end, But you want to follow Troy Troy
Collins Baseball Life on Instagram because you have fully committed

(33:34):
to great giveaways. And I want to talk about like
one of the guys you got to like some of
the not just minor leaguers minor leaguers of course, but
like major leaguers have like taken part in, you know,
hooking you up with stuff to do for giveaways. And
we'll talk about one you did like last week. You
want to talk about some of these guys that we've
both been seeing here for a bit. Yeah, one of
our favorites. I remember he was during Bridge League. You

(33:55):
and I were talking and I think maybe I had
said something about this per or maybe someone had been like,
who's the most impressive. That's a pretty common question we
hear around the circuit of complex in Arizona. Is just
randomly come across somebody, and if you're out here a lot,
they might be like, who's the most impressive person that
you've seen? And I remember last year one that you
popped out with.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Was Tyson Lewis.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Tyson Lewis was definitely one of your guys really early on.
I know you saw him a bunch. I was really impressive,
and I had likened him kind of too. This is
a crude one, but I likened him to Cooper Pratt.
But I did it in that Cooper Pratt to me
when I saw him the year prior. I think it
was like across rookie ball when he was out here,

(34:39):
was Cooper Pratt just hit every time I saw him.
That's something that stands out whether you're you know, whether
you're like looking at a guy and you're just like, oh,
do this guy hit a bunch of homers or what
does he do? But there's something about when we're out
here in Complex and a guy is just always doing it,
always getting on base, and that's what Tyson Lewis was doing.
Last year he ended up.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
I guess this was.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
I guess this was in the Bridge League now that
I'm thinking about. Yeah, so there were no like registered stats.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
But this year he was.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
I think there was like a little bit of injury
that took him back. But I know he's gonna play
in the ACL. Yeah, he's currently on the injured seven
day list and.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
He'll move up.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
But he'd been playing out here in Complex League rehabing.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
He looks bigger. He looks way bigger. I thought.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
I thought, I feel like he's added like fifteen pounds
of muscle at least between Bridge League and now. And
not only is he hitting three eighty very small sample size,
he's hitting three eighty five. He's got a homer, he's
got a stolen base. But he had that like one
nineteen registered hit and Troy I was kicking myself. I
was at that game, but I had to leave. I

(35:42):
got his first at bat, I had to leave before
and I think it was his third at bat.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
He puts up this.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Line drive homer that hit one nineteen off the bat.
He's a massively, massively impressive guy. But at what level,
especially over the last year of players that you've been seeing,
at what level do you hold Tyson Lewis at Well.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
I tell everybody Tyson's a type of kid. I mean
he's chiseled. He's sixty one five ish, just chiseled, All
American type guy. He if he chose to go to college,
I truly believe when he would be done with college,
he would have been the number one pick in the draft.

(36:21):
He is so good, so talented. I mean, the tools
that he has is unbelievable to match the you know,
the power, true gramer gamer. Just I love him. I
saw him last night. I was with him. Really good guy. Uh.

(36:43):
I believe he's going to be called up probably within
the next week to get out of here. I think
he's just going to tear through a ball and uh.
In fact, I told him last night that probably not
this year, but next year. I'm projecting that he will

(37:05):
be invited to the All Star Futures Game. And I
told him if he is, he's gonna see me in
the stands. Just because I love the guy. Great guy.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
He is he's a phenomenal guy too. That's another good point.
And I and god do all my listeners know, Like
I will talk about kind of the demeanor of a
player because I sometimes think that that is that's an
intangible that can It's not a one for one, but
the intangible of like how a person is can definitely
put themselves back on the field.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
You know a guy that's super just You.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Know these guys that are just like got a chip
on their shoulder, they're just kind of short with everybody,
not great with their teammates, like how are they gonna
handle adversity? Tyson has definitely been a guy that is
very loose going, very happy. You can tell he loves
the game. He's great at the game. You can see
his maturity, Like you said, chiseled. He has got physically
bigger in that he was like a skinnier ish kid,

(37:59):
not skinny, but he was a smaller ish kid last year.
And just in six months, the guys just added such
significant baseball muscle and that the production out here has
been so good that the only bad news you just
gave to me, though, is that he's going to.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Be leaving soon.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
A get a week that we're not going to get
to see him anymore, but then he'll be in a
ball so that's a little sad.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Yeah, yeah, I think he would have already been out
of here if you didn't get injured.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah, him and Cam Collier.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Cam Collier started his rehab as slimon I believe yesterday,
so they'll probably be leaving right around the same amount
of time. Another guy that I really liked and I
was hoping to see out here in the complex a
bit more. That he left right before complex started up,
and I believe it was right around the Jackson Merrill time,
and he was someone that you had really became good

(38:49):
friends with out here was Cobb High Tower. Cobb High
Tower with the San Diego Padres. He was a third
round pick. Really, another one of those impressive type of
guys where they had like kil.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
Cail Fountain super super, super interesting.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
I got this great stolen based video of him the
other day, and there's a lot to like about him.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
But I feel like in that draft class there.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Were verying tears, was exciting and Cale Fountain, Cob kind
of just sat there maybe without the fanfare. But at
the end of the day, maybe that shouldn't be the case,
so he jumped up. He hasn't been lighting up the scoreboard,
but he's only in two thirty eight, but he's got
a three eighty five OBP, which is massively impressive. And

(39:30):
he has more walks than strikeouts at a ball. So
this is a twenty year old kid in his first
professional statistical games. He's locking up going to a ball
and we just missed him in the complex. What are
your thoughts on KYB Hightower.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Well, you pointed out one very important stat that he
has more walks than strikeouts. That is one of the biggest,
biggest things when teams get all analytical into these players
that they truly looked for. I mean, he could be,
you know, hitting two thirty eight right now, but they'll

(40:07):
look into more the walks versus strikeouts. And that's someone
that as he advances, he can continue to improve and
continue to hot to have a higher average, and he's
he's the type of guy all around player. Perfect example
is last year I was watching him in surprise at

(40:30):
the Royals facility. I was next to a couple of
Royal scouts that I know and they were talking just
within each other, and when Cobb came up. They were
saying how upset they were that they didn't grab Cob
earlier because they really had high interest in him, and
that the Padres came in and grabbed him and they

(40:53):
lost out on him. So when you get teams talking
like that, especially you know your scouts and you know
player personnel, that's that's huge. You know they're they're very
impressed with him. I love him, I know him well.
I know he's got to know his family. Just a
great kid out of North Carolina. I think he'll have

(41:17):
great success as he moves up.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
You know, A really a fun experience I get to
see is the different levels of these players that know
Troy by the way, and you'll get these guys that
like become really really friendly and like Caale Fountain is
one of those, like you and Kale are like on
a really good one.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
And Cobb I think as well.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
And obviously there could be like different degrees of relationships
based on you know, guys from the Dominican and how
they're English is and stuff like that. But like Kale
and Cobb, I saw your interactions with Cob a bunch.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
You talk to him a bunch.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
But Kale Fountain also like you guys have kind of
gone next level, and that's a really cool thing, you know,
to carry over, you know, in years to come you
get to look back and you know, that's thing that
I've experienced where you know, you're around these guys and
I've talked about a million times on here, but you know,
I'm interviewing you know, Julio Rodriguez and Jared Kelnick and
stuff like that, and then you know, Jackson Merrill, Corbyn Carroll.

(42:12):
You're around these guys, you build relationships, and then they're
in the majors and they're successful, and it's like that
that is what is so unique, as you pointed out earlier,
that guys like you and me get to do where
we're at this this very beginning stage, and we get
to build these relationships and sometimes, you know, we get
to give them the first video they've ever seen, or
we get to my favorite thing is you get, you know,

(42:34):
a guy's first professional hit and you get to kind
of share that with them or home run, like it's
super special to these guys and the relationship kind of
goes with it. And you've definitely built that with not
only cal Fountain, but with Cobb High Tower, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (42:45):
Yeah, I was able to get cobbs first and second
professional home runs, so that that earned me some points
with his parents as well.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Yeah, yeah, pretty slick.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
One other guy not in get into negative here in
a second, but that question that I brought up, or
that statement where I said, where people will come up
and they'll be like.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Who's the most impressive?

Speaker 2 (43:07):
You know, who are the most impressive guys that you
guys have seen out here? And I have had I
kind of said this the other day, and I've had
two other people echo maybe a couple other players with it,
but these two players have been echoed across the board.
And I'm curious if you agree with this sticking strictly
to complex for a second, because that cob doesn't count.

(43:27):
But Johnny Level, Johnny Level with the San Francisco Giants,
I had some questions about when he first came up.
It was more about, you know, the body is you
talk about the prototypical body that like Tyson Lewis has,
Johnny Level doesn't quite have that. It's almost like a
Jose Ramirez esque type of body.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Or something like that. A little bit shorter, a little
bit stouter.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
But man, does he put wood on the on the ball,
it's crazy two seventy five though eleven hits. He's got
five doubles in complex, which I think he me. Look here,
I want to say he's near the tippy top. Yeah,
he's second in doubles in the league right now. Four
stolen bases, three sixty two OVP. He's been really solid.

(44:12):
And the other person in the same breath when they
say Johnny Level, who's impressive, it's Josue Lugo with the Angels,
who is tied for third and hits in complex. He's
hitting three fourteen. He's got a little bit more of
a there's more aggression in the swing. Eleven strikeouts, only

(44:32):
one walk, so it's kind of been all or nothing
type of thing. But he's got much more of a
very impressive, prototypical body, really pushes it bats like I
think there's a lot of star power in Lugo. When
that question is put to you, who are the most
impressive guys in complex that you've seen. We're going to
talk about some other guys on the list here in
a little bit, but do Lugo and Level both come

(44:53):
up for you when you think about the most impressive
bats out here?

Speaker 4 (44:57):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of you know,
Johnny Levels. He uh, he's just he's got a compact swing.
He's a true gamer. He hustles out everything every and
I mean he doesn't he might not have the prototypical size,
but there's a lot of players nowadays that have shown

(45:20):
you don't need to be six three two fifteen to
you know, have a great career. There's a lot of
guys that are are really doing well that are what
you would talk about, smaller, you know, framed guys logo.
I mean, he has he has to build. I never

(45:43):
liked to talk you know, different about guys or negative
about guys. Sure, but I think Lugo has a little
bit more room to improve on the mental side of
the game. From what I've seen, the easy quick frustration
and kind of the laziness of not running stuff out

(46:05):
at this age, he's gotta that can't happen, you know,
the coaches. Coaches have talked to him about it. He's
got to improve on that because, let's face it, baseball
is a massively mental game. You don't have it between
the ears, you're not gonna make it past a ball.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
So yeah, that's very well said to and we have
seen countless instances of that over the years at this
level too, and very uniquely is sometimes you will see
signs of this that does not get treated and then
it pokes his head like I mean, I'll.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
Just I'll just throw this out.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Cole Carrig is kind of an example of that. I
think they've maybe rectified some of it, but you know,
Carig had and it's different because there's different things with players.
You know, sometimes there's a hustle, sometime it's strictly maybe
just between the ears. Like you said that, there's a
multitude of different things. But like I've talked about it
on this show, Cole Carrig had some I don't know

(47:07):
stuff when he was out here in complex that, you know,
some intensity that maybe seemed directed in weird ways. And
then last year Cariig was I mean kind of punished.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
He was sent down.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Here for about a week and it was a disciplinary
thing because he kind of had like a freak out
at it was Lowe Lowey or high I don't remember
the direction, it doesn't matter, but he was sent down
for about a week and I think it was like
a very humbling experience. So it is unique in that,
like you know, we you can start to see some
of those early signs and it's like does a team
is a team equipped to be able to nip it

(47:42):
in the bud and do they start to tackle that whatsoever.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
So that's interesting too, that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
Take. Yeah, teams, teams have, you know, especially now they
have every team has the mental coaches, especially at the
you know, this level, they take the guys aside. You know,
it's it's, let's face it, it's a huge change. When
some of these players you know, come up stateside for

(48:09):
the first time, you know, they've got to learn everything new.
So it has an impact on the players. They do
start getting them ready for it at an early age.
And you know, if you compare say a sixteen year
old kid who's you know, played ball for several years
and who's gotten into you know, an organization to a

(48:33):
normal sixteen year old, I would say that the player
is going to be a lot more mature because of
their lifestyle and because of who they're around. But yeah,
I mean, you know, Lugo has plenty of upside. He
obviously is rated very high, so he can work through
things like that. But that's what I really love about

(48:55):
what we get to see is we get to see
those little things that no one ever gets to see.
And so you kind of you know, you know, I
don't like picking a part any player, sure, you know,
but because that's the coaches and teams jobs. But you
know I will from time to time when I see

(49:15):
a player, you know, at this level doing that already
it's just not a good thing. I mean, look what
the Mets are going through with Sodo right now. That's
a whole another big, seven hundred plus million dollars issues.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
I was just talking on my Fantasy Pro show where
it was like, what do you even do? You know,
It's like they're like, oh, you know, Mendoz are going
to Mendoz Are like, hey, you didn't hustle. You know,
you're going to talk to him about it, and it's
like he can. But if he decides to be a
guy that doesn't want to hear it, seven hundred million
dollars is also going to help him plug those years
a little bit more too. So to your point, like

(49:51):
nippeting in the bud early is interesting, I would say
this though, too. I think people know this about me obviously,
I'm I work as an analyst and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
I am.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
I will break down positively or negatively players a lot more.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
But my caveat is always this Troy.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
I don't think we've ever talked about this, but I
think there are so many people out there that treat
the developmental process as a linear path, and it is
not a linear path. And that's why even if we
talk about any potential negatives of like hey, this guy
has a swing problem or there's a whatever it is,
it does.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Not mean that it's not fixable.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
And these guys are here for a reason, especially these
guys even at these lower levels, that they're here for
a reason. The talent speaks for itself. So I'm a
little bit more comfortable in that type of analysis while
expressing and accepting that nothing is has to be permanent.
There are so many players that have battled through and

(50:47):
fixed or changed a lot of these things. So just
to any figure of the players are listening, you know,
it doesn't any negative doesn't have to be a permanent negative,
that doesn't ever have to be. It's just this is
what the current state is. And that transitions kind of
perfectly into a bigger topic. It's interesting because I was
going to see him today potentially, But Charlie Condon. I've
been pretty vocal about at least what I have seen here.

(51:08):
But Charlie Condon has had.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
A rough go here. He's kind of had a rough
professional start in general.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Just you know, he's out, he's okay, he gets hurt,
he kind of keeps lingering and lingering. It lingered all
the way intil Complex League started up, and he wasn't
really great out here. And he's obviously a massively talented
baseball player. I mean in college he was prolific. I
might be cursing him by the way, because every time
I see him, oh, it's bad. And then the day

(51:36):
I didn't see him.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Last week he was three for three and he really.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Pops some stuff back up. I've put some video out there.
You know, his pitch recognition looks pretty poor right now. Obviously,
the physical demeanor of like who he is and when
he makes contact is awesome. He's just had an up
and down kind of run since he's been out here.
I've seen some really poor offspeed pitch RECKIGNI for what

(52:00):
is an older prospect that's out here. He played some
first base and he was officially called up to Spokane today.
So I'm curious if you got any takes on Charlie Condon,
because even though his struggles, you know, you don't want
a twenty two year old struggling in complex like especially
at this degree, in this amount of time. It doesn't
mean this is very early in the development. It doesn't

(52:21):
mean that it's all done. But Colorado Rocky's development's a
little concerning the pitch recognition, we hope is gonna take
a bounce back. But what is your take on Charlie
Condon and what you've what you've possibly seen out here
with him.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
Well, I know right now that the Rockies are are
praying that he turns it up and gets it together
because they're they're in need of, you know, some good
news understated. Yeah, I haven't seen him much, but I
will say I'm going to give him the benefit of

(52:56):
the doubt that he uh, you know, his injury and
him working through some things maybe created some of the
poor display, you know, hitting habits here. If he goes
off to Spokane, you know, and continues that, then I
would really start worrying because he's gonna see better pitching.

(53:19):
They're gonna throw more accurate there you know which here.
You know, I saw on Saturday, you know, at the
Guardians David Frye rehabbing, and he had on two separate
at bats, one thrown right by his chin.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
You know, yeah, I was, I was really on that one.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
It looked like he almost got hit in the temple,
like he did a little matrix like pullback on one
of those pitches.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
Yeah. So, and I know, these, especially the big league guys,
they like to get out of here real quick because
you got a lot of eighteen year olds that are still,
you know, learning to pitch and throw, and they get
a little excited when they get the pitch against the
big league guy that's rehabbing. So in the case of Condone,

(54:04):
I'm just gonna say I wish him the best and
Spokane and I think we'll see his numbers improved there
and just hopefully that that happens for him. It just
takes off from there.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Do you hold anything of age to this level, because
let me, let me give you an example across the board.
You've and I think you know this guy and he
has been ridiculous out here, but Victor Figueroa, Victor figureout.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
With the Padres.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
He's hitting six hundred out here right now, He's hit
five homers. You and I got video of a homer.
I don't remember what day it was. I think we
were there together, but it was an awesome home run
that he absolutely crushed and we got video out there
of it. But he has, you know, almost as many
walks of strikeouts. He's stolen a couple bases, five homers,

(54:53):
he's hitting six hundred. Here's the caveat He's twenty one
years old. But he's a big six foot five two four.
It's like Condon, you know, it's a big I mean,
Condon's a little a little bit smaller a figure Out
is kind of a classic first base body, but a
really great lefty swing. He I think he you had
told me this, he'd hurt his finger or something like that,

(55:14):
and he's been out here and he's rehabbing. So like,
you know, like, do you hold anything against a guy
that's older at these levels or when you're comparing like Condon,
you see Condon kind of struggle at his age here
and then you see figure Oa dominate, Like, I mean,
does that to you tell you that maybe figure Oa
is more of a guy than people are giving credit
for Or maybe Condon is a step down.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Well, I believe that Victor, he'll he'll be called up
any day. He's completely shown crushing this pitching here for
a late round pick last year, you know, just getting
to play a little bit of pro ball. He was
a guy that I said last year, once he starts

(55:59):
getting to the upper levels high a double A, he
should really start, you know, smoking that ball. He just
it was a great pick for the Padres. You know
it truly was great guy. I do know Figy, they
call him Figgy. I know him very well, and I

(56:23):
do believe that we're probably gonna see him, probably later
in the year enter the Padres top thirty prospect chart.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
I think you're gonna see like the revamp, like like
a pot pipeline or something does like the revamped top thirty.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
I kind of think.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Figgy's got to be up there as well, because he
makes some really good decisions. And you don't need I mean,
I don't need to say anything. I could just say
he's hitting six o five in the Complex League. But again,
selfishly sad to see him kind of go.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
But you know, it's just interesting.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
It's like there's another kind of older guy who has
absolutely met every single out here, and he's hitting off
speed and I want to say a big homer the
other day. Was that like a breaking ball that he
just smashed?

Speaker 4 (57:07):
Do you remember, Yeah, that was at the Guardians last week.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Yeah, that's right, Yeah, and it was like some breaking
pitch he absolutely smashed. All right, a couple other things,
and I want to get your take on, Actually, we'll
just jump to this and we'll get your take on
some other guys that you really like. The bloodlines in
the complex, they're here, they're always kind of floating around here.
But this year I got a couple interesting guys. Lucas Ramirez,

(57:32):
who we got that first professional home run out there.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
That was fun.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
He's shown some real signs of life. And yesterday I
got to see Jaden Fielder, who you know, it's just
it's such a trip from Cecil to Prince to him.
He's out here playing like left field.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Difference between the.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Two guys is and I've said this in the past
that sometimes the order of where a guy is hitting
can kind of tell you about maybe team's current views.
That was something I always battled with Luis Honak on Helicunya,
where everyone was like, oh, he's nothing, da da da,
And I was like, well, you know, Rangeler hitt him three,
Like they must think his bat is live to be
hitting him three the whole time.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
You see Lucas hitting between four and five. Jayden is
a little bit further down.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
He was hitting eight yesterday, so they don't have him
in any prominent spot in the lineup. But they also
did have Jefferson Cuero and Tyler Black rehabbing. But I'm
curious that any takes you have on both these very
familiar bloodlines, and Manny Ramirez and Princefield their's son, who
are both playing out here. You and I have both
seen Lucas together. We have not watched a fielder together.
But what you take on both these guys.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
I mean, I like Lucas. I think, you know, after
talking with him, and obviously you know, knowing who his
dad is, He's been around the game for a long time,
So I believe that kids who've been around the game
and grew up in the game definitely have an advantage,

(58:54):
definitely are more confident, and for a relatively lower draft pick,
I think Lucas could develop into a solid ballplayer in time. Jaden,
I mean Jaden went undrafted. You know, then the Brewers
signed him to a free agent contract. I believe, you know,

(59:18):
I mean, his numbers show for themselves again. You know, nine,
nine walks, ten strikeouts, you know, hitting what three twenty
three right now or right around there. I think he's
really turned it up a notch. And uh he wants
to improve, and he's got the drive to, uh, you know,

(59:39):
continue to improve. I mean I want to I want
to just kind of kind of go off base a
little bit, and I want to talk about a funny
story and not so funny story he told me about
when I spent some time chatting with him. This is Jaden,
this is Jaden Philler. Yet Jayden's trainer lives roughly how

(01:00:00):
our forty minutes from from them in Florida, and they
they recently had one of their hurricanes come through. And
his trainer he hasn't you know, a pond out in
his backyard and all of a sudden, apparently some he
had a bunch of alligators who flew from the storm

(01:00:22):
into the backyard into the pond. And here he was
telling me about the story, and he goes, yeah, the
you know, the fish and game won't take him out
because it's a natural habitat for them. And so now
his trainer can't even let his dogs run outside. So
he's got to worry about that all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Because the storm brought in alligators.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Storm Yep, Yeah, that's true story.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
That and nothing he would experience out here in Arizona,
by the way, nothing experience. You might have iguanas or
have Alina or something, but not alligators. That's that's very Also,
you know, surprisingly, I have this envision of him telling
the story to By the way, he's a very cool cucumber.
Both of those guys are something that maybe, you know,

(01:01:11):
I don't know what it equates to, because talent is
talent at the end of the day, and I think
Jayden's got some real potential. Like true, he's got his
father's bat speed. He has tremendous bat speed. Coming along
with it is going to have to be you know,
like pitch recognition and finding out what type of hitter
you are, Like you're not going to get away with
as much stuff as you might have gotten away with before.

(01:01:31):
But at the end of the day, you said he's
hitting over three hundred. But one thing that you notice
as an intangible about these guys that have been around
the game, like these guys are coolest, can be Lucas coolest,
can be kind of unphased, Jayden, unphased by people or
the game or the task at hand. And you you
definitely don't see that with everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
Else, right, exactly, you don't. Another I'm gonna point out
to another thing you talk to me about is you'll
have to excuse me. I forgot his younger brother's name.
But his younger brother is going to be uh picked
in the top ten rounds this year in this year's draft.
He's really come on strong, and he says he's really good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Now I gotta look Princefielder kids Chandler Fielder. No, he
has two Prince Fielders. Well, I'm looking here, Jaden. Oh,
now this is going to kill me. Who is this
is gonna kill me?

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
I want to say, Princefielder.

Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
I don't know. I completely forgot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Yeah, now that's all that I want to know. Someone
is just screaming at as well. It's not Chandler definitely,
but we'll say, oh wait, Prince's kids. Here we go
haven Haven Fielder. Yeah, yeah, seventeen years old. There we
go Haven fielder. That's wild that there's going to be
multiple fielders out there, and they both have they both
look different versions of Prince too. By the way, Haven

(01:03:00):
looks like a little bit of a bigger guy and
uh and Jaden's you know, he's a little bit more
athletic looking than the entire family. If you had to
side on one of them, if you were siding on
Lucas or Jaden, are you going to side with Lucas
as far as like maybe best potential of being a
major leaguer.

Speaker 4 (01:03:16):
I'm not going to side on either.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
That is a very political, perfect political response. Okay, So
then last one, how about this drop us some guys that,
you know, we see so many players. I'll get more
hyper focused on, you know, some of the higher prospects,
or someone that's really jumping in, you know, like a
guy we didn't talk about that I kind of nixed.

(01:03:40):
Was like Yil friend Castillo, who I really love, and
he he's done something that I love for players to
be able to do this, and I think this is
a real sign of a player being able to find
adversity here while really struggling and get out of it
and your friend did that, and I think that kind
of speaks wonders. I'm waiting for JD. Dix to do that.
You know, he started and extended. He looked incredible. He's

(01:04:03):
kind of pared down a little bit. He's hitting around
two forty. I'm waiting for him to take that next
notch up. How did these guys battle back from adversity
is a really fun one, but open floor to you
to talk about some guys out here that are shining
that you want to hit.

Speaker 4 (01:04:15):
I'm gonna throw one name out on the Texas Rangers.
Devin Fitzgerald. Young young guy. I mean, he's got ten
walks on three strikeouts, hitting over three forty. Just someone
you never talk about, smaller guy and you never hear about,

(01:04:37):
but he definitely deserves some serious props. He he's tearing
it out. He's gonna be out of here soon. I'm
sure of it. It was a draft pick last year,
but yeah, just a great, great young ballplayer, you know,
kind of similar size to say Johnny Level, yep, but

(01:04:59):
just compact and can play ball. You know. Yeah, he's
the game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
He's the only guy in the Complex League with double
digit walks who's hitting over three hundred, So there's only
there are seven players that have ten or more walks.
He's the only one three hundred and by the way,
he like you said, three strikeouts, which is just absolutely absurd.
Any other players stand out that you want to hit.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
Yeah, and then you got another guy who's been here.
I think this is going to be the third year
George Felies on the Mariners hitting three ninety. He's got
more walks than strikeouts. And it's all of a sudden,
he's put it together. So he's finally going to get

(01:05:44):
his way out of here and get up into a
ball and continue this. I mean, something clicked for him,
and the Mariners gave him the time. Some organizations take
their time with you know players. The Mariners happened to
be one of those organizations, and all of a sudden,
I'm happy. George is a good guy. Obviously, I know

(01:06:07):
him because he's been down here for you know, a
few years. But it's great to see someone like that
doing great. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
And he looks bigger too, by the way, because unfortunately
we've seen him for three straight years. He's like, this
is the first year he looked like he physically added
a lot of muscle just looks ten to fifteen pounds
heavier than in a good way that he has.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
Also, I give a shout out to our boy, Dorri.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Fernandez, who we've seen over this last week a couple times,
who I didn't realize this, but he's second in the
league in hits. He's got three t I think he
leads a league in triples. He's near the top in doubles.
He's got double the walks than strikeouts, and he's hitting
four to seventy five. And he's a guy that's been
hitting like in between you know, David Fry and Chase

(01:06:56):
the latter in George Valia. He's kind of been there
and when you and I been out, he has been
absolutely showing out.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
He has, he has. He's a great young ballplayer, fun
to watch.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Under the radar, totally the radar.

Speaker 4 (01:07:10):
He's not on their top thirty, you know, and he
hasn't shown up on any you know, rankings, but he's
going too soon.

Speaker 3 (01:07:19):
That's right, that's right. Troy Collins.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Troy Collins, Baseball life so one of the really cool
things that you have done so much, and I think
it has obviously helped in your growth because you are
a very You're a very genuine person. That's the other
great thing. Like you love baseball, you give time to
a lot of people. You get players that hit you up,
you get people that are hitting you up for advice.
Troy's a fantastic person. And we can't say always that

(01:07:42):
everybody around baseball even doing this are fantastic people, but
Troy is. And one of the things that you've done
in extending that is you do giveaways, these giveaways every
single week last week, and that was what I was
leading up to. You know, like you get guys that
are down with it. Jackson Merrill wanted to help you out.
Jackson Merrill got you some stuff and you met up
with him and you were able to do this awesome

(01:08:02):
giveaway for him last week. This week, I believe you've
got another incredible one with Trevor Hoffman. We saw Trevor
Hoffman hanging out at some games and he is a
fantastic person. You kind of said during COVID that that
was the ideas you just wanted to expand some cool
positivity and stuff like that. You've got a very West
Coast vibe. I don't think I've ever asked you where

(01:08:23):
you're from I'm from California. There's a very West Coast
vibe of goodness from Troy. But obviously you just extended
the giveaways and all of that into Instagram. It's helped
in the success, and I know you like doing it.
Trevor Hoffman's out there. Anything that you want to plug
on how you do the giveaways, why you do them,
anything else.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
You know. I mean, I love doing it. I love
doing it for you know, the baseball fans. I feel
that I'm very blessed to get to do what I
do on a daily basis, and not a lot of
people get to do it and have the access that
I have, So I'm always wanting to share that with

(01:09:04):
other baseball fans. It's a great way to meet other
good people. It's it's such a good feeling inside when
you see other people that you know when the giveaways,
how excited they get, how happy they are to win
a Jackson Merrill autograph ball. I just I just love it.

(01:09:29):
And I got to give a big shout out to
all the players that have helped me. You know. I
just just had Tyson Lewis sign a bunch of stuff
last night that I will be you know, given out
in the next several months, because I've got I've got
a lot of stuff, you know, to give out. I've
got enough for several years. So I just I'm just

(01:09:53):
gonna do it. I'm gonna keep doing it. I don't
mind I one thing I point out, because a lot
a lot of people are nice to DM me saying
they're gonna pay for the shipping and stuff. I don't
take a dime from anybody. I pay for the shipping
and everything all the time, every time. And that's just

(01:10:15):
something that's important to me. If I give something out,
they're not gonna pay it for anything. They're gonna get it.
And I appreciate their shout outs you know that they
give me. It's it's nice. It keeps it on the
up and up. People know that they actually receive the
items that I give away, and it's just a lot

(01:10:37):
of fun to me. I love it, that's all I
can say. It makes me feel great.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
That's good man.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Have you have you thought about the idea that like
you are the biggest social minor league baseball account out there.

Speaker 3 (01:10:48):
I don't. I don't even know if you knew.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
I know you know you're like your Instagram has gone huge.
But have you thought it about it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
In that term?

Speaker 4 (01:10:55):
I haven't really because I'm just gonna keep rolling and
see where where it ends up, you know, just keep
moving forward, keep having fun. Excuse me, you know I
talk about it a lot too. Is I've been approached
by a ton of companies to do business with them

(01:11:18):
on Insta. I've turned down so many companies and so
much money because it's not about the money to me.
You know, it's about baseball. If they're a baseball company
and I can help them out, you know, which I have,
you know, I'll do it, you know, But if it's not,

(01:11:40):
if it's outside of baseball, it's not for me. I
don't want to do it. I don't care if it's
any amount of money, fifty thousand, I'm not going to
do it. It's got to be about baseball, period. That's
what I'm about, That's what I love. I'm driving, you know,
I'm the driver in this wild ride I've created and

(01:12:02):
I'm gonna keep it that way.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
And you do.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
And he's the real deal. My friends, Troy Collins Baseball life.
You've probably seen videos even if you didn't know it
on Instagram you've probably also seen people will share this
stuff on Twitter out there. Make sure you go follow him,
get involved in the giveaways. It's a good friend of
mine and Troy. Thanks for taking the time. Glad we
finally got to hook up and do this because we
see each other, you know, probably anywhere from two to

(01:12:25):
four times a week, just hanging out. I always enjoy
talking to you, and I'm glad to have done it
in a kind of more formal way.

Speaker 4 (01:12:30):
My friend, Great times, my man. I'll see you soon,
all right, take care.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
There you go, Troy Collins Baseball Life. Go and check
him out today. I mean, by the time this airs, Troy,
let's take a look. I'm gonna take because this is
like a day after a little bit more than a
day after we recorded. Let's see if I can find
if he is at a million yet. We'll congratulate Troy.
He was at like nine nine hundred and eighty eight thousand,

(01:12:58):
just talking prospects. Just put prospect video. You gotta love it,
you know, I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
Very supportive of that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
So you can go and follow him, check out some
cool videos. Follow me as well. I do not have
remotely close in any world the same, but you can
follow my Instagram where I'm doing a little bit more
of like what Troy does and just putting out more.
I have this hoarding, this bad hoarding thing. Why does
have all this video? And then I'm like, well that's
not good enough to tweet and I haven't edited to

(01:13:26):
put to YouTube. I gotta start doing more with it.
So that's what I'm trying to do with the Instagram
is just get more relevant things and fun stuff to
put out there. So follow me there, and you can
also follow me at is It the Welsh where I
will do bigger breakdowns and you know, the big stuff
that happens, So make sure you're following me there.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
Friends. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
That is what we got updates coming over on the Patreon.
Go and check it out in this league dot com
for the prospects and the dynasty. We are getting very
close to draft season. We're gonna start having some draft
episodes and then next thing you know it draft to
be here and we will be putting out a new
p P one ADP where we can add those draft prospects.

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
And can you believe it?

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
Thanks so much for hanging out with me as always,
hope you guys have a fantastic one, and I will
talk to you next week right here on Prospect one.