Episode 47: 2025 AL Central B-Side Selections

Nate and The Rook resume their offseason series taking stabs at hardly rostered prospects they feel have a chance to gain popularity and dynasty utility in 2025. They share thoughts on 19 prospects (plus) from the AL Central.
2:30 Riley Gowens
7:55 Rikuu Nishida
13:20 Tim Elko
17:10 Jake Miller
21:07 Gabriel Reyes
26:54 John Peck
28:54 Carlos Mendoza
30:34 Guy Lipscomb
35:16 Ryan Cesarini
37:17 Aaron Davenport
40:58 Rafe Schlesinger
45:35 Ricardo Olivar
48:57 Carson McCusker
56:56 Ty Langenberg
58:34 Adrian Bohorquez
1:01:00 Felix Arronde
1:01:58 Evan Sisk
1:03:10 John Rave
1:05:05 Spencer Nivens

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ninety five miles an hour riding to his head.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
You hop it down.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
First with the lump bonius face, and on the very
next pitch he up and stole second phase.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
With gretest be he wasn't born, he had they.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yes, Uniforn, Welcome to episode Johnny Quato forty seven, the
Prospect B set of the podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Maybe your best pick yet.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Yeah, another notable forty seven's satral page, Tom Glavin. Mm hm,
there was one more I was gonna say, but I
don't remember it, but welcome back. It's it's been a
minute now, It's nice to see you. I hope your
holidays were.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Great, yes, intb.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah, it's almost like the Cosmos didn't want us to
record this final divisional installment here.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
We had to get the people waiting, you know, they
the holidays, sickness, technical challenges, it all came for us.
But you know what, we're here. We're here and we're
going to power through the ale central bring us home.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
That's right. We are not using our usual recording equipment
tonight because we couldn't get it to work right, but
hopefully it all turns out. We've been going division by division,
picking out our favorite hitters and pitchers that are that
were rostered back in September, like zero to one percent,
some guys that the rook and I like to perhaps

(01:35):
gain some Dynasty utility in twenty twenty five. So the
last division we started, what Matt did, we started at
the end of October. Sounds right, we were saying off
air here, and it's been a minute since I've watched
a few of these guys, So draw the memory here
and got some video.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah yeah, And you know, I don't know about you,
but the Dynasty off season is in full swing for me.
I think I've made more trades this week than I
had in the previous like three months combined. So it's
pretty fun to get.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Back in there, moving and shaking.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Huh, dude, I had some bangers this week. It's been
pretty fun.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
I've made a few, nothing too crazy so far, I
don't think. Well, let's get into it, man, Let's.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Start with your Chicago White Sox. I don't see why not.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Not got the White Sox. Admittedly probably not super excited
about my two White Sox choices here, but let's go
arm first, and let's do I don't know if you've
watched Riley Gowins very much at all. Indeed, that's that's
who I'm going to go with mine too.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
The way to start with the co sign.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Oh really yekay, maybe you're more excited than I. I
don't know, but what he's uh oh he came from
the Braves.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
And some trade in the Aaron Bummer trade.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, that's right. He was the ninth round pick out
of Illinois in twenty twenty three. Right hander. He was
twenty four his last start, it'll be twenty five this season,
listed at six ' four spent in twenty four what
in high and then double A pretty much split his
season in half between those two levels. On the season,
one hundred and twenty two innings and twenty five starts,

(03:10):
three point eight four ERA one point one seven whip
three sixty six x FIP, twenty eight point seven K percentage,
a nine point one walk percentage. The production took a
little bit of a dip when he moved up to
double A right but I don't know if you noticed,
his last nine starts were pretty good though he seemed
to adjust to double A.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
I was going to highlight that even his last six
that he seemed like he had figured some stuff out
and ran a two seven fit over that last six
starts and again at double A like maybe he'd adjusted. Actually,
was really encouraged by how he ended the year in Binghamton.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, like what his last pen starts he only gave
up what nine runs and four of those were in
one outing? Yeah, yeah, mad, And he seems to have
a you know, full starter's arsenal. The little East West
game that he's got with the fastball that kind of
runs arm side. He's got a good snider. I think
that the curveball looks pretty decent, the changeup looks nice.
I mean, it's just kind of a just all around

(04:06):
looking prospect. One thing that gives me a bit hesitation
with him is just like the stack pile of arms
now that the white Sacks have gotten I can't imagine
he's too high on the pecking order, but yeah, he'll
be in the uppers. It's not that far away. Maybe
in the middle third of the B side arms that
I went with this year. That's fun.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think that's fair.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
I'm prioritize them.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I think that's fair. You know, I like somebody
that has the volume that he put up this year, right,
you know, one hundred and twenty two innings is really good.
That's near the top. Well, it's probably ninetieth percentile or
something of arms in the minor league, So that's good.
While there are a lot of arms in Chicago, I
think a lot of them are of questionable quality, and

(04:49):
a lot of them like probably aren't gonna be huge
blockers in the rotation. If he takes a small step forward,
I kind of agree with you. I think that the
arsenal is more good than great currently. That isn't to
say with a little bit tighter execution, you know, nine
percent walk rate given the good not great, strick hit
red that he's got is like a little bit of

(05:10):
a flag for me for his arsenal, I think it
would be better if he was I would be more excited.
I'd say, if he was under eight percent kind of
walk rate, I could see that happening. Him tightening the
command a bit, working on the execution like he kind
of did to end the year. And if that's the
guy that we see, then maybe he's one of the
ones that's really in the mix. And while look at

(05:31):
him and see a front end starter mix here, he
could develop into a number four And I wouldn't be
shocked right like, and that's a useful fantasy starter kind
of no matter the league depth, then I can't say
that about a lot of the guys in kind of
the middle tier for me. So he might be like
close to top ten arm for me, maybe maybe around

(05:52):
that tenth slot. So I could see that kind of
middle third to nearing the top ten for my B
set arms anyway.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
September zero zero percent roster. One thing about Gawans too
is that it's kind of a little tougher un lefties.
That's the right handed picture. Don't hate to see that.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, his change I thought was good. I didn't see
I would have liked to see him usic more, but
I thought it was really good when he used it.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Riley gotwins. I don't know. I think a solid B
side arm. I'm not rastering him anywhere.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
I don't know if you are, but not currently No
get in the southern lead this year. Yeah, and for
what it's worth, like.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Well, they're done and just pop them up to Charlotte.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Who knows, and who knows they might I haven't looked
at their depth chart in a minute. I know they've
Like you said, They've got quite a few arms they've
gotten in various trades, and some of them I think
they're going to park in the bigs and see what
they can do next year. And some of them I
think are bound for the pen. Like you know, Herberd
loves to erie arte, but I just don't see him
working as a starter. I think he's he's pen bound,
So you know, that's kind of what I'm saying. With Like,

(06:48):
even the volume of arms that they've gotten in trades
over the past eighteen months or so, I still think
there are lots of rotation slots to be had in Chicago,
and has a puncher shot at them, and I think
that's worth a flyer for a zero percent guy, especially
in your deeper leagues or your leagues where pitching really matters,
like your points leagues. I would prefer Gowons to after

(07:10):
doing my deep dive this offseason, I prefer him to
some arms that I have across a couple of thirty teamers,
and so he's going to be a late target for
me and along with some of the other B side
arms that I've mentioned in some of my FYPD and
Unowned Prospect drafts this offseason, yeah right.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
I don't know if we mentioned fastball velocity is probably
like ninety three, ninety four something like. Yeah. Well, like
I said, I think it's got some in my looks,
it's got some nice armside run to it. I think.
On Twitter on x at Pitching Specs, I got a
video of him and the other guys I'll talk about
tonight and I'll share those after this episode of Drafts.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Let me talk about my bat here for Chicago, and
then I'll pass it over to you. Partly because this
is going to be a bit of a theme of
the episode for me, and partly because I just really
like this particular player I'm going with, Riku Nishida. Are
you familiar with mister Nishida.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, the noodleist of noodle Dants.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yes. He may have the single worst power projections in
professional baseball. He did hit one homer this year that
did leave the park. Got a slider down and in
and golfed it out and it just barely cleared. You
saw his whole dugout went nuts for him. Because it's
his first professional homer. I don't think he hit one

(08:22):
in college either. I'll have to check that he went
to university of Oregon. I've got some love there. I
also spent some time in Eugene, so pumped for Rika Nishida.
The reason I picked him is one I love these
underdog type stories where people write him off because he's
a zero in the power department. He's short, he's skinny,
he's like doesn't look like a big leaguer at all.

(08:44):
But while it's not Stephen Kwan esque, he does have
incredibly good contact skills. I continuously think in this dynasty
world people really underrate the contact skill ability and especially
depending on your format, that that can really really play.
And Nishidah is like the er example of this, right,
like not going to hit for any power in the

(09:06):
big leagues, like the as you said, noodle Bat, I mean,
I don't have his exsiblos or anything, but this is
bottom of a scale power. He's not even trying to
hit for power. But he's really good at manipulating the barrel.
He doesn't get beat often. His hands stay in the
zone a long time, so if it's a breaking ball
or an off speed pitch he's fulled on. He'll just
slap it the other way or pull it through a hole.

(09:28):
If it's a fastball, like, he just doesn't get beat
by heat very often. I love his style, you know,
and it's very you know, he's Japanese and ancestry, and
it's very evocative of the MPB style of play, which
I enjoy stylistically, like, I don't think those make for
the very best and most valuable baseball players often, but
I think aesthetically it's super fun to watch him hit.

(09:49):
And this is another shout to really really understand your format.
I play in a couple of funny points leagues that
have really varying rules around contact skills versus power, and
in a couple of my super deep like thirty team
plus dynasty leagues, Nishida is never going to be interesting
to me, even if he makes the BIGS and it's
like a starting outfielder, I'm never going to roster him

(10:11):
because those formats really reward power and it doesn't matter
if you strike out. So my team is like every
power hitter I can get at every position. So nashidah
not a fit for that roster. But I play in
a couple of other points leagues where power is useful,
but if it comes at that like strikeout costs hurts
you a lot so guys like Ellie de la Cruz,
who people put in the top five dynasty assets. He

(10:33):
was like the twenty fifth overall rated hitter in that
format last year. So like really good, but way off
off of his kind of call it chalk dynasty ceiling.
And in a league like that, I'm super interested in
Nishida and he's somebody that I might snag it with
a late pick in our upcoming draft this offseason. You'd

(10:55):
like this league too, Nate, because we can't do prospect
pickups in season, and so you kind of have to
like put your stake in the ground. We don't have
many prospects slots either. I had a lot of success
in that league last year, zagging when other people were
zigging for like the big prospect or this particular eye.
And I ended up with a couple of guys super
late in the FYPD draft that other people that overlooked

(11:15):
because they weren't dynasty assets. But I was like, in
this contact oriented format that really penalized a strikeouts. Give
me the Javier Soinoyas, give me Xavier Edwards. And Edwards
was a league winner. I kid you not. He was
my starting shortstop through the playoffs and I won that
league even though Corey Seger, my best hitter, was hurt
for that whole run. And it's because of a guy
like Xavier Edwards. And now I'm not saying Riku Nishida

(11:38):
is quite on Xavier Edwards level yet, but of anyone
in the minor leagues, like, he's somebody that could put
up that kind of a super contact heavy very few homers,
but swipe a bunch of bags and be a pretty
useful guy. So while this is a bit of a bit,
I don't really think for a lot of leagues Nashida's
going to hold interest. I do think that it's worth
scouting for those kinds of prof files that really fit

(12:01):
your league well. And Nishida has one that is going
to be super overlooked and you'll be able to get him.
He's going to be zero percent at the end of
next year. This is like a terrible B side game
pick because I just no one's going to pick him up.
But I'm putting a flag that this kind of profile
is useful depending on your leak.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
If you've never seen and you have some like prejudiced
and preconceived notions of what a Japanese hitter looks like
because of like Major League two, Like that's Nashida.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
We've talked before when you look at his spray chart
and like other than like that free comb run and
maybe one or two other batted balls, like everything else
doesn't go like past regular depth. You know, outfielders are
playing it regular depth. It is one of the wildest
spray charts that I have seen in quite a while.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, but dude got up to double A this year,
so twenty three year old and put up a four
seventeen four eighteen OBP swiped forty nine bags, yeah, one
thirty seven WRT plus Like yeah, I mean it's.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
True to you though, Like you know, I've heard you
say before you have certain markers and certain things that
you look for and hitters and then one thing that
you like, the really sort of extreme guy and uh
oh yeah, Sheeta is definitely extreme, definitely extreme.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
He's fun.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
I know that you're familiar with my pick here, Matt,
I'm gonna go with tim Alco.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Like, oh, I like tim Alco. That's funny, funny in
comparison to my pick, like you didn't be more different.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
Different Elco was one percent rostered back in September. I
know he was in AFL. I don't think he's like
an absolute nothing name. Has hit a lot of home runs.
He's an older prospect though, twenty five year old right
handed first base profile listed at six to three. Who's
a tenth round pick out Ole miss in twenty twenty two,
three hundred and seventy one Double A plate appearances in

(13:50):
twenty twenty four, and then two hundred and nineteen Triple
A played appearances, which is nice, right, we get some
stat cast stuff on the season. He popped eighteen home runs.
I think that into year prior his home run total
was higher than that, wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (14:05):
But yeah, I think that's right.

Speaker 4 (14:06):
Put a level down. Strikeout percent twenty nine point three percent,
he walked seven point one percent, solid, four thirty nine,
seven eighty five ops, just a one to fifty ISO
and a three ninety four babbit. It's kind of some
underwhelming stuff, don't you think, Matt?

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, how did he run a three seventy babe a
triple A? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
But what I like about Oko is that I think
he's very much going to get a major league shot
with that organization at some point in the relatively near future.
Here did like his showing in the AFL. You know,
it's kind of an interesting here. Like I wrote down here, Matt,
when I was watching him this summer, it feels like
he's a deadpool hitter in all field swing speed, Like

(14:52):
when he does get out in front on the video,
I think I have like one hundred and twelve mile
per hour home run that he crushed, you know, I do.
I wonder about him and how he does since velocity.
I think he's late sometimes an opposite field percentage of
thirty five point six percent, and I don't think all
of that is from technique or plan up there. I

(15:13):
think he's a good enough hitter that, like I said,
get to the bigs maybe five some home runs. I
didn't really love a lot else in this system at
this roster percentage, So yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, I tend to agree with you on that there.
There wasn't a lot to pick from around this roster percentage. Elko,
I think is one that is super interesting and has
hit some fun homers. I remember watching quite a bit
of him last year. I think he just needs to
hit more fly balls, Like I don't understand why that
big honkin dude is hitting so many ground balls and

(15:43):
sprang them all over the place, Like somebody get him
to a swing, change guy and get him to lift
and pole. He's got the raw power for it. He's
got a decent eye.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
I don't really know if it's necessarily like this swing.
I think he's just like he's just late all the time. Like,
why are you letting them bit of travel so deep
all the time? Just get it out front, man, That's
like what you're built for. That's what you're the only
way you're going to have a major league job.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, and he's gonna have some swinging miss to it,
but sure get him. Sure get him forty or fifty
more fly balls and thirty homers in the bigs.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
I love I rostering him, but I think a highly
likely leader, if maybe not for very long, at least
at some point.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, I could see that Elko and Nishida couldn't be
more different.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
The Detroit Tigers, a lot of them. If you're a
Tigers fan, you got to be pretty excited these days.
I think huh definitely had a great season. Major league
club looks good. I think their farm most awesome. A
lot of interesting arms and some really good young bats
and fire got a little jealous of Tigers fans these days.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Don't sleep on how you lead to and Prosono and
Justice big b Like, there's a lot to like in
that system.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
You know, we were going on about the mud Hens
last year and how we liked their Triple A squad.
You know, some of those guys came up and helped
them in the playoffs and what have you. But I
really like my Tiger's arm this year, Matt, and I
know I had mentioned it many months ago. Who it was.
There's no surprise to anybody in the discord. But Jake
miller Man good looking arm. Yeah, he's a lefty. Listed

(17:18):
at six ' to two. He was the eighth round
pick out of Vel Paraiso in twenty twenty two. Was
in the AFL I don't know, twenty innings in there
or something like that. So he had spent twenty twenty
four kind of bouncing it around a ball and high
a mostly just a ball. And then he didn't make
his double A debut. Right at the end of the
year for a playoff game one in which he was

(17:41):
very very good too, went five thought out, gave up
three hits, struck out three five shout out innings, and
sixty pitches on like seventy four percent strikes or something
like that. But I is a fan as well, and
he just shared that he had spoken with somebody who
thinks that, you know, they view him as a major

(18:02):
league starter. You look at some of his numbers here
in the season, like he only technically started three games,
but he was starting to get longer innings, piggyback and
that sort of thing, which might be why part of
the reason at least why he's what he was zero
percent rostered in September. But on the season split between
the three levels, twenty four games, eighty seven and a

(18:23):
third innings, pitched one eight five ERA point nine to
four whip a two point five six x fit, struck
out hitters over thirty percent clip walked hitters five percent,
threw strikes total at a sixty nine percent clip. I mean,
that's some good numbers. Granted, I do think maybe, you know,
the competition level is maybe a little bit below him

(18:43):
for you know, a lot of his innings. But talking
about a guy who's got like having some pretty nasty
secondaries curveball, he's got like a tighter slider, harder, a firmer,
tighter slider. He's got like a slurf sweep. Change up
looks really good.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Change of looks phenomenal. I mean, I think that's like
that you're you're bearing the lead there a bit like
that's his best pitch. It looks like to me, and
I loved watching that change up work, and I think
that's the thing that gives me and maybe the Tiger's
confidence that he can go a couple of times through
the order and has the chops to be a midjor
league quality starter.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah. The video that I'll share, particularly the last two
changeups I think are a good look. One of them
really really has like some like screwball notion to it,
right Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, I mean he gets great fade on it, and
I think he commands it really well, which I'm always
impressed with with a changeup that has that kind of
fade to it.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Yeah. Man, he's a lefty who is tougher on righties.
Don't hate to see that. The fastball now, I think
the fastball velocity was kind of ticking up and getting
some more with life to it as the season progressed.
I don't know, I think his a ball members you'll
probably see an average velocity of like ninety two ninety three,
but you can see him hit ninety four to ninety
seven on the broadcast guns take that for what it's

(20:00):
worth from time to time, So there might be a
little bit more heat in there than average savant numbers
might suggest if you're looking at those. I feel like
Miller just kind of really came into his own this year,
and it's like, I think a legit kind of dude. Now, yeah,
under the radar.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah no, I'm a full full coatsign on Chick Miller here.
He would have been my pick for sure, but I
knew you were going him, so I wanted to, you know,
like this is a full coast sign. But this I
know you've been talking about him for months and I
think he's a great shout.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
Well. I think there's a lot of good options in
this system here. I think that I'm fond of the
Tigers pitching fine right now. There's I think probably eight
other arms that would have been like really good B
side calls too, that were zero to one percent.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Tiger's system is super fun. There were a lots that
considered in thought were pretty interesting, and I feel like
I had to keep the lefty thing going with Miller
and Herder from last year. And I think the Tigers
have something something cooking with these lefties here. You know,
maybe Scooble the Scoobale magic is something they've got for
all these dudes in the system. I consider Leel Lockhart.

(21:09):
I thought I liked a lot of what he did
this year as somebody that might be a kind of
high probability back end starter. But I really did like
Gabriel Reyis the looks that I got at him, another
lefty in the system.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
That was my second choice, Matt was it was it nice?

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Nice? Yeah? I mean Reys, like he only was it
low A this year and he's just twenty, so it's
not like that's he's behind the developmental curve or anything.
He wasn't outstanding, I'd say, I mean, he was really good.
But we've talked about some other kind of a ball
arms that were even even better than Rays Rangers arms
that we talked about Andeo and a couple others that

(21:45):
are now escaping me off the top of my head.
And like we just saw Travis Acora put up an
incredible run at low a, but Reys I kind of
think is of that quality. You look at his approach
and he's got this like really low slot slagh in
lefty fastball. You know that it comes from pretty low.
I don't know exactly how high or what the exact

(22:07):
vertical approach angle is, but to me, it looks really
really tough to hit, and maybe this is just overpowering
the low A hitters and we want to see it
at higher levels. That pitch, just from what I saw
it do that looked major league quality to me in
that it's a little bit out of the ordinary from
a location and velocity perspective. I've seen that the fastball

(22:27):
up to like ninety five from that low angle with
what looks like pretty decent backspin to it. That's a
plus to double plus fastball in terms of its effectiveness.
I think. So that's a great pitch to start from.
His slider looked murder on lefties. I wasn't as convinced
about it as how it's going to play against righties,
mostly due to his kind of inability to command it consistently.

(22:51):
I thought that that kind of came and went, and
he missed a fair amount against righties with it. And
maybe that led to the you know, not elevated, but
a little bit higher kind of homer rate and walk
rate than I would have expected just watching the shape
of it, because it looks really nasty and reminds me
a little bit of Brandon Garcia in that way, just
like it really moves and think is pretty nasty. And

(23:11):
then the change up showed a lot of promise. Again,
it's probably a pitch he needs to work on a
bit more. I'm not sure, you know, like maybe he
can learn something from Miller this offseason, much like Brent
Herder two years ago or last year. I really think
that if he ups that usage into like the fifteen
percent range, now we're really cooking. Like that's that's a
guy that can turn over the lineup a few times.

(23:34):
I'm wondering if he leans a little bit too much
on his excellent fastball and he's not developing the change
up as much. And maybe they do know how to develop.
But this is the one nit that I had with
Herder last year too, that kind of stuck in my
mind that I wish he would have continued to throw
more and more changeups and he still kept it around
the same kind of ten to twelve percent range, and

(23:54):
I'd like to see Reyes throw his change up a
bit more, but Giro Reys other than that, and wanting
to see him do this at a little bit higher levels.
I was really really impressed. I mean, thirty one point
one percent strikeout rate, seven point two percent walk rate,
like those are both really really good numbers at a
ball or low. I knew he was coming back from
an injury, so that's why his inning totals were down,

(24:17):
but he started thirteen games, so they just plug and
play to him at Starter and weren't really doing this
kind of gaming the system thing that they did with
Jake Miller and they've done with some of their other arms,
so I think they might be developing him with that
Starter in mind. So I'm really excited to see Gabriel
Rayis at high next year. And I think, well, Miller
is a higher probability bet and I am loving a

(24:39):
lot about what he does. I think Rayis might even
have a higher ceiling. So yeah, a lot to like
about rays and he's He's firmly in my top ten
B side arms too, and that's even with like Miller
would be there too. But for there's a couple of
these a ball arms that I've got in the back
of my top ten that I really really like.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
Like I said, I'm glad you went with him. I
think there's a twenty one years old last season.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
I think there's he was twenty and he turned twenty
one maybe at the end of the year, but he's yeah,
he'll be twenty one next year.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
And I actually, you know, I probably last watched him
in September, so my mental images I did actually like
take some notes here.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh good, what what notes do you have on him?

Speaker 4 (25:18):
I jotted down there was some violence to his delivery,
he falls off the third a little bit, and I
think sometimes some inconsistencies with his front foot. But what
was his walk rate on.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
The under eight percent? Seven point two percent?

Speaker 4 (25:31):
Yeah, it's just still not bad. This wrote ninety one
ninety three with the fastball with some armside run eighty three,
a slider with a strung drop firmer, a slider at
eighty five. Is there inconsistencies than that or is one
more like a cutter too? I don't know. Also too,
I was wondering if there was some of the stack
cast stuff that I saw. I was I wanted to
take up argument with some of the pitch Labille, and

(25:52):
then I broke down that there was like an eighty
five mile per hour changeup that he throws left on left.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Very yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
So there's system most popular arms obviously Joe at fifty
eight percent. Sawyer gives the more than twenty eight percent
time Matt in twenty seven. Herder was at twenty seven,
Wilmer Flores at thirteen, Ham at twelve, to a mountain
at five, like Rainer Castillo, Joseph Montalvo came over from
the Rangers, like Andrew Sears, my young guy Pedro Garcia,

(26:24):
like I don't know. I was digging watching these zero
one percenters in this system. The Tiger's B side arms
have been good to us. We keep the street going here, Gider,
Montero Brand Herder, Jane Hamm. It's a good group, so
Jake Miller and Gabriel Reyes's great.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
I feel good about those two picks too. I mean,
I think that Tigers are being good to us. This
is good.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
Yeah, all right, Matt. On the bat side, I can't
say that I had as many guys as I was
interested in down at this prosper percentage. But I decided
to go with John Peck. I don't know if you
are familiar or not, but I don't think I am speaking.
I'd say he's a really good glove that I think
could be hit enough. That was zero percent rostered. He

(27:10):
was a seventh round pick out of Pepperdine in AY
twenty three draft. He was twenty one years old, so
he's pretty young young college pick for twenty twenty three.
He played forty nine games at Lakeland and then eighteen
in the Midwest League, so you missed some time because
of injury. Three hundred total played appearances. He hit three

(27:31):
home runs, stole thirty three bases, was caught six times,
walked almost ten percent of the time, struck out not
just under twenty five percent of the time. Slug in
the ISO isn't going to press you too much four
or two and one twenty one Maybe kind of more
of like an all fields line drive sort of hitter.
But the glove, man like, I don't know, he's pretty

(27:53):
pretty damn good shortstop, you know. I think the bat
might have been coming around a little bit when he
came back from injury. From July twenty six to eight
thirty five, games, one hundred and fifty plate appearances. He
went three thirty one, four oh seven four ninety six,
hit all three of his home runs during that time span.
Just maybe, you know, an abbreviated sort of first pro season.

(28:13):
But not a guy that I'm going to draft a
roster right now. But I gay that's kind of definitely
a priority watch for me to start the year.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Some notes to check up. But I can't say Peck
is someone that I know anything about.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
A good size too, like a probably a solid six
foot athletic. I think the do worst. I'll share in
the video with pack couple of his hardest hit balls
from his A ball run one hundred and ten, one
hundred and seven got with some speed, thirty three bags
and uh really good glove got a chance. I think.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
All right, I'm going for a guy who I'm not
super excited about again, an undersized utility type bat, not
a lot of power, some speed. This is my theme
for the hitters in the central here. I'm going with
Carlos Mendoza. Have you seen any Mendoza doesn't mean a bell? No, Yeah,
I can't really recommend him very strongly. You know, he
ended the year at double a played some second base,

(29:05):
some third base, some right field, So a little bit
of utility action in there. Two sixty four, three eighty eight,
three sixty three. So again, when your obp's higher than
your slug he tells you a little something about the
shape of the production. You know, he hits doubles and triples,
only five homers on the year, but swipe thirty three bags.
So he's got some speed and some ability on the bases.

(29:25):
This is not a guy that I'm excited about. This
is like in the bottom half for sure of my
b side bats. It's more like there's a utility profile here.
Maybe he gets a run at some point, and again
in more contact rewarding leagues, is a name to remember
if he gets gets a shot. But again, he's got
some defensive utility and versatility, but it's not good enough

(29:48):
that it's going to keep his bat in the lineup
in the bigs. I don't think, and I just think
that there's really limited power. He just like he has
really slow hands, and I mean that in a mostly
complimentary but it just means like he makes a lot
of contact at the expense of some explosivity in his swing.
So Mendoza is good and sort of a fun all

(30:09):
round player, plays the game pretty hard, but I don't
see there's nothing exceptional about him in the way that
there is with Nashidah and so I think it's a
little bit less likely that he cements himself as a
big league regular.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
So Pack and Mendoza are Tiger's bats.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Cleveland's a nice segue here because it's the third of
my trio of light hitting kind of utility types. I'm
going with guy Lipscomb, you know, lipskimb and all. You
watch any of him? Yes, yeah, So he's a was
twenty three last year, made it up to double a
college bat, drafted a couple of years ago out of

(30:47):
Belmont University. Very low power plus contact plus speed. Again
like rip and replace a lot of the things that
I said about Mendoza with Lipscumb. They have a lot
of things in common, even down to the fact that
they both I had like more triples than you would expect,
almost the same number, sixteen doubles versus seventeen doubles, four
homers to five homers, thirty four bags to thirty three bags.

(31:08):
Like on the surface, their numbers are super super similar
and overall shape or production really really similar Lipskin, though
I'm maybe slightly more intrigued by partly because he did
that in a lot fewer play appearances, so I think
there might be a little bit more juice under the
hood there. And he has even slightly better contact skills,
again not quite to the n Sheeta level, but a

(31:28):
fifteen percent strikeout rate is really really good, especially in
the mid to uppers. He's a guy that I find
a little more interesting from a visual scouting perspective because
you look at him and he's like not small. I mean,
I'm not sure he's listed at six foot maybe, but
it's a pretty well built six foot yeah, six two,
I mean like six two one ninety five is what
fangrafts listen at and watching his games, like, I buy

(31:50):
that he's a big athletic guy. So it's a little
weird that he really isn't getting to the power there.
And I don't know if Cleveland is the right org
for this, but I do think that they're there's some
swing change potential here. There's while you've heard me talk
about how I'm a little skeptical of guys changing their stripes,
and it's pretty hard, especially coming out of college, to
change who you are, to add exit velocity, to add

(32:14):
something different about your swing, you just kind of are
the guy who you are. I don't think, but.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
It's very much since noar is.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
To be honest, I know, I think it's a hard
thing to do, and I'm not betting that Lipscomb's going
to do it, but I think that if he does,
there is a starter, a big league starter capability in here.
Because of just the overall shape of his production. He's
done nothing but hit since he's been in Pro ball.
WRC plus of one eighteen at a ball last year

(32:41):
and then this year it was one sixteen at high
A and one thirty at in a small seventy nine
plate appearance sample at double A. I think he plays
pretty good defense. He has some nice highlights on MiLB
dot com if you want to check some of them out.
Some good plays. His bat a ball profile is fine
at thirty five percent ground balls, forty two percent fly
ball twenty three percent line drives, you know, like a

(33:02):
fairly MLB quality battered ball profile. So I don't know.
I like Lipscum the most of this trio, even though
he doesn't have the extreme contact skill of Nishida, but
they're to me like there's at least some possibility that
he turns into a major league quality outfielder and hitter.
So lipscum. Of these three, while they're all have a

(33:24):
lot of similarities in them, I think Lipscomb is the
one that I would actually recommend you take a look at.
And as far as I know, he's really traveled under
the raider. I don't recall ever hearing anybody else talk
about him. Kind of my my one diamond in the
ref of this this trio here, And yeah, I actually
would recommend people give him give him a look again,
especially in the contact type leagues, in your deeper leagues,

(33:45):
or at least put him on a watch list, because
if he comes out and has actualized some power, this
is a really really good player overall, and he's still
young enough that maybe we see some some of those
development games happen. Guy Lipscomb, I actually think it's quite
interesting here.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
This seems like the mots of Guardians type two, right.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
I mean the list of bats that I had watched
for this process, and it's like to steal twenty to
thirty bags and walked over ten percent of the time
and strike out less than twenty percent of the time
and hit like two or some home runs.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
You know, yep is Yeah, I mean it's good stuff,
right like, that's that is the that's the bones of
what makes good players. And yeah, it's clearly something that
their model values and they go after. And I like
a lot of that profile, and it's one of those
ones that like, you get that kind of a guy
and then they can up level just a little bit
and they turn into Jose Ramirez, right Like, that's you know,

(34:38):
that doesn't happen very often, but it's certainly what they're
hoping for. I think with a lot of these this
kind of this quality or caliber of player.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
Man I was like pretty certain for most of the
season or back half of the season that I was
going to go with p. D. Helpin as my guy
m with the Guardians. Yeah. I've always has kind of
been a little bit of a fan. Plays a really
good center field. I thought he had a pretty good season,
twelve home runs, a twelve stolen bases. I think the
twelve home runs is by far his biggest home run output.

(35:06):
If I'm not mistaken, then man I turned on a
first year player who got in a whopping thirteen games
in a ball and I chased him wine, I'm gonna
google with Ryan Cesserini. I don't know if you were familiar.
He was a Day three college fourteenth round round.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
I think I know him.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
Yeah, lefty. Obviously it was zero percent rosters listed at
five times. That might be a little generous. I don't know.
I was just like, who is this guy who's got
just like this really simple swing. He just like kind
of turns his foot sends it back to his own
And this dude have four triples in thirteen games. That's why.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Nice.

Speaker 4 (35:48):
Yeah, if I turned him on probably, Like I don't know,
I just like the look of him at the play
the like I said, it's just so simple and easy,
kind of hitting gap to gap, running a little bit. Well,
he's thirteen games and I struck out eighteen and a
half percent of time, walk thirteen percent of the times.
I mean, we're talking about fifty four played appearances here,
So nothing to get too crazy about or feel too

(36:09):
confident about either. Video wise, eyeballs just like this. I
don't know if you've seen the video at all, but
there is a side view of him hitting a double
off the wall where you can kind of maybe get
the best of his swing. But Ryan Cecerini didn't really
love a lot of my other options, and I just
kept one to watch him, and I'm curious to see
how his twenty twenty five goes.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Funny little setup and I know, right, yeah, I mean
there's not a lot of waste in movement in any
of that. Definitely not Yeah, no interesting.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Sometimes I'll just like the guy because I like to
look at this technique and see how it goes. Times
that's been all you needed. Other times it didn't turn
into too much armside Matt, the Guardians, their prospects. Joey
Cantillo is thirty two percent of spein you know twenty
six percent, Matt Wilkinson Wilkinson, Tugbloll seventeen boat, Parker Messi

(36:58):
twelve percent. Near guy from last year, Will dim was
at five, Tanner Burns at five, Doug mcczy at four,
Justin Campbell, Ethan Hankins, Austin Peterson at four percent. And
then there could you take last year Jackson Humphries did
not have the year that I was hoping for. He
was still at one percent a year before I went
with Aaron Davenport, who was at one percent and I

(37:20):
thought had a great year, like really took a jump.
I think, I know he's like repeating a love one whatever,
but I think he just got a lot cleaner with
all of it, the motion and the execution. I think
he's kind of back on the map as a guy
who has a shot.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
And that's who I picked. You know, I had forgotten
you had picked him a couple of years ago, and
for all of those reasons, I actually watched a fair
amount of him, and I think I picked him up.
He had a good run in the middle of the
year at one point, and I picked him up in
a couple of leagues as somebody that I thought was
like a kind of high floor arm that maybe there's
a chance for more.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
He was like my one kind of like later round
his first year player draft year that I was like, I'm
gonna take a step on this guy out of Hawaii.
But it hadn't really totally all come together.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
I think, Yeah, and last year was pretty disappointing for him, right,
Like he repeated a level and was just way worse
than he was the first time through. So like last
year was a big step back. This year, he was
really good and he was at double A like for
the whole year. One of the things that I love volume.
Dude put up one hundred and forty two innings on
the back of one hundred and seven two years ago

(38:26):
and one hundred and fourteen last year, So that's like
three hundred and sixty plus innings over the past three years.
That's got to be near the top of the minor league.
So the volume I really like, and he showed some
of the skills that I think you were identifying out
of the draft. Like it's a bit of a kitchen
sink mix. He's not a power guy. He's not None

(38:48):
of these pitches are going to overwhelm, but it's the
curve ball is good. I liked the cutter too. I
thought he used it well against lefties and a change
up rounded it out. Yeah, I mean it's like ninety
two on the heater, and there are definitely some worts
with this, Like he still probably walks a few too many,
and he's done that really his whole career. You know,

(39:08):
his walk he did. This is his best year and
it was eight point nine percent, so like step forward
for him, and you know he punched out twenty three
percent of batters. That's okay, but for the kind of
picture he is, I'm a little worried that the walks
are gonna like he needs to be even more precise

(39:31):
with the execution and get a trim a little bit
more off the walks because the striker, he's not going
to keep striking guys out over twenty percent of the time.
I mean, this is a guy who's going to run
like a sixteen percent walk rate or something in the bigs.
I think, oh yeah, and that's what Steamer projects for
him this year. So you know, I really like him.
I think there's a lot about him that is an
interesting kind of back end starter projection. I'm not really excited,

(39:54):
but he also looks to me like somebody who is
almost certainly going to make the majors and be a
starting picture. So that is definitely worth something in your
deeper points leagues for sure.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Yeah, it was nice to see him have kind of
a resurgence. Yeah. I wasn't even sure if he was
going to be starting anymore heading into twenty twenty four.
I kind of think after twenty three.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
I was like, all right, stick him in triple A
and see how he does in the International League. So
I'm I'm interested to see how that plays. And it
will be fun getting some stat cast data on the
depth of the repertoire too. And he's a guy that
seems like he tinkers a bit, and so maybe he
adds another pitch or adds a sinker to the repertoire
to go along with the four seamer.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
His whole like mound presence too, Like just the whole
energy of him is like it was so much better,
just way more relaxed, which I think was good for him.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, so you know, Aaron Davenport, not a glowing recommendation,
but somebody that should absolutely be on your radar as
like this guy might get some innings or some starts
in Cleveland as soon as this year. You know, I
wouldn't be surprised at all.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Yeah, well, man, this is our sixth episode of the year,
and we I don't think maybe maybe we did talk
about one, but we were like, so Miami Hurricane heavy
last year.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
If we hurry, Yeah, we talked about it.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
I don't think we've talked about anything, but I have
to go the first year player.

Speaker 6 (41:14):
We're oute here with the Guardians, and I'm going with
their fourth round pick out of Miami rape Schlessinger. Mmm, okay, well,
I can't imagine it's going to be drafted all that much, right,
I think it's safe to say he'll be zero one
percent one years old.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
What his debut he got three or post draft you
got three starts in seven point one innings, So you
know very little to see here. Obviously, you can go
back and watch some stuff on YouTube from Miami and whatever.
What I liked, Sollo, Hurricane Lum, I'll cart some pump quest.
I think there's a little bit of that sort of
funky lefty in Schlessinger. I feel like this is almost

(41:54):
like a classic Guardian sort of picture in that I
think there's like some I think the secondary game is
really good, and maybe the hope is to help the
fast ball. I think we've seen them do that with
several pitchers in their history. Definitely, you know what I
think the fastball is like probably was in these three outings.
Probably I guess would average like eighty nine to ninety

(42:15):
but you do see him get up to ninety three
ninety four at a time. Like I said, there's real
I don't know if you're looking at the video at all,
but you agree that's a funky low armslaught, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
You know. The thing that's standing out to me is
I think he changes his release point pretty significantly for
his off speed pitches, and I don't like that. I mean,
I don't like that, but I also think that that's
like something that they can fix. But his change up
and slider are coming way lower than his fastball.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
YEP, for sure. Definitely when he throws that the firmer
slider cutter thing or whatever, it's like up by his ear. Yeah,
like it's very different. But yeah, so I mean that's
just had to finished project here, I don't think at all,
but some funk in this system. I kind of like
to see where it goes. And I've seen a couple
of just like interviews and stuff with him, like just

(43:06):
kind of like the character. It's gone through some things
in his life, and it just seems kind of like
a fun guy, has a good attitude. I think my
hurricanes on the pitching side at least there. I don't
know how true it is. I don't necessarily hold it,
but a reputation of their pictures maybe not having a
ton of instruction when they're in college. So let's me

(43:26):
with some professional coaches and things the program might might
do for Rafe here. I like them a decent enough amount, right,
Like they are kind of different, funky lefties, so I
want to Yeah, RAF's.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Lester, I like it, good, good shout. He's an interesting one.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
I don't think there was a ton of other guys.
I mean, you going with Davenport. I went with Humphreys
last year. I do kind of like Trenton Denholm a
little bit, but yeah, that was like really it for
my short list here?

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Yeah, I mean we were the Guardians. The Guardians have
a ton of talent in their system that I really like,
but generally it's at a higher roster percentage and a
little less on the arm side this year than on
the bat side. I think.

Speaker 4 (44:07):
I do think their arm farm is ha stinned out.
So you go back a few years, I felt like
it was just loaded with yeah, interesting guys, maybe not
quite as much these days.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, you know, Austin Peterson and Parker Messik are still
pretty interesting. Michael Kennedy continues to be maybe interesting. I
know other people like him more than I do.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
Yeah, I forgot he came over.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah great, Yeah, yeah, Doug, Doug Nakazzi. I like Doug
Nakazzi and will Dionne as well. You know, there's still
some interesting guys here, but yeah, not quite the upside.
I don't know if the Bibees and Williams's.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
Yeah, when was around, he was so good, dude, he.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Was incredible to watch. It's literally appointment viewing in the
minor leagues. Like that's more excited for him than it
was for Skeens.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
Yeah. Yeah, I feel like Mike Painter, like the two
most exciting, best looking my League pictures. I've yep, the
last four or five years for me. But AnyWho, let's
talk about some home runs. Man, you got any home
runs juice and two remaining? That's yere? Are we gonna
go sleep?

Speaker 2 (45:14):
I mean both of these guys have more juice than
the ones that I've talked about so.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
Far, So yeah, I think God yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
So either way, either way, we'll talk about a little
bit of home runs. Anyway you got, let's go with
the twins.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
Does the Twins bat happen to be six ' eight?

Speaker 2 (45:31):
No?

Speaker 4 (45:33):
Okay, so we went different.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
No, my Twins bat, it's Ricardo Olivar this year, and
I really I was pretty excited about Olivar, Like, this
is a one that I actually think has a pretty
good shot at being consistent multi year major leaguer with
it has holds fantasy appeal. I'm pretty into Olivar after
diving in. I had a good year, man, you had

(45:55):
a really good year. Did so in a way that
I find believable, right, Like twenty percent strikeout rate as
a twenty two year old, ended up in double A
when two seventy five three point eighty one four forty
one triple slash on the year in four hundred and
thirty three plate appearances, nineteen doubles, three triples, twelve homers,
and tossed in a couple of bags six bags, and

(46:15):
I don't think was caught. He's not super fast. He's
played catcher and outfield. I'm not sure he's great at either.
But I think there's real thump in this bat. Like
I watch him swing, and there's a couple of things
about it that I don't love, Like he really clears
his hips out pretty early and then has like a
lot of batlag that comes with that. But he's got

(46:36):
the contact skills to make it work. And I think
he's got a pretty good eye up there at the plate.
You know, he had a fourteen percent walk rate this year.
That combination means that even if like maybe because to me,
that combination looks like he's selling out a little bit
for some power at times. If he's if it's not
coming with the strikeouts and he's making really good swing decisions,
like it seems like he is. I think he's going

(46:57):
to get to even more power than he showed this year.
So are I actually think is like an underrated bat
and is one that I think should be rostered in
most dynasty leagues at this point. I mean again, maybe
not like your shallower leagues where you're only rostering one
hundred or fifty prospects, but your deeper dynasty leagues like
Olivar absolutely should be rostered. And I think is I

(47:17):
haven't seen him get a lot of love, but I
really really like him.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
This must have been September or October, but Pipeline had
him sixteenth in the organization at that time.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Oh really, Oh wow, good good for Pipeline. Yeah, I
feel like Pipeline is sometimes a little behind the ball,
and these kinds of guys.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
But yeah, that's yeah, that's only a one percent roster percent.
On September twenty seventh, Sonatt getting the Dynasty.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Love Ricardo Olivar, though, you know, go jump on that
one thirty eight WRC plus this year and I think
you might you might like it. He obviously wasn't quite
as good in double A after he was promoted. I
still think that it was small enough sample and he
just had to face the really tough Arkansas Travelers, so
it depressed his offensive stats.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
And still just at the age of you know, a
first year player.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Rights Yeah, I mean that's that's the point that I
was going to make. I think all of our is
more interesting than most of like the pretty boy college
guys coming out of this year, like, you know, outside
of the very tippy top, like what he's done. Like
I think we could be thrilled if Carson Bene did
that this year. You know, I don't know, and people
love Carson Benj. I think BENJ is going to be

(48:27):
an interesting guy to watch, but like Ricardo Olivar just
did what you hope BENJ does and nobody's really interested
in him. And Benj is like a top twenty FYPD guy.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
First episode, I brought up that I felt there was
a little bit of a scene going on with a
lot of my bats this.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Year, but they're bad, got them.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
I love like a lot of big guys, way more
of the last year. Last year, I felt like last short,
a lot of guys are six or four taller and
this is the biggest dude here. I'm going with Carson McCusker.
My Twins this year, noted in the discord, is like
a fantastic Civil War era and the sure yeah, definitely
led some troops over Summery River to kick some Red

(49:10):
coats ass right, but oh wait, I guess that would
be the Revolutionarya.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
I was like, you're you're mixing up your American wars there,
my friend.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
But Clyde did that too, really well. McCusker man talking
about like top of the scale, just like kind of
raw power, right. Undrafted out of Oklahoma State, he played
two years of independent ball and then the Twins brought
him in to the full ninety eight games in Double
A and then twenty four in Triple A. Gets some
stat cast stuff and yes he hits the ball hard,

(49:38):
like one hundred and fourteen miles per hour and stuff
like that. Right strikeout percentage of twenty nine percent on
the season. It was thirty three point seven percent in
his one hundred plate appearances at Triple A, what's seven
point one percent of the time there nine percent on
the season with Saint Paul, he went two eighty six,
three point thirty seven, four eighty four one ninety eight.

(49:59):
I tho, and that was on the back of a
four oh seven babbit. Ground Balls are just thirty six
excuse me, thirty nine percent another time. The season fly
ball rate at thirty one point six percent, so a
lot of line drives, a lot of really hard line drives.
Pull the ball forty four percent of the time. Swinging
strike rate of fourteen point two percent. Watching some of

(50:19):
his defense, he's a corner outfielder, but like outsair in
the video, there's horrible camera work and we kind of
catch it late, unfortunately. But Rob's a home run. You know,
the most guys over the wall for that one, he
just had the right stand there and reach up like
I like to look at the rity. He's twenty six,
but I think he's got I think he's got a chance.

(50:39):
I don't know how much, how much run he'll get
or but I think we're gonna see Carson mc custer
in the Bigs at some point. Twins love their home
run guys.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
So yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
I think it's kind of a fun story. And I
know he's big and he's long.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
He's huge.

Speaker 4 (50:54):
Yeah, he's not struggling up there. It's not total struggle.
Bus City seven fourteen stealing bats as well. I think
you can kind of move pretty well, especially for a
guy that size. Did you watch him? Did you? Did
you hate this? Like? Uh, I don't know. Multiplicity version
nine of Aaron Judge.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
I watched a little bit of McCusker. I do again,
depending on your format, Like he's a power bat that
should be rostered. And worry again at that kind of
strikeout rate, like that's danger zone. If you're running a
you know, thirty percent strikeout rate at triple A, it's
going to be in the low thirties and the Bigs
almost certainly, and you really really got to get to
all your power to make that work. And even then

(51:37):
it's a tough line to walk, right, there are very
few people that can do it.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
If he's not like a double A like twenty seven
eight percent. That's uh, that's palatable.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Yeah, if he can keep that. But that's the thing
is like for hitters, your strikeout rate generally goes up
a couple points every level, and right.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
But ninety eight plate appearances your first try to pla Like,
I don't know who's sticky that is.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Kriet is pretty sticky and stabilizes pretty fast. So like
that's one of the ones that I would look to
and be like, okay, even in smaller samples, how fast. Oh,
I don't have it off the top of my head,
but it's like one hundred plate appearances or something like, it's.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
Well, he had two more tries before you could start
calling that sticky, my friend.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Yeah, that's not really how that works. Right, Like at
ninety eight, you're like ninety percent of the way there
and it's sticky or whatever, you know, like it's it's
it's probably not too far off what you would expect
it to level out at triple A and again tack
on a couple of percent at stabilization in major leagues
as well. But I do like guys with big loud

(52:39):
tools like that, and he definitely can hit some homers
and for a six eight guy he moves it pretty well.
Like that's the one thing. Watching the video and watching
him a bit in Saint Paul, I thought that he
did move the outfield better than I thought he was
going to. So that's something. That's something as well.

Speaker 4 (52:55):
So in those ninety eight plate appearances, my man here
had eight balls struck over one hundred and ten miles
per hour and got the power.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Yeah, he hits the ball, hits the ball hard. I
actually wanted to highlight one other guy from the Saints
this year. He didn't play a full year, which is
a bummer because he was lights out to start the
year after a thoroughly underwhelming minor league career before that.
Will Holland is an outfielder's drafted out of Auburn in
the fifth round in twenty nineteen, so he's been kicking

(53:25):
around the miners for a while and has been mostly
not very good, like slightly below average hitter at like
every level, really good defender though, played shortstop for a
lot of his minor league career, and then they've recently
had him playing a lot more outfield, a lot of
center fields and right field. Has an electric arm, He's
really fast, plays good defense, so I think they've been
trying to like, oh, is this a utility guy or whatever,

(53:47):
and so they keep promoting him even though he isn't
really hitting and isn't lighting the world on fire. And
then this year swing change, almost certain of it that
he did a total swing change. He was pulling the ball,
he was hitting fly balls, and he went from or
three hundred and forty one played appearances in double A
last year to the tune of a sixty five WRC plus.

(54:07):
Like he was poo in Double A as a twenty
five year old, right, Like, that's a nobody, that's org depth,
that's nothing, like maybe he's a defense first guy. This
year they promote him and he starts the year for
one hundred and forty five played appearances the one fifty
seven WRC plus legit almost triples his WRC plus at
a higher level. And it's totally because the battle ball

(54:28):
profile completely changed. He stopped hitting it on the ground,
he was pulling the ball. He's pulling in the air,
and good things were happening. He doesn't hit the ball
super hard, he does make decent contact, made better contact
this year than he had in previous years. I don't
think all of this was sustainable per se. But Will
Holland really really intrigued me early this year, and I
had one league where I had a couple of outfield
injuries and I was like very tempted to pick him up,

(54:52):
thinking like he might go the Deshaun Cursey route, where Cursey,
also in the Twins organization, kind of floundered in the
minor leagues for a long time and then finally put
it together and got some big league run. I kind
of think Holland is on that same track this year,
and he might have gotten some run if he hadn't
gotten hurt. And they said it was like a leg injury,
like a hamstring, but a really bad one because he's

(55:12):
been out for They put him on sixty day al
and he didn't play after like June something, I think.
So I was super interested in Will Holland, and if
he'd been healthy and kept this up all year, I'm
very sure I would have taken him over Olivar. But
I had to shout him out anyway because Will will
Holland was doing some really cool stuff and I love
a developmental story like that where he just changed out

(55:34):
of nowhere and might be a late blooming like actual
big league outfielder, because yeah, he's he's a super good
defender and athlete as well.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
On sorry, Matt, I did a lot of good choices
he could have went with. Here. Let's see, we're talking
about Sebbie Matthew's forty one percent, Charlie Soto twelve percent,
Mirco Raya ten percent, kind of prile Up ten percent,
Andrew Morris eight percent, Corey Lewis four percent. My guy
from last year's the Colepepper, was at two percent. And
then I think everybody else is here to one unless
they might have traded somebody here or whatever. But what

(56:07):
did you find this to be kind of a fun
deciding hunting ground for arms or not so much?

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Not as much for me? This year I looked at
a couple guys that just really I couldn't get too
excited about. Like I think Andrew Morris, right, he was
blow the threshold. Oh he was about the threshold. Yeah,
I like, he's one that I had liked but hadn't
loved in the past. Just looking at my list, you know,

(56:33):
Darren Bowen is one that I've been interested in, but
he was hurt most of the year. Who else do
I look at. Yeah. Yeah, I mean there's been some
others that I've been interested in in the past, like
Matt Cantino I was super interested in a couple of
years ago, and he just has totally flamed out and
is I think toast he's a reliever only, and not
even a good one at that these days. Yeah, So
I wasn't overwhelmed by the options at this roster percentage level,

(56:57):
and the guy I picked, I'm not super into either.
With Ty Langenberg. We watched Langenberg, Yeah, he was on
my shortlist. My notes on him were that is a
bit of a Johnny right hander to me at like
really long arm action. He's pretty tall, and I think
he gets down the mound okay, but it's like he
just stretches his lanky arm all the way back and

(57:17):
seems to me that impacts execution sometimes, Like he's more
of a control over command guy. In my looks, I thought,
if you.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
Are a Johnny right hander, though, or you're an agent
of a Johnny right hander, like being with the Twins
is a pretty good place to be, I think, because
I feel like they've kind of taken some Johnny right
handers in terms of much more interesting.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
That is true, and that's kind of what I said,
is that the overall package here, it's like, you know,
ninety two ish righty with four steamer slider, change curve,
maybe two I couldn't tell. I thought he maybe had
a slower, sweepery curry breaking ball, and then maybe a
tighter one as well, and then a change up in
the load of mid eighties as well. It's like, that's

(57:55):
the kind of prototypical clay that you start with as
a right hander. That's why I kind of say Johnny
right hander to me, does a good job with hitting
the zone. You know, doesn't walk a ton of guys,
not a lot of free passes. You know, most of
his work this year was at low A, and you know,
he threw a lot of innings, but it was more
good than great, and I kind of wanted to see more.

(58:17):
I wonder if he's going to struggle a bit if
he goes up the ladder, if something doesn't take a
big step forward. And I didn't quite see what that
might be, like the slider. I was not overwhelmed by
change up. Maybe there's something there, but I don't know.
I was not overwhelmed by Langenberg, but he's my pick.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
Here, Matt, I am going to go to the guy
who's maybe a bit opposite there and that I think
the arsenal is really exciting looking. Well, we got to
clean some things up here, right, but we're only at teenager.
I'm going with Adrian Bejortez. No, you're familiar. It's nineteen
years old to see her. Listen. At six ' one
strong kid out of Venezuela. He pitched thirty six Complex

(58:56):
League innings and then just sixteen third in able six
games five starts on the season three twenty three ERA
at one point zero nine, went four point one two
x fit, struck out hitters twenty eight point three percent
of the time and walked them twelve point three percent
of the time, which is not great. And that what
we like Mac in the arsenal man I have a

(59:19):
pretty good straight on angel of him. I believe that's
from Lakeland basketball. That's sixth ninety three to ninety five
can get up there. More than that, I really like
the look of his firm eighty six to eighty seven
mile for our slider thingy cutter slider thing that just
seems to drop off the table. He's got a high

(59:39):
eighties curve of ball as well. I know, the walk
rate doesn't look so great and the video you can
see how he's loose and stuff can get away from him,
you know at times. But like that particular outing wasn't
so bad and it was what his but like his
strike percent is just matt and is out in sixty
seven percent, seventy two percent, sixty percent, sixty four, thirty

(01:00:01):
two percent, sixty six. Right, so you've got a real
inconsistent teenager here. Click on other side. I trust the
Twins organization. I liked them with their pitching, and I
think this is a pretty electric teenager that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Beforecas interesting Arsenal and I see what you mean about
being pretty loose with everything, but some of the shapes
and velocities and the way that it comes together, like
when he locates those pitches that look pretty pretty impressive.

Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
So interesting what I liked about him to grant that
these are like really small looks. But you're you know,
he wasn't just like throwing fastball fastball, throwing a slider. Yeah,
he's mixing the level of difficulty, right. The picture is
and the sequencing that he was trying to that's cute
I think it is is tough, and I've give him
some points for that definitely, basically how lively some of

(01:00:53):
that stuff is.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Let's close it out with the Royals.

Speaker 4 (01:00:56):
Yeah, the Royals do my Royals arm just quick. Because
it's a repeat from last year, I'm going it looks
Aronde again.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Nice.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
I thought he had a really nice season. Man, he
just I was kind of waiting for him to get
promoted and it never really happened. He's still pretty young,
twenty one years old. Talking about a riety who's listed
at six to three from Cuba. One hundred and ten
innings last year all with Columbia two point nine four
ERA one point zero two whip a three point four
to nine X fit, struck out hitters twenty three point
five percent of the time, wat them seven percent of

(01:01:26):
the time. You know. I like the arsenal with that
splitter that he has in there, the fastball velocity, and
I think just characteristics and qualities from I think what
Cleig was talking about the other day, like we're all
kind of ticking up and moving in the right direction.
I think he's just like ready for the next challenge.
You know, it maybe wasn't like a huge leap in development,

(01:01:46):
but I think he did develop some this year, and
zero percent rosters still, and I didn't really love a
lot of their zero to one percenters. So if he
looks Aronde round two.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Nice, we'll repeat there love little Felix action. I'm going
with mine's going to super short too. I'm going with
Evan Sisk. He's a reliever. I think, no doubt big
league reliever, possible high leverage guy. You know, he hasn't
gotten any of the pub of like a Yoho or
somebody like that, but he punched out over thirty five
percent of batters at Triple A this year. His stuff

(01:02:18):
isn't like leap off the page electric, but you watch
him pitch and it's ridiculous crossbody, low slot, lefty angle.
I just think he's going to crush lefties in the bigs,
and even righty's like it looks like he's got the
stuff to get right. He's out as well. So I think,
no doubt big league reliever, probable high leverage reliever, maybe

(01:02:39):
a closer. If he tightens up the walks a little
bit and things play like I think they're going to
in the majors, roles put him on the forty, So
he's going to be in the mix next year. Again,
not hard to get super excited about relievers, but I
think this is a name to file away for if
you're you know, streaming relievers to help your ratios or
pick up holds and stuff in leagues where that mattersw

(01:03:00):
Cisk is going to be one of those guys. So
cisc should be on your radar.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
I like that cool. I like that you went with
a reliever. Won't you go to the bath side back?

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
We're going party in Marroll's bat. We're going John Rave.
We're gonna drop some ecstasy and get the deep house
music going and pump up the lights and where we're
going with John Raved? Is that m m eedm em?

Speaker 4 (01:03:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Thank you John Rave? Is you know, not super exciting
for Dynasty folks because he's going to be twenty seven
or maybe already his twenty seven Happy birthday. John Rave
looks like he turned twenty seven at the end of
last year. Has been kind of an up and down
performer in his long minor league career. This will be
a sixth season, maybe also on the forty, oh maybe not.
So he he isn't on the forty and nobody picked

(01:03:47):
him in the Rule five. He's, like I said, going
to be twenty seven this coming year. He just had
a really good year in Triple A for Kansas City.
Twenty one homers, seventeen bags went two fifty nine, three
forty six, four seventy good for a one to eleven
WRC plus. Hits the ball reasonably hard. You know, It's
not like elite or anything, but it's above major league average.

(01:04:08):
I think he plays good defense. He's a lefty, played
all three outfield spots. Looks probably most comfortable as a
left fielder to me, but he has definitely played some
center and looks okay. And it just liked the kind
of quality production across the board. He outproduced all of
their other outfielders, you know, like Ty Gentry, Gavin Cross,
Drew Waters, guys that have had much greater prospects Shine

(01:04:31):
Rave outproduced all of them this year and did so
pretty comfortably. So Rave is one that you know if
you're relying on MJ. Melendez for a full year, or
you know one of the other outfielders in Kansas City.
I think Rave might be a guy who gets a
shot if one of those guys get gets injured and
is down for a significant time. Nothing elite across the board.

(01:04:51):
Seems like just a bunch of fifties to me, like
just major league gaverage across the board. But that's a
decent player. So I think he's sort of a late
bloomer that has a little bit of some some speed,
can play the outfield. I think he's pretty good. John Rave, all.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
Right, Matt, this might be the wildest guy. But we
talked about tonight. But my royal's bad. I'm going with
Spencer Nivens. What the fuck happened to Spencer Nivens this year? Dude?
Holy shit, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
You tell me what happened.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
I don't know. I don't know if there's been a
more insane heater that like, has ever been this quiet before?
He hit thirteen home runs in one month?

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Wow? Did he really?

Speaker 4 (01:05:29):
Yeah? Dude, check this out, man, this is great. I
guess I'll give a little history here. He's one percent
roster in September, twenty two year old corner outfielder. I
think we did play a little bit of center field.
He's a left delictit at five time. He's not real big.
There's the fifth big out of Missouri State in twenty
twenty three. Good year from Missouri State, folks. Huh Baldwin, Yeah, yeah,
he spent yeah, all of this year was he was

(01:05:51):
hurt a little bit at a couple of complex games,
but ninety nine games in high A. All right, But
dude checked this out, So Matt. From April fifth to
July fifth, fifty one games, Nivens had three home runs.
He was slashing one sixty one, two seventy nine, two
fifty six.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Right, that's not very good.

Speaker 4 (01:06:09):
Right. And then and then dude, July sixth to September twelfth,
that's split in the season and a half, fifty three games,
he hits eighteen home runs slashes three twenty two, three
ninety two, six sixty eight. Wow. Like I said, Like
I said, if you look at his monthly splits here,
August he hit thirteen home runs three fifty two, four

(01:06:30):
twenty seven, eight oh six. Log. Wow. This is not
a guy who hit home runs in college. Kind of. Now,
there was some injury stuff. I don't know how much
that played into it, but I think we're talking about
a guy who learned how to hit the ball out
in the front and pull it and maybe get into
the air somewhere. But in twenty twenty three he pulled
the ball forty one point eight percent of the time.

(01:06:50):
This season he was up to fifty two point eight
percent of the time. And from watching him early in
the season and later, I imagine that part of that increase
was from the back half of the season. Didn't necessary
really hit the ball like in the air more than
than last season. I think it's just about hitting the
ball out in front more and the dude's just kind
of like learned how to hit some home runs now
on the season. His whole line isn't like super impressive, right, Like,

(01:07:12):
what the fuck was that?

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Man? Wow?

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
Interesting in thirteen home runs in a month, and like
nobody's talking about them. I don't know. I don't know
if he's what he's going to look like, what he's
going to be in twenty twenty five, how much of
that is going to carry over it to double A
and what have you. But I think a very interesting
watch at the very least, here good shot. I wonder
what the most home runs in a month in the

(01:07:35):
minor leagues has been in recent history. Can't imagine a
lot of dudes have gotten to thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
I can't imagine either. That's a lot of homers, especially
when the only end of the year with like twenty something
like thirteen is so many in one month, I know, like.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
The drastic first half second half splits there. All right, Matt,
So I think that we did it. Huh, we got
through six divisions. But let's go around. I'd say we
drafted up, Matt. Some folks like, how would we prioritize
some of these guys. Well, let's let's put it to
the flame here and see how it takes out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
All right, Tim's good, we'll do that next episode.

Speaker 4 (01:08:08):
You can. You can follow me on Twitter at Pitching Specks.
Like I said, I'll share some of the videos Matt
and I were we're looking at and talking about. But yeah,
I'm getting the itch Matt, like it's this is the
time of year where I'm like, all right, it's good
to base dude.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
I'm telling you that out of the park baseball sim
is sick, and that scratched the itch for me over
the Christmas break for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
So how many hours you put in on that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Thing, I'm not gonna say it's way too many. I mean,
some of it was just because it was like on
my computer, you know, while I was doing other stuff,
because you just leave it on in the background, but
like a kind of obscene.

Speaker 4 (01:08:43):
Number of getting that what might happen to me?

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
Yeah, my wife. My wife definitely made some comments and
they were they were deserved. You know. It was just
maybe maybe playing a little too much. But now it's
really fun.

Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
Twenty twenty five is upon us, Matt. I'm looking forward
to it should be a good year.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Continue my race B side, pick dominance, and may we
all win our dynasty leagues.

Speaker 4 (01:09:06):
Yes, well, except you can't win the ones I'm in
with you. Yeah, we'll see, but be well, We'll let
Chicago Farmer take this out and talk to you next time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
Thadio's friends shining.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Five miles an hour, riding to his head. He hop
down first with the lumpbonius face, and on the very
next pitch he up and stole second.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Face with greatst be he wasn't born. He had dird
yes uniform