Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / HIGH CEILING? Angels hope to hit jackpot with 2-way star Jared Grindlinger

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HIGH CEILING? Angels hope to hit jackpot with 2-way star Jared Grindlinger · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:08
Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome to Halo Territory.
0:11
Speaker 2: I am Mike D.
0:11
Speaker 1: Giovanni, former Early Times Baseball writer and host of the show,
0:15
Speaker 1: joined by my regular co host Mark Trumbull, the former
0:18
Speaker 1: Angel Slutter, and we have a very special guest today,
0:21
Speaker 1: Benji Madure, the Huntington Beach High School coach, twenty sixth
0:26
Speaker 1: year at Huntington Beach, a team that was led this
0:29
Speaker 1: season by the player the Angels selected in the first
0:32
Speaker 1: round of this weekend's draft. That would be two way
0:35
Speaker 1: star Jared Grinlinger, the twelfth overall pick. Benji, Why don't
0:40
Speaker 1: we start by just overall question, what are the Angels
0:44
Speaker 1: getting in the six foot three now two hundred pounder.
0:48
Speaker 1: I'm told Cadu bats from the left side and also
0:51
Speaker 1: throws from the left side.
0:53
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. This
0:55
Speaker 3: is this is an honor to be on the show
0:57
Speaker 3: with you and Mark. You know you're going to get
1:00
Speaker 3: is a very talented kid, but a kid who wants
1:03
Speaker 3: to compete. And you know, with been around Jared since
1:08
Speaker 3: he was twelve years old, maybe even eleven years old,
1:12
Speaker 3: and watching him, you know, field ground balls and he
1:15
Speaker 3: would go out to shortstop whenever we would we would
1:18
Speaker 3: take ground balls, and he probably could have been the
1:21
Speaker 3: best shortstop on the field. Then watching him pitch and
1:25
Speaker 3: watching him hit, like he was always at an elite level,
1:28
Speaker 3: even at a very young age. And he had two
1:30
Speaker 3: older brothers that played for US at Huntington, Bradley and Trent,
1:34
Speaker 3: and it always seemed like Jared was was not just
1:38
Speaker 3: tagging along, but he was a huge part of them
1:41
Speaker 3: growing up. They're just a threesome as they went through
1:44
Speaker 3: the baseball ranks, and so Jared was always playing with
1:47
Speaker 3: older guys and he was used to it. And not
1:50
Speaker 3: only was he keeping up with the older guys, he
1:52
Speaker 3: was excelling when he was around the old guys. And
1:57
Speaker 3: so I think he's to pull this off. You know,
2:01
Speaker 3: he's seventeen years old. He should be a senior in
2:04
Speaker 3: high school. You know, I think we should talk about
2:05
Speaker 3: that that he was a junior starting this year and
2:08
Speaker 3: decided to reclass and that's kind of unheard of. You know,
2:12
Speaker 3: like there's a lot of kids in this day and
2:14
Speaker 3: age will will get held back a year to try
2:17
Speaker 3: to get an advantage and be older. You know, he
2:18
Speaker 3: sped up his clock to you know, he wanted to
2:22
Speaker 3: challenge himself, and so I think you know he's going
2:25
Speaker 3: to get You're going to get an electric guy on
2:27
Speaker 3: the mound if he pitches, you're going to get elite
2:31
Speaker 3: contact and really good approach at the plate as a hitter,
2:35
Speaker 3: and just a really instinctual player.
2:39
Speaker 4: Benji, you've had four first round hitters now in two
2:43
Speaker 4: thousand and six, one of my best friends, Hey Conger,
2:48
Speaker 4: Nick Prato in twenty seventeen, and Ralphie of Alaska is
2:52
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty three. I'm just wondering where Jared's skill
2:58
Speaker 4: set might fit in. It's kind of compare and contrast
3:02
Speaker 4: to those guys, A couple of them obviously, Hank uh
3:07
Speaker 4: Proto and Ralphie. Ralph physical guys built a little differently.
3:13
Speaker 4: Probably the power was more so with them. They're also
3:18
Speaker 4: a year older. But you know what it looks like
3:21
Speaker 4: a first round talent, that is, and especially with the
3:25
Speaker 4: bat as you've had, you know, all of these hitters.
3:27
Speaker 4: So how does he stack up with those guys as
3:31
Speaker 4: far as what what what he does well?
3:35
Speaker 3: Well? Like with Hank, you know when Hank was this
3:39
Speaker 3: is twenty years ago, actually exactly twenty years ago when
3:41
Speaker 3: Hank got. When Hank got drafted in the first round,
3:44
Speaker 3: Hank had elite power or like unreal power, and but
3:51
Speaker 3: there was a little more swing and myths. Sorry, Hank,
3:54
Speaker 3: I don't mean that. I don't mean to roast you
3:56
Speaker 3: in front of everybody. I'm sure, I'm sure Mark, Mark
4:00
Speaker 3: doesn't mind. But there was a lot of swing and myths.
4:04
Speaker 3: There was a lot of chase. And then with Nick Prato,
4:09
Speaker 3: same kind of thing, just a little more contact than Hank,
4:14
Speaker 3: but you could see that he was going to be
4:16
Speaker 3: an elite hitter throughout, you know, the minor leagues and
4:19
Speaker 3: into the major leagues. But you know what Nick did
4:21
Speaker 3: exceptionally well was play first base like gold glove first base.
4:25
Speaker 3: When we got to Ralphie, Ralphie was the first combo
4:28
Speaker 3: of very good discipline at the plate, not a lot
4:34
Speaker 3: of whiff, but elite power. And now was I remember thinking, Man,
4:39
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'm ever going to see this
4:41
Speaker 3: again as a coach. You know that we're going to
4:44
Speaker 3: have a Huntington maybe hopefully we don't see it against us,
4:47
Speaker 3: but Ralphie was one of the scariest hitters, and I
4:49
Speaker 3: still think, will we'll show that when he makes it
4:52
Speaker 3: to the big leagues where he doesn't swing and miss
4:54
Speaker 3: a lot and has you know, just tremendous power at
4:57
Speaker 3: all fields. But the thing that separates Jared from everybody
5:01
Speaker 3: was that. And the stats are kind of mind blowing.
5:04
Speaker 3: And I don't even know how it's possible. Uh, he
5:08
Speaker 3: swung and miss like I watched him swing and miss
5:11
Speaker 3: twice in nine months. And I'm talking intersquad intersquad scrimmages.
5:17
Speaker 3: I'm talking about BP, I'm talking about fall league games
5:20
Speaker 3: like and I could tell you exactly who was throwing
5:24
Speaker 3: and when it happened that The stat is like six
5:27
Speaker 3: times from June, you know, when he was at USA
5:30
Speaker 3: up until the regional championship. Six total swings and misses.
5:36
Speaker 3: So I don't know what that percentage is. I don't
5:38
Speaker 3: know what the total number of swings are, you know,
5:40
Speaker 3: in that, but it's it's got to be the highest
5:43
Speaker 3: in America. I don't I don't see how it couldn't be.
5:47
Speaker 3: And I think as he learns how to hit, and
5:51
Speaker 3: I actually we started to encourage him to swing and
5:53
Speaker 3: miss a little bit more. In Mark, I think you
5:55
Speaker 3: can understand this, like when you get a change up
5:58
Speaker 3: and you feel for it and you put it in
5:59
Speaker 3: play and end up grounding out short. You know, sometimes
6:02
Speaker 3: he would get himself out because he was making contact
6:07
Speaker 3: weird guys say, hey, swing through that, you know, go ahead,
6:10
Speaker 3: It's okay to swing and miss because you may get
6:12
Speaker 3: a better pitch, you know, one to one or two
6:14
Speaker 3: to one, whatever like, don't just put it in play.
6:17
Speaker 3: So I think you know that except those all four
6:21
Speaker 3: of those first rounders, I've never seen anything like what
6:24
Speaker 3: Jared could do with the bat.
6:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:27
Speaker 4: To echo your point, Benji, I think you would much
6:30
Speaker 4: rather be oh and one on the count than over
6:32
Speaker 4: one chasing a pitch, let's say a change up or
6:35
Speaker 4: something and topping it. So that that makes a lot
6:38
Speaker 4: of sense that you guys would encourage that, and that
6:41
Speaker 4: will be something he's going to need to do moving forward.
6:45
Speaker 4: You know, one of the things that's most valued is
6:47
Speaker 4: solid contact, hard contact, exit, velocity, YadA YadA, So those
6:53
Speaker 4: can be improved by not always putting the bat on
6:56
Speaker 4: the ball in those marginal pitches.
6:58
Speaker 1: So I think that was a good point. Yeah, the Angels, Oh,
7:00
Speaker 1: go ahead, Menji, I'm sorry.
7:02
Speaker 3: No, I think you know, you hit it on the button,
7:05
Speaker 3: and when he does he squares the ball up consistently,
7:11
Speaker 3: it's just not you know, if he gets to and
7:14
Speaker 3: he's he's said this before, and this is how like
7:18
Speaker 3: how smart he is, how instinctively it is. Sometimes he'll
7:21
Speaker 3: feel an umpire zone early in a game and he like,
7:26
Speaker 3: I had to put that to two pitch, you know,
7:28
Speaker 3: I had to swing at that two two pitch because
7:29
Speaker 3: I know he was going to call it to strike,
7:31
Speaker 3: like he and it wasn't a great pitch. Let's say
7:33
Speaker 3: it would be like a slider away or something like that.
7:35
Speaker 3: And he's just like, yeah, I had to swing at
7:37
Speaker 3: that because I knew he was going to call it.
7:40
Speaker 3: He like, he's it's it's so elite and it's hard
7:45
Speaker 3: to believe that this this kid and when you meet him,
7:48
Speaker 3: I can't wait for you guys to meet him, because
7:50
Speaker 3: he's he's awesome, Like he's such a he's such a
7:53
Speaker 3: good kid. But you just don't think that he has
7:56
Speaker 3: that in him. You don't think he has that in
7:59
Speaker 3: his brain, uh to think that quickly, and he really does.
8:03
Speaker 3: I mean, he can put it all together really quick
8:06
Speaker 3: on the field, and it just seems to slow down
8:08
Speaker 3: for him more than most players I've ever been around.
8:13
Speaker 1: Well, the Angels plan to use Jared as an outfielder
8:16
Speaker 1: hitter to start, and let's just hear what Tim mcklevan,
8:21
Speaker 1: the team scouting director, said about why they took Jared
8:25
Speaker 1: with the twelfth pick and why they're going to use
8:28
Speaker 1: him only as a hitter to start.
8:31
Speaker 3: Uh, Tim, why don you first off tell us why
8:33
Speaker 3: you you liked this guy and how you see him
8:36
Speaker 3: fitting in positionally?
8:38
Speaker 5: Sure, we've been watching him for a few years now,
8:41
Speaker 5: I mean on the tm USA track and I was
8:43
Speaker 5: actually over in Japan this fall watching tm USA when
8:46
Speaker 5: he was on that team. We watched him a ton
8:48
Speaker 5: of spring. We watched them pitch, we watched him hit.
8:52
Speaker 5: He does both really well. We are going to run
8:55
Speaker 5: him out as a hitter to start with, and then
8:58
Speaker 5: we will see where that takes us. And I've had
9:00
Speaker 5: some conversations with player development about him as a pitcher
9:03
Speaker 5: as well at some point, But for right now, we're
9:05
Speaker 5: going to run him out as a hitter, let him
9:06
Speaker 5: play the outfield and run from there.
9:11
Speaker 2: And why is that?
9:11
Speaker 5: Why do you decide to go the output or out
9:13
Speaker 5: over because you at this point, at this point, we
9:16
Speaker 5: want to let the bat develop first, you know, and
9:18
Speaker 5: make sure he's good with that, and you know, maybe
9:20
Speaker 5: we keep him fresh doing a few things on the
9:22
Speaker 5: pitching side as well, But for right now, I want
9:24
Speaker 5: to make sure that the bat develops the way it should,
9:27
Speaker 5: and then we'll introduce hup to everything else, if we
9:29
Speaker 5: if we go that route.
9:32
Speaker 1: Benji, were you surprised by this at all? It just
9:34
Speaker 1: seemed like Jared was pretty intent on being a two
9:37
Speaker 1: way guy.
9:39
Speaker 3: And I think he will get that opportunity, you know,
9:43
Speaker 3: And I'm not surprised by. What I am surprised is
9:47
Speaker 3: that some people were saying that he had to do
9:50
Speaker 3: one or the other and that they weren't going to
9:52
Speaker 3: give him the opportunity to at least work at both,
9:55
Speaker 3: you know. And for me, and what do I know,
9:58
Speaker 3: I'm just a high school coach. But like you draft
10:01
Speaker 3: him as one, you keep him going in the other,
10:05
Speaker 3: you know slightly, you know, And the most sense would
10:07
Speaker 3: be hitting. I think it's it's really really hard to
10:11
Speaker 3: get back into hitting, let's say, if you took a
10:13
Speaker 3: three year hiatus from it. So but I don't think
10:17
Speaker 3: it would be difficult for him to hit and then
10:20
Speaker 3: throw some side bullpens and keep his arm in shape
10:23
Speaker 3: and that kind of thing. There's I don't understand why
10:26
Speaker 3: any other more, you know, more organizations didn't come up
10:30
Speaker 3: with that plan. So you know, I'm happy that the
10:33
Speaker 3: Angels are doing that. And you know, just like he said,
10:36
Speaker 3: you know, keep him fresh, throwing on the side, but
10:39
Speaker 3: try to develop the bat at at a young age.
10:42
Speaker 3: And if it doesn't work out and he's twenty years old,
10:45
Speaker 3: then you got a twenty year old left handed arm
10:47
Speaker 3: that's you know, up to ninety seven then and doesn't
10:50
Speaker 3: have a lot of wear and tearror over the years.
10:52
Speaker 3: So you know, I think it's a good hedge of
10:55
Speaker 3: a bet for sure.
10:56
Speaker 1: All Right, we take a quick break for a word
10:58
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and we'll be right back with more
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12:05
Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Benji Maduro, the
12:08
Speaker 1: Huntington Beach High School baseball coach, Mark Trumbo, and Mike
12:11
Speaker 1: di Gievanna Well. We asked Jared on the conference call
12:15
Speaker 1: over the weekend about his desires to be a two
12:17
Speaker 1: way player and see what he had to say.
12:21
Speaker 8: What was the conversations like with the two way player situation,
12:24
Speaker 8: and they announced he as an outfielder. Obviously, I'm curious
12:26
Speaker 8: how you feel about that.
12:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm ready to go.
12:29
Speaker 9: I mean, I've worked my entire life as a two
12:31
Speaker 9: way and I'm ready to go compete and do it's
12:32
Speaker 9: best for the organization.
12:34
Speaker 8: Would you be interested in pitching at some point down
12:36
Speaker 8: the road to move Was there like a when you
12:39
Speaker 8: talk with Tim or anyone in the front office about
12:42
Speaker 8: pitching during this process?
12:44
Speaker 9: Yeah, for sure. I mean they got the plans to
12:46
Speaker 9: do both, and I mean I'm ready to do both
12:48
Speaker 9: as well, and then just whatever comes down to, whatever
12:50
Speaker 9: the organization needs. I'm just ready to go out there
12:52
Speaker 9: and compete and give him off for the Angels.
12:55
Speaker 1: Well, Benji, I don't know if anyone expects this kid
12:58
Speaker 1: to be the next show. Hey o Tani, but do
13:00
Speaker 1: you think he can be a two way player in
13:02
Speaker 1: the big leagues?
13:05
Speaker 3: Man, I don't know. I want to believe that just
13:08
Speaker 3: because I've seen him break through barriers his whole life.
13:12
Speaker 3: So I don't see. And you know what the most
13:15
Speaker 3: important thing is whether we believe it or or or
13:20
Speaker 3: you know, other people or the fans believe if he
13:22
Speaker 3: could do it or not. I know for a fact
13:24
Speaker 3: Jared believes he could do it. And I think that's
13:26
Speaker 3: the most important thing is that he is willing to
13:28
Speaker 3: do the work, he has the confidence to do it,
13:32
Speaker 3: he has the talent to do it. So who's to
13:36
Speaker 3: say that he couldn't be able to do that. We
13:39
Speaker 3: know it's going to be tough, but you know, I
13:41
Speaker 3: think he's he's uber talented and would have an opportunity
13:45
Speaker 3: to try to do that. But like, and I want
13:48
Speaker 3: to ask Mark this because does anyone know Mark that
13:52
Speaker 3: you used to pitch? Does anyone know that?
13:57
Speaker 2: Right in high school?
13:59
Speaker 3: And he was the scariest this is you know, I
14:02
Speaker 3: was my fourth year of coaching then I remember here
14:04
Speaker 3: and now we got to play Villa Park in this
14:06
Speaker 3: Winter League tournament that like, oh crap, or are we
14:08
Speaker 3: gonna have to face Trumbull? Like I don't want to
14:09
Speaker 3: face Trumpe You're gonna blow our doors off as a picture,
14:13
Speaker 3: So you know, like you they considered you as a
14:19
Speaker 3: two way like how did your journey go? And what
14:23
Speaker 3: what were the conversations with you when that all happened?
14:27
Speaker 2: Ninety seven? Mike?
14:29
Speaker 4: Uh what twelve times? So you can ask any bayn
14:35
Speaker 4: one gun he was using if you'd like to get
14:38
Speaker 4: into that. Yes, So I think I have some perspective
14:41
Speaker 4: on this, and I've been going back and forth a
14:45
Speaker 4: little bit too on on what it is like I
14:49
Speaker 4: was drafted as a picture. I failed my physical with
14:52
Speaker 4: doctor Yoakum, and then I was sent out to.
14:56
Speaker 2: Well.
14:56
Speaker 4: We had to re kind of negotiate, and then it
14:59
Speaker 4: happened very very quickly, and then was a position player.
15:03
Speaker 2: And I think.
15:04
Speaker 4: It's an interesting it's a good problem to have. It
15:08
Speaker 4: can create some dilemmas too at times, because if there
15:13
Speaker 4: is any struggle with the bat, the other option looms
15:16
Speaker 4: pretty large. I know for myself there were a few
15:19
Speaker 4: times where, especially repeating a level in the Midwest League,
15:22
Speaker 4: for example, you start to wonder if you made the
15:25
Speaker 4: right decision. I probably had. You know, everyone's different. My
15:31
Speaker 4: makeup was most definitely different to Jared's. And he seems
15:36
Speaker 4: like and maybe Benji can can talk about this a
15:38
Speaker 4: little bit in one of the follow up questions, but
15:41
Speaker 4: he doesn't seem to overthink things. Very direct in his
15:45
Speaker 4: answers to Sam Blum there very determined. He seems like
15:49
Speaker 4: he's got a lot of fire, a lot of competitiveness,
15:52
Speaker 4: and I know at least one other team that was
15:56
Speaker 4: willing to do the two way thing. Out of the gate,
15:59
Speaker 4: there was some trying to figure it out. We did
16:02
Speaker 4: our draft preview. Fortunately I did include him in there.
16:04
Speaker 4: He was kind of one of the guys I thought
16:06
Speaker 4: was more of a long shot, a little bit harder
16:08
Speaker 4: to figure out. Had I known that the Angels were
16:11
Speaker 4: going to take him, I would have got off my
16:13
Speaker 4: rear and seen him in person more than once. But
16:17
Speaker 4: with an amateur draft, you never know. It could be
16:19
Speaker 4: a kid from Georgia, Florida wherever ended up being a
16:22
Speaker 4: kid from Huntington Beach, but outstanding player Benji the question,
16:27
Speaker 4: I hopefully answered what you asked just a little bit.
16:31
Speaker 4: But my question to you is in the scatting reports,
16:35
Speaker 4: the batball skills, exceptional his swing. Looking at it, now,
16:41
Speaker 4: this is not a career comp, this is not you
16:43
Speaker 4: know whatever, But I see a lot of Joe Mauer
16:45
Speaker 4: in the swing itself, and I was trying to find
16:49
Speaker 4: a comp for him. People like comps and Joe Mauer
16:53
Speaker 4: didn't hit for a ton of power, obviously, but not obviously,
16:57
Speaker 4: but he didn't hit for a ton of power. Fifteen
16:59
Speaker 4: to twenty home run guy. There were probably some seasons
17:02
Speaker 4: where he exceeded that, but exceptional batting average and that's
17:06
Speaker 4: kind of what I'm looking at here. Some of the
17:07
Speaker 4: scouts would like to see more power. And when I
17:10
Speaker 4: look at a seventeen year old with he looks like
17:13
Speaker 4: he's still very much physically developing too. I don't know
17:15
Speaker 4: if you would agree with that. I don't know if
17:18
Speaker 4: he's into up lifting weights or if that's part of
17:21
Speaker 4: a program yet. And he also might get taller too.
17:24
Speaker 4: Can you talk about his physicality right now and the
17:27
Speaker 4: potential for more power?
17:29
Speaker 3: No, I think the comp of Joe Bauer is a
17:32
Speaker 3: good one, you know. I think people are recency bias,
17:36
Speaker 3: you know, Kyle Tucker, Kyle Tucker came to Dodgers. Oh
17:39
Speaker 3: he looks like Kyle Tucker, you know. But I see
17:42
Speaker 3: a little John Olerud in there. I see the flat
17:45
Speaker 3: swing of Carlos Beltran. And none of those guys are
17:48
Speaker 3: huge home run hitter, but they were all elite hitters.
17:53
Speaker 3: And I think, as you know, Jared told me he
17:56
Speaker 3: got pounds, you know, and that's so now he's six
17:58
Speaker 3: to two hundred pounds and he's only seventeen. You could
18:03
Speaker 3: dream on him getting his man's body in a couple
18:05
Speaker 3: of years and you know, get up to two twenty
18:08
Speaker 3: and more so than he is right now as a
18:13
Speaker 3: seventeen year old. But I don't think it's ever going
18:15
Speaker 3: to be like, you know, fifty forty fifty home runs.
18:18
Speaker 3: I think it could be in the twenty twenty five range.
18:20
Speaker 3: But hitting two ninety and leading the league in doubles,
18:25
Speaker 3: you know, I could see that that's what what kind
18:27
Speaker 3: of hitter he is. And you know, and I get it,
18:31
Speaker 3: Scout see it. And they want him to impact the
18:33
Speaker 3: ball more and they want him to, you know, pull
18:35
Speaker 3: the ball in the air a little bit more, and
18:37
Speaker 3: all that makes sense to me, you know, But when
18:40
Speaker 3: you're getting a hitter that can do what he does,
18:44
Speaker 3: you know, I think a minor I don't think it
18:45
Speaker 3: has to be a wholesale change. I think it's just maturing,
18:50
Speaker 3: allowing his body to mature, you know, teaching him a
18:54
Speaker 3: little better approach, like we talked about, like swing and misses. Okay,
18:58
Speaker 3: a little bit more, but I think, you know, putting,
19:01
Speaker 3: just him maturing as a man is going to make
19:04
Speaker 3: him into the hitter that I think everybody wants him
19:07
Speaker 3: to be.
19:08
Speaker 1: As a pitcher, Jared's fastball sits between nineteen ninety four.
19:12
Speaker 1: I think it's touched ninety six. Mixes that with a
19:15
Speaker 1: low eighties slider and change up Let's hear what Tim
19:18
Speaker 1: mclevain said about his potential on the mound. Kim, did
19:23
Speaker 1: you guys have to convince him to focus only on
19:27
Speaker 1: the outfield right now? Was What was that conversation like,
19:29
Speaker 1: did he push you guys? Hey, I want to pitch,
19:32
Speaker 1: I want.
19:32
Speaker 3: To try it.
19:33
Speaker 5: I mean he's a very confident kid, which I love,
19:36
Speaker 5: and you know he's I think he would love to
19:40
Speaker 5: do both.
19:40
Speaker 2: You know.
19:40
Speaker 5: For us, I said, we're gonna we're just gonna figure
19:42
Speaker 5: this out a little bit first, you know, so we'll
19:44
Speaker 5: keep it easy. We'll start easy, and then we'll we'll
19:46
Speaker 5: figure it out from there.
19:47
Speaker 2: What is his upside like as a pitcher.
19:50
Speaker 5: I think he you know, he might have been able
19:53
Speaker 5: to be a first round or as a pitcher. To
19:54
Speaker 5: be honest with him, you know, it's really good. I
19:56
Speaker 5: mean he's anywhere from ninety to ninety five. He's got
19:59
Speaker 5: a got to change up, he's got a slider that
20:01
Speaker 5: he really commands well. So you know, there's there's a
20:04
Speaker 5: lot of upside on the mound as well. But for us,
20:06
Speaker 5: we felt that in the end, the bat was going
20:08
Speaker 5: to be the biggest upside and we don't want to
20:11
Speaker 5: slow that development down at all.
20:12
Speaker 2: With the pitching right now, it's.
20:15
Speaker 1: Pretty good scattering report, Benji, Do you think he could
20:17
Speaker 1: have been a first round pick as a pitcher.
20:21
Speaker 3: I do. I do. I think that because of his command,
20:25
Speaker 3: and obviously he has an elite arm and being left
20:29
Speaker 3: handed always helps right and if you throw left handed
20:32
Speaker 3: and you throw that hard, you're going to get noticed,
20:36
Speaker 3: You're gonna get looks. But what he can do, like
20:39
Speaker 3: he can really get to his glove side, you know,
20:41
Speaker 3: so like an inside fastball to a right handed hitter,
20:45
Speaker 3: he gets there. And there's a lot of lefties that
20:48
Speaker 3: can't do that. You know, they end up trying to
20:50
Speaker 3: get to the inside part of the plate and they
20:52
Speaker 3: leave it in the mill, the you know, the fat
20:53
Speaker 3: part of the plate, and so they make it really
20:55
Speaker 3: easy for right handers and Jared does not. Jared's really
20:59
Speaker 3: really hard on right handers, and so I think that's
21:03
Speaker 3: what's going to you know, if he ends up getting
21:05
Speaker 3: that opportunity professionally, I think he'll be able to get out.
21:10
Speaker 3: You know, he'll and you know, with his compete level two,
21:13
Speaker 3: you know, he understands how in game to make adjustments
21:17
Speaker 3: and you know, able to miss barrels as he's.
21:20
Speaker 2: Pitching miracles do happen?
21:28
Speaker 4: You finally got one At the All Star Game coming up,
21:32
Speaker 4: we need to pick from you.
21:34
Speaker 2: You gotta go with the local hometown hero.
21:36
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21:39
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21:41
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21:43
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21:47
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21:49
Speaker 1: to see Mike Trout play in an All Star Game
21:52
Speaker 1: in Philly. And I think Mike is widely respected, almost
21:57
Speaker 1: revered in the game among players, not just fans. And
22:01
Speaker 1: I just think probably in a second at bat, the
22:04
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22:07
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23:06
Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo terr Tour. I believe Mark
23:08
Speaker 1: had the next question.
23:12
Speaker 4: Yep, Benji. Can we talk about the makeup of this
23:17
Speaker 4: young man? It seems from what I'm seeing from his interview,
23:24
Speaker 4: he doesn't necessarily overthink things. He looks and I've talked
23:29
Speaker 4: to a few other people, a tremendous competitor, extremely high
23:32
Speaker 4: baseball IQ and I mean, what what what have you
23:36
Speaker 4: seen in that regard? I mean you talked about knowing
23:39
Speaker 4: the umpires for example. I mean that is next level
23:41
Speaker 4: and this kid's only seventeen years old.
23:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's uh, he's a baseball junkie, so he you know,
23:51
Speaker 3: he he understands and feels the game differently than everybody else,
23:55
Speaker 3: than almost anyone I've ever coached. And actually, this is
23:58
Speaker 3: the time to glaze Hank right now, because Hank had
24:00
Speaker 3: that same feel. Hank had the same instincts and and
24:04
Speaker 3: you know, he understood the game it slowed down for him,
24:09
Speaker 3: and Jared's at that level. And you know, obviously Hank
24:12
Speaker 3: had a great career and going to be a major
24:14
Speaker 3: league manager one day and hopefully he hires me. I
24:17
Speaker 3: got to throw that one in there. But Jared is
24:21
Speaker 3: Jared is one of those one of those kids where
24:24
Speaker 3: and I told Mike this last night. Yeah, obviously his
24:27
Speaker 3: makeup is on the baseball field is off the charts,
24:30
Speaker 3: and his being savvy and and adaptable is incredible. The
24:35
Speaker 3: way he can do it. His character off the field
24:38
Speaker 3: is what's amazing. And I think they there's no way
24:41
Speaker 3: the Angels knew that they were getting this. But what
24:45
Speaker 3: he's going to do in the community for the Angels,
24:47
Speaker 3: and what he did in the Hunting the Beach community
24:50
Speaker 3: with our little leagues, and how often how much time
24:53
Speaker 3: he spends with younger kids, mentoring them, teaching them, working
24:58
Speaker 3: with them. You know, I've seen him at the field
25:01
Speaker 3: for six seven hours a day on a Sunday, just
25:04
Speaker 3: working with kids for free, just they you know, he
25:08
Speaker 3: did invite them down, and he'd played catch with him
25:10
Speaker 3: and take him into the batting cage and hit with them,
25:12
Speaker 3: and and you know, just an amazing young man, really
25:17
Speaker 3: really genuinely sweet kid who cares about the program, cares
25:22
Speaker 3: about the community, cares about making things better. So you know,
25:27
Speaker 3: there's there's no way that that that's what they're getting.
25:36
Speaker 3: They're gonna they're gonna love them. He gets over there.
25:41
Speaker 1: As we mentioned earlier, Jared just turned seventeen. I didn't
25:46
Speaker 1: see the stat for for sure. When I'm assuming he's
25:48
Speaker 1: probably the youngest guy taking in the draft decided to
25:51
Speaker 1: skip his senior year of high school. I just found
25:54
Speaker 1: this thing as whole decision interesting. Let's hear what Jared
25:58
Speaker 1: himself had to say about this decision. Did you just
26:02
Speaker 1: turn seventeen recently?
26:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, sir, April sixteenth.
26:07
Speaker 1: So what was the benefit of coming out a year
26:09
Speaker 1: earlier for you?
26:11
Speaker 2: I mean, you're still pretty.
26:12
Speaker 9: Young, So I just I just felt for me, just
26:15
Speaker 9: I saw Trent milest brother come home from Tennessee and
26:18
Speaker 9: just seeing how much better that college development was.
26:20
Speaker 3: And then also talking.
26:21
Speaker 9: To some of the guys at Pro Bowl last year,
26:23
Speaker 9: Seth hernandez Eli Willi, It's a few of those names,
26:26
Speaker 9: just seeing how much better they got. In like a
26:29
Speaker 9: little amount of time just talking to them all, just
26:31
Speaker 9: saying how much better the development was. I felt like
26:34
Speaker 9: for me as a competitor, that was the next step
26:35
Speaker 9: for me.
26:38
Speaker 1: Benji, can you sort of describe the process that led
26:40
Speaker 1: to this decision.
26:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was, you know, I think it started last
26:46
Speaker 3: year at Area Codes. He was a junior at Area
26:48
Speaker 3: Code Games and you know, did really well and impress
26:51
Speaker 3: some scouts, and I think that's when the thought, you know,
26:54
Speaker 3: got into his mind. He switched advisers, ended up going
26:59
Speaker 3: with Scott Boris, and I think when they, you know,
27:03
Speaker 3: they saw the opportunity, they felt like it was the
27:05
Speaker 3: best thing for him being a young arm and you know,
27:09
Speaker 3: kind of maximize what he could do in the draft
27:13
Speaker 3: and get him either to college or to Pro ball
27:17
Speaker 3: sooner than later. But it really did like he came
27:21
Speaker 3: in and talked to us staff and he was kind
27:27
Speaker 3: of up in the air about it because he's just like,
27:29
Speaker 3: I'm sixteen years old, and he was sixteen at the
27:31
Speaker 3: time when he was talking about it, and I can't imagine.
27:34
Speaker 3: I can't imagine being sixteen and thinking, I got to
27:38
Speaker 3: make this decision right now. And the decision is I'm
27:42
Speaker 3: going to leave high school. I'm not going to be
27:44
Speaker 3: around my friends that I've been used to, and I'm
27:47
Speaker 3: going to go put myself out there in you know,
27:49
Speaker 3: just the arena where it is dog eat dog and
27:54
Speaker 3: this is the highest pressure you could possibly face. And
27:57
Speaker 3: he was willing to do it. He was, you know,
28:01
Speaker 3: and like I said, as character, he said so many
28:05
Speaker 3: times He's like, but Coach, I don't want to leave
28:06
Speaker 3: you guys, Like I would love to be with you
28:09
Speaker 3: guys for one more year, and I'd love to be
28:11
Speaker 3: with my friends for one more year. But I think
28:12
Speaker 3: this is the best thing for us. And our whole
28:15
Speaker 3: coaching staff was just like, hey man, you got to
28:18
Speaker 3: do this, like this is the best thing for you.
28:21
Speaker 3: We of course we want him to be around, like
28:23
Speaker 3: it would be really nice to have Jared Grinlinger as
28:26
Speaker 3: a senior in high school next year, but that isn't
28:29
Speaker 3: going to happen, and it just showed the decision was
28:33
Speaker 3: the right one by him getting picked twelfth overall. So
28:36
Speaker 3: really really proud of how courageous he was to make
28:41
Speaker 3: that decision, because that's not an easy one.
28:45
Speaker 4: No, it's not, and there's very very few that are
28:48
Speaker 4: cut out for doing such a thing. But everyone, if
28:54
Speaker 4: everyone agrees, this is the right thing, and he's mature
28:56
Speaker 4: enough to handle it, because it is very different. Once
28:59
Speaker 4: you get off the playing in Tempe, you know you're
29:03
Speaker 4: you're one of the guys. There's other good players out
29:05
Speaker 4: there too, and I think it's going to be very
29:09
Speaker 4: fascinating to see. I think the Angels took the best available,
29:12
Speaker 4: highest ceiling by far player that was remaining in the draft,
29:17
Speaker 4: and they did their homework the kids in their backyard.
29:21
Speaker 4: It might take a couple of years to develop. I
29:24
Speaker 4: think people want to know when's he going to get there?
29:25
Speaker 4: When's he going to get there? Well, the play will
29:28
Speaker 4: dictate when when he gets there, and you want a
29:30
Speaker 4: well rounded player if they're going to have him play outfield.
29:34
Speaker 4: I saw some reps in the outfield. He looked like
29:35
Speaker 4: he had a strong and accurate throwing arm. We know
29:38
Speaker 4: the arm strength is there, Benji. But how's the defense
29:41
Speaker 4: in the outfield? So maybe does he play any first
29:44
Speaker 4: base as well? He's left handed, so figured out to ask.
29:47
Speaker 4: But more, you said Kyle Tucker earlier, is that what
29:50
Speaker 4: maybe we look you know, as a defender?
29:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he could. He for sure could play
29:58
Speaker 3: first base. You know, I could have put him at
30:01
Speaker 3: shortstop and he would have been fine. He has really
30:04
Speaker 3: really good hands, and he has an accurate throwing arm,
30:09
Speaker 3: you know, the instincts again, and I told the story
30:11
Speaker 3: yesterday to somebody. I give all the kids little alignment
30:15
Speaker 3: cards and you know, it's shade, pole, poll whatever it is,
30:20
Speaker 3: you know, and I'd look up at Jared and he'd
30:22
Speaker 3: be the total opposite of what my card said. It
30:26
Speaker 3: would be a it would be a left handed hitter,
30:28
Speaker 3: and it's supposedly he's supposed to be pole. He'd be
30:30
Speaker 3: on the left field line just playing them, you know,
30:33
Speaker 3: shade up or op. And my assistants would look at
30:35
Speaker 3: me and be like, hey, Jared's in the wrong spot.
30:37
Speaker 3: And I'd stare at him for a little bit and
30:38
Speaker 3: I'm like, maybe he knows something we don't. And I
30:41
Speaker 3: swear it happened more times than not that the ball
30:42
Speaker 3: would go exactly to where he was instead of where
30:46
Speaker 3: I'd try to put him. He knows, he understands the
30:51
Speaker 3: flights of balls. You know, he's very good at going
30:55
Speaker 3: back on a ball. It's very natural for him. So
30:58
Speaker 3: you know, they all field defense of le Is is
31:01
Speaker 3: not going to be an issue for him at all.
31:03
Speaker 3: And throwing wise, yeah, he has a very strong arm,
31:05
Speaker 3: so he'd be able to put the ball the money
31:07
Speaker 3: and throw some people out.
31:09
Speaker 4: It's a cavernous left field at Huntington Beach High School
31:12
Speaker 4: for those that haven't haven't been there before.
31:18
Speaker 3: Well, you used to take VP there and you would
31:21
Speaker 3: mis hit a ball off the end of the bat
31:23
Speaker 3: and go out like it's a cracker jack.
31:25
Speaker 2: I think it.
31:26
Speaker 4: Well, it was a little safer. Yeah, he was taking
31:28
Speaker 4: a left pepper. And the tennis players that I'm worried about.
31:34
Speaker 3: That's hey, Benji, you think I know, I know BBS.
31:41
Speaker 1: Benji has an extensive, extensive experience with some national teams
31:45
Speaker 1: I think twelve and under, fifteen and under. I guess
31:47
Speaker 1: last was a last fall he played in Japan and
31:51
Speaker 1: a World Cup for the U eighteen team. I'm guessing
31:53
Speaker 1: he was sixteen at the time. All those experiences will
31:56
Speaker 1: they help him transition into pro ball a little bit.
32:01
Speaker 3: I got to believe that it'll help, you know, being
32:05
Speaker 3: on huge stages, you know, also being the younger version
32:12
Speaker 3: of all those teams. You know, he was always trying
32:14
Speaker 3: to play up and and I think, you know, being
32:16
Speaker 3: on big stages. The travel, he's used to traveling. And
32:20
Speaker 3: I think, you know, and Marke hit it on the head.
32:22
Speaker 3: He's got land in Tempee and and he's going to
32:25
Speaker 3: be away from his family, and you know, he's going
32:28
Speaker 3: to have to do this on his own. And he's
32:30
Speaker 3: used to that. You know, he's been in you know,
32:32
Speaker 3: our training complex for USA is in Perry, North Carolina,
32:37
Speaker 3: and then he would be flying to Georgia and South
32:39
Speaker 3: Carolina and then like you said, to Japan, to Mexico.
32:43
Speaker 3: He's used to this. As a matter of fact, this
32:46
Speaker 3: is what he's prepared his whole life for. So for him,
32:50
Speaker 3: it's not gonna be that big of a deal, you know.
32:52
Speaker 3: I think for me, if that was me when I
32:54
Speaker 3: was seventeen years old, I would get homesick within the
32:57
Speaker 3: first two days and I wouldn't be able to that
33:00
Speaker 3: did I never got on a plane. You know, this
33:02
Speaker 3: kid's been traveling his whole life. He understands how it works.
33:04
Speaker 3: He'll be fine.
33:06
Speaker 1: All right, Let's shift our attention to the broader draft.
33:09
Speaker 5: Now.
33:10
Speaker 1: It's known coming in that former GM Perry Manasian, who
33:14
Speaker 1: has fired in June, was heavily involved in the draft process.
33:18
Speaker 1: But the interim GM John Mozeylog made it clear from
33:21
Speaker 1: the start that, uh, the Angels were going to pick
33:25
Speaker 1: the best players available, regardless of signability, regardless of need,
33:31
Speaker 1: and uh that you're gonna leave the pick up to
33:33
Speaker 1: the scouting director. Let's hear what Tim mcelvain had to
33:36
Speaker 1: say about that whole process for you.
33:40
Speaker 8: Has there been a change in the you know, the
33:42
Speaker 8: autonomy that you've had in this process over the long.
33:45
Speaker 1: Since since Moe has come in.
33:47
Speaker 5: You know, he really empowered me to to run the
33:49
Speaker 5: room the way I want to run the room. And
33:52
Speaker 5: Perry did it his way, which was, you know, a
33:55
Speaker 5: good way to you know, the way he did everything
33:57
Speaker 5: was was fine as well.
33:58
Speaker 2: He's he can do it however he wants too.
34:00
Speaker 5: And you know the way Moe came in, he basically said,
34:02
Speaker 5: it's yours run with it.
34:03
Speaker 1: So how much do you appreciate that? Yeah, it's fun.
34:07
Speaker 5: You know, as a scouting director you want to be
34:09
Speaker 5: able to make picks and do that. And every general
34:12
Speaker 5: manager has the ability to run the room however they
34:15
Speaker 5: want to, you know, And so the way Mo does,
34:18
Speaker 5: he comes in and empowered me to do it.
34:20
Speaker 1: So I ran with it. Mark was pretty clear in
34:23
Speaker 1: your mind that this was aide Tim mclevain draft.
34:28
Speaker 4: If those comments don't reflect that, I don't know what does.
34:31
Speaker 4: I'm certain that it was much different than years past.
34:36
Speaker 4: This one featured. You have these scouts that put months
34:41
Speaker 4: and months, if not more, tireless work into scouting these players,
34:45
Speaker 4: coming up with a draft board and only to have
34:49
Speaker 4: maybe a previous general manager come in and make some
34:52
Speaker 4: decisions that were his own. From what I understand, he
34:57
Speaker 4: firmly felt you weren't maximizing the drafts if you didn't
35:02
Speaker 4: sign multiple players after the first round to overslot deals,
35:06
Speaker 4: and that was maybe part of the mystery behind some
35:10
Speaker 4: of these other ones. The draft in rush philosophy almost
35:15
Speaker 4: certainly was a perimin Asian move, and he will be
35:19
Speaker 4: judged and graded out in years to come on his moves.
35:24
Speaker 4: This most recent draft in twenty twenty five, maybe his
35:28
Speaker 4: best or could be you know, up in the air.
35:30
Speaker 4: Shake had some thoughts on it, So it seems like this.
35:34
Speaker 4: I feel that the scouts that did all the work
35:37
Speaker 4: were able to make their picks. They got their guy.
35:40
Speaker 4: They seem pumped about it, and I think the Angels
35:42
Speaker 4: are in a better place because they allowed them to
35:44
Speaker 4: do it well.
35:46
Speaker 1: They use their third round pick on a Texas A
35:48
Speaker 1: and M third baseman, Gavin Grohovic, a player from Villa
35:52
Speaker 1: Park High School. Mark's Almama or Mark. I'm assuming you
35:54
Speaker 1: know a little bit about this kid.
35:57
Speaker 4: I've seen him met as. Father first said that his
36:01
Speaker 4: son was a real nice ballplayer, and I said great.
36:06
Speaker 4: Everyone says that you don't get in line, but he
36:10
Speaker 4: was right.
36:10
Speaker 2: He was.
36:11
Speaker 4: This was one of the few that you know, sometimes
36:14
Speaker 4: parents a little interesting. But his son can play in baseball,
36:18
Speaker 4: had a very nice high school career. I believe he
36:21
Speaker 4: pulled out of the draft or said don't bother out
36:27
Speaker 4: of high school and went to college. Lit it up there.
36:30
Speaker 4: He's got a big power bat. We're talking about exit velocities,
36:35
Speaker 4: one of my's favorite topics, but he has it in spades. Benji,
36:39
Speaker 4: I believe also saw him too in high school. What
36:42
Speaker 4: would your Scott and report be on Grohovic.
36:46
Speaker 3: He's scary, I mean, just flat out scary. You know
36:50
Speaker 3: in high school he was he was more physical than
36:52
Speaker 3: everybody on the field. He ran exceptionally well. He was
36:56
Speaker 3: a shortstop in high school. But like he was built,
36:59
Speaker 3: built like a full back. He can hit the ball
37:03
Speaker 3: to all fields. I do remember that he hit a
37:05
Speaker 3: ball off the foul pole and right against us at
37:07
Speaker 3: Modern Day High School in the Bors Classic in twenty two.
37:11
Speaker 3: Just a very very scary hitter. Nice kid though, great kid,
37:16
Speaker 3: great family, and his dad is a good dude. So
37:20
Speaker 3: I'm glad you threw that in there. But you know,
37:22
Speaker 3: he went to went to a and M had a
37:24
Speaker 3: great career and really is going to help the Angels
37:27
Speaker 3: down the line.
37:29
Speaker 1: Well, the Angels went heavy on position players, college players,
37:32
Speaker 1: and contact hitters in this draft. Mark, what else caught
37:36
Speaker 1: your eye in those Among those twenty picks.
37:41
Speaker 4: It's abundantly clear that they wanted guys to put the
37:44
Speaker 4: vat on the baseball. Their second round pick, Jaron.
37:50
Speaker 1: Vinkla right off, rolled right off your tongue, Mark, are
37:56
Speaker 1: you related?
37:59
Speaker 4: Well he is, I'm gonna think okay, I'll make it quick.
38:02
Speaker 4: He looks like kind of a Colton Wong like to me,
38:06
Speaker 4: not a overly tall player. The compact looks very strong,
38:11
Speaker 4: strong lower body, apparently a tremendous bats to ball skills.
38:15
Speaker 4: The power is not part of his game, so that
38:19
Speaker 4: the Colton won Colton had more power. It appears that
38:22
Speaker 4: he plays some really nice defense, great range, great speed.
38:25
Speaker 4: The arm is a little below average, so he got
38:28
Speaker 4: a B minus on one of the whoever graded I
38:32
Speaker 4: happened to look at They throw grades and who knows
38:34
Speaker 4: where they're getting them from, but.
38:35
Speaker 2: That was one of them. Krovic is another one.
38:38
Speaker 4: He also had a quote to Macklevain I guess at
38:40
Speaker 4: the combine saying he's dead set on bringing a World
38:43
Speaker 4: Series to Anaheim. So he's an intense player, emotional player
38:48
Speaker 4: in a good way. You saw the draft party, you know,
38:51
Speaker 4: a huge gathering there. So he brings I think a
38:55
Speaker 4: lot of personality too. That's one thing that's apparent. Their
38:58
Speaker 4: fourth round pick was a little bit in interesting. Rylan
39:01
Speaker 4: Loujoll could not hardly find anything on him. I tried
39:05
Speaker 4: to find some video. Apparently he's a patient hitter with
39:07
Speaker 4: some speed, and his defense at third rated pretty poorly,
39:11
Speaker 4: so they're gonna have him play center field, which makes sense.
39:15
Speaker 2: Or doesn't. But he looks like.
39:20
Speaker 4: No, he looks like a more of an outfielder's body
39:23
Speaker 4: and he can run. What but Benji, I wanted to
39:26
Speaker 4: make sure if we already covered it. Sorry, but in Jared,
39:31
Speaker 4: how does he run? Is he an above average runner?
39:33
Speaker 2: Two?
39:34
Speaker 3: He is an above average runner, he really is. And
39:36
Speaker 3: he's a base dealer. He picks and chooses his time
39:41
Speaker 3: at the right time. But he's he's an above average runner.
39:43
Speaker 3: I think he's a fifty runner.
39:46
Speaker 2: Perfect, perfect.
39:48
Speaker 1: Well, the one who caught my eye was I think
39:50
Speaker 1: it was fifth round Jackson Willets And I'm aging myself here,
39:55
Speaker 1: but you know, I covered the Angels as the beat
39:57
Speaker 1: guy from roughly from ninety five to twenty sixteen, and
40:01
Speaker 1: Reggie Willitts was a fourth outfielder on some of those
40:05
Speaker 1: really good Division winning teams from uh oh fourish to
40:09
Speaker 1: eight or nineish. And Reggie had he wasn't, as Mark remembers,
40:14
Speaker 1: he wasn't a physically imposing, super athletic, you know, stud
40:19
Speaker 1: kind of outfielder. He was small, he was very instinctual,
40:23
Speaker 1: great baseball mind. And he had these two little kids who,
40:27
Speaker 1: from the time they were about a foot to two
40:29
Speaker 1: feet tall, would run around that clubhouse with whiffleball bats
40:32
Speaker 1: in their hands and there every day. And sure enough,
40:36
Speaker 1: twenty years later, Eli Willitts goes one to one overall
40:41
Speaker 1: first overall pick in last year's draft, and now Jackson
40:44
Speaker 1: with an X, as we always like to say, is
40:47
Speaker 1: drafted by the Angels in the fifth round. Mark, do
40:50
Speaker 1: you remember a little the little Willetts was running around
40:53
Speaker 1: the clubhouse?
40:55
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, high energy. They did have the bats.
41:01
Speaker 4: They It's interesting, you know when this happens. You've seen it,
41:05
Speaker 4: you know, father son combos many times over the years. Mike,
41:08
Speaker 4: you've been doing this for one hundred years, so you've
41:10
Speaker 4: seen a lot more than us. But there's something about drafting,
41:14
Speaker 4: uh you know, uh, bloodlines, and you know it tends
41:19
Speaker 4: to work out more often than than not. And I
41:22
Speaker 4: think that with with an X, uh he's a nice
41:27
Speaker 4: ball player. He's not going to be the ceiling doesn't
41:30
Speaker 4: appear to be as high as his brother, who was
41:31
Speaker 4: drafted first overall. But the baseball instincts are what really
41:35
Speaker 4: stood out.
41:36
Speaker 1: Uh.
41:36
Speaker 2: As far as what I see. Uh.
41:40
Speaker 4: He looks like a very competent player, a guy that
41:42
Speaker 4: managers would love to put in because you know what
41:45
Speaker 4: you're going to get very reliable.
41:47
Speaker 2: Is he going to be an All Star? We'll see.
41:50
Speaker 4: Kind of doubtful, but if he could carve out a
41:52
Speaker 4: role as a utility player at the big league level,
41:56
Speaker 4: that ends up being an outstanding draft choice.
41:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.
41:59
Speaker 1: MVP of the World Series for Oklahoma which won the
42:02
Speaker 1: national title. So looking forward to seeing young Jackson. And
42:06
Speaker 1: we're going to close the show with that. Benji Madeira
42:09
Speaker 1: from Honeys Beach High School. Thank you for joining us,
42:11
Speaker 1: Mark Trombo. As always, please like and subscribe and we'll
42:15
Speaker 1: see you next time on Halo Territory.