Latest / College Baseball Now / Top 50 NCAA Prospects for 2026 MLB Draft | Ep. 001

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Top 50 NCAA Prospects for 2026 MLB Draft | Ep. 001 · College Baseball Now

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Speaker 1: On today's episode, we're breaking down Prospects Lives top fifty
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college baseball prospects for the twenty twenty six MLB Draft.
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Speaker 2: Let's get to it.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, there ain't no problems, had no problems.
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Speaker 2: Don't want problem you.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, let me tut the check. Then what was gone
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for a minute had to be bat didn't grab a
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couple wins with a D I D if it's even
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know the kid.
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Speaker 1: I had to do a B I G D.
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Speaker 3: I can never be average, and they want to problem
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with the boy. They don't want no statics counted, So
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coach time running with God. I want to test that
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t on the standing to control, run the game? Best
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believe the shining dogs counting now my wins? Yeah, I
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love it when they count me y out counting I'm
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the least shutting shame. Why bring a dog?
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Speaker 2: Best believe I.
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Speaker 3: Run the game? You know wanta be controlled leaf Just
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let me magic believe. I want the static stay.
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Speaker 1: This is imagine all right, folks, Welcome in to the
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debut the premiere the very first episode of College Baseball
1:28
Now presented by Prospects Live. It is an honor to
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be here with you. Your host, Drew Wheeler of the
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Prospects Live amateur team, joined for this first episode by
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a brilliant mind, a gentleman I actually just learned played
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against some dudes I know very well in high school,
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in college and beyond. Your friend of mine, Jake Barjorie. Jake,
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what's up, man? It's been a long day at the
1:52
park for you.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it sure has. I've been out, I've been out
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on the showcase circle a little bit. This uh, this
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after noon. It makes for a long day, but I'm
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excited to be here. I'm excited to talk about some
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college ball.
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Speaker 1: Al I'm too bro And like we said before, the
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intro video launched and I hope you guys enjoyed that.
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Today we're talking about a list that recently dropped at
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prospectslive dot com, our top fifty twenty twenty six NCUBLEA
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Draft prospects. So what that means is, obviously, these are
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guys who are eligible for the twenty twenty six MLB
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Draft who we're playing in college baseball this year. And Jake,
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as you well know, man, because we're in the off season, fallball,
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things like that are going on. We've had some summer
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leagues would bat leaks, all kinds of things going on
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that could kind of push these guys up and down.
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My first question for you, Jake is how much do
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you let things like this affect the way you view
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a guy out of season?
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Speaker 2: So I think, you know, I think for the most part,
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when it comes to fallball specifically, there's not you're not
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you're not really learning too much in fall ball because
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it's mostly they're you know, they're playing against each other
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at this level. You know, you're you're getting two or
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three fall games outside of your own players. Uh, they
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get to stay at their own parks. I think. I
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think over the summer, there's there's definitely a lot to learn.
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You know, there's these huge summer leagues that go on
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with it, whether it be the Cape or you know, Northwoods,
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whatever it may be. Uh, there's a ton to learn
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because for some of these cases, these guys transferring in
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from smaller schools, this is there, you know, first time
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playing against some of these higher level arms and higher
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level bats and everything. So h, I think there's a
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lot to learn over the summer. Over the fall, not
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so much. But it's I'm excited to get going and
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I'm excited that you know, we just got some ball
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to watch it.
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Speaker 1: I was just about to say, I know you're going
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to agree with me in that it's always just nice
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to have college baseball playing in any regard. Before we
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get too much deeper into the episode, though, did want
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to let you guys know that this is not some
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kind of run of the mill flash in the pan show.
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This is the first episode of a new show from
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Prospects Live College Baseball now obviously focused on college baseball.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: We're really excited and can't wait and hope you enjoyed
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this episode. If you do, please like, rate, review, comment
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let us know what you'd like to see going forward,
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because Jake and I talked, we're hoping to get some
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player interviews, maybe some coach interviews, maybe some drafts, maybe
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some coverage, maybe like some kind of a live look.
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There's all kinds of things we can do with the show,
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and we're really excited to do it with you guys.
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But shall we, Jake, get into our top fifty prospects.
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This actually released not too terribly long ago mid September,
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so it's still about a two week old list at
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this point, but still very fresh. Lots of interesting insights
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because the team rallied together and wrote reports along with
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grades tool grades for all of these top fifty, and
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I believe there are more than the top fifty. Just
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kind of want to limit it to a nice round
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number if I'm not mistaken. With all that said, let's
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get right into it. Talk about the top five. So
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starting at number one with Rock Scholowski, shortstop from UCLA,
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of course, going to number two, Drew Burris, outfielder from
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Georgia Tech, Number three Chris Acopian, a shortstop now of
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Texas A and m number four aj Garssia outfielder with Virginia.
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Number five Cam Cameron Fluky, right hander from Coastal Carolina, Jake.
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Let's start right at the top, man. Various draft pundits
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have said that Rock Scholowski is the best collegiate shortstop
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prospect we've seen in ten years. Some people are even
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going a little more deep and saying this is the
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best college shortstop we've seen in twenty years. Lots of
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talented guys in that time. I'm curious, man, in your opinion,
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what is it that makes Rock that special? Why is
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he the number one?
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Speaker 2: Dude? Yeah, I can't There's not much argument coming from
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my way. I mean, I don't know that I've seen,
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you know, a prospect that's just more just it's just
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the all around aspect of him. It's not there's not
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really one tool that stands out more than the other.
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But you know, you can argue that it's you know,
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it's it's above average to plus across the board. You know,
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he's an exceptional athlete. The glove plays, you know, you
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don't have to it doesn't take much to see the
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bat to ball, the raw power, the game power, everything
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that you can think about. If a prospect, well, there's
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no you know, there's no perfect prospect per se. But
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when it comes to polished just just hitters and athletes
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on a baseball field, you're gonna be hard pressed to
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find someone you know, more sure of a thing than
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Rock Keelaski has.
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Speaker 1: I love it facts. I'm with you, Bro. I obviously
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we saw as a freshman. You know, Rock had such
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a solid season on base at almost a four hundred
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clip slugged about I think a five hundred exactly up
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this home run total from eight to twenty three, fifteen
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more home runs last year than the year prior. Here's
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one of my favorite stats on Schilawski though walked forty
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five times last year, struck out thirty times. Insanity. This
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kid has got, like you said, gold glove, upside at defense,
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incredible plate discipline, burgeoning power. Could be such a special
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player going forwards. Don't want to linger too long in
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this top five. Maybe there's another dude between Buris Hacopian,
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Grossia or Fluky that you'd like to give us just
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another quick thought about.
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Speaker 2: Uh yeah, I'll talk about aj Grossia. You know, he's
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it's not really a hot take at this point. He
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was one of my personal favorites, and I think if
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I was making my if it was just going off
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of my thoughts only, he would probably be number two
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for me. He comes out at number four for us.
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No arguments there obviously, But the swing. I'm a sucker
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for a pretty left handed swing, and he's got one
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of the more aesthetically pleasing swings that you're gonna find
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in the class. You know, it's it's smooth, it's it's
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on time to the tom. He's really patient to play
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while that. You know, some people see that as a
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potential negative, as you know, if he gets to the
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next level and he's too patient. It could set him
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behind accounts and whatnot. But when he gets a pitch
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that he wants, he's he's not afraid to jump on it,
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and he's got some he's got big power to go
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along with the contact ability. All in all, with Grossia,
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you know, you're you're really gonna be buying the bat
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at this point. But he's gonna give you average defense.
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He's gonna give you an average arm in the outfield.
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And if you can hit the way that h you
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know we all expect him to, that's gonna play just fine.
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Speaker 1: I think.
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Speaker 2: So.
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Speaker 1: One really interesting note with Grossia is that not only
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is he transferring, he with coach Chris Pollard from Duke
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to Virginia now sticking in the ACC. Pretty interesting. Not
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the only transfer within our top five, though, Chris Acopian
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another transfer. Uh, that one a little bit more of
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a little bit, more of a jump, some might say.
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But yeah, with Grossia, I'm interested, said, because you did
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bring up the hit tool. It is such an incredible
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hit tool, and I think that right now, maybe Garsia,
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I think he's a capable center fielder at the NCAA level,
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but I do worry that he will shift probably to
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I'm gonna assume right field, left field, probably left at
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the next level. I'm curious what's your take is on
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the defense.
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Speaker 2: You know, like I said, I don't think it's not
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gonna be bad defense. He's a good enough athlete. Like,
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it's not gonna be plus defense. I don't know that
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he's even gonna stick in center field long term. I
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think he I think he's earned a shot and he's
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definitely gonna get that shot at Virginia. But like in
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the end, at the next level, I think if he
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moves off to left field, that's gonna put a little
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bit less pressure on him having to play that top
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level defense, and that can just let him feel a
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little bit more free with the bat where that's gonna
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be where he makes his money in the end. Anyways,
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and I think it's gonna be average defense at best,
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and you know, that's gonna play just fine if he
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hits the way we think he's going.
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Speaker 1: Too, I think that's probably the case. Anyhow, great call, Jake.
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Uh So, let's let's get into uh maybe one more
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question about these top five guys. Which of these dudes,
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and again we'll just recap for you at home, uh,
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number one Schilawski, followed by Drew Burris, Chris Acopian AJ Garssia,
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who we just spoke about, and then Cam Fluki from
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Coastal Carolina, the right hander. Which of these dudes do
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you think has the most to prove in twenty twenty
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six and why.
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Speaker 2: So? Yeah, for the most part, up here at the
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top we have proven god Like, we have Rock Schilawski,
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who has been kind of the consensus one once since
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the beginning of last season. Right. Uh. We have Drew Burris,
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who is who's played at every level and he's been
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known as one of the top, you know, the top
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players since he got to Georgia Tech. We just talked
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about Garcia. You mentioned Utopian for a bit, and I
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think it's probably gonna be him. You know, he's he's
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won in this level, in this uh, in this range
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for us that's making the the biggest jump. I was
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fortunate enough to be able to cover the Big ten
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last year for you guys for for the for the
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Daily Sheet, and I got to see a lot of
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Chris of Coopian and I personally think the Big ten,
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you know, gets you know, they get a bad rap
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sometime when it comes to quality of pitching that these
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hitters are going to be facing. But I mean he was.
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He was hitting against guys like Joe Jerwell, he was
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hitting against or Deserve what however you say it, he was,
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he was. He was hitting off of him, He was
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hitting off of Kate ober Mueller. All three of those
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Iowa arms were insane last year. He was hitting off
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of Grayson Grenzel. So I mean he was getting some
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he was getting some good at bats against you know,
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guys that went in the first two or three rounds
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last year. And uh, I think a Copian he's got
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one of, if not arguably the best hit tool in
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the entire class. He's also not afraid to get into
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some power. It's it's typically to the pull side for him,
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and his approach is mainly to to spray the gaps
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for the most part. But he does a really good
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job at getting his hands extended and you know, pulling
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the ball to his pull side out of the park,
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and even if it's just off the wall, he's got
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to go to No, he's got enough athleticism to get
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extra bases. Right now, I think he's going to give
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you average defense with an average arm at shortstop. But
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if if at the next level he's forced to move
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off of shortstop, I think he'll be able to handle
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both third or second base with no issues. Definitely.
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Speaker 1: I know that we talk a lot in terms of
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fantasy about how anybody that does shift from shortstop to
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second base with this kind of an offensive profile from
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a fantasy perspective, that just almost skyrockets their value even higher.
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Of course, not a fantasy podcast, just something to note
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that Lakopian does have that kind of value where his
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bat at second base could be a realistic outlier at
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the next level. I'm glad you brought that up. I
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did want to quote his report. Peyton Franks wrote this
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report and it had some of the most jaw dropping,
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eye popping stats of any report in twenty twenty five, folks,
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Hacopian had a eighty nine point four zone contact rate,
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a max exit velocity of nearly one hundred and twelve
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one eleven point nine, call it one twelve, call it
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what it is. Has struck out seven point six percent
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of the time, and in two strike counts, zone swing
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rate goes up to ninety eight point four percent. Zone
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contact up to ninety one point eight percent. Not only
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is he an exceptional bat, he does it in the clutch.
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So excited to see what this guy does against. As
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you said, I do think that you're probably correct in
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saying the big ten gets kind of an unfair rap,
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at least in terms of the pitching, because, like you said,
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all three of those dudes are our draftees at the
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very least, if not big leaguers. But you know, zero
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over Mueller, Grinsil, There's there's, and there's more, obviously, but
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the three U listed are great examples of dudes that
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Hacopium would have played against as recently as last season. Now,
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of course we'll see what he does in the SEC,
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but let's move on. Lots more do to talk about,
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going to the six through ten range of our list.
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Number six Derek Curriel, outfielder from LSU. Number seven Justin Lebron,
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shortstop from the University of Alabama, Number eight Jackson Flora,
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a right handed pitcher from UC Santa Barbara, Number nine
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Maddox Maloney, a shortstop from the University of Oregon. And
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number ten Tyler Bell, a shortstop from the University of Kentucky. Jake,
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let's go back to you again, man, you're giving us
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good stuff. I'm just gonna keep feeding you the rock here.
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Let you keep scoring. Of these dudes, who would you
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say is the one that could most lay claim to
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being snubbed from a spot in our top five and why.
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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna show too much Big ten Buas. I
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love Maddix Maloney and he definitely could be in that
14:45
spot for me, but I'm gonna go with the guy
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we have at our six spot, just outside of the
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top five, Derek Curriel. I talked about it a little
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bit with Gracia. I'm a sucker for a pretty left
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handed swing, and he's got another real nice looking left
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handed swing. But he keeps it really simple in the box.
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You know, he's straight to the ball, he doesn't try
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to do too much. He takes usually what's given to him.
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He hits the he hits the outside pitched opposite field.
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He'll pull the inside pitch to his pool side like
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you're supposed to. And he's handled Vello like a mature
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hitter handles Vlo. There's not too many holes in his swing.
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He's proven himself at LSU, and you'll get another chance
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to prove it again this year. He's also lifted the
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ball a little bit more than we would expect out
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of him. And I think he's got the frame to
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to develop and to grow into some even some more power. Uh.
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And he could probably grow into a maybe even a
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twenty plus homer guy in the future. I think he's
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gonna give you really good, really good defense in the outfield.
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He's gonna think he's gonna have a really good arm
15:55
out there. I think he can definitely stick in center
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and h In my notes here, I have firmly in
16:00
the conversation with the top of the class college bats
16:04
this year, I could definitely see him getting into the
16:06
top five, and outside of Chilowski, the second spot is
16:10
kind of wide open. I mean, it kind of feels
16:12
like you can make an argument for you know, three, four,
16:15
five six guys there, and Curiel is one of them
16:17
without a doubt.
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Speaker 1: I'm curious, because you referenced it earlier, if you had
16:22
if you had to put a top five together, who
16:24
would be your top five? I know you said Rock
16:26
was your number one. I believe you said Grossia would
16:28
be your number two.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
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Speaker 1: Where's Kurryell? Following that? Is he in your top five?
16:34
Speaker 2: Curio uh, I think I would have him. I would
16:36
have him in the in the top five. I'm I'm
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I'm really high on Lebron, like you mentioned, I'm really
16:41
high on Fluky uh Chilawski obviously, and then I think
16:47
kurie El and Grossi is also going to be in there.
16:49
I mean, I can't leave out Drew Berg. I don't
16:51
know how to make a top five at this point.
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I'm not gonna lie I have I have a list
16:54
of players. I have a list of like like we've
16:56
mentioned seven eight guys that I could feel really good
16:59
about having in my It's going to be a lot
17:02
to pay attention to going forward.
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Speaker 1: Oh, I know, it's it's crazy. The thought of picking
17:06
five of even just college guys, it's ridiculous. But then
17:10
when you add in prep guys, it is a mind
17:12
blowing thing. Right now, of course, are not getting into
17:15
that college podcast. Maybe down the line, Jake, we'll talk
17:18
some prep dudes just for the for the lulls. But
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no worries on that you folks at home, We're going
17:25
to get back to the college chat for sure. Interesting
17:29
you brought up kury Ell, and I was I had
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a point to asking about your top five because in
17:34
my list I had Curiyell at number three and so
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hearing you shout him out made me feel really good
17:39
because obviously when smart people say things that I align with,
17:42
it makes me feel better about my life. So yes,
17:45
let's talk though not about Curyel. We'll talk about another
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guy that I really really like in terms of a
17:51
dude that I think might have a claim to being snubbed,
17:53
and that's my number four guy right now in the class,
17:56
Jake Tyler Bell shortstop from the University of Kentucky. I
17:59
think if there are any organizations who I think the
18:04
recurring joke is, you know, Wow, the Rays, what a
18:06
great trade? Who is it they got again? And it
18:08
almost extends to drafting as well. Wow, I love that
18:11
pick for the Rays. Who'd they get again? And it's
18:13
it's accurate. So as a as a prepster, Tyler Bell
18:17
selected sixty sixth overall to the Rays. It's just insane
18:21
to see that now draft eligible again after his commitment
18:26
to coach NINCIONI held what we've seen from Bell is
18:29
that he has shown strong contact tools, really puts the
18:32
bat to the ball well, but the power has really
18:35
come to play for him. Especially from the left, really
18:38
strong exit velocities. I think there's still a lot of
18:41
projection here with Tyler Bell. We could see more, we
18:44
could see more power added. Of course, the contact is
18:48
what we need to note twenty two percent strikeout rate
18:51
last year. Obviously it's that could be pitch recognition, it
18:54
could be any number of things, but whatever it is
18:57
right now, there is stuff to work on. But I
18:59
just love the potential for Bell, who we've already seen
19:02
a lesser version of him be drafted in a comp
19:06
round pick. I think it was comp b the second pick,
19:08
if I'm not mistaken, but already drafted extremely highly by
19:12
a data driven, very analytically wise team. I think that
19:18
Bell is a shoe in for a Day one selection,
19:21
barring anything catastrophic happening between now and next summer. Of course,
19:26
let's move on, though, Bud, because we've got another awesome
19:29
group of players here to talk about. Unless you know you,
19:32
you actually brought up a big ten bias. I would
19:35
kind of like to hear you wax poetic on Maddox
19:37
Maloney a little bit. I think the folks at home
19:39
may like that too.
19:41
Speaker 2: Well. I love Maddix Maloney. He was one of my
19:44
favorite guys to follow last year. You know, that whole
19:49
Oregon team was pretty loaded last year, but he was
19:52
at the forefront of what they did on offense. But
19:57
you know, as well as he swings the bat and
19:59
as another a pretty swing by the way, he he
20:04
plays really really excellent defense at shortstop and he's he's
20:07
gonna be He's gonna be among the most talented defensive
20:10
players in the draft I think this year. And he
20:13
was another one that was getting it done against those
20:15
top level big ten arms, but just topped to bottom. Like,
20:19
I don't know that he's gonna give you huge, huge
20:25
power necessarily. I think he's gonna put the bat on
20:27
the ball and he hits the ball in zone and
20:30
he can he can get into some power at times,
20:33
but more consistently. I think he's gonna be a hit
20:36
guy first, and if the bat improves the way we
20:40
expect it to, he's another one that that we can
20:43
easily propel into the top five along with like you mentioned,
20:48
Tyler Bell and some other guys we have down the board.
20:50
You can make arguments for those guys too. It's really
20:52
it's really deep at the top and it's hard to
20:54
even even as we're getting deeper into the ball, it's
20:56
hard to different to, you know, differentiate some of these bats.
21:00
Speaker 1: It really is. I almost and here's the crazy thing, man,
21:04
when preparing our conversation, I nearly just did a top
21:06
ten conversation and I was like, gosh, this is just
21:09
it's so loading. And there's dudes even in the next
21:11
group we're going to talk about that. I think certain people.
21:14
You know, if you're listening at home and you hear
21:15
a guy in that eleven and twenty five range and
21:17
you think, wow, that's a top five dude, drop a
21:20
comment or give us a shout out someplace on Twitter
21:24
or some social and let us know, Hey, guys, you've
21:25
got this dude under ranked, and here's why we'd love
21:28
to hear it from you and interact with you about
21:30
your thoughts on that as well. Let's go ahead and
21:32
talk about that group of eleven to twenty five though
21:34
Jake starting number eleven, Liam Peterson, the right hander from Florida,
21:39
going to another right hander from the SEC at twelve,
21:41
Gabe Gackle sticking in the SEC at thirteen with third
21:45
basement Ace Reese number fourteen. Eric Becker of the University
21:49
of Virginia number fifteen, Caden Currell of Texas A and
21:52
M number sixteen, saw your Strossnyder of Texas Christian University,
21:58
Zion Rose, outfielder from Louisville at seventeen Von Lackey another
22:03
Georgia Tech catcher. Stop me if you've heard this one before.
22:05
Georgia Tech's got a good catcher at eighteen, TCU outfielder
22:09
Chase Brunson at nineteen, another Louisville outfielder, Lucas Moore at twenty,
22:14
Logan Hughes from Texas Tech at twenty one. Twenty two,
22:17
we've got Carson Tenny Now at Texas twenty three, Jaron
22:21
ad Vincula second basement from Georgia Tech, followed at twenty
22:25
four by his infield mate on the left side, Alex
22:29
Hernandez third basement, and then at twenty five rounded out
22:33
of the group, Tikan Koon's a right handed pitcher from
22:35
the University of Tennessee. Jake. We'll go back to you, pal,
22:39
who among this group is the most outwardly talented? Who
22:42
do you look at? Can anybody look at and say
22:46
that's a dude?
22:49
Speaker 2: We've we've had we've been talking a lot about the bats.
22:52
I'm gonna mention another one here, but I will get
22:54
into one of my favorite arms here in just a minute,
22:56
I promise. But I want to talk about Eric Becker.
23:00
He's he's a lot of fun to watch, and I
23:03
guess that's what you mean by outwardly talented. It was
23:06
huge that that that, you know, Coach Pollard was able
23:09
to retain Becker and keep him from transferring to Mississippi
23:11
State because he's he's one of the he he's one
23:15
of the more projectable guys in the class. I think
23:18
he you know, he's got a really fast bad he
23:20
really crushes fastballs, especially right now. The frame, I don't
23:24
think it's fully it's fully built. I think he's got
23:27
some room to grow into some more power, but I
23:30
do I think ultimately he's gonna end up being more
23:32
of a contact hitter, and that's perfectly fine if he's
23:34
gonna stick on the infield and hit for average the
23:37
way that he does already. Obviously, he's got the most
23:41
experienced playing shortstop, and I think he can. I think
23:44
he's going to be able to give you that at
23:46
a quality level at the next level. But like we mentioned,
23:49
earlier with with Curiel. You know, if he has to
23:52
move off of second base or move off to second
23:54
base and still hit the way that he does, that's
23:56
just gonna potentially bring even more value. And you know,
24:00
and that's a lesser defensive demanding position. And if he
24:03
can focus on his bat more by moving to either
24:06
second or third base, you know, that's gonna that's gonna
24:10
have him firmly considered in the first round, as if
24:12
he wasn't already.
24:14
Speaker 1: I love that, and I think I think you're absolutely
24:17
correct on that front.
24:18
Speaker 2: Man.
24:18
Speaker 1: It is it's such a it's such a a mentally
24:24
taxing thing to be worried about playing defense at the
24:27
you know, the captain of the infield, some would argue
24:30
the secondary captain to the catcher of the entire defense
24:33
just really really defensively stressful position to play a lot
24:36
of wear on your body as well there. But yes,
24:39
I think if it were a transition for Becker, we
24:42
could see that bat take an even greater step forward.
24:45
And that's not to say that he's not already incredibly advanced, because,
24:47
like you said, certainly fits the bill here for one
24:50
of the most outwardly talented guys and I'm glad you
24:53
picked up on what I was going for there. I
24:56
I think I might go ahead and break the streak.
24:59
Let's talk about it, pitcher, shall we. I really think
25:02
that we could go on and on about either of
25:05
the right handers at the top of this list, Liam
25:07
Peterson from Florida or Gabe Gackle from Arkansas. It's so
25:12
crazy to me because Peterson fits the bill for everything
25:16
I love in a college pitcher. Large frame, strong, big
25:21
league body. The arsenal is led by the big tom
25:25
fastball just about ninety five miles per hour a little bit,
25:29
but plus pitches throughout his thing. The slider the best
25:33
secondary there. He threw it over thirty percent of the time,
25:37
forty three percent miss rate on the pitch. Right handers
25:41
really struggled against it last year. Has exceptional snap kind
25:45
of off off of the plate at the last second.
25:47
Speaker 2: For the righties.
25:49
Speaker 1: It's a four pitch mix. I do think that the
25:51
change up is probably the equivalent pitch for a left
25:54
handed batter. I think that it's a strong one obviously,
25:58
like we've seen with a lot of Florida guys historically,
26:00
those pitchers particularly, we would like to see some more
26:04
command there. But we have seen, at least in terms
26:07
of this season, a guy like Hunter Barco we've sent
26:10
him really improve his command to the point where he
26:12
has made a major league debut. So me, maybe Peterson
26:15
could be the next one to take that step and
26:17
see this stuff oriented development at the University of Florida
26:22
parley into a first round projection, excuse me, a first
26:25
round selection next summer. With Gackle obviously another outstanding pitcher,
26:33
lots of velocity out of a much smaller frame six
26:36
foot one ninety. The right hander is strong. I think
26:41
that he is. It's almost the opposite of what we
26:44
need to see out of out of Peterson in my opinion, Jake,
26:48
I think we need to see Gackle prove that there's
26:53
the capability of withstanding the innings that he's going to
26:56
need to throw with the more slight body. But I
26:58
mean again, Arkansas is going to give him all the
27:00
opportunity to play strong competition all season long, and so
27:03
we're gonna get to see what he does against strong
27:06
competition his junior year. Let's let's ask you another question
27:09
about this group, because again, this is a huge group
27:11
of fifteen just killer dudes, and I'm excited to hear
27:14
you talk about a picture, and I'm assuming that it's
27:17
going to be the answer to this question. Who might
27:20
be a bit of a sleeper hit to mainstream fans
27:23
or two fans who are getting back into college baseball
27:26
after maybe diving in during the postseason last last year.
27:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you do know where I'm going here.
27:35
For me, like these it's tough to tell apart at
27:38
these top arms in the class. You know, you have
27:41
her who we end up going with first in Flukey,
27:46
but then there's you know, we have the Jackson Floras
27:48
and you hit on both Peterson and Gaging there certainly
27:51
in that top group. But one of my favorite overall players.
27:55
He's a personal favorite of mine. I got to see
27:57
him in high school. I got to see him throw
28:00
in front of, you know, thirty five MLB scouts in
28:03
one game. He's from He's from my area up here,
28:06
and I was, as a Tennessee fan like yourself, I
28:09
was floored whenever he got to the balls, and I
28:12
was so excited to get to see him pitch at
28:13
that level. And that's Tegan Koon's he he's a freak
28:19
on the mound. Just to just to put it into
28:21
one word, he's he moves. He moves like a freak
28:25
on the mount. He's a super athletic ton of projectability there.
28:30
His frame is is definitely not fully developed yet been
28:35
up to ninety seven proved itself last year. He had
28:38
he had a little bit of hiccups early on in
28:40
the year, and I think he had he was either
28:42
sick or had an injury or something at the at
28:44
the beginning of the season last year, missed a little
28:46
bit of time, but he founded he you know, he
28:49
was Sunday guy for a lot of the time for
28:50
Tennessee last year. I think he's got the chance to
28:53
be that guy again and potentially even Saturday Friday whatever
28:57
they even see him at. But the fastballs is calling
29:01
card for me. I think it's got potential to be
29:05
a easily A plus pitch. You know, he throws it
29:08
up in his own well, he gets whips on it
29:11
both last year and on the cape. But he's also
29:14
got a really good curveball. You know, it's a you know,
29:18
he gets three thousand RPMs on it, he gets guys
29:21
to chase it, he misses barrels in his zone. It's
29:24
it's it's it's a lot of fun watching him pitch,
29:26
and I believe I guess he's going to a change
29:29
up now. When he was in high school, he had
29:30
a splitter and it was the craziest thing I've ever
29:32
seen at the high school level, just making some guys
29:36
look really silly in the box. But I guess he's
29:39
going to a change up now. He's got that and
29:41
a slider that both play well. I think he's got
29:44
some He has some refining to do from the command standpoint,
29:48
but the funky delivery, the four really good pitches, and
29:52
the projectability in his frame is someone that I could
29:55
see flying up the board sooner rather than later. I
29:59
think so to.
30:00
Speaker 1: I love teaking Koons, and I'm glad to hear you
30:03
following that, because, man, you said the fastball is your
30:07
favorite pitch. I love the curve ball.
30:10
Speaker 2: It's just so nasty.
30:11
Speaker 1: Man, That's one of those pitches where again, it just
30:16
snaps downward just so quickly and it's nearly vomitedducing. But
30:22
let's move to the other half of the battery, shall we.
30:25
From Teekan Kons, I'd like to talk about a guy
30:28
who I think might be a little bit of a
30:30
sleeper hit, and that's just because again he's switching colleges.
30:32
We're talking about Carson Tenney, who is moving from Notre
30:35
Dame to the University of Texas. A catcher another one
30:38
of my favorite demographics of players. Certainly, as we discussed
30:41
a minute ago with Eric Becker, if shortstop is the
30:44
secondary captain, the lieutenant or the sergeant, whatever that might be,
30:48
somebody correct me at home. The catcher certainly is the
30:52
captain of the defense, and Tenny certainly has that. He's
30:56
got a nice, big league body already six y three
30:58
over two hundred pounds handed batter, strong, built, well compact,
31:05
an amazing handspeed for this guy really propels a lot
31:08
of his biggest trait, and that is, of course the power.
31:11
Already touched a ton of high over one hundred and
31:14
fifteen miles per hour exit velocities for him. Really it is,
31:18
as of right now, more of a line drive hit.
31:21
Really exceptional. I think that he could maybe get to
31:24
twenty five plus home runs the defense, though suspect. I'm
31:29
curious to see where it goes forward. I'm curious do
31:31
you have any thoughts on Tenny?
31:34
Speaker 2: I do like Carson Tani. I think he's going to
31:36
have a really good opportunity to prove himself at the
31:38
at the higher conference there with Texas. I'm with you
31:42
on everything you said about the bat. I think he's
31:44
going to hit for a ton of power at that ballpark.
31:47
I think he's going to hit for a ton of
31:48
power in the conference in general. But I'm also with
31:53
you on the defense. You know, if he doesn't stick
31:57
at catcher, you know, we just saw it last year
32:00
with like Irish moving to the outfield, I think it.
32:02
I mean not to say that they're the same players,
32:04
just you know, going from catcher to a different position,
32:07
hitting for power, that similar thing. If the bat plays,
32:10
you know, it's it's kind of a cliche thing to say,
32:12
but like the bats is what's gonna get him on
32:14
the field. And if if he's hitting good enough, a
32:17
team's gonna find somewhere to put him. And that's not
32:20
to say he can't stick it catcher a long term
32:21
right now, he just hasn't really proven it. But I
32:24
think he would do just fine as a first basement
32:27
or a potential you know, right or left fielder. Again,
32:32
like we mentioned a few times, already taking a little
32:33
bit of pressure off the bat could be a good
32:35
thing for him. But yeah, I'm a big fan of
32:39
Carson Tini, and I think he's got some some some
32:41
big time juice.
32:43
Speaker 1: I agree with you there, and I love I love
32:46
that you said maybe this is the ike Irish pat
32:49
for him, because again it's it's not a bad arm.
32:52
I do think that he could certainly handle left field,
32:55
maybe right field potentially. I guess one would think as
32:57
a catcher he could have the arm for right field.
33:00
That said, though, love the comp because that's an easy
33:03
way that fans at home, listeners at home could hear
33:06
that transition. You know, if Irish is a catcher in
33:10
a pinch, maybe that does add to the allure for
33:13
him to a major league team to see that he
33:14
could cover these different areas, because, like you said, Jake,
33:17
it is the bat that's going to get him paid,
33:19
and it is the bath that's going to keep him
33:21
on the field. Let's move on to the rest of
33:24
the top fifty. Now that's a crazy thing to say, isn't,
33:26
Because we've just covered twenty five dudes. So this is
33:28
a this is a list of twenty five dudes. I'm
33:30
about to give you, so buckle up at home. If
33:33
you hear somebody that you like and we don't talk
33:35
about him like we said, leave us a comment or
33:37
let us know. Maybe we can talk about him in
33:38
a future episode. I know Jake and I are going
33:40
to be regulars here on College Baseball now. I love
33:43
talking to this guy and we're going to get into
33:44
it a lot this season and beyond, So let's get
33:47
into that. Twenty six. We've got Jason DeCaro, a right
33:50
hander for North Carolina who is exceptional last season, very talented.
33:54
Number twenty seven, the dude that you and I both like,
33:56
Aiden Robbins and outfielder moving from Seaton Hall to Texas
34:00
twenty eight. Daniel Covey from the University of Miami, number
34:03
twenty nine, Chris Rnber of Auburn thirty Ben Blair from
34:07
Liberty thirty one, Ryan Lynch of North Carolina, another right
34:11
hander from UNC Crazy Stuff thirty two, Luke McNeely of
34:15
Florida thirty three, Joey Volsco of Georgia now transferred from
34:20
Stanford to Georgia. Ethan Kleinschmidt, the lefty for Oregon State
34:25
at thirty four catcher writer Helfrik of the Arkansas Razorbacks
34:29
at number thirty five. Thirty six is Gavin Gerhovic from
34:32
Texas A and M thirty seven, Brady Ballinger of Kansas
34:36
thirty eight, Andrew Williamson of UCF thirty nine, Aiden Knack
34:41
of Clemson forty Tommy Lapour of TCU couple of funky
34:45
dudes there forty one, Henry Ford of Tennessee this year
34:50
formerly the University of Virginia forty two, Caden Boganpole of
34:55
Missouri State forty three, Ethan Norby from East Carolina forty
34:59
four Morning Star of Wake Forest, another right hander from
35:03
the ACC forty five. Jackson Willetts, shortstop from Oklahoma. That's
35:07
a familiar last name, Jake curious how we might know
35:10
his family forty six. Cole Carlin, left hander from Arizona State.
35:14
Forty seven, Gavin Gallaher of North Carolina forty eight, Roman Martin,
35:20
the left side infield partner of Rockchilowski at UCLA, forty nine,
35:24
Owen Kramkowski at Arizona and number fifty Cold Triva left hander.
35:29
You see Santa Barbara, oh take a breath at home,
35:33
Take a breath. Drew Wheeler all right, first question for you, Jake,
35:37
because this is a loaded one and I think I
35:39
know where you're gonna go with this one. But I'm curious,
35:41
what's the road we're gonna take here. Which of these dudes,
35:43
these twenty five guys we just listed, is the one
35:45
who you say most likely to make a jump into
35:48
the top ten this season? And why?
35:52
Speaker 2: Okay, So I am going to go a slightly different
35:55
way than what we talked about before. I am going
35:58
to go back back to the arms here and think
36:00
it's gonna be Joey Voltsko because if we're talking about
36:03
if we're talking about potential to break into the top ten,
36:07
he's got more potential, just as much potential as anybody
36:09
else does, I think in terms of in terms of
36:12
the arms here. Obviously it's been it's been widely documented
36:18
that the command is the big issue with him. Some
36:21
have it as low as potential of thirty command. But
36:23
you know, there's been pictures come out of Georgia before,
36:27
and I think that being able to prove himself in
36:31
the SEC is gonna what get is gonna be what
36:33
pushes him up to the top. Obviously, it's a really
36:35
good you know, it's really good fastball. Sometimes you know,
36:42
at the shape is a little bit inconsistent, he's got it.
36:44
Sometimes it's syncrist, sometimes it's cutterish, but in the end
36:48
it's a really good pitch. If he can command it
36:50
and control some of that spin that he's getting on it,
36:53
and maybe could turn it into two separate pitches. Even
36:55
I could see him having a sinker and a cutter.
36:58
He's also got you know, a power slider that he
37:02
can again if he can locate it a little bit better,
37:05
he's got potential to get a ton of ton of whiff,
37:08
ton of chase with it, because it's a big breaker,
37:11
and then you know, developing maybe maybe a change up.
37:14
He'll probably end up having to develop some kind of
37:16
fourth pitch. There's a lot of ips here. I don't
37:18
mean to be throwing a lot of yips here, but
37:19
like you know, making a jump from from Stanford to Georgia,
37:24
he's gonna have every opportunity in the world to prove himself.
37:28
And if he does that, who's to say he's not
37:31
and he doesn't end up in our top ten end
37:33
of the year.
37:35
Speaker 1: It's so interesting because I would have never thought I
37:38
should have thought as much as we've been in line
37:40
on these guys that Vultchko might have been on your
37:42
radar to talk about here, because that was the dude
37:45
I was so itching to talk about. But let's let's
37:48
get a little bit further into this if you don't care,
37:50
because I'm curious. We've seen Vultko out of the bullpen
37:55
with Stanford. I'm curious, do you think that he gets
37:57
a shot at maybe a weekend starter or is is
38:00
kind of a maybe a flexible dude that's maybe out
38:03
of the pen on the weekends, but maybe we see
38:04
him on some like midweek starts.
38:08
Speaker 2: You know, I think I think either one. I think
38:11
I think he'll I mean, I think he's got the
38:13
stuff to at least earn a chance at the rotation
38:17
this year, right. I don't think he's going to be
38:19
instantly subjected straight to the bullpen without getting a chance
38:22
to prove himself as a starter. First. I don't think
38:25
you as as Georgia. I don't think you bring in
38:28
such a high level arm like him, and just well,
38:31
I think I think in the future, yeah, he could
38:34
end up as a closer again, would probably be a
38:35
really good one. But I think you know, on Georgia's staff.
38:39
I don't think they're bringing him in with intentions of
38:41
strictly pitching him out of the bullpen. I think he's
38:43
definitely gonna get a chance, uh to start. Like you said,
38:46
it could be could be a midweek to start the year,
38:50
but he could just you know, prove himself in the
38:52
fall here that he's worthy of a shot at you know,
38:54
starting the years as a Sunday guy or something.
38:58
Speaker 1: I think so too. I definitely doing. And it's like
39:01
you said, even if the outcome here is eventual closer,
39:04
I think that that's an outcome that everybody can embrace.
39:07
We've seen closers and especially you know in the SEC.
39:11
Dylan Valantis last season was arguably the most impressive single
39:15
pitcher in college baseball from a closing perspective. And that's
39:18
a young man who guaranteed the University of Texas didn't
39:21
look at him and say hmm and recruiting closer. They
39:24
just thought that kid's nuts, that's electric. We want him
39:27
in Austin. I don't know of a team that wouldn't
39:29
want that kid. He's insane. And the same thing goes
39:31
for Joey Voltco all right, Jake, Let's move to our
39:34
last question here, Which of these guys this twenty six
39:37
to fifty range has the single best individual tool? What
39:42
is that tool? And what's your outcome for that guy
39:44
for this season?
39:46
Speaker 2: Okay, so I am going to go the way that
39:48
we talked about before here. Shout out, shout out in
39:52
Northeast baseball. I love miss some Aidan Robbins coming from
39:56
Seaton Hall down to Texas this year. You know, say
40:01
what you want about the conference he played in. The
40:03
guy at four to twenty two last year at the
40:05
Division one level. That's hard to do no matter who
40:08
you are or whatever level where you're playing at. You
40:09
could be playing at the easiest conference of the worst
40:13
division possible and hit four twenty two and it's impressive.
40:18
He's got that to his name. He's got eliite athleticism,
40:24
he has a patient approach in the box, he covers
40:26
the plate well. I can't say enough good things about him,
40:29
but I mean he's hit. He's hit it, you know,
40:32
in the spring with his school. He's also hit on
40:35
the cape. I think he led the cape and batan
40:37
average this year's and he's gonna have a really good
40:41
chance to prove himself at Texas, and I think he's
40:43
going to. I think you're talking about the potential best
40:46
tool in the class. I think his hit tool is
40:48
where I was obviously leaning towards there. But I think
40:52
it's got a chance to be as high as you know,
40:55
seventy hit tool, and I wouldn't have any arguments about it.
40:58
I agree with you completely. You're certainly.
41:03
Speaker 1: No I need more. You're certainly among friends in the
41:06
Aiden Robbins fan club here with me for sure. I
41:10
think you could be right. It's so insane that he
41:13
could hit four twenty and then win the batting title
41:16
on the Cape and people are still wonder how he's
41:18
going to hit at Texas, And I mean it's a
41:20
fair question. But this kid hits. All he's done thus
41:23
far is hit. Why should we believe he's gonna do
41:24
anything different now? I don't know. I'll throw out a quick,
41:30
a quick suggestion for just best individual tool. I'm gonna
41:33
look at power. You looked at hit, I'll look at power.
41:36
One name that comes up is Daniel Qvey. But I'll
41:39
also shout out Henry Ford as being a great shout
41:42
for that. Definitely plus maybe double plus power. I want
41:47
to say that. I want to say I went just
41:50
sixty just to be conservative whenever I was assigning grades
41:53
for Ford's report, but qve another guy. A lot of
41:57
issues at least with the swing with both of those guys,
41:59
but the power incredibly real whenever they can get to it.
42:02
Kayden Bogan pol the same. I may as well say
42:04
that as well. He's just a tool shed, so he
42:07
could have applied in several aspects of that question. Jake,
42:11
what a wonderful discussion of this Top fifty. Like we said,
42:14
it did release just about two weeks ago, so it's
42:18
very fresh and it is an absolute ton sky of information.
42:22
If you guys have not, we have to recommend, just
42:25
on behalf of Jake and myself, that you consider a
42:27
membership to Prospects Live. For as low as five dollars
42:30
a month. You can get access to every scouting report
42:33
on this Top fifty guys, complete with the top five.
42:38
We talked about scouting reports all the way up and down.
42:41
It's really strong stuff and a great first release for
42:45
the team. Obviously, we have our Top fifty prep Prospects
42:48
coming up down the pipeline, as well tons of other
42:51
great stuff. At Prospects Live as well. I know the
42:54
Dynasty team is going nuts right now. We've got wonderful
42:57
stuff in terms of your baseball call hard passion. Whether
43:02
you're looking for podcasts, rankings, reports, uh, information, something fun
43:06
to read uh, or maybe just a community to talk
43:09
baseball in, we've got you at prospects Live dot com.
43:12
Membership start as low as five dollars a month, so
43:14
we'd love to have you check that out, Jake, before
43:16
we go, I'd love it if you could tell the
43:18
people at home what you are working on right now
43:20
and where they can contact or find you or follow
43:23
you between episodes of College Baseball now.
43:27
Speaker 2: Uh, so you can follow me on Twitter at Jake
43:30
Barge j A k E b A r G. Currently
43:34
in the works, I've I've been doing a lot of
43:36
behind the scenes stuff with on the college side. I
43:38
know I've talked to Drew about it. I've talked to
43:40
Nate about it. We've got a lot of big plans
43:41
this year right now. It's it's a little bit of
43:43
a slow period with the fall season. Uh. But once
43:47
once you know, once the winner gets here, once the
43:49
once the spring gets here, we're gonna get rolling with
43:51
a lot of college stuff and I can't wait for it, bro,
43:54
me and you both, Me and you both.
43:56
Speaker 1: Uh, definitely I want to recommend that as well. Like
44:00
I said, there's a lot of stuff going on right now.
44:01
We're definitely working on our prep ranks to provide a
44:05
similar list on the prep side. Of course, not that
44:07
we'll be talking about it on this podcast necessarily, but
44:10
we'll never say never. The Dynasty team's working on a
44:13
lot of stuff, so I'm working on that as well.
44:15
If you wanted to follow me for whatever reason, you
44:17
may do so on the Twitter machine at drew is Okay, Instagram,
44:20
Blue Sky at the same and of course prospects Live
44:23
dot com. You can find the social media is for
44:25
the site everywhere at prospects Live. Pretty simple, pretty logical
44:30
handle there, Jake, I love it. What a wonderful first
44:33
episode it's been of college baseball now. I wanted to
44:35
thank you for joining me because it's been an excellent
44:38
time for me and I hope it's been the same
44:39
for you.
44:41
Speaker 2: Oh it has been. I look forward to continue doing
44:44
this and to keep this going throughout the rest of
44:46
the year. Can't wait.
44:47
Speaker 1: We will see you guys next time and again. Remember,
44:50
whether you're listening, watching, whatever, we'd love your review five stars,
44:54
thumbs up, whatever it may be for college baseball. Now,
44:57
for Jake, I'm Drew Wheeler and we will see you.