Latest / College Baseball Now / 5 Draft Risers + Oklahoma wins MCWS | Ep. 045

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5 Draft Risers + Oklahoma wins MCWS | Ep. 045 · College Baseball Now

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Speaker 1: These five players most improved their MLB draft stock across
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the College World Series. Let's talk about it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, ain't no problems. Ain't no problems. That don't want problem
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with me?
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Speaker 3: You know, yeah, let me talk to the chat then
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know what was gone For a minute. I had to
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be I bet did the grab a couple wins with
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a d this even though the kid I had to
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do a p I G news.
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Speaker 1: We could never be taverage and they want to problem
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with the boy. They don't want no static. I don
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need so coach son running weak guy. I want to
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test that to.
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Speaker 3: Them was standing to control, run the game, best believe
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in shining jobs, counting them my wins. Yeah, I love
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it when they count me y out, counting on the.
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Speaker 1: Least, shutting shame. Why win at jobs? Best believe I
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run the game?
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Speaker 3: You know, wanna be con truly this let magic believe.
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I want the static steady this like magic believe I
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won't that stands Yeah this that mad.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for episode forty five of
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College Baseball. Now we are talking about the College World
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Series final as well as five players who have most
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improved their draft sock for the twenty twenty six MLB
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first year Player Draft. Hi, it is me, your friends,
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your host, your boy, Drew Wheeler, director of amateur scouting
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at Prospects Live. Thrilled to be back with you, Thrilled
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to be back with my friend. He is joining me
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on the right, just two of us tonight. It is
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coach Jake Bargerie. Coach, thanks for taking the time to
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joining me.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I finally got the internet situation taken care of,
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so we shouldn't have any more issues like we did
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last time. But you know, I'm gonna try and do uh,
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try and do Josh and be justice as they're out
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there doing all the things that they're doing right now,
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Josh traveling home. JB's killing it with the with the
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combine coverage, So I'll try to I'll try to do
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their their tar Hills some justice tonight.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, I think that's probably a great place
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to start, right Jake. The North Carolina tar Heels. That's
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a team we've talked about so much this year, and
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and it's because both JB and Josh are such huge
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un C fans. You know, we we talked about them
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a lot based on their fan But more than that, Jake,
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we talked about you would see a lot because they
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were a very quality team this year.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they are. And uh, you know, obviously, I like,
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I feel for Josh and JB and all the all
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the tar Hill fans that's kind of waited so long
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for this and then to kind of go out the
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way they did. You know, when we were down there,
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obviously they they knew a lot of the other people
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that were there watching the games and everything Josh and
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JB did, and I got to I got to meet
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a lot of the people and they just seem like
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so you know, the crowd was so excited. The tar
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Hill fans were so excited to be there and to
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be a part of everything that was going on, and
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they were winning, so that made it that much more
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fun for them. So uh, I do feel for them,
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but uh yeah.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, with every bit of elation, it makes the heartbreak
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at the end so much more strong. It's it's one
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of those pure, true things that you can always count
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on that heartbreak is gonna sting just as bad as
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the victory is sweet for the winner. And yeah, it's
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it is interesting because you got to see and meet
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all of those people that make you know, the U
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n C fan base so special and so it's it's
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really cool you got to do that. And I'm sure
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they ingratiated you into to their uh sky blue they were.
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Speaker 2: They were trying to they were trying to trying to
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bring me into their to their sway me away from
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Tennessee and everything. So once they found out I was
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a Tennessee fan, they were they were really getting on me.
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Speaker 1: But I'm sure they were. I'm sure they were. I'm
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glad you held strong. Glad you held strong. And of course, uh.
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The other part of this, Jake, that we can talk
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about before we get into the game breakdowns, is to
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say that the Oklahoma Sooners the twenty twenty six NCAA
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D one College Baseball champions. I don't think that anybody
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in the country, and I'm gonna include Skip Johnson, I'm
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gonna include Oklahoma players completely believed it was possible. It's
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so improbable, and yet once the postseason got started, Jake,
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Oklahoma was nigh untouchable.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they were. I think, you know, I
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think I look back at the last like rankings that
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we put out and they weren't. They weren't in it.
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I don't know how many weeks that they had been
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out of our rankings, but like they weren't playing great
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at the end of the season, and like they get
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into the playoffs and like we've been talking about them
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as like, you know, they're this this really hot SEC team.
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You know, they're we've been using we've been using the
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word hot a lot with them, in which they are.
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But I think, like especially in Omaha, once they got there,
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I think they proved that, you know, like, yes they're hot,
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but they're also obviously a very talented team. That there's
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a ton of great players on this team, and like
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Skip Johnson deserves you know, I know, like coaches, if
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it's not a thing that coaches say that, all coaches
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should say it, you know, they all say that, like
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coaches lose games and the players win games. But like
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the way, like the way that he was able to like,
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you know, this lineup looked so many different ways throughout
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the season, Like the pitching was using so many different ways,
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and he was kind of mixing and matching guys in
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different places in the lineup in rotation and bullpen and
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all that kind of stuff, and it just seemed to,
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you know, find the formula that worked, and you know, big, big,
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big props to him and that the rest of that
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coaching staff. But uh, but yeah, I mean they were hot.
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They're also a really good team, and you know, they
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they did what they had to do.
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Speaker 1: They did, and of course it you know, was not
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without some stumbling. I think North Carolina fans, players on
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that team, their coaching staff should feel very secure in
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the fact that this was not two and Q in
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the in the championship for you and c. They came
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back and took a decisive game to victory. So I'm
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with you to say when you say that, you know,
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obviously coaches, good coaches will take that blame. They'll say, look,
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this is on me. The guys went out there and
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they played their best and this was this is coaching decisions.
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I think both teams have a lot to be proud
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of in getting to where they did and play it
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the way they did, especially through the postseason. I think
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that we really did see the two uh, the two
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superior teams play. Both of these teams didn't want to
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lose Jape.
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Speaker 2: No, they sure didn't. Both teams you could see like
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especially in like especially in that third game, Like I
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don't I mean, I think North Carolina used you know,
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all of their pitchers. They they they ran out everybody
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that they that they had. Obviously it didn't take as
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many arms for for Oklahoma as they kind of jumped
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out to that lead and kept it. And we'll obviously
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talk about that in a little bit, but uh yeah,
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but but yeah, I think they both both teams, you know,
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obviously every effort that they had and used whatever whatever
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they could do to their advantage. And I mean, I think,
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you know, obviously Oklahoma was the one that came out
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on Todd, But I agree that, you know, North Carolina
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has nothing to be sad about. I know they wanted it.
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They've been here a few times now, and then they've
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been waiting on this opportunity again for for for a
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long time. And I know that I know how bad
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it's stems. There's not there's not a loss that feels
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good ever, But they shouldn't hang their head about anything.
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This year. They've been a top you know five team
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considered pretty much all season long from the very beginning,
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and they ended up being one of the final two.
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So I think they should be they should be happy
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about where they are and the and the foundation. That's
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that's kind of set for them going forward.
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Speaker 1: Definitely Bell to Bell top five team for un C.
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That's a that's a season worth being proud of. Jake,
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Before we do, like you said, before we get into
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talking about the games, want to give a shout out
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to some friends of ours. We have been playing and
7:53
enjoying the game Home Run Empire, which you can find
7:57
on the app store right now. It's a brand new
7:58
game at least for Mobile. Really think that you guys
8:00
would enjoy it. I think you should try it out.
8:03
And if you know, simulating through uh, making coaching decisions, scouting,
8:08
running a college baseball team. If that doesn't sound fun
8:11
to you for some reason, then I will say something
8:15
that should sound fund is maybe getting to see some
8:17
social media input from guys like myself, Jake, from JB
8:22
and Josh. Because we are in the game, Jake, I
8:26
know that you've been playing the game as well. What
8:27
do you make of Home Run Empire?
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Speaker 2: So I've been playing it a little bit. I'm the
8:34
right now, I'm playing as the Delaware Blue Hens. I
8:37
wanted to pick a team that's up here in my
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area that I'm familiar with. UH, it's been I've had.
8:42
I've had a ton of fun with it. I haven't
8:44
been super successful yet. I haven't gotten the hang of
8:47
everything yet. Uh, the recruiting is fun. The recruiting is
8:50
a pretty cool part of it. And the whole light
8:53
transfer portal thing, I gotta I gotta get the hang.
8:55
I gotta figure out when to use points and all
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that stuff. I'm just playing around with it. But I've
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had a lot of fun so far. It's been awesome.
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And getting to see some of the some of the
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Josh Catlet tweets and JB and Drew tweets coming through
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it is also was also pretty cool.
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Speaker 1: Have I'm also struggling with the transfer portal part of it.
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But I'm curious. Have you had any tweets from any
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of us that you've said and been like, I wish
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that guy would shut up. He doesn't know what he's
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talking about.
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Speaker 2: Not really. Usually it's just like it's usually it's just like, oh,
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Delaware took a bad loss this week. It's going to
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hurt him and that's gonna hurt him in the tournament
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or something. I don't know. It's usually just like like, oh,
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this Delaware team is not very good. Right now.
9:38
Speaker 1: I don't that's funny.
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Speaker 2: It's mostly Josh, he's not here. I can I can
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say it's it's mostly yeah, you can pick.
9:45
Speaker 1: That's our I know I'm having a lot of fun.
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Drew's Tennessee volunteers, as I said last episode, are doing
9:51
really great. I love the recruiting. I haven't got the
9:54
hang of the transfer portal yet either. I also really
9:57
like the decision making you can make in game, as
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you know, as it comes to individual at bats. I
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know that sometimes whenever my pitchers are struggling, I can
10:05
go to the pen.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
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Speaker 1: You know, I can make the call rather than waiting
10:08
for the simulation to do it. I just think that
10:10
it's great. Uh, it's a lot of fun. I know
10:12
JB is playing as you see Santa Barbara, and he
10:14
has been telling us it's it's addictive. So if you
10:17
want to get in on the fun, if you want
10:18
to see your your friends at college baseball now on
10:22
a mobile game, download Home Run Empire. I believe update
10:26
one point to two just dropped in the last two days,
10:29
So get in on the fun. It is so great.
10:31
We'd love to know if you're playing the game, and
10:33
if you're enjoying it as well.
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Speaker 2: Jake.
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Speaker 1: Let's get back to the College World Series though, because
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on Saturday, Game one kicked off, Oklahoma took a nine
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to three victory over North Carolina. And I think that
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it was, of course, as it's been the offense leading
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the way for Oklahoma.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, it was.
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Speaker 1: It was.
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Speaker 2: It was Cord Razer versus Jason McCarroll. Both both of
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these guys have been pitching out of their minds come
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into this one, but they both had back Like both
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of their outings before this one were just phenomenal, but
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they both kind of got you know, knocked around a
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little bit. In the first Dayton the Chance had a
11:11
two run homer for Oklahoma, Gavin Gallaher got U and
11:14
C on the board with two RBIs, and you know,
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going into after that first inning, we kind of thought that,
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you know, we might have been in for a little
11:20
bit of a shootout between both teams, which is not necessarily.
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I don't know, it was kind of it was kind
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of tough to get a feel for hout these games
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we're gonna go. It was either gonna be really high
11:28
scoring or the pitching was gonna be great. I don't
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I don't know. I thought that, you know, once they
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they both offenses started playing well in the first that
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we were gonna get a lot of runs score, but
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ended up just being mostly a lot of runs for
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for Oklahoma, like the chance Homer and again uh in
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the third. Then you know, in the fourth they put
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up another four runs with with Branch and Jason Walk
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came to Johnson being the contributors there, and they kind
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of just got Jason mc carroll out of the game
11:54
pretty early. McDuffie came in and got him through the
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got him out of that fourth end, got him through
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the fifth. Jason Walk got another r behind the six.
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But that that was and that was kind of that
12:06
was kind of it, I guess in terms of like
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offensive excitement necessarily. But Cord Rager was was good and
12:12
he battled in his start, but it was seven to
12:14
three when he came out after five innings one hundred pitches.
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Gavin Jones, L J. Mccurius finished those last four scoreless
12:22
and obviously got got Oklahoma to win there. But it
12:25
was kind of you know, Deson Harris and like the
12:29
top four guys for Oklahoma, they were twelve for the
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twelve for twenty three almost you know, batten over five
12:35
hundred in that game, uh three doubles. We talked. I
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mentioned that the La Chance homers uh six rbs for
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between those guys, like they were really just contributing a
12:45
lot in that lineup, and it was kind of weird
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to see that based on how you know, de Carroll
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was pitched up until this point.
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Speaker 1: It was very uncharacteristic for de Caro. I'm glad that
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you pointed that out, Jake, because that's something I think
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we have to point out. As much as it ended
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up being, like like we said, the offenses that kind
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of pushed this game kind of into the place that
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it got to be going into it.
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Speaker 3: I'm with you.
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Speaker 1: You see Jason DeCaro versus Cord Rager, and you think
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this is gonna be, you know, pitching excellence, especially based on,
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like you said, their previous outings, and yet both guys
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did not have their best stuff or I guess more accurately, Jake,
13:22
maybe the offense has just found a way to get
13:24
to them. You think about with Raager, you know, three
13:27
earnings over one hundred pitches and five innings, Like you said,
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just a shade below what I'd call the old quality
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start to Cao though, three and two thirds, seven earned
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runs and that's on seven hits man only one walk,
13:40
So you know his stuff was getting swinging mess he
13:42
saw him. You saw him earn six strikeouts over that time,
13:45
eighty three pitches, just not as not as efficient, I
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guess is the correct word that I would use as
13:52
as the freshman sooner. All that said, though, Jake got
13:57
to say, when it comes to North Carolina, Jake Schaffner
13:59
continue you to be kind of a catalyst from a
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top that tar heeled lineup. He came away with three hits,
14:05
which was far and away the most on the North
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Carolina squad. It would have been tied for the most
14:10
in the game. Of course, couldn't get anybody on base
14:14
to drive him in, which was unfortunate. Gavin Gallaher did
14:17
that for U and C in Game one.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of been like, that's kind of been
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Carolina's formula, I guess during this postseason. You know, Shaffner
14:27
gets on and and Gallaher and Hole drives him in.
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But like you know, I mean, and that was obviously
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that was obviously what worked for him offensively in this game.
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You said, Shaffner had the three hits, Galler had a
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couple of rbs, but like, outside of those two guys,
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it was just there was just not much going. They
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really just were able to get a ton going to Caro.
14:46
Like we both said, you know, he wasn't super effective.
14:49
The bullpen was pretty pretty good overall. They combined, you know,
14:52
five and a third only two runs allowed, But the
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damage was kind of was kind of already done, and
14:56
the lineup wasn't giving him a ton of support to
14:59
work with either. But yeah, Schaffner had Chaffner had three
15:03
h's and you know, going up against the arms, the
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way they've been pitching, it's very impressive. They just needed
15:07
a little bit more outside of that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you're you're right either way. Going into Sunday
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Father's Day, we know that the Catlet family was there
15:17
in force. Finally Josh had arrived for the full game
15:20
into Omaha after some uh some travel trouble. Uh But
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between uh LG, the homie, uh, Josh's dad, Josh himself,
15:29
all of them, the Catlet family were there for Father's
15:31
Day and they were rewarded Jake. Game two, it was
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a North Carolina six to two victory, which earned us
15:38
a game three. Just like I said from the jump, Buddy,
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I think you'll remember me saying that the real winner
15:43
would be us if we got three games, and alas
15:47
we did.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
15:48
Speaker 1: But North Carolina this was not just a runaway game.
15:52
Oklahoma put up two runs very early and the Tarios
15:54
had to earn this.
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Speaker 2: Yeah they did. And this was uh, you know Ryan Lynch,
15:59
another very gallented armin Zander Mercurius who was also pitching
16:03
really well coming into this one. But it was Oklahoma
16:06
that struck first in this one with with Camden Johnson. Uh,
16:09
he ended up scoring on a throwing air from Colin
16:12
Heyneck and then and Jackson Willetts had an RBI double
16:14
who was red hot during this College World Series. And
16:18
then that was right after Mercurius struck out the side
16:20
in the first half. So I mean, I guess you know,
16:22
if you're Tar Hill fans, you're probably getting a little
16:24
bit nervous early on after seeing seeing that in the
16:26
top of the first and then the way that they
16:28
scored in the bottom.
16:29
Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 2: But then North Carolina got on the board of Jake Schaffner,
16:33
uh two RBI triple and he ended up scoring on
16:35
a wild pitch, giving him giving them the lead. And
16:38
then you know, from then on it was just kind
16:40
of Carolina was just the bats got going and they
16:42
were just kind of consistently hitting the ball around. They
16:45
struck again with a with an onen hole home run
16:49
to double their lead to two, and that kind of
16:51
got Mercurius out of the game. Jason Bowden was was
16:55
was really good for Oklahoma, but it was Cooper Nicholson. Uh,
16:59
he left the yard off of I think it was
17:01
Smith Burgh. It was the guy that ended up coming
17:03
in for Oklahoma. He got the home run there, gave
17:06
gave gave, gave North Carolina the six to two lead.
17:10
And then by that time, you know, Kane Glauber was
17:12
in the game. We know what usually happens when he
17:14
comes in the game for Carolina. That usually means that
17:17
they win, and that's exactly what happened in this one.
17:20
He was able to finish the job and then send
17:23
that one to the first first game three we'd seen
17:26
since Tennessee. Uh and uh but uh, indeed, you know,
17:32
the like like we talked about, the pitching for Carolina
17:34
was it was great in this one. You know, nobody
17:37
had multiple hits for Oklahoma in the lineup that has
17:40
been getting multiple hits up and down the board. Uh,
17:42
you know, nobody had any Willets had the only extra
17:45
base hit with a double, and that was it. Another
17:49
thing for Oklahoma. Brendan Brock apparently like dislocated his shoulder
17:53
in this one. I was able to come back for
17:55
Game three. I think it was like that diving play
17:57
in the outfield or whatever, and he like, I think
17:59
I saw the video he like popped his shoulder back
18:01
and place. I don't know you're able to just do that. Uh,
18:04
but yeah, I mean really good pitching from from North Carolina,
18:06
and the bats did uh did did enough. Eric Paulson
18:09
was three for five. I think Josh was drawing comparisons
18:12
to uh, some other people like Jordan love Toyota than uh.
18:16
And he said Eric Paulson on Father's Day is.
18:20
Speaker 3: Uh.
18:21
Speaker 2: But yeah, Schaffner, Cooper and Nicholson had the had the
18:24
big hits going whole homer and you know Carter French
18:27
was oh for oh with four walks.
18:29
Speaker 1: So the good Doctor got his walking Jake, it was
18:32
wild French did go over. Yeah, what what is this?
18:36
Speaker 2: What? I don't know. I don't know it was. He's
18:40
been he's been getting it done in his own in
18:42
his own way. He's plays made, He's made a lot
18:44
of good fielding plays in the outfield too. Uh So,
18:47
between defense and drawing walks, he's getting he's getting it done.
18:51
Happy to hear that he's he's playing well.
18:53
Speaker 1: We we have talked in the group chat a good
18:56
fit about the the good Doctor as I've come to
18:58
call him. My My did not understand that nickname on Sunday,
19:02
but he enjoyed it when I told him what the
19:04
word was. And yes, like you said, Nicholson went deep
19:09
to left and that was actually Jake, if I'm not mistaken,
19:11
capping off a six pitch at bat that he had
19:14
worked to a full count. Just impressive stuff from North
19:18
Carolina to show the maturity and kind of the mental fortitude, honestly,
19:21
to come back against an Oklahoma team who, as far
19:25
as I can recall, Jake had not been punched back,
19:29
and so to see them, to see North Carolina fire
19:32
back against Oklahoma in this way was just tremendous. And
19:35
of course another thing we have to mention. You talked
19:37
about the pitching excellence on display for North Carolina. I
19:40
think that it's worth me repeating, not that you didn't
19:43
do a great job. You always do. Just to say
19:45
Peydon Glouber as a freshman coming in and pitching five
19:49
innings behind Ryan Lynch who had gone four strong with
19:52
two ernies to shut down Oklahoma completely. One hit across
19:57
five innings for Glouber, who struck out eight walk to
20:00
that's three guys who reached base in five innings for
20:05
this national championship team, this offense that has anchored a
20:11
national champion. Kiden Glower shut them all the way down.
20:15
This kid is going to be a mens jake.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and just the amount of truth that
20:22
that he's that he that he's earned, like he was
20:24
given them all. And this was always this was clearly
20:27
this was always going to be the plan. Like if
20:29
if this game was within reach for Oklahoma in like
20:32
the the fifth or sixth inning, they were going to
20:35
go to Glover no matter what. Here. They weren't going
20:37
to try to save him to start him in a
20:38
game three like if they they were, they needed to
20:41
win this game and they gave it to get the kid.
20:44
And I can say kid because that's what he is
20:45
he's been their best pitcher all pretty much all season
20:50
and especially in this postseason. He's been like there, he's
20:52
been their most reliable arm. And and you mentioned it,
20:54
he goes sixty five pitches. He was efficient and stretching
20:57
out eight guys in the Yeah, what is it like,
21:00
like eighteen or so guys that he batters that he faced.
21:03
I guess he struck out eight of them. Like his
21:06
crazy stuff it is.
21:08
Speaker 1: It's truly truly wild. Right off the top of my head,
21:14
if I'm not mistaken, that's thirteen pitches per inning, Jake.
21:17
That's stupid, stupid, just.
21:20
Speaker 2: Just punching guys out while he's doing it.
21:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't think that this is an unfair
21:25
comparison to say that Glober. In my mind, the twenty
21:30
twenty seven Glouber, I think we're going to see him
21:33
take the Dylan Balantis step. I think this is going
21:35
to be a rotation anchor who is just even more dangerous,
21:41
even more impressive on a longer leash. And like you said,
21:44
he's earned the trust and I need to rectify what
21:47
I said earlier was is becoming a minus, is going
21:51
to be a minis He is a menace. This kid
21:54
is trouble. Glauber was super impressive. But of course it
21:58
all came down Jake to last night, Monday, June twenty two,
22:02
Game three, Oklahoma tuck the decisive win thirteen to two,
22:08
biggest win, biggest margin of the series to take the
22:12
College World Series. Thirteen runs on the board, the same
22:15
as they scored in nineteen ninety four to win that
22:20
World Series. I saw Jake, thirteen runs on the board
22:22
seems to be a lucky number. Obviously, it's lucky thirteen
22:25
for Oklahoma who took this one. What do you think
22:28
the major takeaway for you was for Game three?
22:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, so before we get into this third game, Well,
22:36
I have two gripes that I've noticed throughout this entire postseason.
22:41
There's two like fundamental baseball things that have been a
22:45
consistent problem and not in Omaha and just the postseason
22:49
in general. It's watching these teams try to bunt. Teams
22:54
cannot buy. These SEC teams especially have not been able
22:57
to get bunts down. And that's like something that you like,
23:00
you need to be you have to be able to
23:01
do it. Like like I don't know, I know.
23:04
Speaker 1: Where you're going with the second one because we have
23:06
been the group chat, we've we have ranted at about
23:10
this and I think before I don't want to spoil it,
23:13
but it all comes down to just fundamental baseball. In
23:16
my opinion, these are things that are just you play
23:18
the game the right way, and I please go ahead.
23:21
Speaker 2: Yeah no, I mean you already know what it's gonna be.
23:23
It's outfield outfield communication. Like there have been so many
23:28
close calls in the outfield especially it's been the extra
23:32
extra noticeable in Omaha is because we're watching all the
23:34
games and paying extra close attention to all the games.
23:37
But like the amount of like we've seen guys run
23:39
into each other, we've seen like near collisions, Like, uh,
23:43
Jason Walk had a really nice play in this game,
23:46
but it wasn't it was it looked a lot better
23:49
than it was because he had to like jump out
23:51
of the way of design Harris, who like almost ran
23:53
into him. Like I don't know if it's I don't
23:56
know if it's like that much louder in there that
23:59
guys just aren't calling loud enough, or like I don't
24:01
know how this is an issue because like you know,
24:04
you grow up playing and like that's like one of
24:06
the first things you learn is you got to call
24:07
the ball when you want it, so this kind of
24:09
stuff doesn't happen. And I don't I don't know how
24:11
it's been such a consistent problem, but it's been. I
24:14
don't want to I don't want to say frustrating to watch.
24:16
It's just a little, It's just a little. You would
24:18
you would just expect this to not be an issue
24:21
when when you're talking about the top level college teams.
24:25
But I don't know. I had I wanted to get
24:27
those two things off my chest because I've been holding
24:29
it in for a little while, for.
24:31
Speaker 1: At least a weekend. That I agree with you, though
24:34
whenever my wife, my wife will say why are they
24:37
running into each other so much in the outfield? You
24:40
know there's an issue and this is something I I
24:42
have lived with. So either way, though, Jake, I love
24:45
the rant. I appreciate you getting that off your chest.
24:48
UH this game in my opinion, though, Buddy, I don't
24:50
want to. I don't want to jump you. I think
24:53
what we've seen is Kobe Branch decided that he wanted
24:57
to uh, he wanted to step up, and he wanted
25:00
to excuse me Kyle Brinch, So sorry, Kyle Branch uh
25:04
from the nine to hole really emerged as kind of
25:06
a threat for Oklahoma here. And it's almost what you said,
25:09
this whole offense did something through the series and this
25:12
was the Branch show.
25:15
Speaker 2: Yeah he did. He had you know, I think he
25:17
drove in six runs. I mean, he was obviously the
25:19
team's biggest contributor. And just this Oklahoma offense as as
25:23
a whole was everything. Everything was just working for him.
25:27
You know, they got homers from from from Dayton Tokey
25:31
and Branch and then Jackson Willetts had three hits in
25:34
this one. Who was I mentioned earlier was really good.
25:37
Uh Branch at the six RB. I was just just
25:39
a dominant, just a dominant offensive performance in general, in
25:43
in this game and in a game where you know
25:46
it was it was Jackson Rose versus Nick Weslowski for
25:50
the winner, the winner take all National championship game. Like
25:54
we we we nobody predicted this obviously to happen at all.
25:58
But you know, for Oklahoma, like you kind of you
26:01
can kind of tell they were taking a really good
26:02
approach with Rose, Like they didn't score in the first inning,
26:08
but Rose left that inning having thrown twenty one pitches,
26:11
like and freg guy that's not in every week starter
26:15
he started, but he's not like a traditional starting pitcher
26:18
that's able to, you know, go super deep into games usually.
26:21
And for him to come out of that having to
26:23
work to get those three outs and not allow any
26:25
runs and come out of that with twenty one pitches
26:27
is a win for Oklahoma, I would say. And then
26:32
Weslawski to answer it back with a really efficient first
26:34
inning was just really kind of I feel like, what
26:38
kind of got them going a little bit? I don't
26:39
know if you've got something I guess early in the
26:42
game that you wanted to mention there. There was a
26:45
few weird plays that happened in this one, though at
26:46
the start.
26:47
Speaker 1: I'll let you stick to the weird plays. I think
26:50
one thing that really stuck out to me, and just
26:52
to kind of give a little bit of an adda
26:53
boy to Jackson Rose was they talked about on the
26:56
broadcast about how his slider had allowed zero hits to
27:00
this point in the season, and I think that there's
27:03
got to be some kind of a curse to that,
27:05
Like it's almost like talking about a perfect game as
27:07
it's occurring, right, Jake. I feel like when you say, man,
27:10
this guy's slider's allowed no hits this whole season, the
27:13
next dude is gonna come up and crank one nine
27:15
hundred feet. It's just so either way, I think we
27:18
knew it was coming. But even as I sent the message,
27:20
I think it was you who said, well, one, it's
27:22
still pretty good. And I remember laughing at that cause
27:25
like it's so true. Though, Like either either way, a
27:28
tip of the cat to Jackson Rose, because, like you said,
27:30
not stretched out as like a starter, we can I
27:33
don't think we ever thought Jackson Rose is about to
27:35
go out here and throw one hundred pitches. The fact
27:37
that he got to seventy is a little kind of
27:39
beyond me personally. But like you said, ran into some trouble, uh,
27:44
and it was It's not like he was walking guys.
27:47
I think that these these Oklahoma bats were just really
27:50
taking competitive at bats, testing him, stretching him. Didn't Yeah,
27:54
you didn't walk anybody zero walks in five strekouts. As
27:57
a matter of fact, it's six hits that did the
27:59
damn tra Jackson Rose. But either way, you were saying,
28:01
there were some weird things that happened. I'd love it
28:03
if you could go into some of those.
28:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, the the two things that really come to mind.
28:07
I mentioned the bunting being a problem earlier Jason Walk.
28:12
So Jason Walk comes up with a with a textbook
28:15
perfect squeeze opportunity. And what I mean by that is
28:18
it was first and third, meaning so air Paulson plan
28:22
first was gonna have to hold hold the runner at
28:24
first base, so like he couldn't cover that first base
28:26
side left handed picture on the mound, you know, like
28:29
when you're when you're trying to draw up like a
28:31
squeeze situation, this was it left handed pitcher has you know,
28:34
he falls off to the third base side harder to
28:36
cover first. All you have to do is get a
28:39
bunt down the first baseline and it's pretty much a
28:41
free run at that point, no matter who the runner is.
28:42
Because they were doing it with they were doing it
28:44
with with TAKEI, who's not like a he's not a
28:46
burner or anything like, they would have been able to
28:49
score that run pretty easily. Now he ended up scoring
28:51
anyways on a wild pitch. But like like I mentioned,
28:55
watching Jason Walk not be able to get that bunt
28:57
down was a little frustrating, but that wasn't like the
29:01
weirdest thing that the crazy play happened for Carolina when
29:05
it was rom ke Let's come up with with runners
29:08
on first and second, two outs, uh, and he drove
29:11
the ball to right really good hit to right field.
29:13
Paulson is on second base, and you know he should
29:17
be easily scoring from second base. There, like if you
29:19
get a hit to the outfield like that, there's not
29:21
there wouldn't have been a play at at the plate.
29:24
Had had to soign Harris thrown it to the plate,
29:26
Paulton probably still would have scored easily. But Carter French
29:29
is on first and he rounds second and tries to
29:31
go first to third with two outs, and that's not
29:34
you know, you're not supposed to make the last out
29:36
of any at third base. And the son Harris through
29:40
an absolute hose, just a rocket to third base on
29:43
the money and got Carter French tagged out for the
29:46
third out. But it was before it was before Paulson
29:49
touched the plate, So like that cost them their first
29:52
run because they got that third out before, you know,
29:56
before Paulson crossed the plate. So I mean there was
29:58
they showed it. I think they showed a rep layer
30:00
or something, and like it was clear, like he was
30:01
out before the run scored, and like I was thinking
30:05
the whole time, like no, now, Eric Paulson, he's got
30:08
He's got to unhitch the wagon a little bit and
30:10
get home on that, like he's got. I don't know
30:12
if he wasn't running all the way or if he's
30:13
just I would like to think he's fast enough to
30:16
get there. I mean, I know he's not like the
30:18
fastest god, but uh, anyways, either way, either whether it
30:22
was coach Forbes calling French to third or if he
30:24
just went on his own, like it wasn't wasn't the
30:27
best decision, and that, like I said, it cost him
30:28
their first their first run of the game.
30:31
Speaker 1: True, Like you said, it's it's little things like that
30:34
that have been so noticeable. I'm sure for you, coach,
30:38
I mean, Jake, you're you are a college baseball coach.
30:40
These are things that should bother you. These are things
30:42
that should stick out to you specifically. So I will say,
30:45
it makes me a little proud of myself that it's
30:47
bothering me as well. So good on you, and I'll
30:50
take a small pat on the back for myself as well. Uh,
30:53
but dude, looking at it throughout the rest of this game, obviously,
30:57
like you said, we saw eventually Gavin Gallagher was the
30:59
one that singled up the middle in the third frame. Uh,
31:03
advanced halts the third score shafter kind of like you said,
31:06
how they've drawn it up. The Roth Carolina offense got
31:09
it together, but then once that fourth inning came around,
31:12
it just started to unravel and Oklahoma just tacked on
31:16
run after run after run, putting up six runs between
31:20
the fourth and the sixth frame.
31:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did. I mean, Jackson Willetts stayed red hot,
31:26
you know, he got he's the one that kind of
31:27
knocked knocked Rose out of the game. And then Walker
31:30
McDuffie comes in and Brendan Brock just welcomed him straight
31:33
into the game with an RBI had to make it
31:35
to make it three nothing. And then for Oklahoma, like L. J.
31:39
Mccurrey as came in, he was on a day's wrist
31:42
and he just kept everything under control. You know, he
31:45
came in after the I think he entered in the
31:47
fourth and he made it like all the way through
31:49
the eighth inning or something like that, and you know,
31:51
just didn't just didn't really allow anything to get out
31:53
of control. He maintained that lead and then like for
31:58
some McDuffie he if he was able to get the
32:00
first out for North Carolina in the fourth, and then
32:02
they went straight back to Caden Glowber after So McDuffie
32:08
goes to a two to zero coach Forbes didn't want
32:11
to risk him walking walking the bases loaded, so he
32:14
brings in as he brings in his guy, Caden Globber.
32:16
He's been the guy all year. They don't lose when
32:18
he pitches, like as the guy you want on the mound.
32:20
In this kind of situation, I would I would expect
32:22
that the plan might have been for him to maybe
32:26
get out of that inning and maybe go one more.
32:28
It wasn't gonna be it wasn't ever gonna be anything long,
32:31
but like there was already like when he came in.
32:33
I think I think the announcers were talking on TV
32:35
about it, like the umpire cut, like his warm up
32:39
pitches short or something like he came into the game
32:41
and like he was short, like a pitch or too,
32:43
and his warm up so he was already like frustrated,
32:46
and then there was a pitch clock violation before he
32:48
even threw his first pitch to make it a three
32:50
to zero count, and then he obviously through the ball
32:53
walk the bases loaded walked another guy he was he
32:56
was just it was just really uncomfortable situation for him.
33:01
And then Jackson Willits came through once again with the
33:04
with the two RBI had that kind of just felt
33:06
like felt like the dagger in that one. It was
33:09
kind of like the best hitter in a big spot
33:11
versus the best picture on the other team. Will Its
33:14
comes in gives his team the big hit, and that
33:16
just kind of felt like it was It was it
33:18
after that, But you know, Carolina, you know, they just
33:22
couldn't consistently get anything going really on on either side there.
33:26
They were using a lot of different arms. There wasn't
33:29
any extra base hits for him in this one. Schaffner
33:31
and Hole were pretty good, but that was about it.
33:34
The pitching didn't necessarily hold up the way that it
33:37
kind of had all year.
33:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that we knew going in between Josh
33:44
saying it to us from what he had heard on
33:45
the ground, JB relaying what he had heard obviously from
33:48
his sources, we knew it was going to be an
33:50
all hands on deck approach for the North Carolina pitching staff,
33:54
and it certainly was in some regards. I mean, eight
33:56
pitchers touch the touch the rubber in this game for
34:00
for North Carolina. Obviously, like you said, giving up thirteen runs,
34:05
eleven of them earned. You know, you had eight walks
34:09
as compared to twelve strikeouts. Just a lot sided performance
34:12
on a pitching from a pitching team who has been
34:15
as elite as any in the country.
34:18
Speaker 2: It is disappointing.
34:19
Speaker 1: And I know that there's gonna be a lot of
34:22
a lot of discourse, probably especially probably among North Carolina
34:26
fans and supporters about Glauber's use in this game. I
34:31
find that interesting. But again, like you said a minute ago,
34:34
I think that the pitching gold star of this game
34:38
has got to go to L. J. Mccurrius. As you said,
34:40
just came in. It was incredible game management on his part.
34:44
Looked looked like a seasoned, you know, battle warn professional
34:50
in those five and two thirds, just absolutely handled business.
34:54
Limited that the North Carolina team to four hits and
34:57
one one run. Just excellent stuff. For We're curious who
35:00
I think has been a guy we've we've plugged all year,
35:03
is big, very talented on an Oklahoma staff. I was
35:07
impressed with him for sure as well. Anything to wrap
35:09
up the game action before we gets talking about specific
35:12
players throughout the entire tournament in Omaha.
35:16
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, no, not not necessarily. I mean you mentioned Carolina.
35:19
They used a ton of guys. I mean, I'm coach
35:21
Forbes was able to get you know, Tom Tom Chimleski
35:25
in there at the end. He was getting some of
35:26
his seniors some action. You know, he's a grad guy
35:28
transfer from Princeton, got got him a little bit more
35:32
action on the big stage. Kyle Percival got his first
35:34
innings in the in Omaha and he was the only
35:37
one that put up a fully clean inning out of everybody.
35:40
So he he pitched that Uh I guess it was
35:42
the eighth inning and he uh, you know, he went clean, nothing,
35:45
all zero's across the board for him, So good, good
35:47
on him. It was good that they, you know, coach Ford,
35:50
when when the game was obviously out of hand at
35:53
that point, he was able to get his guys in there.
35:55
So that was that was pretty fun to watch. But uh,
35:58
but no I mean, this was a it was pretty
36:00
one sided there at the end. Like I said, I
36:02
hated for hated for JB and Josh and the and
36:05
the rest of the North Carolina fans. But I mean,
36:08
I don't think they're I don't think they're going anywhere though.
36:10
I think this team, No, they're definitely still going to
36:13
be here, and they're probably going to be another top
36:15
five to ten or even higher team when they put
36:17
out our first rankings next year, so I would imagine.
36:21
Speaker 1: So, I don't think it's going to be me or
36:23
you that keeps him out of the top five. This
36:25
is a dangerous squad. Matter of fact, Jake, I think
36:29
if you know, we were had our heads put in
36:31
the lion's cage and were made to pick one of
36:34
these two teams to put in the top five, I
36:36
would hardily choose North Carolina over Oklahoma. And that's no
36:40
disrespect to the national champions.
36:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. I mean I think so too. I mean, like,
36:45
I mean, Oklahoma wasn't in our top twenty five at
36:48
the end of the regular season. Yes, they're talented and there,
36:52
and they were hot at the right time, but like
36:53
I think, you know, just the consistency of the classes
36:56
that North Carolina is able to bring in. Uh, just
36:59
the pettig that coach Forbes has with him, and like
37:02
the amount of you know, experience he has coaching, and
37:05
just just they're just they're just always a consistent threat,
37:09
and not just in the ACC but obviously they're in
37:11
the national championships that they're consistent threat on the national
37:14
stage too. So I think they're like I said, I
37:16
think they're They're definitely gonna be up there again without
37:19
a doubt.
37:20
Speaker 1: Let's move on, though, and talk about draft risers, Jake.
37:24
We obviously want to start kind of shifting our focus
37:27
to the twenty twenty six MLB draft, and with that,
37:29
let's talk about five players who we think have increased
37:33
their draft stock through a performance at Omaha. Obviously, this
37:37
is not just extended to the finals. We're gonna talk
37:39
about more than just North Carolina and Oklahoma when it
37:42
comes to the specific players, h Jake, what I have
37:44
in mind here if you could give me a player
37:47
that you think has risen their draft stock and maybe
37:49
a sentence or two about why that would be awesome.
37:52
Speaker 2: Who you got? Yeah, so I have some other guys
37:56
like you said, outside of just this these finals, but
37:58
while it's fresh on our minds, I wanted to talk
38:01
about Jackson Willetts. He's you know, shortstop for Oklahoma, six
38:05
for thirteen and just in these just in these finals,
38:09
had three rb i's that was drawing walks, had had
38:12
three doubles. Like there's still you know, some swinging miss.
38:16
He struck out a little bit in Omaha, but just
38:19
just getting to watch him come up clutch and like
38:21
so many times, especially in this final for his team,
38:24
like he was producing extra base hits, some big time
38:27
rb i's he had. He had while while he does
38:30
have some he's a little aggressive, he has some swinging miss.
38:32
He also showed patience when he needed to. When we
38:35
were there to watch him in person, he had you know,
38:38
he put up a couple evs of like you know,
38:41
one hundred and five plus he could wind up at
38:45
shortstop at second base. But I mean he's a switch
38:47
hitting infielder. That proved that he can perform on the
38:50
big stage, and I mean I think he did. He
38:52
was probably the biggest riser. I know, I think you
38:55
might have one guy for Oklahoma as well, but he
38:57
was one of the bigger risers in that lineup. For sure.
39:00
Speaker 1: I do have a guy for Oklahoma, but I do
39:03
think that whenever I put my mind to who rose
39:06
their draft stock the most in Omaha, Jackson Willitts is
39:10
at least over the final two teams. Willetts is the
39:13
absolute answer here, and we should have said this from
39:16
the job. I think that Jake and I both agree
39:18
the number one answer here is Joey Voltchkoe, the pitcher
39:21
from George obviously, but we know that in the last
39:24
episode the crew talked about Voltchkoe pretty excessively. If you're
39:28
looking for kind of raw answers, include Joey Voltzkow on
39:31
this list, but we are not going to talk about
39:33
him beyond this right here either way. Yeah, Jake, when
39:36
I thought about this, Willets was the number one guy
39:37
that I had in my mind to talk about as well.
39:39
So I'm glad you brought him up. Exceptional hitter, showed
39:42
that he can absolutely pick it in the dirt. And
39:45
another thing when we talk about his draft stock is
39:47
there is absolute I mean, there's big league bloodline here.
39:50
His brother, younger brother Ela, the number one overall pick
39:54
up the Nationals last season, so we are expecting to
39:56
see Jackson selected probably day one with wager now after
40:00
this strong performance in the Greatest Show on Dirt. Yeah,
40:05
I do have an Oklahoma guy though, that I'll talk about.
40:07
I'll move on to my first one date the Chance.
40:10
I think that we can certainly, we can certainly criticize
40:14
his profile, we can certainly criticize his draft stock in
40:17
certain regards. But Jake, I love the way you said
40:19
it earlier, so I'm gonna quote you directly. A catcher,
40:23
a credible catcher with power is a valuable commodity no
40:27
matter what. And I think that we can poke some
40:30
holes in the Chance behind the dish, we can poke
40:34
some holes in some of his receiving, but there is
40:37
very real power here. And I'll even call out some
40:39
of the discipline that we saw from the Chance as well.
40:42
I know that trying to remember which game it was
40:45
an excuse me, I believe it would have been Game
40:48
three on last night. Yeah, Yeah, that's right. The Chance
40:51
took a four pitch walk to end up scoring a
40:56
run in the fourth inning and kind of get that
41:00
six run stretch going for Oklahoma. And that's not to
41:04
mention the fact, of course the game won heroics, you know,
41:07
two home runs, a double dong day in the College
41:10
World Series final, as we'll say, is I mean, tremendous.
41:12
You cannot look past that. The power has really come
41:15
on strong. Fur The chance as well, did not hit
41:18
his first homer until what would you say, I think
41:24
it was sometime in April, and then added double digit
41:27
home runs since then. We've seen the power increase, We've
41:32
seen the way that he really I think it's a
41:35
lot of greediness to Jake. Obviously, the homer in the
41:38
top six against Georgia after you know, tripping his ankle,
41:42
just showed that the kid wants to be out there,
41:44
wants to succeed. I think that he definitely put an
41:48
up arrow next to his name in terms of draft
41:50
stock as well.
41:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I mean, and yeah, I was just
41:54
looking it up whenever you were talking about him. Yeah,
41:56
he didn't have a home run in his first thirty
41:59
one game of the season, and I think he ended
42:02
up with like he ended up with like eighteen or
42:05
twenty or something in the last like forty three or
42:07
something like that. So like it's insane surge that he
42:11
went on in the there at the end of the year.
42:12
But like you know, if you're you know, a power
42:15
hitting catcher, you want your catcher to be able to
42:17
hit homers. And you know, he's got a knack for
42:19
hitting home runs, and we saw some pretty some pretty
42:21
wild swings. He's a very aggressive swinger, but like he
42:25
was hitting home runs on balls that were like at
42:27
his neck, so like he was he was He's not
42:29
not that you necessarily want that in a prospect. You
42:33
want you don't necessarily want your guy swinging at those,
42:35
but I mean, the bat was, the barrel was finding
42:38
the ball the whole second half of the season, and
42:41
the fact that he when we were there, I was
42:44
pretty impressed by the way he was catching. I think
42:46
he blocked well. The arm was the arm was good,
42:49
the hands his his glove was also pretty good. But
42:53
just had just being a just being a capable catcher
42:55
with power. In the fact that he was able to
42:57
play through that injury and never really showed any signs
42:59
of wanting to come out of the game. And we
43:01
saw him before, we saw him after that happened on
43:04
the field and like you know, around the stadium after
43:07
the game and everything. He was not looking good after
43:10
that ankle injury and he was able to obviously power
43:13
through that, not missing any games behind the place. I
43:15
think that that goes a long way as well, and
43:17
and boosting his stock as a catch at the next level.
43:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with that for sure. Uh, Jake
43:24
would love to hear if you don't mind, I'd love
43:27
to get your second player who rows their draft stock.
43:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're avoiding Vultko just because we talked about him
43:37
a ton, like you said, But a guy that you
43:39
guys did also talk about was Taylor Ray. But I
43:41
think I want to mention him here. He was up
43:45
to because we just so we got to see him
43:48
in person. He was up to. He was up to
43:49
ninety nine in the first inning, he kind of sat
43:53
like ninety three to ninety six and is out him.
43:55
But it held throughout his entire start like that that
43:57
that Bilo was was holding pretty much the whole time
44:00
he was. He was effective. He had an upra eighties cutter,
44:04
mid eighties curveball change up. But like the stuff, the
44:07
stuff was really good. But what impressed me the most
44:09
with him is that like he wasn't, you know, fully
44:13
fully in the zone and he wasn't like fully displaying
44:16
like his best command that he's shown all year, but
44:19
like the fact that he was he was good without
44:22
having his best quote unquote stuff or quote unquote in
44:26
the zone he was he was, he was still really
44:28
impressive and getting a lot of getting a lot of
44:30
swing and miss, getting a lot of weak contact. And
44:32
I think he's probably played himself into like you know,
44:35
I would probably put a floor on him being in
44:37
like the mid second round ish of like the very bottom.
44:41
But I mean I would not be shocked at all
44:43
the way he's pitched down the stretch and the amount
44:45
of times that everybody's been talking about him, even even
44:47
towards the end of the year, throughout the postseason. Yeah, uh,
44:50
he's He's very well played himself into the first round
44:53
for sure.
44:54
Speaker 1: I think so too. I loved that was the note
44:57
that stuck with me the most. In the group chat.
44:59
You guys we're talking about how the ninety nine held.
45:02
I think Jake maybe on the post stream, I don't know,
45:07
you guys had discussed how Taylor rape held velocity over
45:10
that extended period of time. And then I love the
45:12
note you made just then, even without his most locked
45:15
in command, even without his finest stuff was still earning swinging.
45:19
This was still earning weak contact. That's impressive and it's
45:22
something that you love to see. I think that that
45:24
shows some adaptability. That's a big trait for a major
45:27
league pitcher. I think to show, I'll jump in with
45:31
my second guy, the second of five that I chose.
45:34
Armani Guzman is an interesting name, Jake. I'll let you
45:39
guys in behind the curtain here with us. I had
45:41
another name written down here to talk about. But Jake
45:44
and I had probably a five or six minute discussion
45:46
about Armani Guzman before we came on the air, and
45:49
I think that it's something that you guys at home
45:51
would love to hear as well. So I do want
45:53
to be very probably too blunt about this, Jake. I
45:58
think Armani Guzman's draft stuff rising is it's a product
46:03
of not only his play in Omaha because it was exceptional,
46:06
but also to say that he probably had little draft
46:10
stock to begin the year, but now that it does
46:13
certainly exist and certainly exists in a greater scale. So
46:16
I think he is an appropriate fit here when it
46:20
comes to pro baseball. When it comes to his draft stock, though,
46:23
Jake I think you and I both agree that the
46:26
long term outlook for Guzman, who is certainly defensively versatile,
46:31
certainly has usable speed. I think he has a capable
46:34
glove as well. I think there's a major leaguer somewhere
46:38
in there, maybe a what did I say earlier? Maybe
46:40
like a third division regular. I mean, I think he
46:44
can get play for a third division MLB team. But
46:47
just what exactly is the power? How does the hit
46:51
tool look in comparison to even more amplified arms, even
46:56
more talented arms in the across the minor leagues. He's
46:59
because he's show with their in order to ever get
47:01
a shot at the pros. What is what does that
47:04
look like? And I think my and this is super
47:08
super super lazy comp and I don't want anyone to
47:11
put any major stock in it. But I told Jake
47:13
earlier that if if ARMANI Guzwan could be a poor
47:17
man's Keik Hernandez just you. He's never gonna kill you.
47:21
Kid is just an outright gamer that you can put
47:24
anywhere across the field and he's not gonna hurt you.
47:27
But the power is fluctuant. The the in game speed
47:30
is fluctuant, but it's it's defense. It's one of those
47:33
glue guys. Though, in a sense, I do think that
47:36
there's I mean clearly we saw it. I mean we
47:38
saw the way that he you know, led the team
47:41
in the regional and in the Super Regional. We saw
47:43
the way he put the team on his back to
47:45
get them further and leading the country road singing. It's
47:48
just there's character here with this guy. All that is
47:51
all that to be said. I think there is talent
47:53
on the field as well. For our money Guzman, who
47:56
has certainly increased draft stock, I don't think he's a
47:59
Day one guy. And Jake, I'll go a step further
48:02
to say, I think that it might even be as
48:03
close to fifty to fifty as to whether we see
48:05
him in the old Blue and Gold again next year.
48:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's an He's an interesting one. Just the
48:12
fact that, like so he's not your prototypical like corner
48:17
outfield er slash first baseman, which is what he's played
48:20
for the majority of the season for West Virginia. In
48:22
the fact that he's that Typically you see those guys
48:24
and you expect, you expect big power. But for him
48:28
he's he's found his spot in the top of that order,
48:31
you know, toward the end of the year, he's that
48:32
he's been their lead off guy, and he's got a
48:34
really good knack for getting on base. He's obviously a
48:37
very good base runner. We've we've said it multiple times now,
48:39
he's West Virginia's single season leader in stolen bases. But
48:42
like he's he's obviously fast, but he's he's really good
48:46
at just running the bases and knowing when he's able
48:48
to steal. And I think that I think his biggest
48:51
thing going forward. It's not necessarily like because there's not
48:54
a ton of like power in the profile. I think,
48:57
like you said, it's probably the versatility that he has
48:59
on d because, like Paul Schonfield has been their center fielder,
49:04
uh and he's been a really good center fielder for them.
49:07
But like I think Guzman could play center. I think
49:12
he's got the speed, he's got the athleticism to play
49:15
center field. He just hasn't really gotten a chance to
49:19
with the guys that they've had out there. But he's
49:20
been he's also he's been he's been good in the corners.
49:23
He's been he's played good at first base. I wouldn't.
49:25
I think we talked about it just maybe halfway a joke,
49:28
but not really like I wouldn't be shocked if he
49:30
if we saw him like get some running I don't know,
49:32
like second base or somewhere else on the end, it
49:35
wouldn't be. It wouldn't shock me if he could do it,
49:36
because like the words you used earlier when you were
49:39
talking about him was that he's he's a gamer and
49:41
like that that's the best way that I can describe
49:43
our money Guzman, Like you can put him anywhere on
49:45
the field. He's he's not gonna hurt you anywhere on
49:47
the field. He's gonna figure out a way to put
49:51
the bat on the ball. He's gonna run fast, he's
49:52
gonna you know, he's got his throws may not be
49:55
like the most explosive throws, but they're probably gonna be
49:58
accurate and on the money. Like I I don't know,
50:00
it's it feels like safe. But like you mentioned, he
50:05
may or may not come back, I think he could
50:06
benefit from coming back and like proven that he could
50:10
play center long term. I think that could really help
50:13
him out a lot. It was especially given the offensive
50:15
profile that he has. He's an interesting one. I think
50:19
he has boosted his stock, especially not just in Omaha,
50:21
but like throughout like the regionals and super Regionals and
50:24
all that stuff. I think just him, like I mentioned
50:27
with Willett's performing, performing on the big stage and kind
50:30
of being like the catalyst to that offense. Like obviously
50:33
Gavin Kelly's the big guy you look at on that
50:35
team offensively, but like this team would not be in
50:38
Omaha if it weren't for the efforts that our money
50:41
Goozmun's given him towards the end of the year. So
50:44
I think it's definitely fair to say that he was
50:46
kind of off of everybody's boards before the season, and
50:49
now that he's played the way that he's played down
50:51
the stretch, he's entered the conversation for most people at
50:54
least at least discussing some of those outfielders down the board. Yeah.
50:59
Speaker 1: I will say that it's interesting too with and we're
51:02
going way too long on Armani Guzman here, but that's okay.
51:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
51:05
Speaker 1: I think that it's interesting because if we do see
51:08
him in West Virginia again next year, sort of the
51:10
natural positions you'd want to see him at to almost
51:13
increase the draft stock for twenty twenty seven are center
51:16
field and short stuff. I think that's kind of where
51:18
he'd have to play to get that kind of extra
51:21
boost in terms of saying, well, hey, this guy can
51:23
play premium defense and then has the versatility to play
51:25
anywhere across the diamond. I don't think he's a better
51:27
short stop than Matt Einik or Gavin Kelly, so that's
51:30
kind of troubling already. And then West Virginia did just
51:34
bring in Jack Cannon from Lemoyne, who is pretty solid
51:38
center fielder if my memory serves me correctly. So I
51:42
don't know what the I don't know where he'd play,
51:44
but I mean maybe it is like you said, Jake,
51:45
maybe it's second base, maybe it's I mean, maybe it's
51:48
a little third base, or maybe this is kind of
51:50
maybe I could work this into reality and the key
51:52
k Hernandez comes to life and he just plays. You know,
51:55
he's a different spot every day. Who knows. All we
51:58
know is that West Virginia has shown a willingness to
52:01
go h very They they'll mix up the line up
52:04
in the defensive positioning with their team. So either way,
52:07
go ahead, Jake bring us home. Who is the fifth
52:09
guy that's raised their draft stock significantly across all?
52:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's there's a there's a number of pitchers
52:17
that we've talked about a lot recently, like the Vultkos
52:20
and I just mentioned Taylor Raye. Jason Carro is obviously
52:23
one that that that has pitched well but drew you'll
52:26
you'll enjoy this one. It's it's Max Yeo and other
52:29
West Virginia guy. I liked him in our look you
52:33
know the numbers, the like the line. I don't remember
52:35
what it ended up being exactly, but he was just
52:37
left in probably like an inning too long and they
52:40
kind of got hit around there towards the end. Uh.
52:42
But he was up to like ninety five as a
52:46
as a big as a big, tall left handed guy,
52:48
long arms. He sat you know, ninety one ninety three
52:51
most of his start, which if you're in the zone
52:53
with that, that should play. The two breaking balls he
52:56
had slider curve ball, they were distinct enough, like to
53:00
the eye, like I couldn't it was hard to tell
53:03
which one he was throwing sometimes like the velos kind
53:05
of mished a little bit, but the breaks on both
53:08
of them were distinct enough that they were effective, and
53:10
he was It was it. I always thought it's a
53:13
little weird for like a funky left he like Max Yell,
53:16
did not really have like that change up that most
53:19
funky left handed pitchers have. He didn't. He doesn't have one,
53:22
which is a little weird. I don't know if he's
53:24
like tried to throw in and it just didn't work.
53:26
I don't know, but but yeah, I mean he was in.
53:28
He was in the zone as usual in our looka.
53:30
He's just he's got a lot of starter traits, Like
53:34
he has some pitch ability, he knows when to throw
53:36
certain pitches, and he showed a willingness willingness to go
53:39
deep into the game when he's like beyond his usual
53:43
pitch limits. Like I said, they left him in. I
53:44
think they were trying to like save their bullpen a
53:46
little bit. They had already used corn at the time,
53:48
and like they were kind of running out or they
53:50
didn't want to get him out early, just to try
53:53
to save the bullpen a little bit. So he showed
53:55
willingness to go deep into the game and pitch beyond
53:58
his limits that he usually goes to. I like make Jale.
54:02
I think, you know, if you're looking for a strike
54:04
thrower that's not gonna like blow you away with Vlow,
54:08
but he's gonna be in the zone. He's gonna command
54:10
those three pitches for the most part. If you think
54:12
you can get a change up out of him, that
54:13
would help out a lot as well. But uh, I
54:16
was pleased with watching him in person.
54:20
Speaker 1: I would certainly think that a change up is an
54:22
attainable thing for Yale. And this is coming from everything
54:26
I'm gonna say is gonna be biased, And of course
54:28
this is coming from the guy who's resisted the urge
54:30
to say it just means more all episode is wearing
54:32
a Snnesse shirt and the Tennessee hat. So say what
54:35
you want about bias. That's that's on you. I will
54:37
say that I would think that I would think that
54:43
Yale is able to develop a change up. But I'm
54:45
with you, Jake, I think that would add to his
54:47
repertoire in such a dynamic way to go even more
54:51
off because it is a good criticism to make that
54:54
the shapes kind of blend a bit on the curve
54:56
and slider. The slider itself discuss it gets so much
55:03
so much movement, and of course it's only added to
55:06
when you're coming left and with his arm slot, with
55:09
his you know, really, it's just everything you could want
55:11
in the funk of the left hander. I think Yale
55:14
is at worst a credible big league reliever, but I'm
55:17
with you. I think there's a mid rotation ceiling in
55:20
a pitched in an organization that can amplify his pitch
55:24
development in a really meaningful way. I think we could
55:28
see a mid rotation ceiling here. Yale is a guy
55:30
I'm gonna definitely be banging the drum for for the
55:32
rest of the draft cycle, as if you could have imagined.
55:35
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, he's gonna be He's gonna be an interesting
55:38
one to track and to see where he ends up going,
55:40
what which team ends up with is gonna be is
55:42
gonna be interesting. I wouldn't be mad, you know, you
55:44
can see behind me. I'm a Cardinals fan. I wouldn't
55:47
be totally upset if he ended up in Saint Louis.
55:49
But uh, yeah, I mean, as much as we've talked
55:51
about him, we're gonna we're gonna be watching him, and
55:53
I'm and I'll be excited to see if he ends up,
55:55
you know, I think he's earned the chance to start.
55:58
You know, for sure, I don't think he's I don't
55:59
think he's just gonna show up and be a reliever.
56:02
But if he ends up, if his floor ends up
56:04
being a lefty specialist out of the pen, I think
56:07
he'd be a really good one.
56:09
Speaker 1: I do too. I think that I think that you
56:11
and I are suon Pataco on that front. I think
56:13
that Yale has been very special either way. Just some
56:16
other names really quick off the top of the head
56:18
that I had written down as kind of some maybees,
56:20
Ronald Loujo, Trey Phelps. I also had, oh there was
56:24
another name that had written plenty of guys I think
56:28
have driven up their draft.
56:29
Speaker 2: So those five three, Yeah, Daniel Jackson right well, so.
56:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we had. I had Daniel Jackson written down
56:37
in my argument just for just so that I'm saying
56:39
it on air. I don't think Daniel Jackson has gotten
56:43
the do respect in draft communities. And that's it's kind
56:48
of sticky because you know, we're at the draft community, Jake,
56:51
and I mean, it's just as much our fault as
56:53
as anybody's. But I think it's coming around because we've
56:58
seen him now not only perform at a higher level,
57:01
at a higher level all season and then even at Omaha, Georgia,
57:04
losing was not on the back of Daniel Jackson. He
57:07
performed mm hm till the bitter end.
57:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, for him. It was like the thing that
57:15
stands out to me the most one watching guys specifically
57:18
in Omaha, is like you want to see if like
57:21
these star players like the Daniel Jacksons and like you know,
57:24
Lebron was there, and like the the big name players
57:26
on Texas like the Aiden Robbins and the tennees and
57:29
who stands out the stars on the teams when they're
57:32
when when they're on the biggest stage, And like Daniel
57:34
Jackson did I mean his team wasn't wasn't obviously didn't
57:38
make it to the finals or anything like that, but
57:40
like it was, like you said, it wasn't on him.
57:41
He had like a I forget what the ev was
57:44
on his on his home run that he had, but
57:45
it was one of the hardest hit balls I think
57:47
I've ever seen in person. Uh, sure it was, it was.
57:50
It was crazy, but it wasn't on him for sure,
57:52
And I think just him performing on the on the
57:54
big stage is you know, it may not have like
57:57
skyrocketed him up boards or anything like that, but he
58:01
was I think I don't think he lost any stock
58:02
in Omaha, that's for sure.
58:04
Speaker 1: Sure not I would be yeah, I'm with you, certainly
58:07
didn't lose any stock. But either way, fun discussion, Jake.
58:10
I had a great time doing this. This is a
58:13
nice throwback. I know that you and I have the
58:17
eagle eagle eyed viewers and listeners, eagle eared listeners. We'll
58:21
know that Jake and I by ourselves was the very
58:23
first episode of College Baseball now. So it's it's unfortunate
58:26
that we are without our friends Josh and JB tonight,
58:30
but it was nice to throw it throw it back
58:32
old school style with you. Man. We had a great discussion.
58:35
I had a lot of fun doing it. So thanks
58:37
for joining me. If you would please tell the folks
58:39
where they can find you between our episodes and what
58:41
you're working on right now.
58:43
Speaker 2: So you can you can find me on Twitter at
58:46
Jake Barge. I don't I mean season's over now. I
58:48
don't have a ton of things that I'm like specifically
58:51
working on other than you know, some draft stuff, I'm
58:53
kind of doing some stuff on my own. Might have
58:55
like as we get a little bit closer to the draft,
58:57
I might have a I'll probably do like a Northeast
59:00
Prospects article, maybe a couple breaking down some guys up
59:04
here that I've gotten to see over the course of
59:06
the season. But uh yeah, that's pretty much what I'm
59:08
working on. But I also want to shout out while
59:11
we're talking about this, JB. H and Will Dodge and
59:14
their combine covers that I mean, they've he's posted I
59:17
haven't counted one hundred videos, it feels like Twitter, and
59:22
they've all been like awesome videos from like perfect angleage.
59:25
You get to see the swings, get to see the
59:26
guy's pitching, like it's been great. You guys should definitely
59:29
go look at what they're putting out on Twitter because
59:31
it's phenomenal stuff. I don't I don't think. I don't
59:33
know that anybody else is putting out the amount and
59:36
the quality video that they're that they're putting out right now,
59:40
I don't think.
59:41
Speaker 1: So there's some great stuff across the Internet from dudes
59:44
who are are doing this full time, but to see
59:48
JB and Will Dodge deliver better content and at bare minimum,
59:53
just as good a content as anybody in Phoenix right now.
59:56
Makes my heart sing. It's incredible stuff that I'm with.
59:59
You check out their stuff. I would like to maybe
1:00:02
put a little bit of public pressure, if I may,
1:00:05
on one mister Josh Callen, since he's not here to
1:00:08
defend himself, I'd like to see some thoughts from him,
1:00:12
maybe some live looks from the finals that he got
1:00:16
to take in. I know it was a sad one,
1:00:17
but maybe once he's settled and once he's gotten all
1:00:20
of his stuff handled and wrangled, maybe he could manage that.
1:00:23
I don't want to put any pressure on him, but
1:00:26
we'll see what happens either way. Yes, I definitely recommend
1:00:29
that Prospects Live dot com membership start as low as
1:00:32
seven dollars a month. Incredible value there. The tools are incredible,
1:00:35
the rankings are incredible, the articles, podcasts, all the wonderful
1:00:38
stuff you can get his little seven dollars a month.
1:00:40
Recommend it to check that out, especially as we get
1:00:42
closer to the MLB Draft, where we are going to
1:00:44
be announcing a ton of coverage, dropping lists, mocks, all
1:00:47
kinds of great things that you'll be sure to love
1:00:49
at prospectslive dot Com. Interviews coming as well live looks
1:00:53
from Phoenix, all kinds of great stuff. Can't wait share
1:00:55
that with you.
1:00:56
Speaker 2: Do.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: Want to remind you again, if you're into fun mobile games,
1:00:59
Home Run Empire is really wonderful, think that you should
1:01:02
check it out. And if you do, tell them your
1:01:04
boys at college Baseball now send you let them know.
1:01:08
If you want to follow me between our episodes, you
1:01:10
may do so on the Twitter Machine, on Instagram, on
1:01:12
Blue Sky at Drew is okay, I'd love to interact
1:01:15
with you there. I love to keep up with you there.
1:01:17
Leave a comment below let us know who you think
1:01:19
most raised their draft stock in Omaha. All right, but
1:01:23
until next time, Jake, which is actually probably a pretty
1:01:26
good point, we are gonna be taking a week off
1:01:28
of coverage. When we return, we are going to have
1:01:31
an MLB draft preview as well as, if I'm not mistaken,
1:01:35
a mock draft to go along with it. Gonna be
1:01:38
great stuff, Gonna be a good time. But until then, on,
1:01:41
behalf of Jake on, behalf of our friends, Josh and JB.
1:01:44
Want to remind you be nice to yourself, be nice
1:01:46
to each other. We will talk to you next time.
1:01:49
Thanks for joining us, Bye bye.