Latest / The Scout and The Speculator / 2026 Bowman Chrome NL West Preview
Transcript
- underscore_underscore_: Why that is. Jaba: Hello everybody, welcome back to the Scout and the Speculator Podcast. This is one of your two co-hosts, Jabba Cards, on Instagram, eBay, whatnot, all those sites that we know and love. Joined by my co-host Jeremy Brown of Perfect Game Baseball, but more importantly known as JGB underscore cards underscore. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Good job. Jaba: We are here. It is the night before release night. We're kinda cramming to get in our final divisional preview, which is the NL West. We're also just gonna roll right into a second recording and do some combination of a top twelve and a sleeper list. I think I'm gonna give a top twelve and Jeremy is going to kinda talk about guys ⁓ that he thinks could be in that conversation that I left off and then we'll have a graphic up on the Instagram. with both of our top twelve side by side. Before we get into it, today's podcast as always is brought to you by Prospect Pulse. That is ProspectPulse V1 dot com, the best place for all of your Bowman prospecting wants and needs. ⁓ I use it every day, genuinely, ⁓ can't recommend it enough. If you have any questions or you're curious. you know, about looking into it, I'm happy to hop on a call and talk it through with you. All right, Jeremy. With that being said, I'm handing the reins off ⁓ for the Arizona Diamondbacks so that I can talk about the Rockies and ⁓ my ⁓ personal favorite guy in the product. underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. I love that. And then I'll let you go, Dodger, so I can talk about Padres because we're switching things up. ⁓ Arizona. Four autos. ⁓ I think your your your chase here is definitely like AOA, Avery Awusu Asieru, Canadian, 24, 6'4, 245. ⁓ we kind of talked about him a little bit earlier when we got together and like Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: The power came almost out of nowhere, which is wild. Like from what what this is what his third season of Pro Bowl. And now he's he we've seen him in high A to double A. It's like equal splits of home runs. ⁓ 13 and 12 between the two different levels. He's huge. And like he's getting into that power now when like he he just simply wasn't hitting like he is now. He he wasn't putting up those types of numbers. Jaba: Yeah. Yes. underscore_underscore_: He's got a two forty one, but twenty five homers on the year when he's had he has forty two for his career. I think there's something to be said there. Twenty three double A like that fits like yeah, okay. You think of somebody like a Murph Grays or Brandon Compton's gonna be twenty two and double or twenty three and double A next year. Really. So it's not like that egregious of a pull there. He's not gonna turn twenty four until June. I think that's your guy of ⁓ Jaba: Yeah. For sure. underscore_underscore_: probably your chase of the team, but w like we also kinda spoke about before too is like is this a is this a heater like no other heater 'cause he's got what, twelve double A home runs in like what feels like four games? Or is he like like or is he actually like getting into it? Like there is some whiff here. Like don't get me wrong, a hundred and twenty three to fifty two. But he's hitting two forty one on the air and he's absolutely destroying double A. Like Jaba: I agree. twenty five games, twelve homers. underscore_underscore_: a one three ⁓ three OPS, a three seventy two batting average, like cut down the case significantly, fourteen walks, twelve home runs. So I don't know. That that's a lot of talk about a guy who's not a tier one guy, but I think it's also like we like power and this kid's definitely showing it. So Jaba: Yeah. And just one thing to add in here. When you and I talked about him earlier, I was saying, well, you know, he's kinda peeking at the perfect time for it not to be a good buy because like I said, last twenty five games he has twelve homers. I mean, this is a guy if the product released two months ago, nobody cares too much. But underscore_underscore_: Yeah. And then we're all scrambling to get something. Jaba: On the flip side, after, you know, we kind of had that conversation, I was thinking about it. He's a guy from Saskatoon, Canada, who played college baseball at Southern Illinois, Edwardsville. ⁓ so yeah, you can say, you know, this could be a flash in the pan, you know, he's just hot at the right time. On the other hand, you could say, you know, he grew up in the middle of, you know, the wilderness in Canada, way up there. He went to, you know, it's not like he played at a SEC school where they have top of the line, you know, underscore_underscore_: Yep. Right. Jaba: resources. It i it's you can kinda take it either way and in a way I think they balance each other out. Obviously he's not gonna put up a thirteen hundred OPS, but while I am cautious on him given the kind of late hot streak, I don't think it's like I I don't think you should discount it. And if he's a late bloomer, it would make a lot of sense just given where he's from and where he played college ball. underscore_underscore_: Right. Yep. And the other I mean, f full transparency, we recorded Arizona, then I forgot we had a work meeting, so we just scrapped it and we're redoing it. But also like we talked about maybe he goes to the AFL and if he does anything like as Merlin Valdez does, it's like one it justifies the powers there, even though AFL's like a hitter ballpark. But like it's only gonna put like gasoline onto the fire and make his stuff go way up. All right. A lot of talking there and we Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Kind of prided ourselves on talking about every prospect, but we're gonna cut a corner here, save some time, and kind of just skip over Eric De La Cruz, no offense to him or his family. He's got thirteen at batses here. Complex guy, DSL the last two years prior. Like, I really don't have anything I can tell you that you guys couldn't go look at his ⁓ at his MILB page. I'm not gonna try to pretend I have anything about him. So we're gonna just chop that and make it a lot quicker for the two. Are you good with that? Jaba: No offense to him and his family. It's good. Yeah, no, there's ⁓ there's just nothing to talk about there. underscore_underscore_: Okay. ⁓ and Yervert Perez. ⁓ here's one of those guys we have in blue, meaning blue, you were color in twenty twenty six Bowman. Trying to get a feel for his market. Go ahead and see what his color did. Let's see if him scribbling on cards is gonna help it or not. ⁓ he's an undersized right handed hitting first baseman. Two tw two twenty two average with a lot of strikeouts and eleven home runs. Not really w something you want in that profile. It's gonna be tougher. Arizona fans don't necessarily buy their cards anyway. Jaba: Right. underscore_underscore_: Again, kind of showing that AOA is the top guy and then Wellington Arasenia, the former Met. Talk to me about ⁓ Jaba: Yeah, he ⁓ he got traded away from the Mets last year, ⁓ in the midst of a huge breakout campaign he had. Yeah, it was like all over Mets Twitter all winter, you know, they gave up this demon, blah blah blah. Mets traded him to the Orioles for Gregory Soto. Not ⁓ and then the Orioles moved him for Blaze Alexander. ⁓ two twenty five ERA last year, ninety two innings. He walked fifty one guys, but he struck out a hundred fourteen. He you know, essentially he went completely nuts. one fifty two batting average against not something I usually look at, but that is, you know, pretty extreme. Jumps off the page. Fast forward to this year, twenty one split time between high A and double A. High A went I would say subpar 483 ERA and 76 innings. Walk rate crept up. K rate crept down. And then double A has just been ugly. Only five starts, 22 innings. But 766 ERA, no matter how you kind of look at that, that's just not gonna cut it. you know Whip was one seventy. ⁓ the K's were still over one per inning, but barely. ⁓ lost a lot of helium this year. He has a big power cutter, throws a hundred ⁓ definitely has, you know, high leverage relief potential. But it's not great when you're twenty one and we're talking about that is kinda like the best case, ⁓ at least from a card perspective. So that's really all there is on him. ⁓ I think he's a name to know, but a lot less so than he would have been like if he had been in I don't know, twenty six Bowman even. underscore_underscore_: There's a couple guys where it's like if they were earlier, you would have e been able to get ⁓ a lot cheaper, or maybe in this case where like if he was earlier you probably would have spent some and maybe lost a little burning. Where like maybe earlier like AOA's one and I know there's a couple other examples of that, so and I think I think your boy here ⁓ probably fits into that category too, honestly. Of if he was if he had ink in twenty six Bowman, you'd be sitting pretty right now. But Jaba: Yeah, I will Definitely. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Let's ⁓ hear about the Rockies in their three autos. Jaba: ⁓ we're gonna we're we're gonna dip into the pool slowly here. ⁓ Rockies first guy, Braylon Wimmer, twenty-five in double A, playing locally in Hartford, the ⁓ crown jewel of the Northeast. ⁓ four homers, twenty-nine steals. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Okay. Jaba: Nothing to see there. ⁓ he had seventeen Homers last year. So again, if this had been last year he might have been intriguing. I mean he still would have been old for the level, but the numbers were a lot better. ⁓ big step back this year. ⁓ don't really think he's anything more than like organizational depth at this point. ⁓ Sebastian Blanco next up just sneaks in at number thirty on their top prospect list. No he doesn't. He dropped out after ⁓ The trade deadline update. ⁓ twice as many K's as Walks. ⁓ hit 276, only four homers this year. 6'1, 181 shortstop, one from rookie ball to single A. I guess he's a wait-and-see guy that might be a little generous, but I don't know. I I just don't see much there. And now the man I've been waiting to talk about for two weeks. underscore_underscore_: Myth and a legend himself. Jaba: Wilder Delis switch hitter infielder turned twenty a month ago this year between A and high A, ignoring six games in rookie ball because he must have been rehabbing. He has a nine fifty-one OPS, nineteen homers, twenty-seven steals. Sure, the K's are a little little high at ninety-seven. But he's got fifty one walks. I mean the guy does everything well. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: i it's boggers to me how little people are talking about him right now. I got him in some case breaks for like fifty dollars per case. I I have him as number four in my top twelve. ⁓ I don't I don't even think that that's like clickbaity or a hot take. I mean, if you blindly put that stat line up against anyone else in this product, I I mean a nine fifty one OPS between A and high A, he was nineteen almost the entire season. He's a switch hitter. Like underscore_underscore_: Four hundred on days. Jaba: Find me someone else who has a Stalin like that. 25 extra base hits, 27 steals. I ⁓ like the guy just does everything well. I know it's the Rockies, people don't care about the Rockies, but at the same time, I mean, Condon sells, Jackson Holiday sells. I was a big roll Debrito guy in twenty six Bowman, and that's kind of how I came upon Dullies, just kind of checking those box scores, and then you're like Who's this guy gone completely nuts? yeah, I'm I'm just I'm super high on him. I don't know if you have any real ⁓ opinion on the guy. underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. I haven't really dug into him. No, kinda kinda let you take the reins on that one. But like it seems like he's definitely a guy and kind of a he's a fun one in that his twenty-six Bowman photo is not him. So like he doesn't sign that card. So he's I think he has a different Chrome card in twenty six chrome that's actual. And then so you have that and he obviously you'll get some autos and color autos. I'm curious if he's gonna get color. Jaba: Yep. Yeah. I saw it confirmed today, so underscore_underscore_: base, like color non auto since it's a real first card now with him on it. Jaba: Some someone said he is. ⁓ so basically all the colour non auto I bought is worthless. So thanks Mike Mikey Rubin. But ⁓ yeah, I mean I'm gonna be going nuts chasing him. I mean underscore_underscore_: Okay. That'd be interesting. Yeah, sorry about that. ⁓ try to see if any of it's up on eBay yet. Jaba: He he's probably like my number one chase in terms of what the cost will be to the expected value. ⁓ like to a point where, you know, I questioned if I should even talk about it. But that's why we're doing this podcast. That's why we're here. I gotta give you guys, you know, the inside info. But you know underscore_underscore_: Yep. So he does have ⁓ his new card he does have color, like non autocolor in the new stuff too. Jaba: Yeah, yeah, no, I'm I'm completely dead with that stuff. underscore_underscore_: There's a red wave up right now, four hundred OBO that just got listed, so Jaba: Yeah, and I mean just to close on him, I I don't wanna completely dominate the episode, but you know, the last two years he posted high eight hundred OPSs. It's not like this is coming out of nowhere. you know, when he came out in these breaks so cheap, I kinda asked around to people that I think are smart and they all literally just said, I guess it's the Colorado market, you know, there's no other real reason. underscore_underscore_: Yep. Jaba: So if the guy's market is the only reason you're not buying them, th you know, it this isn't like an AOA situation where i it's, you know, a guy with a flawed profile, even if it's exciting, where, you know, the market can kind of play as like the tiebreaker. Th this is just a no brainer buy. you know, you should go buy ⁓ and if you don't, you know, don't say we didn't tell ya. ⁓ you wanna me to fly through the Dodgers here? underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yeah, ⁓ there's a lot here. I don't think we need to touch on everybody in detail because a couple of ⁓ were color guys, Patrick Copen Francisco Espinosa. There were a couple of good ones too, to make sure we touch on, so Jaba: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm gonna say Zizweta for last. ⁓ Rubal Arias Seventeen year old lefty outfielder, posted a seven fifty six OPS in the DSL. Fine, nothing flashy, just kinda okay. ⁓ OPS is inflated in the DSL as well. So, you know, I usually think of like seven hundred as average in the DSL it's probably high seven hundred, so it's really just an average ⁓ line. You know, I'm not writing him off, but he'll probably you know, it's probably a guy that should be like a six to eight dollar auto that'll go for ten to twelve because he's on the Dodgers. underscore_underscore_: Yep. No. Jaba: ⁓ next up, Patrick Copin, ⁓ after the draft he fell out of the top thirty on pipeline. He had colour and Bowman, twenty-six, six six, good stuff. Bad, he's twenty-four and getting rocked in double A. Yes, it's a bad pitching environment in Tulsa. No, that doesn't explain an ERA over six, unfortunately. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: you know, maybe in four years he's a top one hundred prospect like ⁓ fellow former Dodger River Ryan, but I'm not holding my breath on that. There's just better places to spend your money. ⁓ Francisco Espinoza, ⁓ nineteen year old catcher, perfectly solid numbers. ⁓ he spent most of this year in the complex. now he's in single A, seven hundred ish OPS, holding his own. Just not a ton of power, not super sexy or exciting, but like He's not bad. ⁓ just not really my cup of tea. Eduardo Quintero signs. That's ⁓ that's always a good thing. He Homer tonight in ⁓ one of their playoff games. He went back to back with Emile Morales, another guy I love. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Yep. Saw that. Jaba: Ezekiel Melbourne, one of the more fun names to say in this product. ⁓ he he got a huge bonus. ⁓ I couldn't tell you what it was off the top of my head, but I know he was big money. he was definitely their biggest bonus last year. Struggled in the complex switch hitting six three one seventy shortstop. If I've learned anything from you, it's that some of these bigger lankier guys do take a little bit more time to kind of figure out their underscore_underscore_: Mm. Yeah. Jaba: you know, kind of gangly limbs. But, you know, six eighty-eight OPS, two homers, nine steals, ⁓ thirty-eight K to thirty-two walks. It's not a disaster of a year, and he's lifting the ball really well. it's just hard to get behind that. I think people are gonna see Dodger in the bonus, and that's just gonna push him above the price where he should be. I don't think he's you know, I'm not saying he's like a bust compared to his bonus. You know, I could see him coming back to the DSL next year and going underscore_underscore_: Exactly. Jaba: completely nuts. ⁓ that wouldn't surprise me at all. He won't even be eighteen until June. so, you know, he's a wait and see. I think if you pull any of them and he's not selling well, I I you know, I wouldn't tell. Like if he's selling at like twelve bucks, like just keep it. ⁓ ride it out. ⁓ then the guy by far the headliner for the Dodgers here, I think pretty safe to say by far the best pitcher in the process ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Possible agent. Yeah. Jaba: In the product. 21 year old Christian Zazueta, ⁓ former Yankee farmhand. Nice work, Yankees. ⁓ 21 years old, 6'3, 163. So he's a bit of a string bean. This year in 21 starts, he has a 365 ERA, 98 and two-thirds innings, where it really ⁓ pops 140ks to 19 walks. That is stupid. underscore_underscore_: Huh. Jaba: You know, the three sixty five ERA might not really pop, but remember these are bad pitching environments. ⁓ down in Pulsa, ⁓ twenty twenty five when he was in ⁓ single A. You know, he had a two forty four ERA all year. bit of a late bloomer, but he he's just he's just really good. It reminds me of Ianson a bit, in the sense that the secondaries are good, the control and command is good, very advanced. underscore_underscore_: Mm. Jaba: But then the fastballs like 92 to 95. ⁓ it makes me think that he's probably not an ace someday, which is a stupidly high bar. But, you know, for investing in pitchers, you know, those are the only guys that really hold value long term. I mean, look at Kate Anderson, people are picking apart his fastball now. I mean, it it's brutal out there. I think you need the big fastball ⁓ to kind of be like a Cy Young contender, and that's kind of the only group of pitchers. That gets love. ⁓ I like him. You know, if he was priced even close to where Anthony Iinson was at release last year, I would be all over him. But he's gonna be really expensive. He's the best pitcher in the product. This isn't to say I don't like him. I like him quite a bit. I just think that the price early on might not have a lot of room for growth, if that makes sense. ⁓ you have any thoughts on any of the doyers before? underscore_underscore_: I Just like kind of reading about him and going off the fastball, like BA says it's a unicorn level fastball, and that doesn't mean it has a horn. That doesn't mean it flies. It means like it's like kind of otherworldly and it could I don't have it in front of me. I don't have the numbers. I don't know what the IVB is, like induced vertical break. The tell rides or tell hell like there there's a lot more that goes into it where that ninety five might be playing like ninety eight, ninety nine, where you don't necessarily need that numerical number if the metrics on it are really Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: And if there's an organization to get the most out of that, it's gonna be the Dodgers, kind of with their pitching lab and what they're able to like get out of him. Like, ⁓ shit, you have a high IVB, like let's make sure you pitch at the top of the zone and we'll get you something that moves the other direction. And I think that's also part of the reason that he's able to do what he's done is fully utilizing what he has and not relying on just VLO. So ⁓ I Jaba: That's good contact. Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: now like to try to find some of those metrics and actually read and see what they are. Jaba: I I'm glad you added that. I think that that's helpful and I think that that's why we have you here. ⁓ you know, kinda that second advanced mind. I will say, in my defense, I have been scorned by the IVB darling before. ⁓ Mets fan ever heard of Jonathan. He had the crazy I V B last year and ⁓ that's not working too well, so that that scared me off a little, but that is something ⁓ great point by Jeremy and something that I probably should have at least looked at. but yeah, I mean I I think Zewetta is like a two or a three, which is great. ⁓ just long term in the hobby it's not. ⁓ I don't agree with it, but that's just kinda how it is. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. I mean, while talking about this I I realized my fantasy draft was going and I got autopicked my first two picks, so that's a lot of fun. I got Omarion Hampton and Justin Jefferson. I drafted Justin Jefferson before H and Chase Brown and Saquon Barkley. That's fun. That's okay. Well ⁓ I'm not really a football guy, so I don't Jaba: Who do you got? Okay, I mean ⁓ but Our football podcast is in the works. underscore_underscore_: That was the extent of it right there, guys. Alright, so I'm gonna we have the Padres and the Giants left. Guess what? We're gonna combine them because the two autos of the Padres are Giants now after the trade deadline. So it works out It works out where the Giants prospect fans now have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Lisa, that's for you. I can count. There are seven of ⁓ now. Lisa was in the comments commenting on how I can count. ⁓ Jaba: I like what you did though, that's fun. underscore_underscore_: Now there's seven of ⁓ Obviously you're not getting ⁓ Joniel Hernandez or Miguel Joniel Hernandez or Miguel Mendez if you the Giants, but you are gonna get Arjanes Cayama, Josuar Gonzalez, Kenya Martinez, Luis DeLatre, and Luis Hernandez. So, all that said, Joniel Hernandez is kind of like an AOA in that he's got a lot of steam heading into product release. Like Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: I remember at the deadline, right before the deadline, I was I found some of his videos and I'm like, Yep, write that name down, mark it down, put it away, wait for Chrome. Then he went on an absolute heater after he got traded. Like everything you wanna see was awesome. ⁓ and now like by the day he became more and more of a chase at three twenty two. ⁓ obviously only in rookie ball, three twenty two three twenty one on the year with seven home runs. More walks and strikeouts. Everything we like in a guy, he has shortstop. Going to ⁓ another good org, like the Giants killed it on ⁓ deadline day. So that's one. probably gonna find him in most top tens, I imagine, at this point, honestly. ⁓ correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's pretty consensus. Am I getting auto drafted again? ⁓ I'm on autopick. Disable auto pick. See. Sorry about that. Hold on. ⁓ yeah. That's fun. Miguel Mendez, he's fun too. He ⁓ so came to the Giants, he's big, scrapes triple digits, lets up about a hit per inning, also strikes out one per inning. And but he kind of closed the season strong. So I'm intrigued by him. He is 24, 6'2, 165. But when you're able to get that type of stuff, it's like a wipeout slider up to 101. Like I like what the Giants have done with arms and the miners lately too. So kind of curious how his prices are gonna be. He was color only in twenty six Bowman. Didn't really sell for that much. In the back of my head I was like, let's not buy it because he's going to have autos. So that was kind of my thought. ⁓ what do you got there? Anything? Yeah. I on either of those two. I don't know if you have anything else to add. Jaba: ⁓ as I think I I I think you nailed Joniel Hernandez. I think he, you know, would have been a s firm tier two a few months ago. And like you said, he just kinda caught fire right at the perfect time rolling in the release. ⁓ Miguel Mendez, I mean, it's fine. It Nothing about it looks bad to me. It just doesn't really excite me too much. Especially I mean, he's twenty four, he's in double A. You'd like a twenty four year old in double A to at least have some stuff that blows you away. I'm just not underscore_underscore_: Yeah. It's like stuff over results right now and at what point of being twenty four can you rely on that to still get like enticed almost? Jaba: Then he becomes a reliever and he could be, you know, anyone besides Mason Miller, there's just no you know, no market for, which again, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with, but that is how it is. just to quickly interject before you launch into the actual Giants, underscore_underscore_: Market. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Like he could be kind of cheap though too. Like where, ⁓ there's a true blue at auction for like twenty five bucks. Like I might buy it. Because triple digitballs, like, sure. But I don't even know if he's gonna be there. So Jaba: Yeah. ⁓ the the Angels kid we talked about y ⁓ earlier today, I'd much rather put my money into him. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Is that Tallon Haley? I already put my money into him, so we're golden. First purchase. Jaba: Yeah, Jeremy's first buy of Bowman season. And to ⁓ interject here with a fun story, I looked down at my phone after I finished my ⁓ rambling monologue. Jeremy had sent me a Wandiasian orange shimmer auto that was on eBay for seven fifty, already gone by the time I opened the text. ⁓ probably good 'cause I might have thought about it, which wouldn't have been good. you fancy off the giants now. underscore_underscore_: First purchase of the year. It's already gone. Yeah. I already ⁓ had somebody I had somebody in a group chat also say, I went to go buy it, and by the time I clicked on it, it was gone. Like a lot of people are doing the same thing right now. Hitting refresh. ⁓ Argenus Kami Kayama and Kanyar Martinez, they're both like in twenty six Bowman Chrome. They're both really good. ⁓ Kayama's twenty, up to ninety seven ish, got to A ball, seventy three punches and fifty seven innings, has allowed Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: A hit per inning and nearly has a five ERA. ⁓ I like that he can miss bats in terms of strikeouts, but if he's not striking you out, odds are you're getting a hit off of him. So do with that what you will. I don't know. And then Knor Martinez is a little older, big fastball slider guy. ⁓ 110 strikeouts in seventy five innings with less than a hit per inning allowed. So ⁓ it's kind of like self-induced damage with him, where It's a lower batting average against at two thirteen, but he's flirting with a f near five ERA in A ball in San Jose. Maybe the ball flies there. Hundred and thirty four punches and ninety three innings. There's stuff there with both of them. If you like the ingredients, if you like the stuff, they are both there. ⁓ Jaba: Where would you put Miguel Mendez compared to those two? Yeah, I agree. underscore_underscore_: Probably behind both of ⁓ I think pretty kind of I mean, let's see. Well we can go look. Martinez is twelve, Mendez is sixteen, Kayama's seventeen. So they're all like right in there. But between like a Kayama and a Mendez, I'm probably taking the kid who's five years younger. Jaba: Yeah, it's like the same exact package, you're just getting the much younger version. underscore_underscore_: Right. Yeah. And then ⁓ Ramon Marquez, who they also brought in the deadline's better than all of ⁓ but he doesn't have Bowman. Josuar Gonzalez, ⁓ maybe future number one prospect. You can probably get some of these prospect auto cheap. So find some, buy some. We've said it already with a couple other guys. Find them cheap, buy ⁓ stash ⁓ Those are ones that aren't really gonna move much until call up day or damn near close to it, or he gets named number one prospect. It's gonna take like a monumental type thing to make those prospect autos shift. But when it happens, you can make really good money. ⁓ Luis Delatore throws hard. He's a reliever, but he throws hard. 23. He was left-handed. We do like that. ⁓ we do like that. ⁓ I missed my next pick. Damn it. ⁓ I got Brees Hall, who I picked myself, and then Jaba: Yeah. Hey, he's left handed. What do you get? Yeah. ⁓ yeah, he's good. underscore_underscore_: Kyron Kyron Williams? I I have three running backs so far. ⁓ Jaba: That's talking football with this guy out and a speculator. underscore_underscore_: ⁓ yep. ⁓ well. Jaba: Your next round of picks might be in our ⁓ top twelve episode. underscore_underscore_: No doubt. It's only a hundred bucks to get in, so who cares? ⁓ no, I'm kidding. We play for free. So ⁓ Luis De La Torre, big stuff. ⁓ it's it's like gets into the upper nineties. It's he's starting twenty five starts this year, one twenty six punches in a hundred innings, a two ⁓ nine average against. He misses bats, but he also misses a zone. He's got eighty two walks. Like that's just not sustainable as you get higher than high A. Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: And he's twenty three in high A. Like, I don't know. Not somebody I'm gonna be buying any of, I don't think. Jaba: Y you know what's nuts is you know, I I I just have these pulled up in front of me so I can follow along with ya. ⁓ last year in seventy four innings he only walked twenty seven guys. underscore_underscore_: Yeah, same. ⁓ I mean you wanna say it's like they're making him work on something. He's he's got twenty five starts, so it's not like he's like full blown, like can't do anything. Like sending him out there again and again. I don't know, twenty five starts over a hundred innings, averaging four s innings a start, like Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I I did not mean that in like that you're underrating him way much more in the he might be broken. underscore_underscore_: No. No, no. I but it's wild. A one eighty seven against last year. Twenty seven walks and seventy four innings with one ⁓ nine. Like it it's what he was last year, if he was in, you would have been buying him, like without a doubt. Jaba: The whip went up fifty four basis points. underscore_underscore_: So you just I'm curious like what the shift was there. Like something had to have happened. I don't know. ⁓ and then obviously kind of saved the big one for last year, Luis Hernandez. Like it's a good one. ⁓ I'm curious if people are gonna back off of him because he quote unquote struggled, and I say that in A ball because he's seventeen. He should be a high school junior. Jaba: You know. underscore_underscore_: Hit 231 with two home runs, struck out twenty nine times to six walks. But again, he's seventeen, turns eighteen in December, so should be going into his senior year of baseball, in theory, next spring. Instead, he's gonna be going into A ball with a probable double A promotion at some point next year, if not at least high A. Like, it depends on how he does, I I assume this fall and if he hits a ground running next year, regardless. Jaba: I w I would love if people back away. I would be thrilled. underscore_underscore_: Just right. I I just people who I think do are just the type that are gonna look at cursory stats right away, 'cause beginning of the spring, like people were calling him like they were ready to make him the number one prospect in baseball with how he started his defensive play, what he was doing offensively, and kind of rightfully so with what he did right away. Like rookie ball was hitting three hundred, six home runs, nineteen doubles, like ⁓ thirty eight to twenty five K to walk, like I think there's really no need to overreact to his and you this is mostly audio. I'm putting air quotes up, struggle in A ball because he's seventeen. Like it's pretty special to get somebody doing that. ⁓ look at that. AOA just hit a home run again. Jaba: go. Topical. yeah, I mean underscore_underscore_: That's wild. That's wild. ⁓ I don't know, like I don't think I need to dive into what he is as a player too much. Like you probably know him at this point, but I'm curious your take on it, how people might act, how everything is Jaba: Yeah, I you know, this is one of those where like I obviously I'm not like rooting against guys. I don't wanna see guys struggle. I'm so happy that he had this dip in play before release and again, as you said, air quotes on dip. I mean he's seventeen, he's in single A. It's been a long season, like obviously he's not, you know tearing it up. If he was, he would be, you know just underscore_underscore_: Hmm. Jaba: unavoidable. I think I kinda have two things. One, some of the defensive plays I saw him make at third base. it it looks like, you know, take your pick, Nolan Arenado, ⁓ Machado, whatever. I mean, some of like the cross body throws he was making running into foul territory. not normal for any baseball player. much less a seventeen year old. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: probably would be the best defensive third baseman in the Mets organization right now. you know, he he's just such a impressive baseball player. And while obviously you're not buying him for the defense, I I think it just goes to show how good of an athlete he is and how, you know, just advanced his game is on the whole. And that also, you know, kind of speaks to why he's moving so quickly and why I'm undeterred by a bit of a lower underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: OPS in single way. The other thing, I was listening, I remember in the spring, I was listening to like an MLB pipeline podcast. I forget who it was, I forget who said it. ⁓ But the guy was talking about the Giants and they were asking him about Yoswar. He was basically saying, you know, they got this Luis Hernandez kid behind Yoswar and everyone I talk to says that he's just as good if not better. Like they're just as impressed if not more by Luis Hernandez and that kinda put him on my radar. Then I mean just following him in rookie ball it was just cartoonish stat lines. I'm not saying he's better than Yoswar, but I'm also not saying he's worse than Yoswar. He is younger. ⁓ obviously the numbers don't match up, but I'd be curious to kind of follow their tracks in parallel as Yospar kind of sets the precedent a year ahead. I think it's gonna be very fun to follow both of them. And ⁓ you know, I'm jealous of Giants fans. I I I think they're both great. And you know, Luis Hernandez, I did, you know, if we had done our rankings ⁓ a month ago I would have had him one. I think I moved him down to two just cause Angel Gomez gone bananas. underscore_underscore_: Like yeah, like nuts. But I mean, yeah, he he might not be your clear cut number one, but we could look back in a year and be like, We really overthought what the seventeen year old was doing. Like it could be that simple. I don't know. It's gonna be a fun division. The Giants, I mean, as a whole right now are really fun in the lower minors. You factor in like Bo Davidson, Joshua, ⁓ Rom Ramon Marquez. I got a lot working for them in the right way. Yeah. Jaba: Yeah. Dakota Jordan. Well he he got hurt. Not not to be confused with our Dakota, who we also love. but yeah. You got any other NL West thoughts or underscore_underscore_: Dakota. Yeah. That's right. Out out. N no, I mean I feel pretty good there. Jaba: Yeah, a great division, a lot of good players. That wraps up our divisional previews for twenty twenty-six Bowman. ⁓ after we wrap this, we're gonna go right into ⁓ kind of some power rankings and stuff as mentioned. So be on the lookout for that. We'll probably post them both at the same time on. ⁓ and if you want to hear more about Jeremy's fantasy football draft, make sure to listen to that. underscore_underscore_: You definitely don't want it. Jaba: all right. Well, thank you all and ⁓ let's go Mets. Talk to you guys soon. Go Mets. Marked underscore_underscore_: Good. Jaba: Yeah, I I got a little wordy, I'm sorry. I g I got all excited. I thought, ⁓ my gosh. underscore_underscore_: ⁓ you're good. I think I need a QD here. Do I go Jalen Daniels? Jaba: I feel like as long as he's healthy he'll be good, but he's he's seems very frail. underscore_underscore_: I would agree there. Jaba: I don't know. I'm Mike. I don't know. underscore_underscore_: I mean it's either him or Yeah, it's either him or like QBs are gone. Dak Prescott. Jackson Dart. Jaba: Dart's gonna die. underscore_underscore_: I don't know who to go for. Jaba: What what receivers are there? underscore_underscore_: Roma Dunze, Carnell Tate, Mike Evans, Marv Harrison Jr., Michael Pittman, DK Metcalf. Jaba: Probably just take the last good quarterback. I feel like you're in like the glob of receivers where it's underscore_underscore_: A thousand percent. Sam Laporta. Jaba: What other tight ends are there? underscore_underscore_: Fanning, tight end is who I was told to pick, Harold Fannon. Jaba: I can't believe Deshaun Watson's starting again. Not even because of like anything, but more just like he's been so bad for so long. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: At least he's a good man. Yeah, I may not like him as a player, but alright. ⁓ you wanna just kinda roll into a ⁓ bit of a ranking ranking and babble? underscore_underscore_: Yeah, yeah. Real good. Yeah, did I was that too did I go off script too much and like talk about football too much, or do people do you think people are gonna care at that point? Jaba: I I think anyone listening to this likes is probably someone who knows who knows one or both of us and likes us. I think that that's kinda funny if you know or like us. I I th I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny. ⁓ I mean if anyone has a problem with it they can suck our collective penis. underscore_underscore_: Nonsensical of it. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ god, I don't pick for another nineteen picks now. I'm fucked. Jaba: ⁓ who'd you take? Daniels? underscore_underscore_: Another no. Harold Fanning Jr. Jaba: Alright, I'm gonna sit back up and get my fat ass up. underscore_underscore_: I don't know who I'm gonna even talk about here. There's like a lot of guys. Jaba: We're just gonna see I I feel like this'll be more fun. So we're just kinda talking. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Alright, here we go now. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Scout and the Speculator Podcast. This is one of your two hosts, Jabba Cards, on all the you know, platforms you know and love, whatnot, eBay, Instagram, etcetera. Joined by my co-host, Jeremy Brown of Perfect Game Baseball, more importantly known as JGB underscore cards underscore. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Can't forget that second underscore. we are coming to ya. We just finished our last divisional preview for Bowman. Twenty twenty-six Bowman Chrome. That releases tomorrow. ⁓ we had a good cramming session today. underscore_underscore_: Yep. Jaba: out of town traveling for a wedding this weekend. Jeremy has a family and a life. So the the no podcasts over the weekend really left us with our backs against the wall. But that's when we do our greatest work. We are here to break down. ⁓ I'm gonna go through my top twelve for Bowman Chrome and then I'm gonna try to shut up and let Jeremy talk about guys I missed, sleepers. We're just gonna kinda let Jeremy, you know, run with it. It's like when you give your little brother the Xbox controller and it actually doesn't have batteries in it. underscore_underscore_: Two pixie sticks and let me go to town. Jaba: Yeah, we're we're we're just gonna we're just gonna see what happens. We might be recording, we might not be recording. ⁓ his fantasy football draft going on right now. ⁓ if you listen to the last episode, the NL West and they're going right into this. You did miss his next pick. It was Harold Fannon for the Browns. I told him to take Jaden Daniels. ⁓ I also don't know what I'm talking about. ⁓ so that's a stupid take, you know, come from me. ⁓ before I get into underscore_underscore_: Who knows? No, yeah. Jaba: my much anticipated top twelve. I've gotten a ton of DMs asking for my rankings. Just kidding. I think I've gotten two underscore_underscore_: That's what Jaba: ⁓ I just wanted to say that. ⁓ and then I realized there's no ⁓ video, so you wouldn't realize that I was saying it in jest. ⁓ before I get into it, this is brought to you by Prospect Pulse. As always, that is ProspectPulse V1.com. ⁓ best place for all your Bowman prospecting, collecting, researching Needs, you know, great resource, use it every day. Happy to ⁓ talk anyone through it or discuss my experience with the site. ⁓ you know, don't be a stranger on social media or wherever. ⁓ I guess that's really the only place you would. If someone shows up in my apartment, I'd honestly be impressed. So yeah, with that being said, let's get into my top twelve. Should I go from one to twelve, twelve to one, or just shut up and talk? underscore_underscore_: Start in the middle, the way I eat like pizza. Right in the middle. Jaba: What? underscore_underscore_: Start at twelve. Jaba: When you say you eat it in the middle, like are you saying like the side of the slice? Or like you take the middle back of the crust? underscore_underscore_: Yeah. ⁓ it's it's really up for you to decide. No. It was a joke. Jaba: Do you actually do that or was that a joke? ⁓ that was a good one. underscore_underscore_: The best ones leave you perplexed. Anyhow. Jaba: You know it's good when you have to explain the joke. All right. ⁓ coming in at number 12, I actually changed these up in the last few minutes. ⁓ number 12, I have Santiago Solarte. There are a lot of guys in kind of the 12 to 20 blob. ⁓ I thought about Angel Nunez, thought about a bunch of different guys. ⁓ Zazueta. There's you know, like I said, there's probably eight to ten guys interchangeable at this spot. I went with Solarte at the last minute. I put him in because the ceiling is very high with his power speed combo and his frame. I think he's a risky profile, but it is one of those profiles where if it clicks, you know, you're looking at a potential superstar. ⁓ that's not hyperbole. ⁓ I'm not sure if you agree with that take on Solarte, but that's kinda why I wanted to get him on there. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. I mean it's your list. I'm not I'm just gonna let you go. It's your list. I'm not gonna interject. Jaba: Okay. Okay. Okay. next up. underscore_underscore_: But I think the size the size power speed combo is pretty enticing there and throwing them on at twelve is like kind of a home run pick, so I like it. Jaba: Yeah. ⁓ Joni L. Hernandez comes in at eleven. ⁓ Jeremy just talked about him in the N L West episode. underscore_underscore_: West. Jaba: Cuban kids 17, you know, nine seventy-eight OPS in the DSL, seven homers, ten steals, does a little bit of everything, and it was really concentrated towards the back end of his season. So he's really coming into this ⁓ on the upswing. You know, that's something I try to avoid with guys that are maybe in like high A or double A when they, you know, start playing the best baseball of their career ⁓ right before their first release. ⁓ Joniel Hernandez obviously his first pro season down there. in the D S L I'm not you know too worried about it. He was just extra base hit machine, seventeen doubles, two triples. I like ⁓ a lot. I just don't like ⁓ as much as ⁓ kind of like the floor ceiling combos as the guys who are above him, but big fan of Jonial Hernandez. Ten I have Slater de Brun, ⁓ huge fan of him. ⁓ just menace on the base pass. I was looking at my phone earlier tonight, the Charlton River Dogs were in the playoffs. He had a couple of RBIs early in that game. You know, he he He just has the you know pest pest thing down. I mean the bat the ball's good, ⁓ the speed's nuts. ⁓ I think the speed and defense underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: ⁓ give him the chance to move relatively quickly and if he can tap into like any power, you know, we're really cooking with gas there. But I think that the floor is, you know, an MLB player, which isn't true for ⁓ a lot of guys in this release where it's so volatile. ⁓ number nine, Wandy Assien. ⁓ bit of a homer pick. ⁓ he probably got one or two spots given to him because I'm a Mets fan We talked a lot about his exit velos on this podcast, just how abnormal they are. ⁓ the swing and miss is worse than I expected it to be this year. you know, the strikeouts weren't great, but the contact rates were I don't want to say poor, but they left some to be desired. But if you're hitting the ball that hard, ⁓ I mean that that's just too good to not have in a top ten. I like them a lot. I'm gonna buy some. because I'm a Mets fan, I think it'll be expensive. But ⁓ yeah, you know, he underscore_underscore_: But like sixteen years old should be a high school sophomore hitting a ball a hundred and sixteen miles an hour. That's absurd. You have to put it just kind of in context too, like he just turned seventeen, he's gonna be seventeen for most of next year. Like I I do agree with everything you said, but still, like he's a child, so keep that in mind. Jaba: Was a what bad? Yeah. ⁓ I would be a little nervous about the strikeouts and stuff, but like I mean if he's in the complex next year as a seventeen year old, that's ahead of that's, you know, Luis Hernandez. number eight, Samil Serrano, ⁓ Nationals. Just another guy where if it all clicks and kind of continues to click the way it has in the very, very early goings, you have a you know, potential star on your hands. This is kind of why people love Chrome to the guys like these. ⁓ you know, most of them won't end up hitting. ⁓ but the ones that do could be really fun and exciting. I've seen comparisons to Julio Rodriguez. I've seen someone who's very intelligent call him a left-handed Julio Rodriguez. The stats are eerily similar at the same age. Someone else compared him to James Wood. you know, there's just some pretty tantalizing talent ⁓ you know in that profile. I like And ⁓ kind of my test is as a Mets fan, am I scared that he's in my division? Yes, okay, he's good. ⁓ number seven, Andy Azakar. ⁓ we're kind of getting into my second tier of names where they're a bit interchangeable here. ⁓ Azucar was having a nice to very nice year ⁓ before being traded to the Orioles, then just went completely you know gangbusters for six weeks. ⁓ having a great season, he's in underscore_underscore_: No. Jaba: IA, he's still young. ⁓ I saw someone on Twitter I was having a conversation with. ⁓ they were saying his pitch selection is poor and that's why they didn't like him. you know, his OPS is like nine hundred in high A. I I don't really care what he's swinging at. It's not like he's swinging and missing. ⁓ the quality of contact's good. The numbers are good. Don't overthink this one. Don't work yourself into a pretzel. Endy Azukar is a good player. I'd like him a little more if he had that Red Sox market bump versus the Orioles, which is why I kind of have him a couple spots below some of these other guys. But I do like Indy Azakar. I don't know if you have thoughts on him, because he seems to be a bit perplexing to folks. underscore_underscore_: A bit. I mean, I do think he's gonna be cheaper now, even in that Red Sox uniform, like Baltimore market to Red Sox market. Because let's be real, if he's in I think if he's a r in a Red Sox system still, ⁓ I feel like he's probably gonna be priced as a top five guy. Maybe. Maybe I'm making that up. It feels like if he were still there, like he's probably getting up into that next tier just from market tax as well. But Jaba: Yeah, it'd probably be four or five. Agreed. underscore_underscore_: I think he's a good player. I think he's somebody you're gonna have to watch like I think like the underlying statistics on him aren't the best, like when you look under the wood, but it's also hard to ignore the performance. So ⁓ yeah. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I I think there's so many fun mystery boxes here with D S L guys. But if you have a guy with those numbers in high A staring you square in the face and he's like a year older or two years older than those guys, you know, I think that's when you have to take a step back and be like, Okay, well if if this guy's doing this in a year or two, will I be happy? Yes. ⁓ you know, it's there. underscore_underscore_: Exactly. Right. Like the whip's a little concerning. Exactly. Like if Wandy's doing this or Joni L or Luis putting up these numbers next year or the year after, like you're happy with those numbers. There's just a lot of swing and miss. I think that's gonna be the like when you wanna pick ⁓ apart, but he's nineteen, so he's not like he's old. Mm-hmm. Jaba: It's a good track, yeah. Yeah, I agree. And I I do still think he's volatile for where he is. ⁓ but with that being said, it's just I I don't care what DSL guy it is, they're all just gonna be a lot more volatile. next up, Jaden Low Ray. after we just went on diatribes talking about how bad the Baltimore market is, I'm gonna just plop him in ahead of Indy Azikar. underscore_underscore_: Why not? Jaba: Jaden L'ORAY, I just love him. He's one of my personal favorites in this product. Just an on-based machine. Shades of Junicker Cassaris. That makes me quite happy. He's 19, so he's actually older than Juniker. ⁓ High A, he was an A for most of the year. Hit 324 across the levels. Drew's walks, 860, 6 OPS. Only four homers. That's kind of the missing piece. 35Ks, 50. Fifty-four walks, the contact rates are the contact rates are so good where I I had a conversation with someone, I was like, I is there such thing as a contact rate being too good for a guy that age where you worry that he's kind of sacrificing potential development because he's so focused on hitting everything? underscore_underscore_: Okay. Jaba: He hits the ball in the air more than you would think for someone who hits the ball so much and isn't the biggest guy. ⁓ you know, that's one where you have such a high floor with that hit tool. If he can add any sort of home run power, you're looking at a really good player. I I mean, again, it just reminds me of Jennifer Caceres. ⁓ five, Sebastian dos Santos. just Very good. not really sure what more to say. I mean he he played fifty five games in single A, eight thirty seven OPS, he was eighteen all year. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Hmm. Jaba: ⁓ I don't love you know, I think we talked about briefly. I I I think it's insane that he's listed at a hundred and forty pounds. ⁓ I'm not sure how that's physically possible. ⁓ but in a way that makes me like him even more. I mean if he hits sixteen homers in single A has a one hundred and forty pounder. you know, imagine when he's a hundred and eighty pounds. ⁓ I really like, you know, being able to get guys that have seen some full season ball. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yeah. I mean kind of bigger than that. Jaba: You know, I really like Dos Santos and you know, even if the numbers aren't as ⁓ gaudy, you have to realize that you're basically comparing an eighteen year old in single A to seventeen year olds in the D S L. You know, just nuts. ⁓ number four, my guy, Wilder Delees, ⁓ spoke about him extensively in the NL West preview. I think if he was on the Yankees or any you know, similar team, I actually think he might be the number one guy in the product. I'm comfortable saying that. Just crazy stats, great player, ⁓ does everything well. you know, go listen to the N L West pod. ⁓ three, Francisco Renteria. ⁓ just another guy who's awesome. Unfortunately he's a Philly. Seventeen years old all season in the DSL, eleven homers, twenty four steals, ⁓ eleven fifty two OPS, as you say, we like a one with a dot after it in the OPS. underscore_underscore_: Or two. It can be a two and then a dot. Jaba: Yeah. ⁓ but yeah, I mean he does everything well. Thirty six Ks, thirty-four walks, K rate's low. ⁓ hits the ball on the ground like a little bit, but I don't know. I saw some people saying he might ⁓ he won't skip the complex. ⁓ I wonder how I feel about that. I don't know how you feel about that. Do you think ⁓ I I mean looking at the numbers it kinda looks like a guy that's underscore_underscore_: How are they are they typically aggressive? Colorado I'm not Jaba: Shall we? underscore_underscore_: My bad. I I I assumed you were just talking about Welder still, if we're being honest. Cause I'm working on your graphic for your top twelve right now at the same time. I don't I mean th there are some concerns, I guess, with like the hit tool with Francisco, right? But like he's played stateside. I know that doesn't mean much, but like he's not like Jaba: No, I'm talking about run three, your boy. Thank you. You're in all. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: He he's faced competition over here. He played in our twelve U and our thirteen U All American games, the Select Festivals. We had him out at the University of Tennessee when he was thirteen. He's like I don't know, when I think of players who have come over here and played stateside, I feel like they have a feel for it a little more. It's not like the shock of coming over to a new like country to play. So I could see him like just adapting and acclimating right away. I so I could see I mean complex is stateside and so is A Ball. So I guess that's kind of a moot point, but I feel like it's probably time to y you need to push ⁓ a little bit, right? Like almost four hundred in the D S L like Jaba: Yeah, 'cause I mean if he goes into the complex and puts up a one thousand OPS after this, are you even like I I feel like you're not even higher on him than you are now. Which is crazy 'cause underscore_underscore_: Like, okay now. Right. Like people say it's swing decisions, not so much like 'cause you look at his numbers, it's like a one to one strikeout to walk and he's hit almost four hundred with a one one five two OPS. Like, there's a lot of good there. That I don't know if he is seventeen and doesn't he turns eighteen beginning of the year, so maybe. I don't know. My gut would say A would be aggressive, but also he has the talent to do it. I think it would hedge a lot on his probably his spring and how he comes out looking, I would think. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah, I ⁓ underscore_underscore_: I don't I don't know. Jaba: You know, w w one other thing that's kind of a topic for another day, but I I also wonder, you know, when people talk about the swing decisions for guys in the DSL, I I do wonder, I mean, Francisco Renteria, he was a huge name when he signed. He's six three, two sixteen. I also wonder if he's just like not seeing that much to hit and as a result he's expanding the zone and swinging at stuff that he would probably prefer to not swing at, but he wants to, you know, do stuff. underscore_underscore_: Right. I mean it happens. We see it like I see that all the time when some of the more talented kids are facing maybe not like the level of arms that they like their their equal peered so to speak in terms of talent. And it's like, Well, I I guess let's let's chase and see another pitch so we don't walk. Let's just try to make something happen. Or you walk three times in a game and hit a pop up. It's like I wanna do something. So maybe like I mean shit, I mean Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: His numbers kind of speak for themselves, right? Jaba: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, so I'm high on him. And then I don't even really need to say that much about number two and number one. I have Luis Hernandez as my two. just so advanced. Don't care that he's struggling, so to speak, in single A. He's seventeen. The all-around game is just so, so impressive. And he went nuts in the complex as a seventeen-year-old. I mean he's the same age as Francisco Renteria. He basically put up the same stat line, a level above. you know, just hard to not have him there. And then number one, Angel Gomez. ⁓ those two are gonna be flipped ⁓ probably until like last week, but Gomez just went so nuts to close out the DSL where he has to be my number one here. ⁓ just to remind you guys of the stats. ⁓ 1120 OPS. 467 on base. ⁓ 17 all year. He's a 6'2, 173 outfielder. Nine homers, fifteen steals. ⁓ he struck out nineteen times. not way more walks. hit almost twice as many fly balls as ground balls. ⁓ I mean, i it's difficult to dig in here and find something scary. I say impossible. So yeah. underscore_underscore_: Right. But like so like we don't have the familiarity with these guys, right? Like that much, honestly. Like we're starting to we're gonna learn what their first cards look like. We kinda know what their face looks like a little bit. ⁓ there was ⁓ my my board. ⁓ I have someone helping me draft at the same time. Like but I went and saw I've watched enough Gomez swings now that one popped up and you know how like people do lists on Twitter of like here's four players that did this, this, this, and this Jaba: What do you take pictures of? Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: But you also like but there's one video and you don't necessarily know who that video belongs to. Like it's gotten to the point now where I can see it in a split second, like that's Gomez. Like you don't need to see the logo. It's one of those swings that's just so pure, so strong, it's like he lifts the ball really well. It's just like check, check, check, check, like, okay, you're a mega prospect. Like in training. So that's that's I just wanted to add that add that in. You kinda got the rest of everything, like Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: kinda nailed it there, so Jaba: Yeah, so that's that's my top twelve and now I've kinda done my rambling, I'll kick it over to you to ⁓ you can do your filibuster here. underscore_underscore_: Yeah, perfect. ⁓ I mean I really don't have a whole lot of ⁓ I mean w which way do we wanna go with this? Do we wanna go with just some names that I like? I don't have a top twelve listed out. I could go division by division and kind of be like a guy or two that I like. ⁓ 'cause there are guys you didn't talk about that you and I have talked about that like I like. And that I wouldn't buy like here let's go with guys I'm putting my money into probably pretty early and pretty often, as long as it makes sense. Jaba: Yeah. See guys, we're thinking on the fly here. underscore_underscore_: ⁓ I don't want to also give away all the secrets to the sauce and give out all my guys who I'm buying. But we already said one, so let's start with Talon Haley. ⁓ I already bought a base auto, no big deal, like thirteen bucks. but that's one name that I just like what that system's doing with their pitching prospects. I think there's talent there. Our guys have been high on him, have seen him a lot as a prep. I do think that is a good one. least for me, he does turn twenty one here shortly. But somebody I'm gonna buy some of and just kind of stash. It seems like every pitcher in twenty four ⁓ twenty four G's twenty five draft has had their Bowman at some point. ⁓ like literally name a pitcher and they've all seen like a spike in price at some point for some reason. And he's part of that draft class, he's just gonna be in twenty six chrome as opposed to twenty five draft. that is one guy I think I will be buying. ⁓ Juan Rijo is a swing I really like. ⁓ that's the left-handed hitting outfielder from the Mariners. That was a smooth swing. Good size, good numbers. ⁓ that is probably a guy that I will buy some of in stash away. ⁓ I also think it's important to note I don't try to quick flip that much. I'm not looking to buy on a Monday, sell on a Tuesday. I'm holding Nathan Flewelling now for over a year, Sad Biel Delzine for a year. ⁓ I'm I'm looking at it for long term, so I'm kind of looking at that physical projection as much as the tools. if I'm rambling at any point here, please let me know. Jaba: I enjoy listening to it. I think if anyone's depraved enough to listen to our podcast, I think this is the kind of stuff they like hearing. underscore_underscore_: Okay, cool. ⁓ I do think like whether you like him or not, Johansei Cult Colame needs to be probably in a top five to top ten in that range. Probably not a top five, but like five to ten. ⁓ it's like and I said it earlier today, ⁓ like violent bat speed in the best way imaginable. Like he goes to the plate looking to do bad things. And by bad things I mean like destroy baseballs. ⁓ obviously has that pi the bloodline. I d never really see that pitcher father down to a hitter son, but like you probably get some pretty good insight there too from Pops of just like how things get set up. ⁓ that's that's just full rambling there. I don't know if that's gonna matter at all, but Jaba: Getting good BP. This is a free form podcast. underscore_underscore_: Ellion Rosario, that is another one that I really like that swing watching video of. He seemed to already be expensive in PYPs though. So I think people are on to him. I would have loved to have been a part of the twenty four Bowman Chrome release just to see how like the hype was on all those guys, because a lot of them have flopped. Like a lot of them have flopped, but I know we were talking about those names in the same breath as we would these guys this year, just back then. Jaba: Yeah. Not a great release. underscore_underscore_: And now to see kind of how it how like have that knowledge 'cause last year was so good. Like, ⁓ I think I'm gonna buy Josh, Rain L and I'm gonna go on a limb and buy Junicker. Like, congrats, you got three top twenty five prospects. Like and you hit on ⁓ all. Now I I'd be curious, like a twenty four year where not everybody was a stud immediately. You know? ⁓ I don't know. I like I like just shifting around. I like to buy whatever makes sense to me. Jaba: Yeah. I I I think that that's an important thing too. I I think you have to be malleable as we go from release week into kinda the winter here. underscore_underscore_: I don't Yeah. Jaba: You're gonna have guys you like and they're gonna go through ebbs and flows for no real reason. ⁓ you know, people are gonna start getting pumped on Twitter. ⁓ people are gonna start getting bashed on Twitter. I think you should I mean, you should see if there's any serious, you know, stuff behind it. But, you know, be confident in yourself and your picks and don't you know, don't don't just chase what everyone's chasing. underscore_underscore_: Yep. Yep. It was that's a big thing, like you see that a lot in like ⁓ whatnot chat rooms, like, ⁓ this kid's going off and it's like going off to you and what would a player going off to like me or p person X or person Y could be entirely different. They could have a four hit game, two of ⁓ were bunt singles, one of them was a chop through the left side, and they hit a double to the wall. And that's a really good game in some people's minds. Like Do a little bit of research and I think it's a trap a lot of people fall into where they start buying a little bit of everything as opposed Jaba: Especially 'cause peop people are pumping the guys they they like. They ⁓ you know, we're all guilty of it to some degree. I think you and I try to be pretty underscore_underscore_: have product of. Like Jaba: open about who we're talking about and why and I think that, you know, at least I like to think that we have good reasons for it. ⁓ you know, we're not kinda just humping crappy guys full of hot air. ⁓ but you know, i if you see people saying stuff about a guy, ask yourself why they're doing that. underscore_underscore_: Right. Why are they buying him? Yep. ⁓ You know what we sh You know what would have been fun now that we're in this? If we did a draft of our top twelves. Like 'cause like I'm just going off guys you didn't take and I'm like, ⁓ Christian Zazueta, like, I'll take him. But like his prices are gonna be so high it doesn't make sense for me to say he's ⁓ like a buy for me that I would buy because I think he's gonna be too high. But Jaba: And it's more fun to do your own thing. ⁓ And so they lose. Yeah. I I that's why I left them off 'cause I was like the price isn't gonna justify it to me. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: So it's more of like a top twelve of who you're buying, not necessarily your best your top twelve ⁓ Jaba: Yeah, I mean I I do loosely think that it's the best, but I I mean l like I said, I I think the top three are in a tier by themselves. I think four through underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: four through nine are kind of in a tier by themselves. But w I think once you get to Slater DeBrune, Joniel Hernandez, and Santiago Solarte, I think they're ten to fifteen guys you could put in that ten to twelve range. I wouldn't argue with you. ⁓ those are just kind of personal favorites. underscore_underscore_: Mm. ⁓ ⁓ for sure. Yeah, like there's basically people who wouldn't have Solarte in there and I would 'cause I would bet on that monstrous upside. You got speed size power. Like there is whiff, but you you take that trade off with power and speed if he's able to get to the power enough. Jaba: Right. Exactly, and like, you know, in my head I'm like, Okay, well he's Marlins. ⁓ I took off Zezweta to put him in there. I like Zezueta a lot. Zezweta's almost certainly gonna have a higher career war than Salarte, but if Salarte hits his ninety ninth percentile, you know, you got a superstar in your hands. I may maybe not ninety ninth, I shouldn't say, but like his ninetieth percentile outcome is an all star. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ probably if I can get him cheap enough, buy some Alex Low Dice as well. Honestly. Like, he's just older, but he produces and the Braves sell really well, so that's more of like a strategy buy, I think, for me. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah, you you you have a nice parachute. underscore_underscore_: Like that'd be a more of a quicker flip kind? I mean he already got up to what? Is he is he's in double A now, right? Yeah. No, but three levels in a year coming out of I mean he's hitting three ⁓ seven with three home runs, nineteen nineteen strikeouts to three walks, so kind of part of the profile, but I'm just going through. We have tabs of every division, I'm kind of looking up and down them. Of kind of guys I would buy. I mean Jaba: Double A's not doing the greatest, but He's not he's not sucking either. underscore_underscore_: Jadir Suarez kind of feels like a guy who could sneak into people's top fifteen, if not better. ⁓ a lot of underlying metrics there that you kind of like in a young prospect. ⁓ I mean, one of the Tigers guys is probably gonna click, right? Whether it's De Los Santos, Randy Santana, or even Manuel Bolivar. I think one of ⁓ I don't know who. Angel Nunez is a guy we kinda talked ourselves into. I don't think not even talked ourselves into. He's a top ten international guy, like Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: A lot of that profile is I think guys you and I both buy and kind of seem that those are the guys we buy. ⁓ I gotta pick somebody. ⁓ whiteout. ⁓ Disable autopick. I got Dalton Kincaid. Go Bills. ⁓ I think ⁓ like he checks a lot of boxes at least with things that I like. If you haven't picked up by now ten episodes in, I really like left handed hitters. ⁓ I don't know. Prettier swing on Twitter. Like I don't know. Jaba: Why is that just for the listeners? Does it have to do with most pitchers being right handed or? underscore_underscore_: I mean you definitely have the advantage that way, right? Like ⁓ I so I guess probably. Partly, yes. Like you have the advantage in the matchup more often than not. And if you can have like good reverse splits, like then we love you. Like Xavier Nayans doesn't hit lefties well, but he also hit a ball like four hundred and eighty feet off of a lefty this year, so like that's all I need to see. Like, you know that meme like pure cinema. Like that's it. Like he he can do it. Jaba: Yeah. Yep. Almost it. underscore_underscore_: You got the Cardinals pitchers. Can't not talk about them if you're talking about top chases in the product with Jarangelo and Brandon Clark. Don't know that I'm gonna buy either of them, but ⁓ Owen airs, but again he's twenty-five. Jaba: I wanna get in on Brandon Clark so bad I just can't justify it. underscore_underscore_: That's a lot of the guys I think I d I I don't think I'm missing anybody really. ⁓ Jaba: ⁓ Frontado? What do you think about Frontado? Yeah, I took monies off too at the last minute. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Well Ricky Moneys. Yeah, I guess we missed like a whole team. Yeah, I guess we missed a whole team. Like, 'cause you're probably in on both of those guys, I would have to imagine, right? Like at least Money's, if not Frontado as well. Like at Money's is like strong, athletic, pretty solid across the board. People love brewers now. Jaba: I also thought he would be way higher just because his name is Ricky Moneys and that's cool. ⁓ and he's a brewer. People obviously love the brewers for good reason. Yeah. Yeah. If only they'd take ⁓ David Stearns back they'd be they'd be my team. But underscore_underscore_: Right. The bros becoming America's theme right now. Like well I guess with monies you'll have to see. Like like does he slide over to third base? And if he does, that puts more stress on the bat as for the profile of like a power hitting third baseman. Like Which I mean, again, you're nitpicking a seventeen year old, so do with that what you will. But they're so they're so loaded, too. That's another thing. Like an episode we talked about, like, alright, who's getting traded? Not saying it's gonna be him, but like Jaba: Sure. underscore_underscore_: You have Cooper Pratt who signed, you Made, Peña, Brady Ebble, Fisher's gonna play an infield corner, Blake Burke's an infield corner, like Luke Adams, like your your infield is getting pretty stacked right now for the Brewers the way the Dodgers outfield is, so Jaba: Yeah, it's getting stacked and it's getting stacked fast and most of these guys are ahead of underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Well, yeah, the Yankees guys, we didn't talk about Juan Torres. We didn't talk about Austin Overn. Fabricio Blanco is like really priced really strong in PYPs that I've seen and I'm not entirely sure why because there's no sample size there for anything. I don't know if people are just taking other people's prices and running with it. Jaba: I think that's what it is. underscore_underscore_: To be fair, he could be he could be great. I don't know. But we're we're talking about a eighteen at bat sample size of pro baseball. So with like but really good plate discipline. So Jaba: Yeah, I mean i i if we're wrong on that I'm I'm fine with us, you know, messing. underscore_underscore_: That that said I'll probably buy some too because he's a Ray and Ray seemed to develop pretty well, so I'll take a chance there. Do you have like one name completely off the wall that we haven't really dug in on that you would buy or tell people like this is like not even to buy p for themselves, but like this is a guy I'm buying. Regard like everybody everybody else be damned like this is a guy I'm buying. Jaba: Although the the ones underscore_underscore_: Or like a gut feel or anything like that or not really. Jaba: I mean, I I'd say Anthony Martinez. you know, I'm in a one hundred case or now ⁓ of him. you know, I think I kinda like Deward Tovar, not in like you know, pound for pound. But I think he's gonna be like a five dollar auto and I could see him becoming a fifteen to twenty dollar auto. underscore_underscore_: That's fair. That's fair, yeah. Right. It's like an abomelot or teas almost. Jaba: Yeah, I I I think that he's a good bet to have a Bowman. and I I I think sometimes you have to look at this from that perspective. underscore_underscore_: There you go, baby. Reddit. Yeah. Jaba: ⁓ versus ⁓ 'cause I I I mean, we're not gonna be holding any of these guys when they debut, most likely. You know, you have to remember you're not betting on this guy to be a Hall of Famer. You're betting on them to rise in popularity and kind of status at some point before they get called up or w by the time they get called up. ⁓ I think that that's important framing. Yeah, I think underscore_underscore_: No. Yeah. Jaba: Just kinda clicking through here. I think Ezekiel Melbourne. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Is interesting if he's super cheap. Just I think he's gonna repeat the DSL. He'll be seventeen for half of that campaign. ⁓ he got a huge bonus it's the Dodgers. You really don't have to do much to blow up there. ⁓ you know I'm not jumping up and down for the guy, but I like him. Like you said, Juan Torres I like a lot. ⁓ Isaias Castillo for the Yankees I also like. Not as much as Juan Torres. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: There's another one, but I'm not gonna blow up your spot there. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Think Kleiner Ramirez for the Mets might be worth looking at if he's cheap. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. I I feel like we've almost beaten this product to a pulp now. And I'm still gonna have to come back to this to know like every guy 'cause I'm gonna have names mixed up in my head. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Hyun Sung Li, I like. That's not a hot take by any means, underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. W one of those pirates are gonna collect two. I don't know who, but Jaba: Well, it won't Hun Sung Le. Well, I I I guess he could click. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: It won't well it c it could be. It would just be with the Marlins. Yeah, I don't know. Jaba: I'm just gonna I'm I'm just gonna stake my claim here on some guys that I think people are gonna lose money on. ⁓ I think let's see. Thought someone would like obviously come to mind. They're not. Owen Ayers. I'm avoiding him like the plague. Jancer Custodio with the Pirates, avoiding him like the plague. Thorlin Torres for the Reds. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yeah. Jaba: ⁓ I'm avoiding Synth J. ⁓ I'm happy to see him doing better, but I'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole. ⁓ Wilton Guerrero Jr. I also don't dislike him. I think you can make an argument that he's a buy, but I think because of his last name, he's gonna be overpriced. And I would tread carefully there. Joseph Sullivan with the Astros. ⁓ get me away from him. underscore_underscore_: Okay. Jaba: Yeah, that's kind of the that's kinda the guys that I'm terrified of that have some sort of decent profile. ⁓ alright. I think we've I think we've milked this cow. Yeah, I ⁓ I I enjoy these more than anything, just kinda babbling babbling ball. underscore_underscore_: Yeah, we're good. It was a fun one though. Jaba: ⁓ babblin' Bowman Ball. Okay, I'm gonna stop before I say something stupid. Alright. Well, as always, thank you all for listening. and ⁓ we'll talk to you guys ⁓ very soon. Happy ⁓ happy Bowman release day. One of our favorite days of the year. Alright, go Mets. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. And go