Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep. 38 Part I feat. Austin F.

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SATP Ep. 38 Part I feat. Austin F. · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:27
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:29
Twisted Pocket. We have a guest in here today
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and he's here to talk about some Texas Rangers, some prospects
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from college baseball in Texas, and some high school prospects
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who could potentially be in the draft for this year and next
0:43
year and beyond. Austin, welcome.
0:46
Just let the world what you do and everything else.
0:49
Well, thank you all for having me and I appreciate y'all taking
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the time to record with me today.
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Yeah. My name is Austin Farber.
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You can find me on Twitter X at Austin FO 421.
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A lot of my work is on prospectsworldwide.com.
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We have guys who are covering draft, covering pro ball.
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I'm the Texas guy. So I really trying to focus now
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on getting all the draft guys in Texas.
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Before I was kind of focused between minor League Baseball
1:15
and draft, but now I'm like really trying to focus on what I
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can see, so I've been diving into the draft quite a bit this
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year. Well, thanks for joining us
1:23
today, man. We appreciate it.
1:25
We're honored to have you. Rocky introduced me to some of
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the work you do. I think you do great work.
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So really excited to have no problem man, just excited and
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honored to have you today. And let's let's get off.
1:39
Let's kick it off. The first question I want to ask
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you is it's about the Texas Rangers.
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Of course you said you're, you follow that the Rangers and and
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you look at what they did immediately.
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They did not waste time. And I know I talked to you a
1:53
little bit earlier about this and you were like very
1:56
abbreviated about this, but I like to hear a few things about
2:00
what's going on. Jake Berger was acquired in the
2:04
offseason during the winter meetings.
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And a lot of people thought, man, getting a guy who hits for
2:08
power and then you put them in that lineup, it's going to
2:10
fortify that team, especially when it comes to power.
2:14
He got sent down the Otis Tavares.
2:17
He was part of the 2023 Rangers World Series roster in center
2:21
field. He got waved.
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And I believe the Seattle just recently claimed him.
2:27
And then Jock Peterson. Yeah, today and Jock Peterson is
2:31
off to a horrendous start and they had to fire the offensive
2:35
coordinator and Donnie Eckler and they went with something
2:38
Chris, Chris Young is familiar with.
2:40
And a little bit of an old school mind is Brett Boone, who
2:44
who used to play in the majors and he did hit for power.
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So I know so much going on in in that process and it's only in
2:51
early May, but what are your initial thoughts when you saw
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all those transactions this early?
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Yeah, You know, talking with a bunch of other Rangers fans like
3:00
Liotti just isn't that guy. So I was really happy honestly,
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when he got DFA D and good luck to Mariners fans dealing with
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them. He he has his moments.
3:10
Like he's not a terrible player by any means, but just his bat
3:13
is. He'll be good for like one week
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and then bad for three weeks. And honestly, his defense in
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center, it's not terrible, but he he's had some boneheaded
3:22
mistakes. So it's kind of just like I
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would rather have Evan Carter up there at this point.
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And I I know he had the back injury all of last year and he
3:30
played with through it until he had he had to get shut down.
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So I'm excited for him to get back up.
3:36
And yeah, as far as Jake Berger, like, I imagine he'll be back
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up. I don't think that this is going
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to be something where he's in the minor leagues too long.
3:44
Like remember last year Langford got sent down for a little bit
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like he just had to have a reset.
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And I'm not saying Burger is the same type of players, Langford,
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but sometimes guys just need that.
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So Burger might end up being called back up in like a month
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or so if he's, you know, found rhythm and he might just be
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adjusting and, you know, different, different climate and
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everything because Texas, like, my God, the weather is so
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bipolar here. So, yeah, you know, as far as
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Brett Boone, like, like you said, he's the guy that hit, hit
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for power. So I am hoping that he's able to
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tap into a little more offense with the Rangers because I was
4:19
looking at league standings. Like I haven't been able to
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watch the Rangers this year since they have their own
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network now or they're signed with that other private network.
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And I saw that there were 19th in home runs and 29th in runs,
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which is just atrocious. Like the overall pitching staff
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is pretty good, but if you're not scoring runs and backing up
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your pitchers, like everything, why the Rangers are where they
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are right now makes a lot of sense.
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I wanted to talk about some of the talk about your system a
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little bit with the top prospects that you have led by
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Sebastian Walcott. You guys have have called up
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Kumar. He's he's in the rotation right
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now. So just tell us a little bit
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about some of the prospects and the state of your farm system as
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as it stands right now. Yeah, So the Rangers are
5:07
actually in a really good place with the farm system overall.
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Like everyone knows Walcott's got the power.
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I do think that his issue is he's got some swinging miss in
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his game and he's going to have to continue to fix that.
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And I don't think he's ever going to be a guy that hits 300.
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But if he can even tap into like 55 hit where he's hitting like
5:24
270 every season, he has the potential to hit like 40 home
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runs every, not every season, but regularly.
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And I'm not sure where I would place him defensively right now.
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I've seen him have some time at 3rd.
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I don't think he's a bad shortstop, but obviously Seer is
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maybe like 3 years away from getting shifted over and I could
5:44
see a situation where if he's up next, I don't see him getting
5:46
called up this year at all. I know some Rangers fans like
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one him up, but he's only 19 years old, so you got to let you
5:52
got to season him a little bit. I could see him debuting
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sometime next year and I could see Young moving to 1st, which
5:59
would honestly, like, I'm not particularly for that just
6:03
because his defense is so good at 3rd.
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But when you're kind of in that situation where you want to get
6:08
Wall caught up, you have to make those kind of moves.
6:10
But yeah, I'm not going to go into too much into Walcott
6:13
because a lot of people already know about him.
6:15
But another bat that I really like is Dylan drilling the OR
6:19
drilling. I'm honestly not sure exactly
6:22
how to pronounce his last name, but he was the second round
6:24
Tennessee pick last year. I saw him in high a Hickory
6:28
streams last year and he's a guy who I'm pretty excited about.
6:32
I could see him also being like a 270 ish bat.
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I don't think that he's going to hit for a ton of power, but I
6:37
could see him pushing like 20 home runs a season and the
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defense is OK and nothing special, but he could be like a
6:45
5th or 6th hole hitter for the Rangers and then the Rangers
6:48
first round pick last year, Malcolm Moore, I did see that
6:51
this season. He's kind of calmed his leg
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kicked down a little bit and I think that's helping his timing
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it down, which I really don't know how to feel about Malcolm.
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I think he's a very high risk player.
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I could see him being an offensive minded catcher.
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His defense is nothing special. So he's really going to have to
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be like a 20 home run bat, which I could see happening.
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But I think that there's a lot of risk with him right now.
7:16
But yeah, so one guy who I've been on since like early last
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year, who's finally starting to trend up around the industry is
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Alejandro Osuna. I know my buddy Drake, saw him
7:28
at AFL last year live and he can back me up on this too.
7:31
I know y'all are going to have him on it, you know, the future
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episode. But he's a guy who I don't think
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he's going to wow anyone particularly, but I think he's
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got a fair ceiling and good for. I was talking about it with
7:46
somebody and his swing reminds me exactly of roof net odor.
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I think the bats going to be better than Odor, but you kind
7:52
of see like similarities when you're studying players.
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And I think that he could he could have Odor type power where
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it's like 20 to 25 home runs a season.
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I do think that the overall approach is way better than
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Odor. I think he's a guy who's going
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to take his walks, get on base and he's not going to expand his
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own a lot. So the strikeouts would probably
8:11
be about league average or slightly above league average.
8:14
I think he's got that good of an high.
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But what really impressed me at the Fall League is his defense
8:20
really improved. Like he got a lot of time in
8:22
center with Frisco last year. And I thought he was like not
8:26
fringe in center, but I didn't think that he was a big league
8:29
center fielder. I thought he was more of a right
8:31
fielder. But at AFL he he really balled
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out and he was like timing, timing the ball really well,
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making those jumps, climbing over the wall and, you know,
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jumping over the wall and making home run saving catches.
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So I think that that just adds even more value to his game.
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And I think this might be a bold take, but I could see him being
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a potential top 50 prospect over time, I think once other guys
8:53
start graduating. And I imagine he'll be up in AAA
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by the end of the season. So he he's another guy who like
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you can tell that I'm really hyped on him.
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I think that he's going to be a solid bat in the Rangers line
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up. Like again, not like a potential
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superstar, but I think a solid everyday regular who hits 20
9:10
plus home runs and takes his walks every year.
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But the last bat that I'll dive into before I get into an arm is
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going to be Yolfron Castillo. He's back at ACL this year.
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I really liked him at ACL last year when I was out there.
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I thought the hit tool was really good.
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I could see him being a plus hitter.
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The only thing that he really lacked in his game was power,
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which you know, in in today's game you gotta have power.
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Otherwise that hit tool's not really unless you're always to
9:37
rise and you have like an 80 hit you're, you know, if you don't
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have power, even if you have a really good hit tool, I, you
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know, you're not going to be an everyday guy if you don't have
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any kind of power. And so I think he's back at ACL
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this year trying to tap into more power.
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I did see that his handset is different.
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So I think he's trying to work on keeping the barrel through
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the zone more so he can impact the ball better.
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And the last guy in the Ranger system that I'll go get into
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here is an arm that's going to be Mitch Brat.
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He's been a guy, I think he was a 2020 draft pick and he's been
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in the system for quite some time.
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The Rangers have really taken their time with them.
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But he he is not a high end arm by any means, but I think he
10:18
could be a solid mid to back end rotation, potentially a very
10:23
good reliever if it that doesn't work out.
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But he's got a really nasty slider in my opinion, and his
10:29
command is really good. So I think that the Rangers have
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a lot to work with with Brat, and he's 21 in AA and starting
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off successfully. I gotta I gotta ask you a
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question about one name. I know that the seal, he was
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drafted the same year as Kumar Rocker and he hasn't been talked
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about enough. And I wonder where he's at.
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Brock Porter. Have you heard anything about
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him lately about him? Like what is his stuff for his
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situation where he's playing? Because he was highly touted
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like he was supposed to go I think second round or even first
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round. But I think the Rangers had to
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deal with them because they they they lost two draft picks
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because of the Corey Seeger signing and the Marcus Simeon
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sign. So it had to leap over to get a
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guy like that. So where is he at right now?
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I don't know if y'all remember like when Kumar was taken first
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round by the Rangers, that kind of blew everyone's mind and then
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it ends up they got Brock Porter.
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But I did see Porter last year, ACL actually, and I've always
11:26
liked his stuff. I think his issue right now is
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he's got a bad case of the yips. So he was, he was in ACL most of
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the year. I thought the slider looked OK,
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but he just was having trouble commanding the zone, throwing
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strikes. And I think he's kind of just at
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a stage where I don't know if it's like he was a high school
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pick. So, you know, he's trying to
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figure out his light, like his personal life.
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And I, I don't, I have no insight, but it makes me wonder
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if there's like something going on with like adjusting to
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professional ball, you know, being on your own the for the
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very first time. So he might be trying to adjust
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all that. And I think he's just in his
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head too much. So, you know, he looked really
12:07
good in 2023. I think he was, I think he even
12:10
made a high A and then things kind of just went S from there.
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So I I think that he's a guy where kind of like Mitch Bratt,
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he's probably going to be take the Rangers are probably going
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to take their time with him. I would imagine that he's
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probably going to be work slowly this year.
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I I I don't have any personal insight on that, but with the
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yips, you know, it's a mental thing.
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So they've really got to work on his mental aspect of the game
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and make sure that he's good. So I'm not sure if he's going to
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be back at ACL or like instructional camp or whatever,
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but he's he's a guy who's just struggling with the it's right
12:47
now. So the next question I want to
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ask you is like looking at the roster, like you said, they just
12:54
came out for World Series a couple years ago, missed the
12:56
playoffs last year, but they keep drafting guys.
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Like what are your expectations this year?
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Like how do you look at the pitching aspect itself?
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Because I know that the Rangers don't have that TV deal.
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You said they have that private deal right now at the moment,
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right? And I know that they were trying
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to spend money, but they did get Tyler O'Malley, who's off to a
13:16
great start. John Gray, I think he's on the
13:19
IL at the moment. And they're banking on the
13:21
younger kids. Like, how do you look at that
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roster as a whole? I think at some point this
13:26
season the offense does pick it up, especially with Brett Boone
13:29
as the hitting coach now. I don't think that they're going
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to be top of the league the rest of the season in anything.
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I think Simeon Simeon hits into a lot of bad luck.
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Like you know, he'll he'll hit the ball hard, but at people.
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So he he's just kind of one of those guys now and Seeger was
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hurt for a little bit. I I think if they can stay
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healthy, I could see an 85 to 91 one season.
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I don't I'm not expecting a whole lot.
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I do really like the rotation and the bullpen is pretty good.
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Like I'm really glad that degrom is healthy.
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Like baseball needs a healthy degrom.
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That dude is off to a phenomenal start.
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And it's good to see that he's, even though I can't watch him,
14:09
like just seeing his numbers right now, it's it's nice to see
14:12
that he's actually like not missing any starts.
14:15
And yeah, I would say like 8085 to 90 wins is realistic.
14:23
We wanted to ask you a little bit, but what what the ceilings
14:27
are for guys like Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker and obviously Wyatt
14:31
Lankford, who's off to another really, really good start.
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Jack Leiter just came back from injury, had a little bit of a
14:39
rough founding, but he looks to be figuring it out.
14:41
Kumar Rockers kind of dealing with some issues.
14:44
Just try struggling a little bit with this command right now.
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But what's going on with those guys and what are what's a
14:50
realistic ceiling for those players?
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So for someone like Jack, I could see him being like a back
14:57
end rotation guy, like #4 like a #4 starter.
15:01
I think that he's a good pitcher.
15:03
Honestly. If he asked me about Jack Leiter
15:05
in 2023, I was out on him. Like I saw him in AA and he
15:09
could not control his own at all.
15:11
He was getting every time he would have a failure, you could
15:15
tell that it was bothering him and his slider just didn't look
15:18
the same. So remember when he went to, I
15:22
think it was instructional camp during the season, like he he
15:24
was taken off the AA roster and then he went and trained and
15:29
that seemed to get things in in place where things are back.
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I guess for him. I think that the expectations
15:38
were really high because his numbers at Vanderbilt and how he
15:41
was throwing was really good. But people tend to forget that
15:44
it's college baseball and you know, numbers can be inflated at
15:49
at that level. But Jack, I could see him being,
15:53
I don't know if he's a long term pitcher.
15:56
I really, you know, it's impossible to tell how these
15:59
guys careers are going to play out, but I could see him being
16:02
like a #4 guy for like 5 plus seasons.
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And I don't think he'll be anything special, but I think
16:08
he'll at least be able to eat some innings and at least be
16:11
decent. But Kumar Kumar was another guy
16:14
I was on out on for a little bit.
16:15
Like I saw him at the 2022 AFL and the slider was really good,
16:21
but his command was not. And I thought of him more as a
16:25
reliever. And then I saw him at ACL last
16:27
year as well. I think it was a rehab
16:29
assignment and he's had some arm injury issues history.
16:34
I should say that I don't really see him as a long term starter.
16:40
I'm I'm sure that's going to piss off a lot of Rangers fans
16:42
hearing that, but I could see him being a really good setup
16:46
guy or like a very good closer. Like he's got this stuff for
16:49
that. I think that him being a back
16:51
end bullpen guy suits his role better than being a starter.
16:56
And then for Langford, I've been high on Langford since like 2023
17:01
like that. That's just a dude when I really
17:03
wanted Max Clark in that draft, honestly, But when the race shot
17:07
Langford, I was like, oh, well, that's, that's awesome.
17:11
And next thing you know, you know, he's already in AA the
17:14
year after he signed. And he's a guy.
17:17
I, I comped him to Ryan Braun and in my scouting report, I
17:20
think he's a guy who could potentially be 3030 every now
17:23
and then. I think he's at least a 30 home
17:25
run bat most seasons. I could see him hitting close to
17:28
like 300. I could see him heading around
17:30
to 90 at in his prime. He's just a guy that I think
17:34
he's going to be a middle of the order guy and I really really
17:37
want the Rangers to re sign him long term.
17:39
Like if they let him walk I will be so mad.
17:45
I got to say something quick about the Max Clark White
17:47
Langford thing. It's like.
17:49
I was going to say something too.
17:51
Go ahead. You can follow up here, but like
17:54
the thing it's like when you look at team like the Detroit
17:56
Tigers, I think they're a little bit more patient for a guy like
18:00
Max Clark. Weather for White Langford.
18:03
I know Robb, a Florida Gators fan, and I'm pretty sure he
18:05
probably could talk a little bit more but went Langford.
18:07
But Langford was a lot closer to the majors, man.
18:10
He was just pushing, mashing, mashing home runs.
18:14
And now it's like it's just a gift.
18:16
Do you remember that home run that he hit in the World Series?
18:20
I think it was like a go ahead late in home run.
18:23
That is what's that's what sold me on Langford.
18:25
Like I always felt that he was good.
18:26
But when I saw him like make that adjustment in in the middle
18:30
of that bat and crush that pitch, I was like, OK, I'm sold.
18:33
This guy is gonna be awesome. Yeah, he's he's a special
18:36
player. Was that when you when you won a
18:39
Max Clark? Was that more of because that's
18:42
who you thought was going to be there or you just didn't think
18:46
you had a chance at Wyatt Langford?
18:48
So it's like you kind of sold yourself a Max.
18:51
Kind of a mix of both and I think at the time I really loved
18:56
Max Clark ceiling. I kind of wanted to go with a
18:59
high school pick just, you know, put him in the system for three
19:03
years and then help you out by 2022.
19:06
And I don't know, I'm really glad that they picked Langford
19:10
at this point. But I I didn't actually, you can
19:14
ask Drake about this later, but he actually said that Clark
19:16
looks just like Corbin Carroll recently.
19:18
So yeah. So he he, he, I don't think he
19:22
could have gone wrong with either pick.
19:24
But I think at the time, I was just more excited about Clark's
19:28
upside and being younger. Like, I know he wasn't like a
19:30
young high school draft pick. I think he was like on the verge
19:33
of being 19 even, but I don't know, like, I, I think I was
19:37
just, I think I saw it or at least dove into Clark more than
19:42
I did Langford. But I, I will, I will say that
19:44
after the home run in the World Series, I was like, OK, yeah, I
19:47
changed my mind. So the next question I want to
19:52
ask you is a couple players that you wrote articles about last
19:56
year and obviously like Rob and I are, are big time prospect
20:01
guys, loves to follow the farm and.
20:03
When I saw the two names, I was like, I got to talk about these
20:06
guys and I want to hear your thoughts and what you wrote
20:08
about them is Yarlin Susanna and Lazaro Montes.
20:12
I know Susanna was in that monster package for Juan Soto in
20:17
that deal. And I remember when Mike Rizzo
20:21
talked about him, he was throwing Lights Out 100 with
20:24
ease at 1819 years old. And now his stuff is so damn
20:28
good. And you could talk about him and
20:31
Lazaro Montes the guy. The guy has some ruthless power,
20:35
like untapped potential. Like he could be the next big
20:39
thing for the Mariners once all set it down.
20:41
Like their farm is so good. But you could dive into those,
20:44
those guys. And if there's anything else
20:46
that comes to mind, you could also talk about them as well.
20:49
Yeah, so Susana, I heard from an ACL scout that I knew at the
20:53
time, I think he had told Drake and then Drake mentioned him to
20:56
me. So being the guy that what I
21:00
watched a lot of MIOBTV streams back then, I think I watched
21:04
like 4 outings of Susana for that scouting report that I did
21:08
and Oh my God, he, I'm pretty sure one of those outings
21:11
reached like 102 or 103. I'm pretty sure it was 102.
21:15
But you want to talk about a guy that throws hard?
21:18
He legit in one of those outings hit a dude in the head with his
21:22
fastball and that dude got put on the concussion list.
21:27
Talk about throwing hard man. But it's not just the fastball.
21:30
Like the fastball is like I put a seventy grade on that
21:33
fastball, right? I think I might even put an 80.
21:36
It was up there. But the slider is filthy.
21:40
He works a slider really well. He can mix it in.
21:43
I think what sold me though was his change up.
21:45
Like his change up had so much dive and it looked like his
21:48
fastball until it just dope and it was a wicked ground ball
21:53
pitch. Like he got everyone to swing on
21:54
top of it and beat it into the ground.
21:56
Like this is as a like a 19 year old kid in 2023.
22:00
So like at the time he was a really good prospect.
22:03
I think people just didn't care about him because his numbers
22:06
weren't good. And again, it's minor League
22:08
Baseball just like college ball. Like numbers don't really mean
22:11
as much because a kid like that who's got a filthy change up
22:15
hitting one O 2 has a really good slider.
22:17
And I will say, I think the reason why his numbers weren't
22:19
as good, his one downfall was his curveball.
22:23
That curve was it looked like a new pitch.
22:26
And there were a couple of times where I saw him toss it and it
22:30
was they were belted for home runs.
22:31
But his command also was the walk rate wasn't great.
22:35
But I will say like after the first inning, that's usually
22:38
when he got in the most trouble and then he would calm down from
22:41
there. And it wasn't like pinpoint
22:43
command, but he was controlling the zone.
22:46
He knew how to pitch. And just I think that dude is
22:50
probably a #3 potentially a #2 starter.
22:54
I, I think his ceiling is an ace.
22:57
I don't, I'm not saying he is an ace, but I think his ceiling is
23:00
that high. And I think safely I can say
23:04
he's a #2 or #3 starter. I, I, as you can tell, I'm very
23:07
high on Susana. And to see him finally climbing
23:10
up the industry list and everything, it's like we were,
23:14
we were talking earlier that, you know, we, we both Rocky and
23:18
I were talking earlier that like we both been on Susana since
23:21
like what, 2023? We're like he's been talking
23:24
about him for for as long as I'm.
23:27
I remember when that trade went down with with was it Soto?
23:31
Was it? Yeah, yeah.
23:32
Soto Trade. Yeah, Rocky was just raving
23:35
about this kid like he he loved them too.
23:38
So yeah, he's been talking about it for a while.
23:41
Well, The thing is that Yarland, Suzanne, there's another guy
23:44
similar to Suzanne. It was hard.
23:46
They got acquired last year. Was Alex Klemmy from that lane
23:50
Thomas Steele. That's another guy Mike Rizzo
23:52
can find those type of guys that he has something going on in
23:56
that organization. I'm curious to see what's the
23:58
finished product of that team once once they start contending,
24:01
right. So I mean, I mean, with Suzanne,
24:04
it's just he just throws like the guy, like you can't teach a
24:08
pitcher throwing that hard at that age.
24:10
It's like untapped potential. The fact that he's going to
24:14
develop a 55 change up is just insane too.
24:16
It's like if you're throwing, if you're throwing that hard, like
24:19
one O 2 and then your change up is like upper 80s, low 90s with
24:23
that much fade. Like the dude's not just going
24:25
to be a strikeout pitcher. Like he's going to create a ton
24:28
of weak contact. Like he, he's just insane.
24:31
Like I, I know he's climbing up, but I, I honestly think that
24:34
he'll be a top 50. I don't know where he's at right
24:36
now, but I imagine he's a top 50 guy within like the end of the
24:39
year. Yeah, and then then for them to
24:42
to find Travis Sikora in that draft too, man.
24:45
Like, yeah, like you said, they're just, they just know how
24:48
to find pitching, man. Like it's unreal.
24:52
They got the number one pick 2. If you want to put the ice, you
24:54
got the cake. So.
24:56
Oh, yeah. So.
24:57
So could they go with Seth Hernandez?
24:59
Could they go with Jamie Arnold? Or do they want to go with the
25:03
most potential with the holiday? Yeah, so so Drake was actually
25:11
the original guy that got me interested in Montez.
25:14
He saw an ACL game where Montez legit hitting 118 mile per hour
25:19
rocket like that. The sound off the bat in the
25:22
video is just nuts. Like you can find it on our I'm
25:24
pretty sure it's a YouTube short on our channel.
25:27
It definitely should be on our X.
25:29
You might have to do some digging though, because that was
25:30
like 2023 I think was when we were out there.
25:35
But no, like I saw that guy two or three times at ACL.
25:39
Like I know his MIMILB page has enlisted like 63210.
25:44
Like he's easily got to be like 656-6260.
25:48
And it's not just like all of that.
25:49
Like the dude is just a tank. And he's the exact kind of guy
25:53
where it's just like you expect hard contact every swing.
25:56
And I will say, like, I think his one issue is he needs to
26:00
recognize pitches a little better.
26:02
And I know he's gotten better about that since then.
26:04
I haven't seen Montez since like 20.
26:06
I didn't watch him at all last year, But I've heard that he's
26:09
gotten better about being able to impact some pitches better.
26:13
Like I thought that he was getting on top of a lot of
26:15
breaking balls and he was just pounding them into the dirt,
26:18
which, you know, for as hard as he hits him, I don't think he's
26:21
going to be too much of A concern.
26:23
But a guy like that, you definitely want to get him a
26:25
little bit more locked. And I think he's been working on
26:27
that as well. Not that he doesn't have like
26:30
he's definitely a power hitter, but you just want to get him to
26:34
a point where just he's able to impact the baseball and not just
26:38
hit it hard. And I think that he's definitely
26:40
a middle of the order bat. Like I don't think the hit tool
26:44
is quite at you or Don Alvarez's hit tool, but Jordan is a really
26:49
good com. I know a lot of the industry
26:51
also thinks he's thinks he's like Gordon 2.0 and I can
26:54
definitely agree with that. Like if you have that kind of
26:57
power and like his defense isn't great.
27:02
Like I thought it was OK. Like he he definitely has to
27:05
work on his glove, but just he there are power only guys, but
27:13
Montez is not like I don't think he's going to hit for a high
27:15
average, but I also think he he should have good on base
27:19
percentages. So he he's not just like a power
27:22
only guy. Like he he doesn't have somewhat
27:25
of a hit tool. So I think Montez is just he's
27:28
going to be a guy who at least keeps up defensively, but he's
27:31
just going to hit piss missiles. I don't know if you all don't
27:35
want that kind of language from there, but like literally he
27:39
hits piss missiles and it's like Mariners fans are so excited for
27:42
him and it's very understandable.
27:44
Very understandable why just the dude is just a tank.
27:48
Like his middle of the order production could be insane.
27:53
He recently tied tied our our guy actually to Arjun Namala for
27:57
the for the lead for the Northwest League in home runs.
28:00
He's on real power, man. You're not kidding with the piss
28:06
missile reference, But I want to touch a little bit on the on the
28:12
the the best team in college baseball this year, Texas
28:16
Longhorns. They have one of the best
28:18
rotations in in in college baseball.
28:23
You got Ruja Rojas, Jared Spencer, Aiden Moffett best best
28:28
just best pitching staff. So Andre Duplante the second
28:31
like they're just they're just loaded with pitching this year.
28:35
Tell us a little bit more about some of those guys and maybe
28:38
some guys I didn't mention. Yeah, so the, the guys that I'm
28:42
most familiar with, with the Longhorns pitching rotation are
28:46
going to be Spencer, who unfortunately, I believe he's
28:49
out for the rest of the year. I, I think he had some kind of,
28:53
I don't remember exactly what the injury.
28:54
Was shoulder, Yeah, I believe. Yeah, yeah, Shoulder, yeah.
28:58
So that's going to be a tough blow.
28:59
He was probably looking as an early day two pick.
29:03
Probably I, I would imagine like around rounds four or five,
29:09
three to five realistically. But I've seen him like there
29:13
were a lot of reports that he was up to 97.
29:15
I think I saw him hit like 98.1 outing.
29:18
And he he's a guy that really knows how to fill up the zone
29:22
with fastballs and then work his slider to create both with and
29:26
weak contact. Like just the way that he pounds
29:28
his own it it like that's what you want to see it in a Friday
29:32
night guy who is since mid 90s. So he he was definitely going to
29:35
be a high draft pick. Like I legit have a plus on his
29:39
fastball and slider. I don't think the change up is
29:41
very good. Honestly, I think it's a newer
29:44
pitch. Like he didn't start throwing it
29:45
until last year, but I don't think it develops into anything
29:49
special. It's more just like he has a
29:51
third pitch in his arsenal. The command honestly, for his as
29:55
much as he pounds his own, it like the command is pretty good.
29:59
Like it's not bad. It's not it's not pinpoint, but
30:03
he knows how to throw strikes. So you know, he he's a guy that
30:10
I don't know where he falls now, honestly, because of the injury,
30:13
he might end up going like 5 to 8 potentially.
30:17
I don't know how much that's going to hurt his draft stock.
30:20
But Ruger is another or is the other Longhorn that I'm pretty
30:24
familiar with. That guy is just awesome.
30:29
Like he he's 9195, he's got 5 pitches.
30:35
He throws A fastball, curveball, slider, cutter and change up
30:38
which you know, if any amateur pitcher knows that many like
30:42
that's kind of crazy. But yeah, you know, I I noticed
30:47
with Ruger, he kind of like mixes arm slots.
30:50
Like he'll throw a fastball like low 3/4 and then he'll he'll
30:55
like throw a different pitch and it's like almost sidearm.
30:57
So like that. I thought that was pretty
30:59
interesting. I think that his, but he's
31:02
another guy who I think both the his fastball insider plus I
31:06
don't think he, you know, I mentioned he has a cutter.
31:08
I don't think that's anything special, but I think that it it
31:11
does add some deception to his game where like he can throw his
31:15
fastballs got good ride and then he can, you know, mix in a
31:17
cutter and get a guy off balance that way.
31:20
But Ruger was so much fun to watch while I was scouting him.
31:24
I unfortunately, like Austin is about 2 1/2 hours away from me
31:28
and my job is on call. So I couldn't just like I I've
31:32
had a request off quite a lot of time from work so I can go
31:35
travel and everything, but Austin was a bit too, too much.
31:39
But yeah, you know, Ruger, I I could see him being a very early
31:48
day to arm. Like I actually have him.
31:51
I have, I have a list going for top bats and top arms in Texas.
31:55
And I have Ruger at #5 right now.
31:57
Like, I'm pretty high on Ruger. The next question I want to ask
32:02
you is the positional players you covered, right?
32:06
Like Riley Galvin has some power potential.
32:10
I believe he's a catcher, right? I believe so.
32:12
And then you got Julian Flores and Max Bellier, right?
32:16
Talk about those guys. And then if there's any other
32:18
names that you could talk about who could potentially be this
32:21
year draft or or have upside potential, you could mention
32:24
those guys as well. Yeah, so Galvin is interesting.
32:29
I don't think the bet is I don't think the bad is very
32:34
projectable, if I'm being honest.
32:36
Like I can see him getting picked probably like late day 2,
32:40
early day three. He's going to be more of let's
32:44
pick him and sign him and see what happens.
32:46
I, I feel like his catching is OK.
32:48
I don't think that he he will, not that he's a bad catcher.
32:54
I just don't think that it's anything special, but I do think
32:56
that he's a guy where a team will like what he's done this
33:00
season. Like he's got 13 bombs this
33:02
year. He he's got a bit of pop, so
33:04
they minimally can pick him late and then sign him and hope to
33:09
make to hope to develop the bat better.
33:12
But Balu, unfortunately is out for the season.
33:15
He fractured his thumb, I think act like I don't know if y'all
33:19
know, like I'm a huge Colton Couser fan because he's a Sam
33:22
Houston guy that I saw a lot while I was there.
33:24
Yeah. He's good.
33:26
Yeah, and he legit like I think a day after Kauser fractured his
33:29
thumb, Blue fractured his thumb. So I was like, I just need to
33:34
stop following these guys because I'm I'm bad luck
33:38
apparently. But he he's a guy who I don't
33:42
think the contact skills are there for blue.
33:45
This draft class is very, very interesting, especially for
33:48
Texas, like I think Case and Cunningham and handler for AM,
33:53
which we'll talk about later. I think those are the only guys
33:56
that really actually have a hit tool in this class.
33:58
Like I'm not saying blue isn't a big league bat because I do
34:01
think that he is, but he's definitely a power first guy.
34:04
Like he can smoke inside pitches and the power like the poolside
34:09
power is real. His defense, like I I like his
34:13
defense. Someone I, I think it was given
34:15
Jake McKeever like even mentioned that the ballpark kind
34:18
of like inflates his defense a little bit because there's not
34:21
as much grounded cover. I still think that he's good
34:23
enough that he should at least be a big league average
34:25
defender. So I think that he's kind of
34:28
like a #5 #6 hole hitter for for a team if everything pans out.
34:32
But you know, you can never predict those kinds of things.
34:35
You just have to like grade how you feel or like you grade them
34:39
based off what you see and how you think they'll project.
34:43
But you can never like actually say like, oh, this guy is for
34:45
sure like a #5 you know, anything can happen during
34:48
development. But I think that he projects to
34:50
be a number 5, number six hitter.
34:53
It's just I would have put him down as like a #3 round draft
34:57
pick. But now I'm not sure how the
34:59
fractured thumb will affect his draft stocks.
35:03
I'm not. I have no insight on that.
35:04
But Flores, like Jalen Flores, is really interesting.
35:08
He's definitely a power first bad.
35:10
But even then, I think the power is a bit inflated.
35:15
I think he's a mistake pitch hitter.
35:17
Like he'll like he's definitely got raw power, but I think that
35:22
he does most of his damage against weaker pitches.
35:25
So I I legit compared him to Tim Beckham.
35:28
I I think he's a good defender and like this what I'm about to
35:32
say, like might shock some people, but, and it's not my
35:35
comp because I just said Tim Beckham, but floors his actions
35:39
at short, like the way that he moves later laterally and like
35:42
keeps his glove, like the position that he keeps his glove
35:45
during those those movements reminds me a lot of Seeger
35:49
defensively, Corey Seeger defensively.
35:51
So I think he's a guy where he's probably a midday two pick.
35:57
Like he is a bit older for this. Any I think he's like a 22 year
36:00
old junior. Like he could have been drafted
36:01
as a 21 year old sophomore last year, which I think is also a
36:05
concern. It's like if he has been a good
36:07
college guy, I think teams have seen something that you know,
36:12
that prevented him from getting picked last year.
36:14
So I'm kind of unsure of his draft stock right now, but I
36:18
could see him being like a a midday two guy or a late day two
36:21
guy potentially. And it's just like draft him for
36:24
his glove and hope that the power develops better or he
36:27
develops a better hit tool. He he could be like a cheap
36:31
sign, surprising organization kind of guy.
36:36
Another team in the SEC that I wanted to touch on here a little
36:39
bit was Rockies, Texas A&M, Aggies.
36:45
They going. Against.
36:48
Going into the season, you know, they were rated pretty high so
36:54
and they've kind of, you know, they've kind of been an up and
36:56
down team this year. I'd like to talk a little bit
36:59
about their their pitching staff and the eligibility of some of
37:03
their guys like it got Ryan Prague or Justin Lampkin, Mouse
37:07
Pat and just to name a few, WO Moss, another one, Gavin Lyons.
37:15
Tell us a little bit about some of the guys that you know about
37:18
you've covered covering Texas baseball, college baseball.
37:23
Yeah. So actually Ryan Prager, he was
37:27
a top ten arm for me going into the season, but I think that
37:31
there have been some other guys that I don't think he's been.
37:37
I don't think he's shown enough stuff for me to keep him in the
37:40
top 10 because his fastball is like 87 to 89 touches 90, which,
37:47
you know, the average fastball nowadays hovers around 94.
37:51
So and his you know, he he knows how to pitch.
37:55
He's he's a deceptive pitcher that can get outs.
37:58
I think the slider is OK. I think the control is good.
38:01
It's just I don't think he really has like wow stuff.
38:05
I I do. I do think that he will
38:07
obviously get picked. I think he was what, an 11th
38:10
round draft pick by the Angels last year, Probably a mistake,
38:14
honestly, coming back. I think that maybe he's gotten a
38:18
little more exposed this year in the SEC.
38:20
But I will say, like Lampkin is a guy who I really like He he's
38:24
like 9194. I think that he's another guy
38:28
who doesn't have like wow stuff, but he knows how to pitch.
38:31
Like he's a very like the the slider plays really well off the
38:34
fastball. He's got to change up the
38:36
control is good. He knows how to throw strikes.
38:38
So I think that he's definitely in the top 10 for me for arms
38:43
out of Texas. I, I actually have #4 right now,
38:47
obviously this list could change within the next couple of months
38:49
just as I dive into other arms and, you know, anything can
38:53
happen last minute before the draft.
38:55
So I like the list that I have now is more just I'm kind of
38:59
work shopping it until it the final, the final production
39:02
happens. But Lambkin right now is top
39:05
five for me. And I think I love the control.
39:07
Like it's so hard. I don't think people understand
39:10
how hard it is to find a pitcher in college or high school that
39:14
actually knows how to throw strikes.
39:16
And Lambkin is definitely a guy that knows how to throw a
39:18
strike. So that that really he he won me
39:21
over with that. But you had mentioned Miles
39:24
Patton. He, he was, he transferred over
39:28
from Cal's Santa Barbara, right? I think that's the, the school
39:32
that he transferred from. He's, he's really interesting.
39:35
He's got like 5 pitches, but honestly, the, the slider or no,
39:41
the curveball, the slider is good.
39:43
The curveball is not the change up is not.
39:46
I I think that if he stuck to fastball slider, I think he has
39:51
a really good combo there. His command is pretty good, not
39:56
not great. I would I would say it develops
39:58
into big league average, which you know, it's not bad, but I
40:02
think he's either going to have to further develop the
40:05
curveball. Like there is not much bite on
40:07
that curveball. Like I've only seen it a few
40:10
times. So he kind of doesn't I'm not
40:13
speaking for him, but it's kind of like he doesn't trust it.
40:16
Like, it's almost like a new pitch.
40:17
Like I don't know if it actually is, but.
40:20
He's interesting. He I would see him as like a
40:23
midday two guy, but you know, I was actually talking with the
40:28
scout in a game one time and with the depth with or lack of
40:33
depth and at least within the state potentially like the
40:36
entire draft. Like he was saying, like, what's
40:38
the one school where you have potentially 3 guys to see for
40:42
this year's draft? And A&M was the answer.
40:45
So like Patton is definitely like at least a good draft pick.
40:48
I I don't know if he's like a big league arm yet, but I think
40:52
he's at least like a good draft pick.
40:53
So. The next question I want to ask
40:58
you is the positional player, part of the A&M Aggies, right?
41:03
And the most coveted player, of course, he's considered to be a
41:05
top five player pick in this year's draft is Jayce
41:09
Laviolette, outfielder. And then you got Kaden Kent,
41:13
who's also draft eligible as well.
41:16
I know there's some guys that that have more potential like
41:20
the Kaden Soros, Gravan Gahovic out for the year without a
41:22
fortune injury, injury and Blake Bindership.
41:26
But like, talk about some of the positional players that could be
41:30
eligible for this year's draft and beyond, the ones you know.
41:34
So you remember how I said I'm going to piss off a lot of Aggie
41:36
fans with the my take on Jays? Y'all ready?
41:39
Yeah, yeah, I'm ready. So I legit put a 40 hit on
41:43
Jace's bat. Like I think going into the
41:45
season, a lot of scouts knew that he's not going to be a guy
41:47
who hits for average. He's a very power oriented bat.
41:52
I, I comped him to Joey Gallo in my scouting report.
41:55
I think that's a pretty fair comp.
41:57
I think that the bat could be a little bit better than Gallo
41:59
just because he doesn't expand his zone a whole lot and but his
42:05
issue is in zone breaking balls like he if you notice his swing
42:10
in multiple games, it's literally the same swing every
42:13
time. He does not adjust the swing at
42:14
all like it's the same uppercut like up in the air like he
42:18
doesn't adjust for low. How should I say it?
42:21
Like it's like he's just trying to hit uppercut every time and
42:25
like if even if he makes contact against low breaking balls, like
42:28
he can hit some out because it's college baseball.
42:31
I think when he starts facing big league arms, I think that
42:34
hard contact against those the quote UN quote weaker college
42:38
breaking stuff when he faces big league arms are going to end up
42:41
being whiffs. I think he's just immensely
42:44
strong and like I legit have 80 raw power like I'm not batching
42:48
his power by any means. Like he easily could be a guy
42:51
that hits forty home runs at least a few times, but just I
42:57
just don't like his bat like I don't like his hit tool, but he
43:01
is going to go top ten because he is a really good athlete.
43:04
He's a plus runner and he at least should provide some kind
43:07
of defense whether he sticks in center.
43:09
I honestly think he can be a good right fielder and the arms
43:12
should play up there. But just I guess the way that I
43:17
Drake actually brought this up to the way that Lavalette swing
43:20
is, it's Robbie Grossman. Like it's definitely not the
43:23
same hit and powers Grossman that the the swings are pretty
43:27
much identical. And yeah, so I think he's going
43:30
to have to learn how to make swing adjustments in game.
43:33
Otherwise, like once he's facing plus or plus plus breaking balls
43:37
instead of like pounding them into the ground or muscling them
43:40
out, they're going to be weaker ground balls.
43:44
Obviously he still is strong enough that he could end up
43:47
getting hits with those, but it's not going to be at the same
43:49
rate. And he he's just a guy where
43:52
it's like you got a dream on the power.
43:54
But I don't think the hit tool is I, I think people are very
43:58
high in the power that they're kind of ignoring the hit tool.
44:01
So I think I've spent enough time like knocking Jace around.
44:07
We believe. It or not, I think you mentioned
44:08
Kaden Kent, who was the other guy.
44:11
But before, before I make that, you're not the first person that
44:14
made that comp with Joey Gallo and, you know, with the sides,
44:17
the power and everything, it's just that you you got to put it
44:20
all together. And when you go to the big
44:21
leagues, it's not easy. But yeah, Kaden Kent.
44:24
Yeah, Kaden Kent's another one. Yeah, he, he's interesting.
44:27
I I think he's got a decent eye at the plate.
44:29
Like I honestly don't know if he's like, I know he's draft
44:34
eligible this year, but I don't know if he goes very high this
44:37
year. Like I know he's had really big
44:39
clutch moments like that World Series, the College World Series
44:42
home run and then that super, super regional home run.
44:45
Like like those were impressive. His bat is just it's kind of a
44:52
mid, a mid projectable bat. Like it's not bad.
44:55
It's just not, it doesn't excite me.
44:58
And you know, I'm not saying he's a bad player, but I'm not
45:02
sure. Like, I think he's a junior this
45:04
year. So he could come back to A&M and
45:06
then, you know, he could show, show more production.
45:10
Not that he's not producing, but I think he could show more
45:11
projection, I should say. And I think that's probably the
45:15
better move for him. I I do like his defensive
45:17
versatility. Like I know he's kept a bit
45:19
short this year. I've seen him play left and I've
45:22
seen him play third and some second.
45:24
So I think that he does have enough out there where if he
45:28
doesn't stick it short, he should be fine in a different
45:31
position. So he he's a he's an interesting
45:33
guy. I just don't think that he is.
45:38
Like to me, he's not one of the bats that I'm more excited
45:41
about, I should say. No, because like I know that
45:47
there's other guys, they're still too far away at this
45:51
point. But is there any other names
45:52
that you would think like that you would consider saying
45:56
there's a lot of potential this guy or do you think those are
45:58
the two that probably be in this year's draft?
46:02
I will say I mentioned a name earlier, Wyatt Hensler.
46:04
I I think he's got a 55 hit tool.
46:07
I think his issue, he's going to be 24 by the time that the the
46:11
signing period ends. So that definitely hurts him and
46:13
he could have gone, he could have gone into the draft the
46:15
last couple years at Penn I I just love his hit tool.
46:20
Like he uses the whole field. He has really good drive up the
46:23
middle, like he can hit the ball to the track up the middle for
46:25
base hits. The contact is beautiful.
46:28
I think there's sneaky pop in there.
46:30
I think that his defense is a question mark.
46:32
Like I've seen him make really good plays and then other times
46:35
it's just like he shows no range laterally.
46:39
So I think he has a good shot at getting picked just because of
46:43
how good his bat is. But I don't know if a lot of
46:46
teams are going to want to pick a 24 like a guy who's going to
46:49
turn 24. So that might affect his draft
46:52
stock to the point where he's not picked again, But he he
46:55
still might end up going pro. I I could see him either being a
46:59
non drafted free agent or a late round pick and it's just like he
47:03
kind of climbs his way to the bigs and then he at least like
47:06
has a cup of coffee. I just love his hit tool.
47:08
Like I think they're sneaky pop. It's not like 20 home run pop by
47:13
any means, but I think there's enough in there to at least get
47:16
him through his system with how good the hit tool is that I
47:20
could see him at least being an org guy with who potentially
47:23
like gets a cup of coffee in the bigs.
47:25
Like if he wasn't 24 I would say he's an easy like midday two
47:29
guy, but you have to factor in like you know, how much can you
47:32
work with a 24 year old never been drafted prospect so.