Latest / Foul Territory / New Baseball America Top 100 Prospects List unveiled w/JJ Cooper

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New Baseball America Top 100 Prospects List unveiled w/JJ Cooper · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Baseball America. Is JJ Cooper joining us right now, also
0:06
Speaker 1: star of Hot Sheet every week, which you can catch
0:09
Speaker 1: on the Baseball American YouTube channel and on their podcast platforms. JJ,
0:12
Speaker 1: I'll let you announce to the world this very big
0:14
Speaker 1: day in Baseball America. I don't want to say history
0:17
Speaker 1: because it happens every year, but it is one of
0:19
Speaker 1: the most popular days for the publication. We're all staring
0:23
Speaker 1: at the Top one hundred Prospects List, Top.
0:25
Speaker 2: One hundred prospect cilists out. I want to say, first,
0:27
Speaker 2: Aj and Eric, I agree with you guys, like that's
0:29
Speaker 2: a great trade for the Mets. We'll see for the
0:30
Speaker 2: White Sucks. But yes, Akunya utility man, we'll see how
0:33
Speaker 2: it turns out. But yes, it's top hundred day. We're
0:36
Speaker 2: talking about guys who should turn out to be a
0:38
Speaker 2: little bit more than that top of this list. I
0:40
Speaker 2: would say is as one of those we have years
0:44
Speaker 2: where you're like, okay, you got to rank someone number one.
0:46
Speaker 2: You have other years where you have multiple guys that
0:48
Speaker 2: you would love to rank number one. I think a
0:50
Speaker 2: couple of years ago when we had like shoey Otani
0:53
Speaker 2: and Fernando Tatist Junior and Vladimir Guerrero Junior. Like, okay,
0:57
Speaker 2: can we rank three guys one or Bobby Witt Junior
1:00
Speaker 2: and Adlie Rushman and Julio Rodriguez. This year is a
1:03
Speaker 2: little bit closer to like that. Connor Griffin, Pirate shortstop,
1:07
Speaker 2: is our number one prospect on the list, But Kevin McGonagall,
1:10
Speaker 2: the Tiger shortstop, is our number two prospect, and there
1:14
Speaker 2: are a lot of years that he would be number
1:15
Speaker 2: one on this list. These are two guys who have
1:19
Speaker 2: very well rounded skill sets. In the case of Connor Griffin,
1:22
Speaker 2: you could be a plus shortstop, you could be a
1:24
Speaker 2: plus or better defender and center. It's kind of where
1:27
Speaker 2: the Pirates want to play him. Power, speed, arm. And
1:31
Speaker 2: in mcgonagall's case, you're talking about a guy who's one
1:34
Speaker 2: of the best hitting prospects we've seen in years. We
1:36
Speaker 2: put an eighty on his hit tool, which is the
1:39
Speaker 2: top of the scale. I think the last time we
1:40
Speaker 2: did that was Vladimir Guerrero Junior several years ago now.
1:44
Speaker 2: So it's a very talented top of this list, and
1:48
Speaker 2: it's also the most shortstops we've ever had on it.
1:50
Speaker 2: Twenty eight short stops in the top hundred I think
1:53
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of that that the success of
1:57
Speaker 2: the Corey Seegers, the Carlos Correaz and al mean that
2:01
Speaker 2: shortstops are allowed to stay there. At Elie de la Cruz.
2:04
Speaker 2: You're allowed to stay there even if you're big and tall,
2:06
Speaker 2: a little bit more often than you were in the past,
2:09
Speaker 2: and so maybe that's why it is. But the top four,
2:11
Speaker 2: as you see right there on our top ten, are
2:14
Speaker 2: all short stops, and Cole Emerson at number seven as
2:17
Speaker 2: well also a shortstop. Many more short stops on this
2:20
Speaker 2: list after that as well.
2:22
Speaker 3: When you put an eighty on a hit tool, I
2:24
Speaker 3: don't know that everybody understands Kevin McGonagall hit tool eighty
2:28
Speaker 3: When you said Vladimir Guerrero, that's like elite company. Doesn't
2:32
Speaker 3: that make his impact in the big leagues sooner than
2:36
Speaker 3: a Connor Griffin Because Connor Griffin, regardless of what team
2:40
Speaker 3: he's playing on, it's you know, Connor Griffin's large. He's
2:44
Speaker 3: got to learn, he's got to learn the position, how
2:46
Speaker 3: to move with that body. There's a little bit more
2:49
Speaker 3: question marks. So is mcgonagall's hit tool what pushes him
2:54
Speaker 3: to the big leagues successfully Before Connor Griffin, who has
2:59
Speaker 3: to like iron out some things being such a big shortstop.
3:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think McGonagall is a shorter guy, and I
3:05
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of value that for hitting ability,
3:07
Speaker 2: because again it's shorter levers. He's got excellent plate coverage.
3:10
Speaker 2: The thing that McGonagall has that we love to talk
3:12
Speaker 2: about is is it's really hard to find kind of
3:15
Speaker 2: the weakness a lot. Usually you see guys and if
3:19
Speaker 2: they can hit for power, they're doing that by losing
3:21
Speaker 2: a little bit of context still to do that. If
3:23
Speaker 2: you guy is a baby able to really kind of
3:27
Speaker 2: hit pitches in the zone, often there's a little bit
3:29
Speaker 2: of aggressiveness with that. You know, maybe you chase a
3:31
Speaker 2: little bit. McGonagall doesn't chase. He's among the best players
3:34
Speaker 2: in the miners at not chasing pitches outside of the
3:36
Speaker 2: strike zone. But it's not because he rests the bat
3:38
Speaker 2: on his shoulder if it gets a pitch in the zone.
3:41
Speaker 2: He's actually very aggressive at hitting it. And then you
3:44
Speaker 2: look at it and say, okay, well what about the power. Well, no,
3:46
Speaker 2: he has real premium power. He hits the ball extremely hard.
3:49
Speaker 2: We watched a home run he hit against Harlan and
3:51
Speaker 2: Susanna last year. I think it was one hundred and one,
3:54
Speaker 2: you know, coming in, and it was like one hundred
3:56
Speaker 2: and twelve going back out. He hit a four hundred
4:00
Speaker 2: forty four hundred and fifty plus feet there's real power here,
4:03
Speaker 2: but he does that while covering. There's not really a
4:06
Speaker 2: lot of holes at the plate. There's not, literally, if
4:08
Speaker 2: you're a pitcher, there's not something that you can do
4:10
Speaker 2: consistently and get McGonagall out. And he also doesn't really
4:14
Speaker 2: have a whole lot of platoon problems either. He's a
4:16
Speaker 2: left handed hitter who handles lefties pretty well, handles right
4:19
Speaker 2: he's even better. But you look at it and say, yeah,
4:22
Speaker 2: I think that this is a guy who as a
4:24
Speaker 2: hitter is pretty close to big League ready right now. Yes,
4:28
Speaker 2: he may have a little bit of adjustment. Everyone does
4:29
Speaker 2: when they hit the majors, but there's not a whole
4:32
Speaker 2: lot for him to work on in the miners. As
4:34
Speaker 2: a hitter. The question is going to be shortstop. He's
4:37
Speaker 2: That's why Connor Griffin Reck's number one short He's a premium,
4:41
Speaker 2: impactful shortstop. Defensively, McGonagall is someone who could maybe play shortstop,
4:45
Speaker 2: but the arm's a little thin. The range is a
4:47
Speaker 2: little short for short. Most scouts that we talk to
4:50
Speaker 2: think that he's going to be an above average or
4:52
Speaker 2: better defender at second But as we all know, there's
4:55
Speaker 2: a second basement named labor Torres there for right now.
4:58
Speaker 2: So we'll see where mcguy fits as a player on
5:02
Speaker 2: this Tigers roster, you know, for opening day or a
5:04
Speaker 2: little bit later, because he's got to kind of find
5:06
Speaker 2: a defensive home.
5:08
Speaker 4: Okay, I know, Connor Griffin. We can expect to see
5:11
Speaker 4: in twenty six McGonagall. I think they've said twenty six
5:15
Speaker 4: weather Hole possibly in twenty six, which is great. What
5:19
Speaker 4: about I mean, by the way, I love Hayeshu's maid
5:21
Speaker 4: Jesus Made. That's amazing name. By the way, I just
5:24
Speaker 4: want to say that.
5:24
Speaker 5: That's Walker Jenkins, Max Clark.
5:26
Speaker 4: Some of these the next guys, right, are those guys
5:29
Speaker 4: twenty six debuts more than likely or they maybe a
5:33
Speaker 4: year or two away.
5:34
Speaker 2: I would say everyone in that top group except for
5:36
Speaker 2: Made Made, is very much on the Jackson Surio plan.
5:39
Speaker 2: Jackson Surio spent all of the year his eighteen cachagen
5:43
Speaker 2: season in Class A, got to bump up to double
5:45
Speaker 2: A for six games in Maday's case, he was in
5:48
Speaker 2: a ball for all of his age eighteen season and
5:50
Speaker 2: got to bump up to Biloxi for five games. He'll
5:53
Speaker 2: go to Biloxi to start the year. Churio spent almost
5:55
Speaker 2: the entirety of that age nineteen season a double A,
5:58
Speaker 2: got a little taste of triple the end of the year,
6:00
Speaker 2: and then was on the opening day roster of the
6:02
Speaker 2: next year. I think Maddy's kind of on that path. Jenkins,
6:05
Speaker 2: we're gonna I would expect to see Jenkins. The Twins
6:07
Speaker 2: are gonna need him there, you know, kind of it's
6:09
Speaker 2: they But Jenkins is was in triple A at the
6:12
Speaker 2: end of last year. Clark was in double A. But
6:14
Speaker 2: at the same time, I think that both of those
6:16
Speaker 2: guys you'll be later in the season, but you expect
6:19
Speaker 2: both of those in twenty six Weatherholt, I would say
6:21
Speaker 2: the Aeronauto trade kind of cleans clears the path for
6:25
Speaker 2: him to be in the big leagues as soon as
6:27
Speaker 2: opening day. Could be their third baseman, you know, or
6:29
Speaker 2: you can also play second. Obvious, it's not gonna play short.
6:32
Speaker 2: They got to go glover there with Mason win. But
6:34
Speaker 2: then you look also on this list, the two top
6:35
Speaker 2: pitchers on this list, Nolan McClain. You talked about that
6:39
Speaker 2: the Mets need pitching, and I agree, they still need
6:41
Speaker 2: more starting pitching. But Nolan McClain has shown okay, he's
6:44
Speaker 2: written an ink into the front of that rotation. And
6:46
Speaker 2: then Treya Savage, who's our other top pitcher in the
6:49
Speaker 2: top ten, has obviously already pitched successfully in the postseason.
6:52
Speaker 2: So those two guys are now firmly established in the
6:54
Speaker 2: big leagues. Most of this top ten we would expect
6:57
Speaker 2: to graduate over the next you know, twelve months. I
7:01
Speaker 2: would say at this time next year we're talking Hayesu's
7:03
Speaker 2: made is probably the most likely of that top ten group.
7:06
Speaker 2: Who won't you know, to still be around, still be
7:08
Speaker 2: prospect eligible.
7:11
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8:11
Speaker 5: Okay, JJ, that was my next question.
8:13
Speaker 4: Nolan McLain, Samuel Bassio, and Treya Savage have already proven
8:16
Speaker 4: they can play in the big league. Shouldn't they be
8:18
Speaker 4: higher on this list? Because I mean, your Savage did
8:21
Speaker 4: it in the biggest stage in the world in the playoffs, right,
8:24
Speaker 4: McLean was in a pennant race, came up, didn't lose anything.
8:26
Speaker 4: Psaio comes up, signs a big contract, he's locked in
8:30
Speaker 4: with the Orioles. So shouldn't those guys because you know
8:32
Speaker 4: they're going to be there for sure, shouldn't they be
8:34
Speaker 4: like one, two, three? Is it more potential than it
8:36
Speaker 4: is what we've already seen, because I mean, hell, if
8:38
Speaker 4: I had to bet on one guy on this list
8:40
Speaker 4: to be pretty good, I'd probably take you Savage whose tenth.
8:44
Speaker 2: I will say, though, like, this is where with Connor Griffin,
8:46
Speaker 2: this is where I want to I don't want to
8:47
Speaker 2: go overboard. I don't want to put something unfair on
8:49
Speaker 2: these guys. But when you look at the history. I
8:51
Speaker 2: just did a study of this of all of our
8:54
Speaker 2: top one hundred prospects in every Major leaguer who produced,
8:57
Speaker 2: who was in the major league's debuted from nineteen ninety
8:59
Speaker 2: to present, and the Connor Griffin's of the world, the
9:03
Speaker 2: guys who ranked number one, number two, number three, Like
9:06
Speaker 2: you can expect him. It will be a disappointment if
9:09
Speaker 2: he's not like a ten year big league veteran starter,
9:14
Speaker 2: you know, the twenty five thirty forty war player. Like
9:17
Speaker 2: if you look at where Connor Griffin is right now,
9:20
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you that he's going to
9:21
Speaker 2: be Bobby Wit junior, but it is that kind of
9:24
Speaker 2: development path we're seeing. And let's say that, let's just
9:27
Speaker 2: say that he's seventy five percent of Bobby Wit junior, right,
9:30
Speaker 2: that would still be one of the better players in
9:32
Speaker 2: the major leagues. I think with Kevin McGonagall, we're also
9:34
Speaker 2: talking within that range. Yes, these are pitchers who have
9:37
Speaker 2: already established themselves in the big leagues, but they're also pitchers,
9:40
Speaker 2: and so I think that we just know that with
9:44
Speaker 2: even great pitchers, you always have obviously a higher injury risk.
9:47
Speaker 3: There.
9:47
Speaker 2: We're always a little bit more hesitant about pushing a
9:50
Speaker 2: pitcher too high because we the chances of a Connor
9:55
Speaker 2: Griffin or Kevin McGonagall missing season and a half out
9:59
Speaker 2: of their next six season is pretty unlikely. It's happened,
10:02
Speaker 2: but it's pretty rare for position players. With pitchers, unfortunately,
10:06
Speaker 2: it's you know, there's a there's a decent there's decent chance,
10:09
Speaker 2: decent odds that at some point you may have a
10:11
Speaker 2: serious injury that's going to cost you significant time.
10:15
Speaker 3: You were talking about how the top four shortstops, the
10:18
Speaker 3: top three are all cold weather kids. When I say
10:22
Speaker 3: cold weather from high schools that played in the cold,
10:26
Speaker 3: have you ever seen something like that? Obviously a guy
10:29
Speaker 3: from the North. I live pretty much fifteen minutes from
10:32
Speaker 3: where McGonagall went to high school. And is this something
10:37
Speaker 3: that is normal, because, like you said, it's about like, oh,
10:40
Speaker 3: it's about potential, and there's potential in there, and sometimes
10:44
Speaker 3: cold weather kids don't get the same.
10:46
Speaker 2: You know.
10:47
Speaker 3: The warm weather guys are already like they're there, there
10:51
Speaker 3: are their abilities there, and then the other guys kind
10:53
Speaker 3: of like come on late.
10:55
Speaker 2: So I think that is one way that we could
10:57
Speaker 2: talk a lot of ways about how the base all
11:00
Speaker 2: environment has changed for the worse, you know, over the
11:02
Speaker 2: last twenty five years. But I think this is an
11:03
Speaker 2: example of how it's changed for the better. Right, Connig Griffin,
11:06
Speaker 2: the Mississippi kid that's still that used to be a
11:09
Speaker 2: really scary demographic for that. Like you said, McGonagall and
11:11
Speaker 2: Weatherhold are both guys who come from really cold weather.
11:14
Speaker 2: That used to be that you were not going to
11:16
Speaker 2: get enough playing time against quality competition to really develop, Right,
11:21
Speaker 2: that was gonna be a problem nowadays. Kevin McGonagall, JJ Weatherhold,
11:26
Speaker 2: weather Hold went to college. But even before then, these
11:29
Speaker 2: guys are facing ninety five plus on the Showcase circuit
11:33
Speaker 2: in the summer. They're facing guys from all around the
11:35
Speaker 2: country in the summer, which means that instead of it
11:38
Speaker 2: being something where the first time that Kevin McGonagall makes
11:41
Speaker 2: his pro debut, he steps in, he's like, what is this.
11:44
Speaker 2: I haven't seen any pitching like this before. He's seen
11:47
Speaker 2: it now, and I think that that combined with I
11:50
Speaker 2: would say also like kind of the improved instruction. We've
11:54
Speaker 2: seen this with the Wisconsin kids. You know, we used
11:56
Speaker 2: to never see any high school kids come out of Wisconsin,
11:58
Speaker 2: and now we see a ton of them. It's because
12:00
Speaker 2: I think that these areas you can really develop and
12:04
Speaker 2: you can also then hit the Showcase circuit. You're not
12:06
Speaker 2: just playing your high school competition during the spring. You're
12:09
Speaker 2: facing the best players in the country during the summer,
12:12
Speaker 2: and that both gives teams of a higher comfort level
12:14
Speaker 2: with you, but it also gives those players an ability
12:18
Speaker 2: to kind of develop at a faster pace because they
12:21
Speaker 2: face top competition.
12:23
Speaker 3: I saw Connor Griffin when he was a junior and
12:26
Speaker 3: he reclass to being a senior. Obviously, the makeups off
12:30
Speaker 3: the chart. But one thing that you hit on was
12:32
Speaker 3: Mississippi kids. I worked for the Red Sox when they
12:36
Speaker 3: had Blaze Jordan. I think its Blaze Jordan and he
12:39
Speaker 3: was a number two second rounder for Red Sox, had
12:43
Speaker 3: a lot of prospect status to him. And a scout
12:46
Speaker 3: told me kids hitters from Mississippi never work out. So
12:51
Speaker 3: is there fear there with the Connor Griffin And this
12:55
Speaker 3: is a scout And I'm not saying scouts know everything,
12:58
Speaker 3: but they're working on history. Is there a fear there?
13:02
Speaker 3: And can Connor Griffin debunk those fears because of doing
13:07
Speaker 3: one thing? Is there something he can do to debunk
13:10
Speaker 3: that fear?
13:11
Speaker 2: I always say that was a real It's funny like
13:14
Speaker 2: even as late as last spring, I was hearing scouts
13:17
Speaker 2: refer to like, well, looking at that short stop class, well,
13:20
Speaker 2: they're better hitters than Connor Griffin was. Because Connor Griffin
13:22
Speaker 2: was in high school, there were real hit tool concerns.
13:25
Speaker 2: He had a little bit of an armbar. And then
13:29
Speaker 2: he went off in that offseason and really worked on it,
13:32
Speaker 2: and as soon as spring training it became pretty clear like, oh,
13:34
Speaker 2: this is a better hitter than we thought he was.
13:36
Speaker 2: You know, as much as I just talked about Kevin
13:38
Speaker 2: McGonagall being the you know, the eight hit tool, Connor
13:41
Speaker 2: Griffin is the guy who hit for a higher average
13:44
Speaker 2: low A, high A, double A, and he had a
13:46
Speaker 2: you know, hit well over three twenty last year. He
13:49
Speaker 2: kind of answered a lot of those questions. There are
13:51
Speaker 2: those concerns because especially I think a lot of it
13:53
Speaker 2: comes down to the quality of competition you're seeing in
13:56
Speaker 2: the spring, the difficulty of evaluating those players to come
13:59
Speaker 2: out of high school. There are not a whole lot
14:02
Speaker 2: of success stories out of that. But I do think
14:04
Speaker 2: that Connor Griffin has already showed that the season he
14:07
Speaker 2: had last year. It doesn't mean he's a big leaguer
14:10
Speaker 2: a successful big leaguer already, obviously, it doesn't do that,
14:12
Speaker 2: but he did show like he started off in low A,
14:15
Speaker 2: and for a guy coming off of that background, even
14:18
Speaker 2: as a first round pick, if he'd just spent the
14:20
Speaker 2: first half season or even four months in low A
14:24
Speaker 2: and then played his way to high at the end
14:25
Speaker 2: of the season, that would have been a very successful season.
14:28
Speaker 2: And instead he was the best player in that league,
14:30
Speaker 2: so clearly the best player that they had to get
14:33
Speaker 2: him out of there in just a couple of months.
14:34
Speaker 2: They go to High A. He's now younger than anybody's
14:37
Speaker 2: facing and he's the best player in that league by far,
14:39
Speaker 2: and they have to get him out of there. And
14:41
Speaker 2: then he's in Double A on a playoff team. Like
14:43
Speaker 2: there was a great playoff series where it was Eerie
14:45
Speaker 2: versus Altoona McGonagall versus Griffin, and Connor Griffin was the
14:49
Speaker 2: best player on the field in that series as well.
14:51
Speaker 2: Every level he went to, he just kept improving, kept
14:55
Speaker 2: standing out, and I would say that everything else you
14:58
Speaker 2: could feel pretty comfortable about. This is like what Bobby
15:00
Speaker 2: what Junior had coming out of high school. You love
15:02
Speaker 2: the tools. The question was how much was he gonna hit?
15:04
Speaker 2: And then I remember that pandemic spring training that they had,
15:08
Speaker 2: you know, that weird spring training in like June, and
15:11
Speaker 2: they come to the realization, oh, Bobby Wit Junior is
15:13
Speaker 2: probably the best player we have in big league camp
15:15
Speaker 2: for this. We're not going to bring him out, you know,
15:16
Speaker 2: we're not gonna break camp with them. But he can
15:19
Speaker 2: hold his own. We saw that with Connor Griffin as
15:21
Speaker 2: early as last spring training. That's the tricky part that
15:24
Speaker 2: the Pirate's gonna have. Yes, they can hold him back.
15:27
Speaker 2: He just got to double at the end of the year.
15:29
Speaker 2: They could hold him back, send him back to double A,
15:30
Speaker 2: send him a triple A to start the year. But
15:32
Speaker 2: the reality of it is is they're not going to
15:34
Speaker 2: have any shortstop and then you know, okay, you could
15:37
Speaker 2: say O'Neil Cruz, but they're not really gonna have a
15:39
Speaker 2: center fielder in camp who's better than him. So the
15:42
Speaker 2: challenge is going to be do you send him out
15:45
Speaker 2: even though if you just at the end of spring
15:47
Speaker 2: training have an honest evaluation of it, he's going to
15:50
Speaker 2: be their best defensive shortstop, and he's going to be
15:52
Speaker 2: the most athletic shortstop, and he's probably gonna be the
15:54
Speaker 2: best hitting short stuff they have in big league camp.
15:58
Speaker 4: Okay, by the way, I just wanted to the Mississippi
16:00
Speaker 4: thing because rafay Al Palmeiro, Will Clark, Jake Magnum, Mitch Morland.
16:06
Speaker 5: I mean, there's a whole college.
16:07
Speaker 2: Yes, high school guys know that's the problem.
16:10
Speaker 5: Okay, Okay, I mean I'm just saying because.
16:12
Speaker 2: They get Hunter Renfrow another one, there there's a lot of.
16:15
Speaker 4: Fun throw There's been some pretty good, pretty good dudes
16:18
Speaker 4: that have come out of that was just Mississippi State.
16:20
Speaker 4: I didn't even look at Mississippi, So I mean there's
16:22
Speaker 4: some there's some interesting. Anyways, move a little bit away
16:27
Speaker 4: from that, who is the biggest riser on this list?
16:29
Speaker 4: Who are the biggest people that kind of came out
16:31
Speaker 4: of nowhere and shot up the ranks to surprise people.
16:36
Speaker 2: I would say that we have Carter Jensen, number eleven
16:39
Speaker 2: on this list, the Royals catcher, and that is the
16:41
Speaker 2: example aj of what you were talking about. So this
16:43
Speaker 2: is an example of a guy who did it and
16:45
Speaker 2: then did it at the big league level. Jensen kind
16:48
Speaker 2: of came into the year as a solid prospect, but
16:51
Speaker 2: then really just kind of set the world a blaze
16:54
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues as you know, as again as
16:56
Speaker 2: a catcher who both show that he can handle the
16:59
Speaker 2: job defensively but also could hit like a middle of
17:01
Speaker 2: the order bat. Futures Game, he had one of the
17:04
Speaker 2: best vps we've seen at the Futures Game in several years,
17:07
Speaker 2: I would say, which really kind of, you know, my
17:10
Speaker 2: job dropped a little bit watching that came up at
17:12
Speaker 2: the end of the season for the Royals and really
17:14
Speaker 2: kind of showed that he kind of could hold his own,
17:16
Speaker 2: you know, didn't look out of place at the big
17:17
Speaker 2: league level. I think that this is kind of a
17:20
Speaker 2: perfect situation for him and the Royals. Obviously they still
17:23
Speaker 2: have Salvador Perez, but I think that they were a
17:25
Speaker 2: little bit more comfortable trading for me to that deal
17:29
Speaker 2: to the Padres because they know that they've got someone
17:32
Speaker 2: here who can kind of do that job share with
17:35
Speaker 2: Perez as Perez gets older, where it kind of takes
17:37
Speaker 2: on more and more of that role. Maybe kind of
17:39
Speaker 2: even extends salve Perez's career a little bit because you
17:42
Speaker 2: won't have to have as much wear and tear. Can really,
17:45
Speaker 2: you know, Can is a solid catcher defensively, but most
17:49
Speaker 2: catchers nowadays, you know, a lot of guys is like, okay,
17:51
Speaker 2: you're going to bat him seventh, eighth or ninth. This
17:53
Speaker 2: is a guy who could bat much more in the
17:55
Speaker 2: middle of your lineup. Real power here and also showed
17:57
Speaker 2: some hitting ability. And we just kept every time we
18:00
Speaker 2: kept talking to people, he just kept moving them up,
18:02
Speaker 2: kept moving them up, and we turned around it's like, oh,
18:04
Speaker 2: he's the second best catcher on this list, only behind Basailloh.
18:08
Speaker 3: Which teams, Which teams are the most represented, because there's
18:12
Speaker 3: as a player, you'd look at it and you go, oh,
18:14
Speaker 3: I remember playing against that guy. I didn't like that guy.
18:17
Speaker 3: As a fan, you're like, you're like, uh, Chicago, Chicago, Chicago, No, no, no, okay, okay.
18:23
Speaker 3: So which teams are the most represented on your one
18:26
Speaker 3: hundred list top hundred list?
18:27
Speaker 2: Speaking of Chicago, we do have a lot of the uh, well,
18:30
Speaker 2: a lot of White Sox on this list this year
18:32
Speaker 2: and then. But at the same time, I'm doing a
18:34
Speaker 2: quick count right now to make sure I tell it right.
18:36
Speaker 2: But the other one that's very well represented is we
18:38
Speaker 2: were just talking about the Mets earlier. The Mets have
18:40
Speaker 2: six players on this topdred one hundred. Now it's kind
18:43
Speaker 2: of a little bit of a combo too. We've got
18:45
Speaker 2: the McClain still qualifies, We've got Joonah Toong another. There's
18:48
Speaker 2: definitely pitchers on this list for the Mets. But then
18:50
Speaker 2: you got also a guy like Carson benje who could
18:53
Speaker 2: by the end of the year, let's see, you know,
18:55
Speaker 2: he got to triple A at the very end of
18:56
Speaker 2: last year, but could be an impactful bat down the
18:59
Speaker 2: road for them as well, so there's a nice blend there.
19:02
Speaker 2: The Guardians have six players on the top one hundred
19:04
Speaker 2: as well, and then like I said, the White Sox
19:06
Speaker 2: also have six. So those are our leaders. We've had
19:09
Speaker 2: years worth. One team has seven, eight nine. This year
19:11
Speaker 2: is a little bit more spread around. Everyone has someone
19:14
Speaker 2: on it other though, by the way, other than the Astros,
19:17
Speaker 2: which in the Astros case they can point out, hey,
19:20
Speaker 2: we had a guy, but then we didn't because they
19:22
Speaker 2: traded Jacob Melton to the Rays in a recent deal.
19:25
Speaker 2: But this is the graphic I was talking about earlier,
19:27
Speaker 2: like when you look at a Connor Griffin, you look
19:28
Speaker 2: at a Kevin McGonagall. Here, superstar is fifty plus war.
19:32
Speaker 2: If you're a fifty plus war player for your career,
19:35
Speaker 2: that's you're in Hall of Fame. Consideration that dark green
19:38
Speaker 2: there is guys who are like long term a j was,
19:42
Speaker 2: it fits in that star category if you've got ever
19:47
Speaker 2: I was never ranked, so I know I'm gonna say
19:50
Speaker 2: you are actually one of those greens you see on
19:52
Speaker 2: that far right in the unranked You're one of those.
19:55
Speaker 2: Honest to goodness, you are legitimately part of that contribution
19:58
Speaker 2: because we miss on some We missed on Jose al Tuove,
20:01
Speaker 2: he wasn't a top hundred. We missed on Paul Goldschman,
20:03
Speaker 2: who moved really quickly. That's one we really regret. Robinson
20:07
Speaker 2: Cano another guy there. There are our guys we miss on.
20:09
Speaker 2: But the thing that stands out here is is if
20:12
Speaker 2: you look at that top group there right, that dark
20:15
Speaker 2: green goes over fifty percent if you are a top
20:19
Speaker 2: three prospect on the Baseball America Top hundred, and this
20:22
Speaker 2: goes back to nineteen ninety, this is everyone who ranked
20:25
Speaker 2: from nineteen ninety. We stopped at twenty two because the
20:27
Speaker 2: guys past that haven't enough time to build up their
20:30
Speaker 2: careers yet. But if you look at that in the past,
20:33
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say that Connor Griffin will or
20:35
Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall will or JJ weatherhol will, but if you
20:39
Speaker 2: look at past history, top three prospects more often than
20:44
Speaker 2: not end up being big league stars. That's why you
20:46
Speaker 2: do not see these guys pretty much ever get traded,
20:50
Speaker 2: is because teams, these are not the players you trade.
20:53
Speaker 2: These are the players that stick around throughout the entirety
20:57
Speaker 2: of their until they hit free agency or you extend them,
21:00
Speaker 2: and then they end up being the the Joe Mowers.
21:02
Speaker 2: They end up being the Bike Trouse, They end up
21:04
Speaker 2: being the guys who you turn around and they have
21:06
Speaker 2: fifteen plus years with one club because these are the guys,
21:10
Speaker 2: these are the foundational players that you build teams around.
21:14
Speaker 5: JJ. Over your shoulder, you have Leo de Vreise, I'm
21:16
Speaker 5: gonna say that wrong. I know that's right, Devrees. I
21:19
Speaker 5: think so jea freeze.
21:20
Speaker 4: Anyways, it's over your shoulder, right, wasn't he number two
21:23
Speaker 4: or three? Day he got traded? And now he's not
21:25
Speaker 4: even in the top ten, So that trade really killed him.
21:28
Speaker 4: So I don't know what you guys are doing at
21:29
Speaker 4: Baseball America.
21:30
Speaker 5: That's right.
21:30
Speaker 2: He killed out the four. He got the four, so
21:32
Speaker 2: he never got he never got high enough to be
21:33
Speaker 2: that top three. But yes, heel close.
21:35
Speaker 1: He is.
21:35
Speaker 2: Actually he's dropped a little bit twelfth right now, so
21:38
Speaker 2: which I would say is more of other guys moving
21:40
Speaker 2: up than him down. But yeah, so they do, there are,
21:42
Speaker 2: and that's rare though we've seen him get traded. Last
21:45
Speaker 2: guy like that I can remember was Addison Russell being
21:47
Speaker 2: traded from the A's to the Cubs back in ninety
21:50
Speaker 2: and twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, right around there. It's rare.
21:54
Speaker 2: Does happen every now and then. Paul Konerko, I would say,
21:57
Speaker 2: another one that was traded while he was kind of
21:59
Speaker 2: an elite process. But then we're going back to the nineties.
22:02
Speaker 2: At this point, you're.
22:03
Speaker 5: Going back to my time.
22:04
Speaker 4: So take it easy, JJ, because I played against and
22:06
Speaker 4: with Paul Knerko, So let's take it easy.
22:08
Speaker 2: Now that he was a catcher. But then he saw
22:11
Speaker 2: you and he's like, well, I can't catch anymore, you know,
22:13
Speaker 2: gotta gotta gotta move to first base.
22:15
Speaker 5: He was never a catcher. Let's let's establish that right now.
22:17
Speaker 5: He was never going to be a catcher. He couldn't squat.
22:20
Speaker 5: Couldn't squat god.
22:23
Speaker 2: At all.
22:24
Speaker 5: No, he can't squat. He can't like get down into
22:27
Speaker 5: the squad.
22:27
Speaker 2: He can't even attempt it.
22:29
Speaker 5: He gets about like halfway. He could hit.
22:32
Speaker 3: He can't go any lows, no flexibility, no wow.
22:35
Speaker 5: And they were like, you're not a catcher.
22:36
Speaker 4: He's like, yeah, I'll go play first base, hit four
22:38
Speaker 4: hundred homers and you.
22:40
Speaker 5: Have a nice career.
22:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:43
Speaker 5: Maybe that's Ethan Sallas. Since where's he is he on
22:45
Speaker 5: the list, He's on the.
22:47
Speaker 2: List, but he did move down, we still got to
22:48
Speaker 2: see him hit. You gotta hit, you gotta hit, even
22:50
Speaker 2: as a catcher, you gotta.
22:51
Speaker 5: Hit a little bit, a little bit, a little bit.
22:56
Speaker 1: Well, JJ, good stuff. I want to just do one
22:59
Speaker 1: more plug here. Actually we'll let you take up the
23:01
Speaker 1: whole camp because we're a little blurry. So why don't
23:03
Speaker 1: you just tell everyone where they can find it, the
23:05
Speaker 1: whole deal, how it's put together, because obviously we're not
23:08
Speaker 1: giving everyone the whole Top one hundred.
23:10
Speaker 5: There's a way to do that.
23:13
Speaker 2: But baseball america dot com check it out. We've got
23:15
Speaker 2: so much and we're going to keep coming out with
23:16
Speaker 2: more Top Hunter coverage. If you're wondering who could be
23:18
Speaker 2: the guys on the list next year, we've got multiple
23:20
Speaker 2: stories about that. If you're wondering, you know, we got
23:23
Speaker 2: also at the Baseball America YouTube channel, and you know
23:25
Speaker 2: we'll be talking about more on the Hot Sheet Show
23:27
Speaker 2: next week as well, so podcast the Baseball America podcast feed,
23:30
Speaker 2: anyway you want it. We have more Top hundred cop
23:33
Speaker 2: prospect coverage than you could possibly consume. And by the way,
23:36
Speaker 2: that's in addition to all the Top thirty prospects for
23:38
Speaker 2: all thirty organizations that we have, ranks, scouting reports, tools, grades,
23:41
Speaker 2: all that. Internationally, you want to know what your team signed.
23:44
Speaker 2: You know, International Signing Day, full of evaluations, full breakdowns
23:48
Speaker 2: for all thirty organizations for that College Top twenty five
23:51
Speaker 2: preseason Top twenty five is up, and capsules on all
23:54
Speaker 2: the top teams in college draft rankings. Everything over at
23:56
Speaker 2: baseball america dot com