Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.41 feat. Drake Mann

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SATP Ep.41 feat. Drake Mann · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:26
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:28
Twisted podcast. We have a special guest in here
0:32
that that is known to cover the ACL, some of the FCL, some GCU,
0:39
and some prospects. Drake Mann, welcome to the show.
0:43
Just let the world know what you do and everything else.
0:48
Hey, it's, it's it's awesome to be a part of the the show today.
0:51
And yeah, I do cover Arizona Complex League and Arizona Fall
0:56
League and just a little bit of college and now that I'm going
1:00
into my senior year at Grand Canyon University.
1:02
So I know a little bit more of that type of stuff.
1:05
But I will say I know nothing of the like Florida complex League.
1:09
So I can't get I can't get actual looks at them,
1:13
unfortunately. But I don't know who who would
1:14
want to go to Florida. No offense to the people in
1:16
Florida, but. Well, thanks for joining us
1:20
today. It's it's an honor to have you
1:22
and we're excited to talk about some of the and learn actually,
1:27
because that's not really our Forte.
1:29
So we get to that's a great part about doing the podcast is we
1:33
get to learn about some of the stuff too from, from people like
1:36
yourself. So it's awesome to to have you
1:39
today and yeah, I'm excited to learn and, and dive deep into
1:45
anything you got to talk about with the F, with the ACL and,
1:49
and GCU and, and all that stuff. So we're excited and we're
1:53
honored to have you. Thank you.
1:56
I appreciate that. All right, let's get started
1:59
here. So the first question I want to
2:01
ask you here is when you look at all these teams, the way they're
2:05
structured, the way they're built, with all these prospects
2:08
that are years away and covering these guys, which team intrigues
2:14
you or impresses you? And you could elaborate that
2:18
team and talk about some of those players.
2:23
So, yeah, so just like every year, there's kind of a constant
2:27
out here with certain teams having a lot more talent than
2:32
others. Unless you're the White Sox.
2:35
Sorry, no, Oh, my bad. But no, the White Sox are pretty
2:38
bad out here normally. But anyway, the sorry White Sox
2:44
fans, I had to say it, But normally with out here, it's
2:49
always the Rangers have a lot of guys, the Dodgers obviously have
2:53
a lot of guys, but there are two teams that I actually want to
2:57
touch on, the Guardians and the Brewers.
3:01
The Guardians I think are one of the best farm systems that
3:06
actually end up out here because they always at least have one
3:09
dude. Last year they had a woven
3:11
Francesca and a bunch of other guys.
3:13
The year before that they had Jason Trillo.
3:16
And this year they got a couple of guys as well.
3:19
One of them, I'm going to butcher this name so badly, but
3:22
he's like 17 and he's really making a big impression out
3:24
here. Junaker Caracas Carasses.
3:28
I I, I'm terrible with names. So, and then they also have
3:33
another guy out here named Dari Fernandez.
3:35
And it's not even just the hitters they're pitching is
3:39
loaded as well. So like out here, they got
3:43
pretty much Joey Okies out here. He was a draft guy.
3:46
They have a bunch of other, well, not a bunch of other, but
3:49
like three to four other pitchers out here that are
3:54
either draft guys or even international guys that look
3:58
really interesting. And there was a guy who I want
4:02
to touch on really quickly for the guardians named Joggly
4:05
Garcia, who has who was ACL repeat.
4:09
But the stuff is absolutely crazy.
4:12
And he's one guy to like watch for that system.
4:14
He's a, he's a right-handed pitcher, gets up to 95 and he
4:17
has a really good sweeping slider.
4:19
Like it's really, really nasty. I've seen it live.
4:21
It's pretty good. Tell us about some of the top
4:25
talent, talent wise and prospects in the ACL with guys
4:31
like Joshua Lugo, Humberto Cruz, Johnny Level, Ambia Morales, the
4:37
Dodgers, Rainier Arias, you have Tyson Lewis, the Red.
4:46
So tell us a bit more about some of the players and some of the
4:48
talent that's in the ACL right now.
4:53
Yeah, totally. So Johnny Level, I was actually
4:55
able to go and see the other day before I went on a a family trip
5:01
back to Montana. But it was the first time I've
5:05
ever seen him. And he's a guy that's very
5:09
patient at the plate, but then when he makes contact with the
5:12
ball, he will barrel it. And I actually saw his first
5:15
professional home run and that's on my Twitter and also on
5:20
Prospects Worldwide YouTube. But it was just he he's a type
5:24
of player that he has speed, he has contact.
5:28
He will hit for some power. Despite his size, he's a really
5:30
smaller frame, but he has pretty decent pop for his size.
5:35
Emil Morales is a guy I will switch gears, talk about him
5:38
really quickly. Even though I have not seen like
5:41
an actual base hit from him. You can tell that there is so
5:44
much with the bat and that when he makes contact with the ball,
5:49
it's absolutely like killed, I guess you could say, and then
5:53
it's barreled. It sounds different.
5:55
And another guy that's like 18 years old that's really good out
6:00
here. And then I will say I'm not the
6:02
highest on Rainer Arias. I don't think that he's as good
6:07
of a player as people are making him out to be.
6:09
Last year he did have back surgery.
6:12
So I know that the Giants are kind of slowly bringing him back
6:16
into the fold, but it's just his swing decisions aren't really
6:19
what they could be. He he'll get a hanging change up
6:23
and he won't barrel it. It's just there's a lot of stuff
6:26
to I guess dislike with his game right now.
6:29
But there are quite a bit of guys out here, and I will say
6:33
that ACL this year, I don't know, besides maybe Morales, if
6:37
there's a really big like front time.
6:43
Like how would I say this like a really outstanding like #1
6:48
hitter out here besides maybe Morales.
6:50
But like the last couple years it's been pretty obvious with
6:53
Sebastian Walcott and Feldman Selisten.
6:56
But this year, I don't know who could actually be.
7:00
Oh, there's a standout #1 out here.
7:04
So the next question I want to talk about is the top hitters in
7:07
the ACL here. And you look at a statistically,
7:10
if you look at the players that I'm going to mention right now,
7:13
guys like Chin, Chin Sunko, Dodgers, he's he's batting over
7:20
400. Dory Fernandez is batting 410.
7:25
Devin Fitzgerald, it's been a popular name that's been talked
7:28
about in the Ranger system is batting 345.
7:31
George Feliz. I mean, Seattle has one of the
7:34
best farms in baseball. And then you got Roaldi, Britto
7:37
and Jerry Hold, hold it. Talk about some of those guys
7:42
that you're familiar with. Then what's what's the ceiling
7:45
for some of these players? OK, yeah.
7:50
So I will say the Dari Fernandez, Devin Fitzgerald,
7:56
both of those guys really have have interest me a lot.
8:00
Devin Fitzgerald is a guy that can play multiple positions.
8:04
I think that he kind of stays at second base because his arm
8:08
strength really isn't you know meant for short or third, but he
8:13
has played multiple positions out here.
8:15
But the bats of all is there. He can hit the all fields.
8:18
He's a he's a type of guy that if he can develop some like like
8:22
maybe even average power, he could be kind of like a Jake
8:26
Cronenworth type, which I love the comp for that because if you
8:29
look at his swing mechanics there, they look a lot like Jake
8:33
Cronenworth. Dari Fernandez is a guy that
8:36
another good. That's a ball guy.
8:39
He is a guy that kind of interested me because like I
8:44
said, with the guardians, they normally have a lot of dudes out
8:46
here, but right I I really was not.
8:50
They had other guys that were like, I guess rank tire or more
8:55
interesting look, but he has he's really looked good out here
8:58
to start it. The Brewers have a have a guy
9:01
who just got called up to low a actually named Jose Anderson and
9:05
he was, he's a part of that like 3 headed giant that they have
9:08
with like Luis Pena. And I don't know why my my brain
9:14
is blank blinking right now about the the 17 or 18 year old
9:18
that's making waves for the Brewers right now.
9:21
He's one of their top guys now. I don't know where.
9:24
Yeah, no. Oh my gosh.
9:27
What's his name? He's he was like an outfielder.
9:30
He's on the DSL and then he skipped ACL to go to low way.
9:33
But he's like 17 out here. I, I forgot his name and I I
9:36
feel bad because he's one of the best guys and complex league,
9:40
but in the Brewers system and he's like a massive riser.
9:44
I'll probably remember it as we go on and then we could talk
9:47
about him a little bit too. But yeah, no, there's just,
9:52
there's that's just kind of like the constant out here with the
9:56
the Dari Fernandez and Devin Fitzgerald.
9:59
But I will say with George Feliz, he's actually interesting
10:04
because he's been in that complex league for four years
10:07
now and he's 22 years old. So it's I kind of take those
10:12
type of stats with a grain of salts because like if you spend
10:18
more than two years at ACL, it's kind of risky to look at the
10:23
stats and be like, oh, he might be finally breaking out because
10:27
then he might go to low way and then start to like decline
10:31
again. So that's just my thoughts on
10:34
like George Feliz and and all the all the guys you mentioned.
10:39
Let's touch on some of the top pitchers that have statistically
10:42
had good starts to their yearning.
10:45
In the ACL you have our genus, Kayama Shi Shin Shi Shi Shen, I
10:52
believe his name is, Yo Kelvin Reyes, Marlon Franco, Marlon
10:59
Nieves. Tell us about some of those guys
11:02
and and more more pitchers, if you will, about who's having
11:07
some good starts and who intrigues you the most this
11:09
year. Yeah.
11:12
So the thing about complex league with pitchers is it's so
11:16
random to actually see the guy that you that you go there to to
11:21
watch. Like a lot of the the time that
11:24
I've been covering ACL this year, I've wanted to watch Kyle
11:26
Mcgrow and he's a right-handed pitcher with the Royals.
11:31
And I'm finally going to be able to see him Tuesday, which is
11:34
great. But like with Kayamas or Kasamas
11:41
with the Giants, he's on my list to go see him.
11:44
I've yet to see him. A bunch of the pictures that you
11:46
listed I've yet to see because it's just so random because you
11:51
know, they also have rehabbing guys out here and then the
11:55
rehabbing guys kind of intercepts the other guys and
12:01
it, it's kind of a, it's kind of a weird like kind of
12:07
developmental league. So it's, it's really difficult.
12:10
They kind of see the guys that you want to see on a daily
12:13
basis, but like I know that I kind of tweeted about them and I
12:17
know that we're going to talk about them later.
12:18
But like Jose Vasquez has really interested me.
12:22
Justin Chambers, a guy named Dylan Wilson with the Mariners.
12:25
He his stuff looks like it's popping a little bit this year.
12:28
And then a a Mariners drafty of Aden Butler looked really good
12:31
as well this year. But and by the way, the guy I
12:35
was thinking of was Luis or Jesus Maid.
12:38
That's why I can't believe. I.
12:42
Forgot him, but yeah, like Jose Anderson is like the three
12:46
headed giant of Hazer's made Luis Pena and Jose Anderson.
12:52
So that's that was the name I was trying to think of.
12:55
But yeah, no, it's pitching out here is also really interesting
12:58
in the aspect that a lot of the pitchers out here are really
13:01
bad. So you'll you'll count the
13:04
funniest part is you'll count how many times a ball will hit
13:07
the backstop before you. It's like, it's like if if you
13:10
were to have a drinking game of how many times you would the
13:14
ball hits the backstop on a wild edge, you would probably be
13:17
drunk within the first inning. So it's really interesting.
13:22
So, so the next question I want to ask you is about the short
13:25
stops in the ACL. And we've talked about some
13:28
names. You already talked about some
13:29
names, but some names I want to talk about is your Andrew Vargas
13:33
is the Dodgers. You often Castillo, Filippo de
13:36
Turi. He's another guy in the bruise.
13:39
The bruise seems like they have all these positional players in
13:41
like in the ACL and low 8 ball and they seem like their their
13:46
thing, right? So Demetrio Chrysantis and Anhal
13:52
Cepeda like talk about some of those guys and and where those
13:56
guys stand. Yeah.
13:59
So a lot of those guys were from last year and, and, and all
14:03
those guys they, so I want to, I want to touch on Filippo Duturi
14:08
really quickly because he's, he fits the Brewers mold so
14:12
perfectly. And when I say that, it's like
14:14
the Brewers love getting guys that are like undersized, that
14:18
have bats a ball that can spray the ball around the yard.
14:21
That's why they, they went out and got Caleb Durbin.
14:23
He's a guy that another guy that's undersized, has some
14:26
speed, can really, the hit tool can actually shine a little bit.
14:30
And that's kind of like how I feel about Filippo Duturi.
14:35
I, when I was watching him last year, I, I fell in love with the
14:39
guy like as a prospect because he showed so much with the bat,
14:44
the speed, just the baseball IQ, everything that you needed in a,
14:48
in a big time prospects you had in Filippo de Turi.
14:52
Then he kind of went up to low A and he kind of struggled quite a
14:56
bit. And then this year, I know I
14:58
think he repeated low way and then he's he's starting to hit
15:02
well again. So it that's the thing about the
15:06
prospects out here is that sometimes they go straight from,
15:11
you know, Arizona to wherever they're going for low way and
15:15
they struggle because it's a a big change in like atmosphere.
15:21
The big change in like you're going from maybe 20 people in
15:25
the crowd to, you know, thousands on a on a stadium.
15:30
And that can that can really mess with some people.
15:32
So they might take them a little long, a little bit longer.
15:35
But one of my names on here that's actually repeating ACL,
15:41
which is kind of interesting, is Yoel from Castile.
15:44
You talked about him a little bit and that's a guy that his
15:48
literally, he has not changed at all.
15:49
But I talked about his little stance change that he's had.
15:53
And he kind of changed his stance to allow the barrel to be
15:57
more fluid and more and be in the zone longer, allowing his
16:01
head tool to kind of shine even more than it already has.
16:05
And I'm surprised he's even still out out here because he's
16:08
really advanced for his age and he's one name that definitely
16:13
like Rangers fans and people should start to really
16:16
understand or really love to watch.
16:19
That's your friend Castillo. And then just some other guys.
16:23
There's also a shortstop with the Podgers name Yimi Yimi
16:26
Tovar. He's impressed me this year.
16:29
He's a more of, like I said, a basketball guy, really good
16:33
swing from the right side, has some speed on him.
16:36
So that's another guy that I, I think that will be at low way by
16:42
the end of the time and I think he'll start to get some
16:45
impressions from people. Let's talk about some of the
16:49
catchers that are in the ACL right now with some some of the
16:55
statistic leaders in Marlin Quintero.
16:58
Oh, the White Sox have one Steven Flores, Yoeber Ocopio and
17:03
Sebastian DeAngelo. Tell us about some of the
17:08
catchers in the ACL and even some if you elaborate on some of
17:12
the other guys and and what you've seen from the catching
17:15
landscape overall in the Arizona complex?
17:20
So, yeah, so every everybody that you just named I have seen.
17:27
I know Sebastian Day Andrade and Steven Flores both are repeats
17:33
and to me, I not really like I'm not getting into the hype of
17:39
Sebastian Dan Andrade too much. He really didn't look good at
17:45
all. And last time I saw him, he
17:47
really didn't look like he might be a guy that might make a debut
17:51
in like AA, but I just don't think I think that his defense
17:54
is fine, but I don't think the bat will translate Steven
17:58
Flores, the guy. I think he will definitely the
18:01
bat will translate well for them or for him.
18:03
And I will say with Marlon Quintero, he's a guy with the
18:08
Angels that everybody was hyping up his bat.
18:11
But when I saw him live, like he had good blocking abilities.
18:15
He was framing well. His arm strength was good.
18:19
It was he had a lot of power on the defensive side.
18:23
And he's one guy that I think the Angels really, because I
18:28
think that he actually signed for fairly cheap as well.
18:31
So I think that they kind of got a steal with him because he's he
18:34
looks really legit for them. The next question I want to ask
18:40
you is about the top power hitters and some of the names we
18:45
already talked about Fitzgerald. Devin Fitzgerald is Jefferson
18:50
Carrera was still mentioned when it comes to the ACLI know that
18:54
he was Once Upon a time one of their top prospects.
18:57
I don't know where he's at now. Adrian Hills, another one, and
19:01
Victor Figueroa. Talk about some of those guys.
19:05
And if there's any names that I haven't mentioned, you could
19:08
talk about those guys as well. Yeah, so on the power side, it's
19:14
actually kind of funny because when I first did my my, my list
19:19
for or my database for Complex League 2025, there I saw a name
19:27
and it was Jayden Fielder, who is Prince Fielder's son, which
19:32
that makes me feel very old, but.
19:38
When you said Fielder, I knew where I I had a feeling he was
19:40
related to Prince for some reason.
19:42
That's cool. Yeah, and the, the thing was
19:45
like, I had people tell me they're like, oh, just be
19:48
careful 'cause he, he might look a little bit like different than
19:54
you're anticipating. So just take it with a grain of
19:56
salt. And I watched him live and the
19:57
swing is just Prince Fielder. It's, it's, it's lofty, it's
20:00
quick, it's, it's literally Prince Fielder.
20:02
So there's definitely some power in the bat for him.
20:05
I mean, the, the last time I saw him, he, he, he, he had two
20:09
hits, both to the poolside, but he, his left hand swings really
20:13
good. And he's a guy that I do think
20:16
could make some noise, but it just all depends on his eye at
20:19
the play and his swing and miss tendencies.
20:23
Handelfriy Encarnacion is another guy with the Brewers and
20:26
he's one guy that I had somebody actually send me a message and
20:31
tell me about his name is Spencer.
20:35
And he he like does his own Brewers type of stuff.
20:37
And he he was telling me about him and and he he has some
20:42
power, legit power in his bat. But I will say with Victor
20:47
Figueroa, I'm not a hater by any means.
20:49
I just don't think that he's going to be a guy that, you
20:54
know, he's 20. The The thing is, like with ACL,
20:58
he's 21 and he was facing a bunch of 1819 year old kids and
21:03
or players, I'll say. And if you're 20, if you're past
21:07
like 20 in this league, you should probably be able to hit
21:10
well. And don't get me wrong, the
21:12
power is going to be there, but I'm seeing people comp him to
21:16
James Wood and I don't understand that comparison at
21:20
all. So because James Wood is like a
21:24
legit like. Yeah, he's one-of-a-kind man.
21:28
Yeah, potentially 5 tool player when like Victor Figueroa is
21:33
more or less like a power only type of guy, which don't get me
21:38
wrong, the power will come. He's he's built like a tank.
21:40
He's he's he's like legit, but he doesn't have speed.
21:44
He's not really a good defender. He's but if you're only talking
21:48
about power, then yeah, Victor Figueroa will will hit for
21:51
power. It's just his swing and miss is
21:53
bad, like a lot of the guys I've talked about, but his swing and
21:57
miss is really bad. And I think that the real
22:01
challenge for him will be like AA or AAA because I think that
22:05
he'll he'll match in the lower levels.
22:08
But then once he gets to start seeing better pitching, better
22:11
breaking balls, better, all that, especially against
22:14
lefties, I think that he might need to have a little swing
22:17
change or or just like make more consistent contacts in order to
22:23
really hit his his potential. I think it's because that with
22:29
the Padres, well, James Wood came from the Padres, Jackson
22:32
Murrows turned out to be a player.
22:33
So I feel like with the Padres, they always find these guys.
22:36
Abrams is another name. So probably they put that as a
22:39
comp. But you would know about this
22:42
more about it, right? So it'll be interesting to see
22:44
where Figueroa stands in the system.
22:50
Yeah, 100%. So are there any other names
22:55
that you feel that needs to be recognized that we haven't
22:58
mentioned in the ACL? Oh, 100%.
23:02
So that's, that's the beauty of Arizona Complex League is that
23:07
when I, when I'm able to go to games regularly, which I've done
23:10
the past 2:00-ish years and stuff, I get to see multiple
23:14
guys though and, and I could be like, oh, this guy's, this guy's
23:16
someone to watch. I've been very I saw this guy
23:21
last year and he repeated ACL, but last year he was 17 out here
23:25
and his name is Jonathan Martinez.
23:27
He's a infield prospect with the Guardians and he's a switch
23:31
hitting like he's more or less. He could probably will be a
23:35
second baseman long term as well, but he's a switch hitter.
23:39
Really good swing from both sides of play fluid.
23:41
He can hit to all fields. He's a guy.
23:44
He's he's just like, I won't say he's at the same level as Felton
23:50
Selisten, but he's patient and he's willing to get his pitch
23:54
and he very rarely will over swinging pitches.
23:57
And you mentioned him earlier, but I I wanted to talk about
24:01
Ching Senko. That's one name you definitely
24:04
got to be watching out for. And it's not even just about the
24:07
stats. It's just the fact that his
24:09
swing is really smooth. Literally he can basically
24:13
barrel anything he can do. He's just another Dodgers
24:17
prospect that that will make more noise and just really
24:23
advance for his age. So it it's just kind of
24:26
interesting and and I know for many fans annoying that the
24:30
Dodgers keep doing this, but Co is a is a prospect to definitely
24:35
watch. And then it kind of sucks
24:38
because I have like a couple other guys, but this this is one
24:40
guy that he had hype last year and I don't know what's going on
24:44
with him this year. I've been trying to figure it
24:45
out, but I pretty sure he's hurt, but I don't know for sure.
24:50
But it's Braylon Morrell of the Rangers and he had a lot of hype
24:54
generate generated around him last year.
24:57
I still believe in him. I think that his bat is really
24:59
nice. I think that there's some some
25:00
really good pop in in his bat and I think that he's a good
25:05
he's a really good athlete as well.
25:07
And they're the Royals have a couple of guys as well that
25:10
should be getting more mentioned.
25:13
Jose Lopez is a left-handed hitter and he he just hit for
25:17
the cycle the other night, which is pretty cool, especially at
25:20
complex. I think that's really
25:21
interesting. And Yandel Ricardo was their
25:24
leadoff hitter and he's a guy that another big that's a ball
25:27
guy, like really good. That's a ball and hits all
25:29
fields. So that's another guy just to to
25:31
watch out for. Well, I want to talk about a
25:36
certain team that's always been a factory when it comes to
25:40
pitching and some Milwaukee Brewers, and they just keep
25:44
getting prospects left, right and center.
25:46
And I could start off with Melvin Hernandez is a name to
25:50
watch out for it, and they also have Anderson Mercado, Ethan
25:55
Dorchy's, Miguel, Miguel's Mercedes and Tyler Renz.
26:02
Like, how deep is this Brewers pitching stuff?
26:06
Like it's just that they just keep getting names over and over
26:11
again. As a Cardinals fan, that's very
26:14
annoying. But anyway, yeah, no, they're
26:19
they every single year. It's just like like last year,
26:22
there's another name. He actually ended up getting
26:24
injured, but he was, he had really promising stuff.
26:26
That's Hayden Robinson, right in a pitcher.
26:29
He he looked really good. I I really want to get a look at
26:32
Tyler Ren's. I haven't seen him yet because
26:35
I've seen, I think it's in the Brewers once.
26:37
I might see them again this upcoming week.
26:40
But Anderson Ricotta is a really interesting guy.
26:43
He's a left-handed pitcher, kind of a crossfire delivery.
26:46
He gets up to 94 miles an hour. And and he was actually one of
26:50
the few like pitchers from the DSL last year that got invited
26:54
to professional or MLB camp in spring training.
26:59
So that was pretty cool. He has a slider and a change up,
27:03
change up normally low 80s, slider, mid 80s and he normally
27:07
sits like 1993. But obviously there's some
27:10
projection there and he's a really interesting guy because
27:14
his control really isn't there. But obviously he's 18 or 19
27:19
years old. He'll, he's still developing the
27:21
control, but the stuff is really good, especially for a lefty
27:24
getting up to 94 at the age that he is in.
27:27
That's very interesting, especially with the Brewers,
27:28
because the Brewers will the Brewers are going to Brewers, I
27:32
guess you could say. And just it seems like every
27:35
single day a new new pitcher comes out of nowhere, like as
27:38
you were saying, and a new top prospect comes out of nowhere or
27:42
something. So yeah, that's that was the one
27:46
guy I wanted to highlight right there.
27:49
What do you think about Ramon Ramirez?
27:51
He's a catcher, 19 years old, lots outside.
27:54
But right now they have Blake Mitchell, who's drafted same
27:57
year as Kyle Thiel, of course, and Jorge Hernandez and Saul
28:01
Perez, obviously. So what do you think the future
28:04
holds for him in their system? I know you touched on him on on
28:07
Twitter, mentioned a couple times.
28:09
So what do you think about him? Yeah, so he's a guy that I I saw
28:16
quite a bit last year and he was one of my favorite catching
28:20
prospects out here. I mean, just the power alone.
28:23
I I think that he's one of the guys.
28:25
I don't think that he's Blake Mitchell level good, but I think
28:29
that he's definitely around one of the better catchers in the
28:33
system. I mean, he's got power.
28:35
He's decent behind the play. He's out of cannon of an arm.
28:38
He's a guy that Royals fans really need to really need to
28:45
start paying attention to because he's a guy that could
28:47
shoot up rankings and a system if he can really focus on a set
28:52
tool, which I actually think that I'm actually hiring a set
28:55
tool than most. And I actually have him as more
28:57
of a hit over power guy, which is very interesting because I
29:00
don't think I've seen another outlet with that type of it's
29:04
normally power over hit. So I believe more that he's just
29:08
going to keep on making, you know, minor League Baseball look
29:14
bad. And I think that he's actually
29:15
going to be a really good prospect heading forward for the
29:19
Royals. There's another catcher in the
29:23
system, Jorge Hernandez. Like, what do you think about
29:26
him? And I know there's another guy,
29:27
I believe, but what do you think about the other two catchers in
29:30
this system for the Royals? Yeah.
29:33
So I think, I think what you, who you're referring to is I
29:37
think his name is, it's like some, I think his last name is
29:42
AM and he's a, he's a catching prospect with the Royals.
29:47
But I, I, I like Jorge Hernandez a bit.
29:49
I don't think that he's a really hit for much power.
29:52
I do like the bats of all. So he's kind of like the polar
29:55
opposite of Ramon Ramirez. But yeah, the, the Royals are
30:01
kind of stacked with catchers. So it'll be interesting to see,
30:03
especially if they get pretty, if they if the record keeps
30:08
going in the direction of it is and they they keep winning
30:11
games, I wonder how much that catch in depth they're going to
30:14
trade off and get some better pitching or better bullpen arms
30:20
or whatever they need. So I want to talk a couple of
30:25
Dodgers players here and there's three games.
30:27
I know we touched a bit about your Andrew Vargas, but you
30:31
could collaborate a little bit more about him.
30:33
I know his exit velocity hit 100 mph, which is pretty insane for
30:39
his age. Jose Vasquez, he was part of the
30:42
Diego Cartier deal from the Twins, right?
30:45
You said he has some slider movement.
30:48
And then just the chambers, his arm slot is very interested.
30:53
Like talk about those three guys and what they can be.
30:58
Yeah, so Jose Vasquez is really interesting in the aspect that
31:04
when I saw him live, like, yeah, that slider has a bunch of bite.
31:08
That thing is just disgusting. And, and when I saw him, he was
31:11
sitting 9596, which for a 20 year old, like, obviously
31:17
there's the reasoning he's out here is because he he has a lot
31:22
of trouble with control, like, and he kind of pulls off in his
31:25
mechanics a little bit. But he's a guy that hides the
31:27
ball well. Just Yeah.
31:29
And and they come from the same. He tunnels his pitch as well.
31:32
And he's a guy that like he's a definite reliever going forward
31:36
unless he can develop a third pitch.
31:37
But even then, like if you have two really good pitches and one
31:42
subpar pitch, you're probably not going to be a starter.
31:44
I think the Potters learn that way with Chris Paddock.
31:48
And now, now look at what's going on with Chris Paddock.
31:50
But Justin Chambers is a guy lefty and you were right about
31:58
his arm slot. It's really interesting, really
32:00
kind of funky. It's like 3/4 and it's he he's a
32:04
guy that I've been waiting to to see because he was acquired by
32:08
the Dodgers, I believe last year or the year prior.
32:11
And I've been wanting to see him.
32:13
But then he got hurt. So he was rehabbing from that.
32:16
And then when I when I saw him and this year, he was he was
32:20
really good and he was really interesting arm.
32:22
And then Joe Andrew Vargas, that is one guy that has interested
32:26
me the last two years I've seen him.
32:28
He was one of the top bats out here last year.
32:31
And then this year on rehab, like he hit 1, he didn't even
32:33
barrel it and he hit at 400 feet dead center and he hit a bomb.
32:38
And it was again, it wasn't even a full on barrel when he hit
32:41
dead center. So he's a guy that once again,
32:44
Dodgers are dodging with him. So yeah, yeah, it's, it's it's
32:51
interesting with them that it's just, all you can say are just
32:55
sit here and just applaud the Dodgers, which I hate doing, but
32:58
it's it's the Dodgers. Yeah, they're definitely not
33:01
dodging talent, that's for sure. Let's talk about that.
33:06
Let's switch over to the AFL though.
33:09
Alejandro Osuna and Denzel Clarke were recently called up
33:12
to respective teams and they perform highly in the AFL last
33:15
season. I believe they're named to the
33:17
All Star team. So tell us about those two
33:20
players and one impresses you most about their games and what
33:23
do you feel their upside is going forward?
33:28
OK, cool. Yeah, so pretty much with
33:30
Alejandro Ozuna. That was a guy that Austin told
33:33
me about before. Shout out Austin Farmer.
33:36
Yeah, sure. Yeah.
33:38
Shout out, Austin. Yeah.
33:39
Yeah, yeah, No, I know that he was.
33:42
I know that he was kind of high on him and he was telling me all
33:45
about him. But yeah, he, Alejandrozuna was
33:49
a guy that when I texted, I remember I was texting Austin
33:52
one day and I was just like, oh, Alejandrozuna is in center.
33:55
He's like, why is he in center? I'm like, I don't know.
33:56
And then literally the that night, he ended up making a
33:59
leaping catch, robbing a home run in center field.
34:02
But Alejandrozuna's, I love the athleticism and he's a guy that
34:07
his swing is just so pure. It's one of the purest I've ever
34:10
seen from Arizona Fall League. And basically to me, he's a guy
34:17
like I always like seeing the guys that have safe hit tools.
34:21
And I know that he got called up and his defense should be good
34:24
just with that athleticism, the routes he takes in center, he's
34:29
really good gap to gap. So he's one guy that I really
34:32
think that Rangers like maybe not this year, but it is
34:36
difficult to find him at bats because the Rangers are
34:38
absolutely lutely stacked it when it comes to the outfield.
34:42
So it's it's really interesting there.
34:44
And then Denzel Clark, I'm more of AI think he's more of a
34:48
defensive first guy. I think the bat does show a bit
34:51
of promise, but I think that he'll be more of like a
34:55
defensive first center fielder. And we saw that that leaping
34:58
catch a couple days ago to Ron and I was, that was pretty cool.
35:01
That was awesome. It sucked, it was against our
35:04
team, but it was nice, very nice man.
35:08
Yeah, yeah. So that's, yeah, that's just how
35:12
I feel about Denzel Clark. I mean, I do think like he does
35:16
have some some decent gap to gap power, but I think he's more
35:19
defensive first guy. So it'll be interesting to see
35:21
what the athletics do with him in Sacramento.
35:25
So the name that's been talked about in recent weeks and he's
35:31
one of the top prospects in baseball is Jack Caglione.
35:35
He was drafted with the with the Royals last year and he's turned
35:41
out to be something else right now.
35:44
He is skyrocketed through the minors.
35:46
He's now in AAA, he's on custard being a majors.
35:50
You seen him in the AFL. How special of a player can he
35:54
be? And he be he could be, he could
35:59
hit the ceiling of like 70 power bat and or borderline 80 power
36:05
bat and just be a multi time All Star.
36:10
Now, will he will he hit that level?
36:12
I'm not entirely sure because if you see a lot of the pitches
36:16
that he's hitting right now, I don't think that you're going to
36:19
you're going to see that on a Major League roster from a Major
36:21
League. So like the difference between
36:25
AAA pitching and majorly pitching is very like apparent
36:29
like a lot of the pitches that he's hitting, like don't get me
36:33
wrong, he's on fire right now. That's great to see.
36:36
But they're like hanging curveballs, hanging change UPS,
36:39
hanging just pitches are hanging right dead center in the middle.
36:42
So Jack Jack is going to be a very interesting guy to watch
36:46
because there is still plenty of like things that are wrong with
36:54
his like approach and you swing and miss and and all that stuff.
37:00
But if he can sure that up, the Royals have a definite like All
37:04
Star for a long time. But if I will say, I do not
37:09
think that putting him in the majors this year will help him
37:12
at all. I think that it might actually
37:13
hurt him bringing him up this early.
37:17
I just don't think that he's ready.
37:21
I think that he still needs probably at least just to spend
37:24
the year in AAA and just maybe a September call up just to give
37:30
him a little cup of coffee. But other than that, I don't
37:33
think that he should be called up this year yet.
37:37
I think that there's still a lot more that he can work.
37:39
On so, yeah. So who are some other guys in
37:41
the AFL that have impressed you the most?
37:46
You know, there's some there's been some some guys like they
37:52
were actually like Colt Emerson, Bryce Aldridge, Zaire Hope,
37:56
Ethan Salas, Trey Morgan. You mentioned Alejandro Osuna
38:02
and and Denzel Clark, Moises Ballesteros, Xavier Isaac chased
38:07
a lot or so. They're just so many guys and so
38:10
much talent in the Arizona Fall League.
38:12
So tell us a bit more about some of the guys that you saw and
38:16
that you seem to have impressed you the most and, and, and tell
38:19
us about them. Yeah, 100%.
38:24
Everybody that you named is pretty solid.
38:27
I know I kind of hyped up Leo Devries a little bit with when I
38:33
saw a home run from him open side, it was like majestic.
38:36
Because the thing with Leo Devries is for his age, like,
38:41
like you'd think that he's like a lot older than I believe he's
38:44
19 now or 18. He's 18 or 19 and he plays with
38:48
a bunch of like he's really fun to watch.
38:50
But The thing is with him, he makes adjustments really well.
38:55
So I think I put a video on this back after I filmed the the home
39:00
run. But so the prior at bat, he got
39:04
the same exact pitch and he popped it up.
39:07
And then when he got that pitch again against the same pitcher,
39:12
that's when he turned it around and hit a home run.
39:15
So just little adjustments like that is so valuable to an
39:19
organization because it's showing, hey, this guy might
39:23
actually be able to hit against advanced pitching.
39:27
And that was the one thing that stuck out with Devries and me.
39:32
Of course, we're under. We're going to go back to the
39:33
Brewers here with Luis Laura. He's a guy that really good
39:38
player there as well. He can, he played a right field
39:41
majority and he had a really good arm out there.
39:44
But another guy that's just sneaky about the ball scales
39:47
really good hit tool and as somebody that can hit 2 all
39:50
fields. And then they also had a the
39:54
Tigers had a couple players out here in Josue Braseno and he was
39:58
a first base prospect and he absolutely mashed out here.
40:02
He he had a lot of power and, and, and the thing with him was
40:06
he was another he's like really patient for, you know, a power
40:10
hitter because a lot of power hitters they try to sell out for
40:12
power. He didn't do that and he was, I
40:14
think 20 years old. So he's he's another guy that
40:17
really should be on everyone's radar and then.
40:22
The Dodgers might have let one go in this trade, but Tehran
40:25
Lorenzo, he's another guy that a catcher that really impressed me
40:30
at Arizona Fall League. He's a he's a guy that showed
40:33
some really good power and just I this might be a little bit
40:38
weird, but when you talk about swag, you talk about Tehran
40:41
Lorenzo. Like this guy is the type of guy
40:43
that he ripped a base hit into center and he bat flipped it
40:46
like that. That that's that's awesome to
40:48
me. And I know a bunch of older
40:51
heads, they don't like that type of stuff.
40:52
But I mean, it's fun people. It gets people in the stands.
40:56
And then the last guy I want to highlight really quickly is
40:59
Zaire Hope of the Dodgers. That is one guy that I think
41:03
he's 19 or 20 now and he still has so much like potential in
41:09
his back. And there's just so much to
41:13
dream on with Zaire Hope. Like I watched him take recently
41:19
promoted right-handed pitcher David Morgan of the Padres out
41:23
to left field on a hanging slider.
41:25
Like the fact that he didn't try to pull it and he just went the
41:29
other way with it and hit a a home run and errors on the fall
41:32
league. That was pretty crazy.
41:33
So that's there's definitely there.
41:36
Like you guys are right. There was a lot of talent out
41:38
here last year. And yeah, there's just so much
41:41
good happening with the AFL as well.
41:45
With me and Rocky being Blue Jays fans, I wanted to ask you
41:48
there. We had a couple pitchers there
41:49
last year, Kendry Rojas. He's he was, he's he's hurt this
41:54
year. So he hasn't pitched this year.
41:55
But Lazaro Estrada is another one.
41:58
Did you see those guys pitch and and could you tell us a little
42:00
bit about them if you did? I did not see them pitch.
42:04
I, I, I the the problem. What?
42:07
Yeah, no. So I was still going through
42:08
school and Arizona Fall League changed to the point where they
42:12
used to have a bunch of night games and then then they changed
42:15
them all to day games and it's just like I'd had class.
42:17
So I did see, yeah, I had, yeah, it was, it was, it was hard
42:22
because I had credentials to go to games and I was like, I was
42:25
like, Oh my God, like I'm in, I'm stuck in school, but I want
42:27
to be at the, the, the darn Arizona Folly game.
42:29
I was like, I was like, Dang it, dude.
42:31
Like, but yeah, but it, I, I think you guys did have a hitter
42:35
out here that that looked pretty good, though.
42:37
I forgot his name, but I know he's making some noise with the
42:39
Blue Jays. He's like a a first baseman
42:43
type. But.
42:45
Peyton Williams. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
42:47
He made some noise up there last year.
42:50
Yeah, yeah. Peyton Williams, 'cause I
42:52
remember him, 'cause I was like, I like, who's this guy?
42:54
And then he getting like barreled the balls like, oh,
42:55
that's why he's out here, OK. Yeah.
42:57
Big guy, man. Big, huge guy.
42:59
Yeah. Mm.
43:00
Hmm. Yeah.
43:03
So the next question I want to ask you is about your heart and
43:07
soul of your team that you root for.
43:10
It's the Saint Louis Cardinals and there's some intriguing
43:14
prospects. I know you wrote about take
43:16
hints in one of your articles, but there's other guys that are
43:19
intriguing and I know that you're more focused on the ACL.
43:24
There's a specific player that that that you covered is
43:29
Leonardo Brunel, but there's other guys like Ryan Campos and
43:34
Reno Rodriguez. And you saw a guy like Ivan
43:36
Herrera just finally got his opportunities becoming the real
43:40
deal. Like how would you compare all
43:42
those catchers and what's the depth and all that?
43:48
So the Cardinals, they have a really good amount of catcher's
43:51
depth. Like like you just said, like I
43:54
do think that like so there was one name that you you didn't
43:58
even mention and that's Jimmy Crooks.
43:59
And he's a guy that I see me and Austin, it's actually funny
44:06
because we actually talk about Jimmy Crooks a lot because
44:09
Austin watched him quite a bit and we both see him as like a
44:13
backup type, which that's a lot of Cardinal fans would not like
44:16
that. But the Cardinals have long done
44:20
this to players where they kind of they they kind of bring them
44:25
up too soon, which I know they're not.
44:27
I don't even think that Jimmy Crooks is even being considered
44:29
to be brought up yet. But they did it with Andrew
44:32
Kisner, Carson Kelly, a bunch of other guys.
44:35
And and I worry that they're going to do that with Jimmy
44:37
Crooks at some point, which I hope they don't.
44:39
But I do want to talk about Bernal because that's one guy
44:44
that like as a catcher, he actually might hit very well.
44:49
And, and, and as you guys know, like the catching position, you
44:52
don't have to be a good like hitter to be very successful in
44:57
the Major League Baseball. And very few catchers really
45:01
make a career out of hitting. They they make a career with
45:04
defense. Like, like I remember when
45:07
Austin Hedges was, was considered a top catcher or
45:10
cross baseball because of his defense alone.
45:12
Like he, even though that dude couldn't hit water if he fell
45:15
out of a boat. But that's like, that's the type
45:18
of like, even if a lot of these guys fail going forward with the
45:23
bat, like the defense from some of these guys is what will
45:26
really make or break them as prospects, in my opinion.
45:32
Let's talk about some of the GCU hitters.
45:35
Let's go. Let's go to Grand Canyon
45:37
University a little bit with Josh Wakefield having a good
45:40
year. You got Canyon Perry and Eddie
45:43
Pell, Pell, Pell, Pell, Pell, Eddie Pell.
45:48
He's having a great year too. So tell us about some of the the
45:51
hitters that you've noticed this year with the GCU Lopes.
45:58
So, yeah, so we so we unfortunately did lose in the
46:02
WAC tournament, So our season is done.
46:05
But yeah, Josh Wakefield was one of our top guys.
46:07
He he was a lead off hitter. He led the WAC in hitting at one
46:11
point. But he's just a guy just smooth,
46:14
quick, bad speed, really good hit to all fields.
46:18
I think he will, if he does get drafted, because he is draft
46:21
eligible, I think he will start to develop a little bit more
46:25
power. He's he'll be a fun guy to go
46:27
ahead and draft and and get into pro ball because he'll be a
46:32
he'll be a guy that can be a really good table setter at the
46:35
top of the lineup for anybody. And we also had a shortstop,
46:38
Emilio Barreras. He's an awesome dude and he's
46:42
he's also a really good contact for his guy that can play really
46:46
good defense at short. So he's one guy that that will
46:53
surprise if he gets drafted or if he enters the transfer
46:55
portal, which I'm hoping he doesn't because he's a really
46:59
good guy and he's a really good player as well.
47:01
And then Cannon Perry, Cannon Perry's another guy.
47:03
He's probably going to be our first baseman or DH going
47:06
forward. He's a really good he he has
47:09
some pop in his bat and he's really mean, known for defense.
47:13
But the the hitting is also really good as well.
47:16
So it'll be really interesting. And then Eddie Pelk was a senior
47:19
for us. He he did graduate and I believe
47:22
he already signed an indie ball. So he could be a guy that
47:26
somebody, I don't know how much merit, you know, indie ball
47:33
gets, but maybe I mean, it happens.
47:36
I mean, I've had I've had a a buddy of mine that just got
47:39
signed out of independent ball. So it's it's really cool to see
47:43
that type of stuff. So the next question I want to
47:47
talk about is the pitching aspect of of of the Grand Canyon
47:52
University and some of the pictures that we talked about
47:57
here. And Wald Quinn is one of the
48:00
names that that's in that rotation.
48:03
Isaac, Isaac Lyons, I believe you mentioned before we started
48:07
this is, is considered one of their top pitchers, Elijah
48:12
Higginbottom and Garrett A Ahern.
48:16
Is there any other names that we should be mentioning that that
48:19
should be recognized or or is that is that the the top
48:23
pitching guys in the in the system?
48:26
Yeah, so there was one guy that he has arguably one of the best
48:30
change UPS I've ever seen. And unfortunately, I know he he
48:34
went in the transfer portal, but his name is Connor Madison and
48:38
he actually threw a no hitter his freshman year.
48:40
And he's a guy that he gets up to like 9293 and he but his
48:46
change up like he will throw it three times and he will not
48:49
touch it. It's that good.
48:50
It's it, it has such a big like velocity change to the point
48:55
where like and like it's a seventy grade pitch, like it's
49:00
not even fair. And then Isaac Lyon is actually,
49:03
I think he's the nephew or the son of Brandon Lyon.
49:07
If you remember him, he used to pitch the D back.
49:09
With the Blue Jays, too, yeah. Yep, Blue Jays.
49:12
Yep. So he he, he's up there as well.
49:15
And he's probably going to be one of one of our draft guys
49:19
this year. He's probably going to be a late
49:20
rounder, but I do believe he is a junior, so he can come back if
49:24
he if he really wants to. But yeah, no, we have some
49:27
really good pitching talent. Like you were talking about
49:30
Elijah Higginbottom, He's a guy that he's he's his slider is one
49:35
of his best pitches. And he also has a pretty good
49:37
change up. And what I love about GCU is
49:40
they're kind of every single picture that we have has a
49:44
different, you know, release pointer or, or arm angle.
49:48
And, and Higginbottom is one of them where he kind of throws a
49:51
little bit like Ryan Walker. He throws like across his body.
49:54
It's really funky. And he, he can get a lot of
49:56
swing and miss out of it. But he, yeah, the 100% with all
50:01
those pictures as you were talking about.
50:02
And, and apparently from what I've heard, GCU is also getting
50:07
a freshman named Landon Sloan who gets up to 96.
50:10
So that should be pretty fun. So yeah.
50:14
Let's talk about some of the GCU alumni.
50:17
It's moved on to pro ball recently of guys like Homer
50:20
Bush. Junior Daniel Evita was drafted
50:24
by the Cubs, I believe, in the 12th round.
50:26
Jacob Wilson, of course, son of former major leaguer Jack
50:29
Wilson, who's absolutely late in the world on fire right now with
50:32
this high average, amazing contact skills, sitting second
50:36
in hits in baseball, only behind Aaron Judge.
50:38
So tell us about some of these guys in the state of the GCU
50:42
program and where it stands right now.
50:45
Yeah, so, so one of the names I'm actually doing a scouting
50:50
report on him right now is Zach Thornton.
50:51
And he's a lefty who was drafted by the Mets and he gets up to
50:55
like 9293. He's a he's a guy to watch
50:58
definitely in that system. But overall, it's really awesome
51:02
to see what Jacob Wilson is doing because the program in
51:05
itself has been such a big riser with talent and with people
51:10
wanting to go there because the program has gotten so much
51:15
better and they've just developed a culture of winning.
51:19
And basically just like seeing Jacob Wilson have the, the type
51:26
of career because he he got drafted, what, two years ago, I
51:29
think what whatever it was. Two years ago, yeah 2.
51:32
Years ago, yeah. Because he was, he was insane
51:36
then, he's insane now. The dude just doesn't strike
51:38
out. And it's really funny because he
51:39
doesn't walk either. So it's like all he does is make
51:42
contact. He's literally Luisa Rice on the
51:44
right side so. He literally just got a hit just
51:47
before I read off that question or said that question so.
51:52
GC love it baby. It's, it's kind of crazy because
51:56
I've actually met him in person, because he, he actually went to
51:59
my job and, and he was out here on rehab and, and I, I kind of
52:03
told him I go to GCU because of him and because of him and what
52:07
Homer Bush junior and all of, and what they built and, and he
52:10
just goes, that's really cool. And, and then I met him.
52:13
I went to go watch him when he was on rehab as well with the
52:15
ACL Athletics and the ACL Athletics are another team that
52:18
they are not good normally. So I really only went to see him
52:22
So But yeah, no, it's really cool what Jacob Wilson's doing.
52:28
It's really cool what Homer Bush Junior is doing.
52:31
I will say I, I, I think he's a really awesome guy.
52:37
He's going to be a really good player.
52:38
I just don't think the hit tool will translate.
52:40
But also there's another guy named Tyler Wilson who got
52:42
drafted by the Yankees and he's a, he's another guy that could
52:45
blossom on the scene as well. So GCU has a bunch of guys that
52:49
are starting to go in the minor League Baseball and start to
52:54
make some noise. And, and I can't wait for Daniel
52:56
Ovidia to actually make his debut with the Cubs, will
53:00
probably be out here. So he's a he's a guy, I think, I
53:03
think he had Tommy John surgery last year.
53:05
So that's why it's kind of taken forever for him to kind of get
53:09
back to normal. But yeah, I know a bunch of
53:11
talent is spread out from JC which is really cool to see.
53:16
So how would you compare Jacob Wilson to his father?
53:19
I know that Jack was a successful MLB player, but Jacob
53:23
Wilson looks like he has the supreme talent to do everything.
53:26
What a a player should be for, especially for a premium
53:30
position for the athletics. Yeah, yeah.
53:35
So Jack Wilson to me is more of a like a defensive guy because
53:38
that dude made plays that Oh my goodness, dude, that it's like
53:43
him at shortstop, which is so fun to watch.
53:45
Jacob Wilson, I think he is a really good athlete and and he
53:50
will be a really good defender, but the bat sticks out more than
53:53
anything that which obvious which if if he continues like
53:57
this and he went rookie of the year, that'll be really cool to
54:01
see as well. Just as a GSU alumni.
54:03
And I do think that they're they are two different players, but I
54:09
do think that Jack Wilson did a good job in raising Jacob.
54:13
So especially if we're hitting like what is he had in like 370
54:17
this year or something, he's hitting like ridiculous amount.
54:19
I don't even know what he's hitting but it is really cool to
54:22
see it from my GSU like standpoint.
54:28
Do you have any final thoughts? Like is there any other players
54:32
that should be talked about? Any other names that should be
54:34
recognized in all aspects possible?
54:39
Yeah, I got, I just want to say two more that were from ACL last
54:43
year because I forgot to talk about these two, but go ahead.
54:46
One of them is shortstop Liz Bill Diaz of the Giants.
54:50
And he is a guy that will be on the radar.
54:54
He he is, he is, he can hit quite a bit and he's, I believe
54:59
he, he actually plays third more than short, but he's a guy that
55:02
definitely will, will make some noise.
55:05
And then the other guy is this guy has probably -20 power.
55:10
I don't think he's ever going to hit for power, but he is so good
55:15
at just putting bats a ball. And his name is Asbo Gonzalez.
55:18
And all that guy does is get on base, steal bases and hit.
55:22
And that is one guy I think I ranked him like #3 top hitter
55:26
last year or four top hitter. And no one knew who he was.
55:30
So it was really, it's really cool to see because I think he's
55:32
in low way and he's hitting really well right now.
55:34
He's needs to develop some power, but I just don't see him
55:36
ever developing more than gap to gap power.
55:39
But anyway, yeah, that's that's pretty much all I got for you
55:42
guys. We appreciate you being here.
55:47
Great insight, great information.
55:49
Something we learned about the ACL today, that's for sure, even
55:52
though we did some homework on it.
55:53
But Drake, where can we find you in social media and everywhere
55:57
else? So you can follow me on Twitter
56:00
at Drake Man 4 and then obviously we have Prospects
56:04
Worldwide and that is at Prospects World W.
56:07
And then I also have an Instagram at Drake Man 2000 and
56:11
I put some of my footage up up there as well.
56:13
So and that is pretty much where you'll find me.
56:16
And I have a bunch of stuff going on.
56:19
I have some scouting reports I'm writing and going to be posting
56:22
on the site and I will have my yearly complex league rankings
56:27
for hitters and potentially some pitching stuff as well for them.
56:31
So yeah, that'll be that'll be out after ACL at some point.
56:37
And and I'm hoping to see at least get footage for every team
56:41
for for everyone. So yeah, thanks for having me.
56:46
That was a blast. Time.
56:49
We had a great time. It was awesome.
56:51
So thanks for joining us. I love the work you do on your
56:54
Prospects Worldwide website. Keep that up, man.
56:57
And yeah man, it's just a great episode.
57:02
It was awesome to have you. It was fun to learn about some
57:05
of the stuff that that we didn't know about.
57:07
So it was definitely enlightening.
57:10
So thank you very much. I appreciate it.
57:13
Thank you guys, that was awesome.
57:16
We will place the description below where you can find Drake
57:19
Man better. But till next time, take care,
57:22
be kind to each other. Signing off on the Sports Ave.
57:24
Twisted Podcast on Sunday, June 1st at 2:29 PM.