Latest / College Baseball Now / Who’s No. 1 for 2027? | Ep. 049

Transcript

Who’s No. 1 for 2027? | Ep. 049 · College Baseball Now

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We're talking the top 50 college baseball players for the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: 2027 season. Let's do it. Let's do it.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Let me talk to the chat.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: They know I was gone for a minute, had to PRB.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Had to grab a couple wins, what I did. They
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: sleeping on the kid, I had to do a PIG.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I can never be average, and.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: They want to follow with the boy. They don't want
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: no status. I don't need your cosign running with God.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Want to test that, tell him what's standing. Take control,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: run the game. Best believe I'm shining, dawg. Counting in
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: my wins.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it when they count me out.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Off the leash, shut the chain while I'm playing the dog.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Believe I run the game. You know I'm in control
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: of y'all. It's like magic.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Believe I want that static. It's like magic. Believe I
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: want that static. It's like magic. Believe I want that static.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Beat them up, knock them out.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: They really don't want no static. We're back, baby.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: College Baseball Now Season 2, jumping off Episode 1 of
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: the show, covering the top 50 players in college baseball
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: for 2027.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Thrilled to be back with you. It is, of course,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: your friend, your boy, your host, Drew Wheeler, Director of
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Amateur Scouting at Prospects Live. So stoked to be back
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: with you, to be back with my friends. Let's get
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to meet them. First of all, he is in the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: bottom corner. Left-hand corner of your screen, it is Coach
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Jake Bardry. Coach, such a pleasure to see you, sir.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: It's great to see you too, Drew. It's been way
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: too long.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I've been counting down the days since we last recorded
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: to when we're going to hop on now. It was
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: a well-deserved break because we were hitting it pretty hard
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: there towards the end, but I'm excited to be back
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: on here with you guys.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, man. Real quick, I don't mean to throw you
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: on the spot. I hope it's a good answer, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: we do know that Arcadia had the Fall World Series,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and then Team Barge, one game, one. What was the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: final outcome of that?
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Well, so we've extended it to a best-of-five series now.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: We split the first two and tied the third game
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: last weekend. So we're tied two to two. We're going
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to have to maybe have some kind of tiebreaker. I
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: don't know what it's going to be. But in two
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: weekends from now, we're going to have that all settled.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So it's TBD, but Team Barge has one win right now.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Nothing new to us. We expected it out of coach
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: for sure. Bottom right corner, JB Sebastiano. JB, it is
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: so nice to see you. I'm glad you got the
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: memo on the clear glasses. We got the simpatico frames going.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I mean, we have to. You know, we
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: got to bring it back from last season. You know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: it became a thing. It became a staple. So now,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: got the glasses. You know, it's a thing.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You know, my wife told me in our time off,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: she said, you need new glasses. Yours are gross. Gross
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: is the word she used for my glasses. But she said,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: I like clear frames. Try clear frames. Maybe she saw
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: it on the podcast and thought, you know that JB
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: pulls off those clear frames. We're going to see if
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Drew can do it.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: That would be a great honor. I'm going to say no, but,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: you know, I think it's a great honor, Drew.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you, sir. Glad to have you here, as always.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: In the top right, it is Quinn Jimen himself, Quinn Martin. Quinn,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you got the memo on the SEC shirt. You just
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: have the wrong team on. What's up with that?
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: Carolina baseball is back. Schnall ball.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Indeed it is. I'm sure you're tickled, huh?
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: Tickled to the most.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: It's going to be great, and we're glad that you're
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: here with us, pal. It's going to be a great episode, Quim, JB, Coach.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: We've got plenty to discuss. Plenty meaning 50 of the
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: top players in the country for 2027. Specifically, we're turning
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: our lens towards the 2027 Major League Baseball draft. The
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: team at Prospects Live, our amateur team, is working currently.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: diligently on producing scouting reports for the top 50 players.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: We've gone through. We've made our list. We've checked it twice.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: We have tinkered and adjusted. Now we've got the top 50.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: And for your pleasure, we are going to be breaking
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it down. Obviously, we're not going to present the full
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: 50 because we want you to go to www.prospectslab.com, get
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: a membership. They start as low as $ 7 a month
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: for everything on the site, including the all of our reports,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: all of our full boards. We think it's really worth it,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: but we did want to give you a bit of
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: an appetizer to satiate you before the article drops later
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: this month. Let's get to it. Guys, the top five.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: This is an interesting top five because I know a
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: lot of other outlets, it seems to be kind of consensus.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: We didn't get that memo though, and that's okay. Let's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: go through the top five, and then I've got some
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: questions about them for you guys. Number one, at the top,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: we have got Florida infielder Brendan Lawson, whether he's a shortstop,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: third baseman long-term, TBD, if I can steal a phrase
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: from Coach. That said, he's our number one for now.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: But nipping at his heels, number two, Dax Whitney, powerful
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: right-hander from Oregon State. Plenty to talk about with him,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure we will. Number three, Here's where we
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: start to throw the wrench at you at home. Please, please.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I hope you've got your patches of who will hand
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: on and can dodge that wrench. Number three, Chris Lavonis,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: right-hander from Wake Forest. Big fans of Lavonis here at
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Prospects Live. Number four, from Arizona State, the outfielder Landon Hairston.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: And the number five, Tomas Valenka's lefty, Mississippi State Bulldogs. Coach,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I'd love to start with you. Considering this top five group,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Who carries the most risk?
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: First of all, you say that we don't have, it's
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: not like a consensus top five or whatever. It's going
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: to be different for us than most places you look.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I like where we landed in our top five. I'm
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: a fan of the names that we have in there.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: For your question, it's kind of, I mean, it could
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: be a tough one, especially when we talk about, you know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: guys that are ranked really highly and talking about risk
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: and everything. But I feel like there's kind of, I
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: feel like there's maybe one obvious answer and it's probably
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Dax Whitney when we talk about risk, but I mean,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: this is, this is one of the best pitching prospects
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: that we've seen in some time. I mean, he's, he
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: checks all the boxes and I mean, there's a, there's
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: a real argument that he could just be the number
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: one overall player in the class if he, if he
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: were healthy, which to answer your question is obviously where,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: where that risk comes in. I mean, pitchers, pitchers have
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: recovered from, you know, from surgery quite well recently. And
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: it seems it's, it's seeming to kind of, become less
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: of a concern overall. But anytime there's a top arm
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: like this that's going to be sidelined for likely his
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: entire draft year, I mean, there's going to be a
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: pretty reasonable amount of concern involved with it. We obviously
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: know the stuff from Whitney is really loud. I mean,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: he's got the triple digits, fastball, the slider, the curveball,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the change-ups in there too. You know, we saw them
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: all on display last season, and they all have a
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: chance to be, you know, plus pitches when it's all
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: said and done from him. The overall concern for him
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: as a pitcher is really minimal. It's just how he
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: recovers is going to be the tricky thing to determine
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: how far, if at all, he falls on boards. It's
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: worth noting that it's not a one-to-one comparison by any
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: means at all, but Carson Wiggins last year still made
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: it into the first round despite not pitching at all
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: during his draft year. Now Dax is a much more
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: complete pitching prospect compared to him, but that could tell
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: us a little bit how teams kind of value players
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: like this. I don't suspect that Whitney's necessarily going to
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: fall a ton from this, but there is definitely some
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: risk when it comes to seeing if he can, you know,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: take his game to the next level. You know, that's
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: something that we're probably, you know, definitely not going to
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: get to see during the season for sure.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I think so, man. It's so interesting with Whitney because
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: he does have the inherent risk of injury, Jake, and
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: you nailed it, man. But at the same time, he
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: has so much security. It's such a strange thing to
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: say about a guy that's having arm surgery, but there
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: is so much security in the profile, in these inherent tools.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: It's three plus pitches. I mean, I wouldn't bite you
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: if you said four. Along with plus command, a good body,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and a track record of success. So there is certainty
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: in the profile, but yes, Jake, you're 100% right. So
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: much risk with Whitney for sure. JB, let's switch it
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to you because while Whitney certainly has some certainty in
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: there's guys with very sure profiles among the top five
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: as well. Who do you think has the most certainty?
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think the guy with the most
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: security is, you know, Valencus. I think with him, honestly,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: it's just a guy that competes in the zone no
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: matter what. Left-handed starter, it's always a commodity that teams
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: look for. I mean, the stuff is great. Sama USA,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: he's up to 96 from the left side. Short, hard
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: slider in there too. I mean, it's kind of a
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: lot of pitches that really blend well together along with
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: the changeup and he throws a lot of strikes. So
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: that's something that It's really a big thing that teams
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: are going to look for, especially in that conference and
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: the success that he's found in the SEC. Right behind him, though,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: for me, I'd go to Brendan Lawson. And I think
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: that's kind of a cop-out answer. But, I mean, the
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: bat is– you can fall in love with it. The
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: swing is pretty– it's just easy power. He really knows
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: how to find the barrel and just a pure hitter. So,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: that's really easy for me. Why he wouldn't be number one, though,
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: is just the defense. And we've talked about it. He's
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: a guy that's probably going to stick on the dirt somewhere.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: But what it ends up being, we don't know. So,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: for now, I'm going to go with Valenka on that.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I think that that's a fair response. I feel like
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Valenka is built kind of as is to be a
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: backend starter, but with any more progression amongst this profile, JB,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: it just ticks further and further up. The ceiling gets
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: even higher and even more beautiful, uh, from the dominant
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: left-hander had the privilege of seeing him last year. And I, boy,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: it'd be a treat to see him again in his
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: draft season. I'll try my best to make it happen. Uh, Quingen, uh,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Of this top five, probably the easiest question, but I
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: think that you're going to bring it with the response.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Who's the most surprising member of our top five?
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah, the most surprising one is Chris Livonis.
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: But honestly, when I first looked at it, this wasn't
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: the easiest question to answer for me just because of
• 10:33
  Speaker 7: how much I do love Livonis. I think a lot
• 10:35
  Speaker 7: of people would have expected to see Gavin Kelly here.
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: But with Livonis, I understand some hesitation, like there's less
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: polish than.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: A guy like Valenka's.
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: You're really just needing to bet on him, throw strikes consistently.
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: But the Arsenal's electric. He has a ceiling of a
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: frontline starter. And even though the strikes have been the
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: question mark, I wouldn't necessarily say it's a red flag.
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: They've improved year over year. And I expect that to
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: keep improving this year as well. Yeah, he's a slam
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: dunk top three for me. But I can understand people
• 11:07
  Speaker 7: being a little skeptical.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: May I interject on one thing, too, there at the end?
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Just to throw it out there, there's this little-known guy
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: from two years ago who was at the front of
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Wake Forest rotation that threw really hard and transferred in
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: and didn't throw a lot of strikes that people wondered about,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: and now we see where he is now. All-star level
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: starter in the big leagues, Chase Burns. So same school,
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: same development. Just saying. We'll see.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Could be a very interesting bump on that pipeline. I
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: like that for sure. To round out the top five,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Just since you guys left him available to talk about,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: why don't I talk about my favorite player in baseball,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: in college baseball, Landon Hairston? It's funny, JB, because you
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: said Lawson is such a sound hitter, but you have
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: questions about the defense. And I think, honestly, you could
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: apply that same concern to Hairston in a sense. You
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: may wonder at home, well, what's the difference then? I
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: think the difference is just because Lawson's realm of defensive
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: prowess possibilities is is in the dirt whereas you know
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Harrison will be in the outfield grass most likely at
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the corner although in his scouting report guys even touched
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: on it I think that there is a first base
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: future potentially down the road for Harrison but it is
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: just such a natural hitter whose power has been just
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: it comes from his pure hitting ability he is just
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: getting to the ball his barrel is ripping through the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: zone so well and it gets to that power that
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: is there of course JB I will never forget to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: say him though with Wood Bat, it did decrease a
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: little bit. So some stuff to watch with Hairston, but
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: thus far, incredible stuff. The top five is just loaded, guys.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And I think that obviously at home, you can pick
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: up on the fact that three starters among that group
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: would illustrate the strength of college pitching in this class.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: It's not going away though, because we've got a couple
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: more pitchers in the next five. And let's go to those.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Number six, as you would figure, it's Gavin Kelly, the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Swiss Army Knife, from West Virginia. Number seven, another catcher,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: a more secure catcher if you're asking me, Jimmy Janicki
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: from Troy. Number eight, hope you've got your seatbelts on
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: at home, folks. It's Jamie Leskovsky, infielder from North Carolina.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Number nine is going to be Dylan Volantis, left-hander from Texas.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: And rounding out the group, number 10, William Schmidt, the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: right-hander from LSU. J.B., Again, I feel like this might
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: be the most, you know, windmill dunk question of the day,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: but who is the most shocking name here? And why
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: does it start with a J and end with Amy Laskowski?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Jamie Laskowski, I mean, he is just an
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: absolute animal. I mean, if you've turned on anything on
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: the internet to see this guy hit from any Carolina
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: baseball reel, you can kind of see where it's coming from.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's a simple toe tap. He's kind of
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: spread out, but the juice is incredible. I mean, this
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: dude really can just hammer the baseball. Every time I've
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: seen him, consistent 100 plus EVs, no problem. I mean,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: he can hit, he can truly get in there and
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: do everything. I really, really like him. Whether he sticks
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: it short, that's probably the question. I don't know if
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: he even plays short for UNC this next year, but
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: he's got enough arm to play third. There's enough pop
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: in the bat to play third as well, I think.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And it's just a profile that is super, super exciting.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: And one of the more intriguing bats in the infield
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: in this class, which is relatively light on bats this year.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: So I think it's an easy one there. Another name
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I wanted to throw in here too, I know Schmidt
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: is probably a guy that doesn't get as much love
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: in this range as we've given him. He was a
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: guy that was a first round name two years ago. So,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, Schmidt is a guy, he's got all the
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: ingredients there. He kind of just needs to finally put
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: it all together last season with a big step forward,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: but there's a little bit more to it than he
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: needs to keep going. But I think he's a really,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: really great player too, that needs to be hit on.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I agree. Schmidt was my favorite pitcher from that class,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: believe it or not. And I remember being heartbroken in
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the great state of Texas when I found out that
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: he had withdrawn. But it worked out. We've gotten to
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: see him at LSU. And yes, JB, maybe this is
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the year all the puzzle pieces assemble for Billy Schmidt
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: in the Bayou. Quinn, I want to go to you
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: because we're talking about players that were ranked 6 through
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: 10 by our team. These are obviously guys that are
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: kind of within punching distance of that top five and
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: theoretically punching distance of the number one spot. Who, in
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: your opinion, Quinn, has got the best case or the
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: best tools to be number one in the class?
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: Yeah, left-handed pitching is a commodity that doesn't come by.
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: Often, and Dylan Valantis is a really, really good one.
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: He offers plenty of outliers, brings a level of strike-throwing,
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: weak contact, and whiff that you really just don't see
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: often from that side. I think the reason why he
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: isn't in that top five is the velo is just
• 15:46
  Speaker 7: a little bit light, doesn't extend down the mound as
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: much as you might think from a guy that size.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: But that does help him create that steep angle that
• 15:55
  Speaker 7: he's famous for. I think if this stuff can jump
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: up a tick, then I think he could get in
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: that top five and maybe even top one, just lefty
• 16:04
  Speaker 7: strike thrower, pretty hard to come by.
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: So I've been excited to see him this spring.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: It's going to be so interesting to see what he
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: does because, I mean, Quinn, you know it. JB and Jake,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: you heard me talk about Volantis for an entire season.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: This is a guy that I've very much been on
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the first– you know, first car of the train, just
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: banging my fists on the table, ready to go for it.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Although you guys saw in Omaha, it wasn't the smoothest
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: landing of the plane for Volantis, but alas, 2027 is
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a new year. It's a new dawn, a new day,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a new life for Dylan Volantis. We'll see what he does.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I must interject on that drew quickly to say that
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: that outing, I think he bounced back really well. What
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: we saw in person, but there was a certain someone
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: else that had a lot of miscues that really set
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: that one ablaze that we made sure to talk about
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: what we thought of his draft stock.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: We did.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: We'll just leave it at that. That's all we need
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: to say.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Certain battery mate you may be discussing?
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, somehow.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Who could that be?
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, certain things happen in the first couple innings, you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: free outs.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Crazier things have happened for Dylan Volantis. We'll see how
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: it goes. He's got a new transfer catcher. We'll see
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: how that works out. Quinn, sharp glasses. My word, you
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: look handsome. Thank you. Jake, where are the lessons? Pop
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: them on.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: There we go.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Well, Coach, let's move past that, and I'll ask you
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: a question to distract you from your bespectacled space. Which
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: of these five, Jake, has the most to prove in 2027,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: in your opinion?
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like this question because there's a ton of
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: routes that you can take this if you wanted to
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: go with it. I'm going with Jimmy Janicki, I think
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: is how you say it now. That's going to be
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: a hard one to come up with, by the way,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: because we said it all season last year.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: And me and Jamie only got home last year.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: It was Janicki there. That was the first time I'd
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: ever heard this. It's going to be a hard one.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I'm going to practice it. It's Jimmy Janicki, the Troy catcher.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: He's the he's the top. He's the top mid-major bat
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: as we enter the cycle right now. And to me,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: it's not particularly close.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: He's he's got the he's got the size he's got
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: the strength he's got you know a ton of power
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: both both when the in the bat speed and the
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: raw power and and in game he can really you
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: know get into his pull side and and when he
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: connects the ball it's it's usually really loud like i
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: said jb and i saw it in person in omaha
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and the guy can really really impact the baseball when
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: he gets a hold of one uh but the bat
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: the ball is also solid especially looking at it from
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: a from a catcher standpoint, you know, you don't see
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: a ton of like super bad to ball guys out
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: of catchers and it's, it's pretty solid. He can handle,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: he can handle, you know, the entire arsenal cover the
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: entire zone with the bat.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: The one thing about.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Janicki is that, you know, he's, he's aggressive and he
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: does tend to expand the zone a little bit. So
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: we'll have to see if he can dial that back and,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: you know, still make the same amount of impact when he,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: when he does swing in the zone behind the plate.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: I think he moves pretty well. The hands are good.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: but he has a rocket for an arm. The reason.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I picked him as my choice for having the most
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: to prove, though, specifically, is because he chose to bet
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: on himself this offseason.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: After Omaha, he chose to bet on himself.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: He chose to bet on Troy and Coach Meade and
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: stay there for his draft year when he could have
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: probably gone to any power school he wanted to. I mean,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: power hitting catcher, strong arm, has the track record of
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: hitting at Troy. I mean, he could have probably went
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: anywhere he wanted to, and he chose to He chose
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: to stay at Troy, chose to bet on that program,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: and we're going to see if he can repeat any
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: of that production from a year ago or take whatever
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: steps necessary he can to take his game to the
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: next level. But he has another big year at Troy
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: that he's definitely going to have. to, you know, have
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: proven himself this year for sure.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I love that answer to that question. And Jake, you're right.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of routes you could have taken there,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: but I think that this is such a compelling one,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: especially because, like you said, Janicki had the opportunity to say, hey,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: I can boost my stock by just being seen by
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: more eyes. and instead chose the– I mean, I'll call
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: it the integrity move. I mean, I'm not his agent
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: or his parents. But, like, it's an integrity move to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: stick with Troy and stick with what you've been building,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: what you've helped to establish. I think that that shows
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: a lot about what this kid's got up here and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in here. And so that in itself is something that
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: you've got to root for. Let's move, guys, to the
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: next kind of class of these guys, 11 to 25.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: A lot of good names on this list– in that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: section of the list, that's what you're saying– But we're
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: not going to give you the full list. We're instead
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: just going to talk about a couple of different things.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I've got some questions for the broad group of you here.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Let's start, Quinn, with you. Of this 11 to 25 range,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: who do you think has the best case to currently
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: be in the top 10?
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go ahead and talk about my favorite
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: player in the class. JB knows it. Charlie Bates, love him.
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: So Cal shortstop, plays at Stanford. Really just does everything well.
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: He's taken leaps in both years at Stanford. I think
• 21:10
  Speaker 7: this is the year that he fully breaks out. He's
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: playing in a tough stadium at Stanford. Power's gotten dialed
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: down a bit, but he has flashed some really big EVs.
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: Looks like 60 raw power at some times, and I
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: hope he can keep showing that. Settles in around average,
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: but the hit is probably above average too. He's also
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: maybe the best defender in the class. It's a slam
• 21:36
  Speaker 7: dunk shortstop. And when you put that all together, just
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: kind of step back and take a look at it.
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: He's a left-handed shortstop with an above average hit tool,
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: potentially average power and sticks to shortstop. That sounds like
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: a slam dunk top 10 to me. So something that
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: I'm probably going to be hammering for the rest of
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: the year.
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: If you know anything about my draft opinions.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Yes. You know, Quinn, you're going to fit in really
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: well with the Stanford club with me. And, of course,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: all JB needs is a California shortstop to talk about. But, Quinn,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I'm curious, man. Do you think that maybe some of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the disparity on Bates' raw skill and where we're seeing
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: him at least thus far in draft models and draft boards,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: do you think it is the Stanford effect? Do you
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: think it's just, wow, this team is not great, and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: it's kind of dragging him down a little by comparison?
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: It could be.
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: I think there's a few things that go into it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: For me, I was kind of surprised at his, I guess,
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: lack of Kate performance dropped a bit, especially the hit tool.
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: Dropped on the Cape.
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: He got way more aggressive and the, the whiff just
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: went way up. Now I also think it just has some,
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: I think you're probably right. I think it does have
• 22:53
  Speaker 7: something to do with being at Stanford. The numbers aren't
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: crazy to look at. So I think that does have
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: something to, I think that does play a part, but
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: I feel like if you do take that step back,
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: you'll see, oh, this guy's really good.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: You made the case pretty well, buddy. Jake, let's go
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: to you. Same question. Among this 11-25 range, who right
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: now could you say, this looks like a top 10
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: guy to me?
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'll take the easy one here, just
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: go with our number 11 player, Adrian Rodriguez from Texas.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I think there's just a lot of upside here. I mean,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: he's got the frame that you want. You know, being
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: a switch hitter gives him an advantage right out of
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: the gate. The power, though, hasn't necessarily shown up in
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a major way yet. And I think that's something that
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: we're all kind of waiting on and wanting to see.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And that could ultimately be, you know, what ended up
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: keeping him out of our top 10 in general. But
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: the bat to ball is there from both sides of
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: the plate. The contact and chase numbers have both been solid.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I just think there's a really good offensively to build
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: on if he can just get into a little bit
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: more power, like I mentioned. Defensively, I think he's got
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: a legitimate chance to stick at shortstop, moves well, the
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: actions are good, the arms.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: Held up over there.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't rule out completely a move to second down
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: the road or maybe third base or whatever ends up
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: happening with him. There's always that possibility. But I think
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: he moves well at short. I think he looks good there,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: and he's going to have every opportunity to prove that
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: he can handle it. Again, this season, you know, if
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: he continues to make strides there, you know, it adds
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of value to the profile overall. You know,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: good size, pretty good athletes, switch hitter, shortstop, all kinds
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: of things are things that, you know, check a lot
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: of boxes when you talk about players at the top
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: of the top of classes. Now, of course, he's got
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: to stay healthy. He missed a decent amount of games
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: last season. I don't you can't really predict injuries like
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: that to happen. But I mean, he did miss some time.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: So you'd like to see him make it through. a
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: full season, but I mean, there's a ton of projection,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: bit more power proven.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: He can play short.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, then those are, those are some
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: big ifs for a lot of people, but you know, if,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: if those things happen, I think he's got a, you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: a great chance to find himself in the top 10
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: sooner than later.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, you presented the case really well, Jake. It's like
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: you said, there are a lot of intangibles here that
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: certainly spell. This is a top 10 guy and we've
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: seen him be kind of a supernova type player. I
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: say we. You guys had a firsthand look at it
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: in Omaha. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: He hit for the cycle there, too, by the way.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. But, I mean, yeah, JV, you said it. He
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: hit for the cycle, and that's obviously something that I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: hung my hat on Christian Moore being a valuable big
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: league piece on that exact tidbit of information for the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: last three years. And, I mean, it's impressive to do
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: in that park against the, you know, you consider it
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: elite competition. It's pretty, pretty special. Either way, JB, looking
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: at this group, this 11 to 25, who do you
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: think could right now you could make an argument as
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: a top 10?
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, if I got my choice in this,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: it would be Charlie Bates. So I hope we know
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: that with Quentin. I think we know me and Quentin
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: both really love Charlie Bates. One thing I'll say on
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Charlie Bates real quick, people are hating on him. You know,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: the list, they have him real down low. I think
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: he's like a left-handed Merrick Houston. He was a top
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: 20 pick. So we'll just put that out there. It's
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: a similar profile, I think, but I digress on that
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: front from there. Since my guys taken, I had someone
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: listed down, but I'm just going to go more with
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: like my crush on this list. And that's Will Sanford.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: This dude is absolutely incredible. I love Will Sanford. Saw
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: him at USA. The fastball is legit. It's a real
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: riding fastball that the top of his own troop, plenty
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: of whiff at USA. It's a nasty 12, six. He
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: bangs off of that. It's kind of just a two-pitch
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: mix that really dialed in and dominated hitters the whole
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: time he was at USA. He's an arm that I
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: think is really, really exciting. And if the command keeps
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: taking steps forward, like we saw at the end of
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: the year, he's an arm that could be a guy
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: you project to be towards a front-line starter. And he's
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: really got the stuff and the metrics to back it up.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: So I think Stanford, with the strikeout ability he's got there,
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: is great. I'll throw some love at Ryan McPherson because
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: we probably got to mention him. He's another guy that's incredible.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Part of that Mississippi State rotation, that's going to be–
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: amazing this year uh but yeah will stanford for me
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: that's the guy i have my personal top 10 so
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: easy for me to see him out.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: There well if we're going to talk about personal top
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: 10s this may be a good chance for drew to
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: interject listen i have been accused in the past of
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: being biased towards i don't know some team i don't
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: know what those people are talking about but I do
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: want to say that our number... We've got him in
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: the top 15. Trent Grendlinger, I think, is reasonably a
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: top 10 player in this college class for many reasons.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: This is a huge, physical, difficult-to-strike-out power hitter. Now, granted,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: what's his position long-term? I don't know. JB, you've said
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you've seen him, and he's looked like a dreadful catcher.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: But we've seen him... splash the tools that he needs
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to be a solid big catcher.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Let me rephrase this before this gets butchered out i
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: didn't see a single game on the whole weekend go
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: ahead that's enough that's telling there so i don't know but.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Okay that's that's that's true don't mean to butcher don't
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: mean to put jv out like that sorry jv that
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: um but but yes considering the fact that you saw
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: tons of games tons of abs tons of reps not
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: a one at catcher it's concernicus However, even if you
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: put this bat in a corner of the outfield, the power,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the discipline, the grittiness of that bat that Grinlinger provides,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I think is going to carry that profile even in
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: a corner, certainly give him enough opportunity to get drafted
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and prove it one way or the other. Also, Trent Grimes,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: as you all should know. All right, let's flip this now, guys.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Let's go to the other end. 11 to 25, we've
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: talked about who could be a top 10 dude right now.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Who do you have the most concerns about, though? Who
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: makes you say, I don't know, this guy, there's some
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: warts here. Let's start inspecting. Quinn, what wart are we
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: looking at?
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm going to go back to Adrian Rodriguez. This
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: isn't me saying I hate Adrian Rodriguez. This isn't me
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: saying I disagree with.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Jake at all.
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: I do really like him as a player.
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: I think he has a really strong blend of performance,
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: projection and what he's currently shown tools-wise. I am pretty
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: high on my personal board, but I think his range
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: is pretty volatile for me. I do question his ability
• 29:49
  Speaker 7: as a switch hitter. The splits as a righty drop
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: off pretty significantly. I really question the in-game power. I'm
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: just not sure his game is built to it. he's
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: got this really short twitchy swing, which I really do like.
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: I'm just not sure if he can get to the
• 30:04
  Speaker 7: power that we're hoping he can get to. I also
• 30:10
  Speaker 7: am not totally, I, when I was looking at him,
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: I kind of felt like he would be a super
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: utility guy rather than a true shortstop. And that's not
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: to say he can't play shortstop, but I think he just,
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: I think he has the athleticism to play multiple different positions,
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: whether you take that as a pro or a con
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: is kind of up to you guys. But, there's just
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: a lot of things that need to be answered for
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: me this spring, not saying that I don't like him.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I think that that's acceptable to say there are questions
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: you need answered because Quinn, you know, as well as
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: I do, you and I both liked Rodriguez. So, you know, you, me, Jake,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I think JB, you, you like Rodriguez as well. There's
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: enough that we can all say, yeah, this kid's got
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a ton of talent, but it will be silly not to,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: you know, to ignore the the red flags that he's
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: got as well. So he's going to be a very
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: compelling follow in 2027.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: If I can tap onto that too, for just like
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: a second on that too, I think everything we're talking
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: about is, is great with that. And I agree a
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: hundred percent with Quinn. I think then I had this
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: conversation tonight, actually, I think that he's one of those
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: guys going to fall into the bucket for the teams
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: that want to draft a big leaguer. He is great
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: for that, but he's not going to be the guy
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: for the team that's trying to draft a superstar. I
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: think the floor is really high with what Quinn saying,
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: versatile guy, switch hitter, Maybe he doesn't switch it long term,
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: but there's enough tools there that he's going to be
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: a big leaguer probably. He's a high floor guy, but
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: the ceiling probably, the power is what we're going to question.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: We don't know if he gets there and defensively what
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: it is. I think he's going to fit into teams
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: models that value big leaguers very highly compared to trying
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: to draft the home run pick in the first round.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: We'll see.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Super interesting. JB, I love that point. Great stuff. Maybe
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: that is... Kind of the distinguishing factor is we've watched
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Rodriguez long enough to see a professional there. And, you know,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: what level of professional? That may be what we're discerning
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: in 2027. Great stuff. Great stuff. Jake, I'd love to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: hear your concerns about a guy in the 11 to
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: 25 range. Who's got you scratching your chin, coach?
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll start this out similarly to how Quinn started
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: his answer out. I'm going with Ethan Lund, Oklahoma State
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: left-handed pitcher. And I'm not answering this with saying that
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: there's just a ton of concerns and a ton of
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: red flags with Lund. I obviously do like him. We
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: have him ranked pretty highly on our board.
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: But there is.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: One big concern that he's going to have to fix,
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: and it's just the overall command. I mean, he's got
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: the size. You look at him, and he looks like
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: a professional pitcher. He's got the crossfire in his delivery.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: There's a ton of deception there. that's another thing that,
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of places, at least I value that.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I think that it's very interesting how guys can throw
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: a ball like that in general.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: Uh, but he's got it. Um, he's got, you know,
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: he's got the raw stuff.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: He's got a pair of breaking balls that get, you know,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: a lot of whiff, a change up that he's thrown
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: here and there. And, and the, the mid to upper
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: nineties fastball that plays really well in the strike zone.
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: He's just got to throw it there.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: And, you know, he gets over 20%, uh, swing and
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: miss in the zone, but he, but he throws it
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: for strikes at less than 60% of the time. And,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: That's just, you know, you want that number to be
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: a little bit higher, especially when you're looking at him
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: being a starter long term. You know, we want to
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: see him be able to throw the fastball for a strike.
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: The walk rate's also a little bit high.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: It's improved from his freshman year, so you'd have to
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: kind of think that, you know, maybe it just stays
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: going in the right direction. But it was still a
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: little bit high last year. You really want that number
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: to come down. But, you know, like I said, he's
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: got the frame, the arsenal, all that stuff screams starting pitcher.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: It's just the big question, and I assume everybody's nodding
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: their heads while I'm talking about it. It's just can
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: he get the fastball in the zone enough just to
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: let the rest of that arsenal and the rest of
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: that stuff work?
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: We'll just have to kind of wait and see.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Dude, you couldn't have been more on the nose
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: with Lund and his concerns. Jake, we talked about it before.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: We pressed the big red record button. I love Ethan Lund.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I think he may end up being one of my
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: cheese balls this year, but I have something I want.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Let's play a game, Jake. We'll go to game time.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: First one of the new season. Jake, I have a comp. Comp-ish.
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: A comp.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: A comp. I have a comp for Ethan Lund. We're
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: talking a big-bodied left-hander.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Tall.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Starter's frame for sure. Electric fastball. Defined secondaries. Command is
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: not all the way there. Changeup is not all the
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: way there. It's still developing. Still developing Command. Still developing Changeup.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: If I told you, Jake, that I think the floor
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: for Ethan Lund right now is like a sixth inning
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: fastball slider bully reliever. If I told you, Jake, that
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: I see a lot of Andrew Miller in Ethan Lund,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: what would you say?
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: That's interesting. That's interesting.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: The way, I mean, like the, the throwing motion, the long,
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the long limbs, long arms and legs, you know, maybe
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: spotty command. I can, I can see it.
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: I get it. Okay. Okay.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: That's not, that's not a jury. That's awful. So I'll
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: take it.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: I really thought that I was for 10 seconds there.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: I really thought you were going to go like full
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: SEC Homer that we joke about all the time and say,
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Ryan Rawlison. No, I was like, I was really thinking
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: this is where this is going. And about 10 seconds,
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: I was like, wait a minute.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: Shout out Ron Rawlinson.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: You know, shout out Ron. Yeah, I'll always shout out
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: the boy from Jackson. Shout out Ron Rawlinson. No, but yes, JB. Again, though, Jake,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: like we've seen, you know, like you just said, big-limbed
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: lefties who kind of do make a little bit better
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: of that command. I mean, what if he's– I think
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: saying if he's Andrew Miller-like, wow, what an outcome. What
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: an outcome. But if he's, I don't know, 80% of
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: James Paxton, okay, awesome. Like, this is a good deal.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: The more I looked into him, I thought it was awesome. But, dude,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: you absolutely pegged. You killed the concerns because it is, dude,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: this guy is wildly inconsistent. And I'll throw out there,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: just for you guys at home, I watched an interview
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: with Lund where he said that he actually kind of
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: like mid-season changed his mechanics where he he stopped leg
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: pumping and taking his eye off the hitter. So now
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: when he's going in through his motion, he's keeping his
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: eye on the hitter the entire time, and he did
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: see upticks. So maybe there's some data out there that
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: would support that in terms of spaced over the season,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: but I am not privy to such data. If you are,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: let me know on Twitter. Anyway, we've talked enough about
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Ethan Lund. JB, we were talking again before the show
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: about political ads and how we hate I'd love it
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: if you could, in the style of a bashing political ad,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: give me the player in the 11 to 25 range
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you have the most concern.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I feel terrible and honestly like, oh gosh.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, JB.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: He's getting nervous doing it on camera.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: The one we dialed up earlier was really easy for me,
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: but this one will go.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Would you rather do the one from earlier then?
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: It's okay. I can figure this one out. Here we go.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: Do you like undersized infielders? Do you like guys that
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: you worry if they can even hit? Well, if you do,
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: I got the player for you, and that is Riker Waite.
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: So now, here we go. Riker Waite is our guy.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: Sponsored and approved by J.B.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Sebastian.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: Now, here we go. Riker Waite, I mean, he is
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: a talented guy for sure from Vanderbilt. But, I mean, obviously,
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: first of all, he's not the biggest in stature. So,
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: it's first knock there. Obviously, it's going to happen. He's
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: going to stick up the middle, but... The bad for
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: me at USA, it was really, really bad. So my
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: live looks could have been just awful, but also at
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: the same time, this guy doesn't look like he's going
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: to make a ton of impact. And when he had
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: concerns about handling high-end pitching there, which I understand he
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: plays in the SEC and he faces it all the time,
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: but if you're struggling at USA, it's kind of a
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: little bit concerning for me. So yeah, for me, it's
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Riker White. He was a guy that I kind of just,
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: the profile's tough, you know, He's a great player, but
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: in this range, it's going to be tough to draft
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: him and pay him in this spot. Unless he's a
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: guy that you really believe is a one-contract guy that
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: you get for cheap and he's going to be a
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: great defender that will hit enough at the top or
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: bottom of your order. It's kind of like a spark plug.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: But there's my political ad for you. I did the
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: best I could. The other one I had dialed up
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: for a while, but this one we had to improvise there.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you want to do the other one?
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: We'll leave that for another time. Another time. We've got
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: to come back and watch again.
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: We're not through Election Day yet.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: That's true. Plenty of time until Election Day. If you're
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: interested in more of JB's slanderous ads on television, let
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: us know. We'll get one made for you on a
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: top 10 player. I guess we could give them that
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: little spoiler.
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: Watch it.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Anyway. Let's go to the 26 to 50 range. This
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: is going to cover the back half of our top
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: 50 range. Jake, I want to go to you first
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: on this one. Who is the country probably overlooking? And granted, dude,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: we're talking about a ton of players. So like you
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: can't everybody across the country, whether, you know, any level
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: of college baseball fandom, you can't know everybody. But this
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: is a guy you think may not be getting as
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: much love as they should.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad we have this narrowed down to like
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: 25 players, because like you said, that'd be a pretty
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: tough one to zero in on. But the more I
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: watch Hogan Denny from Indiana, the more I just enjoy
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: the upside at the plate. You know, it's really good size, presence, strength,
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: super easy bat speed. You know, the game power that
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: he can hit to all fields, all the scouting stuff
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: there with the power. The bat to balls also, not bad.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: You know, he, he rarely misses in the zone. He,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: he can handle, you know, off speed and fastballs, only
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: 4% zone with on, on fastballs.
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: And he showed that off at, and not just against,
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: you know, big.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: 10 in the spring, but, you know, get some of
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: the top arms at USA this summer.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: And I talked to JB about it and he said.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: He was one of the, one of the, one of
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: the guys that impressed him as well.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: So that's obviously an opinion that I, that I value
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: a lot.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: That might be a positive one if you gave one
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: for him.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: And, you know, on the defensive side, you know, for
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: a thicker built guy, you know, he's got some defensive
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: versatility as well. You know, he's got experience catching. He's
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: been playing a corner outfield. He's even got a little
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: bit of experience at third base. Like, I don't think
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: he's going to necessarily be like the super dynamic defender
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: wherever he lands on the field. But, I mean, he's
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: got the arm to play either catcher or a corner and,
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: you know, capable instincts, you know, in the outfield, if
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: he's forced out from behind the plate, I think he
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: can be.
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: Able to hold his own wherever, wherever he lands defensively.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: He's, he's a guy in this range for us that
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: I'm confident, you know, is going to hit and he's
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: going to be one other, another top producer in the
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: big 10 again this season. You know, I think about
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: like a couple of years ago, just Indiana, just the
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: names coming, coming to mind, Devin Taylor, a couple of
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: years ago from Indiana, he had a big, a huge
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: season there. And like, it's just, obviously there are two
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: different players, but it just shows that guys from the
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: big 10 and, and outside of the sec and ACC can,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: you know, catch helium and have big seasons and raise
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: their stock a lot. And Danny kind of feels like
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: a guy that has the potential to be that type
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: of player this year.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Love that shout. Obviously, Jake, I think you guys know
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: from doing this with me for the past season, A
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: thick boy is an underrated Drew demographic of player. And so, yeah,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Hogan Denny, who's not chunky by any means. He's just
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: a big, built guy. Always love to see a big
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: fella doing it big on the field as well. Good call, Jake. JB,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: who's the country overlooking, in your opinion, in that 26-50 range?
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Well, Drew, I had to hear an awful lot about
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: this guy, and so did Jake when I saw him
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: at the Super Regional. And I'm going to go with
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: Andrew Johnson from USC. I mean, this guy– I loved him.
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: The extension is incredible. The fastball really plays up because
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: of it. He touched into the mid-90s. He reasonably sat
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: in the 91-93 range, though. The slider really played off it.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: It's kind of more like a death-ball-y depth slider that
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: he throws in the mid-80s that I thought was really impressive, too,
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: that kind of tunneled. And then the changeup, kind of
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: the same deal. It's a pitch that metrically may not
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: look great, but it really just tunneled really well with
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: the fastball and got guys out front. So I think
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: he's a guy that's really, really exciting. He's a guy
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: that's some raw clay there. You can really play with
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: another arm from USC compared to Mason Edwards last year.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of different looks, different strengths, but
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: I think he's a guy that really has the same
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: profile with deception and extension and all that stuff that
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: can really get out there and really be impressive.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: I think so, man. That's like you said, you kind
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: of gave us the, Hey guys, this is going to
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: be a threat. last year from first-hand experience. And so, yeah,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: everybody listen. JB's telling you, you may be overlooking this kid.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Don't need to. Quinn, you have got one of your
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: cheese balls right here, a guy you love, and I'm
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: ready for you to start the train. We're setting it
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: off on episode one of season two. Quinn, you're driving
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the train on?
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: Noah Coy. If you don't know, I like left-handed shortstops.
• 43:42
  Speaker 7: Noah Coy is one of them. Compact, physical kid. He's
• 43:46
  Speaker 7: got some twitch to him, especially in the hands. Played
• 43:49
  Speaker 7: a really solid infield for Notre Dame.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Really liked the swing.
• 43:53
  Speaker 7: He's got this really good hip-shoulder separation that I really like.
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: He's super steady.
• 43:58
  Speaker 7: Very patient kid, but makes a lot of good contact
• 44:02
  Speaker 7: attacks to pitches he likes. Power-wise, EVs are low, but
• 44:08
  Speaker 7: projecting it out, I think it can get to like
• 44:09
  Speaker 7: a 40% The attack angle is good. Launch angles are
• 44:13
  Speaker 7: in a good spot and hits the ball in the
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: air to the pole side, which is my.
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: Favorite thing in the world.
• 44:19
  Speaker 7: Defensively, I think he can stick it short, would let
• 44:22
  Speaker 7: him stay there as long as he can. But the
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: physicality might work best at second base. He's a football background,
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: so like that, too. Really, I think he's going to
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: break out this year. He had a really solid summer
• 44:35
  Speaker 7: on the Cape, and I kind of just expect him
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: to keep that going. He looks like he's added some
• 44:39
  Speaker 7: strength this fall, too. Saw him at a home run
• 44:41
  Speaker 7: on one of the scrimmages the other day. So would
• 44:43
  Speaker 7: love to see that keep going. So, yeah, ACC shortstop,
• 44:48
  Speaker 7: keep an eye out for Noah Coy.
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Quinn, I'm going to ask you this year, don't be
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: coy about how much you love Noah. I would never.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: Slap your knee at home. Unk is back. Anyway, keep
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: it in this 26 to 50 range, guys.
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: The new form dad joke's true.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: That's what it is.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to have to get good
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: at that, eh? The best individual tool. So we're talking
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: specifically at one tool. We're not talking about the full
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: profile right now. One thing the guy does that you'd
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: say elite, awesome, A-plus, gold star, five out of five,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: head nod from the group. Jake, what's the best individual
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: tool from 26 to 50?
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: For me, I mean, for me, there's an easy answer here.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, listen, they– They say chicks dig the long ball, right?
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, chicks, if any of you are listening, look
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: no further than Tate Davis. He's going to hit some
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: home runs. The power, it's as loud as it gets
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: in the class. There might not be anybody who can
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: match it probably all season. I mean, I'm not even
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: just saying that. I'm not trying to exaggerate. I think
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: that's legit. He's got a big frame. He checks all
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: the boxes that you want to see a power hitter check.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: You know, he lifts the ball, pulls it, can do damage.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Whole strike zone, all fields, he hits the ball really
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: hard and hits it really far. The raw power, like
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: I just said, it's obviously the carrying tool, but, you know,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: when he does make contact, the ball jumps. Now, don't
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: get me wrong. Like, I'm fully aware of the hit
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: concerns that come with him, and the contact rates in
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: particular are pretty low. But, you know, Drew asked me
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: about the best tools, so we're not here to talk
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: about the bad stuff. I also think he's a pretty
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: solid defensive first baseman. I think he moves well. He
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: knows his way around the bag over there. He's got
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: a strong pitching background, so you can trust him to
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: make whatever few throws the first basemen.
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: Need to make. You know what you're getting with him, though.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: If you can deal with some swing and miss or
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: maybe probably a lot of swing and miss, then you're
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: going to enjoy watching the hardest-hitting guy in college baseball
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: and one of the most fun hitters to watch.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: You are correct, Jake. This was the sunshine and rainbows question.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: We're not talking negative. We're not talking contact rates, none
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: of this nerd crap. Like you said, chicks dig the
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: long ball. In college baseball now, historically, huge, huge female audience.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: And he's good around the bases, Drew. And he's good
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: around the bases.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: And he's good around the bases.
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, what else could we ask for? I mean,
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: that's the greatest cameo clip right there from Jake of
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: all time.
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be, that clip is going to
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: do such numbers. I can't wait. JB, best individual tool
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: of that group. Good luck following Take Dave.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't. So I'm going to go from my
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: boring initial one, this swerve hard right to Logan Eisenreich
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: in the heater. We talked about this one up to
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: 98 today. I mean, it is just straight fuel out
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: of this guy's arm, that Virginia Tech. So watch out
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: for Logan Eisenreich. You know, he might be at the
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: front of the rotation this year and it'll be a,
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: Fun name to follow.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: JB, we talked, you and I, a little bit earlier
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: this week, how our mutual pal Ferris Way said Logan
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: Eisenreich's fastball. What was the grade he put on that?
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: He put a little bit of a high grade on
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: there that, you know, I'm not going to say it
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: out loud.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Maybe he was on to something, JB.
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: But, you know, it's a damn good fastball. It is
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: a really, really good heater, and he's a guy that
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: definitely you need to watch this year.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: I think so, too, buddy. I think so. Quinn, the
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: best individual tool, 26-50. What are you thinking?
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah, speaking of nerd stuff, we're talking about angles today,
• 48:37
  Speaker 6: boys and girls.
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 48:39
  Speaker 6: Camden Clark, vertical approach angle.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Love it.
• 48:42
  Speaker 7: Super flat fastball. He just rides it up at the
• 48:45
  Speaker 7: top of the zone. Huge carry with it, too. Break
• 48:48
  Speaker 7: action off his arm angle is pretty ridiculous. Really, all
• 48:52
  Speaker 7: he needs to do is throw it a little harder
• 48:54
  Speaker 7: and then increase his secondaries, but we're not talking about that.
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: His fastballs his fastballs.
• 49:01
  Speaker 7: Legit just get it in that mid to upper 90s
• 49:05
  Speaker 7: and it's it's a comfortable 60 maybe even a little
• 49:08
  Speaker 7: higher than that.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: Love to hear it like we said dude this is
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: not this is not negative downer time this is sunshine
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: rainbows good stuff time. And like you said, VAA for
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: Camden Clark is off the chart. You'll love to see
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: it from the kid. Alright, let's round this out. So
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: we've talked about guys who are in our top 50 currently.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Let's move outside of it. Just a little bit of
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: how the sausage is made for you guys at home.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: Right now, we have a rudimentary top 100 ranked. We're
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: not entirely set on, you know, we can't say for
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: sure 93 is 93 as better than 95 or that
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: quite yet, but they are ranked. So this may be
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: some guys in that peripheral range, but I want to know, fellas,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: who is an unranked player, not in the top 50,
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: that you're going to put your stamp of approval on
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: and say, yeah, I think they either should be considered
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: top 50 or will be before the end of the season. JB,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: lead us off.
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: Well, you know me and you know where I'm from
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: and you know the jokes that we made last year.
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: And we did have a certain series that opened the
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: season that we had a lot of beef about. So
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: I'm sticking with my boys playing the flag in Santa Barbara.
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: Give me Rowan Kelly. I mean, that dude, he just
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: flat out can hit. He's really exciting. Good athlete. You know,
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: what happens long term defensively with him? Good question. The power.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: Also a good question. I mean, he is really physical.
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: The EVs aren't necessarily there. If he can tap into it,
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: we'll see. But I mean, he just has pure feel
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: for the barrel and he can really hit. So I
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: think he's an exciting player to follow and we'll see
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: what happens. But he's one of my favorite mid-major bats
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: for sure this year.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. JB, I don't know if you had a chance
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: to see it, but on the site last week, Isaac Diaz,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: one of our new writers, was talking about some hit
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: tools that could define the draft, and he himself, a
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: big Rowan Kelly guy.
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: So I guess.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: We're the contingency of Santa Barberites, Santa Barberheads.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: If I can give one more, too, if it's okay
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: not to break the rules here.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Let's get it. From my alma mater, you know who
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with?
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: Cole Fenton. That's one for me that I love. He
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: was great at Walsh's last year. I mean, he's kind
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: of showed an improved ability to find the barrel this fall,
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: and it's just sick to see that. Easy plus defend. Yeah,
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man. That's okay. I appreciate you giving too. And
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't be JB if you didn't have somebody from UNC.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: So I'm glad you got that out there for sure. Quinn,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: let's go to you. In the unranked territory, who do
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: you think is going to be top 50 or who
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: should be or who will be before the end of
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: the season?
• 51:46
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go with Troy Dressler, incoming junior already
• 51:50
  Speaker 6: at Wake.
• 51:51
  Speaker 7: Um, really comes out of this really high arm slides,
• 51:53
  Speaker 7: got a decently riding fastballs, this North South, uh, Arsenal, uh,
• 51:58
  Speaker 7: fastball slider, uh, fastball cutter slider and oil curve ball too. Um,
• 52:04
  Speaker 7: got this little kick change. At least it looks like
• 52:06
  Speaker 7: a kick change. It looks pretty sick. Honestly, kill spin
• 52:09
  Speaker 7: on it really well. Dives way off his fastball. Um,
• 52:12
  Speaker 7: actually zones are pretty well too, which is pretty hard
• 52:14
  Speaker 7: to do for a kick change. But throws really hard.
• 52:17
  Speaker 7: He's in that 94 and top side of like 97.
• 52:20
  Speaker 6: I think he can get a little higher than that
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: as well. He had a five year, right, last year.
• 52:25
  Speaker 7: I just don't expect that to happen again. His stuff
• 52:27
  Speaker 7: is too good to have that. His slider, I really like.
• 52:31
  Speaker 7: This little death ball at like 83. I think that's
• 52:34
  Speaker 7: going to be a weapon for him if he can
• 52:35
  Speaker 7: command it this year. This is a guy I think
• 52:38
  Speaker 7: you can follow up. I know it's a loaded wake
• 52:42
  Speaker 7: pitching staff. I hope he can crack a Saturday spot,
• 52:46
  Speaker 7: maybe a Sunday spot. But this is a guy I'm
• 52:49
  Speaker 7: going to be following pretty hard. One negative I am
• 52:53
  Speaker 7: looking towards is spin capacity. I'm just a little worried
• 52:59
  Speaker 7: about how little he spins his fastball and how that
• 53:03
  Speaker 7: translates with a major league ball down the road.
• 53:05
  Speaker 6: But don't need to worry about that now. But something
• 53:08
  Speaker 6: to monitor, I guess.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: Definitely something to monitor, but there's a lot of clay
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: there that we're going to love to see how Wake
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: and that lab mold him this year. I'm with you, bud.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: I'd love to see him crack a spot in that rotation. Coach,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: round us out, buddy. Who among the unranked do you
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: think will be before the end of the season?
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: After looking at all these names I picked, I think
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: I'm unintentionally switching gears to more big boppers instead of
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: just hitting guys. And I'm going with the Blake Primrose from,
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: from St. Joe's Primrose. He's got the two main things
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: you look for in a catcher. He's got a strong
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: arm and he's got a big power. You know, the
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: power obviously really came to life last year. He left
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: the yard 24 times. The, the ISO jumped 300 points
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: from his freshman and sophomore year. Just, just really, really
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: hit the ball, really hit the ball hard last year.
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, it it's, It's he also doesn't,
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: you know, he swings and misses around 20 percent, only
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: 12 percent on fastballs. But what I found really impressive
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: when I got a little bit deeper on him and
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: some of the some of the numbers and everything is
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: he he he's an aggressive swinger, but doesn't really chase.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: And like I'm throwing a lot of numbers out here
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: right now, but he swings at. you know, 75% of
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: pitches in the zone. Like, he's very– and he only
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: chases at, like, less than 20%. What I'm getting at is, like,
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: he's really aggressive in the zone, but he also doesn't
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: sacrifice much swing and miss or anything when he does it.
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: He knows how to get his A swing off.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: Behind the plate, you know, he handles himself well with
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: the glove.
• 54:52
  Speaker 4: He blocks, throws, controls the game.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: Like I say, he's got a big arm, but some
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: of the throws kind of sail on him a little
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: bit too often. And we'll have to see if he
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: can kind of rein that in a little bit. But
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: I do think he sticks a catcher long term. And,
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: you know, Coach Doc over at St. Joe's is going
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: to get those throws under control for sure. And it
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: would be a lot to ask.
• 55:13
  Speaker 4: For him to try to repeat the production that he
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: had last year at St.
• 55:16
  Speaker 5: Joe's.
• 55:17
  Speaker 4: But if he even comes close to it, you know,
• 55:19
  Speaker 4: we can certainly see him moving up boards and, you know,
• 55:21
  Speaker 4: getting inside the top 50 pretty quick.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: Jake, I want to say a couple things. As you
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: were describing that, the level of aggression that he has,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: but then still not a lot of whiff, not a
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: lot of chasing there with him. I was trying to
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: say he almost is selectively aggressive, but you said he
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: gets his A swing off, and I think that that's
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: the best way to say it. Also, you and I,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: the two founding members of the Primrose Pals, A... We're
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: going to be inducting more members through the year. And B,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: I want to make it a point. Blake Primrose, we
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: want you on college baseball now. We want to interview
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: you on this show. We're putting it out there for you, man.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: We want to have you on the show. Let us
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: know if you're down with that. Awesome. And because I
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: haven't talked in a little bit about players, I'll just
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: give you guys really quickly. How about this? Drew's three outfielders?
• 56:16
  Speaker 4: No.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: I'll give you four outfielders that I really like this year.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: Jake Souders. I really like him. I really like Sawyer Solitaria.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Got to see what this kid can do up close
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: and personal last year. Now he's with Texas. We saw
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: a mid-major outfielder go from mid-major to Texas. Yeah, stock up.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: I think Brody Chrisman can do some stuff at Kentucky.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: I also want to point out, that a top 50
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: college bat from last year was not drafted, has returned
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: to Oklahoma State. What if Colin Ritchie repeats? His draft
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: stock specifically is going to be curious to watch, but
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: in terms of college baseball production, all bets are off
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: in my opinion. It could be a very interesting year
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: for him at Oklahoma State. Either way, lots of great discussion, guys.
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: Incredible first episode. Want to tell you at home, folks,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: If you're into what we're doing, please consider a membership
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: to Prospects Live. It's only $ 7 a month for all
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: of this. Our boards, our articles, stuff from all around baseball,
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: great stuff. We'd love to have you join us there.
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: Just hired a ton of new people. We're expecting great
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: new content any day now until the beginning and through
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: the 2027 college baseball season. Quinn, would you please tell
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: the folks where they can find you between our episodes?
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: You've done an amazing job tonight. We were so glad
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: to have you.
• 57:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm glad to be back. I'll be on Twitter,
• 57:47
  Speaker 6: Quinn underscore Martin 17.
• 57:49
  Speaker 7: I'll be probably reposting a lot of things that we
• 57:52
  Speaker 7: post on the new College Baseball Now account.
• 57:54
  Speaker 6: So please be on the lookout for that.
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the plug.
• 57:59
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: Sebastiano, where can the folks find you between our episodes?
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Anything you're working on as well?
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, at JB underscore Sebastiano on Twitter. And a fun
• 58:09
  Speaker 3: thing this weekend on Friday, I'll be at the NC
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: State versus UNC scrimmage. So that should be pretty fun.
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: There's some murmuring that, you know, a certain ACC freshman
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: of the year might be starting the games. That might
• 58:19
  Speaker 3: be fun. And we'll see what's going on there. So yeah,
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: it'll be a good look for me to see some
• 58:23
  Speaker 3: high end talent.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: The murmurs. You'll love to hear it. Coach, anything you're
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: working on and where can the folks at home find
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: you between our episodes, sir?
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can find me also on Twitter. You can
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: find me at Jake Barge, obviously checking out our top 50.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: That's going to be dropping pretty soon that we've been
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: obviously talking about this entire time. And then I know
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: this is our, uh, This is our first episode, but
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: I will be starting the conference previews up in a
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: couple weeks. I'm planning on doing one for every conference
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: once again, so be on the lookout for those. It's
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: going to be coming. The plan is the start of
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: next month. It's going to be the first one coming out,
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: so we're working on that. My favorite series.
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: I can't wait. And if you're interested in following me
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, you may do so on the Twitter machine,
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Blue Sky, Instagram, all the places. at drew is okay. Again,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: like Quinn said, follow us on Twitter college base. Now
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: keep up with the show. Thank you so much. Want
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: to ask you to please give us a five-star rating,
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: a thumbs up, leave us a comment down below. If
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: you enjoyed the episode, who you like best from our
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: top 50. Guys, thank you so much. Season two is
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: going to be amazing. We're looking forward to it. Thank
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: you so much for your time, for joining us. On
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: behalf of Quinn, for JB, for Coach Jake, I'm Drew,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: and we will see you next time on College Baseball.