Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 76 feat. Jake McKeever - SEC Baseball Rankings, Top SEC Players, MLB Prospects

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Episode 76 feat. Jake McKeever - SEC Baseball Rankings, Top SEC Players, MLB Prospects · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:25
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:27
Twisted podcast. We have a returning guest in
0:30
here and it's one of our favorites and he hasn't been
0:33
here in a while and it's I'm glad that he's back and he he
0:37
covered the SEC and some other college baseball stuff for the
0:40
College Baseball Central. Jake McKeever, welcome back.
0:44
It's an honor for you to have you on again.
0:46
Thanks for having me, guys. You know, I always love talking
0:48
prospects with you all. You know, Sports Ave.
0:51
It's been great. I actually listen to it, my
0:53
friends do it. So I'm actually kind of glad to
0:55
be back. I mean, it's exciting stuff.
0:58
Thanks for joining us. We're excited to have you back
1:01
as well. So, you know, we're excited to
1:04
learn about what's going on with the baseball, college baseball
1:09
stuff and the and the SEC in general and heading towards next
1:15
month's playoffs tournament. Yeah, next month's tournament.
1:21
So yeah, thanks for joining us, man.
1:23
Of course, man, there's always kind of late risers that come on
1:25
in the tournament. It feels like if, if you will,
1:28
it's like, you know, I'd hate to use the Masters because it's
1:30
already behind us. But you know, the draft doesn't
1:33
really start till kind of first week of June.
1:35
Like, I mean, think of all the the risers that we've had the
1:37
last few years, like Eli Willits was in the top 25 and then he
1:42
went number one overall. So it's just exciting stuff
1:45
right now. Yeah, it's it's so unpredictable
1:49
like with these rankings because they fluctuate by the time, like
1:52
I remember, so we're Rob and I are Jays fans.
1:55
I remember that Jamie Arnold was projected to be AJ at #9 and
2:00
then at that change and they and they ended up drafting JoJo
2:04
Parker and I believe his brother Jacob Parker is now committed
2:07
Mississippi. He's been raked too, right?
2:09
So. Yes, I mean, even somebody like
2:11
blame Bullard, who like I remember talking to him coaches
2:15
and they were like convinced that he was going to be a lock.
2:18
Like we don't have to worry about it.
2:19
And then he gets drafted and the Blue Jays said his number and
2:22
you know he's sitting leadoff down in Dundate.
2:25
Yeah, and, and The thing is he got a record setting bonus and
2:28
man, as advertised, he's been really good with that Donini
2:33
team is very interested. But yeah, we could get this
2:36
started here. So let's let's let's talk about
2:39
the top 25 prospects and how you guys felt like ranking these
2:44
team. And obviously UCLA best team in
2:48
baseball right now. You know, the way they're
2:50
playing there, they're playing at all levels go Georgia Tech,
2:54
North Carolina has come out of nowhere.
2:56
And then and then you talk about Georgia, Texas, there's a lot of
2:59
SEC teams, but talk about the rankings and which teams kind of
3:05
surprise you that, you know, ended up being a top ranking
3:09
team. I think for me, I mean, it
3:11
really does start at the top with UCLA.
3:13
I mean, I wouldn't say they're underrated because they were the
3:15
preseason #1 but I mean, you have somebody like Rock
3:18
Chalowski, who's probably one of the best college bats we've
3:22
seen. This is probably Adly Richmond.
3:25
And I would even argue that he's a better fielder than batter.
3:29
I mean, just the things that he's able to do from an approach
3:31
standpoint, what he does in the field, you know how vocal he is.
3:37
And then just going around the diamond, Roman Martin's another
3:39
guy. It's going to be probably a
3:41
first rounder. He he hits the absolute cover
3:43
off the ball. And then Louvu at first is
3:46
another kind of really athletic first baseman.
3:49
And then second base, I know Phoenix Call is played there.
3:51
And then they have another freshman that they feel really
3:52
good about. But I mean, they have 4 short
3:56
stops that play in the infield. And then they have Gasparino
3:59
who's again kind of shooting up boards.
4:01
He's a what, 65 guy that hits double digit home runs in
4:04
college. Oregon State's I think another
4:06
one that's really kind of underrated.
4:08
They have a Dax Whitney, who I got to see when they played
4:10
Lamar, who is just a horse, like in every sense of the word.
4:16
Like, you know, he threw pitch 9898 miles an hour.
4:19
He's got really good feel for three pitches and then behind
4:22
anything, Kleinschmidt's really, really good too as well.
4:25
I'm not sure they really have the bats, but they've kind of
4:28
surprised me because I know I saw him in Round Rock and they
4:31
looked absolutely terrible. George is another one that's
4:34
really, really good. They're hitting the absolute
4:36
cover off the ball. And then A&M in Texas right
4:38
behind them. I know everybody was kind of
4:40
sleeping on A&M, which I thought was really, really interesting
4:43
because I mean, they have three guys that are probably going to
4:45
go in the first round. They have the Copian, Grijovic
4:49
and then Kaden Sorrell, and then they have 3 freshmen.
4:53
Like I was pulling the list for 2028 and Nico Partitas projected
4:57
to go 11. I mean, it's just a phenomenal,
4:59
phenomenal hitting team. Grijovic, I think it's going to
5:02
just absolutely shoot up lists about coming back from his hand
5:05
injury. You know, SEC Player of the week
5:07
last week. He's a 63230 guy that's an elite
5:11
first baseman. He can play 87 positions in the
5:14
field. You know, he has really good arm
5:17
strength and I think his athleticism I think is really,
5:20
really good too as well. Obviously he's got to work on
5:22
some of his fielding and stuff like that.
5:24
But I mean, I saw somebody had a mock to 105.
5:27
Like I really, really struggle to find 104 guys that are better
5:31
than Gavin Groovic. Like he's he's just an absolute
5:34
tank for Texas A&M. Look at some of the standings in
5:39
the SEC and you have Georgia, your Texas, you mentioned A&M,
5:44
how good they are, Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss and and it's
5:49
just a stacked division of, of teams.
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I mean, Vanderbilt's near the bottom.
5:53
Like, I mean, how how often can you say that, right?
5:56
And you look at, you look at it and what's really surprised you
6:01
in this division, good or bad? I I would say one, it's how good
6:07
the bad teams are. You know, Missouri, who was the
6:10
absolute laughingstock of the SEC last year going 3 and 27.
6:14
I mean, they can roll out two really, really solid arms and
6:17
Kellen brings one of my favorites.
6:19
And then South Carolina, you know, with their record and
6:21
everything and you know, the coach being fired, like, I mean,
6:24
they had a guy that went SEC pitcher of the week last week
6:27
and you mentioned Vanderbilt down there in that 14 spot.
6:29
Well, you know, they have the number two home runs in all of
6:32
SEC and they've Connor Fennel who's, you know, a top 200 arm
6:36
in the country. And then somebody like
6:38
Tennessee, who historically has been up near the top.
6:42
They're kind of quote UN quote bad.
6:44
But even then, I mean, they can run out three arms.
6:46
They have a, a solid, solid bullpen that they're kind of
6:49
starting to figure out a little bit.
6:50
Like, I mean, it's just a log jam right there in the middle of
6:53
the SEC. And I mean, you can point at
6:55
every single roster and say that guy's going to be drafted, that
6:58
guy's going to be drafted, that guy's going to be drafted.
7:00
So like there, there really isn't off weeks right now in the
7:03
SEC, which, you know, makes for a really, really great
7:05
competition. It feels like, you know, the 3rd
7:08
or 4th best series in the SEC is, you know, still top 25.
7:11
I mean, there's just an insane amount of talent, which I was a
7:14
little bit worried about because when I talked to some of the
7:17
scouts, a lot of the agents did a really good job, I guess,
7:21
harping on those kind of 300 to 400 range about getting them to
7:26
sign with pro teams versus going to college.
7:29
Because you know, the year before you had guys that were
7:31
first round picks, you know, top picks that didn't play over
7:35
fifth year senior. So I think that that was kind of
7:37
the one thing I was worried about.
7:38
And then I mean, this year is just an insane freshman class,
7:41
you know, quarter rager at Oklahoma, Zach Cozart, Brett
7:45
Crossland at Texas, and then Dorian Wilson, Eric Hines is
7:50
another one in Alabama. I mean, some of these freshmen
7:53
that are coming in at 18 years old, like really don't look like
7:56
freshmen at all. And even just to kind of
7:58
piggyback it off a Major League stuff like Connor Griffin
8:01
doesn't look like a 19 year old kid.
8:03
JoJo Parker, another guy if he doesn't really look like a 18
8:06
year old kid. Like I mean we're in an almost
8:09
an era like post COVID it feels like if you know 1819 year old
8:14
kids that are built like grown men and play the game like grown
8:17
men. Yeah, because we talked about
8:21
the SEC, one of the toughest conferences in baseball.
8:25
And let me ask you this. When you look at the teams out
8:29
there, some of the teams are underwhelming.
8:31
Like you got LSU, They're they're the reigning champs.
8:33
They're they're off to a 69 start.
8:35
You got Vanderbilt, who's 7 and 8, like Tennessee.
8:38
They had Tony Patello. Now he's now he's moved on to
8:42
become the manager of the San Francisco Giant.
8:44
And you know, look at these programs.
8:47
Is it more like the underwhelming factor?
8:50
Like is it the competitiveness? Do you think it's a lack of
8:53
talent that they're because due to the fact that these guys have
8:56
been recruited in the draft for the years or or you think that
8:59
there's other teams that just had a bigger recruiting pitch
9:02
and those teams have kind of overshadowed that have taken
9:05
over in the SEC? Well, I mean, First off, I mean,
9:08
it's just really hard from a scheduling standpoint if you
9:12
play in Omaha, I mean, just for for reference for your viewers,
9:16
like the first week of June's, you know, the season is first
9:21
round and then the portal opens that second week.
9:23
So there's 16 teams that are still playing.
9:25
And then there's other guys who are free to kind of recruit the
9:28
whole time. So I mean, it's so, so hard.
9:31
I mean, you look at somebody like Arizona, who, you know,
9:34
granted they were in Omaha last year, they had a ton of guys
9:37
come through that program, you know, Braden Summerhill, Mason
9:40
White, and then they go to Omaha, they don't really recruit
9:45
behind them And and I mean, they're absolutely abysmal this
9:48
year. Like they're one of the worst
9:49
teams in the Big 12. I think that really does kind of
9:52
speak volumes to it. I mean, you mentioned LSU.
9:54
I mean, at the end of the day, like they still have Derek
9:57
Curiel in center field, who's going to be a top ten pick,
10:00
Aaron Beatty behind the plates, going to be really, really
10:02
ranked high Milo's of phenomenal, phenomenal college
10:05
players. So I think it just kind of
10:07
speaks more to the depth and the talent that these margins are
10:10
so, so thin. Like Tennessee is another one.
10:13
I mean, they're starting to figure it out a little bit in
10:14
the bullpen. But you know, again, if some of
10:18
these games break their way, like they could very, very
10:20
easily be ten and five in the SEC.
10:23
Like I mean, these margins are just so, so close.
10:26
And then Vanderbilt, like I said, I mean, Brody Johnson's
10:28
another high, high quality player, Riker Wade, you know,
10:32
Mike Mancini, like they can still bang the ball around the
10:35
yard. Obviously they they have the
10:37
injury, but horrible right now is that they have 3 or 4
10:40
pitchers who are done for the season.
10:41
Like they lost their Friday guy. So you know, Wyatt NATO, who's a
10:45
freshman, especially their midweek guy and he's not
10:47
pitching for him on Saturday. So I think it's just the margins
10:50
in the SEC. So so then I mean when 2 good
10:53
teams play, one of them has to win, one of them has to lose.
10:58
Pitching in the SEC, as you mentioned a brief when you were
11:02
talking about the the conference overall is is is pretty, pretty
11:08
damn stout. Like with Liam Peterson at
11:10
Florida, I can touch 101 of my favorites in the draft, Thomas
11:16
Valencias and Mississippi State, Tegan Coons, that Tennessee,
11:21
Gabe Gagel, some people say he might have some of the best
11:24
stuff in the country. So start just talk about some of
11:27
the pitching in in the SEC overall and some guys that
11:32
really stand out to you. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned Liam
11:35
Peterson and Gabe Gackle, and I think that those are two guys
11:38
that are really grinding through their seasons, if you will,
11:41
because Gackle's moved to the bullpen, Liam Peterson's moved
11:44
out of that Friday roll on a Saturday for Aidan King.
11:47
But I mean, there's just so many insane, insane arms this year.
11:52
I mean, it's it's really kind of a variety because we've seen,
11:55
like you said, there's guys like Liam Peterson that throw 100
11:58
miles an hour and strike guys out.
12:00
But then there's also guys like Jake Marciano and Auburn that
12:03
really just kind of pound the zone.
12:05
There's there's guys like Shane Sedeo that really pound the
12:07
zone. Dylan Volantis is another guy
12:10
that's probably going to be coming up in 2027.
12:12
It's going to be a top ten pick. I mean, there's old guys,
12:15
there's new guys, there's freshmen, there's guys you just
12:18
throw disgusting stuff. There's guys who just pound the
12:20
zone. You know, Tegan Coons, you kind
12:23
of mentioned him. He's another guy that's really
12:25
kind of starting to figure it out.
12:26
He had his best outing, actually got to see it last Saturday at
12:28
Mississippi State because he pitched him to the 7th.
12:31
I mean, there's a lot of guys that are have really good shapes
12:34
that get banged around a little bit.
12:35
And there's also a ton of guys that have just good, good stuff
12:39
that are solid, solid pitchers. Like Matt Scott at Stanford.
12:42
I mean, you remember him last year.
12:43
He was supposed to be a guy that's drafted, transfers to
12:45
Georgia, has unreal stuff. Dylan Big use another guy.
12:49
But I mean, even somebody like I thought this was crazy.
12:54
I saw Vanderbilt on Sunday and they ruled out a guy again at
12:59
the end of the weekend that there's 100 miles an hour.
13:01
Like it's just insane. You know, every single guy in
13:04
the SEC rolls. It seems like there's a reason
13:07
that he's there. It's just insane the amount of
13:11
pitching that we have in the SEC right now.
13:15
It's because of the coaches or do you think it's big recruiting
13:20
or it's going through transfer portals?
13:21
Because you look at the way the pitchers are, it's so highly
13:26
competitive. And you look at the historic
13:28
part, like you look at teams who were like, you could name guys
13:31
who's been in SEC, for example, Bryce Miller from Texas A&M, You
13:36
got Jared Spencer who was with Texas or Paul schemes, of
13:40
course, right? And so on.
13:41
So, and Vanderbilt has a rich history of pitching.
13:44
Like it's like there's a lot of familiarity with the SEC
13:48
pitching. Is that as a tradition with
13:51
these coaches or it's just that it's more comfortable with the
13:53
programs? I think it's just, you know, the
13:55
best players want to play in front of the best crowds, get
13:58
the best NIL. I mean, these are teams that are
14:01
run like major leagues teams in a way.
14:04
Like, you know, you mentioned the jump of Tony Vitello going
14:06
to the Giants. But the flip side of that is,
14:07
like Wes Johnson at Georgia was with the Minnesota Twins before
14:11
he was with LSU. And there's a lot of
14:13
familiarity. Josh Elander played in the major
14:15
leagues. Like the scouting reports, the
14:17
fitness, the nutrition. Like again, obviously it's
14:20
probably never going to rival like the Major League level, but
14:22
it's a lot closer to the Major League level than high school
14:25
level. I mean, some of, I mean, Max
14:27
Weiner is another guy who is a Major League guy.
14:29
The amount of detail that they have, I mean, every single thing
14:33
that they do is filmed tracked. They know probably guys better
14:37
than the guys know themselves. And just from a scouting
14:40
standpoint, too, I think that's another thing that college games
14:43
really kind of catapulted on. And the rehab, the strength.
14:46
I mean, like I said, I mentioned these freshmen, they don't look
14:49
like freshmen. The flip side of that is there's
14:50
a lot of guys that put on a ton of muscle in the offseason.
14:53
Somebody like Chris, remember, who goes Team USA comes back in
14:57
the spring. Aiden Robbins at Texas is
15:00
another guy that's probably going to find himself drafted
15:02
this year. He put on 15 lbs of pure muscle
15:05
and his quad quintupled his home run total.
15:09
And he's far from the only one. Tim O Becerra is another one
15:13
Adrian Rodriguez puts on. He actually lost a little weight
15:16
what he put on 10 lbs last year. I think it's just, I mean these
15:20
college, they're run like pro organizations I think in a good
15:22
way. Didn't you mention a couple of
15:26
hitters? I do want to talk about the
15:27
hitting aspect of the SEC. The competition on this is, is
15:32
all time here. And if you look at the players
15:34
you mentioned like Kate and Soro, like I mean he's leading
15:36
categories in the RBI's and home runs.
15:39
Then you got Jake Brown from LSU.
15:42
I mean, LSU has a great program overall when it comes to
15:45
hitters, too. You mentioned about Robbins,
15:48
Daniel Jackson, another one. Justin LeBron, another guy who's
15:52
supposed to be in this year's draft.
15:53
Like how deep is this hitting class?
15:56
Or like the competitiveness of hitters in the SEC?
16:01
I mean, it's just a gauntlet, if you will.
16:04
I mean, you mentioned Dan Jackson at Georgia.
16:07
I mean, there's like 7 or 8 guys that could realistically start.
16:12
Lebron's an interesting one because, you know, I was pulling
16:15
it up and obviously I'm not sure when the e-mail be updated their
16:18
prospect list, but he's listed as third.
16:20
He's sitting down around 2:20 in SEC play, you know, 13 errors.
16:26
So I'm really curious to kind of see how he does.
16:28
But flip side of that is somebody like Jake Brown's
16:30
probably going to shoot up a ton because he's an absolute cover
16:33
off the ball. I mean it, if you can hit the
16:35
SEC, you can hit just about anywhere.
16:36
I mean, we've seen it. I know Jake Mangum, just to kind
16:39
of throw it back is, you know, that was when I was in college
16:41
at Mississippi State. Brent Rooker's another guy
16:44
there. I mean, if you can come on and
16:46
hit the SECI mean, that's where the best hitters hit.
16:49
It's it's just really exciting. Hokopian's another guy.
16:53
You know, Joe Doyle had an interesting stat that based on
16:58
advanced stats, Hokopian's actually been better than Rock
17:00
Cholowski just off of stuff like that.
17:03
And he's actually been slumped in the last two weeks.
17:06
So I kind of show you how insane some of these guys are.
17:09
I mean, Terrell has, you know, 98% exit velos.
17:13
I mean, these guys are just insane.
17:16
I'll talk a bit about some of the players of the week In the
17:19
SEC. You had TJ Pompey at 3rd baseman
17:23
at 4 was the player of the week. He had a big series, hitting a
17:27
couple home runs, double driving in six.
17:32
And then the pitchers of the week were Alex Petrovich at
17:35
Auburn and Amp Phillips to South Carolina, who had really good
17:40
outings, one in relief, one as a starter.
17:42
So talk about those guys a little bit and and what led them
17:45
to be win those awards. Yeah, I mean, Pompey's had, you
17:51
know, a grind of a season, if you will.
17:53
I mean, this is a guy who two years ago was a stud at Texas
17:56
Tech that tore the cover off the ball last year.
17:59
He has an injury, misses a time and there's a transfer portal,
18:01
ends up in Arkansas. And Arkansas is not the easiest
18:04
place to play. I mean, they have 10-12 guys
18:07
that could probably start at any program in the entire country.
18:10
And, you know, Pompey really kind of took it on the shoulder
18:12
that first month or two of the season.
18:13
Like you're striking out a time he was in and out of the lineup
18:17
and you know, this weekend it just clicked for him.
18:19
And it really all started with that just in LeBron error in
18:23
Friday's game. You know, it's kind of a slow
18:25
roller. LeBron rushes it.
18:27
Suddenly Alabama gives up the lead and then, you know, next
18:31
pitch Pompey ambushes a home run.
18:32
Like that really does kind of show you how thin the margins
18:35
are. And you know, Pompey's another
18:37
guy where if they if Arkansas can kind of get him going, him
18:40
and and Mike and new out in center field.
18:42
I mean, it's a scary, scary team.
18:44
And then, you know, the other guys, Petrovic's been pitching
18:47
for Auburn on Sunday. So it's kind of interesting
18:50
that, you know, a Sunday guy when a lot of these teams are
18:54
going with TBA and, you know, Auburn.
18:56
And I'll even throw Atlantis in Texas because he's another one
18:59
of those guys where you can just talk in time and time again
19:01
about how good he is. But it's such a cheat code on
19:04
Sunday when you get turned to somebody like Petrovic, you
19:07
know, study the bullpen, get you 6-7 innings and then behind him
19:11
like you're, you're really kind of good to go.
19:13
Phil puts another guy where, you know, Monty Lee's been doing
19:15
this weird in and out stuff trying to get some stuff to
19:19
stick. He goes up there to Missouri and
19:21
they win A1 nothing game where they steal it, where they don't
19:23
even get a, they don't even score a run.
19:27
So it, it's interesting. I, I would say.
19:30
And then, you know, the freshman of the week too.
19:31
I mean you can almost pick 7 or 8 freshmen at week every week it
19:35
seems like. You mentioned about Rock
19:40
Cholosky and Chris Hokopian. That was actually one of my
19:43
questions. I want to get to that actually.
19:45
It's so interesting to say that because Rock Cholosky is
19:48
projected to be the number 1 ticket this coming draft.
19:51
But like you said, he's been struggling a bit.
19:54
And Chris Hokopian was a trash reporter last year.
19:57
A lot of people thought he was going to be a top player and
20:00
supposed to be at least probably within the top 50, but he's been
20:03
ascending up like and there's a lot of similar characteristics
20:06
with this with their hitting tools.
20:08
The way that both players are like, is there any shot that
20:12
Hucopia could be as similar as Rock Cholowsky?
20:16
I think they're a little bit different and I've got to
20:18
actually see both of them, you know, multiple times.
20:21
You know, Rock is a super, super athletic shortstop.
20:25
He is, I would say, and this isn't a knock on a Copian
20:29
because he's a transfer and it's a little bit different, but he
20:32
kind of reminds me a little bit of like a Travis Bazano with how
20:35
vocal he is, how much of A leader he is, how important he
20:38
is to a program. You almost kind of forget that
20:41
Rock hits as good as he does. I know that sounds crazy to say
20:45
based off of like measurables, but you know, everything that he
20:48
does, like behind the scenes and stuff that you don't measure is
20:51
just absolutely insane. And the flip side of that is,
20:54
you know, Chris Socopian. This is a guy who I would argue
20:58
for his entire life. I don't really know his high
21:00
school background that much. He's probably been the best
21:02
person on the field and just the humbleness to go to a place
21:07
where you're not the best person on the field.
21:09
You know, you have Sorrell, you have Grijovic.
21:12
Calendar beats him out at short and moves him over to 2nd.
21:15
And you know, he's mature enough and veteran enough to accept
21:18
this role, be in the middle of the lineup.
21:20
And obviously he's got some stuff to work on.
21:22
He sometimes gets happy feet. But I mean, Michael Early has a
21:26
proven, proven track record of getting hitters ready for the
21:29
next level. You know, he's the hitting coach
21:31
with Spencer Torkelson in Arizona State.
21:33
So I mean, getting to learn from somebody like that, you need to
21:36
bounce ideas off of Sorrell and Grahovic, I think is a huge,
21:38
huge thing for Hokopian. And then the flip side of that
21:41
is, is Grijovic and Sorrell being humble enough to accept
21:45
somebody that's ranked higher than them, you know, and teach
21:49
them the ropes. I mean, it's it's I think it's
21:51
fantastic. How?
21:52
I mean you almost forget Hokopian's a transfer with how
21:56
well he meshes with this team. We've talked a lot about the,
22:01
the pitching and the hitting and the SEC as a whole, but dive
22:06
into some of these rotations and, and like which rotations
22:11
really interest you the most and which, which are some guys that,
22:18
that really like jump off the page and just like how deep can
22:22
they, can they can teams go in, in a, in a weekend series?
22:28
I think, you know, if you're going to talk pitching staff, so
22:30
I think you've got to start with the Texas Longhorns.
22:32
I mean, they've Dylan Volantis, who they've moved up into the
22:34
Friday roll this week just because they had a weird rain
22:36
delay. But Riojas is a guy that throws
22:38
7 or 8 pitches. Harrison's the old man of the
22:41
staff. And I actually thought it was
22:45
going to be, you know, Sam Cozart, who was going to kind of
22:49
come in and take a few innings. I mean, this is a guy where if
22:52
you have any listeners, like, you need to go Google this kid.
22:54
Like he's 18 years old that has a full on beard, super, super
22:59
built out and he's not a bullpen arm for them.
23:04
Thomas Burns has been another one.
23:07
Hayden Lafu. I mean, there are very few
23:10
teams, like they're teams like Aiden that absolutely hit the
23:12
cover off the ball and then piece together.
23:14
But what's out of this? Like Texas has seven or eight
23:16
arms that they really, really trust.
23:18
Another staff that I really, really like is Ole Miss Hunter
23:22
Elliott, who I feel like he's been there forever.
23:24
He was on that national championship team back in 2022
23:27
and he's still kind of kicking around with two red shirts.
23:30
Kate Townsend behind him has probably been the best pitcher
23:33
in the SEC. He didn't miss two starts kind
23:35
of in the middle. So his stats are a little bit,
23:38
you know, deflated if you will. But I mean, he's been a
23:40
phenomenal 1. And then Taylor Ray behind him
23:43
and Florida, I know I mentioned Tennessee, it really is kind of
23:46
the haves and the have nots like LSU as a TBA on Sunday, Georgia
23:50
and Arkansas have TB as on Sundays.
23:52
And then the teams that have Sunday guys, I mean, they're
23:54
phenomenal. Like Russell Sandiford at
23:56
Florida's probably my favorite arm that I've seen this year.
23:59
I mean, it's just, and even then the quote UN quote bad arms.
24:03
Like Georgia has 9 or 10 guys that they can roll out in a in a
24:07
weekend. Like it's just insane some of
24:09
the the bullpens these teams have.
24:13
When I was talking about the awards, I failed to mention that
24:15
Cam Appenzeller, relief pitcher for Tennessee, won the Freshman
24:18
of the week. So going to the bullpens, who
24:23
are some like teams and guys and bullpens that really like jump
24:27
off the page to you in the SEC. I think it really is Cam
24:30
Appenzeller and everybody else. I got to see him pitch on Friday
24:33
at Mississippi State. I mean, this is a guy we're
24:37
multiple times. So on a weekend, he's given you
24:40
1215 outs and when a lot of teams are really kind of
24:44
struggling to piece stuff together.
24:47
Jack Bauer at Mississippi State's, another guy, he's a
24:50
true freshman, throws over 100, has some walk issues and still
24:55
kind of trying to figure out his role in Mississippi State.
24:57
But I think 2-3 years we're going to be talking about
25:00
Hamilton. And then outside of that, I
25:04
mean, Missouri or sorry, Oklahoma has Jackson, Cleveland
25:08
from Missouri. Leon started a few games for
25:11
them, but it really is with these bullpens, the haves and
25:14
the have nots. Well, if you look at the
25:18
schedules coming up, because you talk about the way the rotations
25:21
are built and what works with these pitching Staffs and the
25:27
hitters and you look at the these upcoming schedules in
25:30
these coming weeks. Obviously we've got some big
25:32
ones this weekend, but there's like the non conference games
25:35
that's coming on in the April 21st week and then the 23rd to
25:38
26th. The key, the key matchups is
25:42
Alabama at Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas A&M at Florida,
25:46
Texas. How pivotal are those matches?
25:49
Because when it comes to standing, it's going to it's
25:52
going to be the moment like you're going to be end up going
25:54
to the playoffs, right? And these, these games are going
25:56
to matter, right? Yeah.
25:59
I mean, for reference, there's nine teams in the SEC that sit
26:03
within a game of each other at 8:00 and 7:00 or 7:00 and 8:00.
26:07
And I think the other thing that's been kind of weird this
26:09
year is how many sweeps there are.
26:12
Like, I know that that's one of these, some of the cheat codes,
26:14
if you will, is stealing a Sunday game where you've lost
26:17
the 1st 2 or splitting. I mean, that really hasn't
26:20
happened in the SEC this year. So I mean, there's so much
26:23
fluctuation. I mean, these next 4 weeks are
26:26
really going to come come down to it because I would, I would
26:29
argue Missouri and South Carolina are pretty much already
26:31
eliminated at this point. And then Missouri, Vanderbilt,
26:35
sorry, LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, well, those are the
26:38
three teams that are kind of right in the thick of it, of
26:41
being right at that cut line. LSU and Vandy, I think, have to
26:43
win 14 games just with their RPI.
26:46
Tennessee, I know that they swept, but I know that there was
26:48
a lot of people, me included, when they were sitting at 4:00
26:50
and 8:00 or like, hey, you know, do you really trust this team to
26:53
go, you know, 9 and whatever down the stretch and gets to 13
26:58
wins? Because I mean, we've seen it in
27:00
the past. Like regardless of how good
27:02
these SEC teams are, they usually only take about 12 or 13
27:06
of them. And if you're that 12 or 13, you
27:08
have to have a really, really strong resume.
27:10
And obviously LSU and Danny just don't have that this year.
27:13
So you, if you're them, you got to feel really, really good.
27:16
Really, really worried. I mean, the other thing too, I
27:18
read today that was kind of interesting where LSU is on the
27:22
bubble for a lot of projections. And I mean, it's a joke.
27:27
Like they're not a good team resume rise right now.
27:30
I mean, obviously there's four weeks, but I mean, it's an RPI
27:34
in the 70s, they said 23 and 15. They have been absolutely
27:37
terrible out of conference record and out of conference,
27:41
you know, RPI or if you know they were Kansas or even an ACC
27:46
team, like you won't even be talking about them.
27:47
I mean, they have a big one this week against A&M and it was kind
27:51
of what righted their season back in 2024.
27:54
So obviously there's plenty of time in these next 4 weeks to
27:56
figure it out. But I mean, LSU and Vandy are
27:58
right at the cut line of this in the tournament.
28:01
But if you look at the schedules out there, which team do you
28:04
think is under more more pressure to win?
28:08
I would say LSU because Vandy has a lot of external things
28:13
that are kind of out of their control in terms of recruiting.
28:17
Like they can only recruit graduate transfers or people who
28:20
have degrees, whereas LSU can pretty much recruit anybody.
28:23
Add that in with all the kind of mind games that Jeh Johnson's
28:27
been playing with the media about money.
28:30
I mean, for reference with with NIL and Rev sharing, which again
28:37
isn't the only factor I would say with them, but they're
28:40
getting ref share at women's gymnastics level.
28:44
And obviously they're going in and fixing that because Jay
28:46
Johnson's kind of said, hey, that this is truly unacceptable.
28:50
But I mean, LSU's had a ton of transfers.
28:53
Like they have a lot of good guys.
28:55
And I mean, when you flop like this, there's really kind of two
28:59
schools of thought of where you go from here.
29:01
I know that the Tony V thing with the Giants, like the jury's
29:03
still hot on it, but Jay's another one of those guys that
29:06
could very easily get a pro job. I mean, they get A&M,
29:08
Mississippi State, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
29:11
I mean, they get Mississippi State at the dude is probably
29:15
going to be rolling around again.
29:17
Georgia, they have to go to Foley, LSU, Florida.
29:20
I mean, if Florida's fighting for a tournament or host,
29:24
they're probably going to not rest their arms.
29:26
I mean, LSU is in a lot of trouble and they they got a,
29:29
they're going to have to steal one from Mississippi Stadium or
29:31
Florida I think to even have a chance.
29:35
The SEC Baseball tournament scheduled to take place at the
29:38
end of May, May 19th to 24th, and Alabama.
29:43
Who are some teams that you think could make some noise in
29:46
the tournament? Yeah, that's always an
29:49
interesting one. We did have a new format last
29:51
year with Oklahoma and Texas coming over to where all 16
29:54
teams make it and it's single elimination.
29:57
There are some teams like Vanderbilt and will mess who
30:00
will go, you know, balls to the wall to try and win it.
30:03
And then there's other teams like Texas and LSU that'll just
30:07
make sure their pitchers get work.
30:08
So it's always the team that's kind of in that 4 to 5 range
30:11
that you really kind of think is going to be the one.
30:13
I I would go with Georgia. I know Georgia's 1.
30:16
So it doesn't really fit the narrative that I just tried to
30:17
present. But they have so many bullpen
30:20
arms they can slug it in shootouts.
30:24
Arkansas, I think, is another one where they can slug it.
30:27
Texas A and MI always feel like if you're going to make it
30:29
through those regionals, you got to have seven or eight or the
30:31
tournament, you got to have seven or eight arms and you got
30:34
to have bats that bang. And A&M doesn't really have the
30:37
arms, but I mean, they can bang it with anybody in the country.
30:43
We could see a surprise team that could come out of nowhere
30:46
in the SEC and start playing well because like you said, it's
30:50
so damn competitive, right? Like you just don't know.
30:52
And Georgia has played so well out of everybody.
30:55
Obviously a lot of people expected to play it, but they're
30:58
here, right? Like could you see Texas come
31:01
out of nowhere? I know Texas has been struggling
31:03
to get to get to the dance, but they just can't get there.
31:06
But given the fact that LSU, they were the reigning champs
31:10
and looks like they're they're in a bit of trouble, like you
31:12
said. So is there any other
31:13
opportunities for any other teams that could try to come out
31:16
of nowhere and try to compete for the for the College World
31:18
Series? I mean, it's always just a wide,
31:21
wide open tournament every single year.
31:22
Like, you know, I think back to Arkansas in 21, like they were
31:28
kind of the hot team. Tennessee was hot.
31:30
And the flip side of that is like that 23 team with
31:33
Vanderbilt and A&M, like those were two teams that really were
31:36
not, you know, really talked about or considered.
31:40
Ole Miss was another one that got really hot and Vandy
31:43
obviously won the whole thing to steal the one seed.
31:45
So it's always kind of he's playing the best baseball at the
31:47
right time, 1-2, who has the most to improve?
31:51
Because that's the other thing is if LSU and Texas already have
31:54
that top eight seed locked up, you know, they're probably not
31:56
going to actually not LSU. I don't know why I said that
31:59
Texas and Georgia already have those top 8 seeds locked up.
32:02
Like, you know, who really cares about it?
32:05
If you will, like we'll have our starters throw, have our gold
32:07
pins arm go, but you know, no harm enough if we go out early.
32:11
I think that's, that's the only thing is, I mean, Texas has the
32:14
arms to go through it, but you, you just kind of wonder how much
32:18
some of these teams really care. So this is an interesting
32:22
question now because like we talk about managers, how
32:26
important they are, right? And we look at the head coaches
32:30
and you know, some teams are not off to good starts, some teams
32:33
are off to great starts. But if you have to ask yourself
32:37
this question, who would you say is under the hot seat or, or
32:42
there's a chance that they could get fired?
32:43
Because I know that there's always that there's always a
32:46
couple managers that could be at stake and they could get fired
32:50
right at the end. I think obviously we already
32:54
have money or pulmonary who was fired at South Carolina, right?
32:59
It's really weird because I would say Michael early at the
33:03
start of the year was on the hot seat, but I would say that's
33:06
100% close, like cleared out. It's with them being, you know,
33:09
top ten. I don't think there's any worry
33:10
there. I don't think Carrick's under
33:15
any kind of pressure at Missouri either, just because I think
33:18
it's it's not funded correctly. So if you're going to fund it,
33:22
you might as well give Carrick a shot.
33:24
But you know, outside of that, I would say Houston in the Big 12
33:29
is probably the one that you have to watch for.
33:32
And then just the trickle down effect of, you know, Pulmonary
33:36
at South Carolina, like they're going to steal an existing
33:38
coach, whether it's Kevin Schnall at Coastal, whether it's
33:41
Dan Fitzgerald at Kansas. I would say Tadlock at Texas
33:46
Tech is another one that is probably on the hot seat.
33:49
But I don't think Korbes is on the hot seat.
33:52
Like I don't think Elander's really on the hot seat.
33:57
Jay's probably on the hot seat like to leave, but not on the
34:00
hot seat to be fired, if that kind of makes sense.
34:02
Right, No, because like I asked you this because like you look
34:06
at the coach and always in that conference, there's always
34:10
pressure to win, right? And like you said, like early
34:13
was was on the hot seat last year and he he seemed like his
34:17
job is safe. And I guess, I guess if the
34:19
players were a pro early, fans, right, or guys, right?
34:23
Yeah, they they championed for him twice, actually.
34:26
Really. Wow.
34:27
That's. Interesting.
34:29
What about like a Van Horn or Thompson or Vaughn, Any of those
34:32
guys? Are any or do you think those
34:35
guys are safe as well? They're safe.
34:37
I mean, DVH, the only thing you got to worry about is
34:40
retirement. But when I was talking to one of
34:43
their coaches, she was like, no, he's like, unless Dave comes out
34:46
of nowhere, which would barely be Dave, but I mean, Butch
34:50
Thompson and Auburn, I mean, he's probably one of the most
34:52
underrated coaches at any sport. Like they regularly go to Omaha
34:56
and no one really thinks of them as like a blue blood.
34:58
I think he's fine. Bianco maybe.
35:01
But then again, they're kind of so hot right now.
35:03
Like I feel like he always does just enough to save his job.
35:08
USA Baseball earlier this month announced its mid season watch
35:11
list for for the Golden Spikes Award candidates in 2026 with
35:18
guys on this list. Some top guys like of course,
35:22
Rock Chalowski, AJ Gracia, what your guy Kaden Sorrell, Will
35:29
Gasparino, There's just a number of Daniel Jackson, GA, and even
35:35
a high school prospect and Grady Emerson, the only, the only high
35:39
school prospect on this list. So talk about some of the guys
35:43
and some of the candidates and who ultimately you think might
35:47
end up winning that award when it's all said and done.
35:50
Yeah, you mentioned Grady Emerson.
35:52
We've never had a high school kid win the golden spikes.
35:55
The only non college D1 player was Bryce Harper, who you know,
36:00
obviously was a little bit of an asterisk because he was Bryce
36:02
Harper. But it's kind of funny a little
36:04
bit. Some of the curse that's come
36:06
out, like LJ Mercurius from AU was on the Golden Spikes watch
36:10
list and then he's been ineffective like 2 of the last
36:13
three weeks. Ryder Helfrick's another guy
36:16
that I really, really like, but he's been kind of cold.
36:19
It's interesting though, the Rock Cholowski aspect of it,
36:22
because it does kind of feel like he has it locked up.
36:26
But the flip side of that is, I mean, Kags was the best college
36:29
player for his last two years and he didn't win the Golden
36:32
Spikes. I didn't think he was a
36:33
finalist, actually. So it's always kind of
36:35
interesting. You got to have like you got to
36:38
be one on a team that goes to Omaha.
36:40
Two, you have to have a ton of hype around you, and then three,
36:43
you have to have like a marquee moment that kind of makes
36:46
everybody. I mean, it really does kind of
36:49
feel like it's Rock. So hard to lose at this point.
36:54
Do you think there's any other sleepers in, in the, in the
36:57
golden spikes? We had like a Lloyd won it last
37:01
year, right? Yeah.
37:02
He came out of nowhere to win it.
37:04
That's what I'm saying. Could we see any player like
37:07
that that could come out of nowhere to win the Golden Spikes
37:09
Award? I think Trey Phelps at Georgia
37:12
is one that could kind of come out of nowhere, if you will.
37:15
I mean, he tears the absolute cover off the ball.
37:18
I mean, that Georgia team's just a highlight reel factory with
37:20
all the all the home runs that they hit.
37:22
I mean, he went my role for like cleat color.
37:25
So he kind of has that like mantra and bravado about him.
37:29
If you're going to make me pick like an off the radar one, it'd
37:31
probably be him or Landon Harrison and Hairston at Arizona
37:37
State. He's a Scott Hairston's son and
37:41
Jerry. Hairston Junior's.
37:42
Nephew. Yeah, I think he leads the
37:44
country in home runs right now. Unfortunately, Arizona State's
37:48
kind of slumping right now as BYU kind of took it to him.
37:51
But I mean, he's another one that's that's probably going to
37:54
be one of the final three. This is one of my favorite
37:58
questions in this episode is SEC player of the year candidates
38:03
and we have so many players that you can mention and we could and
38:09
you've already mentioned a plethora of them right already.
38:13
But if you want to mention other guys like Tristan up Besetta or
38:16
the OR Ryder Heffrick or Ace Reese or any pitchers out there
38:21
like a Dylan Volante, we mentioned Rob mentioned about
38:24
William Peterson gave God Gay Co, right?
38:26
Like who would you say would be the top, let's just say 33
38:31
candidates to be favorites to be SEC player of the year?
38:35
It's it's kind of interesting because a few of these guys are
38:37
like really, really slumping hard, like ace race rider
38:39
Helfrich, Justin, LeBron. We're all guys who, you know,
38:42
probably 2-3 weeks ago would have been in the conversation.
38:45
Obviously I'd like to see like 4 weeks and a lot can change, but
38:49
I'll give you 1. I think it's got to be Gavin
38:51
Rehovic, like, you know, moving from third base to first base
38:56
coming off of an injury, going from in 2024 being a consensus
39:00
top five pick to out of the top 150 and finally getting healthy,
39:05
get the SEC Player of the week. I mean, I know that they don't
39:08
give like legacy awards for the SEC player of the year, but I
39:11
feel like he should like, he truly saved like Texas A&M's
39:15
program because I mean, if he enters the Port Author,
39:18
Schlossnaka leaves, like this is a program that's dead on
39:20
arrival. Michael Lily's probably fired
39:23
and you know, instead he's hitting 32330, tearing the cover
39:27
off the ball. I mean, that'd be the one that I
39:29
would pick. Like, you know, April 16th is
39:32
Gavin Grijovic. We talked about some of the
39:36
players like Justin LeBron, Derek Curio, Liam Peterson, Ace
39:41
Reese, Gavin Gorhovic. We've talked a lot about those
39:45
guys, but mentioned some of the guys in your opinion that that
39:50
you know, just talk about some guys that are draft eligible
39:52
this year that some of the guys we haven't talked about yet.
39:55
Yeah, I mean, like I said, we talked about a ton of these
39:58
guys. Tyler Bell is actually one that
40:01
I can't believe I went this far without saying it.
40:03
He was a Kentucky's highest rated recruit ever.
40:08
In terms of draft stock, he's raised it a little bit.
40:10
He was dealing with a little bit of a hand injury.
40:12
But you know, he's a draft eligible sophomore That's, you
40:15
know, Kentucky really hasn't got off to the best start the last
40:17
3-4 weeks. That's not been because of Bell.
40:20
I mean, he's been tearing the absolute cover off the ball.
40:22
Rembert's another kind of draft eligible sophomore that that
40:25
really takes high quality at bats.
40:27
The only thing is, you know, the second baseman, you really do
40:30
kind of have to wonder who, who they kind of value with stuff
40:34
like that. Then another guy that I've seen,
40:38
Trey Broussard for Houston, he he's just an absolute masher in
40:43
the middle of that lineup. It's it's really kind of
40:45
exciting to see somebody like him because I think it's really
40:48
just him and climbing on a really bad Houston team.
40:51
But Broussard, there's absolute cover off the ball.
40:53
And then some of the high school guys I've got to see like
40:56
Jvorski Lane Junior, I'd be shocked if he ends up in
40:59
Arkansas. You know, I mentioned Grady
41:01
Emerson earlier, but he's another guy that I've really got
41:03
to see that's been really, really great.
41:05
But I mean, there's no shortage of talent this year by any
41:11
stretch of the imagination. Even guys that are quote, UN
41:13
quote, having bad years like Owen Krimkowski, Justin LeBron,
41:17
like I mean, these are guys that could probably still figure it
41:19
out from a pro standpoint. What about a guy like Joey
41:23
Volchko? Because Volchko was a name that
41:27
people kept their eyes on the way he pitches the ball.
41:30
Like, could he be anything? I know that he was projected to
41:33
go top top or in the first round of this year, but he probably
41:37
fell off a bit like like, is there guys like him that that
41:41
could probably fall off the, you know, the radar and he could be,
41:44
they could be like underrated players in in the draft.
41:47
Well, the thing that always gets me about the MLB Draft,
41:49
especially with pitchers, is age is such a big factor in the
41:54
projections with stuff like that.
41:56
But the flip side of that is like, like I remember I was
41:59
talking to a scout, I think this is like 2-3 years ago, and it
42:03
was about arm injuries. And he was like, actually like,
42:05
we don't really care about that as much as you think like, like
42:09
we trust our medical staff, We trust this.
42:11
He's like the guy has arm issues like, well, that doesn't really
42:14
bother us. So you think about somebody like
42:16
a Matt Scott at Stanford who is really kind of highly recruited,
42:20
obviously had some things kind of not go his way at Stanford is
42:24
probably should have been drafted, but he's in studies at
42:26
Georgia. Somebody like him, you, you kind
42:29
of see somebody like Rugeriohas who you know, came on very, very
42:34
late, if you will, because he transferred into Texas and
42:37
upperclassmen. It's, it's always kind of those
42:39
late round guys that really can allow these MLB teams make a ton
42:43
of money on. I mean, the the MLB is filled
42:47
with guys who were 510 round picks.
42:51
That's kind of where a lot of these pitchers make their money.
42:54
Another guy, Fluky from Coastal, you know, I mentioned the arm
42:57
issues. He's 1.
42:58
He hasn't pitched really hardly at all this season into arm
43:00
issues. I don't think that'll really
43:02
affect his stock too too much. Like the team that likes Fluky.
43:05
He's probably drafting off his stuff from Omaha last year
43:08
anyway. Well, let's look at, let's look
43:11
a little bit about the college aspect of like in general for
43:14
this year's draft class, because we we talk strictly about the
43:17
SEC. But if you have to ask yourself
43:19
like if there's a couple names who are very underrated in
43:24
general, like, and we know that Rob Cholosky is probably going
43:26
to go #1 LeBron is still around. I mean, you Drew Burris was a
43:31
name that's been talked about. We talked about Derek Coolio.
43:34
But who would you say like we should keep an eye on in in the
43:39
draft? That could surprise me because
43:40
last year we saw Tyler Breber being the number two pick right
43:45
from from the Angels like that came out.
43:47
Could we see anything like that in in this coming draft?
43:51
Yeah, I mean, it's always weird what these teams kind of value
43:54
with stuff like that and obviously with slot money and
43:57
everything. But I think the one that really
43:59
kind of fits that role is the guy who's probably better than
44:03
Remner last year is it's Jason. We're sorry.
44:06
Jackson Flora from UCSBI mean he absolutely pounds the zone.
44:11
He's another guy that you could kind of slide in as an under
44:13
slot. Eric Becker at Virginia, Bob
44:17
Lackey's another kind of late shooter just because he's a
44:20
catcher that can really kind of tear the cover off the ball.
44:24
And then another one that's really, really underrated but is
44:27
one of my favorite players is John Lim from Alabama.
44:30
I mean, he's a left-handed hitting catcher that manages
44:33
games really, really well. I'm not sure how high he'll go
44:35
just off age, but I mean, he's just been a fantastic, fantastic
44:38
player that it wouldn't surprise me if, you know, you see him
44:41
kind of rise up really, really late.
44:43
What? About what about like, what
44:45
about like Jake Brown, right? Jake Brown, I know that he's
44:51
been hitting well, but could you see a team that could take a
44:54
flyer? Because you know when you talk
44:57
about players and you look look at rankings, the coaching, the
45:00
development, like sometimes they take best player available or
45:03
some some guys like to take under slot like players like
45:06
him. Could you see him go in the
45:07
first round potentially? Yeah, I think he's kind of right
45:10
in that cut line. And I think for me personally,
45:13
this is where I have like a lot of issues with grading players
45:16
is in kind of that 30 to 60 range.
45:19
Because you really do can kind of talk yourself into Jake Brown
45:21
falling into the last half of the first round.
45:24
And you can also talk yourself into him being like a second or
45:26
third round pick. You know, he's added a ton of
45:30
power, a ton of pop. He's got a really short
45:33
left-handed swing. He's got an underrated strong
45:37
arm. He doesn't move the fastest,
45:39
which is kind of a worry if you're an outfielder that
45:41
somebody at his age doesn't really move that well from a
45:44
scouting standpoint. But I mean, somebody's going to
45:46
take his bat, I think, without a doubt.
45:51
Well, let's talk a little bit about next year's draft class.
45:56
And it seems like it's a little bit deeper.
45:59
Like I, I like to hear your thoughts about this because
46:02
there's, there's so much talent, right with these classes
46:06
overall. And, and give us a little
46:08
preview of what can we expect from next year's graph.
46:13
Even if you want to talk about with the SEC, like you can talk
46:15
about Will, William Schmidt, Levi Clark, Chase Frolick.
46:20
You mentioned about Owen, what's that Pino like?
46:24
Like who are the names? Like I mentioned some, but if
46:26
there's anything else, any other players, I believe Dylan Volante
46:29
is another one as well. But like if there's any other
46:32
names I'm missing like mention those guys that should be talked
46:35
about more. I mean, Dax Whitney is probably
46:38
going to be 11, similar to how Rock was this past year.
46:42
He's absolutely insane. He'd probably be the first
46:45
pitcher taken this year. Another one is Bino Waiters up
46:52
at Notre Dame. I mean, this is a team and a guy
46:55
that was so talented that they were kind of willing to let
46:57
Carson Tenney go. And Carson Tenney was a prize
47:00
portal for a lot of these teams. So somebody like him, I mean, is
47:04
really, really strong. Rodriguez at Texas, I know he's
47:07
kind of been dealing with that hand injury.
47:09
So he actually was allergic to his stitches.
47:13
So he's kind of had a long road ahead.
47:14
I think he's, you know, phenomenal, phenomenal one.
47:17
Somebody like Blaine Brown, who I got to see at Rice a ton last
47:20
year, is kind of a two way guy. His dad was actually Chris
47:24
Brown, Titans player and Texans player.
47:27
So somebody like him I think is another kind of late riser and
47:30
then mid major guy Jack Omen up at Yale.
47:34
I mean, obviously he really likes Yale.
47:37
He didn't portal this past year and he's probably one of the
47:39
best arms. But I think he's a guy that's,
47:41
you know, a lot of people when those mocks come out are going
47:44
to be like, why is a Yale guy in the top 20?
47:46
But I mean, Elman up at Yale's one of the best pitchers in the
47:49
country. What?
47:51
What? What about Aidan King?
47:52
Because Florida produces so well with pitching, right?
47:55
If you look at their track, yeah.
47:56
I mean, it's Kevin O'sullivan's secret sauce.
47:58
And I mean, and, you know, you mentioned how good Liam Peterson
48:01
is, like Aidan King's been arguably better.
48:04
And it really shows that. So Sully's moved him up into
48:07
that Friday role. He's been really, really
48:10
phenomenal, too. It's just, I mean, these Florida
48:15
guys are such a factory for arms.
48:18
Like, I mean, Kevin O'Sullivan does a phenomenal, phenomenal
48:20
job. I think finding guys, recruiting
48:23
them because I mean, these are all homegrown guys that we're
48:25
talking about. Like they, they, they really
48:27
don't dip into the portal like too crazy.
48:30
I know that they have like a Carson Bowen or a Blake Seer or
48:34
something like that. But I mean, a lot of these
48:35
Florida guys are like truly homegrown.
48:39
We wanted to to ask you and there's some lots of teams that
48:44
you know, are very, very good in college baseball and the odds of
48:49
are out for the the winner of the College World Series.
48:53
You got UCLA, Georgia Tech, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi
48:58
State, North Carolina, LSU, Florida and Auburn kind of like
49:02
it. But it just seems a little bit
49:05
like it's like the odds have it a little bit more wide open than
49:08
people would think. And what are your thoughts on,
49:13
you know, how this might go and who ultimately might be a chance
49:17
to win the World Series or even sleeper team that could come and
49:20
and and win it all in Omaha? Yeah, I mean, you kind of
49:23
mentioned it. Usually what we have, especially
49:25
with NIL and transfer portal, you think SECSEC and then you
49:29
turn around in Coastal Carolina's playing LSU for the
49:31
national championship. Like it really is kind of who
49:34
gets hot at the right time. I mean, Texas was the best team
49:38
at this point last year and they don't even make it out of a
49:40
regional. So it's always who's playing the
49:42
best baseball on the stretch. I'm really interested to see
49:45
UCLA because I got to see him in Dallas against Mississippi
49:48
State, Tennessee and A&M, and they looked a step above them.
49:52
And these are all teams now that are A&M and Arkansas are top 15
49:56
teams. Tennessee's obviously kind of in
49:58
that log jam of SEC teams. But I mean, UCLA like looked
50:02
like a class above them. So I mean, they're really,
50:05
really tough to beat. Georgia Tech, a lot like A&M
50:08
where you don't know if they have the pitching and the flip
50:11
side out is Texas with the bats because their bats feel so boom,
50:14
bust. It's like at times they look
50:16
like one of the best hitting teams and then at other times
50:19
not so good. A&M stuff only gives them four
50:21
runs. So I think that those are kind
50:24
of the three teams for me. I mean, pitching, pitching,
50:26
pitching is always important. You always run into some first
50:29
round guy that throws 97 that just shuts you down for five
50:32
innings like Liam Peterson did to Georgia last week.
50:34
So I think it's the teams that have the most pitching that
50:36
you're always going to do. And that's that's UCLA, Texas,
50:39
Georgia, Georgia tag those kind of teams.
50:43
If there was a wild cartoon, because you I'm looking at this
50:46
rankings, right? Because like you said, you
50:48
mentioned about Landon Harrison. Could you see a team like ASU be
50:55
a team team that could go on a hot streak?
50:57
Because if you look at their team, they're they're they're a
51:00
sleeper in my opinion. Like what are your thoughts
51:02
about a team like ASU? Yeah, I mean, like, when did
51:06
they, they played West Virginia like 2-3 weeks ago and it was on
51:10
Sunday Night Baseball. They had Mike Farran and that
51:13
was kind of like I, I guess like a coming out party for them.
51:17
And then since then there's they split with Arizona.
51:21
Utah beat them in a weekend series and then BYU run rolled
51:27
them today. I mean, when they're hot, like
51:30
they're one of the hottest teams in the country, but it always
51:32
feels like they kind of disappoint, if you will, a
51:37
little bit down the stretch. So it'll be interesting to see
51:39
because I'll get to see them right before the tournament as
51:44
they're playing at Houston before they go back home.
51:47
So I'm I'm kind of excited to see them up close and personal
51:50
when they're one of my favorite teams in the country.
51:53
Obviously it seems like under Willy Bloom quest, they always
51:56
lose some stupid series that they shouldn't.
51:58
I mean, if they're getting out of the way this week.
52:00
So it's, it's always, they always are like the them and UCF
52:05
are always like the best teams in the Big 12 on paper, but they
52:08
always lose to somebody stupid and they're always like a few
52:11
times behind. A couple of nights ago I was
52:16
watching college baseball. I was on the Big 10 network and
52:21
there was a hell of a game between UC Santa Barbara and and
52:24
#1 UCLA and they they ended their 20 game, 27 game win
52:28
streak. What were your thoughts on that?
52:31
Well, First off, I wish it wouldn't have been that weekend
52:33
because they did so, so much for Jackie Robinson Day.
52:38
You know, they had his granddaughter design the
52:40
uniforms. And I mean, Jackie Robinson's
52:44
probably my favorite baseball player of all time, like set
52:47
aside or anything you need to deal with personally on and off
52:50
the field, but he's just a phenomenal baseball player.
52:54
Like I watched a video today about his 1949 MVP season and he
52:58
struck out like I think less than 5% of the time.
53:01
But you know, they, they, so they have his, his family
53:05
members out there. They designed this great uniform
53:08
and then unfortunately they they lose a historic winning streak.
53:12
But I mean, that's bound to happen.
53:14
I think at times like and we see all the time these midweek teams
53:18
like preference. Houston is last in the Big 12
53:21
and they beat Texas, Texas State beat A&M.
53:24
So like, I really wouldn't think it feels weird to say because,
53:27
you know, I went to college game to grow and every game is so
53:29
important. But I mean, UCLA just went out
53:32
to Rutgers and beat Rutgers. Like there's not even like MLB
53:36
teams that could do a cross country road trip and sweep like
53:39
that. So I think that you know, if
53:41
any, if anybody's learned earned like a pass or like I think it's
53:46
UCLA. UCLA, yeah.
53:50
But I mean Sam over is good. Like I mean, they they have a
53:53
solid group of arms. I know the big W is kind of a
53:56
log jam right now, but I mean I wouldn't want to see them in my
53:58
regional. Yeah, yeah, I was looking at I
54:01
was watching a game and they got some good arms out of that on
54:05
their team coming out of their pen, man, like just some good
54:08
solid, you know, arms and and, you know, college baseball on
54:13
TV, it doesn't show you like, you know, like speeds and stuff
54:16
like that. But man, those they were
54:18
chucking it, man. Like you could see like these
54:21
guys had good arms, so. Yeah.
54:23
I mean, they're a factory. They they always kind of produce
54:25
really, really great arms. Yeah.
54:29
Well, Jake, we appreciate you doing this.
54:32
This was this was awesome, man. All right, Like we, we always
54:35
appreciate your knowledge and your, your hard work, you know,
54:38
giving us the value of, you know, all the opinions and
54:41
what's going on. Thanks once again.
54:44
And where can we find you? In social media and everywhere
54:46
else? Just follow our main page,
54:49
College Baseball Central, and then my personal page.
54:52
That's CBC. Jake MCKII usually go to about a
54:56
game or two a weekend. I'm going to be at LSUA and M.
54:58
Last week I got to see UL, Alabama and Mississippi State.
55:01
So I mean, I'm traveling all around.
55:03
I'm going to be out at UCLA for that regional.
55:05
So it's a great time to follow college baseball.
55:10
That's awesome man, that should be a hell of a time watching
55:12
that team play. And I'm really hoping USC kind
55:15
of plays back into hosting again because they were upset to host
55:18
for a little bit. So I can see both of them, but
55:21
you know. That's cool.
55:23
I'd be happy to just see UCLA. Well, thanks again, man.
55:27
We always love having you on. Like Rocky said, you're one of
55:30
our favorite people to have on the show, so we appreciate it.
55:34
Thank you very much man. Thanks, that really means a lot.
55:36
Take care guys. All right, we will place the
55:39
description below where you can find Jake McKeever.
55:42
It's in social media and everywhere else.
55:43
But till next time, take care, be kind to each other.
55:46
Signing off from Sports Ave. Twisted Podcasts on Thursday,
55:50
April 16th, 2026.