Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 79 feat. Tyler Jennings - Top High School Players in the Upcoming MLB Draft

Transcript

Episode 79 feat. Tyler Jennings - Top High School Players in the Upcoming MLB Draft · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:25
  Music welcome to another edition of the sports have you twisted
• 0:28
  podcast. We have a guest in here who's a
• 0:31
  writer, an advocate for high school baseball amateur
• 0:34
  prospects. And we had a great friend of
• 0:37
  ours who was in our last episode, Mark Garland, who
• 0:39
  helped this guy get him and he is he also works for a college
• 0:43
  baseball show as well, just baseball.
• 0:46
  And he has a podcast called on the clock.
• 0:49
  Tyler Jennings welcome. It's an honor for you to have
• 0:52
  have you on and we're excited to see what what your expertise is
• 0:57
  about talking about amateur baseball high school prospects.
• 1:01
  We're excited, so welcome. Thank you man.
• 1:03
  I appreciate you guys having me on and shout out to Mark.
• 1:06
  He's an awesome guy and have had nothing but great things happen
• 1:10
  with him joining us. So I'm excited that not only he
• 1:14
  recommended me to you guys, but to to to even be on the show is
• 1:18
  is is fun. I'm excited to talk some some
• 1:22
  talk, some shot with you guys. Yeah, we're excited too, because
• 1:27
  this is something that we get to learn about with you, with
• 1:31
  talking about some of these high school players that we don't
• 1:33
  know much about. So it's really fun for us at the
• 1:36
  same time. And to have you on it is
• 1:38
  awesome, man. So we thank you again.
• 1:43
  You know, like I said, thank you guys for having me on it.
• 1:46
  I'm always down to talk shop with anybody that that ever has.
• 1:49
  So it's, yeah, it's, it's AI want to say it's a blessing to
• 1:53
  be able to do this at this point.
• 1:57
  Yeah, for sure, man. And we're actually excited and
• 2:01
  we're going to learn from this episode and we would like to
• 2:04
  know what's going on this year's draft because we're so big into
• 2:07
  this draft. Every year we talk about high
• 2:10
  school, college, whatever, and another year of of going through
• 2:14
  this. It's it's an awesome time to
• 2:16
  talk about it. So let's get started here.
• 2:18
  So talk about this year's high school class who are draft
• 2:23
  eligible? Like what are the strengths in
• 2:26
  this year's class? Because you look at the list and
• 2:29
  we'll get into all the specific positions later in the episode,
• 2:33
  but how would you say the strengths of this year's draft
• 2:37
  class would be? So, so the easy one that really
• 2:42
  sticks out to me is the prep pitching.
• 2:43
  Prep pitching, which we've talked or I've talked with
• 2:48
  people in the past. It's a very volatile
• 2:50
  demographic. Like you look at where some of
• 2:52
  these first prep pitchers go, you know, they're usually not
• 2:55
  the top ten except for like rare cases like Seth Hernandez a year
• 2:58
  ago and this year. The pitching is, you know, the
• 3:03
  best part of that side of the other demographic, mainly
• 3:07
  because of the of what we have at the top.
• 3:09
  There's four premier southpaws in this class in Gio Rojas,
• 3:13
  Brody Bumia, Logan Schmidt, and then you've got Carson Bohlman,
• 3:17
  who they're all projected to go in the first round at this stage
• 3:21
  of the game. And then there's a good couple
• 3:24
  of bats in the class as well. You know, obviously Goody
• 3:26
  Emerson is the number one guy, but then you got really big
• 3:28
  upside and Jacob Lombard. There's a few guys even farther
• 3:32
  down the board like Eric Booth from Mississippi that really
• 3:36
  stuck out when I saw them last summer.
• 3:38
  So there there's a lot of talent in this class and I would say,
• 3:41
  you know, like I said, the pitching's the the the pre the
• 3:45
  premier part of this class for them.
• 3:48
  But I think overall it's a pretty solid class comparing it
• 3:51
  to what we've had in the past. There's some more higher end
• 3:53
  bass at the top than say what we had a year ago.
• 3:56
  Ethan Holiday. So I think this is a as good of
• 4:00
  a class as we've seen recently, probably not as good as 2023,
• 4:03
  but it it's not too far behind in my opinion.
• 4:08
  When it comes to two way players, you know, not not too
• 4:12
  many actually end up sticking two way players, but there's a
• 4:15
  there is a a top 20 prospect in this year's class, Jared
• 4:20
  Grindlinger, and they have them listed as a left-handed pitcher
• 4:25
  outfielder. Do you think he remains A2 way
• 4:29
  player? Tell us a little bit about him
• 4:31
  and how he profiles it as as a prospect of this year's class.
• 4:36
  Yeah, to start off with, you know, he's a recent reclass.
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  He was originally a 2027 prospect.
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  He reclassed and I want to say it was like February or March.
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  So it was a really, really late reclass.
• 4:49
  But yeah, with with two way guys, I think we've kind of
• 4:54
  undersell the idea that two way is really, really tough.
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  It is. There's not a ton of guys,
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  especially when you look at some of the guys farther down the
• 5:01
  board that can do that, have two way abilities.
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  They have to choose a path at some point down the line.
• 5:08
  Grendlinger in my opinion is one of the guys where it's either
• 5:12
  he's going to figure it out after two years in pro ball
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  because of his age. He's he's going to be 17 years
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  and two months on draft day. So whoever drafts him is going
• 5:20
  to have a ton of time to just stick him on the complex and
• 5:23
  have like 2 years to figure out what is his path is.
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  But he's he's super talented. He's been up to 9697 from the
• 5:30
  left side, has a really good breaking ball.
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  But what I've heard from scouts and in going through film is
• 5:36
  they really like him as a bat moving forward right now, he he
• 5:40
  glides in the outfield. He can be a a center field to to
• 5:43
  right field kind of guy who is going to grow more into power,
• 5:47
  more into his body. The hit tool's been fantastic
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  the the past couple of summers has been able to be on the
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  circuit and you know, this is a he's he's at USA, he's at area
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  Coast, He's had a lot of guys like at him and to be able to to
• 6:03
  be that good at as a two way compared to some of those peers
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  has been impressive. So I think there's a chance that
• 6:09
  he can be a two way guy. I think the the likelihood is
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  that as we get, as he gets older, you know, like I say,
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  he's gonna be 17 and two on draft day.
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  He's got a couple years where a team could put him in the
• 6:24
  complex and kind of figure out what is the best scenario.
• 6:27
  Can you can you show us what you can do for two years?
• 6:30
  He could come out as a bat, could be as an armor or he could
• 6:32
  be both. I think there's a legitimate
• 6:33
  chance that the with Greenlinger, he can be the
• 6:37
  special kind of talent and can do both at the same time.
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  But like I had mentioned, scouts have really loved the bat this
• 6:42
  this spring and, and I would not be shocked if that's the
• 6:46
  ultimate route that they go with him.
• 6:48
  But he's an interesting case. I I think there's going to be
• 6:51
  really exciting to follow for a couple years to see what his
• 6:55
  outlook is as, as a prospect in general.
• 6:59
  Well, you brought up Gretlinger as a two way player and and if
• 7:02
  you think about two recent guys that come in my mind is Jack
• 7:05
  Caglione now he's an outfielder now officially and Brendan
• 7:09
  McKay, a player that was drafted by the race years ago and he
• 7:13
  just never turned out to be the player he is.
• 7:15
  Like we know that obviously Otani is two way player, but
• 7:20
  even then Bryce Eldridge as well.
• 7:22
  But with with Otani, he's starting to slow down a bit in
• 7:25
  the way baseball's going because he's not even batting every day
• 7:28
  and he's pitching when he's pitching, he's not batting.
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  Could we see something like that with Grindlinger or any other
• 7:35
  like high school prospect in the future?
• 7:39
  It it wouldn't shock me if we see someone do that.
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  Obviously you mentioned Otani and like, I think that's where,
• 7:45
  you know, when you have a two way guy like this, you start
• 7:48
  throwing out the Otani label because that's that's the guy.
• 7:51
  That's the guy that we see at the Major League level Do it.
• 7:54
  But you mentioned Caglia known and yeah, he touched 100 from
• 7:58
  the left side as a junior in Florida and was hitting balls at
• 8:00
  1:20. But there were obvious concerns
• 8:03
  on the mound for me when I saw him because he couldn't really
• 8:07
  command strike zone very well. He could fatigue very quickly.
• 8:11
  I remember that year he got to Omaha with with Florida and he
• 8:15
  was pitching 1992 in their final game of the season or one of
• 8:19
  their final games of the season. So it was, it was pretty clear
• 8:23
  then that he was going to be a bat and, and the question was
• 8:25
  just how much contact could he make?
• 8:27
  And, and now obviously he's in the big leagues, he's hitting
• 8:29
  bombs with Grendlinger. I, I have more confidence seeing
• 8:34
  him as an arm, mainly because of the fact that it's really
• 8:37
  polished for his age. Like you don't find a lot of
• 8:39
  guys who can throw strikes and have that kind of stuff at that
• 8:41
  age. And obviously, again, like I
• 8:45
  said with the bat, like it's super smooth, he's gonna grow
• 8:48
  into his body, he's gonna get stronger.
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  The power's gonna show up. And there's been high marks for
• 8:53
  his defense in the outfield and how he glides and how he can
• 8:55
  cover ground. So I, I think when you look at
• 8:59
  recent guys, he's probably got the best chance to be a two way
• 9:03
  of like the Caglia knowns you mentioned McKay.
• 9:06
  I think McKay was a a great example.
• 9:08
  And I'm I, I hate the fact that injuries really derailed that
• 9:10
  career because he was gonna be a really, really good arm.
• 9:14
  But yeah, I think he's got the best chance of any at this
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  moment to be a two way the the the future classes.
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  We'll see. There's still evolutions to make
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  in those. So it's too early for me to say
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  like who can really stick out as a two way guy from those
• 9:28
  classes. But as of right now, I think
• 9:30
  Greenlinger has the best shot of any AT at the current state.
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  With that being said, let's talk about the top high school
• 9:37
  prospects in this year's class. And the guy that's been talked
• 9:40
  about the most is Grady Emerson and Grady Emerson's.
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  Some people think that he could be the number one pick.
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  Some people think he could be #2 pick.
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  It all depends on what happens with Rock Cholowski wherever
• 9:51
  he's selected, which he's also projected to go #1 But talk
• 9:55
  about the top prospects high school wise with him.
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  Jacob Lombard is another name that's been brought up.
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  And there's rumors about the Giants draft Kingdom at 4.
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  Gio Rojas is considered the top pitcher in this class and Eric
• 10:09
  Booth, junior, he's a he's a unique case because a lot of
• 10:13
  people been talking about it with his tools that he might
• 10:16
  have the most upside. So talk about some of those guys
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  and and if there's any other names that I didn't mention,
• 10:21
  talk about the rest of those guys.
• 10:24
  Yeah, I'll start off with Emerson and he's had an
• 10:28
  interesting evolution. Like last year he yielded wire
• 10:31
  to wire throughout the summer as the number one guy in my
• 10:33
  opinion. And that's really tough to do in
• 10:35
  this day of age. Like you go back a couple years,
• 10:38
  some of the guys who were the first prep guy off the board
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  were not either they're not heavily scouted during the
• 10:44
  summer or they weren't the number one guy throughout the
• 10:47
  entire circuit. So for Emerson to do that, it's
• 10:50
  really impressive. And in this year, he's opened up
• 10:53
  the swing a little bit. And what I mean by that is like
• 10:55
  he was very even stance last summer and he was kind of, I
• 11:01
  would say twisting himself into the ground more and kind of
• 11:03
  focused on the the hit tool and not really showing the power.
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  But this year he's opened up the front leg.
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  He's a lot more open to the pitcher.
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  And I think that's allowed him to get more quicker hands
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  through his own. He's getting more loft.
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  He looks a lot better on some of the film that I've seen from
• 11:19
  Texas. And you know, you mentioned the
• 11:21
  idea that he could be the first overall pick.
• 11:24
  You know, there's only been 2 college shortstops to go, 11 in
• 11:28
  I believe history and and Rock could be the third.
• 11:31
  But Grady's as good as they come and, and I think there's a
• 11:34
  chance for a plus hit tool. I would say average to above
• 11:37
  average power once he fills out his frame a bit more.
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  And he's looked really, really good at shortstop.
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  So I think he's the best of the entire group.
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  Jacob Lombard might be a better defender at shortstop in my
• 11:47
  opinion. Like this is a kid that's
• 11:49
  freakishly athletic. We know his brother George is is
• 11:52
  in the Yankee system and has done a fantastic job defensively
• 11:55
  and the offense is starting to take up two.
• 11:58
  But with Jacob, you know, the the arm strength is incredible.
• 12:02
  The athleticism is fantastic. The hit tool is going to need
• 12:06
  some work. And the, the biggest thing, he
• 12:09
  ran AK rate above 30% on the summer circle of a year ago.
• 12:14
  And it was kind of, I don't want to say the pressing the watch.
• 12:18
  I, I think the, the best way to describe it is the foundation
• 12:22
  was there. You want to see it improve, but
• 12:24
  it just never did. And he's got the plus raw power.
• 12:28
  I, I want to see the swing improve and I want to see him be
• 12:31
  able to make contact more consistently because at the
• 12:34
  moment, I think the hit tool's more of a 30 right now.
• 12:37
  And if the, if the hit tool gets to a 40 or 45, I think he's A5
• 12:41
  tool talent. So it's just a matter of for me
• 12:46
  what, what does contact outlook look for him?
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  You know, it could be Elijah Green where we're infatuated by
• 12:52
  these athletic traits that he has, but he can't hit.
• 12:57
  And I think as scouting has evolved, like the past couple
• 13:00
  years, we've seen this case, we've seen a couple other cases
• 13:03
  where like super freakishly outside the guys who just can't
• 13:06
  put it together. Not saying Lombard can be that,
• 13:09
  but like that is the the worry about some scouts.
• 13:12
  And the the biggest thing for me is kind of just seeing how the
• 13:15
  contact plays out. If if he can get it to a 40 hit
• 13:19
  to or even 45, like this is a four to five win player at the
• 13:23
  Major League level. If everything really just
• 13:25
  connects and obviously, you know, compare that Grady like
• 13:31
  Grady's more polished than than Lombard, obviously, but the
• 13:34
  upside with Lombard is just fantastic and you can't really
• 13:37
  ignore that kind of tools. That's why scouts go after these
• 13:40
  half side trades. And if it doesn't work out, it
• 13:42
  doesn't work out, you know, So those two guys for me are just
• 13:45
  like they're one and two. They're going to be 1 and 2 for
• 13:48
  a while. Outside of that, like Eric
• 13:52
  Booth, you mentioned, people are, are kind of like, I think
• 13:58
  the best way to describe it, they're like they're indecisive
• 14:00
  on the swing. Like it's pretty flat.
• 14:03
  It it's a little weird because he he's short to the ball.
• 14:05
  He doesn't lift it. There's no real loss to the
• 14:08
  swing. But for him it's it's incredible
• 14:11
  bat speed. The contact's been there.
• 14:13
  He's incredibly quick, he has quick foot speed, he hauls hauls
• 14:18
  booty down down the line and he can go and get it in a corner
• 14:22
  outfield spot. Man it it's really impressive
• 14:24
  what he's been able to do. He's also hit hit balls at one O
• 14:27
  8 with wood bat, which obviously you're not going to find that a
• 14:31
  ton at the at the prep level or the amateur level with wood bat
• 14:35
  for some of these guys because they're just they're not
• 14:37
  physically mature. So all the tools have been
• 14:42
  there. He's been incredible this spring
• 14:43
  from from people I've spoken to and and he looks every bit of a
• 14:47
  top ten draft pick for me. And, and he, like I said, he lit
• 14:52
  up the USA pitching last year in Kerry.
• 14:55
  Like he, he went like I would say he went like 8 for 10 at one
• 14:59
  point during phase two at training camp and didn't make
• 15:01
  the team, which was unfortunate. But like he has the tools to be
• 15:06
  a really, really, really good outfielder at the next level.
• 15:09
  So with those guys out of the way, like those are your top
• 15:12
  three for me in this class. Gio Rojas is is in there right
• 15:16
  now is like the the most upside of a prep pitcher.
• 15:20
  But I would say the Polish still lacks a little bit when you
• 15:22
  compare it to some other guys like Carson Bohlman.
• 15:25
  I think he could be a 55 fastball 2 plus breaking pitches
• 15:28
  with an average or above average change up throw strikes.
• 15:32
  That's Polish right there. Rojas has the slingy arm side or
• 15:37
  not the arm side, but like the arm slot where it's low and it
• 15:40
  really jumps on hitters and you get it up to 97.
• 15:43
  But the biggest issue right now is I feel like strikes can go.
• 15:46
  They're pretty streaky, scattered command at times.
• 15:49
  The the breaking ball is a little bit too soft for my
• 15:51
  liking, but it has good snap and good bite to it and the changes
• 15:55
  looks really, really good. I just want to kind of see like
• 15:58
  can we get the command reined in a little bit?
• 16:00
  Can we get the loose limbs kind of brought in to where he's more
• 16:04
  consistent with delivery? He's not missing Gloveside as
• 16:06
  often and kind of tap into the upside that he has 'cause he can
• 16:10
  be the the best, you know, southpaw from this class if
• 16:14
  everything kind of fine-tuned together.
• 16:16
  So yeah, that that's really the answer with those five guys,
• 16:20
  admittedly is like there's a lot of moving pieces.
• 16:23
  There's there's Polish to some of these guys and you look at
• 16:26
  upside and you, you bet on the upside and hope from there.
• 16:29
  So obviously lots of talent, but there's, there's definitely some
• 16:35
  some question marks that need to be answered with some of these
• 16:37
  guys. And that's just how it is with
• 16:38
  with most prospects at the amateur level anyways.
• 16:40
  You know, it's you're, you're looking at these tools, you're
• 16:44
  looking at what we think could be.
• 16:47
  That doesn't mean that's obviously going to be the case.
• 16:49
  We're just thinking like, you know, we see this kid with
• 16:52
  outstanding athletic traits, outstanding bat speed, but
• 16:56
  obviously struggles to hit. Like if he can hit, then he's
• 17:00
  he's going to be a fantastic player and have, you know, value
• 17:04
  at the Major League level. But if he can't get there, then,
• 17:07
  you know, it's a big question of what if or what it could have
• 17:10
  been. So that's just how scouting is.
• 17:12
  And it's a it's a tough game is it really is.
• 17:15
  It's really tough to to not only get into it, but also understand
• 17:18
  the process. And it's taken years for me to
• 17:22
  get to that point. And I'm sure anybody that's
• 17:24
  looking to get into baseball scouting is gonna take years for
• 17:26
  them to understand it. You're gonna be wrong more than
• 17:29
  you're right. And that that's perfectly fine.
• 17:32
  So like some of the stuff I've said today, couple years from
• 17:35
  now might not be true. So it it's just a matter of
• 17:38
  accepting that you're gonna be wrong 99% of the time and you're
• 17:41
  fine with that because that's just the way that that life is
• 17:46
  like failure is part of life. You're gonna be you're going to
• 17:49
  be wrong most of the time, but that that 1% you get right is
• 17:52
  going to make you feel so great. It is like you're going to be
• 17:56
  happy with what you do and and enjoy I guess the ride and the
• 18:00
  thrill that is scouting. Yeah, it's definitely not an
• 18:05
  exact science, that's for sure. You mentioned Eric.
• 18:10
  You mentioned Eric Booth junior already, but some of the other
• 18:15
  outfielders in this class and you talk about Jared Brindlinger
• 18:18
  and how scouts are so enamored with with his bat.
• 18:22
  And then you got Trevor Condon, Noah Wilson, Blake Bowen, Kevin
• 18:27
  Roberts and Malachi Washington and so on.
• 18:30
  So talk about some of the outfielders in this class and
• 18:33
  some of the guys that impress you at the prep level.
• 18:37
  Yeah, Trevor Condon. Number one for me is we've seen
• 18:40
  a trend where teams trying to go after these like really tools.
• 18:45
  The outfielders that are young, they have elite athleticism and
• 18:50
  and they try and make everything work.
• 18:52
  I think the best way to describe it is like Trevor Condon has
• 18:54
  like a very weird swing where you kind of have to like you
• 18:58
  look at the hands, he's got like an old school swing where he
• 19:00
  kind of loads up, he waits and then he fires through.
• 19:03
  So he's got the twitch and he can play center field.
• 19:07
  He's a gamer. Like when we talk about gamers,
• 19:09
  like he plays with his hair on fire essentially.
• 19:11
  And like that's the scouts love that kind of attitude.
• 19:16
  They love that kind of game style.
• 19:18
  So like being able for him to be able to do that is impressive.
• 19:22
  But like the bats come around, he's added more strength to his
• 19:24
  body. There's more power.
• 19:26
  So I think there's a chance that he can be a first rounder and
• 19:29
  kind of turn into this like spark plug, top of the order
• 19:31
  kind of guy where he'll get on base.
• 19:34
  He'll he'll let the conga line keep going and has some power to
• 19:37
  kind of go with it and he can provide value in center field.
• 19:40
  So he's a guy to kind of watch in the back end of the first
• 19:43
  guys like Noah Wilson, like you had mentioned, Blake Bowen.
• 19:47
  Blake Bowen, I thought was, I talked to a couple guys this
• 19:50
  past summer, scouts and, and scouting directors who thought
• 19:53
  that he was probably the best overall prep guy in this class
• 19:58
  at one point. You know, obviously I, I would
• 20:02
  say on the public scale, we never really went that far.
• 20:04
  But like for us, we put them at #2 or #3 because the the rave,
• 20:10
  the raving reviews that we would get from.
• 20:13
  From these scouting directors, these scouts were were saying
• 20:16
  like we think this kid could be a legitimate threat to not only
• 20:20
  place in the field long term, but he's big body, he's got
• 20:22
  power and the hip tool's not bad and like he can really, really
• 20:25
  go out and get it. So I think with him obviously
• 20:30
  he's still kind of the same guy. Like he hasn't really put
• 20:33
  himself farther forward, which is why we feel like he's kind of
• 20:35
  falling back a little bit on some public boards.
• 20:37
  Like he's gone from like a top ten guy to like 20 to 30, but I
• 20:42
  think that's just a testament to the guys that have risen up in
• 20:44
  this class to to really usurp what he's been able to do, which
• 20:49
  is not a bad thing for Bowen. I think Bowen's still one of the
• 20:51
  better outfielders in his class and I feel like he's going to be
• 20:54
  a guy that we look at a couple years from now.
• 20:55
  It's like he's a AA, maybe hitting like, you know, 23240,
• 20:59
  but has like 15 home runs, can walk, get get a copious amount
• 21:04
  of wallets and provides you some some center field or even right
• 21:07
  field defense. So he's a guy that like, like I
• 21:11
  said, he, he's not really changed who he is, But at the
• 21:13
  same time he, he was getting rave reviews from guys over the
• 21:16
  summer and he's I don't think he's going to fall out of the
• 21:19
  first round in my opinion. And guys like Noah Wilson will
• 21:22
  be like a second or third rounder with the same kind of
• 21:24
  tool set as condom where he's super athletic, the hit tool.
• 21:28
  We're still kind of working to see what happens.
• 21:30
  Like last last summer, it was just super flat and he hit the
• 21:33
  ball on the ground too hard or too much rather.
• 21:37
  But at the same token, he can fly.
• 21:40
  He's a seventy grade runner and and some guys will even have 80
• 21:43
  grades on the on the speed and he can really go out and get it
• 21:46
  in center field. So he's got the the tools
• 21:49
  outside that to really shine. And and for for Wilson, it's
• 21:52
  just a matter of kind of tweaking that swing to make it
• 21:54
  to where he can get into some more power.
• 21:57
  And really, if he can get, if he can get him to like a gap to gap
• 22:00
  approach and, and let his speed do the talking on the base pass,
• 22:04
  that's, that's value. You know, that, that's something
• 22:06
  that scouts look at and say like if he can provide 20 double s a
• 22:10
  season or even more than that, based on your speed and, and the
• 22:14
  ability for you to find the gas, like that's, you're going to get
• 22:17
  more out of that. So it it's like there's there's
• 22:22
  some guys that are really interesting at the bottom of
• 22:24
  this, you know, even go past that with some of the
• 22:26
  outfielders looking farther down.
• 22:28
  You mentioned Kevin Roberts. I think he's he's a freakish,
• 22:31
  freakish athlete, but obviously the hit tool hasn't been there.
• 22:34
  He might be some guys like Quinton Young from last year who
• 22:36
  the Twins took in the second round.
• 22:38
  You look at another guy, Luke Williams could be an outfielder.
• 22:42
  He's he's kind of splitting time between shortstop and
• 22:44
  outfielder, but he can play center field.
• 22:46
  He's another guy that like outlandish athletic trades
• 22:51
  waiting for the the offense to really come around.
• 22:53
  But he can he can definitely do some damage.
• 22:56
  Nathaniel Davis, Malachi Washington, these guys that can
• 22:59
  really Malachi is interesting because he's like super quick
• 23:02
  hands. He can really put a thumb into
• 23:04
  the baseball. He never had home runs in his in
• 23:06
  his arsenal until his junior high school, which is
• 23:09
  fascinating. Now he's hitting like 15 things
• 23:10
  a year as a high schooler. And then like Davis is a
• 23:15
  left-handed guy who can be the top of the order guy.
• 23:18
  But it the hit tools we're working on it trying to see like
• 23:23
  what's something we can tweak with to kind of get him to
• 23:26
  velocity more or like can he improve against breaking balls
• 23:29
  and kind of like put himself into like a Noah Wilson or a
• 23:33
  Trevor Condon. So like there's a lot of guys
• 23:35
  that that can really, they have the traits to do stuff in the
• 23:39
  outfield and do a very good job of doing it.
• 23:41
  It's just a matter of fine tuning it and getting it to a
• 23:44
  point where you can get attract value offensively from it.
• 23:49
  Let's talk about the catcher class here.
• 23:52
  And I'm intrigued about this because we know that catchers
• 23:55
  take the longest to develop overall, if you look at the
• 23:57
  track record the way baseball's at right now.
• 24:00
  But talk a bit about some of the high school players and I want
• 24:03
  to see where you're at with this because there's this there's a
• 24:06
  there's a bunch of names out there and we'll break is
• 24:09
  considered the top catcher in this year's high school class.
• 24:12
  And you got Sean Dunlop, Jack Brenner, Jon Stoward, the list
• 24:15
  goes on. But talk about some guys and who
• 24:18
  gets overshadowed because I feel like catchers are are a type of
• 24:22
  position where it's kind of like a franchise type of move that
• 24:26
  you got to consider because it's so hard to find catchers in
• 24:28
  today's baseball. Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:31
  And I will at least preface with this.
• 24:34
  Scouting catchers at the amateur level, especially high school is
• 24:38
  really, really tough because obviously, you know, we compare
• 24:41
  like the umpiring skills from high school to college to pros.
• 24:45
  It's obviously a very linear graph when you look at it like
• 24:50
  high school. You got guys that are getting
• 24:52
  called strikes, like Xavier Nyanz was getting called strikes
• 24:54
  on the outer on the outer third, if you want to call it that.
• 24:58
  But they were in the opposite batter's box, you know, and it's
• 25:01
  tough to get a a a route on like framing and everything and
• 25:04
  showing off skills for for backstops.
• 25:07
  But will bricks been the guy that like stood out far and he's
• 25:11
  another reclast from 2027. He's the guy that really stood
• 25:14
  out to me last summer, like playing a a year up at 18 U
• 25:19
  training camp. He it's incredible arm strength.
• 25:23
  He's explosive out of the Crouch.
• 25:25
  There is a couple throws. He went like back-to-back to
• 25:27
  back innings where he's throwing guys out of third base in the
• 25:29
  same game or second base rather in like he made it look easy.
• 25:34
  He was throwing from his knees. He did the the obvious like you
• 25:36
  gotta go Merlina, throw from your knees, let the tail into
• 25:38
  the glove and get the runner. It.
• 25:40
  It has been fantastic to watch him, you know, excel defensively
• 25:44
  and that's one of the guys where you're like, OK, he's going to
• 25:46
  be a a catcher at the next level.
• 25:48
  There's no question about it. And you just don't find that at
• 25:51
  the prep level. You know, you mentioned Sean
• 25:53
  Dunlap, like yes, he's been a catcher, but he's 63205.
• 25:56
  He's not your typical, you know, size for a catcher.
• 25:59
  He's he's much taller than that. He's also a freakish athlete
• 26:02
  that can go and get it in in center field or right field.
• 26:05
  You know, he he's a guy that's like, I would say atypical for
• 26:08
  position, Like he's super powerful.
• 26:11
  He's a seventy grade runner. He has a fantastic arm that can
• 26:14
  play in the outfield, and I think that might be where he
• 26:17
  ends up. Jack Brenner, you know, he's a
• 26:19
  guy that it's it's more of a hit tool than power and you're
• 26:23
  expecting more power from a from a a catcher, but he's played
• 26:26
  shortstop. He's played in the outfield as
• 26:28
  well. So he might be a guy that's more
• 26:29
  like a utility guy. So like those guys.
• 26:34
  Willbrick obviously clears both of those two, but Sean Dunlow is
• 26:37
  going to get a lot of run in probably like the second or
• 26:41
  third round. I would say Brenner, probably
• 26:43
  3rd to 4th. You know, Dvorsky Lane Junior,
• 26:46
  who's the son of Dvorsky Lane from the NFL back in like the
• 26:49
  early 20 tens. He's a guy that was a catcher at
• 26:52
  first last year, but we saw the the skills weren't really as
• 26:56
  good as his peers. He would play outfield.
• 26:58
  And I think that's where his his his future is going to be,
• 27:01
  mainly because I think his his route running has gotten better.
• 27:04
  He's improved out there. He's not really going to be a
• 27:06
  catcher at the next level. But even looking past that, like
• 27:11
  there's a guy farther down the board that I really like and
• 27:15
  it's Elaine Gomez Gudino, who he he didn't make our top 100 board
• 27:20
  on the on the just baseball site.
• 27:22
  Admittedly, he was a tough cut, but he's a guy that like Will
• 27:29
  Brick, he has the defensive shots to be a a catcher, but
• 27:32
  he's played third base this year because, like I said, it's just
• 27:35
  so tough to scout catchers at the high school level and he's
• 27:39
  been fine there. But like guys really do like the
• 27:42
  skills he has behind the plate. He's really explosive, has great
• 27:45
  arm strength. He can be a a viable average
• 27:48
  defender at the big league level and if the bat never comes
• 27:50
  around and that's fine. He's got he's got floor as a as
• 27:54
  like a defensive replacement or like he's in the line up to kind
• 27:58
  of, you know, stabilize the pitching staff.
• 28:01
  He handles them well, But obviously, you know, that's his
• 28:03
  strength and and captures like that can have long careers like
• 28:07
  Jeff Mathis. You know, you look at a a couple
• 28:10
  other guys like not Patrick Bailey, for example, like a
• 28:16
  Dodgers catcher. I can't remember his name off
• 28:17
  the top of my head, but he's been there forever.
• 28:19
  Not Will Smith, but he's like a backup to catch like Clayton
• 28:23
  Kershaw in the past. So like these guys?
• 28:25
  AJ Ellis. AJ Ellis Yeah.
• 28:28
  So like, these these guys that are defensive first catchers can
• 28:33
  have long careers, but obviously you're not expecting much value
• 28:36
  from them. So like again, Will Brick is
• 28:38
  probably the most valuable catcher in this class.
• 28:42
  How much value you can get out of him?
• 28:44
  We'll we'll see like the hit tool, he's prioritized hit tool
• 28:47
  over power as a as a prep. And I would like to see that
• 28:51
  kind of change to where he taps in more power because he he has
• 28:54
  above average power to me. But the the the defense is going
• 28:58
  to be the the money maker for him.
• 29:00
  And and I would not be shocked if he gets run in the second
• 29:03
  round, you know, to get paid. And if it bypass a pretty stout
• 29:08
  Mississippi State commitment like these, these guys have a
• 29:12
  lot of really stout commitments, but you pay him like $2,000,000,
• 29:17
  he'll take an Osayan. So he he's one of the guys I'm
• 29:20
  really high on. And I think at the end of the
• 29:22
  day, like Woolbrick is going to be the best catcher from this
• 29:25
  draft class. I I don't think that's an
• 29:28
  outlandish prediction to make at this stage.
• 29:33
  We know that shortstop is one of the most coveted positions in in
• 29:37
  in baseball and a lot of high school shortstops in this class
• 29:44
  are are of the highest upside with with Grady Emerson you got
• 29:49
  Jacob Lombard. His brother George played with
• 29:52
  the Yankees farm system. Aidan Ruiz, Tyler Spongler,
• 29:58
  James Clark, the list goes on. Just talk about how deep this
• 30:03
  class is and and some guys that you like to mention about this
• 30:09
  class with Shortstop. Yeah, I would say compared to
• 30:14
  like shortstop class last year where like Ethan Holiday was
• 30:16
  very clearly the 11 and and or not one one, but like the the
• 30:21
  top guy in the in the shortstop class, there's not a ton of
• 30:25
  death behind that. Last year had that death and
• 30:28
  this year it kind of really doesn't because when you look at
• 30:33
  I'll bring up James Clark, for example, he played at NHSI
• 30:38
  couple months ago. And you know, there there are
• 30:41
  questions about for me, like I wanted questions answered, like
• 30:45
  what's the footwork look like? Does he rush himself?
• 30:48
  Like that's something you kind of look for How good's the
• 30:49
  internal clock? Because we've seen these guys
• 30:51
  that like like to speed themselves up.
• 30:53
  They make errors, they make mistakes and then they kind of
• 30:55
  just look back and goes like, we need to improve this.
• 31:00
  And he was kind of doing that a little bit.
• 31:01
  And he he's a guy that's going to be like hit first, not a ton
• 31:04
  of power, but he hit the gas with good speed.
• 31:08
  Not to say he's a sloppy hitter, but there's some there's some
• 31:11
  force to go behind it, but he's a guy that could be he could get
• 31:15
  run in center field because of his his speed and and I think
• 31:19
  his tools probably fit better in that position right now.
• 31:23
  But like I said, he was kind of rushing himself a little bit
• 31:26
  shortstop wise defensively. And and you know, that's
• 31:30
  something that needs to be improved on.
• 31:31
  If if he's not a shortstop, he's a center fielder.
• 31:33
  Tyler Spangler, you know, he's as projectable as they come as a
• 31:38
  sweet lefty swing, but he never, he struggled to really punish
• 31:44
  the baseball. And the biggest thing was like
• 31:47
  he never, he never really separated his sips and
• 31:49
  shoulders. Like you're expecting the hips
• 31:51
  to kind of open up first as your shoulders come through.
• 31:54
  And he just never really did that last summer.
• 31:56
  It was a lot of line drives. He would hit it, guys never
• 31:59
  really in the air all that much. So scouts want to see that
• 32:02
  improve. But he's he's solid at
• 32:06
  shortstop. He might grow into his body more
• 32:08
  and move to third base as a result.
• 32:11
  So he's another guy that might not play shortstop.
• 32:13
  And you know, that kind of goes down the list too.
• 32:15
  Like Aiden Ruiz. He's probably the guy behind
• 32:18
  Emerson and Lombard who I'm sold on the idea of being a
• 32:22
  shortstop. He's very twitchy, has great
• 32:24
  range, good arm trim for crowd. This diamond, the hit tool is
• 32:29
  probably his biggest thing. He's like he's a pest.
• 32:32
  The swing decisions are great. He's going to be a guy that
• 32:35
  draws a lot of a lot of walks. He'll hit, he'll hit balls into
• 32:39
  the gap for power, but once he's on the bases, he's he's running,
• 32:43
  he's going, he's gone. You know, he's like saying he's
• 32:47
  a pest is is a compliment because this is the guy that
• 32:50
  pitchers are going to hate the face because he's going to get
• 32:53
  on base and just cause mayhem. And I think that's a a really
• 32:57
  good attribute to have moving past him, like Archer Horn,
• 33:00
  who's getting a lot of buzz recently.
• 33:02
  He's had a very, very good spring and we saw him last
• 33:04
  summer and the lefty swing. It's it's a little crude.
• 33:10
  You got to kind of work on some rough edges.
• 33:12
  But the powers there, he can go to the gaps.
• 33:15
  He's going to grow more into his body.
• 33:17
  He's he's nimble shortstop. I think he stays there.
• 33:20
  Also has the arm shrink. You know, he's gotten on the
• 33:22
  mound before touch 94 and and the arm shrink still plays and
• 33:26
  translates to the infield as well.
• 33:27
  So he's a guy that I really like within day one to day 2.
• 33:31
  Taj Martian from South Carolina is another guy that like kind of
• 33:35
  under the radar, but guys are going to love the tools.
• 33:37
  They love the the gameplay. He's got a lot of stretch.
• 33:41
  And what I mean by that is like when he goes to the kind of like
• 33:45
  lunge at the ball, he's he's creating a lot of stretch from
• 33:48
  his front foot to his back hand. And that's that's valuable for
• 33:52
  him. Like it, it's something that's
• 33:53
  like super elastic, super flexible, and if you can get the
• 33:57
  swing to where he's more compact, he's going to be he's
• 34:01
  going to hit for both average and power.
• 34:03
  So he's a guy that I really like.
• 34:05
  And moving farther past that to like Will Yao from from Virginia
• 34:10
  obviously mentions Jack Brenner earlier.
• 34:12
  He could play shortstop as well. Trey Evil, who's Brady Evil's
• 34:15
  son and Dino's son or sorry, Brady's brother and Dino's son
• 34:22
  from the Dodgers and the Angels. So like there there's a lot of
• 34:25
  guys in the short slot class farther down the board that are
• 34:27
  intriguing, but not the same kind of like death that we had a
• 34:32
  year ago where we had, I want to say like 8 to 10 high school
• 34:37
  shortstops drafted in the 1st 40 picks.
• 34:39
  So, you know, again, there's upside, there's stuff to look
• 34:44
  at, but I think there's a lot more question marks farther down
• 34:46
  the board compared to what it was a year ago.
• 34:51
  Let's talk about the top left-handed pitchers and you
• 34:53
  already mentioned a couple of them already with Grenlinger and
• 34:57
  Rojas as the top guys. But talk a little bit down there
• 35:01
  and Brody Bumila so much to say his name, but like he's been the
• 35:07
  name that I've been seeing a lot.
• 35:09
  And his stuff is so like he has power stuff like, I mean, stuff
• 35:13
  that, you know, scouts and GMs would dream to have a guy like
• 35:18
  him. And then talk about Logan
• 35:19
  Schmidt, Carson Bowman, like Sean Duncan.
• 35:22
  I'm sure there's guys that you would say that left-handed
• 35:25
  pitching is a dire need, especially in today's baseball.
• 35:28
  Like we look at we look at the way pitching is gone and we
• 35:31
  haven't seen enough of those, especially the high school side.
• 35:34
  Like talk a bit about these guys that could they be factors in
• 35:38
  the future or like immediate impacts?
• 35:41
  Yeah, this, this year's southpaw class on the prep side is is
• 35:44
  historically looking like it's going to be amazing.
• 35:48
  I would wager. You know, you mentioned Sean
• 35:51
  Duncan, Bhumiya Bowman, these guys behind Rojas that are going
• 35:57
  to be first round arms or first round caliber arms.
• 36:00
  And looking back at it before mentioning five guys in the
• 36:03
  first round are left-handed from the high school realm.
• 36:06
  I can't think of anything off the top of my head where we come
• 36:09
  remotely close to that in terms of past drafts.
• 36:13
  So like I'll start with Bowman, like I had mentioned, you know,
• 36:16
  55 fastball, 2 plus breaking balls.
• 36:18
  The Polish is there. He's not super flashy.
• 36:21
  He's never really been that. But the track record's there for
• 36:24
  me when I'm scouting. I'm looking for for Polish, I'm
• 36:26
  looking for pitch ability. He's got both of those things
• 36:29
  that really let him stand out amongst the crowd.
• 36:31
  When you're looking for guys that are just, I don't want to
• 36:34
  say throwing hard, but you're looking for more upside laden
• 36:36
  guys like Dodia Rojas. So like Boleman, in my opinion
• 36:43
  is the most polished southpaw in this in this class Logan
• 36:46
  Schmidt's not far behind. Like he's another
• 36:48
  reclassification for 2027 where he he's very deceptive.
• 36:55
  And what I mean by that, he has the ball very well.
• 36:57
  The release point guys really struggle to see and once it
• 36:59
  comes out of the hand it jumps on you quick with good extension
• 37:01
  traits. And that's something we value a
• 37:04
  lot in the scouting community is fastball value.
• 37:06
  He's got a really good fastball. He's been up to 97 with Kerry.
• 37:09
  He's got some run out of the hand.
• 37:13
  Got a good change up as well. I think the change up is at
• 37:15
  least Major League average is above average, but the, the
• 37:19
  field of spin has not been the same as as some of his peers.
• 37:21
  Like, you know, Bolleman, I say, has potentially 2 plus pitches.
• 37:25
  I would say Schmidt's more of like a fringe average, you know,
• 37:27
  45 grade at best at this moment. But guys can improve spin as
• 37:31
  we've seen in the past, like development traits and
• 37:34
  everything like that. You look at a guy like Sean
• 37:37
  Duncan who super young for the class, super projectable.
• 37:42
  I understand. Like we, we talked to him a
• 37:44
  couple weeks ago and, and he's such a, a fun kid to really talk
• 37:47
  to as well. He it was a fantastic interview,
• 37:49
  but he he's a guy that like again, fastball quality really
• 37:53
  stands out among scouts and that's something we look for.
• 37:55
  He's got a fastball been up to 95.
• 37:57
  He's been sitting there consistently this year, which is
• 37:59
  big because he used to be 88 to 91.
• 38:01
  You know, the stereotypical like stock prototype left-handed
• 38:06
  pitcher that like you're going to grow into your body and throw
• 38:08
  harder. He's already shown the traits to
• 38:10
  throw harder. He's got elite arm speed, the
• 38:13
  breaking ball is good. The change up's great.
• 38:15
  You know, I think he's a guy that he's going to get drafted
• 38:18
  pretty high. We have an 18th on our board for
• 38:22
  perspective. But the guy I really want to
• 38:25
  talk about, Brodie Bumiya, you know, you mentioned it.
• 38:28
  He's been seeing a lot recently and on Twitter and everything.
• 38:32
  You don't find guys at that size.
• 38:35
  You know, he's 69255. He is a he's a basketball
• 38:40
  center. Yeah.
• 38:41
  He's a basketball center that that plays baseball.
• 38:44
  Like that's essentially what it is.
• 38:46
  And like Noah Schultz, for example, 610 like he he
• 38:50
  struggled with I I want to say like reining his limbs in a
• 38:55
  little bit, but Mia has some of the best body control for a kid
• 38:58
  his size I've seen in a long time.
• 39:00
  And you know, he's coming off an elbow injury.
• 39:03
  However, it's one O 1 from the left side and finding Villa like
• 39:08
  that from the left side is tough.
• 39:10
  You know, it's not, it's not an easy thing to find.
• 39:13
  And and you know, you mentioned the idea of like we don't see a
• 39:18
  ton of southpaws at the big league level.
• 39:20
  Southpaws do get more leeway in in scouting processes because of
• 39:26
  his rarity. So finding a guy who's doing
• 39:29
  this, throwing one O 1 with 7 feet of extension, a low release
• 39:31
  slot, he's going to be a vertical of approach angle king
• 39:35
  in terms of the angles he creates going to the plate.
• 39:38
  And you know, that's an 80 grade fastball.
• 39:41
  You know, we talked about Jack Bauer a year ago where he was
• 39:44
  touching one O 3 from the left side.
• 39:47
  My opinion of that is Bhumiya is better than what Jack Bauer was.
• 39:51
  And I'm going to, this might be a hot take, but I've talked
• 39:55
  about it with some people here in Charlotte.
• 39:58
  Jack Bauer, in my opinion, was a stiff mover.
• 40:01
  You know, he yes, he touched one O 3 that that is very rare.
• 40:04
  I think it's the highest has ever been tracked from a high
• 40:08
  school pitcher in general, but from the left side is even more
• 40:11
  so rare. But there's not a ton of
• 40:14
  extension. It's a 2 steam shape.
• 40:17
  It's it strikes her very streaky with him and he's kind of shown
• 40:20
  that in the SEC this year. I will say his breaking pitches
• 40:25
  and his off speed are way better than what Bumiya's is right now.
• 40:28
  But I think Bumiya has a better mold of clay here where the
• 40:31
  fastball is already as good as you can get it.
• 40:34
  Like that's an 80 grade fastball with what he has, you can
• 40:38
  improve the spin traits, get it to an average breaking ball.
• 40:40
  I think he's got a really good change up and the strikes have
• 40:44
  have been there. So like he can dominate kids
• 40:46
  with with the fastball. I, I think guys are going to
• 40:49
  look at this and go he might be, he might end up being the best
• 40:54
  southpaw in this class. Man, I I'm like, you know, going
• 40:57
  through scenarios where you might be a top ten pitcher in
• 40:59
  this in this class or like a top ten pick and you know, Gio Ross
• 41:04
  is getting linked to the Royals at six.
• 41:06
  You know, I don't know how how true that is admittedly, but
• 41:11
  like he's been linked there a few times by some of these
• 41:14
  bigger publications like Baseball America overslot, some
• 41:17
  of these guys that do it. First off, insane job with the
• 41:22
  drafts and everything like that. So, you know, like there's going
• 41:27
  to be a, a really interesting conversation to have with
• 41:30
  Bhumiya on draft day. I think this is the guy that's
• 41:32
  going to be no doubt a top 15 pick and the traits are just
• 41:38
  they're off to charts good. That's that's like the best way
• 41:41
  I could really put it outside of him.
• 41:44
  Beau Holloway from Tennessee is a guy that he's he's been famous
• 41:47
  in the class for a while, been up to 98 from the left side, but
• 41:51
  slider's not really been there. The change up's good.
• 41:53
  Strikes have been off and on. Lucas Naroki from Texas is kind
• 41:58
  of a shorter guy, but it might be a seventy grade slider.
• 42:03
  You know, there there are a few really, really, really, really
• 42:06
  good like southpaw is farther down, but obviously the the
• 42:10
  command concerns or the lack of the second pitch are something
• 42:14
  that we have taken to account and kind of hope that gets
• 42:17
  ironed out. So that's why they're lower
• 42:20
  down. But like again this southpaw
• 42:22
  classes, it has a chance to be historically good.
• 42:26
  That that's the easiest way I could probably put it.
• 42:31
  So let's go to the right-handed side of pitch of the pitch.
• 42:35
  You mentioned how how deep the the left-handed left handers are
• 42:39
  the southpaws with your top picks in this class, top top
• 42:44
  guys like Jensen Hirschkorn and Coleman, Coleman Borthwick and
• 42:50
  Joseph Contreras, the son of Jose Contreras, you know, and,
• 42:55
  and, and Blake Bryant and Savion Sims and and so on.
• 42:59
  But talk about some of those guys and how the right-handed
• 43:03
  side stacks up in this class. The right-handed side is not,
• 43:08
  I'm not going to say it's terrible.
• 43:10
  Like there, there are some strengths there.
• 43:11
  Coleman Borforth, like you mentioned, I think is personally
• 43:14
  the top right-handed pitcher in this class.
• 43:16
  He's got the the size of physicality 66255.
• 43:20
  He's also touched 100. He has a track record of
• 43:23
  throwing strikes. He's got a really, really good
• 43:25
  slider. I just want that third pitch to
• 43:27
  kind of show up. But it's hard to ignore what
• 43:29
  he's been able to do in the past.
• 43:31
  He, you know, he threw a complete game shutout to help
• 43:35
  the USA win the 18 U gold medal at the World Cup this past year.
• 43:40
  So he he's got the track record for it.
• 43:42
  Justin Hirshkorn, you know, 672O5 been up to 95 guys, can't
• 43:47
  see the ball out of the hand very well.
• 43:49
  He struck out nine at area coach, which I was at, which was
• 43:52
  arguably one of the best amateur outings I've ever seen in
• 43:55
  person. I like, I, I think that's the
• 43:56
  best way to describe it is got he was dominating the end zone
• 44:00
  with the fastball and when he went to go try and, and and put
• 44:03
  together the slider to come get strikeouts, guys just never saw
• 44:06
  it. And it's, it's a deceptive
• 44:09
  delivery. Guys don't see the ball very
• 44:11
  well, like I said, and he extends well.
• 44:14
  Like that's another thing that really I think is undervalued on
• 44:17
  the the the public scale is like we, we look at extension and how
• 44:22
  it kind of helps pitches play up.
• 44:23
  But also, you know, if you're looking at guys, you know, just
• 44:28
  just let's like stock, the extension really helps
• 44:31
  everything play up. You know, it's, it's a trait
• 44:34
  that's heavily valued and, and guys are really going to go
• 44:37
  after that. So for him, like he's got some
• 44:40
  growing to do. I think he's obviously LSU
• 44:44
  commit is going to make it tough for him to to be signed away
• 44:47
  from that. But at the same token, I think
• 44:52
  he's going to have more, he's going to have better development
• 44:55
  in a pro org than LSU. Admittedly, sorry, Jay Johnson,
• 44:59
  if you listen to this, but you know, that's just the way it is.
• 45:04
  Unfortunately, like the the college development compared to
• 45:07
  the pro dev is it's a it's a wider margin than we think,
• 45:11
  especially when you've seen guys like Wake Forest past couple
• 45:13
  years. But that's the tangent going
• 45:16
  back to to the other guys like Cooper size from Orange Lutheran
• 45:20
  in California is a guy that's like super projectable, has four
• 45:23
  pitches. He knows how to pitch.
• 45:25
  He might be a higher floor, but there's stuff where like the arm
• 45:29
  speed stands out. He might be throwing 100 in a
• 45:31
  couple years. Caden Wechter, who's just on a
• 45:34
  Doug from the mid 2000s, He's a guy that's super, super
• 45:39
  athletic. It might be one of the best
• 45:40
  fastballs in in the prep scene itself, but the biggest thing is
• 45:47
  like command trying to come back in and he's got a good slider,
• 45:50
  good change up, but he doesn't really use it a ton.
• 45:52
  It's really just fastball slider.
• 45:54
  So I want to see more of a third pitch.
• 45:56
  You know, we look at a guy like you had mentioned, Joseph
• 45:59
  Contreras, you know, pitches on a gigantic stage.
• 46:04
  You know, he faces Aaron Judge. He gets Jaron Judge to break he
• 46:07
  bat during the the World Baseball Classic which I
• 46:11
  baseball. Classic.
• 46:12
  That's right. Yeah, you're 17.
• 46:15
  Like you're 17 doing that to arguably the best hitter in the
• 46:18
  American League. You know, it's impressive.
• 46:21
  But he's been up to 99. You know, it's, it's a higher
• 46:24
  slot. So like we we kind of look for
• 46:26
  like outlier slots and he's the guy that kind of fits that a
• 46:29
  little bit. And he's got his dad's forkball.
• 46:32
  It is a completely lethal pitch. The the angle he creates is
• 46:35
  pretty steep, but it's going to be a lot of ground balls.
• 46:39
  He's got a good slider and, and I'm going to coin it as a death
• 46:42
  ball. And what I mean by that is like
• 46:44
  it's a, it's a slider that has basically all vertical action,
• 46:47
  no horizontal brake. So he's getting, it's playing
• 46:51
  off the angle he creates and he's getting like 5 to 6 inches
• 46:55
  of depth with it. And guys are, they're just
• 46:57
  watching it go down into the dirt and can't touch it, you
• 47:00
  know? So he's a guy that I really do
• 47:02
  like in this class. I think people are going to look
• 47:04
  at what he's been able to do the past year or so and obviously
• 47:06
  big lean bloodlines with his dad that really helped his case.
• 47:11
  And then even farther down the line, like Gary Morris, Denton
• 47:16
  Lord, Cole Kinninger, there's a few other guys that really stick
• 47:20
  out like Eli Hurst from from Washington, Blake Bryant you had
• 47:24
  mentioned. I really think he's a guy that's
• 47:26
  again, I've undervalued this year is super projectable pitch
• 47:30
  abilities there. I've been up to 96.
• 47:32
  I think he's he's a back end first rounder or like a comp
• 47:35
  round pick at this point. And we got to fix that on our
• 47:38
  board on the next update. But like there's there's quality
• 47:42
  right-handed arms, they're obviously just not to the same
• 47:44
  caliber as the as the southpaws this year there.
• 47:48
  I would say there's more question marks than there are
• 47:50
  answers when you compare like again, Coleman Borwick to like
• 47:54
  Carson Bohlman, you know, I think that's is going to be an
• 47:58
  interesting case to make for some of these guys.
• 48:01
  And again, commitments are tough to get out of too.
• 48:04
  There's a lot of LSU commits, a lot of Vanderbilt commits in
• 48:07
  this class. And those are those are schools
• 48:10
  that that have history and they have amazing development
• 48:13
  programs. So we'll see what happens at the
• 48:15
  end of the day. But you know, there's some,
• 48:18
  there's some really good pitching in this class.
• 48:19
  I'll, I'll say that much. I like to talk about players
• 48:25
  that doesn't get talked about enough and high school players
• 48:30
  who could end up going to college because you talked about
• 48:32
  Jack Bauer, for example, or JoJo Parker's twin brother Jacob
• 48:36
  Parker committed to Mississippi as well.
• 48:39
  So could you see any of these top guys not end up going to the
• 48:44
  draft or do you think they're going to end up being committed
• 48:48
  overall? There there's a couple there
• 48:51
  I've like Dear Rise could do it. Brady Harris has been a famous
• 48:56
  guy in this class for a long time.
• 48:58
  And admittedly, when we're looking at everything that's
• 49:01
  happened the past couple of years with him, it's a long
• 49:04
  swing. The hit tool's kind of shoddy a
• 49:08
  little bit and he's aggressive at the plate.
• 49:10
  So like he'll struggle to his swing decisions aren't the
• 49:14
  greatest is probably the best way to put it.
• 49:15
  Like he's very aggressive, expands his own a lot.
• 49:18
  So there there's a lot of question marks to kind of answer
• 49:20
  there for him, but he's he's again been on the circuit for a
• 49:24
  long time. He could find himself at a point
• 49:27
  where like place in her field full time.
• 49:31
  Maybe he's just Fabian 2 point O.
• 49:33
  You know, just Fabian was a top five prospect in in the Class A
• 49:37
  few years ago, but then never really hit and kind of fell off
• 49:40
  a bit. He might be that kind of guy.
• 49:44
  Kevin Roberts, if we're we're going to stick on his theme with
• 49:46
  Florida commits. Kevin Roberts, again, freakishly
• 49:49
  athletic and he was a two way guy, but prioritized hitting
• 49:53
  this past year because of of an injury.
• 49:55
  But you know, loud, loud power. And he can, he's a really,
• 49:59
  really good athlete in center field and a good defender.
• 50:04
  But again, the hit tools kind of just lag behind that little bit.
• 50:07
  But if we're going off of what we've seen in the past, Quentin
• 50:09
  Young's the same kind of body type, same kind of mold of
• 50:12
  player. And Quentin Young was a second
• 50:14
  round pick by the Twins a year ago.
• 50:16
  You know, so I think somebody gives Kevin Roberts a bag to to
• 50:20
  avoid going to Florida. And, and I do know for a fact
• 50:25
  that like he has already enrolled in some classes out
• 50:28
  there, which is kind of standard practice, but he put it out
• 50:31
  there on Twitter yesterday at this point.
• 50:34
  So we'll see what happens there. But those are two guys that
• 50:37
  really stick out to me as like they, they feel to me like more
• 50:41
  college, like going to college risk than some of these other
• 50:43
  guys. I, to me, it feels like there's
• 50:47
  maybe a, we're a bit too far out from the draft to know for sure
• 50:52
  what the, the overall look is with some of these guys,
• 50:55
  admittedly. But like, obviously you're going
• 50:57
  to target some of these, these SEC commits that want to go to
• 51:00
  school and, and even like Stanford, Stanford has a really
• 51:04
  good recruiting class this year. Tyler Spangler, obviously we
• 51:07
  talked about before, but they have the Harrington twins, Alex
• 51:11
  and Hunter from Cathedral Catholic out there in in
• 51:14
  California. They have a few arms that I
• 51:17
  thought are pretty impressive. And Stanford could really use
• 51:20
  some of these because watching Stanford yesterday, they don't
• 51:23
  have pitching, admittedly. So, and, and, and the guys like
• 51:28
  that, they value school, they value their education.
• 51:31
  So Stanford commits are always tough a year in and year out.
• 51:33
  Duke commits can be really, really tough unless you're
• 51:35
  Jordan Walker. So, you know, those are the guys
• 51:39
  kind of look at and go like, hey, like these are going to be
• 51:41
  tougher to look at or to sign. But like I said, Brady Harris to
• 51:46
  me feels like a guy that should go to campus.
• 51:49
  Kevin Roberts, I feel like he probably should as well.
• 51:52
  But again, like I mentioned, I think somebody gives him enough
• 51:54
  money to kind of get away from that and and kind of like the
• 51:58
  Quentin Young archetype as what he was a year ago.
• 52:08
  Pair this year's college position player class to the to
• 52:12
  the prep class and just talk about, you know, how how things
• 52:20
  are and how they're compared between the two.
• 52:22
  And with the top high school states being California,
• 52:27
  Florida, Texas, talk about the a lot of the players that come
• 52:32
  from those States and just how they develop, seem to develop
• 52:36
  this high school talent that that that like is like no other.
• 52:41
  Yeah. So I'll start with the college
• 52:42
  stuff. I do think the college position
• 52:47
  players specifically are, are way ahead of what the, the, the
• 52:50
  high school is. There's more death at the top
• 52:52
  and there's a lot more heavy hitters.
• 52:54
  Obviously rocks the the obvious 11 at this point, or I don't
• 52:58
  want to say obvious, but like he's rejected to be that.
• 53:02
  And then you look behind that and you got guys a little bit
• 53:05
  just farther behind, like Drew Burris or, you know, AJ Gracia,
• 53:09
  who look like they're going to be top 15 picks.
• 53:13
  You got guys outside that like Ace Reese, Logan Hughes, who,
• 53:17
  who all look like they're going to match but obviously have
• 53:20
  defensive limitations. And then you got some other guys
• 53:23
  when you look farther up the board or not farther up, but
• 53:26
  like farther down the board where like, OK, Sagar
• 53:29
  Schwarzschneider from TCU, Eric Becker from Virginia, Derek
• 53:33
  Curiel from LSU. Like some of these guys are
• 53:35
  going to be first rounders because of their tool sets and
• 53:38
  how everything kind of works. The college pitching is
• 53:42
  definitely not as good. I think that's the weakest link
• 53:44
  in the entire class personally. But there is some some really
• 53:48
  intriguing depth that's shown up in the past couple weeks, for
• 53:51
  the past month. Rather, that's gonna make
• 53:54
  everything a little bit more interesting to add a little more
• 53:56
  wrinkles to the to the situation, which I'm excited for
• 53:59
  to kind of dive into. But yeah, those those are that
• 54:04
  that's my take on. I think the position players
• 54:06
  are, are definitely better is more depth than what the, the
• 54:09
  high school side has. And, and then when we look at,
• 54:12
  you know, you mentioned Texas, Florida, California, really it's
• 54:17
  just about population and you know, I, I guess money, you
• 54:22
  know, money was obviously like you look at California,
• 54:24
  obviously living in Socal, it it's, you need to have a very,
• 54:29
  very good job and, and to, to make a lot of money to live
• 54:32
  there. You know, in Florida and Texas
• 54:34
  are kind of the same way. You know, my home state, North
• 54:38
  Carolina is kind of growing into that a little bit, but we don't
• 54:40
  have obviously the same kind of talent as some of these other
• 54:43
  states. So like there's you can find
• 54:47
  talent everywhere, but obviously it's more prevalent in these
• 54:49
  schools that have these have the money, have the development that
• 54:53
  some of these other schools don't.
• 54:54
  Like all these private schools where they they really do pride
• 54:59
  themselves in developing players and programs.
• 55:03
  Whereas like again, I'll use my example, Noel McLean went to
• 55:08
  Garner High School. I went to Garner high school.
• 55:10
  It's a public school in the middle of of metro Raleigh
• 55:14
  essentially. But we never Garner high never
• 55:18
  had like a, a, a dev team or they never really had like a lab
• 55:23
  at some of these schools in, in Texas, California or Florida do.
• 55:28
  So it's, it's a lot more of like the talent stands out more than
• 55:33
  the development. And there's more I guess rawness
• 55:35
  to it. So I think that's the biggest
• 55:39
  thing that really sticks out for those states.
• 55:41
  Like do you just have the the resources to really succeed and
• 55:45
  develop these kids a lot more? Obviously they travel a lot
• 55:49
  getting to the USA, going to PG events, PBR events really helps
• 55:53
  them. And and some of these, some of
• 55:55
  these states like again, I'll, I'll throw out like Vermont,
• 55:58
  Vermont's not really had a ton of talent come through their
• 56:01
  ranks. They have a guy this year
• 56:02
  finally in Kaden McCarthy, but he really wasn't that big events
• 56:06
  last year because it's just the the cost of living, the
• 56:10
  resources aren't quite there is what they are in some of these
• 56:13
  other states. This is my favorite question
• 56:18
  probably in this episode is comparing last year is high
• 56:22
  school class and this year's class.
• 56:24
  And if you look at it right right now, I mean, when you talk
• 56:28
  about Seth Hernandez, probably one of the best pitching
• 56:31
  prospects in all of baseball, he could probably be the top five
• 56:34
  prospect once all said no, he probably is already.
• 56:36
  But if you look at it, last year's cast high school class
• 56:40
  looks relatively deep. If you look at it, Ethan
• 56:42
  Holiday, Eli Willits, Billy Carlson, JoJo Parker, Xavier
• 56:45
  David's cruise shoe list goes on.
• 56:49
  And if you compare it to this, this class coming up which which
• 56:53
  is in July, like how do you compare and contrast?
• 56:55
  Is there is there similar needs and depths in that situation or
• 57:00
  would you say which which class would be better in your opinion
• 57:04
  when you scouted last year's to this year's?
• 57:08
  I would say 2025 is just a bit better.
• 57:11
  Like I mentioned before, the shortstop class was was miles
• 57:14
  better than what we have this year.
• 57:15
  Admittedly, like the depth is it really stuck out to me last
• 57:18
  year, obviously JoJo Parker being the third shortstop off
• 57:22
  the off the board. If I remember correctly, outside
• 57:25
  of Willis in in Eaton Holiday was drafted as a shortstop.
• 57:29
  Obviously it it's really impressive.
• 57:33
  Like it's how how many guys were at the top last year, you know,
• 57:39
  and this year doesn't quite have that same depth in that position
• 57:43
  that you would like to see. Admittedly, like it's it's a
• 57:46
  little weaker on that front. Pitching is is better in my
• 57:50
  opinion. Obviously we had Seth Fernandez
• 57:51
  a year ago, but outside of that next arm that was, you know,
• 57:54
  high enough for me was like crew schoolcraft or, you know, like
• 58:00
  some of these. It, it was definitely college
• 58:02
  pitching was the better at the two demographics last year.
• 58:07
  So yeah, I, I definitely lean towards 2025 because you have
• 58:10
  better premium defenders and premium bats in that, in the, in
• 58:15
  the cornerstone positions up the middle, basically.
• 58:19
  That really stood out to me. So that's, that's the, that's my
• 58:22
  answer on that. Admittedly, and I'm sure it's,
• 58:24
  it differs from person to person, but I, I, that's how I
• 58:27
  viewed it last year. And, you know, comparing this
• 58:31
  class to next year, it's, it's probably kind of the same.
• 58:34
  I'm not really not too far in depth on the 2027 class just
• 58:38
  yet, but there's some pretty intriguing talents on the prep
• 58:41
  side and on the college side as well.
• 58:43
  Well, you mentioned about you mentioned about 2027 already
• 58:47
  that that was going to lead up to my next question.
• 58:49
  And you know, that thing is like the way you were we've been
• 58:53
  talking about with prospect, a lot of these guys are
• 58:55
  reclassifying from next year's class to this year.
• 58:57
  Do you think it has to do with where baseball's going next year
• 59:00
  with the CBA lockout and stuff? Or it's just the fact like these
• 59:04
  guys are just just want to get they believe that they're going
• 59:07
  to get drafted, sign with whatever team they sign and they
• 59:11
  get right away. Because like you look at like
• 59:13
  last year, for example, like we seen a bunch of guys already
• 59:17
  well known and obviously and they're they're going to be up
• 59:20
  in the majors and basically say high school has the most upside
• 59:23
  out of out of all, right? So how do you look at next
• 59:27
  year's draft class? If why are next year's class
• 59:29
  some of them are reclassified for this year?
• 59:33
  Yeah, as as much as I, I've talked to some people about this
• 59:36
  like Carlos Collaza from BA, Joe Doyle, some of these guys that
• 59:39
  are in the space of us and and do a fantastic job, like I said
• 59:42
  before. But the answers I've gotten from
• 59:45
  them are basically like, we don't think it's anything
• 59:47
  related to a potential lockout or the idea that high schoolers
• 59:52
  are are not going to be part of the draft moving forward, which
• 59:55
  that's another conversation to have.
• 59:56
  I think it's unique that we have the high school aspect of the
• 1:00:00
  draft. But at the same token, yeah, I,
• 1:00:04
  I, I see arguments to where it's like, again, it's weird, you
• 1:00:07
  know, but most, most of the conversations I've had have
• 1:00:13
  concluded with, we think this is just guys understanding
• 1:00:19
  obviously their grades and their skills and kind of looking at
• 1:00:22
  like, what's the best for them. You know, I don't think there's
• 1:00:25
  anything driven in terms of like they're not going to get paid
• 1:00:29
  enough or, you know, there's luck out next year.
• 1:00:32
  Let me, let me go into this class and kind of see where I
• 1:00:35
  stack up compared to others. I think it's just a matter of
• 1:00:38
  they truly believe in the the skills that they have and the
• 1:00:43
  tools and think that they they definitely want to try and get a
• 1:00:49
  jump on the game, essentially not have to waste another year
• 1:00:52
  going on the circuit where they believe that they can be in a
• 1:00:57
  pro development program. You know, right now, I think
• 1:00:59
  that's the biggest thing is it's these kids understanding what
• 1:01:03
  they have and they, they really trust themselves and have this,
• 1:01:08
  you know, background from family.
• 1:01:09
  They're the agents that they work with that they, they really
• 1:01:12
  do believe they can do this. And I, I'm all for it.
• 1:01:15
  You know, it's, I think it's exciting to see some of these
• 1:01:18
  kids that like reclass and, and believe in themselves and, and
• 1:01:22
  think that they can do this. And I think that's something
• 1:01:23
  that a lot of kids, you know, if you're a, a player that happens
• 1:01:28
  to listen to this, like if you believe you can do it, then then
• 1:01:31
  hey, you, you're already one step ahead.
• 1:01:33
  You got the confidence to, to really go out there and do it.
• 1:01:35
  So I think that's just really the gist of it is like these
• 1:01:40
  kids understand what they have and they, they really do truly
• 1:01:43
  feel like they can, they can start their clock a little
• 1:01:47
  earlier than having to wait another year and and see fallout
• 1:01:51
  some of something. But I, I don't think it's
• 1:01:53
  anything that CBA talks have really accelerated of, you know,
• 1:01:57
  we've seen reclasses for years. Connor Griffin was a reclass.
• 1:02:01
  So there's a lot of things to really that that go into it, but
• 1:02:06
  I don't think the CBA is one of them at this point.
• 1:02:13
  There's been a lot of guys in the last five years, a lot of
• 1:02:17
  high schoolers that have developed in the minor leagues
• 1:02:20
  and and are now coming up and, and even some of the ones in the
• 1:02:24
  in recent years. But a lot of them are coming up
• 1:02:26
  now and finding success, like Noah McClain and and Kyle
• 1:02:31
  Harrison and you got guys they were drafted like Ken Caminiti.
• 1:02:36
  We have a couple in the Blue Jays system, Arjun Namala and
• 1:02:39
  JoJo Parker, who was drafted last year, was just tearing the
• 1:02:42
  cover off the ball in a ball. So, you know, just just just
• 1:02:48
  talk about how important it it's been in the last, yeah, about
• 1:02:55
  5:00 or so years to just really hit on some of these high school
• 1:02:59
  picks and the upside that they have.
• 1:03:02
  Yeah, I think the easiest way to kind of like, interpret what
• 1:03:06
  we've seen, like Kevin Mcgonagall a couple years ago
• 1:03:08
  was not a, a top 31, Yeah, like he wasn't a top 30 pick.
• 1:03:13
  And now he's he's arguably the best prospect in baseball.
• 1:03:15
  Connor Griffin, you know, again, we mentioned him as a reclass.
• 1:03:20
  He was a guy that needed a swing overhaul, got the perfect fit
• 1:03:23
  for him, and now he's in the major leagues at 20 years old.
• 1:03:26
  I the biggest thing for me when it comes to scouting high
• 1:03:29
  schoolers is you'd mentioned the upside, obviously, but they have
• 1:03:34
  a longer, you know, development path.
• 1:03:37
  They have more time to really be molded into the players that
• 1:03:42
  they become, you know, and there's some that obviously,
• 1:03:45
  like, you just look at them and they're like, OK, you know, like
• 1:03:47
  these are, they're going to be in the majors in the year and a
• 1:03:50
  half. It's fine.
• 1:03:51
  You know, that's what Connor Griffin was.
• 1:03:54
  I would wager that's what Seth Fernandez is at this point.
• 1:03:56
  You know, And, and like that's rare and above itself, whether
• 1:04:02
  it's college or high school or not.
• 1:04:05
  But routinely like you look at the development path for some of
• 1:04:08
  these guys, like I mentioned earlier, Grenlinger is going to
• 1:04:10
  be 17.2 on draft day, spend two years on the complex and then
• 1:04:14
  you kind of figure out his path from there and he debuts at 22.
• 1:04:17
  You know, if some of these college guys who are already
• 1:04:19
  2223, they don't have that kind of, I don't want to say runway,
• 1:04:23
  but they don't have as long as a as long as time in a development
• 1:04:27
  program. Then some of these high
• 1:04:29
  schoolers. And I think that's the thing
• 1:04:30
  that like you kind of look at it, you have a higher hit rate
• 1:04:34
  on the on developing high schoolers and you do the college
• 1:04:38
  guys. You think about it.
• 1:04:39
  Bryce Harper 2010 granted, yes, he was drafted out of JUCO, but
• 1:04:45
  he was a high schooler. You know, it's that's like the
• 1:04:50
  premium example I can give on that one.
• 1:04:52
  Manny Machado, if I remember correctly, was a high schooler.
• 1:04:56
  You know, there's a lot of these guys.
• 1:04:58
  I think Carlos Correa also was a high schooler as well, if I
• 1:05:01
  remember correctly. So like, you're going to have a
• 1:05:04
  lot more development time with these guys.
• 1:05:05
  And it, it's a plus for development teams that again,
• 1:05:11
  have an understanding of what they know they want to fix in
• 1:05:14
  getting a way to do it. And again, the hit rate is, is a
• 1:05:17
  lot better in that demographic compared to the college guys.
• 1:05:20
  You know, it's a pretty night and day.
• 1:05:22
  So, you know, I, I think it is, again, like I had mentioned, I
• 1:05:26
  don't want the high school aspect to be taken away from the
• 1:05:29
  draft if it does come to that, because again, it's unique and
• 1:05:33
  you find more development and find more success going that
• 1:05:36
  pathway compared to the college side.
• 1:05:40
  Yeah, like I tell Rocky, I feel like the superstar players
• 1:05:46
  either come from international draft or high school.
• 1:05:49
  Like in the last superstar player that was college, I guess
• 1:05:53
  you could say maybe Trey Turner when he came up, like it's been
• 1:05:58
  a while, right. Like unless you're a pitcher,
• 1:06:01
  pitchers may be a little different, like Paul Skiing's
• 1:06:03
  last last couple years, but you know, like just just that
• 1:06:07
  upside. You can't find that upside
• 1:06:09
  anywhere. But I, I believe in like high
• 1:06:11
  school, like it's like you said, it's projection, right?
• 1:06:15
  So. Yeah, No, that's exactly what it
• 1:06:17
  is. It's a lot of projection.
• 1:06:18
  It's a lot of, again, like you mentioned earlier, it's not like
• 1:06:21
  exact science. It's, it's not finite details,
• 1:06:25
  but you're, you're, you're kind of guessing you're like have,
• 1:06:31
  you're making it a hypothesis of what this guy can be and you're
• 1:06:35
  trying to find ways to mold him into that and get value out of
• 1:06:38
  them. I think that's, again, that
• 1:06:39
  that's just how scouting is. That's how it's always going to
• 1:06:41
  be. And I, I again, like, I feel
• 1:06:46
  like if we take high school out of the equation, it's just it's
• 1:06:48
  tougher to find some of these guys.
• 1:06:51
  Like you're not going to get a lot more development time with
• 1:06:52
  them in, in as much as like obviously they're 1718 year
• 1:06:58
  olds. You know, I, I think to myself
• 1:07:00
  every single day, like, you know, it's kind of weird that I
• 1:07:02
  know a lot about some of these guys and being my age and you
• 1:07:07
  know, and, and looking at it. But I think at the end of the
• 1:07:11
  day, like that's just, that's just how it has been and how
• 1:07:15
  it's probably going to continue to be.
• 1:07:17
  In my opinion, in being able to find success through these
• 1:07:23
  pathways, is, is, is exactly why we still have them.
• 1:07:27
  You know, I think that's just how it's going to be.
• 1:07:31
  And I've noticed with high school players, like some, some
• 1:07:35
  teams are willing to go in the third round, fourth round and
• 1:07:38
  pay overslot. I don't know if you've seen that
• 1:07:41
  round. And I feel like it's so
• 1:07:43
  important. Like I know we're Jays fans, but
• 1:07:45
  we had a couple of guys that paid oversight like Landon
• 1:07:47
  Marutis. I think it was three years ago.
• 1:07:49
  It was a high school. Tremendous UPS on fortune with
• 1:07:51
  Tommy John. He's worked his way and blame
• 1:07:53
  bullet last year they played well overslide.
• 1:07:55
  He was a Texas A&M commit and he's looking like an absolute
• 1:07:59
  player. And is that a new trend now with
• 1:08:03
  high school players? Because like, you're getting the
• 1:08:05
  money what you want, even though if you drafted late and and some
• 1:08:09
  of these guys are committed. And it seems like it's like
• 1:08:12
  premeditated with the whole process of guys getting drafted
• 1:08:15
  from high school and getting overslotted for so many reasons.
• 1:08:19
  And that's why they say like, oh, they allocate the money and
• 1:08:22
  save money so they can get the later rounds to try try to pay
• 1:08:26
  overslight. Is that a new trend tonight in
• 1:08:29
  today's baseball? I I would say so, especially
• 1:08:32
  with the addition of the, the slot values and the bonus pools.
• 1:08:36
  You know, we didn't have this obviously when we had like 40
• 1:08:40
  rounds. But now that we've seen an era
• 1:08:44
  where the draft has been diluted down to to 20 rounds.
• 1:08:47
  Obviously we had the five round drafts in 2020, but only having
• 1:08:50
  20 rounds now teams are becoming more of where and becoming more
• 1:08:55
  strategic with how they approach drafts.
• 1:08:58
  And you know, like you mentioned Blaine Bullard, we had him as
• 1:09:01
  like a third round grade for me when we did his board or his,
• 1:09:05
  his draft class and he got paid appropriately with that same
• 1:09:09
  kind of value in like the 11th round.
• 1:09:12
  And that's, that's teams working their way around these bonus
• 1:09:16
  pools to get the most out of it. Really.
• 1:09:19
  Like we've not had a team go over bonus pool values.
• 1:09:24
  They get close, they never go over it.
• 1:09:27
  And that's just that's the way the game now like having this,
• 1:09:30
  the slot value system becomes kind of like picking teeth a
• 1:09:34
  little bit or like plucking teeth rather where you're
• 1:09:39
  finding guys are going to figure development traits a lot better
• 1:09:42
  than like say Exhibit A is better than Exhibit B at this.
• 1:09:48
  So you're going to take that and work on, you know, focusing on
• 1:09:52
  that and improving X&Y and everything to make everything
• 1:09:55
  work. You know that that's just how
• 1:09:58
  the draft has kind of turned into and I, I like it.
• 1:10:00
  You know, draft strategy is fantastic.
• 1:10:02
  You start looking at some of these guys like the, the
• 1:10:04
  Brewers, for example, or kings at, at draft strategy and, and
• 1:10:07
  finding the most value from these guys.
• 1:10:10
  Blue Jays, like you guys had mentioned, have have found some
• 1:10:13
  of these oversight guys pay him a lot more.
• 1:10:15
  Obviously Morodus didn't work out, but the lane bowler looks
• 1:10:18
  amazing. And you know, I think a lot of
• 1:10:21
  teams are really leaning into that more, which is again, great
• 1:10:25
  for for us because it really keeps us on our toes.
• 1:10:28
  It creates wild scenarios. And I understand like, oh, not
• 1:10:31
  every year the best player goes and yada, yada.
• 1:10:36
  That's that's not what the draft is in my opinion, especially in
• 1:10:40
  baseball, because you're not drafting for need it.
• 1:10:43
  It's always either blessed player available or if you
• 1:10:46
  happen to know that this guy fits better in your system
• 1:10:48
  compared to to another, then hey, you take the game on it,
• 1:10:52
  you go for it. So that that's where I'm kind of
• 1:10:54
  at with that is again, like Paul schemes was first overall.
• 1:11:00
  We know what Paul schemes is. He's a generational arm talent
• 1:11:02
  at this point. And and we had Dylan Cruz's 11
• 1:11:06
  the whole year. And now Dylan Cruz is is just
• 1:11:09
  starting to scratch the surface away.
• 1:11:10
  He is so like public boards, as much as I enjoy making them,
• 1:11:15
  they're a crapshoot, admittedly, like public boards, as as much
• 1:11:18
  as teams look at them and kind of use them as like a baseline,
• 1:11:22
  their boards are going to be different from us at the end of
• 1:11:24
  the day. So that's why you always see
• 1:11:26
  like, oh, but the public had this like, well, the teams board
• 1:11:30
  is a lot different and they probably value this a lot more
• 1:11:33
  than what I do because I'm just one person.
• 1:11:35
  So I, I guess that's a little mini rant, but like that's,
• 1:11:39
  that's kind of what it is. Like the draft is a very unique
• 1:11:43
  process and having the, the draft strategies is, you know,
• 1:11:50
  it turns me into a sicko a little bit.
• 1:11:51
  You know, it's something I, I really value and look for like
• 1:11:54
  when we're looking or doing mock drafts and having fun and kind
• 1:11:57
  of like trying to figure out what, what fits works best and,
• 1:12:00
  and everything like that. So it's fun.
• 1:12:03
  I really do enjoy it. And you do a great job of what
• 1:12:07
  you're doing, man. And great stuff, man, like we
• 1:12:11
  learn stuff every day, every time.
• 1:12:13
  We always have a guest and, and you do a great job of with your
• 1:12:16
  job and your inside and information and we appreciate
• 1:12:19
  you being here as a guest. Where can we find you in social
• 1:12:23
  media and everywhere else? Yeah, so my, my Twitter handle
• 1:12:28
  is at Tyler Jennings 24, obviously working for just
• 1:12:31
  Baseball Media. And then also with the on the
• 1:12:34
  clock crew, the the college baseball show crew, which
• 1:12:38
  they've done a fantastic job over the the year that we've
• 1:12:41
  really had that going. So I'm proud of what they've
• 1:12:43
  been able to do. So, you know, follow me there
• 1:12:47
  again at the ACC tournament all week.
• 1:12:50
  So if anybody happens to be listening to this and wants to
• 1:12:52
  say hi, hi, feel free to find me.
• 1:12:57
  But but yeah, like this, this is such a fun job.
• 1:13:01
  And I'm, I'm really, really, really, really, really happy
• 1:13:05
  that I was able to, to make a name for myself and having
• 1:13:07
  people in my corner to really help me out with that.
• 1:13:10
  And they know who they are if they listen to this.
• 1:13:12
  So, you know, I got to give them all the props in the world for,
• 1:13:17
  for molding me into who I am. But it's a blast year in, year
• 1:13:22
  out to do this. I really, really do enjoy this
• 1:13:25
  job. And I'm glad that people enjoy
• 1:13:28
  the work, enjoy the, the content that we put out it.
• 1:13:32
  It really does. I, I, it really feels good to
• 1:13:36
  see that all the stuff that we've done and, and to bust our
• 1:13:39
  our ass, for lack of a better term, to, to put out there and
• 1:13:44
  have fun with. So I'm glad people enjoy it.
• 1:13:46
  I thank you guys for letting me come on.
• 1:13:47
  This has been, you know, amazing to talk ball and, and to kind of
• 1:13:52
  break down the the classes and everything like that.
• 1:13:55
  Oh yeah. Yeah, man, it's you got the best
• 1:13:59
  job in the world, man. So, you know, watch baseball,
• 1:14:03
  scout baseball, be around baseball, you know, So it's
• 1:14:07
  cool, man. It's awesome to have you on.
• 1:14:09
  And we thank you again for joining us.
• 1:14:13
  Yeah, I appreciate you guys again for coming.
• 1:14:14
  Let me come on and and and break down everything for you guys.
• 1:14:17
  I really do appreciate it. We will place a description
• 1:14:22
  below where you can find Tyler Jennings and social media and
• 1:14:24
  everywhere else. And yes, make sure you follow
• 1:14:27
  the college baseball show and we will share Tyler's work and he
• 1:14:30
  does a tremendous job at it. But till next time, take care,
• 1:14:33
  be kind to each other. Signing off for the Sports
• 1:14:36
  Average Twisted podcast on Thursday, May 21st, 2026.