Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.39 feat. Mark Garland

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SATP Ep.39 feat. Mark Garland · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:26
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:28
Twisted podcast. We have a guest in here who's an
0:31
expert when it comes to West Coast baseball and prospects and
0:34
college and high school and all the above.
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Mark Garland, welcome. Just let the world know what you
0:41
do and everything else. Hey, thanks for having me on,
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man. Yeah, I'm just pumped to be here
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today again, talk some baseball here before we get into the
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conference tournaments and stuff.
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And, you know, it's a busy time for us.
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Everybody covers college baseball.
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So I'm the director of West Coast content here for College
0:55
Baseball Central, and I'll be at the College World Series for my
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fourth year in a row doing the coverage there.
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And love West Coast ball, man. Love, love getting out there to
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the folks. Thanks for joining us today,
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man. It's an honor to have you.
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We're excited to learn and, and talk a little bit more about
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what's what's, what's going on in the West Coast swing of
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things in the college baseball landscape.
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So let's get into it, man. Let's do it.
1:21
All right. The first question I want to
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talk about is the Oregon Ducks. And they're the one of the best
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college schools in in the country.
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And the main guy that's talked about who's probably going to be
1:32
in this year's draft is Mason Neville.
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And, and if you look at their line of their top hitters, I
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mean, Jacob Walsh has been great, Ryan Cooney has been
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great and Maddox Maloney has been great and Drew Smith, of
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course, who's a senior. So talk about some of those
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guys. And if there's other guys that
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should be talked about that I haven't mentioned, you go for
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it. Yeah, I mean, four weeks ago I
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had Mason on the show and nobody was talking about Mason and I
1:57
was like, this is a crime. You guys are not understanding.
1:59
This guy is a Golden Spikes. He should be on the Golden
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Spikes finalist list. He wasn't.
2:03
He is now on the semifinalist list, which is awesome for him.
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Guy leads the country in home runs with 26 home runs.
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He's hitting over 300. He hits lead off for these guys.
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He has the most home runs in the country and he hits lead off for
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the Oregon Ducks. That's how good this lineup is.
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Jacob Walsh came back after not being drafted last year.
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Tremendous first baseman, super leader there on that team.
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He he's up there. Twenty home runs.
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Max Maloney is up for the Brooks Robinson Award for best
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shortstop in college baseball. Drew Smith has had injuries all
2:33
year. Like you said, he's a senior.
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He's now come back with a vengeance.
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He's ready to go. He's he's sit down and ready for
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this. Anson Arrows is a catcher that
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they've made him play third base, left field, right field,
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outfield. And then Dominic Helman.
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I don't know if you guys have seen this guy, but he is built
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like a football player. He's 6 foot six, 280 lbs and he
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pounds the baseball. Yeah, let's talk about some of
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Oregon's pitching depth with guys like Grayson Grimso, Ian
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Umland, Jason Wright, Seth Maddox and Michael Mekna.
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What makes that rotation so strong?
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And tell us about the depth that's helped them make them
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make them so successful. Yeah, the biggest thing Grayson
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goes on Friday nights, you know, that's why we call it the
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weekend rotation. Who are you going to throw out
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there on Friday is the most important thing.
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He sets the table for this team. He also eats up innings, right?
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He got he can go 135 pitches now. left-handed guy gets after,
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throws a lot of strikes, holds hitters down.
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Just tremendous this season. He's going to win pitcher of the
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year for the Big 10. And then you go look at guys
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like Colin Clark who who maybe weren't supposed to be in the
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weekend rotation. He goes out there and he eats up
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Saturday innings. He goes out there and he really
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takes your business, gives guys an opportunity to come out there
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like Ian, Ian Umlund. Cole strokes a guy.
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Not enough people are talking about Cole Stokes.
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He's 6 foot 6 and throws 100 miles an hour, and he's coming
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out of your bullpen now because he's throwing strikes, he's
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attacking the zone. Santiago Garcia has turned into
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this closer role. Ryan Featherstone's another guy,
4:00
Jordan Jackson. Jordan, 2 guys to throw 100
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miles an hour, also just sitting in that bullpen.
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And then you got Jason Reeds, who goes out there, who has
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earned that Sunday job after transferring in.
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He he is just taking off and he's 7 feet tall. 611 is what
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they haven't listed at. Wow, every bit of seven feet
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tall. Wow.
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So let me ask you this because you're talking, you're talking
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about the pitching here. If you have to ask yourself who
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has the most upside in that pitching staff right now?
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It's Jason Reitz. Listen, he's just kind of
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figuring out his body. He's putting on some more muscle
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mass. They've done a terrific job
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about getting him in really good shape here.
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The Ducks have done a good job. They have a huge facility that
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they use for working out and getting these guys ready.
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They did terrific job with Jason.
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I, I saw him in December, he looked like a skinny 7 footer.
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You go see him now, he's built up a little bit and you can see
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it in his body and he's able to throw more innings.
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He's able to throw a little bit harder.
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The upside on Jason, he's somewhere in 85 to 120 as far as
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where he's going to get drafted this year.
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But his upside is massive. I mean you just don't get guys
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that are 611 and can throw strikes.
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If you have to ask yourself when it comes to Jason Reeds, who
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would you say the closest MLB comp would be for Jason Reeds?
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That's a good question. He's he's a right-handed Randy
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Johnson. I mean, you're looking at a guy
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that can get that far down towards you.
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He's got good stuff. He's he's a college version of
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him, but he could be, he has the opportunity to be a guy that you
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lean on in in the MLB. He could be an MLB rotation guy.
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That's how good he could be. Once he reaches full potential.
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I think that he's got the Sky's the limit for this kid.
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Great work ethic, great young man.
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I think that he can be a big asset to somebody and especially
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they're going to get him somewhere in the late 2nd, 3rd,
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4th round here. He's going to be a very good
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pick up for somebody. So I want to talk about another
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school, and that's a UCLA Bruins.
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They're one of the most established baseball schools as
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well. And they're also successful.
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And it starts off for Rock Cholowsky.
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Like he's he's, I believe, projected to be in next year's
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draft, not this year's draft. But you got you got Malavi
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Lavelle. I might be butchering AJ
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Salgado, Dean West, Roman Martin, talk about those guys,
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because if you look at their numbers itself, they look like
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they're they're also a juggernaut offensively.
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Yeah, Brock came in as a freshman last year.
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Tremendous. I mean, he was really, really
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good. People thought maybe he's going
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to transfer away because of how bad UCLA played last year.
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He has a great relationship with Coach Savage that he stayed
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there. He wants to be that guy.
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He wants to get UCLA back to where they're a powerhouse
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again. He did that and he's a Golden
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Spikes finalist as well with Mason Neville.
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The guy can hit and he's a shortstop.
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He's an everyday shortstop, infielder for somebody 63, and
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he can really pound the baseball.
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Then you go look around and be like MU Levi, Levi, this guy
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came out of mostly nowhere. Like you're like, OK, he's an OK
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guy. He's going to hit 280.
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No, he's he's stepped up huge for this UCLA team this year,
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hitting over 300 and really been able to provide some coverage
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here for Rock. AJ Salgado, good transfer in
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from Washington gives them a lot more depth in that lineup and it
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gives them the ability to drive the baseball everywhere.
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He hits to all fields. Dean West has been a terrific
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table center. Roman Martin's been a very nice
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surprise. It last year was his freshman
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season. This year in his sophomore
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season, he's taken a huge jump forward, not just defensively,
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but he's been really good at the plate for them and I think they
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were very pleasantly surprised to see these guys develop.
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Rock kind of started off slow. He's at 20 home runs now, so
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it's hard to say that he's had a slow start to that season.
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Now he's all the way up to 20 home runs on the season.
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What What is the UCL pro UCLA program done this year compared
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to last year? Who was it wasn't such a great
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season for them last year? Believe what have they done
7:48
different this year that's made him so successful?
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Pitching, they've actually gotten after hitters.
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They've been able to get guys out.
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Last year they had a whole bunch of arm injuries.
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They had a lot of transfers the season before, so they had a lot
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of guys. It was their first time getting
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to throw for UCLA and meaning meaningful innings.
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They struggled. I'll be honest, that team, a lot
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of people had high. They had so many first round
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draft picks. They had so many guys that could
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be taken high out of that last year's team and they just never
8:13
came together because they couldn't get out.
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This year they've been able to get out.
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I mean, it's been just a terrific effort from guys like
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Michael Barnett, who you look at and go this guy came in and
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everybody thought he's going to be a first rounder in three
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years. He struggled his first two years
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with the program. Now he's taking on that leader
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role. He's come out there and he's set
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the table for these guys. He's gone out there.
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He's taken over Saturdays and been really, really good for
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them. Land him stump.
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Why, when Moss has come out of basically nowhere where they
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just started giving him innings because he just started being
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really, really good and effective.
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Ian May has gone out there and given him some weekend help.
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Jack O'Connor has been one of the best bullpen arms in the
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country. They've been able to get outs
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guys and that's something that this team could not do a season
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ago is go out and get good hitters out.
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Yeah, the before before Rob asks the next question here, looking
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at the lineup here and most of these guys are are sophomores.
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I believe Sagano is a senior, a red shirt senior, right?
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Is he draft eligible, eligible this year?
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Is there anyone else in that lineup you could see that could
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be in this year's draft? Like who could be like under the
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radar type of player? I think they're going to see a
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lot of these guys come back because I think there's so much
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upside to what they've done this season.
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AJ is going to go, I mean, he's probably going to go late in the
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draft just because of his his spot.
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You know, draft doesn't necessarily see kindly to
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seniors and those kind of upperclassmen fully understand
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that. I I think AJ is going to be good
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for somebody. I don't know how good he's going
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to be. I don't know if he ever gets to
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the MLB level, but he's got a solid bat and he's has a really
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good attitude and goes in there and plays hard every day.
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I think you see a lot of this UCLA team returning, Michael
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Barnett, pitching wise, I think he's one guy that you might see
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get drafted this year just because he's made himself that
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guy again where he came in as a freshman and he was highly
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touted and like, OK, he could be a first round draft pick.
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He's not going to go in the first round, probably not even
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the top five, but you could see him go to the draft this year
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and be done with college baseball.
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You just mentioned guys like like Weiland Moss and, and, and
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the guy you just talked about there, Jack O'Connor, Luke
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Rodriguez, Cal Randall. The depth of their staff has
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been so important. How do they match up against the
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rest of the Big 10 when it comes to the tournament?
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So the nice thing is that they've got a lot of arms they
10:27
can throw. I mean, and they're missing Cody
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Duvalcchio, who was projected to be their Friday night starter
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this year. He had some arm injuries early
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and has been set down, but you know, guys like Josh Alger also
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step up. They got a lot of arms that have
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eaten innings this year and a lot gotten a lot of experience
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from last year's team. So when they get to go out
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there, they can compete with these teams.
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I think the biggest thing is that in the Big 10, there's not
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necessarily a ton of great hitters in every single lineup
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so that you know that you got to pitch to certain parts of each
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lineup. Really UCLA and Oregon are the
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two lineups you look at and go there's no easy outs one through
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9 here. This is not going to be an easy
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day for us, but you go face other teams in the Big 10 and
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you go, OK, there's cracks in the armor.
11:06
There's places where we can go collect some mounts.
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The biggest thing for both these schools, Oregon and UCLA, in the
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postseason is going to be throwing strikes.
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You got to attack the zone. You got to go get after hitters.
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They're going to be playing in a big ballpark because they play
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this in Omaha, which is where they play the World Series.
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So this tournament is going to be in a big ballpark, throw
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strikes. That's all you got to do.
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Go out there, throw strikes and compete.
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I want to elaborate a little bit more on the Big 10 players that
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offensively that that's been doing great and looking at the
11:35
numbers, My goodness, like you look at Benny Casillas is
11:38
batting 400 and Trevor Cohen and Chris Hakopi and, and well,
11:44
we've already talked about Rock Cholovsky, but Logan Sutter,
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Trevance, Devin Taylor, Caleb Wolf, like go into these guys,
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tell, tell like what these guys are, are about and, and where
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you can can you see these type of players in the draft this
12:00
year, next year beyond like what just go deep into that.
12:04
Yeah, Devin Taylor was picked to be the preseason player of the
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year. I picked Jacob Walsh from
12:11
Oregon, but I'm also a West Coast guy and I wanted to give
12:13
them some love in the program. Devin Taylor for Indiana was, it
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was an All American last year. This guy can hit the baseball,
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he can play the outfield, he can do a lot of things right for
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you. He's an everyday guy.
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I mean, honestly, the fact that he's probably not going to get
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taken the first round now or might be later in the first
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round this year is crazy because he's that good.
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Did he look over like you said, Benny Casillas?
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He he's a very good baseball player.
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I don't know how much his draft stock has risen this year, but
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he's been able to put the ball and play more.
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He might even be a guy that another year of college baseball
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could help him out. Mitch Voigt is a guy that not
12:48
enough people talk about in Michigan because he kind of
12:50
plays all over the place. But he's a super athlete.
12:52
He's a two way player. He can throw 95 miles an hour.
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He's been playing second base this year.
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We can really play outfield or first base or pretty much
12:58
anywhere. But he's this leader of that
13:00
Michigan team, the Hucopian brother brothers Chris and
13:04
Eddie. Chris is going to be a draft
13:07
eligible player next season, so he's not going to go this year.
13:10
He's in that talk for being a top five player in next year's
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draft, in the 2026 draft. And Eddie Hicopian is his older
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brother. Those guys make it roll.
13:18
Hollis Porter, Porter, Alex Clarko, this Maryland team can
13:21
hit. They just couldn't pitch this
13:22
year. But those guys had 21 and 19
13:24
home runs could also. And then you got like Ethan
13:27
Hedges, another two way player for USC, Paxton Cling.
13:30
He came from LSUV, transferred into Penn State this year and he
13:33
took on a huge role, Logan Sutter for Purdue.
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It's just the hitters in this league are crazy good and it's
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not even talking about the pitchers in this league like
13:42
Joseph, 0, from Michigan State, who everybody thought would
13:45
transfer somewhere. He's got the stuff to be a first
13:47
round pick. Kate Obermuller from Iowa, he's
13:50
got the stuff to be a first round pick.
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His dad was. He just broke his dad's career
13:54
record for strikeouts in a season at Iowa this season.
13:57
So it was pretty cool to see things like that from these guys
13:59
that have stepped up and really been big arms in this conference
14:03
that people didn't really think was going to have super deep
14:05
pitching Staffs. One of the best teams in the Big
14:09
W this season was UC Irvine. The Anteaters were 24 and 6 in
14:14
conference play and had an overall record of 2913 with guys
14:18
like Jacob McCombs, Colin Yeaman and Trevor Hanson.
14:22
Tell us about some of the talent on that team and how good
14:25
they've been this season. Yeah, I got to see this UC
14:28
Irvine team up close and personal in Corvallis and I saw
14:31
them last year in the regional. This is a very good team.
14:34
Coach Orloff has done a tremendous job about getting his
14:37
kind of players into this program.
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And it's not the Bunton West Coast baseball style.
14:41
These guys rake. I mean, these guys have a bunch
14:44
of guys that are hitting over 800.
14:45
They got Jacob McCombs calling the Amen, Anthony Martinez, who
14:48
was an All American a season ago, but he got some injuries.
14:51
This guy has a big league bat. When you look at him, he he
14:54
comps out a lot like Prince Fielder.
14:56
He's got that kind of pop. He's got that kind of back
14:59
control. He can play a good first base
15:01
chase call out there. Blake Pinto, all those guys hit
15:04
over 300. And then you're looking at guys
15:06
like Trevor Hanson who go out there on Saturdays.
15:08
He's not even a Friday guy going out there and give you great
15:11
efforts. He's 8 and two this year, 314
15:13
ERA. Ricky Ojeda is the best bullpen
15:16
arm in the country and I'm tired of arguing with folks.
15:19
He's 12 and O. His 25 appearances, 322 ERA, 78
15:25
strikeouts and 58 innings of work.
15:27
The guys of Workhorse 12 and O out of the bullpen is crazy,
15:30
leading no further than looking at that guy as to why this staff
15:33
can go out there and complete games and get wins.
15:37
So we talked about UC Irvine here and you look at how deep
15:42
this team is and you talked about the best reliever in the
15:46
country. Where do you think these guys
15:48
are eligible in this year's draft?
15:50
Because I know this, these guys are going to get talked about
15:52
these next couple years and establishing.
15:54
Look at some of them already juniors and some of them are
15:56
already seniors like a chase call already, right?
15:58
Like we're where do you see these guys in the draft?
16:01
Anthony Martinez is a tricky one for me, right?
16:03
Because I said like he's an All American.
16:04
He's a he's a big, big, big bat. I think he's going to be
16:08
somewhere in the 100 to 150. So somewhere in the 3rd to 5th
16:11
round. Just depends on what people want
16:13
to take on him. His body's a little, a little
16:15
soft. He came back, he had trying to
16:17
get better shape. He he hurt himself early in the
16:18
preseason. So he missed quite a bit of time
16:21
this season, but he's back healthy now.
16:22
So look for him to make an impact in these regionals and in
16:25
in Big West tournament play here.
16:28
Ricky Oeda, if he were to go to the draft right now, he might
16:31
pitch this season in the big leagues.
16:33
Honestly, he might be in somebody's bullpen this year.
16:36
That's how effective he has been.
16:38
He's a left-handed arm, hides the ball really well, throws a
16:41
lot of strikes, really competes, does not walk many guys, not
16:45
even a half a walk per inning. He goes after guys and he really
16:49
gets out. So that's be a guy that I'd look
16:51
at. I love Chase Cole.
16:53
I don't know if his game translates to that next level,
16:57
but his work ethic says that he might get an opportunity at some
17:00
point, but he's going to be a later round draft pick.
17:04
Well, elaborate some of the top hitters in in the big West,
17:09
right, Because you see the competition of where where
17:12
things are going, right? For example, you got the Nate
17:14
Castleton, the Alejandro guards of the Robert Gonzalez, the
17:19
Latrade McCollum, like you mentioned about Jacob McCombs,
17:22
like go, go into those guys. How good are these guys?
17:27
It's a very good hitting league. This league puts the ball all
17:29
over the place. They play in fairly large
17:31
ballpark, so you don't see the home run numbers like you do
17:34
elsewhere in the country, but you got some really good guys.
17:36
I'm going to start all the way out West in Hawaii.
17:39
You got Ben Ziegler Nimoa who who's not getting enough love
17:42
for the effort he's put out there for Hawaii this year.
17:44
In his four years of playing out there, this guy is tremendous.
17:47
He he hits the ball over the yard.
17:49
He hit 333 this year, seven home runs.
17:51
He was really a big name for them and really stepped up this
17:54
season for them and help them get into the Big West
17:56
tournament. Matthew Mira also out there in
17:58
Hawaii, Cal Poly is point O2 away from having eight guys
18:03
hitting over 300. That's how much this team hits.
18:06
Jack Collins, Nate Castillon, like you mentioned, Alejandro
18:09
Garcia or Alejandro Garza, Ryan Finn, all those guys hit double
18:14
digit home runs and go out there and get you and win a ball game.
18:16
That's how good these hitters are.
18:17
They're all in the 360 range out, down out there at
18:21
Fullerton. Andrew Kirchner is a guy who's
18:23
got double digit home runs. Carter Johnston, Matthew
18:25
Bardowell. These are really good high
18:28
talent, high caliber baseball players that give you the
18:31
opportunity to win now and they're ready for pro baseball
18:33
now. I mean, this kind of league that
18:35
they play in the big W, they may not be seen as high draft picks
18:38
because they're not in a big conference.
18:40
You see a lot of these guys make it to the big leagues.
18:42
I mean, you take a look around there, there's been a whole
18:45
bunch of these guys from this conference that have made it to
18:47
the big leagues and made impacts on Major League rosters.
18:51
It's funny you you started talking about Hawaii.
18:53
Well, UC Santa Barbara is getting ready to face Hawaii in
18:57
the Big West Tournament opening game Wednesday with guys like
19:01
top pitching prospect Tyler Bremer Jackson, Flora Calvin
19:05
Prossky, Donovan Jackson and hitters like with, like Rocky
19:09
mentioned, Latre McCollum, Rowan Kelly, Jonathan Mendez and Nate
19:13
Vargas. Tell us about the their season,
19:16
how they'll stack up in this tournament.
19:19
There were some bad losses for UC Santa Barbara.
19:22
This is a team that a lot of people had in the top 25 in the
19:26
preseason, and Tyler Brimner was a big part of that.
19:28
And then you look across, you had Jackson Flora going on
19:30
Saturdays. Calvin Proski stepped into a
19:33
nice role on Sundays. You knew that you had some guys
19:36
like Rowan Kelly and Nate Vargas.
19:38
And then Jonathan Mendez steps up.
19:40
Xavier Esker, who is Coach Esker from Stanford's son, plays there
19:44
at UC Santa Barbara. He's been big for them this
19:47
season and stepped up. The biggest thing for this UC
19:50
Santa Barbara team has been that they don't play well on the
19:52
road. They haven't played well on the
19:54
road all season. They lost two games at Hawaii.
19:57
They got swept by UCI and they lost two at Fullerton.
20:00
They lost to Cal Poly at home. These are the other four teams
20:03
that are in this bracket in the Big West and they lost to them
20:06
all. I expect to see more.
20:08
I don't know if we're going to see Brimner throw tomorrow
20:11
against Hawaii. I think that we're going to see
20:13
Jackson Flora throw that game. So Tyler Bremner is considered
20:19
one of the top pitching prospects in this year's draft.
20:23
Yeah, if you look at anybody else in that pitching staff who
20:27
has great stuff like Brimnar, and if you look at his ratios,
20:32
it's insane. The 111 strikeouts to 19 walks
20:36
is unprecedented. Is there anybody else in that
20:41
staff that we should keep an eye on for this year's draft or if
20:45
not, next year's draft? I really like Jackson Flora and
20:49
Calvin Prosky in the future. I think that they're two guys
20:51
that could find their way into good roles.
20:53
They have a really good staff down there for reasons, because
20:55
they got good pitching coaches, they really attacked the zone.
20:58
They want to do this. This is a big thing at the
21:00
college level that people have struggled with in the previous
21:03
seasons is not throwing enough strikes.
21:06
So UC Santa Barbara's going out there and said we're going to
21:08
throw strikes and you see it. Bremner's ridiculous average
21:11
against that. You know how many strikeouts to
21:13
walk ratio is almost six to one. That's crazy.
21:17
At the college level, that just means you're throwing a lot of
21:19
strikes and you're attacking hitters, and I think that
21:21
they're preaching that and these guys are getting better.
21:23
I think Jackson Flora and Calvin Prosky.
21:26
I like both of them for future, I just think that they're both
21:29
going to grow into really good pictures.
21:32
Another question I want to ask you is their lineup is since
21:36
very underrated like Latre McCollum, like is he, he's a
21:41
senior I believe, right? So is he is he going to be in
21:43
this year's draft? And is he, is he a guide that
21:46
should be kept on eye on to for the draft?
21:50
Or do you think there's other guys that should be draft
21:52
eligible like Nate Vargas who's a junior?
21:55
I like Nate Vargas. I think that he's a guy that he
21:58
probably won't get enough interest to make him leave
22:01
college this year. Now if if somebody says, hey,
22:03
you're going to be taking in that 6 to 10 range in the
22:06
rounds, Nate might go, but he he has a very pro ready approach
22:11
right now. He can hit the ball over the
22:13
yard every direction. He hits balls that are in the
22:16
zone. He has a very low swing and miss
22:17
rate, which is very good. Coaches at the next level love
22:21
to see that swing and miss rate down.
22:23
But I think that Latre is not going to necessarily find a
22:27
spot. He might get an opportunity
22:28
somewhere. He might be signed late, late,
22:30
late in the draft just because of his speed and his ability to
22:33
get on base and his ability to compete.
22:36
But he's not a guy you would look at and point and say, hey,
22:38
this is a guy that's going to make a Major League roster
22:40
someday. So the next question we'll talk
22:44
about is the Oregon State Beavers.
22:46
I know that you ran a space on that just recently and the most
22:51
talked about person in that lineup is Ava Arquette, who
22:55
should be probably a top ten pick of this year's draft,
22:58
right? Yeah, there's another guy.
23:00
There's a couple of other guys that are actually been playing
23:02
really well, right? Like if you talk about the Gavin
23:04
Turley, the Martin Serranos, like how good is that line up
23:09
And is there there's other names that should be recognized.
23:12
Please do tell. Listen, IVA, coming over from
23:18
University of Washington this year, he was the number one
23:21
transfer product in the country. Very happy to get him in Oregon
23:25
State. They were very pumped.
23:26
The coaching staff was super excited to get him to campus.
23:30
From my understanding, we found out that they were getting Dax
23:33
Whitney, who was taken in the second round of last year's
23:36
draft and came to campus anyway, and then you got IVA Arquette a
23:39
few weeks later. So you're talking about two guys
23:41
that have changed the program. IVA is going to be taking the
23:45
top 8 picks. He's the best college prospect
23:48
on the defensive side that we've seen in a very long time.
23:51
He's also the best position player prospect in this year's
23:54
draft. So whoever decides that they
23:56
want a college bat first, that's where they're going to go first.
23:59
He could go anywhere in those top 8 picks and I'm sure we'll
24:02
talk about that in a little bit, but he's right there.
24:04
It's just going to really depend.
24:05
I think he might slide down to 6 for Pittsburgh.
24:09
He's been talked about as high as three for Seattle.
24:13
I don't think he goes one, but there's an opportunity for him
24:15
to go one if they decide that that's where they want to go
24:17
with that number one pick. I have a tremendous, another guy
24:20
who got drafted out of high school, Gavin Turley.
24:24
Unbelievable, right? He's been graded out as high as
24:26
a 70 power on the 2080 scale. So draft prospects have him
24:30
high. He's raised his swing and miss
24:32
rate, which is tremendous for like I said, MLB loves to see
24:35
that number go down. He's taking more walks, is on
24:38
base percentage is better this year.
24:39
His batting average is 330 this year and he broke the career
24:43
home run record. He's about to break the career
24:45
RBI record in three seasons at Oregon State.
24:48
For those that are in Oregon State fans, that's a big deal.
24:50
Those are some big numbers that are put up by MLB people right
24:52
now. Travis Bazana, who got drafted
24:55
is number 11 last year, had the career record for home runs.
24:58
And then you're looking at Michael Conforto, who's still in
25:00
the big leagues right now for the Dodgers.
25:03
He has the career record for RBI.
25:05
And then they had Adly Ruchman go 11 as well.
25:07
So you're talking about some big shoes to fill.
25:09
And those guys have stepped up and done tremendous job.
25:11
The rest of the the the team, you can see Nelson Keljo, big
25:16
lefty, he might be going in the draft this year somewhere in the
25:19
top five rounds. I think he's projected to like
25:22
80 to 90 right now. Big lefty throws, hard throws,
25:26
change up, fastball, slider, good mixed pitches.
25:29
He started off as the Friday night starter.
25:30
He's kind of gone back into his role as a closer slash middle
25:35
relief guy and I think he's stepped up.
25:36
He's been really, really good for them.
25:38
He had some arm issues early in the season, but it was mostly I
25:41
found out what he he got hurt in the weight room, so it wasn't
25:44
like it was an arm injury from throwing guys healthy.
25:46
He's ready to go. Couple guys that have missed a
25:49
lot of time this season that I think hurt their draft stock was
25:53
was Trent Carraway didn't have the season he wanted to have.
25:55
He was pretty seasoned picked to be a top 30 draft pick.
25:58
He's probably dropped somewhere down into the third round.
26:01
Now at this point, he's a draft eligible sophomore, so you could
26:03
see him come back to Oregon State and then you've also got a
26:07
guy like Dallas Macias who was like in the top 100.
26:11
Also he missed most of the season due to a hamstring
26:14
injury. He's finally coming back
26:15
healthy. He started to play a little bit.
26:17
So I think those prospects you might see come back, but you
26:19
might have IVA and and Gavin Turley and Nelson Keljo all go
26:25
in the draft this year in the top three rounds.
26:27
What about Wilson Weber? Because if you look at he's a
26:30
senior, I believe, and if you look at his statistics that
26:32
there, it's right up there too. And do you see anything in him
26:36
at all? I love Wilson.
26:39
He's a tremendous college hitter.
26:42
I don't think at the next level that they would see him as a
26:44
defensive catcher. I don't think that he has the
26:46
ability to be a catcher at that level, but they could move him
26:49
around and find a spot for him hitting wise since he's a
26:52
senior. He's not going to garner a whole
26:54
bunch of interest from MLB teams just because they can sign him
26:57
late. They could take him late, late,
26:58
late in the draft and it wouldn't be an issue because he
27:00
can't come back to Oregon State. Right.
27:02
And you mentioned some of the pitching already.
27:06
I'm is Ethan Kleinschmidt eligible to draft be drafted
27:09
this year or next year? I'll be on and he's a.
27:11
Sophomore. Yeah, he's a sophomore this
27:13
year. He's a couple years of years.
27:14
OK, What about Dax Whitney? Dax Whitney is a true freshman
27:19
that throws 100 miles an hour. Wow.
27:22
Yeah, he was drafted in the second round last year.
27:25
He's a guy that honestly put it in right now and people can put
27:29
this up anywhere they want to. Use this as your bookmark or
27:32
your bulletin board material. He's the 11 pitcher in the 2027
27:36
draft. He might be the first overall
27:37
pick in the 2027 draft. Wow, that'll be noted for sure.
27:45
Yeah, Dax Whitney's for real. I mean, he's a guy that's 6 foot
27:48
eight true freshman thrown 100 miles an hour.
27:51
He throws 4 pitches for strikes. He's really rounded out this
27:55
season and he's been really good for for a true freshman to go
27:59
out there and throw Saturdays. For a program like Oregon State
28:02
that's ranked 6th in the country, that's a crazy thing.
28:06
Because the thing it's like it's, it's us to have a good
28:09
idea like where these guys are, right?
28:11
It doesn't have to be for this year, for next year, even for
28:13
27. We're already talking about
28:15
stuff like that. It's a great idea for these guys
28:19
to know. And Dax Worthy is, is going to
28:21
be one guy that we're going to talk about for sure for the
28:25
coming years. And I'm pretty sure there'll be
28:27
more guys to Taco. Yeah.
28:28
Rob, Rob, you got the next question.
28:31
Yeah, last season was the final year of the PAC 12.
28:34
We talked about UCLA and Oregon. So how have some of the other
28:38
teams stacked up against the competition in their respective
28:41
conferences? And can you mention some of the
28:44
players from some of those schools that you have impressed
28:47
you the most if you if you like? Yeah, man, you know, there was
28:52
some struggling for a lot of these teams.
28:54
Cal and Stanford, their first year in the ACC didn't quite go
28:57
as play and Stanford started off really hot.
29:00
They had, they have a lot of talent.
29:02
They're really young on the offensive side, so I think
29:04
you're going to see some growth there.
29:07
Brady Reynolds is a guy that you're going to look at from
29:09
Stanford and he's going to be drafted next year's draft.
29:11
He could be a top ten player, very good outfielder, hits the
29:15
ball over the place. He's going to make a big
29:17
difference for somebody in the 2026 draft.
29:19
I believe Arizona, they got Brendan Summerhill, who's going
29:23
to be taken in this draft. He's missed a ton of time this
29:25
year and you can feel it in that lineup with Mason White out
29:28
there. Also another guy who could be
29:29
taken in this year's draft where they just kind of felt like the
29:32
offense wasn't going to keep going this season, couldn't get
29:34
going all the way. They're #4 right now in the Big
29:37
12, they could still win the Big 12 tournament.
29:39
Big guys going out towards them. Arizona State, they got Ben
29:42
Jacobs and and he's going to be probably a second round draft
29:47
pick, but he's a lefty, throws 95 really beats up the zone.
29:51
His big issue is that he's been having a hard time locating his
29:53
secondary pitches for strikes And at Arizona State, if you
29:57
have to throw fastballs, they're going to get hit out of the
29:59
ballpark, even if you're very, very good pitcher, just because
30:01
that ballpark tends to lead to a lot of home runs.
30:05
USC is a team that's done really good things.
30:07
Katie Okie was a guy that was looking on on last year's draft
30:10
for people were saying, OK, this is guy for the 2025 draft.
30:13
He's struggled a little bit, but you could see teams take a shot
30:16
at him because of his stuff is very, very good.
30:18
He's had a bit of the walk issues this year and that's
30:22
really been the biggest thing against him.
30:23
He doesn't give up a lot of hits, but he's walked way too
30:26
many people. So when he does give up a hit,
30:27
has been giving up runs. Washington has had the best
30:33
season. I didn't I think Eddie Smith
30:34
could have had. They had a lot of guys transfer
30:36
away. When you're talking about AJ
30:37
Sagada who have already mentioned who went to UCLA,
30:40
talking about I have Arquette who went to Oregon State.
30:42
Those are two guys that if you had in your lineup, Washington
30:44
might have had a chance to win the Big 10 this season.
30:47
Those guys are gone, so they've had to backfill some guys.
30:50
I think that they have some guys that have come in and been
30:51
really good. I just want to mention out
30:53
there, you know, that that Max Banks out there has been really
30:57
good for them as a pitcher. He's gone out there.
30:59
I don't know how much interest he's garnered from teams in the
31:02
draft, but his job of going out there and winning baseball games
31:05
for Washington has been really good.
31:07
At one point they had one eight straight Friday night games,
31:09
which is really tough to do in any conference.
31:12
You mentioned Brendan Summerhill, we actually had a
31:14
guest on here and said the exact same thing you did about their
31:17
struggles. And and then missing Summerhill
31:20
was a big reason why he's really important to that offense.
31:24
What's his ceiling in the major leagues, you think?
31:26
Because he's going to be one of the top outfielders taking in
31:28
this year's class so. He feels a little bit like a
31:32
Lane Thomas, the guy that's going to go out there and get
31:33
you every day starts. He's going to be able to bang
31:35
the ball around the yard a little bit, maybe a 20 home run
31:37
guy. He's more of an average and gap
31:40
guy, is going to play speed. He's going to play good defense,
31:43
a lot of arm strength. But what he's done is missing
31:46
this year hurt Mason White, the shortstop for Arizona, who
31:48
really could have been a top five round draft pick this year
31:51
had he performed a little bit better.
31:53
I think he's still a very good baseball player.
31:54
Then he's still going to get drafted, but without having
31:57
somebody behind him to kind of support that lineup or in front
32:00
of him to kind of get him some more guys on base.
32:02
That Arizona line of struggle for a bit.
32:03
But now Brendan Summerhill is back, we might see them do
32:06
something here in the postseason because this this Arizona team,
32:09
they'll be able to hit now. I mean, they got everybody back.
32:10
So it's going to be interesting to see how they play.
32:14
All right, I want to ask you this question.
32:16
This is probably important for the audience.
32:18
Here is the upcoming tournaments.
32:21
Yeah, you look at all the divisions out there.
32:23
You got the Big 10, you got the ACC, you got the Patriot League,
32:26
you got the SEC, like Big 12. I believe if you want to go
32:30
deep, you could go all all Hail Mary about this.
32:34
So I know this is your ballpark and hey, let the people know
32:39
what this tournament is and who to keep an eye on.
32:42
What teams are going to be great at what's what team's going to
32:44
struggle. Yeah.
32:46
So you've seen a lot of tournaments switch from years
32:49
past where they had different double elimination brackets.
32:52
Most places have switched to a single elimination bracket.
32:56
So you're going to see ACC and SEC this year with all with 16
33:00
teams into the bracket. Every team's in the bracket for
33:03
both those conferences this year.
33:05
So this is the first time ever going to get to see everybody
33:07
compete and have a chance to win the postseason.
33:10
There are teams that have to go out there that have MLB caliber
33:12
guys. Right now.
33:14
If you go look at Texas A&M, they are out of the bracket for
33:17
right now. They are not projected to make
33:19
it to the NCAA tournament. Their team that was #1 in the
33:21
country in the preseason, they have guys like Jayce Lavalette.
33:24
So if you want to go see MLB caliber guys, you can watch that
33:29
in the first round of the SEC tournament.
33:31
That's how good these teams are. They have guys that are in the
33:33
first round of this year's draft that are going to be playing on
33:37
that first night in Hoover. That that tournament is huge.
33:41
I mean, for MLB and for everything else, you see a ton
33:43
of guys come out of there. LSU, what two years ago you had
33:46
Paul Skeens and Dylan Cruz, the number 11 and 1/2 picks coming
33:50
from the same school. They both played in this
33:52
tournament. They didn't win this tournament.
33:53
They did. They had to go out there and
33:55
play. You know, that's how good this
33:58
tournament is, is there's guys out there like that that don't
34:00
win this thing. So you're talking about some MLB
34:02
caliber guys. Look, look at Tennessee, Liam
34:05
Doyle, he's going to go out there and get a start at some
34:07
point in this tournament and he can be a top five pick this
34:09
year. Switch that over to the ACC.
34:12
You're talking about guys like Jamie Arnold who are going to be
34:14
in the top five picks this year, the best left-handed arm out
34:17
there, and he's going to go out there and try to compete and
34:19
have his team win an ACC title after they lost the regular
34:22
season title to Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech has two guys that
34:25
are going to be drafted next year.
34:28
I'm telling you right now, if if you're not looking out for
34:32
Burris right now, he's going to be in the top three picks next
34:35
year. He's that good.
34:36
He is so talented. He's a huge good guy.
34:39
Drew Burris, he won freshman of the year last year at ACC.
34:42
This year he didn't quite win that the ACC player of the year,
34:46
but he was right there in the final three.
34:48
This Georgia Tech team is going to surprise some folks with how
34:50
many guys they have that are talented as well.
34:52
And then UNC has got guys like Jake Knapp who really should be
34:55
drafted higher. Probably not going to because of
34:57
his arm issues in the past. Guy won 10 games in the ACC this
35:00
year which is just crazy. Who would you say is is a
35:05
underrated team that needs that needs to keep an eye on and be
35:09
like, oh, this team could come out of nowhere and and surprise
35:12
people? Yeah, well, there's there's a
35:17
lot of teams this year that are going to surprise people.
35:19
I think you're going to see a Cal Poly get into the tournament
35:22
and we mentioned about how they can hit.
35:24
They might scare some teams as a three seater or four seats
35:27
somewhere because of their ability to hit.
35:29
Northeastern is a school that like nobody's been talking about
35:32
enough. They won 24 straight games at
35:34
one point. Their team is going to go out
35:35
there and compete and give people a hard time.
35:38
Dallas Baptist is another small school is getting a lot of love,
35:40
but they're going to go out there and compete with some
35:42
folks. Troy baseball's another one.
35:44
If you go out there and you're talking about some of these
35:46
under the radar teams, they've been, they've lost only one
35:49
series all year and it's just Southern Miss who's who's the
35:51
top 25 teams. So there's some teams out there
35:54
that I think you're going to surprise people.
35:55
I think UC Irvine is probably too much on the cusp in front
35:59
edge of people's minds to say that they're going to surprise
36:01
people by being really good this year.
36:03
But I think that they unless they win the Big West
36:05
tournament, they're probably going to drop out of hosting.
36:07
They're going to end up in second place.
36:08
So they're going to end up second in some division.
36:10
They're going to be the two seed somewhere and they might give
36:12
people a really hard time being that two seed out there.
36:17
Let's head back to the West Coast now.
36:20
Who are some other teams out there, some players that we
36:23
haven't talked about yet that you haven't touched on that
36:25
you'd like to to just give a mention to?
36:29
Yeah, let's talk about San Diego a little bit.
36:31
So this is a team that last year was on everybody's forefront.
36:35
They are really good. But OK, this the team is going
36:37
to win the WCC. They they barely eked out
36:40
against Portland, who's very good team.
36:42
They went out there and they won that game.
36:44
San Diego came out of nowhere this year.
36:46
They at one point were two and 26 and they were really
36:50
struggling. This season they went out and
36:51
they have won the regular season title for WCC.
36:54
They're playing some of the best ball anywhere in the country.
36:56
They don't necessarily have any guys you're going to point to
36:58
and say hey, they're going to be a first round draft pick, but
37:01
they have a lot of guys go out there and compete and they might
37:03
be guys you look at here in the 26th and 27 draft.
37:06
San Diego's A-Team to keep an eye out for on the West Coast.
37:09
Sacramento State is another one that has been getting a ton of
37:11
funding pushed into their baseball and football programs.
37:15
They're going to be a tough four seed for somebody.
37:16
They're going to go out there and compete with some people.
37:18
But as far as big prospects go out here on the West Coast, we
37:22
covered most of those guys. One guy didn't want to speak
37:25
about at Washington. That's a true freshman this
37:27
year. It's going to be really good as
37:28
Jackson Hotchkiss. He's going to be an outfielder
37:31
than that 2027 draft. You don't want to keep an eye on
37:33
him. He's really, really good.
37:36
All right, so the next the next question I want to ask you is
37:39
about, Oh yeah, players you need to keep an eye on.
37:43
We talked about Rentero Szaki. I know he's eligible for 2026.
37:47
He's been talked about the last three years.
37:49
Is there any other names you you could talk about that that needs
37:53
to be talked about for this year, next year beyond like go
37:56
right ahead? Yeah, this year, I mean, Rentaro
38:00
Sasaki is, is for next year's draft.
38:02
He's going to be really, really good.
38:03
So he, this was his first full season at Stanford.
38:07
He broke so many of Otani's records in Japanese baseball
38:11
that it's crazy to even number him.
38:12
But he had over 120 home runs in high school.
38:15
This guy is the real deal. So if you if you slept on a
38:18
little bit this year, because he kind of started off a little
38:19
slow, he got good later. He's been really good for
38:22
Stanford. He's going to be even better
38:23
next season. A guy that I feel is not getting
38:26
enough love was the number two player in Japan, Itsuki
38:30
Takamoto, out there at Hawaii. He turned into their Friday
38:33
night starter. So he's going out there throwing
38:35
Fridays and hitting for himself and he DHS the rest of the
38:37
weekend. That's how good Takamoto is.
38:41
And he could be a guy that you're looking at being one of
38:43
those two way players that if he's good enough to throw out
38:45
there on Friday nights for Hawaii and he's good enough to
38:48
DH the rest of the weekend, that might be a guy that MLB team
38:52
start to take a look at and give him an opportunity.
38:54
I know he's a freshman this year, but you know, in two
38:56
season, that 2027 draft, you're looking at a guy going that
39:00
might be a guy that gives me an opportunity if I can use him for
39:02
two ways and see what he does. And you know, getting those
39:04
opportunities to get those guys out there is crazy.
39:08
Ryan Ryan Cooney is a guy that hasn't given a novel of there at
39:12
Oregon. He's been really good at second
39:13
base. He's another guy in next year's
39:14
draft that maybe he moves over to shortstop.
39:17
Madness Maloney, also the shortstop right now, They're
39:19
both young. Those are two guys you might
39:22
look at in the 2026 draft, as well as Oregon players that
39:25
might get better throughout the seasons.
39:29
Seth Hernandez is one of the most young and exciting top
39:32
prospects in this year's class. He's been rising since the
39:35
season began at a Corona high school.
39:38
Can play both sides of the ball. I mean it's perfect grade.
39:41
Great perfect game grades are some of the most impressive
39:44
stuff I've ever seen from a high score.
39:47
Kid throws 98 mile an hour fastball and has an exit
39:50
velocity of 110 off the bat. Just crazy.
39:54
What's this young man ceiling and where do you see him being
39:56
drafted? He's going to get taken in the
39:59
1st 8 picks this year. The 1st 8 picks are really kind
40:02
of fluid. I think there's eight guys you
40:04
look at and say they can go anywhere in the top 8.
40:06
Any of these guys are going to go in there.
40:07
He's the best prep pitcher in this year's draft.
40:11
The thing that kind of scares teams in the past is that when
40:13
you take a first round of right-handed pitcher in those
40:16
top 10 picks, they haven't necessarily worked out as well
40:19
as teams would hope. But this guy's a tremendous
40:22
athlete too. He's not just a pitcher, but I
40:23
think the teams are only going to use him as a pitcher.
40:26
Listen, throws 96 to 99 miles an hour is the best change up in
40:30
the class. It's got 15 to 1818 inches of
40:33
brake. On a change up.
40:34
He throws A2 seam fastball that has 14 inches of brake.
40:38
He's been really, really good and tough to get out.
40:40
I mean, when he's at the plate too.
40:42
So you're talking about a two way player.
40:44
He's not going to play two ways at the next level.
40:46
MLB draft, they're going to take him in the top 8 picks.
40:49
I know that there's just a lot of places he could go and it
40:51
kind of just depends on who's going to be willing to take
40:53
that. I think that this year's draft
40:56
is going to be kind of under slot value, so you might see
40:58
more of these high school players get taken early as they
41:01
can offer them less money than they would have to a college kid
41:04
to get him to come back. Since you brought up about high
41:07
school players being drafted in the first round as is Seth
41:11
Hernandez, is there anyone else, would you say anywhere that you
41:14
would say this, this team will end up picking this player in
41:19
the first round for under swap value?
41:21
Or if there's any trajectory of some sort of upside like a Seth
41:24
Hernandez? Is there anyone anyone else like
41:27
that? I think from the rumor mill and
41:31
and from people I've talked to, I think that the Pirates are
41:33
looking at a Billy Carlson shortstop likely undervalue very
41:38
talented guy deserves to be a top ten pick probably out of
41:41
high school. But I think that you might see
41:42
him go and you know that's a guy that's from the same high school
41:46
and Seth Fernandez, they play together and it's crazy.
41:50
You're like, OK, you're going to take two guys in the top ten
41:52
from the same high school, Corona High School there in
41:55
Corona, CA Yeah, I think that he's another guy that you might
41:58
see that they can see some value and undervalue in that slot and
42:01
taking him early. I've heard rumors that the
42:04
pirates really are high on him also.
42:06
But being able to undervalue that slot, it does a lot.
42:09
You can do a lot of things on the back end of your draft if
42:10
you save some money early. It's so funny you say that
42:13
because they drafted Conor Griffin last year and look,
42:15
look, look, look what he's doing right now and they get another,
42:18
Short said. That'll be interesting.
42:19
And they also have Tamar Johnson and there's just some like, I
42:22
don't know where, where they're going to play because they're
42:23
not they're in a rough situation right now with the with the
42:28
front office. And Ben Sherrington likes to do
42:30
under slot guys too, right? He did that with Toronto.
42:32
He did that with Boston, right. So the next question I want to
42:36
talk about, since you brought a little bit about Billy Carlson
42:38
already being kind of an underside, you can talk about
42:40
him because I know that he's projected to go top ten and
42:44
Xavier Nance. That's another guy to talk
42:46
about, right? Like talk about those guys that
42:50
where where they can start. What are their trajectories?
42:53
What are their potentials like? I'm I'm even curious to see what
42:56
what their potentials are as well.
42:59
Yeah, Xavier's is a tremendous athlete.
43:02
He's 6 foot 4. He's 200 lbs as a senior in high
43:06
school. This guy throws right-handed, He
43:10
hits left-handed. They've moved him to third base
43:12
this year. He grades out at A50 defensively
43:15
because nobody knows where they're going to put him.
43:17
I believe they're going to end up moving him to right field
43:18
when they get him to the next level.
43:20
But this guy has a 65 power as a high schooler coming out of
43:24
there. I mean that he grades higher on
43:25
the power than a lot of highs and a lot of college players
43:28
this season. His ability in the 64 size and
43:32
frame MLB teams are pretty, pretty excited about getting
43:35
this kid. There's been 9 Washington first
43:38
rounders coming out as high schoolers, last one being Corbin
43:40
Carroll. There's a proven track record
43:42
that these guys, when you take them early, they are graded that
43:45
well, that they show up and they do the right things for you.
43:48
He's somewhere in that 15 to 25 range.
43:50
I think it's what's going to happen is you're going to see
43:53
teams that decide that they don't want to take a college bat
43:56
are going to take an opportunity on him just because of, you
43:58
know, they get two more years with him that would have been
44:00
spent at college. He is, he is committed to Oregon
44:03
State. He's going to go in the first
44:05
round. He's not coming to campus.
44:10
People have in their mock drafts that Ethan Holiday's projected
44:13
to go number one, number two, number three, wherever within
44:15
the top three. How would you compare him to
44:18
those players like Billy Carlson and Xavier Nades?
44:22
You're not just getting a tremendous player, you're
44:25
getting a guy with a proven track record of family that's
44:27
been really good and a proven track record of a family that
44:29
works hard. Work ethic is something you can
44:31
teach, but you have to start young and you start start an
44:33
early age when you have that. Those are the kind of guys that
44:36
can make an MLB. You can't just be Uber talented
44:39
and get to the next level. Uber talented guys don't work
44:43
hard, get outworked and they're passed up.
44:45
It's easy. So the other thing is I believe
44:48
that Ethan Holiday could be a guy if he's taken number one,
44:51
they could undervalue that slot pick a lot more than they could.
44:54
If they go to take Jamie Arnold and they take try to take him in
44:57
that first pick. I think that you're looking at a
44:59
guy that'd be like, OK, even a Kate Anderson from LSU.
45:02
If you're taking one of these college arms, it's going to be a
45:05
lot harder to undervalue that slot pick than if you do take
45:07
Ethan Holiday, OK? So we talked about some of the
45:13
top college West Coast players. So who are some players that are
45:18
register around the country that really intrigue you haven't been
45:20
talked about enough and you feel need to be mentioned.
45:24
I I know I'm really big on that. We hire LOI kid man he's from
45:28
Arkansas. He's he's really high on my
45:30
list. But but yeah, just anybody you
45:32
want to talk about that we haven't talked about yet.
45:35
Yeah, well, he will. Alloy is going to be a
45:38
tremendous player. He's a super athlete and they've
45:40
had to try to find ways to get him in the lineup and and he
45:43
honestly, he wasn't even supposed to be in that lineup at
45:46
the beginning of the year and he kind of worked his way into that
45:48
spot. Brent Iredale, another guy from
45:51
Arkansas, is a is an Australian player.
45:53
Look out for him in a couple of year or so.
45:55
Man, this guy has really grown into his body and he can hit the
45:58
ball out of the ballpark. Another really big arm or
46:01
another really big body, another arm.
46:03
I want to talk about when we're looking out there, a guy that
46:07
should probably be given a chance and, and may not be
46:09
because of the injuries and, and the arm injuries and the
46:12
surgeries he's had. Hunter Elliott out of Ole Miss,
46:15
this guy missed two seasons of college baseball coming back
46:17
from Tommy John. He's come back and he's put Ole
46:19
Miss back on the map. He's put him in the top 25.
46:22
When a lot of people writing this program off saying that
46:24
they might get some temporary firings going down there.
46:28
Federico is a freshman down there.
46:30
That's been tremendous for them at Ole Miss.
46:32
I think you're going to start seeing a lot more of these guys
46:36
that come up and you're like, OK, they're going to be that
46:38
guy. Andrew Fisher is the first
46:40
baseman, third baseman at Tennessee who transferred from
46:43
Ole Miss to Tennessee to get more eyes.
46:45
He could be a top 15 pick. Gavin Keelan, another guy who
46:49
transferred from Louisville out to Tennessee, he could be a
46:53
first round pick. He'd be a top 15 pick.
46:55
I think that after you see IVA Arquette go, so once Iva's
46:59
taken, since he's going to be the first position player taken,
47:01
you're going to start seeing more of these college guys go
47:04
because they're realizing, OK, well now we've got to move up
47:07
our pick. We've got to take this guy.
47:08
It's like when a quarterback goes in the MO in the NFL draft,
47:12
people start to panic. I think you're going to see that
47:14
if IVA goes in those top three picks, I think you're going to
47:17
see some panic picks and there might be some people taking some
47:19
some bats, like a Jason Lavolette.
47:22
The people could take him early just because they need to go out
47:25
there and go get him. So I want to preview a little
47:29
bit on the 2026 draft. We we dug deep a lot into the
47:33
2025 draft card, unless you want to bring up some names that
47:36
should be talked about in this year's class.
47:38
But next year's class seems to be a lot, a lot deeper.
47:41
If you look at the way it's going right now.
47:43
You look at the rock Cholowski's is in in the draft.
47:46
Gavin Grahovic, you mentioned about Drew Burris, it's in a
47:49
draft. Joey Volchkow is another one.
47:52
Justin LeBron. Justin LeBron.
47:55
Justin Lebron's another one, like who's the OJAJ Gracia from
47:59
Duke is another one. Like talk about some of those
48:02
guys. What's that preview going to be
48:04
like? Because it seems like there's a
48:06
lot more talk about 26 and 25. Because I know a couple guests
48:10
that came in our pod like a Brian Reckon and Jake McKeever
48:13
and couple other guys and they talked about how 26 seems a
48:16
little bit more deeper in 25. And how do you look into those
48:19
things? So 26 is going to be deeper and
48:22
it's honestly just a weird thing how the positions worked out
48:26
this season. There's not a ton of position
48:27
guys at the college level this year that have really been
48:30
superstars and have stepped up. I mean, that's why the Golden
48:33
Spikes award is pretty wide open this season.
48:36
I do want to talk about 1 high schooler that 2026 draft that I
48:39
think is going to make some big differences from out West here.
48:41
Tyler Spangler has continued to grow.
48:43
He's now 63200 and 5 lbs and play shortstop and he grades out
48:47
as a 60 defense. If he continues to do that, he's
48:50
going to be 1/3 baseman at the next level.
48:51
But he's a shortstop that you might see as a as a young guy.
48:54
He's Stanford commit, but he he might go, he's not going to go
48:58
to Stanford. I don't think.
48:59
I think that he's going to end up going into that draft.
49:02
And then you talk about Drew Burris, OK, this guy shows up to
49:05
Georgia Tech and all he does is win freshman of the year, hit
49:08
twenty home runs and lead his team in every offensive
49:10
category. Well, he's turned around and
49:12
he's done it again with another team.
49:13
They won the ACC regular season title.
49:16
They're probably going to get a host as long as they win one
49:18
game in the ACC Tournament. He's just continued to build
49:21
this ridiculous resume. He's going to be an outfielder.
49:23
He came as in a catcher. They're going to put him in the
49:25
outfield. They've already made that move
49:27
for him right now because he's going to play outfield at the
49:29
MLB level. Rock Zoloski, he's a shortstop.
49:32
He's going to play shortstop at the MLB level.
49:34
He can hit with anybody in the country.
49:35
I already mentioned he has twenty home runs this year as a
49:37
sophomore season. He's going to be in that draft.
49:40
Justin LeBron has surprised everyone with his athleticism.
49:44
Everybody knew he could hit. I think people were very
49:47
pleasantly surprised this year as the ability.
49:49
He could play shortstop as well. He might move from shortstop to
49:53
third base at the next level, but you're talking about three
49:55
guys right there that could be in the top three picks.
49:58
And that doesn't even count guys like Trent Caraway.
50:00
They were projected to be a first rounder this year that
50:01
might come back to Oregon State and be in this draft again.
50:05
And then obviously, I think the big arm that you're talking
50:07
about is Julie Volkl from Stanford.
50:09
I think that he's the biggest projected arm that's going to be
50:11
out of that draft. There's going to be some guys
50:13
that obviously step up. Every year we see this where
50:15
guys come out of nowhere and all of a sudden they're that guy
50:17
Like Liam Doyle has stepped up and been huge this year for
50:20
Tennessee. You're gonna see somebody like
50:22
that step up in that 2026 draft. But Joy Voltzko down there at
50:25
Stanford is the real deal. Well, there's another name that
50:29
we compared the Jackson Holiday to, Ethan Holiday comparison.
50:33
There's another brother that's going to be in next year's draft
50:35
that's in the Yankee system that's projected to go number
50:39
top three. You would say that the least is
50:40
Jacob Lombard too. It's George, George Lombard,
50:43
younger brother. They think that he has upwards
50:46
to be a generational super. Do you know anything about him?
50:49
If so, just talk a little bit about him.
50:51
He grades out high on the contact.
50:53
They really like his ability to put the ball in play.
50:56
His swing is very smooth and repeatable, which is a big thing
50:58
for MLB scouts when they're looking at guys.
51:00
They also think that he has a body that he's going to be able
51:02
to grow into, which is something they love because they know that
51:05
they can put some muscle on a kid and then all of a sudden
51:06
that guy's hitting, you know, hundred 100 and 807 extra
51:10
velocity and then get that up to 110 to 113.
51:13
All of a sudden, those balls are leaving ballparks a lot easier
51:15
at the MLB level. He's going to be really, really
51:17
good. I think that you're just going
51:20
to have to wait and see how he grades out this next season.
51:23
But right now all signs are pointing up.
51:25
I mean, this guy the the skyrocketing up in everybody's
51:28
mind right now. So The thing is, you're going to
51:31
have to decide if you want a Justin LeBron, Rock Chowalski,
51:35
if you're wanting one of those guys to take in the draft and
51:37
take one of those short steps that's proven their way through
51:39
college, or if you want to get take a guy that could grow into
51:41
himself. You mentioned about the Golden
51:44
Spikes award and the nominees are out now.
51:48
I believe you said the semi finalists.
51:50
So and you also mentioned that it's not a clear cut.
51:54
There is no clear cut winner. It's just, and I looked at the
51:57
names on the list and I'm just like man, who do I vote for?
52:01
And I mean I ended up voting for Rock Cholowsky.
52:04
But I mean like there are so many names on that list.
52:07
Like in your opinion, who are going to be the finalists at the
52:09
end of the day? I think that you're going to see
52:13
guys I, I, I really have a hard time believing that Mason's not
52:17
going to get an opportunity to be one of the finalists with his
52:19
leading the country in home runs by a long ways.
52:21
He's leading the country by quite a bit in home runs and
52:24
he's really stepped in up to this huge player.
52:26
He's going to be taken in the first round of this draft, so
52:28
he'd be a guy that you look at and go, OK, yeah, he should be
52:31
in there. I have Arquette as a guy who
52:32
should be up there is hitting 35017 home runs.
52:36
He leads the team in RB is and home runs, which is hard to do
52:38
coming to the beefs for his first year.
52:41
I really like Rock Kowalski, but I don't think that he's going to
52:43
get as much love from the rest of the country.
52:46
I think you're going to start seeing guys really pinpoint
52:49
other people and I think Rock is just on the outside looking in,
52:52
unfortunately, for being a finalist for this award.
52:57
So here's a question. Yeah, the Blue Jays have the 8th
53:00
pick in this year's class. This is our team the in Rocky,
53:03
right? You said that there could be
53:05
anybody of those. You know, there's like a from
53:07
what I've read, there's a top eight, you know, like where it's
53:10
like, you know, it's interchangeable.
53:13
Like you said earlier, do they go college, high school, bat or
53:17
do they just wait and see who falls and picks up that player?
53:21
So they are 8 right? And I said there's eight guys
53:24
that are going to get taken those first 8 picks and then
53:26
they're kind of left with whoever's left there here.
53:29
Here's the options that I see. I I broke this down.
53:32
This took me 1520 minutes after looking through this draft
53:35
multiple times about how these topic guys could really go in
53:38
any order. Honestly, I feel this is how my
53:41
feeling goes is that if I have Arquette ends up not being taken
53:45
early and they take those prep short stops and Billy Carlson
53:48
and Eli Willits, those would be two guys that I think the Blue
53:51
Jays would look at If they drop to them at 8:00, if both those
53:54
guys were taken ahead, I think that they go ahead and take IVA
53:56
and just say that, hey, we've got a proven bat.
53:58
It's going to be an opportunity to get in the lineup earlier
54:01
than we were possibly looking for.
54:03
We probably want to develop Carlson or or Willits, but
54:06
they'd be happy if if IVA drops down there.
54:08
The other option is Jace Lavalette, who who has kind of
54:12
flown under the radar a little bit since Texas AM has not been
54:14
as great as it could be. That's an outfielder that,
54:17
again, that's MLB ready defensively right now.
54:19
He can go hit at any level. It really depends on what you're
54:23
looking for. I don't think the Blue Jays are
54:25
going to go arm, but if they want to go arm, the best college
54:28
guy after those topped three guys in Kate Anderson, Liam
54:33
Doyle and Jamie Arnold is is Kyson Witherspoon from Oklahoma.
54:37
He's a big arm right-hander, throws 99 miles an hour, one of
54:41
the best sliders in college baseball.
54:43
I think that that would be somebody the Blue Jays could
54:45
look at. If they wanted to look at prep
54:48
arms, they'd have to go to the crew Schoolcraft up here from
54:51
Sunset, Oregon. Actually, he's the best lefty
54:54
maybe in the draft for the prep arms.
54:57
So if they decide, hey, we want to go younger, we want to take,
54:59
we want to under slaught somebody, we want to go pitcher
55:03
after Seth Hernandez. There's not a lot of prep arms
55:06
that are going to be taken in this first round.
55:09
So one more question I want to ask you here is looking into
55:12
this draft. This is very fascinating, but
55:14
since we're talking about this is that you're looking at under
55:18
slot guys, right? And you're looking and some of
55:21
some of the teams that you know, sign players because they had to
55:24
forfeit a second round pick are going to try to do the under
55:27
slots. And who would you say a name is
55:30
out there? Could you see like a Mason
55:31
Deville come out of nowhere and be a first round pick or or
55:34
somebody else? Because I know that Kate
55:37
Anderson's been trending upwards in this year's draft.
55:40
Like is there a name you would think or a couple names that you
55:44
would think that jeez like like you know how a known shadow
55:48
supposed to be a late round pick or Arjun Namala who went
55:51
supposed to go top ten fell to 20 or or trade savage like the
55:54
Jays got fortunate about that. Who would who would be the guy
55:57
or or guys you would think that surprised out of nowhere teams
56:01
like I got to go pick up this player who could be a second
56:03
round projected player. I think that guys like Tyler
56:07
Brimner, we talked about him a lot in the preseason.
56:10
He was so high, right? They had him like the maybe the
56:12
best college arm. He's dropped quite a bit
56:14
throughout the season, but I don't think the talents dropped
56:17
off. So I think that this is just
56:18
viewing vision, right? I think this is just people
56:20
haven't maybe got to see him as much this season.
56:22
When you have a six to one strikeout to block ratio and
56:26
you're a big right-hander and you can eat up innings, that
56:28
might be a guy that somebody pulls up in the first round.
56:30
He might sneak up in the top 15 because somebody's like we want
56:33
this guy. He's proven he's ready to go
56:35
right now. That would not surprise me.
56:38
If you see a guy like that get drafted earlier.
56:40
It wouldn't surprise me either if if guys like, you know, Mason
56:44
Deville, if he goes up there and he just crushes and get
56:47
somewhere into that top 20 and you're like, yeah, this doesn't
56:50
surprise me. Necessary that he's worked his
56:51
way all the way back up into here.
56:54
I think that it would be. There's not a ton of guys.
56:56
I look at them and go maybe they jump up a lot.
56:59
I've already mentioned Jason Reitz from Oregon.
57:01
If he gets in that second round, that wouldn't surprise me with
57:04
how well he's pitched lately and the kind of body that he has and
57:06
the ability that he could possess.
57:08
He's projected right now at between 99 and 110 that he could
57:13
jump up the charts. Also, people could go take a
57:15
chance on him, especially if they undervalue that early pick.
57:18
If they could get him in the second round, possibly there
57:20
might be a team that takes a big shot on him.
57:23
I know, like the Cubs have not taken a high school arm in a
57:25
long time. Maybe the Cubbies go look for
57:28
that and maybe they try to go out there and go get a young
57:30
right-hander. Well, if you look at it this
57:32
way, because I know that a lot of people are trying to draft
57:36
college arms right now because they're a lot closer to the
57:39
majors than a high school arm. Like I know Clayton Kershaw is a
57:42
rarity. Mackenzie Gore is another
57:44
rarity. I mean, you don't see too many
57:45
of those right in today's baseball.
57:47
Like could you see a Seth Hernandez being the majors?
57:50
But let's the same two years because like he came out of
57:52
nowhere this year and he's escalated and he's been his
57:56
stock has been gone up in this year's draft.
57:58
Could you see a guy like him accelerate through the system
58:01
being majors within a two year span?
58:05
I don't know if we're going to see that.
58:08
My biggest concern always with high school arms is how do they
58:11
develop? How do they develop as people
58:12
also, right? How do you become a mature adult
58:15
when you've been the best player at your high school, been the
58:17
best player in the country? How do you develop as a as a
58:21
human being when you go to these levels?
58:23
You're starting to see more people take college arms in the
58:26
fact that if they go to an LSU, they go to a Tennessee, they go
58:30
to a Wake Forest in Oregon State, in Oregon, places that
58:34
have a lot of money in those baseball programs, they're
58:36
getting treated better with more one-on-one coaching.
58:40
They have better facilities. They don't have to ride the bus
58:43
in Birmingham, AL and single in AA baseball.
58:46
They're getting a lot more preparation for the next level.
58:50
So you're starting to see more and more high school guys go to
58:52
the college level because they're coming out ready to
58:54
play. Look at what Dylan Cruz, Paul
58:55
Skins. There's seven players from that
58:58
draft that were college players that are already in the big
59:00
leagues. Well, Mark, this was a great
59:05
episode. We appreciate this.
59:06
We we all we learned through these episodes too.
59:09
And we thank you for being here as a guest man.
59:12
And hopefully you could come back again for another episode
59:15
like this because this was this went by fast.
59:17
It was great. To have you back.
59:19
Where can we find you in social media and everywhere else?
59:23
Yeah, College Baseball Central, Every Saturday morning we do the
59:26
national show. I do it myself is on there every
59:28
single week and sometimes I have Jake McKeever on there.
59:31
I have other guys from our company, College Baseball
59:34
Central. You can find me at Margar 10.
59:37
I do a lot of West Coast coverage.
59:38
I probably covered your team and they call me the anti Kendall
59:41
Rogers because instead of hating your team, I love your team.
59:44
So people say I'm the nice guy. College baseball, I love your
59:48
teams. I don't hate them.
59:49
So yeah, if you guys want to hear good things about your
59:51
team, come see me. And thanks for joining us, man.
59:54
It was an honor to have you and hopefully we can have you back
59:57
in the future. I had a had a lot of fun doing
1:00:00
this man. This is.
1:00:01
You know, a great learned, like Rocky said, great learning
1:00:04
experience, you know, for both of us.
1:00:05
So it was awesome to have you, man.
1:00:08
Thanks for having me on guys, it was a blast.
1:00:10
We'll place the description below where you can find Mark
1:00:13
Garland, but till next time, take care, be kind to each
1:00:16
other. Signing up from the Sports Ave.
1:00:19
Twisted podcast Monday, May 19th, 2025.