Latest / The Scout and The Speculator / 2026 Bowman Chrome NL Central Preview
Transcript
- Jaba: Hello everybody, welcome back to the Scout and the Speculator Podcast. This is Jabba Cards, one half of your lovely podcasting duo here. Joined by my partner in crime, Jeremy Brown of Perfect Game Baseball, more importantly known as JGB, underscore cards underscore. ⁓ has he has now made his recording name underscore underscore underscore underscore. So underscore_underscore_: Nailed it. Jaba: He's really making sure that I ⁓ don't get that one wrong. As always, today's podcast is brought to you by Prospect Pulse. That is prospectpulse v1.com. Absolute best place for all of your Bowman prospecting needs. ⁓ whether it's for keeping track of your collection of raw and graded stuff, looking up market data, seeing what eBay cards are live and what the comps are. It's just the absolute best place of all the tools aggregated in one spot for you. ⁓ I use it every day and I would highly recommend checking it out. So, ⁓ yeah, let's get into it. We're talking about the NL Central today. We got release day ⁓ coming in very hot. ⁓ most upon us. I'm very excited to get some new product, especially after twenty six Bowman was a bit of a bit of a stinky diaper. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Right. Hm. There's still like opportunities to be had, but yeah. Jaba: Y there's just not that much depth, I feel. underscore_underscore_: I also don't think like I think we're all gonna be kind of upset if we compare this rendition of chrome to last year's rendition. Because last year's might be one of those you look back and it's like a twenty four draft almost with how much like high end talent there really was in it. Like you're spoiled when you're within it and you don't even realize how good you had it. Like Jaba: We have Yeah, I I I do like this checklist though. I I I agree with you. I mean you can draw pair I mean, there's no guy like Cam Schlittler who was already up at release and then went nuts in the playoffs. I do like Zazueta for the Dodgers a lot, but you know, at the time of release last year, Schlittler was up and doing it. ⁓ but I I do like a good amount of guys. I don't think there's a shortage of talent. underscore_underscore_: Agree, agree. Mm-hmm. Jaba: Yeah, I I think you're right in that last year's is probably going to be one of those like landmark releases. But I don't think that this is a ⁓ steep drop off. I think if that was a A plus this one's profiling like a maybe an A minus. ⁓ underscore_underscore_: No. Yep. Okay. Jaba: So not to temper any excitement. I'm very excited for it. I think it's a great release. with that being said, we'll get right into it. ⁓ Jeremy, you wanna kick us off with the Chicago Cubbies? underscore_underscore_: Let's go right to ⁓ We are looking at all of two autos. Two first autos, and you kind of have like completely polar opposite ends of the spectrum here with both of ⁓ right? Like ⁓ Owen Ayers, let's just like I mean it's hard to say if ⁓ he let's pretend he wasn't twenty five, turning twenty six soon, and let's pretend he was eighteen. Like if we were doing that and in a world we could do that, he might be like your chase, like the chase. But instead he's a twenty five year old left handed hitting catcher with the Cubs. Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: The AFL MVP most valuable breakout, one of those things. Switch hit, still newer to catching, age position, kind of a combo of like, ⁓ catchers don't sell well, you're gonna have to hit for juice. He does that. He has an absolute cannon behind the mark ⁓ behind the plate. And the cubs sell, right? Like kind of been waiting for this kid's first for the last year since the AFL. Finally getting one here. Just kind of as you even said, like he turns twenty six in what, two weeks. But you know, River Ryan's still the top hundred prospect and he's twenty-eight going on twenty-nine, so maybe there's something here with Owen Ayers. ⁓ call ⁓ up. Cubs kind of need a catcher. Moises Baliseros hasn't worked out all that well. even better, see? Hasn't worked out at all. So ⁓ that sounds correct actually. He's our number two prospect, so there is gonna be some name recognition within the fan base. That wouldn't make sense. But maybe. anywho. Jaba: He's gone. Angel. I think he's an angel. Or Baltimore. underscore_underscore_: Like he's a g he's a good one, but somebody that I don't know the long term upside of him, just based off that age. Then you have Yadir Munoz, who's seventeen, not in the team's top thirty, wasn't in the pipeline's top fifty, and missing top for who, Yadier? That's right. He's he's an he's an empty slash one fifty five. Jaba: And also. They don't even have his height on there. Yeah, they didn't even put up a height, they just stopped that he's like a hundred and fifty pounds. underscore_underscore_: So this is somebody you're probably gonna want to do your own homework on because we didn't do enough. We just know he missed the entire year with an injury. And dollars to donuts will probably be a repeat in the DSL at eighteen next year. I don't think there's really anything more to go in depth with there. If you if you have anything, speak now or or speak later. You don't have to forever hold your peace 'cause it's your podcast. So let me know. That's fair. Jaba: It's our broadcast. ⁓ yeah, Munoz I I have nothing to say. There's nothing to talk about. you know, we'll we'll see next year. Not holding my breath. Just you know, I'm not gonna underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jaba: Cards of a guy that has zero stats and MLB can't bother to, you know, put his height on the website. That's not a great sign. ⁓ Owen Ayers, you know, five years of college, three years of JUCO, ⁓ two years at Marshall, nineteenth rounder and twenty-four. You know, I don't wanna say guys taking out late at throwaways because they're not. I mean, look at Eric Hartman, Owen Carey. Plenty of guys taking that late that are legit. But when it's a college bet, it is a lot underscore_underscore_: Exactly. Yeah. Jaba: Different to me than a high school bat. You know, he was twenty-three at the time of the draft. And don't get me wrong, he's been great this year, but I mean 2024, 18 games. He was not good in single A. Last year in single A, he had a seven sixty-one OPS as a twenty-four year old. I'm just not moved by that. Only six homers, seven homers in the minors going into this year. Yeah, he went nuts at the DSL, had a nine fifty OPS in the minors this year with twenty-five homers. But ⁓ I again I mean he'll be twenty-six in June. He's not you know he he should be dominating these leagues. I think, you know, in high A at a thirteen forty-one OPS, double A OPS over a thousand, and triple A is OPS is seven thirty-three in forty games. You know, I I I don't wanna completely dump on the kid. underscore_underscore_: Right. Exactly. Jaba: But I I'm I'm not really sure how he is their number two prospect on pipeline. I mean, give me Ethan Conrad, even though he's been, you know, basically crippled this year, Kane Keply, Caleb Wing, yeah, th there's so many guys I would take over him. I'm I'm fully out on Owen Airs. If I get any any of him, I'm selling it. ⁓ but yeah, like you said, the Cubs do sell well, so the market will be there. I will be the one taking advantage of selling into that. And if I'm wrong, I'm comfortable kind of With what went into that decision. So that that wraps up the Cubs. Yeah. Well, I'm I'm always gonna be honest with people. It's nothing personal. ⁓ you should hear how I talk about myself. into the Reds we got Angel Nunez. good underscore_underscore_: How do you really feel? Mm-hmm. Yep. This will probably be a be a chase for people, I'd have to imagine, just kind of reaching up on ⁓ and looking at the tools and everything, right? Jaba: Yeah. Yeah, good good little player. He has you know he was the number six international guy last year, so he's got that going for him. Already up to eleven in the team rankings ⁓ for the Reds. He's still seventeen. ⁓ left-handed hitting. We like left-handed hitting. ⁓ guy just does a little bit of everything well, sixty-grade runner. He was seventeen all year in the DSL. ⁓ put up a nine ⁓ five OPS, five homers. You know, he's gonna be more of a underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yep. Jaba: Of doubles power guy for right now, especially coming in at 510-160. But You know, fourteen extra base hits, more walks than K's, twenty-four swipes. you know, he's definitely not the number six guy in this product. But I I do like the profile. There's nothing I really dislike about the profile. I think he's just gonna be a guy where there's more there's guys with louder and more exciting upside. And I think that In a year or two, Angel Nunez is a guy we might be looking back at saying, Hey, everything was there and we all kinda overlooked them. You know, how does that happen? And we wish it hadn't. I like center field profile, let's see, you know, let's see what kind of you know, let's see the measurements when he shows up to the complex league next year. You know, I can't see him going straight to single A. ⁓ you know, let's just kinda wait and see. If I pull any of his stuff and I don't like the prices, I am more underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Right. Jaba: than fine hanging on to it. You know, this is not a guy where I'm just gonna sell it and take the cash out. underscore_underscore_: You know what I wanna do when we hang up is just kinda see how his numbers just like listening, if I close my eyes and just listen, ⁓ it's not it doesn't sound like it's all that far off, if not even a little more enticing because of the speed than like a Juniker. Obviously Juniker was doing it stateside, he was eighteen, like in single A, like destroying the baseball. Different in that regard. I'm not saying they're the same. I'm not saying buy it like that, but it's almost like ⁓ Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: You're not buying him for this year for the quick flip. You're doing it for next year. Like you're doing it for that hold, like that Landon Harman type for next year, that Matthew Fisher for next year. Like buy ⁓ bank But then again, also go like read into him yourself. I'm not saying he's Junicker. I just like listening to just everything, hit overpower, good discipline, has more walks and strikeouts, like kind of a guy that might fly under the radar at release. Like that might be somebody that I might go be buying a couple of. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this is I I I would say that there's usually one guy per episode where once we kinda talk about ⁓ I come out way higher than I was before. ⁓ last episode was Anthony Martinez for the Guardians. ⁓ this one it is going to be Nunez. I you know after the conversation we just had, I think it's hard to, you know, say all that and then not underscore_underscore_: By a couple of them at least. Jaba: Try to get a you know nice little piece of his. ⁓ next up for the Reds, who have a you know, nice little checklist here. I think they're fairly expensive in PYTs. ⁓ the other, you know, real name here, Angel Salio. ⁓ DSL repeater. He's gonna be nineteen in February. ⁓ he's a shortstop lefty hitter. ⁓ boy, Tong's getting murdered. underscore_underscore_: Yeah, they're a sad dream. Jaba: It's over. ⁓ six two, one seventy, you know, big lanky shortstop. ⁓ start with the bat, only three homers this year in his second turn at the DSL. But that's really the only downside in this profile. ⁓ nine ⁓ seven OPS, ⁓ sixteen extra base hits, thirty five Ks, thirty two walks, almost one to one there. Twenty three steals to ten caught stealing, not the greatest, but underscore_underscore_: Yep. But six three six two at eighteen, like it it shows signs of speed and coordination. Jaba: You know, the the the the thing I don't love, it looks like he pounds the ball into the ground. that's not great, but at the same time you could kind of flip that into a reason he's a buy. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jaba: And say, you know, if this kid starts elevating the ball, obviously he's not a you know, he's not one of these like five, nine hundred fifty pounders. I think you kinda take that as a as a positive almost. I mean, 'cause if he starts elevating the ball, we could see a serious uptick in power. ⁓ I'm not the biggest fan, but I don't think he's a throwaway. And then ⁓ to cap off the Reds, we got Sharling Torres. underscore_underscore_: Right. Six two one sixty is not small. No. Sound it out. I have faith. Jaba: Well you spelled it w yeah, it's S T H S Tharlin Taurus. It's S T H it's like Starlin but with it it underscore_underscore_: Yeah. I mean it's a copied and pasted. Starlin. Starlin. It's Starlin. That's all it is. Starlin Torres. Jaba: I've never seen an H in Star alone. I've only seen like three Starlines. underscore_underscore_: It's you've never seen an H in Jeremy either, so welcome to twenty twenty six, baby. Jaba: Okay. Anyhow, Starlin Torres, ⁓ not great. ⁓ eighty four innings in ⁓ between A and high A this year. ⁓ five fifty seven ERA. ⁓ as I said, eighty four innings, sixty two Ks. So that's like, you know underscore_underscore_: Yeah. That doesn't really move that doesn't move the rooter order for me. Jaba: Six point five to seven Ks per nine. People are hitting two eighty against them. ⁓ there's just I I'm all set. Fifteen homers in eighty four innings is ⁓ not good. I don't really know what the stuff looks like, honestly. And I don't care enough to look. There's there's just nothing there. ⁓ that's ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Yep. I'm trying to find like videos of the Angel Salio kid and there's I can't find anything, honestly. I just be I'd be curious if like 'cause he's so long and lanky and young at six two one seventy, if they have him be like super short and just focus on putting the ball in play because he is like a high average kind of guy. I I would just be curious how that looked aesthetically, but I can't find anything. So moving forward Jaba: He's not real. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Milwaukee Brewers, I feel like there's a lot of pressure to talk about brewers right now because they're they've been so good in so many releases now in a row. Like Jaba: Yeah, let's just say that that they're all good and move on. That's how we're covered. underscore_underscore_: I mean, realistically though, like you have Luis Snena, ⁓ Luis Snena. Luis Peña, who just got hurt, so that's not good. But you have Diego Frontado and Ricky Munnies. So c obviously you're gonna hear show me the monies every time he gets pulled on whatnot. Let's just get that out of the way right now. But he is like a really good player, like sixty raw power. Like across the board it's like a lot of fives and sixes, meaning like Jaba: Badly. Yeah. It's very underscore_underscore_: Like on the on the twenty eighty scale, like you like fives. That means it's a very average, safe, like big league tool. Six is a plus, seven's a double plus, seventy, like going for so on and so forth. But lots of fives and sixes from a seventeen year old, you like that. has a name recognition, has the prospect pedigree being in the top twenty of the team, top twenty of the international board. Good year. in the DSL ⁓ the approach is there. Like let's just go through his stat line real quick. If it loads like 289, an OPS of ⁓ a 919, five pumps, 43 ribs, one more walk than one to strikeouts, like a little bit of everything there. 28 bags, five triples, like yeah, you're happy if you get him. Six foot, one eighty, shortstop. The brewers have done well internationally, and I think that has to almost go into it too. Like they can recognize what they're doing. Like you get You got a kid in the draft and like the eleventh on and they sign with the Brewers, odds are they're gonna be pretty good. Josh Adam Zuski, high school kid, got signed. Ethan Dorchis, high school kid, signed, got stronger, did this, did that. ⁓ Bet you didn't think I'd find a way to slip Dorchis in here. But that's a guy. Ricky Moneys. And then you also have Diego Frontado, though, like turns eighteen in this month. Above average runner with a fifty five grade, nine home runs, more walks and strikeouts. Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Not really looking for all that much more in a 17-year-old right now, right? Like right, right, another shortstop. they just feel like two really good players. And if you got Luis Payne or Prospect Autos, you're not going to be upset about it. ⁓ 289, he he added on another one since we put in the stats. So 10 pumps. more walks and strikeouts with 15 bags. Just kind of feel like a good one two punch there with between Frontado and Money's. Jaba: Yeah, i it it's two probably top fifteen guys, definitely two top twenty guys, ⁓ in the release. I mean looking at monies, I it reminds me a lot of Luis Peña, kind of a righty hitting six foot one eighty, ⁓ similar size, ⁓ you know, guy. He's he's obviously a shortstop now. We'll see if he sticks there. ⁓ I'm actually surprised that money's I thought he was gonna be way overpriced going into breaks just between the name, the brewers, ⁓ and having good stats. I've actually he hasn't been getting enough love, I don't think. ⁓ I'm not sure if he'll be in my top ten, but he's fringy. I still have to kinda ⁓ write that out. And same with frontado. I mean, these are guys that could go anywhere between kinda like eight and twenty my list. You know, they'll probably settle in like the twelve to fifteen range. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: But yeah, I think it's a great duo. Again, I mean Luis Peña, if you got his signature, like you said, you're not unhappy. ⁓ he did, I think, just snap his leg. ⁓ just a lost year for him, which is too bad. ⁓ 'cause he's a great player. ⁓ but yeah, Milwaukee, good release. What else is new? underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, I mean, you're you're content there. He was a one point one million dollar sign, monies was up to a hundred and seven in exit velo already. So there's some things. I think Bob has him top ten somewhere. I think Bob has him in the top ten for him personally. I think he just came out with this list, so there's gonna be recognition there from kind of all over, so he's a guy. Jaba: Yeah. Snow Wandy C ⁓ in. Yeah. Yep. Pirates. We got Alexandal PO. Alexander with an L at the end. ⁓ Pirates, seventeen year old stats don't look great. Six thirty OPS in the DSL, four homers, nineteen steals. He's a big kid. Six two one seventy, kind of ⁓ reminiscent of Angel Salio with the reds in terms of a build. underscore_underscore_: Yep. Jaba: ⁓ 73 K's and 147 at bats. That's just never gonna work. ⁓ walk rate was actually okay. ⁓ 19 steals to zero caught, ⁓ hits the ball in the air a ton. ⁓ obviously the strikeouts are just completely prohibitive and you know almost turn me off entirely. ⁓ people do seem to like him a bit though, and he does kind of have that big lanky build where you see guys struggle to make contact initially. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: I'm not sure he's a guy I'll be chasing, but I will be keeping an eye on his market. You know, if I can get a blue auto of this guy for like thirty bucks, I'll definitely do it. I'm just not really gonna go out of my way to get him. ⁓ I think he's just kind of like that tier three boomer bust guy where in a year he's either, you know, flying through tier two or you know, nobody's talking about him. Next up, Daryl Morrell. ⁓ another shortstop. underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jaba: He turns nineteen next week. He is a six four one eighty lefty hitting shortstop. We like all of those metrics. ⁓ he's one of the guys that the Dodgers had to dump ⁓ in order to sign Roki Sasaki, which is a fun little trivia question. ⁓ one point eight million dollar bonus. He was pretty good in the ⁓ DSL last year. ⁓ 839 OPS. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Boost by a four twenty-five on base percentage. Slug wasn't there, only one homer. ⁓ this year definitely took a step back. ⁓ 663 OPS between rookie ball, where he played basically all his games. He played two games in single A. ⁓ just not a good year for him. Three homers, nine extra base hits, 49 K's to 26 walks. ⁓ you know, the Steels basically got cut 70%. ⁓ you know. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Do Jaba: If you're not gonna slug, you can't hit one seventy six. ⁓ I again he's big, you know, there he might just be a slow developer. And it's not like he was bad in the D SL, it's not like he had to repeat the D SL. So th again, not a guy where throwing him out, but i i it's a disappointing year. You know, if I was a pirates fan, I'd be pretty bummed about the performance. I underscore_underscore_: You're right. I was gonna say at least they did promote him to Bradenton in A Ball. I don't know if it was out of a necessity of a roster spot, but at least like there was some like push along, which I don't know, maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but Jaba: Yeah, next up ⁓ Hyun Sung Lee, ⁓ eighteen year old ⁓ out of South Korea. He is 6'1, 176, lefty hitting infielder. I know Bob likes him a lot. He's got an eight thirty-four OPS, seven homers, three steals, does a little bit of everything. ⁓ K's are up a little more than you'd like. Fifty seven Ks to twenty-five walks. But the numbers aren't, you know, bad by any means. ⁓ played fifteen games in Single A. He is with the Marlins now. I forget if I said that. Single A stint went pretty terribly. 518 OPS in fifteen games. But he was awesome in the complex before he got traded with the Pirates. ⁓ 965 OPS in the complex. And then he was just bad in single A. I'm fine writing off being bad at single A to end the year after getting traded. ⁓ as an eighteen year old. I I I'm not gonna completely throw it out, but ⁓ I I am not gonna really let it cloud my thoughts. underscore_underscore_: ⁓ yeah. Not eight, huh? Jaba: thoughts on him either. I I like him. I'm not going out of my way to get him. ⁓ but I think he's a name to know. I think he's a probably a good player. also it it's crazy to see a guy from South Korea playing in the D S L ⁓ underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: Wonder what that was like. but yeah. I you know, another name to know. And again, he's with the Marlins now. ⁓ Yeoncer Custodio, number seven international guy last year. ⁓ sor what's that? Yeah, five ten two ⁓ two. ⁓ so he's kind of built like me after freshman year of college. underscore_underscore_: And that's about what we got on Like I said and that's about what we got on ⁓ Like. Jaba: ⁓ forty-four at bats, seven hits, no homers, no steals, four sixty-five OPS. I'm not really sure ⁓ what what the deal was there, because that's pretty tough for the number seven guy. You know, I don't wanna, you know, dump on the kid, but the numbers are concerning. And it's also concerning that he played fifteen games. I don't know if he was like hurt and then they rushed him back to get him into games. ⁓ let me try to find the game logs and see. He played underscore_underscore_: I mean he signed he signed for a nine hundred K, so he was a cheaper sign as well. Like this being another seven prospect. Jaba: Yeah, something was probably wrong with them. ⁓ just a weird one. I'm I'm I'm out. I could get back in but you know. underscore_underscore_: Average runner has some juice, think they're g you're gonna get into more, so yeah, we'll s we'll have to see. ⁓ I him being in the top ten international ranks is enough to like ⁓ you pull one and the prices don't make sense to you to sell, like just stash it away and see what he does. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. I mean there's something there. It's just, you know chalk it up as a completely lost year and it just kinda is what it is. ⁓ last one for the Pirates, Wilton Guerrero Junior. ⁓ nephew of Vlad. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: ⁓ he's a young 17. He'll be 17 until the end of May next year. He's 510-153, which is funny as a you know Guerrero family member. I guess Senior wasn't that big when he played, but he's a he's a big boy now. ⁓ 779 OPS in the DSL. ⁓ 10 extra base hits, no homers. ⁓ so he's just like his just like his cousin Vlad Jr. Just zero homers to speak about. ⁓ only twenty. underscore_underscore_: Mm. Jaba: Which is pretty ⁓ pretty impressive. You know, there's that Guerrero family contact ability. ⁓ 18 walks, 19 steals. I ⁓ you know, I don't have anything bad to say about him, other than the fact that he's small and doesn't have any power. I mean, it's like, you know, he's small, of course, he has no power. ⁓ bad to ball abilities there. I mean, that runs in the family. I try not to like lean into that stuff too much, but I mean it it is kind of like Like, you know, Vlad Jr., where it's a guy who just puts the bat on the ball. ⁓ like to see him grow a little bit. Apparently he has good E Vs, ⁓ which would definitely make me feel even better about him. I worry he's gonna be overpriced because of the name. ⁓ I'm not again, I'm not out on him. I don't wanna like say I'm low on him necessarily. But I'm probably not gonna be the high man either. He's a guy I like. But, you know, he he's just kinda in that glob of tier two names where ⁓ there's nothing wrong with It just doesn't get me super excited. Do you have any thoughts on any of these pirates guys before you close out with the cards? underscore_underscore_: Kind of like a good ⁓ like PYT team. Like you have a couple different dart throws here, right? Like hopefully you got hopefully you you get something, you hit ⁓ and you end up hitting the right guy. 'Cause I think as a pirates fan, it's cool to have what five autos to chase? One, two, three five autos to chase. Hopefully at least one of them becomes something. There is some between around. Yeah. I think there's just it's a lot of Jaba: Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I like Lee, I like Guerrero, I think PO's behind them, Castodio's behind them, but underscore_underscore_: It's a lot of wait and see guys. With I think Guerrero kinda leading the charge. So Jaba: Yeah. It it's funny 'cause Custodio was the number seven international guy, you know, you'd think that he he had the most, you know, pedigree and he's I I don't want to say the worst, but he's probably the last guy I'd want. ⁓ but yeah, take it away with the Cardinals. Cardinals are a big one, so I'm letting you take underscore_underscore_: The guy. Right. Not the guy. No doubt. And then Cardinals. Oof, a lot of pressure again. You got four first autos, five autos total, that fifth being Liam Doyle Prospect Autos. Like again, you you could do worse. So with Liam. ⁓ you have ⁓ well I guess we'll go in order of prospect prospectiness. Sebastian dos Santos might find him in top five of some people's lists. ⁓ already into A ball. Jaba: Fucking way good. underscore_underscore_: Switch hitter has solid tools across the board, 16 home runs to end the year, had a really good DSL, hit two homers in the last game of the year to kind of put an exclamation point on like, hey, I'm gonna be expensive. And it's probably important to note that a lot in a in a sea of guys that are a lot of DSL names, this guy kid did it stateside. he's a name that's very popular on Twitter with people waiting, people wanting to chase. Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Switch hitting short stops. I he's listed at six foot one forty. There's no way you're a hundred and forty pounds. just like everything was solid. Especially when you're coming off the DSL. ⁓ Alex Jensen spoke highly of him from just being in the DSL last year and coming stateside, sixteen home runs, fourteen doubles, sixty six walks, ⁓ eighty seven strikeouts, almost thirty bags, like yeah, you you can go watch some of the videos of balls he kind of obliterated. Jaba: No shock. underscore_underscore_: He's a good one and for for good reason. ⁓ Jaba: Yeah. Other than those strikeouts, there's nothing to think of and it's not like it's ghastly. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. And even that is like No, and that's like an eighteen year old in A ball. Like you still kinda take that. Like like to see him cut it down, sure, but like Yeah. ⁓ we called him the Jarantula in high school. He did go to high school in Florida, ⁓ from I believe Curacao. Jarantelo Sinche. ⁓ this is obviously the kid that everybody's been waiting for, the switch pitcher out of Mississippi State. Jaba: Twenty five personal character. underscore_underscore_: We've all been hoping for a card. I really hope he has an Ivy auto when it's him throwing the opposite hand of whatever his first is. If not, that's like such a missed opportunity. ⁓ He's actually been really good as of late. The stuff itself isn't going to wow you. It's not like he's touching triple digits from either side. Like it's a l I believe it's what, like low nineties from the left side, mid-ish from the right. Like, but he's put together a couple good starts as of late. Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: So at least when you have that, he's up into triple A now, twenty three. Like you get him, he's gonna get recalled. It's gonna be all over ESPN, all over MLB. Once he gets that recall and comes and starts a game as a switch pitcher, he people said he was gonna give it up. He didn't, but 154 punches and 123 innings. ⁓ two thirty nine against. There are there are things to like there. So it's twenty six games. Hell, if he has TJ in one arm, he can pitch with the other wh while the His ⁓ TJ'd arm is still in a brace. So he's golden. ⁓ Brandon Clark came over from the Red Sox, has ⁓ been ⁓ I mean he's 23 in high A because he has had arm issues, but he's also up to 103 left handed. When it's on, it's like a disgusting slider, disgusting fastball. That combo in the back end of a game. Probably be a quick mover. Obviously, he's in high A more because of the history and him just coming back as opposed to talent. Jaba: When the underscore_underscore_: ⁓ I do think people are gonna see a hundred and three from the left side. Cardinals fans buy. He's probably gonna be a guy that if I got something early, I'm selling right away. Because I do think the upside is bullpen. I don't think he's gonna start long term. ⁓ has he even been he has started though, but over nine starts he's gone twenty-five innings. Eight sixteen strikeouts, thirty-seven walk ⁓ sixteen walks, thirty-seven strikeouts in twenty-five innings. Jaba: Yeah. That's hard to go. Yeah. Sixty three is a pro and he turns twenty four in April, it's like at a certain point, obviously it's not like you wanna just race to get him up, but at a certain point, you know, they're not gonna wait until he's twenty seven to develop him as a starter. I think he probably kicks to the pen sooner rather than later. Six four two twenty's crazy. I mean it's a future lockdown closer if it works. It's just nobody cares. underscore_underscore_: So there's they're slow playing ⁓ anyway. I mean that average Right. Yeah, and it's like a lightning arm. Like in terms of like pure disgustingness of a fastball like slider, it's probably the biggest stuff in the product from our actually it is. It's it's the biggest stuff from ⁓ pitching standpoint. ⁓ but I don't know. I think the the obviously the quickest path is a bullpen, but he is starting, so that's a positive. But he's averaging less than three innings a start, twenty five over nine, so. and then you have Jaba: Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Juan Rohano, who's ⁓ he was in the DSL last year, moved to the complex this year, has a couple home runs, walks went down, but he is like decent sized kid at eighteen still, made that state side jump. Numbers kind of backed up from last year. I don't really have a whole lot to say other than what I just said on him. ⁓ I ⁓ and it's not disrespectful, but I think he's your clear number four guy. I think Santo de S dos Santos is your clear number one guy here and then you have the two arms in between. So Jaba: Yeah. Yeah, I mean Rouhano, I this might be a stupid take, but if they don't even bother to put a picture of the guy on his MILB page. Weird to me. ⁓ you know, it's not like he's completely terrible. Just not that much there. Better better name to chase. underscore_underscore_: What do Right. Yeah. No. Jaba: I'm with you. I think Dos Santos is a top five ish name in the product. ⁓ again I'm gonna have to kinda dig in and figure out exact rankings, but like Dos Santos a lot. I think Clark's really fun in real life. I mean I would love to watch that guy pitch in real life. I think for cards the value's limited, especially if he comes out expensive. I mean, it would be incredibly fun to watch this guy pitch. It's just not a good profile for the hobby. I mean you don't want to break for underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Yep. Like if he's cheap enough I'll buy some because we know who sells. Like if he comes out next spring training and strikes out Jordan Walker on three pitches, like you're not gonna have the full Lagrande effect, but there's gonna be stuff there where it's like this kid's filthy. Like I definitely would buy some. I just think he's gonna be a name that a lot of not Bowman heads might know about because he throws so hard. Where his stuff might be inflated a little bit from where I would wanna buy in at is all. Jaba: Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I I mean we discussed before, I think Cynthia, ⁓ you know, to me it's kinda like in twenty twenty five Bowman when that came out and people were deciding if they wanted to chase Charlie Condon or Jesus Made, kind of all the I wanna say this the right way, but a lot of like the big whales who I think are very intelligent went after Mate and they've been rewarded. ⁓ and Condon, nothing against Condon. He's actually been good this year and ⁓ you know, I think I was a little harsh on him. But Condon was kinda like the sexy fun chase given his collegiate career at Georgia, but there were so many like kinda obvious red flags and concerns. ⁓ Stinty to me is just kinda like a hype chase. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: ⁓ you know, nothing against the guy. I I just think it's, you know, a lot of people are gonna know who he is. Like Jeremy said when he does debut, which, you know, he is a hundred percent good enough to, you know, play in the majors. He will play in majors. ⁓ you know, he's gonna be all over social media and the internet. underscore_underscore_: Mm-hmm. Thousand. Jaba: You know, I just don't see the upside. The stuff's not great from either side. It's you know, it just kinda is what it is. I know over the winter, ⁓ the Mariners literally announced in the morning that they were only gonna have ⁓ pitch from one side. I don't remember which side it was, and then literally later that day they created ⁓ for Brendan Donovan. so Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Reflex. ⁓ I think it's only right handed. He has like started figuring it out though. Like Jaba: The game logs are better. ⁓ I mean I looked at the game logs before we started, I was reading ⁓ too. underscore_underscore_: What better. Like all of August was really good. Like he put his ERA down from an eight to a ⁓ just over a five right now. Had pitched to a four one eight in the month of August, twenty-three innings, thirty-five strikeouts, including an eleven strikeout performance, and then he had a six inning, four hit, shutty, one walk, five punches on September fifth. So what was that, yesterday? Two days ago. So like he's trending in the right direction, and if you're a Cardinals fan, unfortunately he's trending in the right direction right into release. Jaba: Yeah. Yeah. underscore_underscore_: Because now there's all that there's more like, okay, he can do it. And now his stuff is gonna go back up where if he was in twenty five Bowman he would have or twenty five Bowman chrome, he would have been a chase then. If he was in draft, he would have been a chase then, two years ago. Like there's enough prospect pedigree there and now he's kind of tapping into it where I think his prices are gonna be he's gonna be I think Christian Zazueta, is that how y it's pronounced? Like he's your clear number one arm. But like I think these guys might slide in somewhere in that top five ish arm. Jaba: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I underscore_underscore_: Ish there's not a lot of arms either, but like talent wise there's talent there and I think name recognition and all that stuff is gonna push some prices there. Jaba: Yeah, and it's funny 'cause I mean we we started this kind of little note spreadsheet we have here a month ago, right? When the checklist came out. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: You know, I wrote the note on Sinche. You know, he'll sell as a pure novelty piece with real draft pedigree to boot, but likely a waste of money. ⁓ that was a month ago. I stand by that being my take a month ago, but it's it's changed. ⁓ I'm happy for him that he's pitching a lot better. I'm still probably out on him, but I'm a lot closer to at least having interest than I was. And I do think the uptick and performance should be, you know, commended, noted, and he's a underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Jaba: circus act. You know, now I I I do think like you said, he's meeting the pedigree. He's showing he can do it. And it's not like he's in single guy. so yeah, that wraps up this episode, I think. NL Central, another good division. What was that eighteen names we discussed? I mean, that there's a few guys that I'm just not a huge fan of. ⁓ but for the most part, I mean like you had said with the Pirates, it's just the deep checklist for them. The Brewers just have another underscore_underscore_: Right. Yeah. Jaba: you know, high powered duo. I like the Reds checklist, honestly. I like two of their three. ⁓ you know, it's funny. I actually the Cubs kind of got the short end of the stick in 26 Bowman. I think they only had I don't even remember the name of the kid. Snell. Cade Snell, was it? yeah. underscore_underscore_: Yeah. Never supponted. ⁓ cubs, yeah, in draft. Yeah, yeah. Or twenty six, sorry. Yeah. Jaba: I I'm I'm out on airs. But ⁓ yeah, you know, I think I think the Cardinals are a top three PYT team probably. love the Brewers, like the Pirates, like the Reds, Cubs, not so good. ⁓ but yeah, another good division and I think, you know, this just goes to the idea. I think that it's a very good ⁓ checklist this year. I like the product a lot. ⁓ you know, in a year, if it's bad, feel free to come back and make fun of me. ⁓ but I like the release, so underscore_underscore_: Product. Yeah. Good thing is if we're making fun of you in a year we still don't give it enough time because this is well come back in two years. Give us two years. Jaba: Okay. Set a set a reminder for ⁓ September one, twenty twenty when we can underscore_underscore_: Thanks. Twenty there we go. Jaba: We can discuss. Maybe they'll have a ⁓ height measurement on who is Yachty Armunos. Yeah, ⁓ maybe they'll get they'll get the ⁓ measuring tape up. Alright, bit of a longer episode, but I think there is a lot to discuss. and the teams are also kinda bookmarked within the pod, so i I don't think anybody's still listening, so I'll just end it here. Jeremy, any final thoughts? Are you good? underscore_underscore_: There we go. Yeah. Go Matt. Jaba: Go Mats. Alright. Talk to you guys ⁓ very soon. Bye.