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Aram and Jack highlight the prospects who are showing out on the big stage of the World Baseball Classic or in Spring Training thus far.
Intro: 0:00
Dante Nori: 5:27
Andrew Fischer: 7:20
Owen Caissie: 11:03
Enrique Bradfield: 13:23
Travis Bazzana: 16:08
Gary Gill Hill: 19:08
Lucas Ramirez: 20:33
Najer Victor: 22:55
Sam Aldegheri: 25:03
Brennen Davis: 30:24
Vance Honeycutt: 34:07
Konnor Griffin: 37:19
Kevin McGonigle: 41:32
Jordan Lawlar: 44:51
Spencer Jones: 47:58
Cameron Cauley: 53:26
TJ Rumfield/Charlie Condon: 55:32
James Tibbs: 58:33
Tommy White: 1:01:47
Leo De Vries: 1:04:24
Ryan Waldschmidt: 1:07:51
Emmanuel Rodriguez: 1:10:03
Ask Aram all of your prospect/top 100 questions in our Discord
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A little detour from the top 100 rundown here for a check-in on spring training and the
WBC.
We've got prospects performing everywhere.
So we had to check in here before we get into, I believe, what do we have left the top?
44 prospects?
I think 40.
I thought you guys dear.
I thought we did 55.
Yeah.
You're correct.
I thought 40 prospects left on our top 100 rundown.
But again, so many players performing right now between the WBC and spring training that
we had to check in on it.
Arm Layton, Jack McMullen, Jack, we got a fun rundown of what I like about this episode
is guys that we're probably not going to talk about in the top 100 rundown are having
already because these aren't top 100 type guys, but very notable players.
Some not as notable, which makes it even more fun as to what they're doing in the WBC.
I got to see a couple of those performances up close and personal in Houston and very
much looking forward to seeing more of them down here in the quarter finals, if some
of these guys can make it through.
And then, of course, through spring training saw some of these guys in the back fields.
And then, of course, we've got data everywhere, right?
We've got, we've got stat cast, excuse me, at every single spring training stadium this
year.
So we've got a lot more context as to what these players are doing.
Of course, just a disclaimer to put out there, there's not that many actionable takeaways
in spring training, especially with big leagueers, but with prospects, there are some things.
I mean, you get to see pitch shapes and those things can change.
Players are, I think the player development's a lot more fluid.
So new max EVs in spring training, all these different things are fun to watch, but also
just flat out.
Maybe guys that were not that notable of prospects putting up big performances, at least, you
know, helps your ears perk up to follow what they may be doing this regular season.
Yeah, 100% and the first half of this episode is going to be WBC focused and the WBC isn't
even smaller sample now than spring training, but the second half is going to be spring training
focus.
So we're going to get to the top prospect performers in spring training.
Those guys are a bit more notable because they are getting consistent big league reps
enough so to rack up the total bases and, you know, jolt the OPS, but the WBC, I mean,
it's just a free for all across two games and sometimes Dante Nori as a multi-homer game,
which we were not expecting whatsoever.
But you know what?
That is the case.
Team Italy is alive right now and yeah, we're going to talk about a whole bunch of those
guys starting with the world baseball classic.
And the first guy that I do have on the run down is Dante Nori, the Philadelphia Phillies
prospect, multi-homer day in game one of the world baseball classic Italy is undefeated
right now in group play with the loss for Mexico on Monday night to team USA.
Italy could be getting out of Houston.
It's going to be a fight.
But man, that is a serious, serious jolt from Italy and Dante Nori is a guy that it seems
like just rose to the occasion, had a heck of a game.
But why should we be really intrigued about him going into 26?
Well, they took him from the nine hole against Brazil, go steep twice.
You're leading off next ball game, kid.
That's how that's how fluid the lineup is right now.
And by the way, two knocks in a walk and that AB as well.
I think you're seeing, and this is super small sample here, see if he can extrapolate it.
But the setup is a little bit different.
You look at the setup now.
Remember, we were talking about when we did the Philly system.
There was a conversation about, you know, not really creating enough separation and how
he just kind of seemed a little bit crowded.
So he was swinging from a position where, yes, he has good hand-eye and good bats of
ball.
He's probably putting himself in a spot where he can really turn that barrel with violence.
Now he's a little bit more upright.
The stance is somewhat a Cody Belinger-esque.
And then he sinks into the backside, which I think really allows him to like wake up that
lower half.
If you're already kind of crouched into that, you're just pushing out of it and throwing
your hands at the ball sometimes.
And for him, he's sinking down and then really engaging that back hip and firing from
there.
So we'll see if that continues to help him.
But I do like the fact that he adjusted that.
We talked about that in general because I think the clear thing that Nora needed was to
try to find a way to tap into more power.
I understand that this Brazil pitching is not necessarily as difficult as some of the
other arms.
But this is also a guy that was, you know, he was in low A last year and he's never had
a multi-homer game so far in his professional career.
So I think it is encouraging just to see that tangible adjustment and he hit some homers.
And it's at least is intriguing enough to say, well, let's see how this tangible adjustment
translates over a macro sample, but even in a micro sample, the swing looks a little
bit more violent.
Yeah.
Certainly.
So another prospect that I want to throw at you, Andrew Fisher is two for four with a
homer so far in the world baseball classic Andrew Fisher, the Milwaukee Brewers.
He's somebody that I feel like flew under the radar pretty much all of, I don't know.
I guess like leading into this offseason and then all of a sudden there are positional
prospects that are put out by, I saw Pipeline had him as the top third base prospect in
mind or league baseball.
It's a little skewed because Fisher is not on their top 100, but that's because every
third base prospect is really just a shortstop right now.
What do you make of Andrew Fisher going into 26?
So it's interesting, you know, and I'm working on the brewer's system right now and, you
know, he had a good pro debut from a, like just surface level statistical standpoint,
848 OPS Fisher did going straight to high A from Tennessee, but what was interesting
to me and this was something I talked a little bit about with the Brewers was, you know,
this guy that was hit in the bowl really hard in college and I do think, you know, the
bat situation can be interesting and so that's always you have a little bit of a pause
there because your teams have different deals, which is also crazy.
Let's talk into a couple of different guys about their collegiate career and they're like,
yeah, we had to use these crappy bats because this is what our team worked, you know, our
school and a partnership with and, you know, we tried to sneak some other bats at one
point. We hit like a bunch of homers and then we got caught and I had to go back to the
crappy bats. It's like, it's kind of nuts that that's a variable in this whole equation
and then there's other variables when it comes to the bats.
So I was kind of worried when I saw Fisher's pro debut at 23 games where I know it's a
small sample, but he had a hard hit rate of 27% and even 90 of 100.7 miles per hour and
I'm like, oh, no, well, is there some quality of contact concerns?
Actually, he'd at least like flash one exit velocity above like 106.
And so I talked to the Brewers about that.
They actually thought he was kind of just battling through a little bit of a minor injury
really long season.
He wanted to, you know, show the Brewers that he's ready to go and play.
If you watch this guy play baseball, he is a competitor.
He's a maniac.
He had some viral clips.
Seems like Tennessee finds these guys, right?
But he had his own viral clips of just being a maniac out there after a home run or a big
hit or whatever.
And I think he clearly just wanted to be back out there and continue to play and I think
he was playing through being a little bit banged up, still finding knocks, but not hitting
the ball very hard.
The reason why I say all that is he's hitting the ball hard this spring.
I mean, we already saw, I think a homer at 110, that was in spring training.
And then we saw, you know, another really well hit ball, I think in another ball game
for him in spring training.
And then he's been putting together some good A B's so far in the WBC.
So I'm interested to see how he does against some better competition if they advance.
I know that the Brewers, and we're talking to Brent and about it, like Brent was really
excited to just see how Fisher responds in this super high intensity environment, because
he feels like it fits him.
But also, can you like manage those emotions and utilize them to your favor and it seems
like he's built to do that.
So Fisher's a fun prospect that, you know, as I'm working on the brewer system, I'm trying
not to be too reactive to these small samples, but it's alleviating my one concern from what
was a good showing last year, which was just, where's the quality of context?
This is a guy that's going to be fringy, probably at third.
He's got a bang, and now it's trying to look like he can bang a little bit.
Yeah, certainly.
So when a guy that we know is going to bang at some point is Owen Casey, who is a top
50 prospect in baseball for you on just baseball's top 100, he was acquired by the Marlins
from the Cubs in the Edward Cabrera deal this off season.
Owen Casey, four for eight so far in the world baseball classic with a double in a homer
had a hot mic moment.
He had a hanging breaking ball that he absolutely annihilated.
He hung the belief out of it.
Owen Casey also started the relay scene around the world, Casey to Otto Lopez to go and get
a Ricky Bradfield junior at the plate.
It was a thing of beauty for Casey in left, but Owen Casey always steps up to meet this
moment.
And I say always it's been two tournaments, it's been two pool plays for Owen Casey,
but this guy clearly enjoys putting on the white red for team Canada.
That's pretty cool.
And I think the most fascinating part about it is he was struggling and it's normal.
I mean, he's a very rhythmic hitter.
He's a guy that you're going to kind of expect to ease his way into the spring, but and
also new environment for him and obvious pressures.
But the way he turned the page, right, I mean, he had four games in spring training where
he was one for nine with six strikeouts and I understand it's not as much of a result
based setting there.
But still, I mean, I'd imagine if I'm over nine with six strikeouts and I'm going into
the WBCM thinking, man, I'm not feeling great going into this, it didn't seem to phase
Casey whatsoever, right?
He turns the page and immediately starts putting up, you know, good at bats and again,
in the home run on the ball that was hung from Austin Bergner, a couple multi hit games
going out and playing some good defense.
So I think this is a lot about Casey's well as like pressing, you know, you think about
making a major league roster on a new team.
You were just traded for a year, the headliner and that deal.
You're struggling through a handful of games and then you go out to the WBC and you're playing
a big part in Canada's success.
So I think I think that part's really impressive.
And again, it's a guy that the defense we've seen has come along.
The arm strength has always been there, as you mentioned, on the real A, but looks like
he's playing solid out there.
And then again, like just to put together these quality at bats and high pressure setting
I think is exciting.
And yeah, I know, I know I'm sure the Marlins brass, I'm sure that I'm having a camp,
but to see I'm doing what he's doing right now there and such again, high pressure setting
and perform.
I'm sure it's been fun for them to watch that as well.
It's a really encouraging deal, a couple more guys in the world baseball classic before
we get to spring training performances.
And reek a Bradfield junior, the numbers don't necessarily jump off the page in pool
play for team Panama.
Bradfield was three for 11 without a walk.
He did punch out five times.
He stole two bases, but the thing that the world was introduced to was the game changing
speed of Enrique Bradfield.
He hit like kind of a soft liner one hopper over to second on a drag bun attempt.
And he beat it out with ease.
He is a game record type of runner.
And Baltimore is going to utilize him at some point in 2026.
Is it as a pinch runner defensive replacement?
Is it as a nine hitting center fielder?
I have no idea.
Time will tell an opportunity will tell.
But Enrique Bradfield is going to impact the Orioles in a positive way at some point this
year.
Yeah, it's funny.
It's just calling back to working on the brewer system and writing up Luis Laura.
And you know, Bradfield's a little bit more blazing, but these are similar archetypes.
And I was thinking about it.
And I'm like, okay.
This guy's at least going to be in with Laura.
And I think you'd say the same thing with Bradfield.
If he stalls out, nothing gets better, right?
Nothing at all gets better at any point.
He's Kyle Isbell, right?
Like that, that type of production.
Kyle Isbell might be a frustrating offensive player.
He's a guaranteed one war and, you know, depending on B-war F4 and how the metrics, you
know, treat you that year anywhere from 1.5 to one to 1.5 to two.
And I mean, you'll give Victor Scott.
Victor Scott was working uphill to a 600 OPS this past year and turned in, you know,
roughly a two-win season.
You could Jacob Young.
It's kind of the same story there.
And I think when you look at a Bradfield or even a Laura, like, there's room for more.
And then I think with the guy like Bradfield, I think he leans into that a little bit more.
And the way that he can lay down that button, steal a hit, and the way that he is extraordinarily
patient.
And I think that's a big part of it because I think some of these other guys get a little
bit too aggressive.
So I think that archetype prospect is underrated, where you just have a guaranteed like second
division regular here.
And then again, you know, there's room for more to potentially be a first division regular
if they can just be close to 100 WRC plus.
And we've seen that.
So I think just seeing the skill set from Bradfield, seeing that even when he's swumping
he can lay down that hit and you lay down that button.
And that was an RBI St. Punt single, right?
Like, and be able to do things like that.
And then of course go out and play elite defense.
That's the type of player that I want a few of in my farm system at any given time.
Yeah.
No doubt about it.
Got a couple more guys, including the system of the World Baseball Classic, which we'll
get to in a little bit.
But I want to highlight Travis Pazana with team Australia.
If you look at the box score, it's not awesome by any stretch, but it felt like this guy
in high leverage moments for team Australia was coming up golden.
He had a really clutch home or in their first game in pool play.
I know they finished a little bit short and they will not be coming to Miami.
It's Japan and Korea that are going to Miami out of that pool.
I believe it was pool D from the Tokyo Dome, but Travis Pazana hit a buck 88 over his
four games in pool play, but a huge homer and a huge signal to cut the deficit to four.
That's the beauty of the World Baseball Classic.
But this guy will always rise to the clutch moment.
And it seems like he took immense pride in wearing that team Australia jersey.
Yeah.
I mean, if they could have recorded three outs, you know, on the top of the ninth
year, I mean, probably would have looked a little bit different, right?
Because the based on the tiebreaker, that bottom and the eighth RBI single, like you said,
a trim the deficit to four was, I mean, everybody was aware of the situation there.
Like that was a high high pressure moment to potentially send them into the next round
to send them out of the pool.
So, I mean, that is what Pazana's built.
When we talked about it in the top 100 side of things where it's like, you can look
at the tools and, you know, the hit tool may now be closer to average than it was plus.
The play disappointed, of course, is phenomenal.
The power may be, you know, is above average at best.
But tool grades are tough with a guy that's just going to rise to the occasion and squeeze
every drop out of what he has.
And he's going to be able to, I think, provide value beyond, you know, what you would expect
based on the expected stats or based on, you know, I think just just the peripherals.
So, he just, I think hammered that point home in these games.
And again, that big swing was a big example of that, unfortunately, for Australia, they
couldn't hold on there.
I will say, Australia, man, they're getting better and better and better.
And I feel like we've seen some teams where they got better because of, and I'm not saying
this in a negative way, but they got better because of the lack of rules and they were
able to recruit successfully because everybody wants to play in the WBC.
Australia has got a lot of just straight up Australians, man.
And it just seems like this team camaraderie and this team plays off of each other extraordinarily
well.
And they just seem to get better and better each, each time, you know, that we see them
in this tournament.
And I mean, I think they played a lot better and took it a lot closer than a lot of people
were expecting.
I just want to tell the six eight lefty Kennedy that he doesn't need to throw from this
low three quarters slot, like just go over the top.
You're six foot eight, but it's, it's a bizarre like manaya crossfire type of thing.
Like, you're, you're doing your height injustice.
Just throw over the top and make it crazy, man.
But, uh, bizana was one of the last guys before we get to the Halo system.
But I do want to hit on Gary Gilhill for a minute, ran into some tough luck, um, walking
guys in an inopportune moment, also hitting a batter in his second appearance.
But Gary Gilhill, the raised prospect, pitching for Great Britain, his stuff has looked
pretty darn electric.
So far, this tournament fastball, I've seen up to the mid to high 90s and the secondaries
look sharp as well.
And I know that's that, that's somebody that you've liked for a couple of years at this
point.
Yeah.
You know, this stuff was a little bit subdued last year.
There was some Velo fluctuations and I think that was the interesting thing.
And yeah, you saw it holding up closer to the mid 90s in these shorter spurts, um, these
are strike thrower.
And that's why I was surprised and it seemed running into some trouble with the walks.
I imagine just that Mexico lineup was probably a little bit daunting, but bounce is back
and, you know, fills up the zone against Brazil.
I thought it was interesting though against Mexico, like adding in two thirds, he didn't
allow it hit.
It was the two walks, as you mentioned, that killed him, but struck out three of the four
outs he recorded and then more confident in the zone against Brazil and allowed just
the one hit there.
So I'm hoping he builds on that.
I think it's sneaky.
Like we've been talking about Gary Gilhill for a while.
It's easy to forget that he's 21 years old for the entirety of the season.
So I think in a lot of other systems, he's getting more shine.
It's just the race system is out of this world in terms of the depth.
And unfortunately, you know, he kind of slips to the way side of it compared to some of
these other players, but at 21 years old, presumably going to double A this is coming
season.
I don't think they're going to have him repeat high a after pitching an entire season
there.
Right.
He's got plenty of time to continue to develop and I think you showed some impressive
things.
Another guy with plenty of time, Lucas Ramirez starts our stretch of angel prospects.
Many Ramirez's son, Lucas spent the majority of the 2025 season on the complex.
He got to low a at the tail tail end of the year.
Lucas Ramirez had three homers in 2025.
In the world baseball classic he's two for 11 with two homers, but those two homers came
in their opener of full play against TV USA.
There was no better moment to show up as many Ramirez as kid and as a prospect already
inaffiliated baseball.
Give us the warning on Lucas Ramirez because I know that you will, like you want to
douse this fire, but the two homers against TV USA was absolutely electric.
I love it, man.
And this is why baseball is awesome.
You just never know what's going to happen.
He ambushed a couple of heaters on the inner half and I mean, one was a left on left
against Gabe Spire and the others against Logan Webb.
It's it's fun.
I think I saw some sports card account saying like his cards are up like a thousand percent
like.
Oh, relax, tread lightly there, but he played the entirety of the year at the complex.
And as you mentioned at the end of the year, I think the low a season was actually over.
So they sent them up to high a for a handful of games.
Look, I don't, I don't know if he's necessarily, you know, making a leap is a prospect.
And now this, this, you know, interesting guy in the angel system.
That said, I mean, the performance was really fun to watch.
He's clearly talented and has some bad speed.
And he's, he's wippy, but I think it was more of a reminder that even these lower level
minor league guys and again, this guy that played the entirety almost of his age 19 season
the complex.
Yeah, these are good players like they've got talent.
They can anyone can take anyone deep in any given moment.
And I think that was a perfect example of that.
But it was, it was more of just a fun exciting thing and look, I hopefully Ramirez can build
on that and you turn that into a solid season this upcoming year.
You know, I think when you look at the peripherals and everything that he did the complex last
year, probably looks like more of a guy on the outside of a top 30 of, you know, a weaker
angel system.
But you never know.
You never know.
And those were two pretty good swings.
So the angels are kind of the one organization baseball that would take a world baseball classic
performance and make it super reactionary and push someone.
They probably will not do that with Lucas Ramirez.
They could do that with Niger Victor.
Niger Victor is a Bahamian born reliever that you saw in the Arizona fall league last
year.
Niger Victor was amazing against Team USA.
He struck out Aaron's judge.
He struck out Bryce Harper and then he punched out somebody else.
Was it Breggman as well?
But Niger Victor in two appearances so far in pool play two and a third.
No hits.
One unearned run.
He's walked to and he's caded six of the eight outs or of the seven outs that he has
recorded.
He looks the part man that heater is alive and the secondary is follow suit.
Yeah.
Judge Harper, Gunner and Roman Anthony.
That's crazy.
And then he got Ernie Clemente to ground out, but it was an error by Ivan Johnson.
This stuff's legit.
It's a big league reliever.
This is a little bit of a different conversation here.
And Victor, I mean, the cool thing I saw out there just in this outing was, and I was
at that ballgame.
He's got the moxie to be a big league leverage reliever.
He was not shining away from that moment and he was actually soaking it in.
He was hungry for more.
And they stretched him out to 30 pitches there.
And I mean, that's something that I don't think Victor is done since he was at, I'm looking
now like central Florida, started for the golf coast and transferred over to UCF unless
I'm missing something here.
I don't think he's thrown more than 35.
Actually, we got Tri City through about 38 pitches and 45 pitches on two occasions in
Tri City.
Point being he hasn't done it very often.
Fastball at 98, touching 100 and I saw in the airs on a fall league, disgusting, disgusting
slider off of that.
This guy's going to be in a big league bullpen.
I don't know how quick the angels are going to move this thing and how encouraged they
may be after the AFL and how he finished the year and the regular season and then what
he did this past year.
But clearly Victor got a little bit more unlocked a little bit more in that outing against
the US.
And I think that's pretty cool.
Yeah, I think a guy that at 24 years old wouldn't be shocking if they start pushing
him a little bit more aggressively.
Totally understand that, man, a guy that will certainly factor into the angel big league
conversation this year is the last guy in the world baseball classic that I want to talk
about.
Sam Aldigeri got a start for team Italy in the world baseball classic and Aldigeri was
untouchable.
He won a third of one hit shut out ball.
He walked to but he paid eight.
He struck out eight of the 15 hitters that Sam Aldigeri saw.
He was a whiff machine.
He already has his big league debut under his belt.
He's not this American with an Italian last name.
He is full blown Italian and he is certainly going to factor into the angel conversation
this year.
Yeah, I'm excited to see how he builds on it because he was looking good in the spring
as well.
It's turned in three quality earnings against the Cubs back at the end of February.
And then, I mean, look, I understand Brazil is not one of the most potent lineups, but
you go four and two thirds of one hit ball in an A.K. as we just talked about.
Anybody can get anybody.
We saw Lucas Ramirez get them twice, the U.S. twice.
I thought it was really impressive.
But Aldigeri was doing more of what Sam Aldigeri needs to do to be successful, which is fill
up the zone, pick your spots to try to generate chase, but get ahead with the fastball.
Don't be afraid of hard contact and just attack a little bit more.
There's a little bit of run and ride life to the fastball and that played to his favor.
And then again, the change up and slider off of that and really setting up the change
up to be that effective pitch.
As you know, fastball change up guys can become a little bit predictable even though he
has that slider to mix in.
So you really got to get ahead.
And it seemed like Aldigeri, since the start of spring training has been a little bit
more confident and a little bit more intentional with the plan to get ahead with the fastball.
So yeah, I mean, they're going to need endings there, especially when Alakmanella is currently
in your five spot and Aldigeri is better than my Alakmanella.
I can tell you that.
And you know, Geraud, you're hoping that can stay healthy and stuff like that already
on the 40.
If he shows this, he doesn't even need to be great, right?
Even if he's a mid-force, if he's a lefty that's throwing strikes, which is the big
part.
I think he started a nibble last year.
They need endings.
And I think Aldigeri can give you quality endings.
Certainly.
So that was our WBC prospect rundown.
We're going to wrap with spring training guys, notable standouts in a moment before
that quick break.
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Spring training leader in total basis is Brennan Davis of the Seattle Mariners.
And I want to start with Brennan Davis there.
He is likely ticketed for AAA Tacoma, but Brennan Davis so far this spring in Seattle
spring training is 11 for 24.
That's a 458 batting average of four doubles and four home runs.
I know he's probably not a prospect anymore.
He's been around too long for that.
He signed too many minor league free agent deals to be in that conversation.
But this is such a good story, man.
The Brennan Davis is the best hitter and baseball in spring training.
This is a little bit more actionable to me because I'm not just because I'm biased
and I just want this guy to succeed so freaking bad.
But because Brennan Davis's ability has never been the question.
The question then becomes after every injury that he has, oh no, what version are we
going to get when he comes back?
And we did that song and dance yet again.
And each time, not each time actually, there's been sometimes with the back where it was
very subdued and he had to kind of get it further away from the procedure and learn,
you know, his body again.
But I think about last year, we talked about him a little bit.
He was pulverizing baseballs last year, absolutely destroying them before getting heard
again in the Yankee system, 50 games.
It was a 972 OPS.
It was an EV90 of 107 miles per hour.
He hits 17 homeers in 50 games.
This isn't in low A high A rehab assignments.
This isn't triple A.
He's doing that.
You know, maybe a couple were in double A at the start of the season.
But I think the vast majority, even 15 of them were in triple A.
And then also, he came back at the end of the year after that injury where he jumped
up against the wall.
I think it was something ankle-related.
The Yankees will never tell you.
And came back and continued to hit through the postseason for the Scranton as well.
So to see him then build on that, come back, this spring training, and just continued
to pulverize baseballs.
And I think he looks as fresh as he is looked in terms of, he thinks he's trusting his
body a little bit more.
You see him in the outfield, more confidently moving, making plays out there.
And then, I mean, dude, he hit a ball off of Jacob Mizorowski who's a 98 mile per hour
fastball.
He hit it 116 at 30 degrees and went 464 feet to dead center.
It's not just the homeers.
It's how he's homering.
I mean, it's 116 miles per hour to dead central.
Then Jack Lighter, 117 miles per hour, 30 degrees to left center.
Another homeer 114 miles per hour to straight away left.
And then just a soft homeer at 104, to straight pull side, another one.
And there's a couple of outs that would be homers in a lot of ball parks as well.
Just hitting the living crap out of the baseball.
The thing with me, the thing with Brennan Davis at this point, it's just health.
Now, the other big variables with, I think that's a fair variable.
If we're talking about 100 games and he's seeing a lot of hard throwing righties, I think
where Brennan Davis has a really strong claim here is to be able to fill the short platoon
role that I think is going to be important for the Mariners, especially if Rob Refsnider
at 35 years old is going down a little bit.
I won't count that guy out ever.
But Brennan Davis has always crushed lefties and I think that's a role where he could
fill more immediately for the Mariners.
But if he's looking like comfortable out there in the outfield again and starting to trust
his legs, I mean, there's definitely a role for this guy to play.
And again, it'll be one of the best stories if he can get up there and have some success
at the big league level.
But I'll just be happy to see him at the big league level period.
We've talked about him as a guy, you know, in recent years, it's like we wouldn't blame
him if he hung it up just because of the frustration of his body, continuously failing it.
Right.
Now, man, it would be the best story in baseball this year, I wholeheartedly think that pivoting
off of Brennan Davis going to another guy who is five for seven with four homers.
That's a 31 79 OPS, Vance Honeycutt of the Baltimore Orioles.
He's getting into games as a minor league call up.
He's not a guy that's like starting games for the Orioles.
That's why he only has seven played appearances so far this spring.
But he's making the most of his seven played appearances that it's kind of a cult following
here.
I know the whiff is the concern and you cannot pull anything from seven played appearances.
The four homers and seven played appearances is four homers.
Okay.
So, um, and he's, this is another guy major leaker.
He actually barely needs to hit it all to be a major leaker if he's, he just needs to
not be unplayable at high A and that's what he was last year.
Now, I don't know if this is going to translate.
That said, the Vance Honeycutt we saw last year, I don't even think would have been capable
of this.
You grooved him 90 and this is not to be disparaging.
This is, I promise it's a positive sweat.
What would not have been capable of this if you grooved him 92 down the middle in a game
setting, uh, four straight, he only gets one out bad to do it.
I don't, I don't think he does that, right?
If you look at the difference, he was very crouched and I really do think for a lot of
guys who are great athletes, standing them up a little bit helps a lot, a lot because
it allows them to just move and have more space and be athletic.
Whereas if you're already crouched, you're trying to control the, the, your body, you're
already in this position where you can't really leverage your athleticism as much.
You stand up, you can move a little bit more freely, you can get into your base from
there instead of trying to stay somewhere that you've been pre-placed.
And Honeycutt has been stood up this spring.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that he's hammering mistakes.
But before Honeycutt's a mistake hitter, just, just a mistake hitter, just hits fastballs
and some hanging breaking balls.
Sure.
It's going to be a major league or for a good, a good amount of time.
I always talk about like the Jake Mariznik threshold, like that's, his glove is so good
in center field.
So I think that's the encouraging part.
I think the other part is like, it's a guy that struck out nearly 40% of the time in
high A last year.
And again, it's only seven at bats, but eight played appearances, but he's only struck
out once.
It's, it's super small.
You're not saying run with this thing, but you have a tangible swing adjustment.
And you have a guy that was so bad last year that he's not looking overmatched here.
There's some reason to be cautiously optimistic that it can be a little bit better this year.
And if it is, he goes from non prospect to a guy that, again, like, he may not be the
most exciting, but he only needs like 100 WRC plus and double A to be protected from the
rule five with his speed, raw power and defensive ability.
Yeah.
And I don't think he's coming up on a rule five eligibility.
No, it's not for a little bit.
Just kind of given an idea of like how low the bar is for him to be protected and be
on the 40.
That makes sense.
Okay.
Next guy, much larger sample for the number one prospect in baseball, according to just
baseball.
I come in really anywhere else.
Connor Griffin.
Connor Griffin has hit three tape measure shots.
He has an 894 OPS that is buoyed by a 625 slot.
He's five for 24 so he's sitting 208 and he has yet to walk in 20 pardon in 26 plate appearances.
The power obviously encouraging for Connor Griffin.
This is not the superstar undeniable spring training that I think a lot of people would
assume it is based on Twitter reaction to it.
It's encouraging enough probably to war in a roster spot, if not on opening day, pretty
darn soon after that.
If you watch the games because the defensive side of things too, if you watch the games,
he belongs like undeniably belongs that said, this guy's going to India, isn't he?
Probably.
I'm happy for the Indiana faithful, Indianapolis faithful.
Excuse me.
My problem is this.
I just don't think it's their best foot forward.
I'm interested to see who they put in there.
I was talking about it with our guy Matt Radella, Lidz, when we were just doing the event
with Pregman and BGO, by the way, both great guys.
Craig BGO is, you know, Alex Pregnant, extremely nice to really like him.
Craig BGO might be one of the nicest guys of my life though, so that was really fun.
What an awesome guy.
It was a blast, but legitimately, like one of the kindest guys I've met that played
Major League Baseball, let alone a Hall of Famer, and then we're going to do something
with the Kune on Thursday, but we were talking about it because the Lidz head quarters,
I guess, the office that they're at, isn't Indianapolis, so they're very excited about
the prospect of Griffin there, and one crazy thing for AAA Indy, right, like you're
going to have two potential.
I mean, skiing's already is, you know, on that fast track of Hall of Fame status, obviously
got to do it a lot longer.
We've seen a lot of pictures come out hot, but I think it's fair to say.
And then Conor Griffin is this potential superstar talent, and you know, once in a lifetime
talent for an organization, and you've got two of these guys coming through in a handful
of years or a couple of years, and Indy is pretty special.
That's, I don't know if you should be there, but I feel like they're going to point towards
like a 222 batting average as if that matters, and a 276 would be, and say, yeah, we want
them to just work on some things, and then a couple of months into the season, when they
think you can't win rookie of the year, we'll probably see him up.
They better not do the Chris Bryant thing.
He has to work on defense and not specify what defensively Chris Bryant to work on.
He's just got to get better at defense, got it, okay.
There we go.
Here's my question to you.
Do you send them?
Do you send them there as almost a leverage in the extension negotiation?
Hell no.
Hell no.
Come on.
Absolutely.
I don't want to do it, but like, here's my question because they are presumably talking
about an extension.
The idea of, hey, we're going to work out this extension with you, but you're going to
go to Indy, it's weird to me, because it's like, all right, we're going to talk about
this extension while you're playing in AAA.
Part of me is like, yeah, well, okay, at least I know I'm going to get my bonus and money
now while I'm grinding it out in AAA, the other part of me is like, well, that's kind
of weird to negotiate an extension when you're not even starting his clock yet.
If an extension is going to happen, it's going to happen the next week or two.
It's going to happen before anybody breaks camp and counter-griff and goes to Pittsburgh
or Indianapolis, I bet they come to an agreement on an extension in the next week and a half
and he is the opening day shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
I bet that's what happens, but if there is no extension, I bet you he goes to Indianapolis.
Yeah.
That's tough.
So it's already hanging over his head as leverage anyways.
I know.
So it's like, hey, you better put pen to paper.
The way he's on the opening day roster is if he puts pen to paper and signs the extension
which is crazy and it's so backwards and you know, this is why you could hate the business
of baseball.
But man, I really do feel like that is probably the case right now for counter-griff and it's
unfortunate.
But you know what?
That's the brakes and that's the business sometimes.
They need defense man and that's the craziest part and I think there's a case that he could
be their best defender.
The second, you know, he gets up there.
I've maybe triolo, but I think Griffin will probably be the best defender the second he gets
up there.
Yeah.
I can totally see that.
Your number two prospect in the game is off to a heck of a start in spring training.
Kevin McGonagall through 10 games is seven for 20.
That's a 350 clip with an 1158 OPS.
He's got two doubles, a triple and a homer.
He's only punch five times in 24 plate appearances.
He also has a stolen bag as well.
We talked about it a little bit on the just baseball show.
It's not the best foot forward for the pirates.
If Conor Griffin goes to triple A, it is certainly not the best foot forward for the
Detroit Tigers.
If Kevin McGonagall goes to triple A.
Well, I like it too.
If you add in, you know, the the scrimmages or the exhibitions against the Dominican Republic,
which, you know, arguably tougher competition.
He's facing Severino and some of these guys and you definitely higher intensity than the
spring training games.
He's got 12 games here where he's 10 for 25 with a pair of homers.
He's looked good defensively.
He is wreak havoc on the base paths.
He has worked ABs really well.
He is hit for average and power and I get it's a small sample, but he's been a tough
out and he is also slugged.
This one would be, I think, borderline and excusable because what am I going to see hobby
bias there in some games, I could understand maybe then it's McKinstree.
Even then, I don't really get it that guy, even though he had some accolades last year,
had like a six something OPS the rest of the way.
It would make no sense, frankly, for Kevin McGonagall not to be on that opening day roster,
especially because you got a really, really, really good chance at getting that PPI pick
with McGonagall as well.
This is a player.
I know it's not the Scott Harris MO and Harris is an interesting guy, brilliant guy.
I wonder like if there's certain areas where he, you know, looks at this and says, let's
be super aggressive, let's bring him up and also this is another guy that I think should
be extended.
I mean, I know you may feel like, oh, well, we extended keith and like, maybe we, it's
not bad, but not great.
Like, this is different.
Listen with McGonagall conversations.
There's no world.
I mean, of course, honey, that's extreme because it's baseball, but in the relative world
of the prospect, McGonagall is a guy I can give an extension to and sleep so soundly.
My job could be on the line.
It could be, I could be at odds with my owner who doesn't want to give the extension
and I say, no, you have to.
And he says, all right, well, if it doesn't work out, you know, to your head, I honestly
don't think I'd be that worried.
I know he made me it's different when you're in that position and you got like a family
to provide for and whatever, but I really don't think I'd be that worried.
That's a gamble.
I would take every day of the week and here's the thing, no GM's ever going to be in that
position.
And Harris is way too good at his job to be worried about a miss there.
You're not going to miss even if McGonagall doesn't reach his ceiling.
He's still going to be a solid big leagueer.
His floor is so high.
I think this is a guy that you really got to work at try to work something out with.
And I'm interested if they do.
Yeah, I'd be fascinated jumping to another guy that has plenty of big league time under
his belt, but still has prospect eligibility.
Jordan Lawler of the Arizona Diamondbacks, I want to jump to here because it's an entirely
different conversation about Lawler at this go around that it was the last time we saw
him play, which was September in Arizona, Jordan Lawler through eight games is eight for
23.
That's a 348 clip with three homers and a 1266 OPS.
Now, this guy is punching out a little bit, but he's walking a lot.
Where are you at with Jordan Lawler in the Arizona Diamondback thing?
Because this guy was trade candidate and changes scenery candidate number one at points
this off season.
What if I told you a change of scenery could come at home?
I think it's brain.
I think the infield was really, really messing him up last year.
Like I think I was borderline yips, right?
And so he really could not make the throws consistently.
You even saw his footwork.
I mean, this is a guy that I've seen defend really well.
I mean, you know, you can look at scouting grades across the industry.
They're all solid defender at shorts up.
Some putting him at plus because of the tools that he had and get to the big leagues.
The feet are late.
He looks rushed.
Then the throws are all errant.
He just, and you could see it on his face.
He just didn't look comfortable out there.
And then he's bringing it to the box.
And I think that was really affecting him.
Or sometimes he's like, the struggles of the box are being brought out to the field.
And I think that's what we thought with him.
I think they're kind of working in both directions.
And I think there was like a no break miserable experience out there for Jordan Lawler because
I think he felt like, okay, I'm this well-rounded player.
I knew that if that wasn't hitting, I could provide value defensively.
And he wasn't doing that.
And then we wasn't providing value defensively and actually struggling there.
I really got to hit now.
And he's not doing either.
And it's probably this consuming, frustrating whirlwind there.
Now you move him to the outfield.
And he can just go be an athlete.
That's it.
Go be an athlete.
You don't have to worry about your footwork being late to a spot, reading hops poorly,
feeling rushed, just work on your jumps.
Even if your jumps are a little bit late, you have the closing speed to go get balls.
Just ask your buddy to your left, Corbin Carroll, this is been, I think, refreshing for him.
Now, I still think he's going to punch.
And I think that's clear.
But he's also leaning into the three true outcomes out of things.
And I think that's fine.
I think he's going to feel refreshed, just running in the open out there playing a good center
field.
Not having to worry about as much.
And hey, you're maybe the nine hitter on this team, grind out at bats, get on base,
go play a good center field for us, steal some bags, and we're happy.
And I think it's a shifted expectation.
I think it's a little bit of a slower.
I know center field's daunting, but I really don't think it's going to be nearly as daunting
as the infield was for him last year, where he can just go be an athlete and worry about
just trying to piece together good at bats.
And if he does that, the dimebacks are happy.
He's happy.
And at 23 years old, he can build on that.
And he's got one of the higher ceilings of any eight or nine hitter in Major League
baseball.
That's the case, which is really darn fun.
Go into a guy that just got let go from Yankee Camp.
Spencer Jones was option to triple A, Scranton, Wilkesbury, Spencer Jones, it's a conversation
every single year.
Might as well get it out of the way now.
It was a really good spring training for him.
And he approached the option with so much maturity.
Did you see your quote after he was optioned?
I mean, it was total pro.
He said something along the lines, and I don't have the direct quote in front of me, but
something along the lines of, I came in pretty much knowing my fate, you know, with judge,
with Grisham, with Jason Dominguez, there was too much going on in the outfield.
If all went right, I was going back to the minor leagues.
This is the best organization on the planet to be in.
And I know if I'm up, I'm impacting them in their quest for a World Series championship.
It was one of the more mature and level headed comments I've ever seen from a guy that
just got booted from Bingley Camp.
Especially because, you know, I know he fizzled later in the season.
I think there's some injury related to that, but like, was that the, had the best stretch
we've seen in the minor leagues in a long time at the end.
And then, you know, has this strong spring, and he could have thought maybe he got to get
caught up at the end of last year.
Maybe he'd get traded and be able to play, you know, for a team that would call him
up immediately.
Like he is kind of stuck here, right?
Where the Yankees don't want to trade him and get burned in their respect that if it
all works out, you know, you would have regretted trading him for, you know, a rental starter
or, you know, a leverage reliever, whatever it may be, but he wasn't only Paul Schienz.
Yeah.
Paul Schienz, but he wasn't bulletproof enough because of the clear whiff concerns to,
to be a headliner in a major package.
So, you know, I think it'd be created.
This really interesting conundrum there where he's kind of stuck.
And I think for him, he's kind of aware that it says, all right.
Well, if I can close this gap, I can force their hand.
It's also a roster situation here because I think even though I'm a Spencer Jones
doubter in their spec that like, well, I think he's going to provide value and be one of the
most volatile players that you have to justify keeping in the lineup, you know, on a
bulk platoon basis that you'll have, I feel like on a lot of other teams, you would have
got up by now.
It's lefties galore.
The whole bench is created to spell the short side of the platoon.
You have goldsmith, Rosario, and Gritchock, and I think once that signing was made, it
was abundantly clear.
But what is another high whip leftie going to do on your bench?
When you have Trent Grisham, that bellinger's not high whip, but just the point of lefties,
Ben Rice, Jazz, Ryan McMahon, and Austin Wells, like where are the A-Bs for another leftie
who is going to really struggle against lefties?
So I question though, is this, Dominguez is also an interesting situation because yes,
he's switch hitter.
He is putrid from the right side.
So he's another guy that's essentially just a leftie.
Those two guys are redundant to me.
For the sake of the Yankees needing, I think you play the upside a little bit more, but
I think Dominguez's floor is a lot higher than people give him credit for it.
I think the glove just needs to come along a little bit more.
That one of those guys has to go.
No, what's the point of stashing two?
I think Dominguez might be squeezed off this roster too.
What's keeping both of those guys in AAA?
There's no point in keeping both from the question is who has more value and who are
you more comfortable moving off of?
I honestly feel like with the run that Dominguez has gotten over the course of the last couple
of years, Dominguez would be the guy that I would dangle in trade conversations quicker
than Spencer Jones because the return is going to be much greater.
He's not the Martian anymore.
You know that.
It seems like the ceiling is higher for Spencer Jones than Jason Dominguez at this point.
Is that fair to say?
I don't think it's very argued.
I think the ceiling's higher.
Spencer Jones ceiling is difficult as it may be to attain.
It's out for the Homer Center fielder.
Yes, correct.
Even if he strikes out 35% of the time, if you have more of a commune in center, that's
what the ceiling is, right?
So like everyone's going to take a chance on that at a certain price point, right?
So I think with the floor of Dominguez, I think that is the guy that you should be moving.
Yeah.
I think people forget that Dominguez, even through like a turbulent year, it gave you
a 103 WRC plus and still 23 bags last year, like the biggest issue was his defense.
And I think it changed his scenery.
He could potentially just improve on that side of things.
But I think Dominguez is a really high four solid player that a lot of teams would be
happy to plug and play immediately.
I just feel like they got to move one of these guys and it makes more sense probably to move
Dominguez because you look at Grisham and say, you know, Jones could be kind of the
heir apparent to him eventually as well.
But as you know, baseball is this battle of attrition.
And you know, if Grisham goes down, you know, you're not playing Grisham out there every
single day.
So all of a sudden, one of those guys is coming up.
So it's like they're, it's weird.
They're the fourth outfielders, but they're not even on the roster because they need short
platoon guys on the roster.
So the fourth outfielder is actually in scrant.
Yeah, right.
That's the interesting set up there in which you end up not trading anybody at least until
the deadline.
Yeah.
And the what?
Scranton to New York.
Don't you have to drive to Philly and then fly from Philly to New York?
That kind of stinks.
Or it's just a long drive from Scranton, New York.
So.
That's convenient.
That's convenient.
100%.
You know, there's no direct flight from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis.
That's the weirdest thing ever.
Like you can't get there direct you either have to drive the five and a half hours or you
have to connect, which is bizarre.
We're going to go rapid fire through the last eight to 10 guys that I have listed here.
But before that, we'll step aside one more time.
By we support the Durban Marshall credit card bill.
See?
Things in credit unions help small businesses make payroll.
This bill would cut the vital resources they need while increasing Megastore profits.
They deserve it.
Don't they?
Tell Congress stop the Durban Marshall money grab for corporate megastores paid for by
the electronic payments coalition.
Starting off this final stretch of guys, somebody I want to throw at you is not someone that
I feel like you may even be expecting 23 year old Cameron Colley with the Texas Rangers
organization.
Colley is somebody that arm has been decently high on over the course of the last year or
so Cameron Colley has been in big league camp for a while at this point.
And this is his best showing in big league camp, although he has been a master in spring
training over the course of his career.
This year 13 game six extra bass hits.
He's sitting 344 two for three in the stolen base department.
He's only punch five times and 34 played appearances and he's slugging just under 600.
Real quick, 71 spring training played appearances over the course of his five big league springs
in 41 games and 71 played appearances.
He's hitting 394 with 10 extra bass hits and a 1089 OPS.
He's first team all spring training.
Yeah.
You know, he's a freak athlete.
So he might be a guy that just gets himself ready to go a little bit earlier than everybody
else.
If you remember rule five preview, I thought Colley is a guy that should have went to
be honest.
I mean, in a world where we see glove first guys who really can't get taken in the rule
five pretty often.
Colley is flashed a little bit of juice.
He's fantastic, you know, on the bass parts and that side of the thing.
And we've seen him now flash a lot of juices.
He popped you know, 113 mile an hour homer off of Logan Gilbert.
He is hit some balls really, really hard.
Freak after I think played football, he has bloodlines, all these different things.
He is a superb defender at a lot of different spots.
He can play a solid shortstop.
He can play center field if you need him to.
He's been able to plug in the corners.
He can play second base like he's a true super utility guy.
I think teams are going to kick themselves for not taking him in the rule five.
Like I don't know what you know, if he's an everyday player, but I think when you see
the speed and the versatility and the ability to run into some baseballs here and there,
it's Dylan Morish and you know, in a rule five type, like I just, I don't know why
team didn't take a chance on him.
So I have no idea why either.
The Colorado Rockies first base conversation is becoming very, very interesting.
Troy Johnson is the guy with the most big league time in this conversation.
The only guy with big league time in this conversation, but the other two are performing
better.
TJ Rumpfield and Charlie Condon are making this a fascinating battle right now.
TJ Rumpfield came over from the Yankee organization through 12 spring training games.
Seven for 22 with four homers and five driven in.
He's walked five times.
He's punched out just once in 29 plate appearances.
Charlie Condon, meanwhile, nine for 22 with three homers and six driven in.
And in 26 plate appearances, he's only paid four times.
These guys are both putting their best foot forward right now.
Rumpfield and Condon and one of them has to be the first baseman for the Rockies on
opening day.
No.
Yeah, I think Rumpfield's got a really good chance here.
It's just, it's hard to get super, I take too, too much away like we talked about
from the spring training.
But when he struck out one time and, you know, a full, fledged sample here, I mean, if
you include, you know, the, the WBC scrimmage for them too, he struck out one time in 32
plate appearances.
Rumpfield.
He's out.
Outslugged the EVs, guys.
So he's not going to put like big EVs up, but he's going to backspin baseball to the
pool side and he's done that to sneak out several homers already.
But I think this is the archetype we've talked about that can play really well at course
or hit the ball in the air, ton of contacts consistently, never strike out and put yourself
in a position to be rewarded.
I don't get the big whiff, I get that, you know, whiff can be subdued.
And so for certain guys that have whiff concerns, it can help for you, you know, out there
and course to just chip away at that.
But for me, like, I think a big part of it is, if you're going to be rewarded with these
cavernous outfields and an area where the ball also carries more, why not target players
that put themselves in position to be rewarded more consistently by actually putting the ball
and play.
I think Rumpfield's a guy that ends up making this team and has a really high floor.
James tips of the LA Dodgers, it's a layered conversation here because tibs, the slash
line looks really good right now through 14 games and 36 plate appearances, slashing 281-361-563.
He's got four extra bass hits, including a pair of homers, but he's punched out 15 times
in 36 plate appearances.
Number one, were you expecting the K-rate to be astronomically high because I felt like
that historically has not been too much of the conversation with tibs, if I'm not mistaken.
And number two, the numbers are still okay.
What do you make of his spring to this point?
I think there's like a clear desire to move the bat quicker and he's doing that, right?
I mean, he definitely worked to be more balanced with the lower half.
He's got to get a little bit lungy and he's done that and he's hitting the ball really hard.
I mean, we saw him pop at 113 and popped mother really impressive EVs.
But I think in that process, he's still learning how to stay on the ball, not pull off with
his front side and we'll see how that translates.
I think again, clear that he was trying to slug more, but in the process right now, there's
just this adjustment period where he's whiffing a lot and that part's going to need to be
cleaned up a little bit.
I think some of it has been patient and he's found himself just deeper accounts in general.
But there's definitely a little bit too much with that said he is definitely moving
the bat faster.
Tommy Tex of the athletics, Tommy White is eight for 18 with three bombs and one punch out
in 21 plate appearances.
It's been an amazing spring training for Tommy Tex so far.
He had a two strike homer the other day.
It was an O and two count and he did the classic no load with two strikes.
There is no toe tap.
There's no turn, no nothing and he still has the power to get it out.
I know at points last year, you might have fallen a little bit out of love with Tommy
tanks, but has this spring bought you back in at all?
Uh, I mean, it's good momentum into the season.
I think with Tommy White, is he's a fastball killer?
And then he really struggles against the secondaries and I feel like in spring training.
If you are a fastball killer and you ambush heaters, you're going to be in a pretty good
spot.
That said, though, he's seen plenty of spin and as you mentioned, he's hit some spin
out a couple times.
It's also whiffed against it in the small sample.
So I don't love the no stride thing even with the homer that we saw.
So I'm hesitant, but you know, it has been a really good spring and it's encouraging.
And this is a guy that just, you can just hit, you know, like a despite not always looking
the prettiest, he's been able to get good swings off, you know, through stretches.
But I don't know, I'm still a little bit of a doubt or unfortunately, but he's so fun
for baseball that I hope he puts it all together.
More to take away from Leo DeVries' spring so far in Ace Camp, Leo DeVries so far 10 for
29 is 345 with the pair of homers and three for four in the stolen base department.
He's punched seven times in 31 plate appearances, but he's walked twice as well.
DeVries is certainly holding his own as a teenage guy still in big league camp.
I mean, the two, the two homers said, I think DeVries, I was surprised.
I mean, you look at some, some, you know, top 100 list out there in like DeVries seemed
to slip a little bit, which is nuts to me because the way he finished the year in double
A. And I think that's a data driven aspect, which I get obviously like our rankings are
very data driven.
And DeVries leaves a little bit to be desired in the EV department.
He's 18 years old last year until November.
The other thing is like, EVs are not going to matter as much for him.
He produces quality angles consistently and we saw that in the multi-homer game just
a couple days ago.
It was 102-mile an hour homer and 104-mile an hour homer at 34 degrees and 29 degrees.
It's line drives consistently or when he pulls the ball, it's back spun at the perfect
angles to carry out of the yard.
He just has that knack.
And if you watch him over a large sample, just realize that he is always going to out-swag
his exit velocities.
But also, at 19 years old, why won't he tap into more EVs?
And once he does, his margin for error is going to become quite wide where he can just
do whatever he wants and miss hit balls that are going to spin out of the yard.
Yeah.
Two more guys that we got to go over.
One of which was reassigned to minor league camp, Ryan Walch mit of the Arizona Diamond
Backs.
Walch mit this year in spring was nine for 28.
That's a 321 clip with three doubles, a homer, five driven in, also stole a base.
It was a 903 OPS for Walch mit in his big league camp sample.
We were talking about this guy possibly being a opening day outfielder type if Carol wasn't
ready.
Absolute freak in nature.
Corbin Carol is going to be playing cactus league games as soon as this week, according
to Torrey Levello, which is absolutely insane.
I know you were watching him get his cage work in that special stuff.
We'll see if the power is after all with the hamate issue.
But dude, Walch mit, it felt, it felt like that was more of a paper move than anything getting
him out of big league camp and getting him back to minor league camp.
He'll factor in at some point this year, 100% you know, 100% I think the, here's the
one part that is going to be somewhat interesting though is a guerrilla presumably being ahead
of schedule as well.
If guerrilla comes back in May, where then does Walch mit fit in and maybe it's in, maybe
guerrilla DHS a little bit paving Smith, then plays a little bit more first in Santana
is more of a short platoon.
I think that's probably the most likely scenario, yeah, honestly.
So I think that's probably where it happens.
The reality is, Walch mit's going to force their hand because they're going to send this
guy to Reno and he is going to make Reno look like Cooperstown Dreams Park.
So with his swing decisions and his ability to hit the ball in the air consistently and
the raw power that looks plus at this point, he's going to be a monster out there.
And I think it's funny, you know, a final game and spring training goes three for three
with a walk and then, you know, a not final game, we'll get into it, but as a member
of the big week team and get down, as you mentioned, felt like more of a procedural move.
He'll be up there sooner rather than later.
And I think he's going to play a part of the debacks are having a successful year.
It's going to be because Ron Walch mit's also helping out.
The other option and debacks fans may like it.
They may not like it is you could trade guerrilla.
Lord is career junior is making $13 million this year.
He's got a club option at $14 million.
If Lord is career is playing like Lord is career can.
That's a very, very movable contract at that rate with the club option freedom that
a team would have if they are trading for him going into 27.
So that just that feels like the other option that could come to fruition for them.
If Walch mit is forcing their hand, but I feel like they would prefer to have too many
outfielders and have to trade one at the deadline if they are going to go about anything
like that.
That's a great point.
I think it could be very possible as well.
And that would be I think point being to there's a lot of ways to create a b's for for
Walch mit.
Also, like he's he could take the short platoon against Thomas.
Then he moved things around the where he can also get some right on right at that.
Based on how you want to shuffle things around the Santana and they're going to find a
way.
So I agree with you.
And I think I think Walch mit's a fun variable in this time of acts equation this year.
Last guy for you, Emmanuel Rodriguez of the twins, there are 11 games.
Eight for 19 with two doubles, two homers and four driven in.
I'm out of takes on Emmanuel Rodriguez.
We've probably talked about him more than anybody else in the history of this show, which
you got on him.
Yeah, they sent him back to triple A, right?
And the option back, which I think so, which stinks.
That's my only take, I guess, is that I just I wish he would just get a chance right
away at the big league level because I don't really think there's much left to prove.
He's going to strike out.
He's going to hit bomb.
He's going to play defense and he's going to run.
But I guess you look at the big league situation and you know, they've got one or one corner
of garlic and another and in bucks and up the middle, they want, you know, to just see
what they've got a little bit longer there and then go from there.
I'm just not sure.
I'm just not sure Trevor Larnick should be getting in the way of Emmanuel Rodriguez.
I agree with you.
I wholeheartedly agree with you because Lana gave you a 102 WRC plus last season and 567
played appearances and it felt like that was the best version of Lana that we were going
to see.
And on top of that, like, he's not a very good defender.
So you put a manual on a corner, he's going to defend pretty darn well, I would imagine,
unless the reads are just chaotically different, which I don't think they will be for him.
He's going to grade potentially plus.
I think it's going to be a, if he's putting up numbers and triple A and Lana continues
to just look like what he is, I think there's a world where we see that adjust sooner
rather than later and we see him plug in pretty quickly and I think that would be exciting
for twins fans because this is a fun young pesky team and we've talked about that.
Yeah.
That's what we got, man.
Excited to jump back into the top 100.
We got 40 to 36 on the next episode, sorry, 40 to 26 terrible not there on the next episode
and we'll continue to wind it down.
Spring Breakout coming out too.
So we will mix in a spring breakout preview, all that good stuff.
Also more WBC coverage on the just baseball show side and just in general on our socials
or website.
We'll all be out in Miami for the quarter finals all the way through the finals.
So stay tuned for that continuing to hammer through now the team top prospect was spruers
as I alluded to will be next and then we'll keep doing more from that and then keep an
eye out for the prospect note series put out the Mariners piece recently on just baseball.com
going to do diamond backs and hopefully squeeze in a couple more as well.
As always, thank you for listening reminded to join our discord a lot of fun conversation
in there around prospects breaks the WBC big week stuff Peter's fix all that good stuff
in the episode description as well and we'll talk prospects with you later this week.

The Call Up | An MLB Prospect Podcast

The Call Up | An MLB Prospect Podcast

The Call Up | An MLB Prospect Podcast