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[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and welcome to Baseball America's draft podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Carlos Colosa, joined today by both Peter Flaherty and Jacob Rudner.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We are here to kind of go back over our preseason draft teams.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This was an exercise that myself, Jacob, been badly-died.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Before the amateur season for 2025 kicked off, we each drafted teams of draft prospects and attempt to make the best collections of talent that we could Peter was not able to be involved in that exercise originally.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So he'll serve as a stand-in for Ben's team and also a judge and critique or critic of our teams as we kind of work through it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But since we started doing this exercise, I think it's always kind of fun to look back at our teams, see how we did.

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[SPEAKER_01]: line up the bonus values for each of our teams and players, and then see how we stacked up with the best of the rest of the players that we did not pick, but wound up with a lot of money.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I guess before we get into it properly, Peter, Jacob, how you guys doing?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I guess we'll start with you, Peter.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, doing all right.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's been it's been quite the couple days so I I guess I hope that this podcast is a nice little palette cleanser for anyone out there that's looking for one kind of put your mind at ease and listen to us chop it up about some of these guys because I know that's what it's serving as for me to an extent so that's that's kind of where I'm at.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Take a.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, doing well.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's the slow time for us on the college side.

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[SPEAKER_04]: So it's good to be looking back kind of.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And I mean, personally, just not to get to a far ahead of our conversation here, but I looked on for a dive in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Feel free to dive right in.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just looking forward to going through the best of the rest on this one, because I think that there are a lot of college players who we didn't talk about when we drafted these teams.

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[SPEAKER_04]: We're going to go over this in more detail.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Just as you guys are listening, I'm gonna put our teams in the podcast description.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So you can kind of visualize that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know we're talking about a lot of names and players that may be as tricky.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So if you wanna like look at the team does we talk through it that might be a helpful visual, but yeah, continue on Jacob, sorry.

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[SPEAKER_04]: No, I was just gonna say like, you look at...

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[SPEAKER_04]: some of those names that are on the best of the rest list that we're going to go over.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And it's just it's fascinating to me to think about what led to our process to maybe not select some of those guys and maybe what happened throughout the college season or the high school season that led to them becoming more prominent draft prospects.

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[SPEAKER_04]: So just we have a really interesting conversation coming up here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we do.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I guess maybe, is it worth kind of highlighting our teams that teams we selected just at the forefront?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I can run through it really quickly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'll just go from left to right on our screen.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And actually, I might just go in the order specific draft order.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I had the first pick, Ben drafted second, Jacob drafted third, and we had a snake order.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have the exact order here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I remember kind of the few players we went off to start, but we can get into that as we go through strategy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A catcher, two corner infielders, two middle infielders, three outfielders, four pitchers, and utility player.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We had to split up this team between college and high school, so I believe it was seven of college or high school and then six of the other.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of how we outlined it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We had some flexibility for where you could put players.

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[SPEAKER_01]: positionally, but my team was I gyrosha catcher, Dean Curley at Corner Infield, Zebra Nines at Corner Infield at Middalen Field, I had Eli Wiltson, Eric Houston, and the Alfield I had Nick Dumanale Slater to run Cain Keppley.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In the rotation I had Jamie Arnold, Seth Hernandez, Landon Harmon, Cameron Appenzeller, and Iva Arcette was my utility.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Ben's team at Ketcher, Ketem Bodine, at Corner Infilt, he had trade fulps and Ethan Holiday, at Middle Infilt, he had Billy Carlson and Lucas Franco.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In the outfield, he had Jay Slavio-Let, Kim Kenarella, Brendan Somerhill, and the rotation he had Matt Scott, just as the young Josh Hammond and Angel Cervantes, his utility player was Brock Sel.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then Jacob Browning is out at Ketcher.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He had Luke Stephenson, at Corner Infield.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He had Gavin Feene and Boston Keltner.

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[SPEAKER_01]: At Middle Infield, he had Kaisen Cunningham and Brady Ebel.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In the outfield, he had Deventeller, Henry Ford, Dean Moss, and his rotation was Tyler Brebner, crew schoolcraft, Kaisen with a spoon, Camelider, and his utility player was Brandon Compton.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So those are kind of our teams here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Peter, since you are kind of independent source.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we can look at the bonuses and it paints one picture.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But what is your just initial gut check feel?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you probably had thoughts on this one initially dropped, but looking back at it now, just thoughts on these teams that were assembled.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so if I'm Ben, I'm bummed that the signability of my guys, I didn't quite necessarily have my finger on the pulse on that one and a lot of them ended up going to school, but outside of that, it's interesting.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You can kind of get a peek into what each of your guys strategy might have been because as we'll get into.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious too, if you're, we might have discussed this in the last few months, but I'm curious what your perception is of each of our strategies, if you're just looking at our teams here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so we've talked about it like ever so briefly in the lead up to the podcast and Even in the lead up to this exercise a few months ago like what your guys strategy was and even in the aftermath a little bit But like when if you're listening and looking at the best of the rest and you see some of these prominent names Should drop the names on best for it

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[SPEAKER_01]: And the way I did this was I basically filtered signing bonus amounts and filled out the roster just purely with the highest signing bonus players that fitted each position.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So there will be a couple middle and fitters corner infillters that got bigger bonuses, but I was trying to fill out the roster kind of the same way we did.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that's how the best of the rest was put together.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, uh, so catcher is Michael Veto, the two corner infielders are Andrew Fisher and Ethan Petrie.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Two middle infielders are Jojo Parker and steel hall.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Outfield, you get Sean Gamble, Ethan Conrad and Jane Fousk and a rotation.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, this is the, this one hurts me.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The best of the rest squad has a rotation of Kate Anderson, Liam Doyle, Gagewood, Patrick Forbes, and rounding it out as the utility players Gavin Keelen.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so last year we did the same exercise, and the best of the rest was better than everyone's team, marginally so I think it was within

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[SPEAKER_01]: $500,000 of signing bonus was better than the top team last year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This year, it's a lot more clear cut.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The total signing bonus value of the best of the rest team is 57,800,000.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Second best was my team.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This year at 51,400,000,000 bonuses.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Then we go Jacob 38,800,000, and Ben are really bringing up the rear here with 29,800,000.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I think

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like just looking at it very clearly last year, we had fewer misses of players that were inside the top 10 at the very top of the draft.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the most obvious ones here are Kate Anderson, William Doyle, and Jojo Parker.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll give myself, I don't know if you want to give yourself grace here, Jacob, I'll let you speak for yourself.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'll give myself a little bit of grace for Kate Anderson and Liam Doyle because we didn't have them ranked quite as high.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe this is a a message that we might be should have.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know I had touched some scouts for like you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You seem kind of low on Kate Anderson.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think we had them in like second, third round range on our preseason list, Liam Doyle.

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[SPEAKER_01]: was kind of in a similar spot, but Jojo Parker, like looking at him there with how much I loved him in the course of the season, I'm looking at my team and I really liked my middle and field and I don't know that there's an obvious player that I would have taken off in hindsight.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I could have really tried to...

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[SPEAKER_01]: to force Jojo on their corner infield instead of save your nions, um, but man, I feel bad about not having picked Jojo given how much I like him and obviously where he wound up going in the draft, but Jacob would your thoughts on on all this.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, the best of the rest pains me, especially in the pitching department, I will say though, one thing that I think is important with regard to Liam Doyle specifically, I don't know that you looked at what he had done over his previous two years in college at Coastal and Ole Miss, and it really jumped off the page to the point where it was like, I have to have this guy over, you know, kison with her spoon, he got more money than Jamie Arnold

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[SPEAKER_04]: at the time Matt Scott made a lot of sense at the time, and that was maybe a riskier one that Ben had, but the reality is Liam Doyle was coming off of season where he had, I think it was a like a 5.7-year ray or something like that at Ole Miss and then he comes back and he strikes out 165 guys and is one of the best pictures in the country.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not going to, I'm not going to fault us too bad there.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I think

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[SPEAKER_04]: the high school infielders that we left on the board are a little bit more disappointing.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Other than that, I don't know that it's like too damning because of the reality is if you look at the pictures, the names are big and hindsight at the time though, I can see very well like why those wouldn't have been selected in a reasonably short draft.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think too,

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[SPEAKER_01]: We could have selected probably every single one of the correct high school middle and fielders and there still would have been more that looks really get on the best of the rest just because we don't have enough spots and that was such a strong demographic for this year's class.

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[SPEAKER_01]: As I'm looking at the list now, what stands out to me in the last two years that we've done this exercise really.

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[SPEAKER_01]: we need to really stop taking high school pitchers in this exercise.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have to save our pitching slots for the college players because again, we had between the three of us, we had nine total misses of that nine

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[SPEAKER_01]: want, let's see, one, two, three of those were pitchers high school pitchers just as a young and angel servantace for Ben and with servantace, maybe there's a little bit of an asterisk because he went in a really good spot.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He was going to get paid a decent amount of money.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It would have looked quite good if the pirates had just done a little better job just securing the signability there with him.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But then Cameron Appenzeller was my final pitcher pick.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I really went into it thinking he was going to have like a crew's schoolcraft sort of track, like move up into that back of the first round sort of range, the buzz on him coming out of the summer was super high.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But even looking back to last year,

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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, missing, let's see, William Schmidt, Tegan Cunes, Chris LaVonis, William Kirk, we're all players that we missed on myself and Ben, or I guess myself and, excuse me, Ben and Peter, I didn't take any high school pitchers that year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I guess I forgot about the lesson learned, but it just, it just highlights to me that the high school pitching demographic is so difficult.

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[SPEAKER_01]: 14s to really settle down and draft those players go to college at on it and also there is always this huge tier of college pitchers that are maybe not entering the year in the first round but they have a lot it seems like they have a lot better ability to move up the boards in the spring compared to the high school pitchers and he thoughts on that idea maybe for either

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[SPEAKER_03]: Jacob, you can take it if you want, but I mean, I think that the volatility of high school arms and in the signability is a really good point.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, in looking at these two exercises in a vacuum, like, you know, that's obviously only a certain portion of the player pool, but I mean, I think it is interesting that in back to back years,

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[SPEAKER_03]: you know, a handful of the guys that that didn't end up signing or the the prominent high school arms and like that demographic in and of itself is a really kind of high risk demo to an extent like especially with.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, the high school right hand, or you hear all the time.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, it kind of makes sense when you look at some of them.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Like, they're Schmidt, William Schmidt was really surprising in 24.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When it was announced that he was going to go to LSU, I think it was just as if not more surprising when Angel was, Angel Serrantez was selected 51st overall.

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[SPEAKER_03]: and didn't end up reaching and deal with Pittsburgh, like the others I can kind of see like Tegan Cones, Levonis from a surprise standpoint was right there with Cervantes, just also given where he wanted.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So we've had like two kind of like unicorn

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[SPEAKER_03]: almost cases and back to back years of guys being top two round picks and not signing like you probably have this stat off the top of your head because I'm sure that can't even imagine how many times that you had to repeat it like on the trap show.

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[SPEAKER_03]: in general, but like 90, what, seven percent?

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's like 99% of top 10 round picks end up signing.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm sure that number even increases further when you isolate the top two rounds.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So like those are two really unique cases and back to back years.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I'm with you.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's a volatile group of players in kind of a dangerous one.

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[SPEAKER_03]: and so on.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't necessarily see a changing too much.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I like, I would hope for a team sick though, the drafting a guy in the second round and having him not sign trend is buck to though.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_04]: It is interesting to, I'm sorry, I'll jump in real quick here.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'll close that.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I think one thing that is fascinating to me with regard to the college pitchers is there's a different type of volatility that exists especially for an exercise like this.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I think that there's a reasonably predictable group within the college demographic like you have the bremners and the wither spoons of the world, Jamie Arnold.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And we knew really early before the season started, well before the season started, that those guys were going to be first round names, if not early, first round names.

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[SPEAKER_04]: But there is also, and you touch on this, a level of upwards mobility that exists in college that doesn't exist anywhere else in Gagewood, who is on our best of the rest list, is probably the best example of that.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Gagewood didn't even throw 40 innings this year.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Through 37 and two-thirds innings, the majority of which happened at the end of the year, and is best outing, of course, was the no-hitter that he threw in Omaha.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And so that level of performance late allows these guys to move up fast.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And so, for anybody who's looking at the best of the rest and wondering, like how did,

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[SPEAKER_04]: Gage would knocking onto a team and he was the best pictures in the country.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Well, that's how I mean we didn't really even see him pitch during the season and you can go back even further Like Kade Horton, Ty Floyd, all of these guys put together late season performances that I think did a lot for their draft stock

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[SPEAKER_04]: on the college side and that allows you to kind of shoot up the board.

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[SPEAKER_04]: So there is an unpredictable nature to this.

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[SPEAKER_04]: I think that it's a safer pick for the exercise we were trying to do like you said, but it's also not a guarantee and there is a range of college pictures that exists that I don't think you can really account for before the season starts, that emerges at some point, you know, towards the halfway mark if not the end of the season.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What also stands out to me on this list is of the misses, almost all of them are high school players, which we talked about before, I think there's some ability reasons for that and just the the levers you're talking about, how you can increase your stock as a college player to support more.

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[SPEAKER_01]: opportunity to move up the board.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But two of the college misses were draft eligible sophomores.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Tray Phelps for Ben, his corner in field pick, and then Henry Ford for Jacob, one of his outfield picks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Both are players who just did not have the sort of seasons that they were expecting, that we were expecting.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And as a draft eligible sophomore, you just have more leverage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of a similar conversation with the high school players.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Those players have more leverage.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They can afford to stick bigger price tags out for themselves and the draft and actually stick to that versus a college junior who maybe has a little bit more risk in running it back.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe that leads to an interesting conversation about Matt Scott because he obviously did not have a good year in his transferring and kind of doing the Jared Spencer situation.

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[SPEAKER_01]: the Ryan Prager situation like there were some players who who do this each year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's tough because I wish Ben was here to talk through his strategy, but I wanted to highlight Ben because I feel like he has a much different view of this exercise because he he's talked to me before about it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He has a long time horizon.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He wants his team to look good in five, ten years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't think he would be too upset about having so many high school players who were going to college a player that he had last year that he didn't get credit for.

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[SPEAKER_01]: in this exercise was Brendan Lawson who didn't sign in what's college and that could look like a really good pick for him if we're looking at these teams in five to ten years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But I do think it's interesting that Ben does our our high school underclass rankings and just the difference in his looks on high school players when he's watching them as underclassmen versus how they perform the summer prior to their summer or their senior season and into the fall of their senior

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[SPEAKER_01]: their draft stock so significantly in this period.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And it is always fascinating to me just like figuring out who are the players that Ben is still particularly high on, who just came off down years and how sticky that is with the industry on the high school side in particular because that window of evaluation for these high school players at area code games at East Coast Pro at

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[SPEAKER_01]: important for how teams are modeling these players out and how confident they're going to be putting, putting real money behind them in the draft next year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's just worth maybe emphasizing for the high school players, how quickly their picture can change and how obviously at this age there's a lot of development going on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a bold and risky strategy for Ben, but I guess one will have to revisit in 10 years to see.

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[SPEAKER_01]: if some of these guys look quite good.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe also worth highlighting, he took a Stanford commit for his utility pick in Brocksell.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that's risky business.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if anyone's going to take Tyler Spangler coming up this year because he's just in a different spot ranking wise, but Stanford has maybe the school I would steer away from and exercise like this.

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[SPEAKER_03]: If there's one school that has an 80 grade track record of retaining guys in their respective recruiting classes, it's Stanford like Lowe's.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We touched on it in the last draft podcast that led me down a wormhole to try and get the exact number.

18:28.126 --> 18:37.211
[SPEAKER_03]: But I think that they've only had one or maybe two high school commits that they lose through the draft like as high schoolers.

18:39.432 --> 18:43.537
[SPEAKER_03]: in the last, I don't know, 8 to maybe 10 recruiting cycles.

18:43.597 --> 18:49.624
[SPEAKER_03]: It really is remarkable and they're not, these recruiting classes are legit on a national level.

18:49.744 --> 18:56.032
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not an unfair comparison kind of an apples to oranges type of deal where you're taking maybe a

18:57.914 --> 19:15.903
[SPEAKER_03]: a crop of lesser known, not high-calt or prospects in comparing it to, you know, like in LSU where Tennessee, like Stanford is right there in terms of talent with these other schools, maybe a tier below in most years, but consistently put together top 25 recruiting classes in their ability to

19:16.743 --> 19:35.953
[SPEAKER_03]: retain is really impressive, not that it's all that necessarily difficult to sell Stanford and what the player is getting, not just for his two, three, four years there, but for the four years after it, but in today's day and age, it's been really impressive to see how it's it's held up over time.

19:36.453 --> 19:36.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

19:37.474 --> 19:39.616
[SPEAKER_01]: Check up, Mayor Godhead, if you had something to do with that.

19:39.636 --> 19:45.562
[SPEAKER_04]: I was going to say, I mean, this is a little bit hypothetical here, but kind of an interesting thought that prompted for me.

19:46.303 --> 19:52.168
[SPEAKER_04]: I do wonder how things change at Stanford for two reasons over the course of the next couple of years.

19:52.569 --> 19:54.491
[SPEAKER_04]: One, being in the ACC is going to be a strain.

19:55.031 --> 20:00.316
[SPEAKER_04]: And I do wonder if there are players who look at Stanford and have different opinions about

20:01.157 --> 20:05.300
[SPEAKER_04]: what that structure is like and being a part of that and whether or not that influences the thinking.

20:05.420 --> 20:07.082
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not saying that I think it will or won't.

20:07.242 --> 20:09.643
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just saying that that is a data point worth considering.

20:10.084 --> 20:13.666
[SPEAKER_04]: And the other thing is, Head Coach David Esker is in the 60s.

20:13.826 --> 20:16.148
[SPEAKER_04]: He's been coaching college baseball since the 2000s.

20:16.548 --> 20:18.490
[SPEAKER_04]: The last couple years, Stanford have been rough.

20:18.690 --> 20:23.714
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't necessarily think that they're going to get better anytime soon now that they're in the conference situation that they're in.

20:24.054 --> 20:27.577
[SPEAKER_04]: There's a level of volatility to the Stanford situation that I think is

20:28.297 --> 20:41.704
[SPEAKER_04]: Interesting, if the coaching staff does change, and I'm not saying that's imminent, but if it does, does Stanford's status as this mega draft retainer that doesn't really lose a whole lot of guys in the high school process, does that change?

20:42.164 --> 20:44.206
[SPEAKER_04]: And what does that look like moving forward?

20:44.226 --> 20:52.010
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's like to your point, does the risk go down as we get, you know, deeper and deeper into Stanford being in the ACC over the next couple of years?

20:52.030 --> 20:55.332
[SPEAKER_04]: That was a distracting comment, maybe better for the college podcast, but now that we're no.

20:56.434 --> 20:59.572
[SPEAKER_04]: We're teaming up here, so that is a thought that comes to my mind immediately.

21:00.164 --> 21:25.335
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I'm happy to just go with whatever the conversation goes because it is interesting and I do wonder if Tyler Spangler next year will be just an interesting kind of test case for exactly how sticky is this Stanford commitment because I think me and Peter were talking about in a previous draft podcast, but I can't remember a Stanford commit ranked this high at this point in the calendar at a demographic that is not one that I think of as oh, this is a risky demographic to get to campus.

21:25.375 --> 21:28.857
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a high school shortstop at the very top of the draft board.

21:29.677 --> 21:30.618
[SPEAKER_01]: Left-handed hitter.

21:30.858 --> 21:34.459
[SPEAKER_01]: That's another check for them in just in terms of like the biomarkers we're looking at.

21:34.479 --> 21:41.203
[SPEAKER_01]: The teams really appreciate like the elite high school short stops in any class almost always go and get signed.

21:41.303 --> 21:43.624
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's interesting to look at him on a board here.

21:44.224 --> 21:46.726
[SPEAKER_01]: Three spots separated from Brock Chalowski because

21:47.706 --> 21:50.408
[SPEAKER_01]: him and high school, we probably would have been saying a lot of the same things.

21:50.448 --> 21:57.873
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I do think Tyler Spangler is in a different sort of tier at the same age and at the same time, particularly offensively.

21:58.314 --> 22:03.697
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a lot more conviction in what he can do with the bat as a high school hitter versus maybe rock at the same time.

22:04.638 --> 22:10.382
[SPEAKER_01]: But you can see the sort of impact player you can get at the college level with one of these West Coast powers.

22:11.363 --> 22:13.304
[SPEAKER_01]: So those two I think are just kind of

22:17.427 --> 22:25.555
[SPEAKER_01]: It just feels very unlikely to me that a team is going to let Tyler Spangler get to campus, but I guess we'll see how tricky and powerful that Stanford commit really is.

22:26.280 --> 22:34.667
[SPEAKER_03]: I was going to say, if Tyler Spangler isn't the one to to buck this Stanford trend, then who knows who is going to be.

22:34.687 --> 22:38.750
[SPEAKER_03]: They obviously there are so many variables from like player to player and who knows.

22:38.910 --> 22:44.775
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a world albeit and unlikely one in which Tyler Spangler makes it to campus.

22:44.815 --> 22:47.597
[SPEAKER_03]: And another one at Stanford's commits ends up getting coached.

22:47.637 --> 22:48.118
[SPEAKER_03]: I doubt it.

22:48.178 --> 22:48.318
[SPEAKER_03]: But.

22:49.979 --> 23:06.538
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, with with Spangler not to get off the of the topic too much here like big league body tools up the middle profile left in it like man he checks a lot of boxes and it's a really good high school short stop class it's a good infield class in general.

23:07.419 --> 23:27.510
[SPEAKER_03]: Um, on the college side as well, it's loaded with, with Rock Chalowski and Justin LeBron Eric Becker Tyler Bell up towards the top like he, at least at the high school level, he's probably my short stop to and in, in general, like he's a top five short stop in the class, which, you know, he's an argument to be a potential top five ten or so.

23:28.470 --> 23:31.712
[SPEAKER_03]: overall pick, but it'll be really interesting and in-fasting and to follow it.

23:32.872 --> 23:46.659
[SPEAKER_03]: In the lead to the draft and what the smoke is and things like that because you start to get a feel, I'll be really late in the cycle like June, early July, like as to what a kid's signability is.

23:46.679 --> 23:48.360
[SPEAKER_03]: And I guess.

23:49.407 --> 23:55.792
[SPEAKER_03]: not to go in so many different directions here, but like I do see what Ben is doing.

23:55.852 --> 24:07.082
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I mean, to touch on some of the, quote, misses from last year, you brought a Brennan loss and like an argument to potentially go one one in 27 Derek career was another miss.

24:08.643 --> 24:18.227
[SPEAKER_03]: chance to go on the top 15 or so overall in in 26 is a draft eligible sophomore team in Cunes was excellent at Tennessee and showed really well this summer.

24:18.247 --> 24:27.912
[SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, like I see the vision there with Ben and I have I'm lucky that I can kind of Monday morning quarterback this because I wasn't

24:28.772 --> 24:49.015
[SPEAKER_03]: in the draft room and making these picks, but I would, I would have loved to have picked his brain a little bit on the pitching side, like why some of the arms, particularly Matt Scott and Justice Deon, like over Kate Anderson, if he was still there, we have Doyle, obviously Kate, I'm not like gauge wood yet, but

24:49.195 --> 25:04.540
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm assuming so next year all has to just track the actual pick capital so we can say exactly when players were taken but both myself and Jacob were pretty aggressive early on with pitchers like we took four pitchers off the board in the first two rounds and so to me.

25:12.182 --> 25:35.500
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Ben was in a position where he can kind of wait because he knew we weren't going to be taking two more arms and so he just kind of how the board worked for him and then once you get to the Matt Scott, Josh Hammond, funny thing about him is a picture now given what he did with the bat and Cervantes, like all those guys are kind of in the same tier as like a Landon Harman Cameron Appenseller and Kim Lighter, which were the pictures that me and Jacob rounded out our rotation.

25:35.520 --> 25:39.083
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm sure just that focus for us in the first two rounds.

25:39.843 --> 25:40.604
[SPEAKER_01]: is part of that.

25:41.384 --> 25:57.638
[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, I'm curious now for your team, which are the the picks that you're like really happy about in hindsight and are there any in particular that you could take back now and you regret because I definitely have a couple for my team that jump out to me but I want to give you a chance and I can also go first if once more time to think through.

25:58.879 --> 25:59.559
[SPEAKER_01]: I can go for this.

25:59.919 --> 26:00.480
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm ready.

26:00.720 --> 26:11.327
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, so one that I'm really happy about, but I will say and maybe surprise to a degree, maybe not totally surprises based on performance, but I thought Luke Stevenson would get more money than he did.

26:12.108 --> 26:13.749
[SPEAKER_04]: I thought that that would count for me a little bit better.

26:13.769 --> 26:20.294
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you, you had a $4.4 million catcher and I, Irish, I thought I had a chance to be a lot closer to that with Luke Stevenson.

26:20.634 --> 26:21.194
[SPEAKER_01]: I got a degree, yeah.

26:22.075 --> 26:35.219
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you remember the order of our catchers because they were all pretty quick and I don't even remember if I went first I went second and Ben got Bowdine third and I will say to our credit those were the top three catchers.

26:35.259 --> 26:36.400
[SPEAKER_04]: So I think we did well there.

26:36.820 --> 26:37.740
[SPEAKER_04]: I was happy with that pic.

26:37.860 --> 26:41.542
[SPEAKER_04]: I wish it netted me a little bit more value than it did that was happy with it.

26:42.922 --> 26:57.430
[SPEAKER_04]: Bremner and Kison are two picks that I really like and I've talked about that on the college podcast and the fantasy podcast about how I think Bremner maybe got a little bit of hate during the real draft when he went as early as he did agreed and I think that that was a win for me.

27:12.658 --> 27:13.399
[SPEAKER_04]: He didn't pitch it all.

27:13.859 --> 27:22.024
[SPEAKER_04]: I took that pick and I even set it on that podcast episode that I made that pick, hoping that he would throw a couple of innings at least in 2025 and that never ended up happening.

27:22.044 --> 27:27.727
[SPEAKER_04]: So, you know, in hindsight, if I knew that he wasn't going to throw, which I had an inkling could happen, I probably wouldn't have made that pick.

27:29.448 --> 27:32.129
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, Henry Ford is kind of a weird one too.

27:32.209 --> 27:32.410
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean,

27:33.470 --> 27:35.071
[SPEAKER_04]: He didn't sign, which was unexpected.

27:35.631 --> 27:36.311
[SPEAKER_04]: I thought he would.

27:36.331 --> 27:39.492
[SPEAKER_04]: Again, do I go back and like regret that?

27:39.752 --> 27:48.015
[SPEAKER_04]: Maybe a little bit and I'll actually save this one for Peter because I took Boston calendar for Peter, and that netting me a big fat zero.

27:48.115 --> 27:52.537
[SPEAKER_04]: So I blame Pete for that.

27:52.697 --> 27:54.037
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm really pretty satisfied.

27:54.057 --> 27:55.518
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I think it's a it's a good group.

27:56.198 --> 28:00.479
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, I think that there are a lot of names that could end up looking better than their dollar values.

28:00.719 --> 28:05.720
[SPEAKER_04]: Look, you know, for the sake of this exercise, like Brandon Compton falls in that category a little bit for me.

28:05.780 --> 28:07.201
[SPEAKER_04]: Luke Stephenson is definitely there.

28:07.941 --> 28:11.422
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, maybe Brady Ebel, although that I could go either way on.

28:12.842 --> 28:14.962
[SPEAKER_04]: This is, it, I'm happy with the group generally speaking.

28:14.982 --> 28:22.984
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, if I had to review my, my work at this point in the year, I think it's, it's generally, I would like redo most of it and maybe with a

28:26.546 --> 28:26.726
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool.

28:26.786 --> 28:28.167
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no guy had Peter.

28:28.487 --> 28:28.788
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, no.

28:28.808 --> 28:50.286
[SPEAKER_03]: I was just going to say like throughout the like it's fun to sit back and like see and hear your guys rationale because it's like you can kind of pick out a player sort of archetype that you're a fan of and it's and it's somewhat apparent to see in draft strategy because obviously the bonus in signability aspect of it is is part of the exercise but outside of that it's.

28:51.107 --> 29:01.213
[SPEAKER_03]: It's getting the top guys on your hypothetical board, so it's interesting to see like the the audibles that may have been called the Fagai Got Nab.

29:01.793 --> 29:14.661
[SPEAKER_03]: I know on the pitching side with U-Los, like we see these, you know, the quartet of arms that that went unselected, but I know Jamie Arnold was right there with and was perhaps your top college arm.

29:15.401 --> 29:17.823
[SPEAKER_03]: Seth Hernandez was your top arm in the class.

29:18.044 --> 29:21.647
[SPEAKER_03]: You got your two guys like land in Harman ceiling is exceptional.

29:22.468 --> 29:25.291
[SPEAKER_03]: Same thing can be said for for Cameron happens.

29:25.371 --> 29:32.057
[SPEAKER_03]: Eleanor even though he didn't end up signing like projection left hand or stuff's got a chance to really tick up along with the Velo.

29:32.118 --> 29:33.699
[SPEAKER_03]: Like there's a chance in a couple of years.

29:33.739 --> 29:33.879
[SPEAKER_03]: He's

29:34.700 --> 29:38.722
[SPEAKER_03]: He's right there in the mix to be a first round pick again.

29:38.742 --> 29:43.444
[SPEAKER_03]: And then with you, Jacob, like I think you had to hit the nail on the head with Bramner.

29:43.564 --> 29:46.425
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said this on the Hotchie show after the draft.

29:46.465 --> 29:48.666
[SPEAKER_03]: Like people kind of forgot along the way.

29:48.686 --> 29:51.447
[SPEAKER_03]: How good of a pitcher, Tyler Bramner is.

29:52.648 --> 29:59.211
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he's an outstanding arm talent in in crew school craft, six eight lefty lead extension.

29:59.891 --> 30:11.582
[SPEAKER_03]: Tyson weather spoon is another excellent arm and in cam lighters the biggest wild car to the group and I have to assume he was taken at or near the end of this exercise and I'm a huge fan of that pick on a flyer.

30:11.602 --> 30:16.486
[SPEAKER_03]: I believe it was my last pick actually yeah like there's a world in which.

30:17.507 --> 30:29.030
[SPEAKER_03]: He's healthy this college season and is excellent for Florida State and people are talking about him as one of the top college arms in the draft and a slam dunk for a round pick.

30:29.110 --> 30:32.531
[SPEAKER_03]: Like the stuff is off the charts with them, he's just going to stay on the field.

30:32.591 --> 30:39.472
[SPEAKER_03]: So, that's a great value pick I think in getting him for 1.3 million.

30:39.492 --> 30:39.712
[SPEAKER_03]: I think

30:42.777 --> 30:48.799
[SPEAKER_03]: And just I, I'm kind of just bouncing around a little bit with with with with thoughts that pop into my head.

30:48.839 --> 30:52.140
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I can jump in and it talked through my a couple of my picks.

30:52.380 --> 30:53.400
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, go for it.

30:53.700 --> 30:56.741
[SPEAKER_01]: So I definitely had a a specific strategy this here.

30:56.761 --> 30:59.522
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I would replicate that strategy in hindsight.

30:59.662 --> 31:02.963
[SPEAKER_01]: I liked going after a few pictures that I felt were locks at the top.

31:03.003 --> 31:04.584
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was Jamie Arnold and Seth Hernandez.

31:12.566 --> 31:18.971
[SPEAKER_01]: Million that's definitely towards the lower end of like my expectations for where he would go Going right outside of the top 10.

31:19.131 --> 31:24.756
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have told you that really unlikely for that to happen at the time of this draft But with that said like still pretty safe pick.

31:24.816 --> 31:32.242
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so happy with the return there I was thrilled with my entire infield immediately after the draft and

31:34.330 --> 31:47.815
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm still happy with it now, but after the first three weeks of the season, this infield was looking like I was going to get maybe like six top ten picks, both Dean Curley and Mary Cousin were just lights out early on and then faded down the stretch.

31:48.555 --> 31:52.097
[SPEAKER_01]: And then Eli Willett's obviously moving up into everyone pick on the board.

31:52.557 --> 31:55.098
[SPEAKER_01]: I think my personal best pick of the draft was I've our kit.

31:55.758 --> 32:03.183
[SPEAKER_01]: he was my last pick and I think it just happened because all the other middle infield slots got filled earlier and he was just kind of sitting there.

32:03.644 --> 32:06.706
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was just waiting to take him later on.

32:06.726 --> 32:11.689
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not exactly sure how he kept getting passed over like for Ben to put him in the utility spot.

32:11.709 --> 32:12.750
[SPEAKER_01]: It would have made a lot of sense.

32:14.011 --> 32:14.772
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm happy to remember.

32:14.792 --> 32:15.492
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you want that actually?

32:15.532 --> 32:16.893
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I remember how that happened.

32:17.694 --> 32:23.238
[SPEAKER_04]: One thing that I think is really important for people to understand if you didn't hear that episode and I recommend going back and listening to it.

32:23.678 --> 32:25.819
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the way we have to draft.

32:25.999 --> 32:34.702
[SPEAKER_04]: There is a total of high school and college players that you have to write all and for me personally, and I can't speak for Ben, I didn't even have room to draft.

32:34.722 --> 32:37.824
[SPEAKER_04]: I have our cat because I filled my college quality.

32:38.384 --> 32:40.945
[SPEAKER_04]: I did and I used three of them on pictures.

32:41.205 --> 32:48.467
[SPEAKER_04]: So I got to a point where I got really hard for me and then I ended up having to use my infield spots for high school players.

32:48.867 --> 32:51.887
[SPEAKER_04]: And so if I were to read, like if that to me is really good conversation.

32:51.927 --> 33:03.450
[SPEAKER_04]: If I was to read this, I would redistribute where I'd picked what in terms of high school and college because I absolutely would have had an Ivar kit earlier in the draft if I've planned that out better in terms of the reason.

33:04.050 --> 33:04.770
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a great point.

33:05.090 --> 33:11.496
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that strategy, it was a hundred percent the factor because I believe Ben also went really college heavy early.

33:11.577 --> 33:19.424
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe his first two picks were Jay Slavula and Cam Canorilla or excuse me, yet Ethan Hall Day first, I think, and then his next two were LaVilla and Cam Canorilla.

33:20.806 --> 33:28.593
[SPEAKER_01]: So that is certainly a factor at play and for me it's it's always interesting to like try and look through where the strengths and weaknesses are demographically and then

33:29.775 --> 33:33.198
[SPEAKER_01]: I was really trying to get Seth Hernandez because it would fill a high school spot for me.

33:33.278 --> 33:42.424
[SPEAKER_01]: He was like in a tier of his own, I felt in the class and like was good enough to where I didn't have any questions about, like, signability was gonna get signed, something like that.

33:42.485 --> 33:44.606
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a real factor there.

33:44.646 --> 33:45.227
[SPEAKER_01]: The one that,

33:45.947 --> 33:48.048
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I regret the most here, I have to.

33:48.669 --> 33:49.649
[SPEAKER_01]: Cameron happens, I'll let her.

33:49.709 --> 33:59.235
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it probably just falls into that tier of high school pitcher where it's just a little sketchy on whether or not he's actually going to sign and get to campus.

33:59.255 --> 34:06.039
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think moving forward, I'll maybe be a little bit more conservative with taking those high school pitchers in this sort of exercise.

34:07.239 --> 34:13.203
[SPEAKER_01]: Just because again, like it seems like you can get a lot more value by taking a shot on one of the college pitchers.

34:13.903 --> 34:14.964
[SPEAKER_01]: in a similar range.

34:15.384 --> 34:21.388
[SPEAKER_01]: And then my other pick that probably looks the worst outside of Appadseller, getting me a big zero is Nick Dumanel.

34:22.249 --> 34:24.710
[SPEAKER_01]: And the outfield, he went in the 7th or 8th round.

34:24.730 --> 34:30.194
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember what I thought my head with the round range was, but it was just a $200,000 signing bonus.

34:31.095 --> 34:37.639
[SPEAKER_01]: Like looking at the other players I had available, I really wish I could have gotten a Deventeller who Jacob took on his team.

34:38.059 --> 34:39.721
[SPEAKER_01]: Like just the confederate guy.

34:40.521 --> 35:05.138
[SPEAKER_01]: right is and I'm not exactly sure like when you took Taylor looking at the board now if I ever had a real shot to get him but a Taylor or Brendan Somerhill over in Nick Dumnell just just players that maybe had a little more confidence in their pure hitting ability the conferences and the programs that they'd done it with just to make them a little bit more sticky at the top of the board and the even a guy like Ethan Petrie I imagine we could have drafted him as an outfielder or a corner in

35:07.940 --> 35:11.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but him being on the best of the rest with his hitting track record, just being so good.

35:13.524 --> 35:16.505
[SPEAKER_01]: That's another one that I probably would do over in hindsight.

35:17.386 --> 35:24.350
[SPEAKER_04]: I want there's one guy I want to talk about, like in particular with you guys, because there's here's another element of this exercise that I think is really fascinating.

35:24.951 --> 35:31.875
[SPEAKER_04]: There is a degree of like how do agents influence the process here, because I think that there is an

35:36.798 --> 36:04.316
[SPEAKER_04]: should have gone a lot higher and made a lot more money but didn't and the like poster child of that in this year's version is absolutely Brendan Summer Hill to me because there are I've heard from sources I've had many conversations that that did not go as planned on draft night and there were a lot of people who thought he was going to go sooner so we had him in the first round basically every mock we did so there were some whispers that came up with Summer Hill leading up and I was like hey he's like are you guys worried about him falling and everything was like no no no no like

36:04.896 --> 36:08.619
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's too good of a hit or too good of a profile like we think he's going.

36:08.659 --> 36:15.043
[SPEAKER_04]: So I I just like to see him at one point basically we'll call two million just for the I mean it's right there.

36:15.524 --> 36:19.707
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's the sign of urgency bonus for him that could have been doubled.

36:19.887 --> 36:21.168
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean just based on the player.

36:21.648 --> 36:26.892
[SPEAKER_04]: So there that is another weird aspect of this like you are kind of trying to bet.

36:27.252 --> 36:30.273
[SPEAKER_04]: who's going to perform well on the business side of all of this.

36:30.613 --> 36:32.254
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a lot of games there.

36:32.714 --> 36:34.635
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess you could look at this exercise in two ways.

36:34.655 --> 36:36.236
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know Ben is on the far extreme.

36:36.296 --> 36:46.960
[SPEAKER_01]: He like, he cares far less about the actual bonus values we're looking at today than he does just his pure conviction that he took players that are going to be good in five, ten years down the line.

36:47.020 --> 36:48.501
[SPEAKER_01]: And there is a lot of gamesmanship.

36:48.641 --> 36:51.102
[SPEAKER_01]: If the, if the end goal for us is like,

36:51.842 --> 36:54.483
[SPEAKER_01]: a choir team that has the best total signing bonus value.

36:54.703 --> 37:08.346
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are two different goals and I think there's a lot of gamesmanship and like kind of scouting the industry and understanding the like you said, there are some agents and agencies that are much more willing to send their high school players to college.

37:08.386 --> 37:12.847
[SPEAKER_01]: If they don't get what they want, there are a lot of agencies that are much more willing to strike a deal on draft day.

37:12.887 --> 37:14.648
[SPEAKER_01]: And so knowing that can obviously influence

37:15.088 --> 37:15.929
[SPEAKER_01]: the players you're taking.

37:16.009 --> 37:18.912
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's just a really fun exercise on the whole.

37:18.972 --> 37:29.782
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a fun way to talk through the players, cool to look back on down hindsight, giving Ben another short-term L. But he's got a big real life W in real life with the new new baby.

37:29.862 --> 37:31.624
[SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully everything's going well with him.

37:31.664 --> 37:33.325
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we can pick his brain at a later date.

37:33.405 --> 37:33.766
[SPEAKER_01]: But um...

37:34.406 --> 37:35.789
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been going for about 40 minutes.

37:35.929 --> 37:39.415
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm happy to go longer if you guys have any other thoughts, comments, anything you want to get into.

37:40.276 --> 37:43.241
[SPEAKER_01]: But it also curious if you guys listening have any thoughts on this.

37:43.742 --> 37:46.867
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us know on all the various socials that we can be found at.

37:46.947 --> 37:48.290
[SPEAKER_01]: But Peter, I'll go to you first.

37:48.830 --> 37:50.051
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, not to be a dead horse.

37:50.131 --> 37:54.854
[SPEAKER_03]: I keep I keep wrestling between you and and Jacob for like the team.

37:54.954 --> 37:59.737
[SPEAKER_03]: I want to give the crown to Ben has the right you somehow with the new child.

37:59.777 --> 38:02.559
[SPEAKER_03]: So he says his feet by an immeasurable amount.

38:02.579 --> 38:10.143
[SPEAKER_03]: So I guess the second place for the nastrox, but you got a whole lot of like Peter cheese balls on your squad.

38:10.183 --> 38:14.986
[SPEAKER_03]: Loose like an outfield that includes slater to brown and cane capley love it.

38:15.227 --> 38:17.388
[SPEAKER_03]: If I were picking one, I would like.

38:18.115 --> 38:33.989
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm really happy Jacob brought up the point of I think it was it was six high schoolers and six college guys that we had to pick and yes you have to do six you have to do a minimum of six of either and because we're drafting 13 total players it's not even so you can kind of.

38:35.010 --> 38:35.330
[SPEAKER_01]: pick out.

38:35.370 --> 38:36.111
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

38:36.311 --> 38:36.551
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

38:36.591 --> 38:37.092
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

38:37.172 --> 38:37.592
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's it.

38:37.632 --> 38:39.414
[SPEAKER_03]: That was a really important point to bring up.

38:39.434 --> 38:45.499
[SPEAKER_01]: So like if I guess real quickly Peter is you're talking you're picking him and you were early as on the Kate Anderson bin away.

38:45.539 --> 38:51.624
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're in this draft, if you're in this draft, we go deeper obviously, but this Kate Anderson get picked.

38:51.684 --> 38:54.826
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're in this draft where you bring that in him preseason, I don't know.

38:55.587 --> 39:02.356
[SPEAKER_03]: he would have been on team on team flare, but if I were picking one, it would have been between Kate and um, okay.

39:02.396 --> 39:03.638
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no way you would have picked Kate.

39:03.658 --> 39:04.379
[SPEAKER_01]: First overall, preseason?

39:04.399 --> 39:11.988
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, preseason, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

39:12.908 --> 39:20.574
[SPEAKER_03]: He, it would have been, it would have been Kate Anderson or Eli Willitz with my first pick.

39:20.614 --> 39:31.903
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, preseason, I thought Kate Anderson was a great arm, would not have thought of it at all, but I think the high school strategy would have played into it and trying to film my quote of high school guys.

39:32.323 --> 39:41.130
[SPEAKER_03]: So I may have gone Willitz also world in which I go with Anderson, like high school guys that I would have had circled and wanted

39:42.355 --> 39:51.283
[SPEAKER_03]: Slater to run, no doubt on their angel servantes, no doubt on their Seth or me, like I knew, like I wouldn't have gotten Seth or Nanna's with you pick.

39:51.383 --> 39:55.567
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I don't know if you pick first, if you, you pick a friend of me, you might have, might have had a shot at him.

39:56.128 --> 39:58.310
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was terrified he was going to get taken.

39:58.350 --> 39:59.671
[SPEAKER_01]: I was, I was hopeful that Ben's, um,

40:01.670 --> 40:08.798
[SPEAKER_01]: just hesitancy on arms in general would steer him away at Jacob as a wildcard, obviously doing it with him this year, so I wasn't sure.

40:09.619 --> 40:18.168
[SPEAKER_03]: Steel Hall and Jojo Parker obviously fit in that bucket to in a few like Gavin Fiend is another obvious one, so they they would have fit in there like.

40:18.969 --> 40:33.645
[SPEAKER_03]: If I were picking last and I, you know, towards the end of it and there wasn't a, like a clear cut guy that I wanted still available like Charles doble on who is not even on the best of the rest team would have come into play.

40:34.806 --> 40:39.791
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he was, I mean, his, his season was excellent and catapulted him to the.

40:40.432 --> 40:46.917
[SPEAKER_03]: position in which he was drafted, but even talking at through, um, you know, I see where we're all of you guys were at.

40:46.997 --> 40:48.818
[SPEAKER_03]: I, I, I'm kind of shocked.

40:48.838 --> 40:49.379
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

40:49.439 --> 40:51.621
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, it's, it's interesting.

40:51.661 --> 40:55.704
[SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, we'll see which team looks, looks the best and 2, 3, 4, 5 years maybe.

41:04.111 --> 41:08.852
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we'll have to make sure you are on for next year's exercise.

41:08.892 --> 41:11.373
[SPEAKER_01]: It'll be a lot of fun to do it with four people we've never done with that many.

41:11.393 --> 41:17.655
[SPEAKER_01]: I imagine the strategy and just the scarcity of different demographics would make it a lot more interesting.

41:17.735 --> 41:20.856
[SPEAKER_01]: But Jacob, for you, final thoughts on this exercise.

41:21.486 --> 41:27.375
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I find myself still really compelled by just the undrafted players that we had.

41:27.415 --> 41:36.348
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, you run through that list and it is a really good group, Andrew Fisher, Ethan Petrie, Joe Jopark or Steel Hall, the entire rotation, Anderson Doyle Wood Forbes.

41:37.850 --> 41:41.051
[SPEAKER_04]: and it just does go to show you like the amount of movement that occurs.

41:41.411 --> 41:42.932
[SPEAKER_04]: I think this is a really good case study for that.

41:43.012 --> 41:48.534
[SPEAKER_04]: Like you have the guys on all three teams that I think were relatively obvious early picks.

41:48.914 --> 41:52.656
[SPEAKER_04]: Maybe there were a couple of flyers that we took like camp lighter for me as a good example of that.

41:53.076 --> 41:57.578
[SPEAKER_04]: But it is a really good reflection of where the industry kind of stood in the preseason.

41:57.758 --> 42:00.839
[SPEAKER_04]: And the best of the rest is a great look at how things

42:06.211 --> 42:25.258
[SPEAKER_04]: And it makes you think, like, next year when we redo this exercise, is there a way to better account for that demographic that's going to rise and and be in that five plus million dollar conversation because just looking at it really quickly, there are one two three four five guys on the best of the rest team that signed for five plus so yep.

42:25.818 --> 42:39.346
[SPEAKER_01]: That that's a big number and I'm there were three three top 10 right and then yeah, both maybe actually four still all was in the top 10 and then Gavin Keenan was right outside of it right and so for me like

42:40.959 --> 42:42.140
[SPEAKER_04]: How do we narrow that gap?

42:42.160 --> 42:43.962
[SPEAKER_04]: Is my biggest takeaway from this?

42:44.002 --> 42:48.406
[SPEAKER_04]: And what does cause that level of rise and for a guy like Gagewood?

42:48.466 --> 42:53.551
[SPEAKER_04]: Maybe it's a little bit more unpredictable because of how his season went and it really did come late and out of nowhere.

42:54.072 --> 43:00.038
[SPEAKER_04]: But like, I think the end of the year conversation was that Gagewood had one of if not the best fastballs in the draft.

43:00.558 --> 43:05.547
[SPEAKER_04]: And so being able to do better predicting of those things, I think we'll be the goal for next year.

43:05.627 --> 43:10.836
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that that best of the rest team, like to me really stands out, like that it is a really group.

43:11.545 --> 43:16.087
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I wonder how much of it is just yearly, sometimes there are players that we can't predict.

43:16.507 --> 43:21.790
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking at the 2024 draft, we did much better in terms of not missing guys at the very top.

43:22.590 --> 43:28.653
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think there was a single player taken inside of the top 10, who we didn't have selected on one of these three teams.

43:29.893 --> 43:31.214
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I lied, Christian Moore,

43:32.154 --> 43:41.941
[SPEAKER_01]: was he was the the highest selected player campsmith just after the top 10 and then Dr. Angelos Saincha and Trayis Savage kind of middle of the first round.

43:42.741 --> 43:49.486
[SPEAKER_01]: But definitely the best of the rest team this year looks a lot more impressive just in terms of like immediate signing but as value draft capital.

43:50.106 --> 43:55.510
[SPEAKER_04]: There's also a way to look at this as well that I think you know our exercise does a really good job of painting this.

43:56.647 --> 44:22.689
[SPEAKER_04]: We, one of the conversations that the three of us have had a lot over the course of the last calendar year was about how the 2025 draft group was kind of a hot podge at the top and there was a lot of unpredictability about who was going to emerge is the best prospects high school and college in this draft and that rain true all the way through the draft process and I think that it is especially reflected in how we kind of organize things preseason and the players that we pursued.

44:23.169 --> 44:43.946
[SPEAKER_04]: in this exercise, it really does demonstrate to me the level of volatility that existed in 2025, and I think that that as we continue to do this over the next couple of years, hopefully, well, I do wonder if 2025 will stand alone for that best of the rest team and how that kind of compares as we have a bigger sample size of this game that we play.

44:44.726 --> 44:46.609
[SPEAKER_03]: How productive have an exercise?

44:46.629 --> 44:50.153
[SPEAKER_03]: And now we're like, we might as well just be slacking out loud.

44:51.976 --> 45:02.549
[SPEAKER_03]: How productive have an exercise do you think it would be to do like even like an or bridge version of this in January, early February before the college season kicks off.

45:03.270 --> 45:08.335
[SPEAKER_03]: And then another one in July and see how it shifts like I'm just thinking about it.

45:08.356 --> 45:09.537
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that could be interesting.

45:09.557 --> 45:16.324
[SPEAKER_03]: Completely counterproductive, but in terms of Jacob's thoughts of I think acting it a little bit.

45:16.704 --> 45:18.867
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think if we did that, it would probably just give.

45:19.507 --> 45:23.410
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just reinforced the idea we've been talking about or just how quickly things change.

45:23.430 --> 45:29.975
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we try and highlight this by having like five in season updates on the draft board and constantly tinkering with it and tweaking it.

45:30.035 --> 45:40.783
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I think I think just constant iteration of the list is just the best way to get to a the best possible list we can at the end of the day, but maybe doing like the amidst season revisit of the draft and redrafting will

45:41.407 --> 45:48.731
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll put another like bold highlight on on the fact that it just does change so rapidly at this Yeah, I am with you.

45:48.751 --> 45:49.471
[SPEAKER_03]: That's a good point.

45:49.571 --> 45:52.873
[SPEAKER_03]: And as you guys were drafting and inside to your strategy, were you?

45:52.893 --> 46:04.698
[SPEAKER_03]: Like I I would have been married to my own process, which is like taking the best guys on my personal board for better words, but Throughout the exercise where you guys drafting on

46:06.568 --> 46:08.753
[SPEAKER_03]: off your own like preface so to speak.

46:08.993 --> 46:09.374
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh no.

46:09.634 --> 46:15.907
[SPEAKER_03]: Also trying to take a new account like bonus and trying to rack up like the largest like I've only ever.

46:15.927 --> 46:17.490
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm a signing bonus isn't the end.

46:18.253 --> 46:22.194
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some players that I always like a little bit better than I think the industry likes.

46:22.214 --> 46:26.395
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I have a decent idea of like the where the deltas are between like my personal.

46:27.395 --> 46:38.938
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, I like first the industry and I always go with the industry because I know we're going to revisit this at the end of the year and the signing but as values of the industry are going to come and play here and like how we're looking at it and I also just think like.

46:40.612 --> 46:53.836
[SPEAKER_01]: I would rather defer to the industry like that's kind of how we make our list so that's kind of how I do it and I also think too it's difficult because so much of what I think about these players are informed by my conversations with the scouts so if I haven't seen the players in person

46:59.650 --> 47:08.533
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because like last year, right, in terms of the like racking up signing bonuses, like I ended up picking PJ more Lando.

47:09.473 --> 47:15.375
[SPEAKER_03]: And that was like a three point four million dollar bonus and obviously played well with my final number, but like I didn't.

47:18.025 --> 47:18.865
[SPEAKER_03]: He was a model.

47:18.905 --> 47:19.846
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a model pick.

47:20.046 --> 47:21.007
[SPEAKER_01]: You were in a risk.

47:21.027 --> 47:21.668
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a model pick.

47:21.688 --> 47:23.049
[SPEAKER_01]: The team took that you're like, okay.

47:23.529 --> 47:24.270
[SPEAKER_03]: God bless you.

47:24.370 --> 47:25.151
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't love it then.

47:25.191 --> 47:26.192
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't like it now.

47:26.272 --> 47:26.992
[SPEAKER_01]: Final ending.

47:27.212 --> 47:29.454
[SPEAKER_01]: Shasa PJ from Peter.

47:29.695 --> 47:31.876
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a more landed catching stray.

47:31.896 --> 47:32.937
[SPEAKER_03]: The podcast.

47:35.239 --> 47:40.803
[SPEAKER_03]: It's interesting to look back at because I'm trying to recall my own strategy when we did this in 2024.

47:41.043 --> 47:42.464
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a really fun exercise, though.

47:42.904 --> 47:49.269
[SPEAKER_03]: I do enjoy it because it's fun strategy, you get scouting, and it's very fun.

47:49.589 --> 47:54.893
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a nice excuse to talk through the players in a way that's maybe a little bit more entertaining for people.

47:56.040 --> 47:56.340
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, cool.

47:56.461 --> 48:06.708
[SPEAKER_03]: One last like fun question, not to keep tracking the song, I know Jacob had his kind of wild card pick with Camlider, like a flyer pick.

48:09.009 --> 48:11.971
[SPEAKER_03]: Ben, I don't want to assume and speak for him.

48:12.172 --> 48:13.993
[SPEAKER_03]: He could have with one with a couple of the guys.

48:15.214 --> 48:17.095
[SPEAKER_03]: I know Jeff, we're in the exercise.

48:17.155 --> 48:18.736
[SPEAKER_03]: He would have had a couple off the board picks.

48:18.836 --> 48:19.217
[SPEAKER_03]: Loose.

48:19.677 --> 48:22.499
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeff, definitely would have made sure Steel Hall was not in the best of the rest.

48:22.559 --> 48:23.580
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell you that with confidence

48:25.803 --> 48:29.511
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah, he's posing with steel hall on the stage with a team pawn, Sturzy.

48:29.531 --> 48:33.199
[SPEAKER_03]: Probably within the first couple picks the draft, but

48:34.483 --> 48:43.593
[SPEAKER_03]: were you thinking of any guys kind of not off the beaten path necessarily, but like wild car guys towards the end that that you were that you were in a nap.

48:43.834 --> 48:46.737
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I really tried to draft in such a way that I would avoid that.

48:46.837 --> 48:55.587
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's partially how I wound up with I've our kit because I just had so many high school guys that I really liked early on that I was able to not have that like you have to draft the prep issue now.

48:56.307 --> 49:02.473
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, the one that I kind of point to is maybe Kane Keppley, like I didn't, I wasn't too excited about the outfield capital.

49:02.673 --> 49:06.796
[SPEAKER_01]: Once, I'd be like, can I read a summer hill in Taylor or off the board?

49:07.137 --> 49:15.904
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess I thought I was slated to run in there as well that I got, but like, there were a lot of outfielders that I was probably considering for that Kane Keppley one and his profile just felt a bit safe to me.

49:16.204 --> 49:17.546
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so that's kind of how I went with him.

49:17.586 --> 49:20.928
[SPEAKER_01]: I like the, I like the OPP and just the absolute profile for him.

49:20.989 --> 49:22.069
[SPEAKER_01]: So he was maybe the biggest.

49:22.830 --> 49:28.472
[SPEAKER_01]: dark throw, but really looking at my board now, like it was fairly stock for better or worse, I think at the time.

49:28.492 --> 49:37.856
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that's, you know, I think that actually is a testament to how well you ended up going about the exercise, because like where you had someone like I have our cat fallen in your lap at the end.

49:38.336 --> 49:41.558
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he was the second biggest, I guess, third biggest bonus that I had.

49:41.778 --> 49:45.059
[SPEAKER_01]: My top three were Eli Willitz, Seth Hernandez, I've our cat.

49:46.280 --> 49:46.720
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take that.

49:47.236 --> 49:49.737
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, man, I do have the brown and capley.

49:49.877 --> 49:53.399
[SPEAKER_03]: That's huge fan, that's huge fan.

49:54.419 --> 49:54.659
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool.

49:54.740 --> 49:57.661
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think that's going to wrap it up for this episode of the podcast.

49:57.681 --> 49:58.861
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you guys enjoyed.

50:00.679 --> 50:05.401
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, kind of the slow period for amateur season, but we've got a lot of review content in the works.

50:05.461 --> 50:09.643
[SPEAKER_01]: And I both Jacob and Peter have been putting the work under our typical offseason content.

50:09.663 --> 50:11.944
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of stuff that we haven't had in the past on the site as well.

50:12.844 --> 50:14.865
[SPEAKER_01]: There's plenty of pro stuff going on on the site.

50:14.885 --> 50:16.325
[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting it on prospect handbook mode.

50:16.365 --> 50:19.267
[SPEAKER_01]: So still plenty of things going on for us at Baseball America.

50:19.347 --> 50:20.167
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if it is not the.

50:20.587 --> 50:23.810
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of crazy period that we have from February through July.

50:23.950 --> 50:26.852
[SPEAKER_01]: So I hope you guys are having a good time.

50:27.353 --> 50:27.753
[SPEAKER_01]: Check us out.

50:27.813 --> 50:29.154
[SPEAKER_01]: Next week, I believe college podcasts.

50:29.695 --> 50:31.296
[SPEAKER_01]: Next week in the works.

50:32.297 --> 50:33.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Two days more Peter.

50:33.058 --> 50:36.020
[SPEAKER_01]: Two days is for Peter for Jacob.

50:36.220 --> 50:36.721
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Carlos.

50:37.181 --> 50:38.422
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you guys for following and supporting.

50:38.482 --> 50:39.163
[SPEAKER_01]: We will see you next time.