[SPEAKER_00]: Let's run it, it's hot sheet, it's world series we continuing here, SkyBron JJ Cooper and Ben Vadler from Baseball America.

[SPEAKER_00]: Before we start things off, I just thought of this last minute here, JJ.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, of course you get the,

[SPEAKER_00]: the salary talk and out of the Dodgers spend a lot and the bludges do two their top five payroll but I always think of the moments like when you read and I already know this fact about will Smith part of the what was it 2016 draft for the Dodgers that was just loaded with talent that they were able to pick up they're good at other things too well sides just spending money

[SPEAKER_01]: especially take a look where they pick will Smith and take a look at pretty much everyone in front of him.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is a that's not a draft that a whole lot of teams look back on in our pretty excited about what they picked, but the Dodgers have a reason to because they do a very good job of identifying talent, improving talent and either getting that talent to the big leagues for them or a lot of times trading that elsewhere, which I know that people always say with that well, you know,

[SPEAKER_01]: What does that matter?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it matters because they often are also good at identifying what are players who don't fit for them, but who have value in a trait, like Michael Bush, obviously being an example of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a great example.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you think Yamamoto was MVP of Game 2, which you're probably right, then Will Smith was probably the runner up.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's hit first move.

[SPEAKER_00]: JJ active service time for every MLB rookie in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: This one also does relate to the world series.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you the world series spin as you tell us about what you put together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Try a savage game one world series starter and rookie eligible in 2026.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what else did you find?

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're excited about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ethan Holahan is working with us on this.

[SPEAKER_01]: So active service time is kind of a difficult concept.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just service time for determines rookie eligibility.

[SPEAKER_01]: If a player is on the injured list, that service time, but it's not active service time.

[SPEAKER_01]: So with the Ethan's help, largely Ethan has calculated how much time on active or Austin's every player who's rookie eligible, spent in 2025, 2024, 2023, as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: The key thing about that being, if you are on the active or Austin of 45 days, you're no longer a rookie eligible after that.

[SPEAKER_01]: 45 is the limit.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, 46 days, you're no longer a rookie eligible, even if you didn't hit the innings limit or hit the app bats limit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there are players who just edge over that and there are players who just they below that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Trace Savage was well below that, but it is kind of crazy that we have a player here who is already had a career accomplishment, a career highlight.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was a game one world series starter and he's also a 26 American league rookie of the year favorite because he will be rookie eligible

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's, uh, you don't see too many players taking that trace average path going from, uh, start in the year in the low a, which, you know, for a college pitcher, I think part of it was probably him, what the blue jzx used me wanting to start him in, uh, Dunneed and Florida instead of the, I think Vancouver, uh, is there high AFL a little bit nicer whether to start the season, but, uh, I do wonder if we're going to start seeing some more guy

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't help but think that if you look at this draft and that we just had and you look ahead to next year, the one that obviously jumps out is the Mariners took Kate Anderson, the Mariners were one of the teams that won the lottery.

[SPEAKER_01]: They weren't terrible last year, but they won the lottery, so they picked three Kate Anderson, the L8, the Ace, you know, basically, you saw the cultural series last year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would be stunned if he wasn't put on kind of a timetable that ensure that hey, he still has some innings left, some juice left, come next September, October.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you could also say that Jamie Arnold very much with the A's kind of fits that the A's obviously were improved this year, the A's show with Nick Kurtz

[SPEAKER_01]: that they have no problem moving guys quickly Jacob Wilson before that so wouldn't surprise me to see Jamie Arnold.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you could throw maybe Liam Doyle the Cardinals first round pick depending on how well the good the Cardinals do next year and even you know I see angels Tyler Bremner I don't think it'll be shocking at all if we saw if he's fully helped the ads a little bit of injury issues this year but Tyler Bremner is another guy who could move really quick we're seeing these arms these college arms especially

[SPEAKER_01]: Jump, chase burns made an impact in the big in the postseason as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't just a tray of savage.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ben, I think that we're going to see more of this going forward.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you know, you think back to like the 2024 draft last year.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we saw chase burns reach the big leagues this year.

[SPEAKER_03]: We saw obviously tray of savage do it.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, but, but I think part of it depends on, you know, where a team is in terms of where they are as a contender, you know, obviously if you have an exception, truly exceptional picture like a Paul schemes, who's going to come up and be the rookie of the year, the year after his draft and also be able to leave top three and sigh young voting, okay, that's different, but even if there are teams that want to push their players that way, the players still has to go out and then.

[SPEAKER_03]: perform, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: So like, okay, maybe the white socks don't have any reason to have pushed Hagan Smith this year, but if Hagan Smith had been drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, instead of the white socks, he's still not pitching in playoff games right now, because the, you know, he went to double A and okay year for him, but struggled with his control.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think he looked back a couple of years ago in the 2023 draft.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, obviously with schemes and rent louder, going to the

[SPEAKER_03]: uh... you know that the rock is obviously have no reason to push chase dolander uh... but he orson walder who is drafted by the braves uh... you know more toward the back of the first round they they tried to push him really fast and i guess technically did get to the big leagues uh... for a couple of starts where he got lit up in uh... the year after he got drafted uh... but he just wasn't really ready for it so i think it seems definitely if you're taking a college caught a college picture in the first round you want to move that guy fast to the big leagues

[SPEAKER_03]: but still like not everybody's ready to make that rocket ship acceleration the way that a guy like Trace average did this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: great point to take it's a little bit of a different example but it kind of fits with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: We went into last season and the whole question was, okay, they were the Andrew Painter rules that the fillies were trying to set up Andrew Painter coming off of Tommy John Sirdry so that he would still have innings left and still be able to make an impact for them in the postseason if they got there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they got there, but Painter kind of took a step back in his return from TJ

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, obviously just wasn't really ready.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was getting hit too hard and triple A to even consider bringing him up to the major league.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, it is something where I think teams are going to absolutely look at this, but at the same time, I don't think it's something you're right, completely been, not everyone's going to be able to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even guys who end up being successful starters, it's just going to be something where you're going to have to have that combo pack where you have a you're able to move really

[SPEAKER_01]: and you fit on a team that actually has something to play for in October.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was just going to add to that kind of throw it back to Ben, like, okay, we see this.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw this a couple of years ago, if Evan Carter, we saw this consider with why it lengthward.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about pictures here, but how much do you think we might see a little bit more of this on the hitters side now, because we've also seen, you know, some kind of fast-moving position players as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think with with pictures it might be a little bit easier because everybody always has a need for pitching right so.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's not, and there's no team that's like, oh, like, you know, our rotation is just too good right now.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, we don't need any help on the pitching side.

[SPEAKER_03]: Whereas with position players, some of it can come down to need.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, we obviously saw Nick Kurtz do it this year.

[SPEAKER_03]: He forced his way into the big leagues this year.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think we will see some and continue to see more college bats.

[SPEAKER_03]: like that, really rocket through the major leads, but I think it's a little bit easier for the pitchers, because there's just not as much of that, okay, let's make sure we find the right position for this guy, or if having opening for this guy to plan our team right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one thing I was going to say, JJ, is when you do see a position player suddenly pop up in the postseason, like, chased a lot of, you know, I think he was hurt right kind of late in the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we have my recall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, because we were.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were trying to get a little bit like really hurt.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're probably okay, because that's unfortunately been the story of his career a lot so far.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, but we're like, damn, you're just throwing this guy into the final.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's not the first one.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's been a few others that have debuted like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just like, generally, if you can get the guy, it's something.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the bigs before throwing them in there like that, I just think that's a tough look for a position player to suddenly just be facing postseason big league pitching, which you could make in case is like one step up from MLB because you're getting the best pitching in the league generally.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, last I haven't run the numbers this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: The last week I ran it was like the average starter throws average is 96 miles an hour in the postseason like that's average.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you know 95 is kind of

[SPEAKER_01]: 94.95s what you see in the regular season in the postseason it amps up another mile an hour to two miles an hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, you're you're back a good point there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course we also have in the world series we're seeing Boba Shet like learn second base on the fly which I know he's a veteran but crazy things happen come postseason time, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's something where it truly is all hands on deck.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I know teams are better now at prepping guys stuff like that, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've got the trajectory machine and other ways tech-wise that you can get players a little bit better prepped, but still, I mean, you're facing the best talent in the world in the majors, then that gets shrunk in the postseason to really the best talent like JJ's talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, good topic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Daniel Espino, hopefully joining us next from the Arizona fall leak on PA Hotcheat.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, we're back open to have Daniel Spino joining a soon in the Cleveland Guardians organization quick no deer just because it's fresh news Craig Albernaz gets hired he was associate manager with the Cleveland Guardians BFF with Stephen boat.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just thought it was interesting when I started reading and listening to more about this decision and how other Cleveland execs to are being highly considered for

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, GM spots and coaches for positioning like this, JJ, there's like a true feeling right now in the industry that Cleveland is doing things a lot better than, you know, 25 other or something like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously Milwaukee's up there.

[SPEAKER_00]: The race have been up there in the past, but Cleveland is well respected with what they're doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will wear my bias here on the sleeve, Matt Foreman, who is a bit of an ounce is one of the finalists for Colorado, former B.A.R., B.A.R., B.A.B.A.S.

[SPEAKER_01]: ball-american.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, was just, was the best intern we've ever had.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's fair to say, sorry to every other intern we ever had.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, Ben, you know, no offense.

[SPEAKER_03]: Second thing, Ben, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't you, didn't

[SPEAKER_00]: Expansion something Utah, solid city something.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, we've got to know great point.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matt's great and and I do think that this is like you you mentioned this I will say this also to make Steven vote and Craig Almanowski example of like the rays kind of served as an incubator that has kind of spread out like obviously Andrew Freeman is one of the the names that kind of jumps out of that but I'm blue like there's James click

[SPEAKER_01]: Peter Bendick, so like you now have so many raised people kind of all over the game that Alburnaz was, I remember he was the manager of one of the best class 18s we've seen in years, our team of the year, I think it was Bowling Green 2017, I believe it was, where like he was the manager of that, like he obviously came up through that raised system and then has gone on

[SPEAKER_01]: to have success elsewhere as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is something it kind of, it also does kind of point back to the guardians, I mean, to the guardians, but also to the race as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the challenge that the race face here is when you keep having people who leave for other jobs, we've seen this with the brewers, to the brewers credit.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like David Stern's leaves and they kind of Matt Arnold gets promoted and they've kind of just rolled right along, that's challenging though.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is hard when you have brain drains

[SPEAKER_01]: The Guardians have done that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the rays have done solid job of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: The brewers I would say obviously the Dodgers are another team that we should a hundred percent mention that have done this Wherever you have a whole lot of Dodgers officials X Dodgers officials kind of spread all around the game But you look at the guardians and you would say like yeah, they're doing it quite well They are consistently successful despite the fact that they have a payroll that is often miniscule

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's perfect intro for Daniel Spino to join us now from the Arizona fall league.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he is in that great organization, super successful organization lately.

[SPEAKER_00]: Daniel, great to have you on the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: How's Arizona fall league life going for you right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: The radar gun looks like it's popping.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, man, I mean, it's nice to be here.

[SPEAKER_06]: It's good to finally be back in competition.

[SPEAKER_06]: And like just going out there, competing and just having fun.

[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel, it is something where I think we can all say we're so glad to see you back out on the mound.

[SPEAKER_01]: I remember, you know, that last year before you got hurt, you were truly must see TV in the minor leagues.

[SPEAKER_01]: I remember, I literally remember where I was when you were facing an Orioles lineup, where I was like calling friends like you have to be watching this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Take us through though, like from there, like where you're, okay, I'm not that far away from the big leagues.

[SPEAKER_01]: What did the last couple of years like what is life and rehab like, you know, injury, rehab where you're just, how do you kind of stay kind of focused, keep your spirits up?

[SPEAKER_01]: How did you kind of go through that journey?

[SPEAKER_06]: I think that's a good starting point.

[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, I was, you know, that outing was amazing for me, it was a special.

[SPEAKER_06]: And obviously I got sideline just for the injuries and all that.

[SPEAKER_06]: And it was kind of like a recurrent thing about, you know, like getting back to back surgeries and stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_06]: He's easily just to get away and mentally draining and all that.

[SPEAKER_06]: But just keeping everything in perspective, just knowing that, you know, where these are going, I'm coming.

[SPEAKER_06]: And also, I think it's surrounded by really good people.

[SPEAKER_06]: Really good people from the organization, my friends, my family.

[SPEAKER_03]: Then you know, obviously having the shoulder surgery, it's, you know, there's limitations to what you're able to do as far as your development, but what were some of the things that you've done over the last couple of years, other than, you know, obviously the rehab itself working with coaches in the organization to try to develop more as a picture yourself.

[SPEAKER_06]: You know, that's one of the hardest things because you're out of, you're out of, out from the game, you know, they will to get a repetition scene and all of that.

[SPEAKER_06]: Like the rehab part of it is pretty much a straightforward.

[SPEAKER_06]: The guys in here in Arizona, from the organization, they do a really good job of

[SPEAKER_06]: getting you a routine that you can do every single day.

[SPEAKER_06]: So that's kind of like the AC bar.

[SPEAKER_06]: The hardest part is whenever you're out of the field of the complex and you have 10 hours to kill and you know like there's not a lot that you can do and you're washing baseball and trying to duplicate that like mentally grabs and stuff like that but still like to me it was kind of hard obviously whenever I found out that I had to get another surgery it was kind of like like you know like I'm kind of catch a break

[SPEAKER_06]: I think like this year has been like really good year to me just to get back in the field, get throwing and getting repetition saying and knowing like the stuff that I have, it's actually pretty good.

[SPEAKER_06]: It gives me a lot of confidence heading to the 20-26 season and so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: as Scott mentioned, you know, the V-Lows that the V-Lows back, you've had triple digits again.

[SPEAKER_01]: But how are you a different pitcher than you were, you know, basically three years ago now?

[SPEAKER_01]: How are you different?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, are there, because you're delivery the same?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you feel like the stuff is the same?

[SPEAKER_01]: Or how are you, you know, what have you learned through this journey?

[SPEAKER_01]: How are you a different pitcher?

[SPEAKER_06]: You know, when you really have you try a different type of stuff, you try a little bit of everything just to get back on the field and that's the most important thing, you know, like, if I'm healthy, I can take care of the rest pretty much in the field.

[SPEAKER_06]: But going back to that, you know, I think like, my flexibility was one of the biggest things that I worked on this year, being flexible, while maintaining stability.

[SPEAKER_06]: But at first, like, I'm the same picture, I feel like, you know, I still have that same presence on the mouth, which to me is more important than, you know, all my stuff, but my first live BP and like when I started throwing pants, it was like, okay, like, this feels actually pretty good.

[SPEAKER_06]: So, just build up from that and, you know, I'm in the position I am right now and couldn't be more proud of myself and the people around me.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, when you're off the field, they're obviously, you know, being in the gym, working out as such an important part of what you do, or some of the things maybe had to change or was it challenging, just maintaining all the work in the gym with the shoulder injury.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, obviously, it's got to affect the upper body stuff, but even if you've just been able to, you know, do heavy lower body work had to be a challenge given the shoulder injury to, I imagine,

[SPEAKER_06]: You know, I remember that they of my surgery after I got all the procedure and I was a little bit on their, you know, the, the, the numbness and all that, um, we were eating dinner after the surgery and I told my, the guy that he was doing my, my rehab, um, I was like, okay, I want to work on this to work on that.

[SPEAKER_06]: So it was like pretty much, I really, I already had a plan.

[SPEAKER_06]: And, um,

[SPEAKER_06]: To be honest, like this year, I kind of got in a way from the gym.

[SPEAKER_06]: I've been focusing more on the baller instability, more movement-based workouts and stuff that just like the years before I would be in the gym almost every day of the week.

[SPEAKER_06]: And that's something that I have changed.

[SPEAKER_06]: And you know, it was a lot of thought about it from my end to take that decision because I was like, I'm not going to still have the power that I have.

[SPEAKER_06]: I suppose if you know that and just trusting what the medical and like as in CSF have done with me and work with me about my intended that okay like I wanted to write path and all that and he showed that to me work so I would say like that's one of the biggest change that that I made in my routine So you were fresh off the anesthesia and all that and you were like hey

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got the plan already, right?

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, pretty much, pretty much.

[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, he just shows that, you know, to my mentality, like pretty much, like, okay, like, I'm ready to get to work.

[SPEAKER_06]: And that's what he was.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: One more on my side.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on the way that Cleveland develops pitching.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know this is the organization that you know, but I'm sure your friends around,

[SPEAKER_00]: that are in other organizations.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think they've been so successful at helping to develop pictures?

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them are not necessarily the biggest name prospects, and then they emerge and their big deal pictures, either in the rotation or in the bullpen for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially looking at the last, like I would say five to seven years where they've had a lot of success on the pitching side.

[SPEAKER_06]: I'll say that it's just a hand-to-hand situation.

[SPEAKER_06]: It has to come from the player and also from the front office and the coaches.

[SPEAKER_06]: I think that they do a really great job on partnering with you and, okay, like, this is where you go that.

[SPEAKER_06]: Let's get better at this and while getting better and other stuff.

[SPEAKER_06]: At least that's what I've...

[SPEAKER_06]: test about it and all that and you know like I heard teammates just just saying about like okay like this is where I'm good.

[SPEAKER_06]: Let's let's excel on that and and get better in another stuff but I will say like that's the that's the most important thing but I also like from our scouting scarring department how they draft people and how they draft like

[SPEAKER_06]: players that are able to, you know, adjust and are willing to get better every single day.

[SPEAKER_06]: I think once you do that, that's this easy to make tweaks and go from there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I always like to give this a good year when I go out to the to spring training or the FL and all that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I have to imagine at this point you are like the resident expert, like I mean, do you like the new draft

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have that pretty much nailed down at this point and unfortunately, I'm hoping you're going to have more accurate and, you know, Cleveland, you know, things places like that down the road.

[SPEAKER_06]: But I think this is changed.

[SPEAKER_06]: I think this is changed in the name of the contemplative.

[SPEAKER_06]: You call it my name.

[SPEAKER_06]: But just kidding, it's kind of cool, you know, because every year, like I've been able to see three draft class in every year, it's kind of like exciting.

[SPEAKER_06]: is I remember when I was in that position, you know, and it's kind of cool just to be around them, kind of like show them the Cleveland way, you know, and to me I feel proud of that.

[SPEAKER_06]: I feel proud every time I step on the on the complex that I'm a Cleveland Guardians player and that I try to

[SPEAKER_00]: That's really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, you can mentor and then you get like fresh energy coming through the organization there too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Very cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this was great.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's great to see you back, Daniel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're rooting for you, Fundo Watch.

[SPEAKER_00]: Keep doing your thing out there in the hours on a fall league.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll talk to you down the road, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for joining us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Any time when we pick up my guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, all right, that's Daniel Spino on baseball America Hot Cheat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And,

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, we are going to take a quick break and we'll say by the bench, a runner coming in strong.

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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's jump right into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob good to see you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tennessee is picking up the pieces after Tony Vitalo leaves and makes a little history signing off with the San Francisco Giants to be their manager.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what can you tell us about Josh Elander?

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, first of all, let's say this, I don't necessarily think that there are many pieces to pick up for Tennessee because they promoted Josh Elander.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that was kind of the purpose of that decision.

[SPEAKER_02]: They promote somebody who is experienced within their program.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's one of the leading architects of what Tennessee's been able to do.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think people forget because of the success that Tennessee's had over the course of the last decade.

[SPEAKER_02]: Tennessee wasn't a great baseball school prior to Tony by Tello's arrival in the summer of 2017.

[SPEAKER_02]: He was able to build it up to this national power.

[SPEAKER_02]: And part of that was Josh Elander's recruiting.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's one of the best acquirers of talent in the country.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's an elite hitting coach.

[SPEAKER_02]: And now they basically put somebody in place who is able to continue a lot of that.

[SPEAKER_02]: They have an unbelievable recruiting class in 2026 and 2027.

[SPEAKER_02]: They keep the person in place who's going to be able to maintain those bonds and make sure that Tennessee brings in the talent that it was expecting.

[SPEAKER_02]: This is kind of a continuity move from me here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, like, with this, they ended up having a search.

[SPEAKER_01]: Danny White kind of looked around surveyed.

[SPEAKER_01]: As you said, though, like, so how, what do you think, what were the chances that it wasn't going to end with this result?

[SPEAKER_01]: Was this a search where there really was kind of a back and forth, or was it more of one like that there was a little bit more of, yes, we're going to look.

[SPEAKER_01]: But three oddies are answers, probably, already sitting here.

[SPEAKER_02]: know that this was a real search and and I think that that caught a lot of people off guard.

[SPEAKER_02]: Tennessee really was intent on seeing who was interested in the position.

[SPEAKER_02]: Coastal Carolina's Kevin Schnaul interviewed for the job according to multiple sources.

[SPEAKER_02]: Tennessee had real interest in him.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's a link between athletic director Danny White and Schnaul dating back to their days at Central Florida.

[SPEAKER_02]: There was a time in which it was believed that perhaps he would be the next head coach of the volunteers.

[SPEAKER_02]: However, as time progressed, it

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, desires of the players, the national media had a lot to say about this.

[SPEAKER_02]: The fans had a lot to say about this.

[SPEAKER_02]: The Joshy Lander was the right and really the only choice to continue to leave this program.

[SPEAKER_02]: If Tennessee wanted the best odds at being able to stay as good as they've been under Tony Vitalo.

[SPEAKER_02]: So yes, it was a national search.

[SPEAKER_02]: However, I would say this, it became very clear, almost immediately as soon as it became clear that Tony Vitalo was leaving, that Joshy Lander was the guy for this job.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, now I'm going to ask you to play point counterpoint.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen this recently.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw this a year ago where Texas A&M is playing basically in the College World Series National Championship series.

[SPEAKER_01]: And news breaks that Jim Slausnego is leaving.

[SPEAKER_01]: They promoted, and then A&M was, unfortunately, for them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our pre-season number one was the most disappointing team in the country.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did not make the tournament this past year.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's one stretch of this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why is this similar or why is this different from that?

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, to me, it's an entirely different situation.

[SPEAKER_02]: Texas A&M was in a position where after the departure of Jim Schloss Nagle, there was a real debacle when it came to keeping the roster together.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was the off-season, Texas A&M players had the opportunity to transfer if they wanted to.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's recruiting class was on the cusp of falling apart.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the only answer to keep all of those pieces together was to promote Michael early from within.

[SPEAKER_02]: He had garnered a lot of respect from families both within and about to be within the program.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the only move for them, they were really handcuffed into promoting Michael Early.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's not to say by the way that Michael Early isn't a widely well-respected coach.

[SPEAKER_02]: He is.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that they were able to show that when they promoted him.

[SPEAKER_02]: You don't just get that job.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you aren't a well-respected coach, however, in order to keep their roster together, he was a critical move for that team.

[SPEAKER_02]: Josh Englander is not the same thing.

[SPEAKER_02]: Tony, if I tell those departures, did technically open the transfer portal for Tennessee's players, however, because the academic calendar had already started, those players would not have been eligible to play in 2026 less they were graduate transfers.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, Tennessee technically had a stranglehold on its players to keep them in the house, even if they hired an external candidate, the reason Josh Elander was promoted was because, like I said,

[SPEAKER_02]: He was truly the best candidate for the job.

[SPEAKER_02]: They had an opportunity to go elsewhere and bring in really anybody, considering the resources that that program has.

[SPEAKER_02]: They could buy out just about anybody.

[SPEAKER_02]: There was no such thing as a candidate that wouldn't necessarily want that job.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a top job in the country.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's an easy access to championship right away.

[SPEAKER_02]: You have all the NIL that you could possibly ask for, but Josh Elander made the most sense for the stability of the program long term.

[SPEAKER_02]: fruits in the fold, and he is the guy who these players are most familiar with.

[SPEAKER_02]: So not really the same situation as Michael early, there was less freedom for the players.

[SPEAKER_02]: This was less about immediate roster retention.

[SPEAKER_02]: This was more about the long-term future of the program.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we saw that proved when Tennessee issued a five-year contract worth a million dollars annually to Elander.

[SPEAKER_00]: good stuff, Jacob, and you know, I'll finish just with what I enjoyed the most on this transition was Tony Bytello giving the Tennessee media the opportunity to chat before he talks to San Francisco, kind of close the book there and tell everyone how the job is really about babysitting Drew Gilbert.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the dude just was a viral superstar in a month's time with his antics showing everyone what he's going to do in Major League Baseball as far as revving up the engine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I enjoyed that thoroughly when he wrapped up the press conference that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good stuff from both of you, as always, we'll have much more on this, of course, Jacob will bring it all the time on baseballamerican.com with his college baseball coverage.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll see everyone next week on Hatchi.