[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome back to another episode of the baseball America fantasy podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is your host Jeff Ponce alongside me as always is my co-host, Dylan White.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dylan, it's a big day.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to skip all the, you know, pleasantries get right into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We released our top 500 for 2026 on the site this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: We kind of flip flop things from where we had it over the last couple of years, where we released everything

[SPEAKER_00]: I figure, let's start, let's build the list, let's have everybody in order, and then we'll start doing the positional ranks.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it'll be a lot easier to make adjustments as we go onto the big lists and update those as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think certainly trades free agency type of stuff,

[SPEAKER_00]: All those things could potentially move the needle a little bit, I think, especially in terms of, you know, how people are talking about players.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's certainly something that, you know, while you want to say that, oh, no, this this list is just, you know, exactly what we think and that's all it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do try to take the temperature of the room and.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, fantasy players and managers, you know, and their feedback and the sort of players that are hot and our own leagues and the stuff that we see, try to take all of that into consideration.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we try to balance the two, of course, use a lot of different information.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say this is in season we do some maintenance to the list.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say our,

[SPEAKER_00]: biggest reworks are typically this time of year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where it's this list, and then by the time we're updated in March, there could be other reworks, injuries, or another big thing that could obviously happen over the off season, and then once we get into spring training, someone has to have Tommy John Surgery, tears or UCL,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, needs to have some other, you know, reconstructive surgery, a brace or something like that and knee problem, a shoulder, all these things come to light or happen over the course of the off season and that stuff could certainly move the needle on this list, so this will be ever evolving and changing, but I think kind of giving us the shape allows us to

[SPEAKER_00]: coordinate all the other positional rankings, the updated FIPD, that'll be coming shortly, the updated fantasy rankings that will be coming shortly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there'll probably be some movement within the list as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, 100%, I think that's my sort of description and run down of,

[SPEAKER_00]: the big changes in the list, doing, I don't know if you had any sort of big picture thoughts on some of the changes we made.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of stuck to the prospect side of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I let Dylan dig in on his MLB stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a few people that I trust on the redraft side of things in fantasy as much as I trust you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you got the, you got the paychecks to prove it on the NFB site, BC site.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I don't,

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't challenge you on that at all, but, you know, my expertise is obviously prospects, and, you know, we take into consideration, Robo Scott and all, it's sort of stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I've compiled the even bigger fantasy prospect list that will come out sometime later this season, but I kind of stuck myself on that side.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, what are your thoughts on everything?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think you nailed it that in season, it's kind of maintenance.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have your anchored by the previous month, and then you're making your ups and downs.

[SPEAKER_01]: Based on news, injuries, stuff like that, new roles.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one, I just started from scratch.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't take our August list and then make two weeks.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to start fresh and not kind of be blinded by it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And since I'm going to couple draft champions right now, redraft, leagues on the NFBC, I kind of have a good

[SPEAKER_01]: pulse on the barometer of who's hot right now in in 2026.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think in dynasty leagues, although it's you know, a three year window and it's your thinking long term and long term sustainability, this current year, like the in in in in season year, though, the

[SPEAKER_01]: 226, basically here is the most important here.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would be weighted the highest, et cetera.

[SPEAKER_01]: So having a good idea of who's being valued, highly, and who's not is very important.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then you plug in the prospects like he said, and then we get a nice list.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I do expect since it's earlier in the off season,

[SPEAKER_01]: Reliever sign, a lot of the relievers will move up and down, maybe we'll talk about it later in this episode, but like the relievers, I think are a bit lower than we would normally have them because those roles are going to change people are going to sign people are going to be traded people are going to lose their roles.

[SPEAKER_01]: He loses the role.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I've been burned by it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want you guys to be burned by it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have the, you know, kind of the influx closers who are on the bubble down a bit lower.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's my kind of high level look.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think, you know, as we were talking about the mechanics of building the list and just, you know, our approach.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think relievers were something that we were very much in line on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think like you said, like outside of a handful of elite guys, roles can change so drastically.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think you can even look at the most elite guys, look at a guy like a raw this Chapman.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it was sort of like, is this guy going to be a closer or a starter for a little bit?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then eventually he's a closer, he's in a lead closer for a whole bunch of years, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then all of a sudden, some crack show.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's bad for a couple of months, loses the job.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he kind of has a set up man a few different places.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when he comes to Boston, it's kind of a set up man, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Coming into the season, he wasn't the presumed closer.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then in season, some changes were made, whatever it was he tried to throw strikes or was targeting things at the first time, whatever the story was that were sound us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's an elite closer again, but even with a guy with that level of talent and stuff and track record, he can fall off and lose his job.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of those positions where, yeah, I think you have to approach it on a need based approach, excuse me, I was really bad, but you need to approach it, you know, based on your circumstances and needs, right.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are times you're going to have to probably pay up a little bit for an elite relief, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it gets saves and saves holds leagues, which I think we're seeing more and more of these days.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those leagues, saves maybe and like specific roles or maybe a little bit less valuable.

[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I think in a lot of my sold leagues, the best add additions and full pen guys have grabbed and been like the guys that are getting the hold opportunities over like the first month of the season, and you can get them for like $3 or waver claims.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so like I think how you approach

[SPEAKER_00]: the game itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's one of those major components of success and fantasy that, you know, if you make the right trades, if you make the right, you know, additions, if you keep the right guys, and just cycle it through just looking at skills over roles, I think that's the best way to approach it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we get into some of these relievers in a minute, we're gonna talk about a guy who had the skills for a long time, never had the role, and then kind of backed into it, and he's climbed up our rankings, actually.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the few relievers that did,

[SPEAKER_01]: I think just to your point of role this job, it's a great example because at the beginning of last year, I traded for him as he was just kind of being hot and because he was 36 or whatever he was and was on the fringe and boss and had maybe leave Hendricks, maybe Justin Slayton maybe Garrett Whitlock wasn't clear who who the role was going to go to.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got him for dirt cheap because there's a chance there was a reasonable chance that he would say retire at the end of the year because he was just a regular guy in a bull pet cut to at the end of the year when it was clear he was the reliever he was the closer for the red socks and he was

[SPEAKER_01]: selling and doing really well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I needed saves in one of my leagues when I'm in with Tim McLeod and we just wanted to get saves to kind of nail it down.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we went, who we thought would be the cheapest or oldest Chapman because he's old maybe doesn't have dynasty value or Trevor McGill.

[SPEAKER_01]: We offered Rokey Sasaki.

[SPEAKER_01]: for oldest Chapman, and we returned down.

[SPEAKER_01]: So at the beginning of the year, I got him for like a third round FYPD in the following year, but at the end of the year, the other guy wouldn't even take Rokie Sasaki.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it just shows how wild the evaluations of someone like your oldest Chapman could be just from what, even within the same season, like three months apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think that's the thing with relievers is it's just so difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: to project out things in a three-year window, which is what our approach is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We try to look at everything from this sort of three-year window within dynasty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even in terms of how I place my prospects and I wrote about this in the intro a little bit, is I try to place them sort of right below the tier that I feel they can reach, like in a reasonable expectations.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like Connor Griffin,

[SPEAKER_00]: There aren't many reasonable expectations of the concrete.

[SPEAKER_00]: The expectations are through the roof.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think when you look at the five tool nature of him is the ability to play multiple really valuable positions.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to keep him in line up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the fact that you can put him probably anywhere in the infield, you can put anywhere in the outfield.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's going to find a place to play.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to be able to make moves in that line up, especially in Pittsburgh.

[SPEAKER_00]: But anywhere he plays, he's going to be able to fit into a defensive role.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to, you know, add it bats beyond all that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's power, it's on baseability, it's speed.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all the category stuffers that you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be a top of the order type of hitter and a run producer and a guy that can drive in runs as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I got like that rank 21.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have him that high because I honestly feel like he could be a consistent fantasy first rounder within a couple of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't even be totally shocking.

[SPEAKER_00]: He breaks camp with the pirates this year and has a phenomenal rookie campaign.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really wouldn't write that office as an outcome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, do I think it's probably like a 20% outcome?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, but

[SPEAKER_00]: It's still a reasonable expectation that that could happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if it doesn't happen this year, I feel even better about it next year, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, you know, just in terms of how we place players in lists and the room that we sort of leave for the move up or for the move down is all sort of baked into this and it's baked into that idea of looking at things from a three year window.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and of course, because without saying our typical caveat is like, you know, no, you're league, understand your league, we have speed of kind of grip and we have a right to side Kyle Tucker.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're competing this year, you probably won a Kyle Tucker over Connor Griffin.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're rebuilding, you probably won't call on a Griffin over Kyle Tucker.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it doesn't mean, no matter what, you can trade one for the other, and they're interchangeable.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, it depends on your circle of stance in your context.

[SPEAKER_01]: So use these as a guide, use them as a kind of a general feeling of how what equivalent players are, kind of similar tiers, similar fields, and use that to kind of build your trades.

[SPEAKER_01]: But of course, no, you'll need to know your circle of stance in your context.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to take a quick break here.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we come back, Dylan, I want to talk about a couple handfuls of the biggest movers within the list based on our last update, which was an August and this update, now in November, we'll be right back.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, and we are back, baseball, America, fantasy podcast, Jeff Pong, Dylan White.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are talking about the updated Dynastee Top 500 list.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dylan, I want to go through some of the biggest movers within the list.

[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest one, overall, is Nolan McLean.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's obviously for great reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: We liked McLean.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we were pretty high on McLean.

[SPEAKER_00]: He moves up from $3.99 to $58, and I don't even think it's overreacting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just risk phenomenal down the stretch.

[SPEAKER_00]: His ability to generate out in a variety of fashions, whether that's via the strike out, whether that's via ground balls and we contact consistently, swing and miss stuff, command all of its kind of there, I view him particularly in dinosaur leagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: I view him as a top 15's daughter at the moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't think that's crazy at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's like he said, he has a variety of ways

[SPEAKER_01]: people out his his curveball is I think in one of my robust code articles I said it was maybe the best curveball in the minor leagues just incredible spin rate incredible movement it's like a Ryan Presley curveball he's a starter doesn't have much mileage on his arm as a as converged

[SPEAKER_01]: like recent to start in this kind of capacity, he may not have ace upside, but he definitely showed that he kind of was hinting at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, he's going to be a consistent starter for a long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: he may not be like one of those, he may not be like a hundred green where he has this incredible ceiling, but you know injuries or it's in short bursts, such as it's going to be just kind of like a consistent accident in my opinion.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that's a good one.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just seeing the big movers, I saw there's like a lot of the rookies where we got a good look where they had the final month of performance

[SPEAKER_01]: rookie pictures.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and we'll get to a couple of those guys in a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to hack him back to someone something we said about 10 minutes ago about relievers and role changes.

[SPEAKER_00]: but skills being something you could chase.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cade Smith has been one of the better relievers in baseball for the last two or three seasons.

[SPEAKER_00]: He finally finds himself in the Closer's role due to unforeseen circumstances for the manual class A.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is not, that is not an additional risk factor that we should be factoring and it was, it was one that came up in class A's particular case,

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not one I would necessarily be concerned with, but I would imagine King Smith has the reigns to sort of run with this job for a few years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, the skills are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also a guy that can go like five outs on a save, maybe six outs on a save, which is super valuable.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think in hate, say, hates, saves, holds leagues, or solds leagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's been a valuable reliever in that format for a while.

[SPEAKER_00]: But,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think you look at it now and the fact that, you know, he does kind of have that bird dog seat and cleave when he I view him going in next year is one of the best closes baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you agree or disagree with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: completely agree, completely agree.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's kind of like what Andre's Munoz was.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was incredible K, great ratios, but behind Paul Seowold at the time, Seowold, Seowold, whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: But now that he's got the role, he's like one of the first closers being taken and re-draft, he's still relatively young.

[SPEAKER_01]: K, it's my space of the exact same.

[SPEAKER_01]: probably better control than munoz, maybe even better ratios, um, pretty good team as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so now that he has the role, he, uh, he's just going to excel in my opinion.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, we had him lower, you know, I guess because he was the setup man, and maybe he's good in

[SPEAKER_01]: That's starting to become more and more popular, but you know when you're when you're second on on the on the death chart you're not going to be in the top You have 200 and But now that he's like you said in the bird dog seat.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's up there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I mean in redrawflakes.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think top five closers And I think he totally deserves to be there Yeah, no, I totally agree with you a hundred

[SPEAKER_00]: percent.

[SPEAKER_01]: One other thing, sorry, it's just, I don't think even the guardians, like the risk of the guardian signing a big name, I'm sure it's not going to happen, and so like it's pretty safe.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's another reason.

[SPEAKER_01]: In his favor.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm totally agree on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to get into some of the rookie pitchers here that you mentioned.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were already, Schlittler was on the list for 42, obviously, what he did down the stretch

[SPEAKER_00]: Trey of Savage was on the list at 299.

[SPEAKER_00]: Schlittler moves up more spots.

[SPEAKER_00]: His savage, we have just outside the top 50.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you look at what he did.

[SPEAKER_00]: What Schlittler did was great.

[SPEAKER_00]: What his savage did against some of the best line-ups in baseball and pressure situations was phenomenal.

[SPEAKER_00]: And,

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's probably going to be people making the case that he's the best prospect and baseball going in the next year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would take the hitters over him, but you know, if you're somebody who doesn't follow prospects and sees this guy come up and do what he did, I think those people are going to be like, how is it possible if this guy isn't one?

[SPEAKER_00]: We have him as the the fifth best prospects at the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had McLean as the sixth best prospect at the moment, so he is actually ahead of

[SPEAKER_00]: Nolan McLean.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's just so funky, so weird.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the ride in the fast ball, the way the splitter cascades off of that, especially when he has it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that, you know, he has a slider that doesn't move glove side really or very much if it does.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a really weird look.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if guys are ever going to necessarily get used to it, especially with how

[SPEAKER_00]: like plunge in the back and then like straight over the top delivery is maybe we're going a little aggressive on this but I truly believe that's how you salvage the valued right now as as if he is in ace and I mean he was outperforming other guys and at 22 years old has a lot of tread still left in that arm.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, maybe we're being aggressive, but I think we might not be aggressive enough for what perceived value is for all the reasons you said.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like going against like the three best offenses.

[SPEAKER_01]: Essentially, in the playoff and dominating 27 and he's just looking at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just pulling up the stats now, you know, 3.50 ADRA, but a 295 x 5, 12.7 K per 9 and like this is against a tauty and and judge and and cavalry like these are these are against the sluggers of the league.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's, it's very easy to create a narrative saying, you know, he's, he's 21 and doing this in, in a high pressure situation in the highest of pressure situations and and excelling, so just imagine as he learns how to pitch and learns the, the rhythms of the game and learns how to when he doesn't have his best stuff, how to excel like it's just you can easily dream that the, you know, the best is still yet to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: 27 and a two thirds in the postseason and 14 innings before that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's just a baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: People have had flashy seasons Brett Laurie from from the jays another jay had one of these kind of phenomenal fairy tale endings to season or whatever and people kind of over-reacted and were too optimistic.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, there are caveats, but just the way people are viewing him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's extremely well put.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's move on to Pam Schlittler then Schlittler also moves up quite a bit another guy who

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, had a memorable historic performance in the playoffs, not quite on par with your savage in terms of the Lions who is facing, but pretty good ones.

[SPEAKER_00]: He moves up 33 spots, so one of our biggest movers, up to 109, 24 years old big stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously in an organization where they're gonna win a lot of games, let a pressure on him, he seems to handle it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So,

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Schlittler is a player that I made up having quite a few shares of, if I can use the term shares without saying like a dink.

[SPEAKER_00]: Schlittler.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll probably have a few layers of him next year, just simply because I feel like he's going to be in that like second, third, dearest starters.

[SPEAKER_00]: the strikeouts are there, you know, the option you go deep in the games is there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, the Yankees will invest in the bullpen again, whether they fix it or not as a whole of their conversation, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Any thoughts on Schlittman?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's funny.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Schlittler was a Robesco guy, because he gained a bunch of miles per hour, he was dominating double algebraic.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny that I was in a draft when he was having that plan of performance or Connelly early had his plan of performance of the established head is first kind of performance and they immediately were taken in the drafts like that night while the performance was going.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting because I'm in a D.C. right now with flat settler.

[SPEAKER_01]: Smada from prospects live Steve Wymer who won the D.C. overall

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, the savage went in the 10th.

[SPEAKER_01]: So these guys are still being taken 10th and 11th.

[SPEAKER_01]: Burns went in the Nye, Ms. Yuresky went in the Nye.

[SPEAKER_01]: So people are still kind of skeptical of, of, of Schlittler and his savage, which I find interesting.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Schlittler has the Yankee thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, he was performing kind of in season before his savage came on the scene.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe even before McClank came

[SPEAKER_01]: we talked about high-partial situations for your savage, Schlittler, as long, along with No.

[SPEAKER_01]: 1 McLean in New York.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the media scrutiny there.

[SPEAKER_01]: He kind of thrived as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's kind of showing he was doing it for a long time, a couple of months.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's kind of showing that he can't handle that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I see him being a very strong picture for a long time, kind of like in the McLean mold.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he has the like the huge upside that

[SPEAKER_01]: We we've seen flashes of from your savage, but you can't go wrong with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they're I mean he has he has the stuff to back it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like he's throwing 91 and getting away with with deception.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's he's high 90s.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty overpowering stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's definitely going to be a good one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think you're 100% right, and that's why we moved from up as much as we did could talk about a little prospects now dealing do you mind talk a little prospects on this baseball America.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, um, though you savage and McLean or technically prospects.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the guys that moved up big, Carson Bench moved up big, 431, moved at 314 spots.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now our 18th ranked prospect, he's up to 127 on the list.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just in front of him as our 17th rank prospect is right now without regas of the Cardinals, he moves up 255 spots and then another is Carter Jensen was up the 212 from 437 that's 225 spots last name off throughout here is Caleb Bonamer on a huge fan of have been for a while.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's our 22nd rank prospect.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think all of these guys, you know, bottomer, bench, Rodriguez, Carter Jensen, as well, who went to life, is to he graduate?

[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't remember.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, he didn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: So all these guys are prospects, you know, with legitimate upside, I think.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you look at Ben just a guy who's close to the major is could probably contribute pretty quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to be a multi category booster.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like not a guy that's going to like carry you in any category, but he's going to probably run a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to hit for some power.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not a ton, but enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to hit for batting average.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to get on base.

[SPEAKER_00]: He should produce a fair amount of runs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Could be a guy that at one point in his career hits the top of the line of pretty consistently.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I mean, I look at a guy like Benge.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can even look at his stat line this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: 2-813-5472, 17.7% strikeout rate, 13.1% walk rate, with 15 home runs, 22 stolen bases, 87 runs, 73 RBI.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, a guy that moved really quickly as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was, you know, a 2024 first rounder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guy that was a two-way player that wasn't a picture, was a hitter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think anytime that these guys commit fully to one side of the ball, they typically see some improvements.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it can be drastic.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've already talked about one of these guys that was drafted by the met, the met, the met's in Nolan McLean.

[SPEAKER_00]: But really, big jumps in their first year doing one thing only, both from McLean and for Bench.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right now Rodriguez, I just feel is one of the most talented young bats in the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of where he plays long term, whether it's first base, whether it's catcher, whether it's a little bit of both.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's at the hits who has got the approach.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got huge power and really good angles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And politically he is one of the better prospects that's out there under the hood at all the advanced, you know, stat cast style data.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the last one that I'll say here is Caleb Bonnermer is that I love Bonnermer another guy with really good skills, good power, good athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there is.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not one for one, but there is some very strong comparison here with Gunner Henderson, just in terms of the type of player, the type of prospect, the type of athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: She might have a little bit more skills and Gunner Gunner might have a little bit more top and he's, bottomers, EVs are still pretty good.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are some of my favorite prospects at the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, I want to have rostered all over the place, which you're opinion doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I agree fully.

[SPEAKER_01]: Carson Benge, just keep finished in triple A.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's on the verge and his stack ass aid.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was was great.

[SPEAKER_01]: 105.6 90 of 80% contact doesn't chase like chases at a less than average, like better than average clip.

[SPEAKER_01]: bottom where I know you've been talking about it for a while, so I haven't been able to get them off any of my league mates just as you've been talking about for months right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was I was being risk-averse.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was taking it slow.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was so young.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a catcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: The yes, the the data was was popping.

[SPEAKER_01]: The underlying data as well, and it was just well, let's

[SPEAKER_01]: You cut up to where he was showing, he belonged.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I really like all those picks of course.

[SPEAKER_01]: I still, maybe I'm being stubborn, but Ryan Yale being a catcher, I'm still hesitant.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to trade the farm for him, but like Baltimore and Bench, like these are our surefire gonna be in the Major League's very shortly.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm probably more likely to trade for them than Ryan Yale, just because of the position.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he's a catcher long term, he's gonna be the best hitting catcher in baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think it's gonna be a first base DH, like maybe they may be trying it third a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're gonna try to get that bat in line up as soon as they can.

[SPEAKER_00]: The catchings pretty good, like it's good enough that maybe you know, you catch him for 60, 70 games a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then that's like perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, then you're getting that catcher eligibility without the all the wear and tear of being behind the plate all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's one of those things were like the bad is so good that if he played any other position, he'd be right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, I kind of didn't want to fight it and figure that if he slides down the defensive spectrum, it doesn't hurt his fantasy value, even if it hurts his real-life value.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he was a first-based only prospect, I don't know how I could differentiate between his upside and that of like a Bryce Eldridge.

[SPEAKER_00]: Different bodies, but he's got better contact and played approach than Eldridge.

[SPEAKER_00]: He does now.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I have like no doubts that he's going to be able to hit put a big number.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I'll stick my claim on that one a little bit if I, if I'm missing a miss.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I, I, I, I, I know if you with the rank, I, I, I completely agree with the rank.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just, I'm just a bit, uh, I, I, I, it's not the type of guy I trade for and if I'm in a rebuild.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know what, but maybe you can get them for a discounted price because he's a catcher, you know, I don't know, I still think he's he's super valuable and I have him rostered in a few places myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last one I wanted to call out here for our purposes is eight and Miller made a big jump from 287 up to 86.

[SPEAKER_00]: The way that he finished the season and then like kind of taking the season, and I don't cover the Phillies, you know, year round, seeing a lot in the beginning of the year, and then sort of catch up at the end was really impressive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think people sort of wrote off him a little bit too much based on like not having crazy production and writing when you consider how young he was and his like experience all sorts of stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: He really took off.

[SPEAKER_00]: The speed is the part of it that I don't think I anticipated when he first came into pro ball.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is gonna be a guy that maybe had 30 plus steel speed.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got underlying data that would put 10 potential for 25 to 30 home runs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Particularly if he plays in Philadelphia, which is a great home run hitting park.

[SPEAKER_00]: I also think that there might be some opportunity for him to come up.

[SPEAKER_00]: and see some serious time with the Phillies this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've been holding on to him hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've avoided trading him or discussing him in a lot of trades, teams have not been able to pry Miller alooce, and any of these deals, and obviously the Phillies are shopping for whales when they're out in the trade market, whether that's

[SPEAKER_00]: at the deadline, whether that's in the off season.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he's the kind of guy that's going to come up in those conversations, and they haven't moved to him in any deals.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is Dave Dumbrauski, who likes to move prospects, but I will also say, has a pretty good track record of trading the right guys and keeping the right prospects.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the red socks, for example.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all in on a Miller.

[SPEAKER_00]: It took a while for me to sort of come fully around.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think if you look at the underlying trade, you look at the fact that there's power, there's hitting ability, what's the batting average and on base look like, like, ceiling wise, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a baseline for at least like a 10% walk rate, a reasonable strikeout rate, maybe like a 250 plus average.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking more floor here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think we talk upside.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's potential for maybe 30, 30 seasons.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not quite there yet with the angles in terms of projecting out the 30 home runs, but he hits the ball really, really hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Philadelphia, of course, is a great landing spot, great lineup, great park.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he could honestly be up at some point in 26.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm hoping he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have him in the two DCs I'm in, we have him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I am hoping he's up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think,

[SPEAKER_01]: Either the Rewards that he's like able to play at adequate majorly shore stop is definitely helpful.

[SPEAKER_01]: For Robo Scout, the peak projection is 267 average 347 on base 20 homeruns 30 stolen bases.

[SPEAKER_01]: You talked about the power, the 106 90 of exit velocity.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't chase.

[SPEAKER_01]: His contact is average.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not one of those things where it's he's selling out for power.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like he said, the angles are the greatest.

[SPEAKER_01]: He only had a 15% barrel rate, a regressive barrel rate.

[SPEAKER_01]: I actually don't have the rob barrel rate.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he's only in his age 21 season.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the ceiling is pretty high.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's considering he finishing triple

[SPEAKER_01]: and you're right.

[SPEAKER_01]: He dumb broski is one of the trades prospects, but he keeps the ones that he wants to keep.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have high hopes for Aden Miller, and I'm hoping to be a good power speed threat as early as the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we ran through some of the big names, some of the big movers, some of our logic behind the top 500 list, going to wrap it up here, certainly feel free to, you know, pepper us with questions in the comments.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want us to discuss any of this stuff from the next couple of weeks, we're going to be back next week.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be talking about catchers, Dylan wonderful catchers.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll catch you tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be a little bit today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk some more reno.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rodriguez next week as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: For Jeff for Dylan.

[SPEAKER_00]: This has been the baseball america fantasy podcast.