[SPEAKER_03]: Hello and welcome to Baseball America's Draft podcast.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm Carlos Colosa joined as always from a good pal and friend Peter Flaherty.

[SPEAKER_03]: What's going on Peter, how you doing?

[SPEAKER_02]: Not much is as you said before we hopped on air.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's we're kind of in full handbook mode at this stage in the game writing you and others editing.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we're we're go, go, go on that front.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I'll let you see it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I need to get my writing done.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I can jump into editing mode and start talking through some of these chapters.

[SPEAKER_02]: So and I got my writing done for you to edit.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're sort of in the same boat, but I'm fired up the top graph as always.

[SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's December now.

[SPEAKER_03]: It feels crazy.

[SPEAKER_03]: And some ways it feels crazy to be talking draft now because like you said, we're so focused on the prospect handbook that the draft is like out of sight out of mind.

[SPEAKER_03]: But at the same time, like the the draft lottery is coming up at the winter meetings before our next draft podcast, the draft lottery will have happened.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll know who's picking one presumably.

[SPEAKER_03]: The the favorite to take Rock Chalowski, who remains kind of the

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, since we've been talking about it, I'm not much just really happy to change or take them out of that number one placement.

[SPEAKER_03]: But today we're going to talk about college pitchers on the draft side.

[SPEAKER_03]: So if you want in a lead arm, it is more common to see a player of the college demographic going inside the top 10.

[SPEAKER_03]: If you're a farm system or a fan of a team who's farm system is maybe light on college pitching or you feel like you could use some pitching reinforcements.

[SPEAKER_03]: I do think this 26 class looks strong.

[SPEAKER_03]: on the college pitching side.

[SPEAKER_03]: At this point, I'll kind of throw out what my perception is of the college pitching class Peter and you can chime in with yours and either contradict me or agree with me depending on how I laid out and what your thoughts are on it.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it feels like we have a solid core of three pictures that I think have

[SPEAKER_03]: A reasonable case is the best picture in this draft class right now on the college height specifically.

[SPEAKER_03]: So everything I'm saying is just limited to college demographic and it might not seem like that based on or current rankings have them.

[SPEAKER_03]: There is some separation here between Lee and Peterson at Florida, Cameron Fluke at Coastal Carolina and then Jackson Flora at UC Santa Barbara.

[SPEAKER_03]: We have those players ranked four, 10.

[SPEAKER_03]: and 17 specifically.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it does seem like since since we started really reporting on this class more heavily, the summer and fall, all three of those players have gotten some sort of feedback that that makes them a potential SP1 in this pitching class.

[SPEAKER_03]: Class, excuse me.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then I would say,

[SPEAKER_03]: Joey Volcico, former Stanford writing and now Georgia writing, feels like he's this wildcard that maybe has better peer stuff than all three of those guys, but also just has a lot more variance to his profile that means for some people, he's not even a first round talent right now, and for others, they're looking at him like, hey, he's way more talented than 25th overall.

[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, and so a lot of that's just going to depend on the season.

[SPEAKER_03]: The same is true for all the players I just mentioned, but I view it as kind of like a tier, a top tier that has three pitchers, and then Voltsco may be right outside of that tier, hoping to push himself into it next spring.

[SPEAKER_03]: Where are you at?

[SPEAKER_03]: What are your thoughts on the strength?

[SPEAKER_03]: Who's your favorite?

[SPEAKER_03]: Just throw it all open and then we can go kind of play by player and get into the specifics later on the show.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's funny you let off with that because when, you know, you proposed the topic of talking about the top college arms yesterday and I was thinking through last night as I was falling asleep and in today leading up to the podcast, I was, you know, thinking in terms of, you know, is there a tier sort of within this tier.

[SPEAKER_02]: of pictures.

[SPEAKER_02]: And for me, at least, and this is what I was thinking and that was going to be the first point I made of the podcast, but for me, even whittling it down further like tier one A.

[SPEAKER_02]: is fluky, Cameron fluky from Coastal Carolina versus Lee and Peterson from Florida.

[SPEAKER_02]: That would be my tier 1A.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then Jackson floor right behind those two in sort of that tier 1B.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, a slight separation leading into Voltsco and then another sort of break leading into other guys like Tommy LePore.

[SPEAKER_02]: Ryan Lynch, Teagan Cunes, Jason DeCaro, it's such a Ryan Lynch is actually maybe the most interesting of the bunch, but he'll we'll talk about him on another episode, but for me like up at the top, it's fluky versus Peterson.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I think that makes a lot of sense.

[SPEAKER_03]: It does feel like there is no picture in this class who has this sort of pedigree that like if you can remember back to this time in previous draft classes like where we're reviewing college pictures, one of the more

[SPEAKER_03]: Impressive all around profiles prior to the season feels like Chase Dolander.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think I had either of Chase Burns or Hagen Smith quite in this tier before their season although their power stuff may be makes them an interesting conversation with these names, but do you feel like for me none of these pictures

[SPEAKER_03]: are flawless.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe as a case with most pictures every year, like it's very rare to have a college pitching prospect where you can point to and say, okay, they check every box, like even rent louder, who was really well rounded picture.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think there are some things he could do going into his draft year to answer some questions.

[SPEAKER_03]: But like Liam Peterson, I guess we can just maybe start off with Liam Peterson since he's the guy who we have at the top of the board.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's in your

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the reason he is where he is, is because I think most of these scouting industry seems to feel most confident in having him as a top college pitcher on the board.

[SPEAKER_03]: I wonder how much of that is just because he's pitched for two years in the SEC, because when you drill down into his performance, the stuff in the upside as a pro pitcher, I think is better than the performance he's shown so far.

[SPEAKER_03]: you're kind of banking on a lot of improvement that he's going to make moving forward maybe specifically with the control in the command department but in his first year at Florida

[SPEAKER_03]: He jumped into a full-time starting roll, made 15 starts.

[SPEAKER_03]: The ERA was a 6.18 ERA over 62 innings.

[SPEAKER_03]: He struck out 25.7 percent, walked 13.5 percent.

[SPEAKER_03]: He improved pretty much across the board as a sophomore in 2025.

[SPEAKER_03]: Again, made 15 starts.

[SPEAKER_03]: The ERA lowered to 4.28 in 69.1 innings.

[SPEAKER_03]: The strikeout rate jumped to 31.5 percent.

[SPEAKER_03]: The walk rate lowered to 10.5 percent.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think for me,

[SPEAKER_03]: With Liam Peterson, he does feel like more of a power stuff over pitchability type arm at the moment, and I'm hopeful that he can change that reputation for me and just for himself and for everyone next year.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just continue making the sort of control strides that we saw flashes of as a sophomore.

[SPEAKER_03]: What are your thoughts on where he's at now and how you kind of stack them up to recent top-end college arms?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I think for starters, when you talk about the control and command with Peterson, it's trended in the right direction between his freshman and sophomore year.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, I mean, you're kind of hoping to see another leap from, you know, sophomore year in 25 into what he does this year in 26.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, the arsenal with him is this like power stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: screw you type of arsenal for a lack of better phrasing when he's fastball has been up to the into the mid to upper 90s, um, average almost 20 inches, 21 inches rather, um, of ride through the zone last year.

[SPEAKER_02]: And what I thought was interesting though, is it got hit around a little bit, I think hitters last year, hit a shade under 290.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and this is a point you brought up, um, in your

[SPEAKER_02]: really dove into Lee and Peterson.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like the fastball control is there.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's consistently in and around the strikes on with the pitch.

[SPEAKER_02]: But you know, the refining of the command and sort of uping the quality of the strikes is going to be key for Peterson.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then he pairs his fastball with a, you know, really effective slider that, you know, is this two plane pitch, he's able to manipulate the shape of it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's a sharp looking offering.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think last year had a 40% misraint.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then.

[SPEAKER_02]: finishes it off with a a change up that'll flash a lot of faded times and is a more than viable third pitch then also flip in a curve ball, but you know this fall.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he made some adjustments to his arm slot raised it a little bit he had another fastball shape and is with a two seam fastball so I think that'll play in his favor, but.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, you know, we talk about bucketing players all the time.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think he fits into a lot of them.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: The body is exceptional for a starting pitcher.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's this, you know, strapping six foot five right hander who's only gotten more physical.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, a good physical at that is time has gone on.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, if he can kind of make strides in the areas, you know, that we and

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, other evaluators are looking for, especially if he goes out and performs as a Friday night starter in the SEC, that's going to be a tough profile to let fall very long and a tough profile to not snack in pretty short order.

[SPEAKER_03]: Right, another big change for him this past year that we saw was just using the slider a lot more frequently that the usage rate nearly tripled from his freshman season 13% the 32% he added three miles per hour and power so that breaking ball it's a high spin pitch biting action.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's his best secondary right now, but I do wonder like how far off you think his change up is.

[SPEAKER_03]: The swinging strike rate on his change up last year was actually the best individual pitch of all four of these top guys, Peterson, Fluki, Flora, and Volcico of any pitch that was used like a to a significant degree basically more than 50 pitches.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was a really impressive swing strike rate and I wonder if you think

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm currently a little light on the change up.

[SPEAKER_03]: I had it as an average sort of pitch.

[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like Scott seems to be a little bit better than that, and I will be curious to see how much you use as the curveball next spring, how much of factor the two seem fastball becomes in his arsenal, it is hard to, maybe not with how steep his,

[SPEAKER_03]: his approach can be with that higher arm slot, like it's too seem to us seem to make sense, but it is interesting to think about him adding a to seem when his forcing has such great carry, and I think is already such a strong pitch.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think with the change up, you know, it's a

[SPEAKER_02]: It's an offering that at least when watching him regularly flashes above average and 55, but sort of what we talked about with the fastball, be able to command it on a consistent basis.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think if that takes another step forward with this change up, that'll also play in his favor and, you know,

[SPEAKER_02]: have it lean and air more on the side of a true 55 than a 50 for a third pitch because if he gets it in the bottom half and in bottom third of the zone and lower I mean it's really really effective consistently generates empty swings and rollovers and soft contact but I mean if he leaves it up in the zone.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it gets crushed and hammered even in the top two thirds of the zone.

[SPEAKER_02]: It gets hammered.

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you can consistently keep it down and below the barrel of opposing hitters, I think that, you know, it's that's another thing that will, you know, bolster his stock and sort of tighten up and close up some of the so-called holes like there aren't really any like glaring red flags, but I mean, when you kind of get.

[SPEAKER_02]: into the minutiav at a little bit.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think that that's one of one of them.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think if he can just sharpen up the control, really across the board for his pitch mix, it'll be hard to point to a significant issue or flaw that you have with Liam Peterson.

[SPEAKER_03]: And of all the pitchers we're talking about here, I feel like he has the greatest lever to pull with his own draft stock because he will be facing SEC hitters and the performance in the SEC just does carry a little bit

[SPEAKER_03]: I guess with Wolchko with him moving to Georgia, he'll have the same lever to pull, but at least compared to Fluki and Flora.

[SPEAKER_03]: And let's get into Fluki because I think they are very different pitchers in some ways.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think one of the biggest strengths with Fluki is the command that he showed this past year, his fastball command in particular, but he is also a very big physical pitcher, six foot, six, two hundred pounds,

[SPEAKER_03]: In his 2024 season with Coastal, he made 10 starts, 19 total appearances as a timeout of the pen as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: Posted at 5.7, 3-ERA and 55 innings, then in 2025, he was an absolute workhorse, 17 starts, 111.2 innings, 3.28, ERA, the strikeout rate actually did go down for him from 33.6% in 24 to 28.3%, but he essentially cut his walk rate in half, going from 10.9% there to a 5.8%.

[SPEAKER_03]: walk rate in 2025, sits 95 with a fast ball, has been up to 98, curve ball, slider, change up what are your thoughts on camera flukey Peter?

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, as we talk through these guys, and it'll be an interesting back and forth for the entire spring, but

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, there's a chance that I end up preferring fluke to the rest of everyone.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, when all of a sudden done like,

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, your likes to strike throwers.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, as we say all the time, and it's something that has stuck with me ever since he went on hot sheet, but like, as Quinn Matthew said, and he's summed up so perfectly, like all, you know, like pure stuff and tools, the only thing it buys you is time if you can't perform or get the ball over the plate.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, with fluki, like he's a plus strike throw or the quality of strikes is really good.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's interesting that the fastball

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and it's another really high carry plus carry pitch, like Peter sends, but it's not a huge bad messer.

[SPEAKER_02]: The wiff rate last year was just 20% on it, but he's got a trio of really good and distinct secondary offerings.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like you said, I mean, the heaters the heater.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's been up to 98, but his mid 70s curve ball was a revelation.

[SPEAKER_02]: in 2025, you know, flush above average with, you know, bigger shape and some some sharp downward teeth to it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it had a 49% misrate.

[SPEAKER_02]: The slider is distinct both in terms of a velocity band and also shape.

[SPEAKER_02]: He throws it in the mid to upper 80s and it'll flash.

[SPEAKER_02]: to plain break.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then his mid to high 80s change up is a really, really intriguing fourth pitch for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it routinely flashes both tumble and fade and it's another consistent swing and miss pitch.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a deep arsenal.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a really exciting combination of strikes and stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: Lanky if six foot six kid, you know, there are a lot of really exciting traits here with Cam.

[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like flukey has the the best chance of these pitchers at this point, or at least I'm most confident in him profiling as a workhorse starter who is able to work deep into games because he has the both the command and the

[SPEAKER_03]: Arsenal, the depth of Arsenal to attack hitters on either side, and just change up looks.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like the fastball slider combo is really effective versus righties, and then he dials up the curveball usage against lefties, and I feel like the change up has miss enough baths for me to feel confident in it being a viable piece against left handed pitchers, or left handed hitters as well, excuse me.

[SPEAKER_03]: I just feel like there's a good foundation of command to build on

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not sure that he needs to add a ton more velocity, maybe like the fact that he can add a little bit more strength to his frame, I feel like there's still a little bit of projection there, he's not like super filled out or anything.

[SPEAKER_03]: When he moves to the pros schedule, maybe he's just able to maintain that sort of mid 90s velocity on average as the schedule becomes a bit more demanding, but I don't really have a.

[SPEAKER_03]: like a glaring check point or issue or question mark with flookie.

[SPEAKER_03]: Is there like a specific piece of his game that you think is questionable to you or is it more maybe you just want to see him do it again and do it more frequently maybe the strike like the strikeout rate I think you can maybe critique a little like some of the elite guys are missing more bats at the very top of the draft but like that feels pretty nitpicky at this point.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, that's why for me, when it's flukey versus Peterson at least, I'm giving the slightest of flukey, like right now, he's my, my personal number one starter, and I think that when you get into the nitty gritty, you have these, you know, seemingly small things that end up being perhaps a separator in the end, like with cam, the stuff is already really impressive and the strikes are already impressive, but you hit on it, like there's more.

[SPEAKER_02]: projection in there, um, perhaps than someone like a Liam Peterson, not that that's a huge differentiating factor or a separator in any event, but, you know, if you even adds, you know, five to, to ten or so pounds gets a little bit more physical, maybe even adds a ticker to the fastball.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and allows him to maintain the premium VLO, uh, throughout the entirety of his outing.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I mean, he's, he's shown he can get really good hitters out the best lineup in the country out last year with LSU and in the college world series final, he allowed one Ron and struck out nine and six innings, uh, you know, he's a really complete arm, like, you know, it strikes

[SPEAKER_02]: You can get left handed hitters out on a consistent basis.

[SPEAKER_02]: They hit just 245 against some last year.

[SPEAKER_02]: He mixes his arsenal really well.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a deep pitch mix.

[SPEAKER_02]: The, you know, he threw over a hundred Indians last year.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I don't know, for me right now, he's the top palm on my board.

[SPEAKER_03]: Nice.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I mean, as we talk through them, like you guys can probably hear it as we're listening.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's hard to find a real critique that feels significant with Leukea, which obviously makes him really compelling.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's move into our SP3, both on the board.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I think for both of our kind of personal tiers, we had Flora third, I will say that Flora has gotten some feedback that

[SPEAKER_03]: points to there are there are scouts out there and evaluators out there who

[SPEAKER_03]: If you him as the top pitcher in the class, he is extremely exciting.

[SPEAKER_03]: A UC Santa Barbara product, an absolute powerhouse when it comes to just developing pitching prospects.

[SPEAKER_03]: They've been a pitching factory, it feels like for forever, six foot five, two hundred five pounds.

[SPEAKER_03]: He pitched mostly as a reliever during his 224 season 3.83 era over 47 innings with just a 19.5% strikeout rate and a 12.2% walk rate.

[SPEAKER_03]: He had a little bit of a breakout season.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think you could say in 2025, pitched as a starter, still really strong ERA 3.6 over 11 starts 75 innings.

[SPEAKER_03]: The strikeout rate jumped to 27.8% the walk rate fell to 5.5% which is a significant year over year improvement.

[SPEAKER_03]: And he also has a pretty powerful two pitch mix right now that he's working off of a fastball in the mid 90s been up to triple digits slider in the low to mid 80s that earns plus plus grades plus feedback.

[SPEAKER_03]: It feels like there are some more clear weaknesses with flora and I think that the most obvious one to me that jumps out is just what's the third pitch going to be.

[SPEAKER_03]: It sounds like he has added both a kick change and a curve ball that's kind of a differentiator in terms of shape to the factor to the slider, so we'll see what those pitches look like next spring, but he has been a pretty heavy to pitch guy in college Peter, what are your thoughts on Mr. Flora he's got a real chance, I mean, sort of sort of any harm in the ground technically, but as far as like,

[SPEAKER_02]: I guess the degree of a jump we could see from year over a year when talking about these guys, at least the four initially floors as the chance to look maybe the most drastic because like with fluke and Peterson as we laid out, it's more of, you know, I guess smaller steps forward and more like

[SPEAKER_02]: in depth parts of their game that they could take to the next level.

[SPEAKER_02]: But there are more, you know, apparent areas of improvement here with jacks.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, he's this long lean kid at six, five and two hundred pounds.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a more efforty look in his delivery than someone like a Liam Petersen or Cameron Flukey.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's a little bit of a headwack there, but

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a wippy arm stroke.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's tons of arm speed.

[SPEAKER_02]: And last year it was for the most part really all just fast ball slider and they made up for I think 94% of all pitches.

[SPEAKER_02]: He threw last spring.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the fast ball he low has has long been there.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was in the mid to upper 90s and up to 100 last spring.

[SPEAKER_02]: Jumps out of his hand flashes a lot of life through the zone.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think, you know, obviously.

[SPEAKER_02]: between flora's flatter or vertical approach, angle, thanks to a lot.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's what I was going to highlight.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, both the first two pictures we talked about have really gotty IVB numbers on their fastballs, but if you're a team and there are a lot of teams now that are really targeting,

[SPEAKER_03]: vertical approach angle, low release height, like floor is fast ball and overall, like delivery lends itself really strongly to the teams who covet those traits and it wouldn't shock me at all if people think because just the release trace that he has, there are a lot more bullish on his fast ball than these other guys who have similar power, maybe floor has a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_03]: But

[SPEAKER_03]: I had to dunk it caught up on the IVB numbers because most of the people I'm talking to in recent years, months have been really locked in on the VA, they're at least height as a separator for how the fastball is going to play in it.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was a swing and miss pitch for him near the 30% mark in terms of misrate last spring, so that's a I think a key trait for him.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, not to go back to the first two arms, but like Liam's vertical approach angle is is pretty steep.

[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously the natural, you know, he gets natural spin and carry on.

[SPEAKER_02]: It thanks to his slot.

[SPEAKER_02]: Flookie spin qualities are a little bit more modest than the three.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was around 22, 50 with a flatter vertical approach angle.

[SPEAKER_02]: Then Liam Peterson and then Flora is, you know, 4.5, which is the flatest of the group and it's, you know, inequalities are really good.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's attacks out of this lower slot, a sub six foot release height.

[SPEAKER_02]: It plays really, really well in the top half and top there are the zone unsurprisingly and I think a

[SPEAKER_02]: A point of focus with him this fall was I think tweaking the grip of the heater a little bit, so he could maintain that shape and under the hood qualities consistently outing over outing and deeper in the games, because I think you know as Jacob run or wrote about in one of his pieces earlier this fall, the shape of it sort of backed up at times last spring.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and it took on more of a dead zone he looked and then the sweeper is this, um, you know, it's a, uh, it's a plus pitch borderline plus pitch at worse with a lot of late and in lateral glove side bite, um, but he's got enough feel for it.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we're last year.

[SPEAKER_02]: He was able to get by by.

[SPEAKER_02]: you know turning and turning it into more of a two-point pitch you could back foot against lefties but the real wild card is like can he add an effective third pitch how does that look is it the slurveer curve ball that ends up being the the go-to weapon or is it this kick change he's experimenting with

[SPEAKER_03]: Right, the change up he threw the change up he threw last spring he used it just a percent of the time versus lefties I think you probably want to have a third pitch so you can go to a little bit more frequently than that and overall both lefties and righties Had an OPS over 1100 against the change up so I think just seeing some development there whether it's this new kick change Whether it's the curveball that you mentioned just a third pitch to help attack

[SPEAKER_03]: left handed hitters to help turn over a lineup to just get a little bit further away from the reliever profile that he was as a freshman.

[SPEAKER_03]: You mentioned some of the question marks that you might still have with the delivery.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think just showing an arsenal that is a little bit more conducive to a starting role will be key for him.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe help catapult him inside the top 10 on consensus and challenge the other two pictures in this class who we currently have at

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's not as aesthetically pleasing deliveries.

[SPEAKER_02]: Lee and Peterson are flukey, especially Lee and Peterson, in terms of a delivery, but the stuff is legit power stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if he shows a third pitch that can be a viable out pitch or swinging miss pitch against lefties, I have a feeling that

[SPEAKER_02]: If one emerges, it's going to end up being this this kick change.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's kind of gone.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've been working on.

[SPEAKER_02]: It'll really play in the favor because the strikes are above average.

[SPEAKER_02]: And there's there's a ton of like body wise too.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's with each of these three guys.

[SPEAKER_02]: They they have in and same with Joey Wolchko who we'll talk about too, but they all have sort of this

[SPEAKER_02]: Prototypical appealing pictures frames like flu like Liam Peterson is this one and they are very big and physical with power yeah yeah like this six five physical kid flukey is this long high wasted six foot six ready.

[SPEAKER_02]: the burn to fill out and floor is really lean and long at at 6,500 with perhaps the the most projection between at least him and Cam Fluke.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean they all sort of fit into really positive categories.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, well, let's get into the, maybe the most interesting player of the bunch, certainly the most volatile, the most extreme profile.

[SPEAKER_03]: That is, of course, Joey Volcco, other big physical, flame throwing, righty.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think in term, purely in a vacuum, I think Volcco has the most exciting arm talent of the bunch.

[SPEAKER_03]: But at the same time, you look down at,

[SPEAKER_03]: the the card here and the performance is just not been at all what you would like to see from a picture with this arm talent in his first two years at Stanford splitting time as early as a freshman.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's got a 5.89 career ERA over 113 innings, 21 starts, 35 total appearances.

[SPEAKER_03]: The strikeout rate is just at 20.6% which is quite low for a picture with the pure stuff he has.

[SPEAKER_03]: I would expect him to miss far more bats than that over the course of his career, the walk rate 13.6%.

[SPEAKER_03]: I will say he did make strides pretty significantly in the control department here of year.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was a really poor walk rate at 18.5% in 2024.

[SPEAKER_03]: He lowered it all the way to 10.5% in 2025 that did come with pretty significantly decreased.

[SPEAKER_03]: Strikeout numbers.

[SPEAKER_03]: So

[SPEAKER_03]: Really figuring out how to unlock Volcco, get him consistently over the plate to attack hitters, because I saw him in person last year, when he came and played against Virginia, one of the nice things about him being at Stanford, was you could make a in conference road trip across the country, and I could make a short drive and go watch him, but there was an inning where he was putting everything over the plate,

[SPEAKER_03]: and hitters had no idea what to do with him.

[SPEAKER_03]: The fastball is like upper 90s.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's got this crazy cutting action on the pitch.

[SPEAKER_03]: The slider has electric bite and power.

[SPEAKER_03]: And when he's putting these pitches over the plate, he looks unhittable at times.

[SPEAKER_03]: The problem is like every other inning, he was kind of fighting himself to throw the ball over the plate and to throw strikes for me.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not sure how crazy you think this comp is, but it feels very brody-brechtish.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's not a profile that a lot of teams feel comfortable with, but now he's a Georgia.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's got a pitching coach who's been around the block and has really helped develop pitchers in the past and not too distant past either.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's all about throwing strikes with him.

[SPEAKER_03]: Peter, what do you wanna add on Voltschko here?

[SPEAKER_02]: From a pure stuff standpoint, it's pretty hard to argue against Joe we having the most premost stuff in the 26 class prep college.

[SPEAKER_02]: whatever.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's, he takes that crown of most loud thunderous, whatever you want to call it pure stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it's also, or he's also the biggest wild card in that he's had a really, really difficult time over the last couple of seasons harnessing it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think, as you said, like, when I, because I saw him handful of times on the cape, both in 24 and then a couple of times this year in 2025, when he is around the play and in and around the strikes on throwing quality strikes he is border line.

[SPEAKER_02]: unhittable.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like it's that good.

[SPEAKER_02]: It is just pure power stuff across the board.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's this cut-ride fastball.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's been up to 99, 100 miles an hour.

[SPEAKER_02]: Paris it with this power slyer and the load of mid-90s with a really

[SPEAKER_02]: you know, imposing an effective amount of of late glove side bite and then this power cutter that he's been working on and then a change up that was in the the load of mid 90s and then just a.

[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't throw it a whole lot this spring, but you know, he's he's also in his back pocket got just this being or power curve ball in the mid to to upper 80s that is.

[SPEAKER_02]: just a holaestress pitch.

[SPEAKER_02]: But the problem is, is he's had a really hard time, you know, sort of keeping it on a leash, so to speak, from a stuff standpoint.

[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, the quality of strikes, at least over the summer, weren't great.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we got hit around a little bit.

[SPEAKER_02]: The sliders didn't do a whole lot and got hit in my looks, but when he's feeling it, I mean, it's

[SPEAKER_02]: You'll come away from the yard really, really excited about Joey and have a lot of 60s and maybe a couple of 70s on your scout and car.

[SPEAKER_03]: the fastball for him is such a unique pitch and I don't know that some teams are really going to love the shape of it because it doesn't have the sort of riding life that you would expect for like a pitch that gets this cut you typically associated with the cut ride but like it's not much of a swing and a miss pitch for him and I think Brody Brex was like this to some degree which is why I really like that calm because if I remember correctly Brody Brex fastball was

[SPEAKER_03]: was a very heavy ground ball and docing pitch.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I think because of Voltschko's, he does have a higher release height, he does not have like a super flat approach angle on the fastball unless I'm completely forgetting.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like a pretty steep angle.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know that it will ever be like an elite swing and miss pitch for him.

[SPEAKER_03]: He might have to go to the secondaries more to get misses, but if he can just use it to like drive ground balls and find his own more consistently, I think he'll have more than enough swing and miss type offerings in the secondaries.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, but kind of the development of that pitch is kind of really fascinating to me, but he's he's such a wild card.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm kind of terrified of him, but also super excited to see what he's going to look like.

[SPEAKER_03]: So he, he definitely is the biggest wild card of this group.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like just scanning over our prospects in general.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe outside of like Jacob Lombard and saw your straw snider.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's probably like one of the bigger wild cards in the first round that we currently have ranked as first round players.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think, you know, we'll get into him as time goes on, but Justin LeBron maybe a little bit as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: True.

[SPEAKER_02]: With Joey, like, and that's a great point you brought about as fastball because the velocity is there.

[SPEAKER_02]: But the sort of the under the hood qualities in terms of its shape or rather.

[SPEAKER_02]: I guess modest as it pertains to it being a swing in mispitch.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like it had a sub 20% whiff rate last spring at Stanford.

[SPEAKER_02]: And this is a big if you're, but he's, if he's able to get in the zone with it on a more consistent basis and commanded enough in parts of the zone that is that allow him to optimize its shape.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you can get it in the lower half of the zone, you know, I think that'll really play in his favorite, but those are two really big ifs.

[SPEAKER_02]: with Joey, but it sounds like this fall that, and again, like, we got, we have to talk about fall ball because it happens, but everyone is, everyone is the greatest player on Earth and fall baseball.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'll say that.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like hope springs eternal in the fall, and I think it should, but it's like, it's hard to make that, like, barring like a significant uptick in velocity,

[SPEAKER_03]: It like it's great.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad to hear that all of your players look good in the fall.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's see what happens when they're playing row games for me, you know, right here every single year Peter, you know you hear like every coach is talking about how good they're all teams looks like we'll see what happens.

[SPEAKER_02]: Right and even from a scouting perspective like when you go out and get looks at these guys I mean you have to take you know count some of the changes that have been made some of the changes that are currently being made But until you go out and do it in the spring and especially at an SEC school like Georgia and it yields positive results like You sort of have to take it with a little bit of a grain of salt like

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, at least with Joey Volschko, it sounds like this spring, they tinkered with the fastball grip to try and get some more ride out of it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then, you know, trying from a slider perspective, it sounds like they tried to to get Joey to start throwing a true sweeper more.

[SPEAKER_03]: Good like that would be great for him, because he seems to just actually get around the side of the baseball for everything so.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it also sounds like directionally there's been an emphasis of meaning of being more linear towards the plate.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it seems like that's naturally lower as slot, which hearing it and reading it and all of this is great.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, but he's got to go out and do it.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, if you can, if you can do all that and go out and perform in the SEC is maybe a Friday night starter.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, with this kind of premium stuff and the strikes take a real step forward.

[SPEAKER_02]: He, like, it'd be kind of hard to say that he's not a first round pick, but if we're sitting here in.

[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor, June, and it's a little bit more of the same, you know, maybe the strikeouts or, you know, more where this should be.

[SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[SPEAKER_03]: First there will be someone who's behind him, who probably has passed him at that point if that's the case.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I mean, you know, if we're still sitting here, he's more like 24, 25 Joey, maybe an uptick in the strikeouts, performance wise for many RAA stand points.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a little bit lower, but if it's more of the same, like there'll be questions as to whether or not he's picked in the first round, but on the other hand, if he does take the step forward, carries over some of the changes he made from the fall.

[SPEAKER_02]: into the spring and it it proves to be adjustments that allowing to get good hitters out.

[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you get some more swing and miss for this fastball, live around the strikes on more.

[SPEAKER_02]: Then we're going to be talking with a guy where it's like he's not going to get out of the first round how high in the first round is he going to get picked.

[SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, fun for names, topping this college pitching class.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think I like all these guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't love any of them.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we'll see if that changes and exploring who kind of comes out and claims the spot.

[SPEAKER_03]: So why it open race?

[SPEAKER_03]: There's lots of movement in the college pitching generally every year.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's no reason to think it won't be any different for the 26 class.

[SPEAKER_03]: There'll be a lot of fun to watch, but Peter, and you find all come as, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say to put you on the spot, sort of breathe through it.

[SPEAKER_02]: Who, who be your top picture right now on the college side in the class?

[SPEAKER_03]: I'll probably be boring and sick with with Peter's in.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'll just sick with Peter's in.

[SPEAKER_03]: But I'm tempted to pick fluky.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm rolling with fluke.

[SPEAKER_02]: I know I already sort of laid out the reasons why, but I've got flukey by hair, but it'll be very fun to fall throughout the spring and these four names and seeing how they sort of align as the season goes on and what it looks like and maybe we have a fifth name enter the race.

[SPEAKER_02]: Again, as I alluded to earlier in the podcast,

[SPEAKER_02]: looking at you Ryan Lynch and perhaps even Tommy look for but yeah it should be it should be fun and this will be one of the more fun areas I think to follow in the class.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, that's gonna wrap it up for us today.

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