[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody, JJ Cooper, Jeff Ponds, the special edition of the Prospect podcast and video on baseball.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can bear it because YouTube channel, because we are talking all about the top 100 prospects, the top of the top 100 prospects.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have a couple of top 100 prospect videos that we put out.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one is going to focus on the elite of the elite.

[SPEAKER_01]: The guys at the top of the list, you see the top 10 scrolling across your screen.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're watching on the video, Jeff,

[SPEAKER_01]: Great to see you.

[SPEAKER_01]: What does it feel like to have another top 100 basically in the barn and now out there for for the public to see?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, certainly a really fun day for us at Baseball America where, you know, sort of all the work that we put in throughout the year, but certainly during handbook season, where, you know, I would say there's an even, you know, greater attention to deep being as we sort of wrap up the 2025 season or the previous season in meet little bow.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the list that kind of puts forth, you know, the beginning of the season, I think, you know, once the this list drops and a lot of the other list obviously within the industry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Re sort of.

[SPEAKER_00]: get a little bit closer, a couple weeks away, a couple days away from, you know, beginning a baseball, whether that's pictures and catches reporting and spring training, you know, juckel baseball, start and up, some high school in some areas, and then of course, the college season, which is kicking off in just a few weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, kind of begins the new cycle, the new year of baseball, and makes me happy because it's been a boring couple of weeks now that it's just not enough sports on TV, need baseball.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to say there's sports on TV, there's not a lot of baseball other than Caribbean series.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to dive right in and I don't think it's going to surprise anyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're seeing it on the scroll there.

[SPEAKER_01]: But kind of Griffin is our number one prospect this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: And

[SPEAKER_01]: I would say that this is unusual, but this was a year where we do one, one of the things we do with baseball Americas of the whole staff submits their own personal 150s.

[SPEAKER_01]: And one and two was one and two on every single

[SPEAKER_01]: writer's personal topic on 50.

[SPEAKER_01]: Connor Griffin was number one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kevin McGonagall was number two on every single one.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that was 10 of 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we had 10 ballots or maybe nine.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they were number one, number two on all of them in that order.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't see that very often for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there are years where we have a consensus number one, but to have a consensus one too where everyone's like, yep, this is who it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would say,

[SPEAKER_01]: I would say that I'll be surprised if we don't see like a whole lot of getting, like you said, when the other rankings come out across the industry, we're going to see a lot of kind of grip number one, I'll ask you this Jeff could go, I'll hand you, I'm passing basically the lay up here, you know, you're on a break away here.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it about Connor Griffin that makes him the number one prospect in baseball?

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, yeah, I think it's just a combination of a variety of things and I think the easiest way to sum it up is like a true five tool prospect where I think you can really look at this player and you can say I he projects for potentially plus hitting ability maybe better has plus power now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's much of a question that angles could get better that could push that up to a 70 or better grade, you know, presently as opposed to projection.

[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly a plus runner probably doubled plus if not 80 grade runner, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what we had on in the handbook.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: A plus defender at multiple positions, you know, probably a 60 at shortstop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a 70 in center field.

[SPEAKER_00]: and then of course has the arm as well and you know was a was a pretty notable pitching prospect in high school to go along you know with his success as a hitting prospect.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think a very just entirely complete player in a way that we very rarely see and somebody that a year out of high school looks like you know

[SPEAKER_00]: If everything was even an equal in this world, then the best 26 players were on every roster, he would be starting opening day for the pirates.

[SPEAKER_00]: It still could happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they're very exciting player.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even with a standout like Kevin McGonagall, who would have been a slam dunk number one in many years, this was a year where, you know, Connor Griffin stood among sort of the greatest top 100 prospects that we've seen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go ahead and study.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of stuff up at baseball America.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's even some videos that are going to come up with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like if you look at it, I do think that for most of the top hundred, I think the expectations probably need to be lowered a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: The reality of it is we've seen this over now.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is our 37th top 100 prospect rankings at baseball America.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you look at the 45th, the 55th, the 65th prospect on this list, there's a, I mean, it's a flip of the coin, whether that player is going to be a

[SPEAKER_01]: But when you look at the top of the list, those are stars more often than they're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're actually, you know, if I would put it this way, Connor Griffin has a

[SPEAKER_01]: Better than 50 50 shot right now, just looking at where he is, but also past history of top number one prospects.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the 50 50 shot or better of being a long term, I would say like that 25 plus war player.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no such thing as a bad player at MLB history who had 25 war.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's crazy to think that you could be talking about a 50 plus war player.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen that over and over.

[SPEAKER_01]: I do have something I wanted to call up here just to kind of lay this out.

[SPEAKER_01]: We now update our our number ones in season a lot more than we used to.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we do this every month or so.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go the top on it update.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here is a list of all of the number ones.

[SPEAKER_01]: that we've done since, basically, 2022.

[SPEAKER_01]: Adly Ruspin, Riley Green, Gunner Henderson, and then in 23 Gunner Henderson, Jackson Cherio, LED Alecruz, Jackson Holiday.

[SPEAKER_01]: In 24, Jackson Holiday, James Wood, Paul Scheme's Junior Camino, or sorry, Paul Scheme's, James Wood, Junior Camino.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then 25 Rokey Suzuki, Roman Anthony, and Connor Griffin.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you were saying, okay, questions there, I think you could say Roki Suzuki, we don't know, he was great in the pale playoffs, but we haven't seen him really emerge yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you could say that Jackson Holiday, who's still younger than many of the guys on this top-hungered, hasn't been a solid big league or about hasn't been a star yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Think other than that, like if you're,

[SPEAKER_01]: Looking other than that, you're saying like, okay, Riley Green and Jackson Churio have probably been the least stars of those in Jackson Churio is pretty much a star right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Riley Green was one of the best bats in the Tiger's line up.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of helped them really get to the playoffs the last two years.

[SPEAKER_01]: The hit rate on that is really, really good.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the hit rate over the past 36 of these, it's really, really good.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Connor Griffin, even among that group, I think he fits that kind of some years, you have number one, so that you're like, that's an incredible number one, some years you have number one, and you're like, someone had to be number one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it fair, Jeff, to say that this fits much more in the, we're really excited that this guy's number one rather than the, okay, well, we have to have the number one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because I think there's multiple viable candidates for number one in, you know, an average year will say, like even JJ weatherhole might be an, you know, an average candidate in an average year.

[SPEAKER_00]: McGonagall, I think is a very, you know, exceptional player and somebody that we would think was a a very good number one and I think that kind of makes the statement about Griffin.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is in a

[SPEAKER_00]: I truly believe that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is over my five years here at Baseball America.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first year I was here was it was Adley Rushman, but Bobby with Junior and Julio Rodriguez.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're in the conversation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is a similar at least top two.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I would necessarily put weather halt there, but the way Rushman's career has gone, it wouldn't be shocking if they're pretty equal and war if weather halt maybe didn't even exceed it to

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think you look at this top three and it's a very exciting one and maybe extends even a little bit beyond that when you talk about a player like a Zeus mod A.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the other thing that stands out here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that I feel like that we've talked about.

[SPEAKER_01]: That one, that one's always one that stands out to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we had Adley Rushman and Bobby Witt Jr. And who you're Rodriguez, and we said at the time, it's like, these are three number ones.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can only put one of them there, but any of these guys would be very good as a number one prospect.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would say that that's kind of true here with Kevin McGonagal as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, if you said, why is he not number one?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he's younger, he has more defensive value.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we were saying that Connor Griffin can be a six-it-short stop in a seven-center field, Kevin McGonagal could be a six-it-second base and a playable, but fringy, short stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know he's a short stop for now.

[SPEAKER_01]: He may even play that for the In the Big leagues, but Jeff, you've got to see him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked about this before, but you saw those two guys in the Eastern League playoffs on the same field.

[SPEAKER_01]: and the ball kept seemingly kept finding both of them in that series was great that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you just kind of got to see over and over the plays that Connor Griffin can make that Kevin Ghanigal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just can't.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not, it's not a knock on him, but range, arm, everything defensively, there's not a really, there's not a big comparison between those two at Georgetown, is there?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, and that's not to say that Kevin McGongel is a bad infield defender.

[SPEAKER_00]: I use the term infield sort of signal that I think he's probably best suited for second base and you know potentially could play third base.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's probably enough of an arm there that they could maybe make that transition.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen guys that had weaker arms that moved off a short stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: uh and found some success there defensively in the major.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think that's crazy to say but I think you watch that player and it's very clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't in every day, you know, average or better, major league defensive shortstop.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and that's once again, we think McGonnie goes a phenomenal player.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think he could be above average to plus another spots in the infield, then you look at Connor Griffin and having seen him play out field for a good chunk of

[SPEAKER_00]: You really get a feel for just how much range he has, how athletic he is, the body control, the internal clock, the hands, the actions, all that stuff is really good, and he's got that plus arm.

[SPEAKER_00]: So just allows him physically to make plays that, you know, mechanical is just a little more limited and being able to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, but we're here to praise Kevin McGonagh, we're not to bury him, exactly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just say, as a hitter, this is,

[SPEAKER_01]: road piece earlier this offseason.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will probably link to it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll probably try to put in the show notes here.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to come up with a whole lot of hitting prospects over the last 5, 10 years who are better, pure hitters, better, pure hitting prospects than Kevin Magonical.

[SPEAKER_01]: What makes his bat so special?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just this blend of really sort of unique traits.

[SPEAKER_00]: That being plus plus, bats of ballability, plus plus swing decisions, it's really hard to be a great contact hitter, and also be a really selective hitter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't mean passive when I say selected because I think there is a difference between the two and what differentiates those two labels for me when we're talking about, you know, hitters and we're evaluating hitters is

[SPEAKER_00]: What takes it to another level is he does produce a fair amount of power, which I think, well, it's graded separately from the hit tool has an impact on how much that hit tool plays, which is also true vice versa.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think when we look at McGonagal, what I find to be so special about him is just the angles he consistently makes contact.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the zone on good pitches at very good angles, which allows him to elevate the ball to the pull side and kind of do the things that he needs to do to put the ball and play at, you know, the best sort of possible angle and spot.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a really unique trait.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's very few guys that have the ability to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost reminiscent of a guy like Jose Altubei.

[SPEAKER_00]: as he progressed in his career and became more of a well-rounded hit or that's something that he does well or a Joey Vato.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the type of hit tool I think we're talking about here that it's beyond the batting average and the production and just what you see when you start to dig into some of the underlying traits, it really tracks back very neatly to some of the best players that we've seen at the plate in the major leagues with the last couple of years.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of adjustability to a swing I think as well from the standpoint of like he doesn't, there's not really an easy way to pitch him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like you said, the thing that you usually you see is if you're thinking of this like creative player, usually there are sliders and as you move one up, the other one goes down, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you move the power up, the contact rate goes down.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you move the aggressiveness up, the chase rate goes up as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So like you've got these things that are good and you're like, okay, this is the kind of hit or this is,

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a high OPP, but you know, with power, but he's going to strike out guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the guy like Amanda Rodriguez, where it's like you're going to trade off the swing and misrate for the fact that he can generate big power and he doesn't he draws a lot in the last.

[SPEAKER_01]: In McGonagall's case, you're talking about a guy who has elite level battle ball skills.

[SPEAKER_01]: His contact rates are topped here.

[SPEAKER_01]: His ability to do damage when he makes contact is top tier.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, top 20% of all minor league hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: His ability to not chase outside of his own is utterly elite.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you have that batteball skills that you don't see very often.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you have that guy who never chases.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then, like you said, if he gets strikes, he also

[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't really just take them right there's they if you said there's the passive hit or there's almost the guess hit or I would say in some cases where you just take everything until you see that exact pitch you want.

[SPEAKER_01]: In Kevin McDonald's case if he sees a pitch in the zone that's hitable he's got to hit it, but if you try to get him to chase out of his own a couple of inches even he'd let just lays off and says nope give me something better to hit.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't see that as combinations all together very often.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty rare to see that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the other thing I would say with all of this is he's doing it again when he's younger than almost everyone that he's facing.

[SPEAKER_01]: But usually when you see that also, we've seen it against different pitch types as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen him take 100 plus from Harlan Susanna, pull it and hit it further than almost any home run where we're going to see, hit in the season.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see him ability to hit against breaking balls.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can see that he doesn't really have

[SPEAKER_01]: There's just, if you said, okay, you're sitting down before a series, and you said, okay, so how are we going to attack Kevan McGonagall?

[SPEAKER_01]: The answer is you're not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're probably going to lose that one, but let's try to get everyone else out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, there's just not a whole lot of easy ways to approach him to attack him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pretty special hitting prospect.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Tigers have another guy we were not going to really touch about too much on the Max Clark Walker Jenkins.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we've covered that debate.

[SPEAKER_01]: The never-ending debate of the two top high school prep out, you know, outfielders from that draft class who still are basically, they're still good arguments either way.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the tigers, I do think that Kevin McGonagall is going to be a difference maker for them in the big leagues at some point in 2026.

[SPEAKER_01]: We could probably say the same thing about Connor Griffin.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know we can say that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would be stunned if we can't say that about the number three prospect on this list.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I would say that there was a clear delineation.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at our B.A.

[SPEAKER_01]: grades, there's a tier.

[SPEAKER_01]: Connor Griffin and Kevin McGonagall are a tier above JJ weatherhold.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that doesn't mean that JJ weather holds not a top tier elite prospect.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are talking about a former NCAA batting champ, a guy who in his first full pro season went out and really impressed at multiple levels, got to triple a.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now after the no one here in auto trade, it seems like that the decks are kind of cleared for whether it's, you know, opening day or not that JJ weatherhole is going to be a key part of this cardinal's infield.

[SPEAKER_01]: In 2026, even if, okay, Mason, when the gold glove winning short stop, probably means it'll be at a second base third base.

[SPEAKER_01]: It'll be somewhere else other than short stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you do our Cardinals list.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it about weather hold that makes him the clear choice?

[SPEAKER_01]: And even above a truly elite prospect of his own, and Hayes Wusmare, to make him the number three prospect in our hub.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think if Kevin McGonagall wasn't on this list, we would probably have JJ weather health is the best hit tool on the list.

[SPEAKER_00]: And while it's not as perfect as McGonagall's sort of is on paper,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it is a, it is a plus plus hits, you know, he makes a tremendous amount of contact, probably very similar to Kevin McGonagall in zone.

[SPEAKER_00]: The swing decisions are also very good.

[SPEAKER_00]: The angles maybe are at the same where he's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, pulling stuff, he's on a dead pull guy when he needs to be kind of spread to the ball around.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a lot more op-o power, but he did start to get to more power in games, I think the angles, et cetera, could improve, probably, you know, a plus athlete or above average athlete kind of in that range runs really well, you know,

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably isn't going to stick at shortstop because Mason win is within the organization, but if he hadn't been in a lot of other awards, probably is an opening day starter shortstop.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a very good defender at the position.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think long term at third base is probably going to be plus.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's not it's not the easiest landing spot in terms of park.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I don't want to go crazy with the home run projections, but you know, I think a two 80 or better batting average with 16 or more home runs is a rookie is totally in the cards and he's probably going to be, you know, the cardinals every day starting third basement could be a star for a long time and, you know, sort of a lynch pin in this this cardinals rebuild.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a really exciting player and I think you know, we could come back to this in 12 months and say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, the Cardinals have one of the most exciting young left sides of the infields in baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's just a very well rounded solid player and I think.

[SPEAKER_00]: We may be missed on not us as an industry, but just in terms of like baseball fans and college baseball fans, draft fans, missed a really impressive final season in college because he dealt with his injuries, et cetera, it's soft tissue stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's proven to be healthy since then and been able to stay on the field.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this was a guy that led the nation in hitting as a sophomore.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think hit over 400.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, just one of the more polished players we've seen come in in the last couple of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a Cardinals weren't a more competitive situation through the Red Sox or Yankees, so I'm like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He might have been a guy that was up in August, or maybe even earlier.

[SPEAKER_01]: They did not need that.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was no competitive situation going on in San Luis at the end of last year, so there was a reason to wait.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that's where this also gets interesting, because number four on our list, Hazus Maude, Brewer Shortstop Prospect, and everyone above this,

[SPEAKER_01]: either could make opening day roasters, that you could make a case, like the Connor Griffin case is probably the toughest one in some ways, because you could say like, oh, he just reached AA at the end of last year and all that, the tricky part of this is going to be is when he comes to spring training, the pyrids are not going to have any shortstop or any center of fielder who's better than him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, so,

[SPEAKER_01]: The tricky part of that's going to be is even if they send for the miners it's going to be he needs more time not because well we can't put him in the big leagues because you know Nick Gonzalez is their short stop and I mean you got to just you know clear the next for Nick Gonzalez or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: McGonagal the only thing that's going to be tricky for him is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is he going to be their short stop, which is because he can't they they brought back labor and if he's going to play second or third he didn't play a little bit third and AFL he's played a little bit a second, which again is kind of blocked right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't think he's a long-term shortstop, but that's the position he's played the most.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's a little positional question.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whether it's almost kind of hard to imagine him, a healthy, whether he'll throw out spring training, not breaking camp with the Cardinals.

[SPEAKER_01]: That makes more sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Modays the guy who we feel comfortable is going to spend 20, 26, or at least the vast majority of it in the liners.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you check out his progression so far,

[SPEAKER_01]: It is almost step by step exactly what Jackson Cheerio did for the Brewers a couple years before that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jackson Cheerio going off top of my head.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe had six games in double Ableuxy to end his age 18 season.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, my day had five in double Ableuxy to end his age 18 season.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would expect like Cheerio did that model will start 2026 back in double Ableuxy.

[SPEAKER_01]: In Ontario's case, that's where he spent the vast, vast, vast majority of 20 of that season, and then the next year he was on the opening day roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would be a very aggressive time table for Madai who would then be an opening day.

[SPEAKER_01]: If he made the 2027 opening the roster, that would be as a 19-year-old because he doesn't turn 20.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't, his birthday is not until in season.

[SPEAKER_01]: But

[SPEAKER_01]: What, what is it about Hayes' mod A that has us excited and mentioning him pretty regularly here along the lines of and with Jackson, Julia?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think, you know, it's just rare that we see a player make this big of a jump as mod A does from, you know, more or less signing a little over two years ago at this point to impressing in the Dominican Summer League, to then coming state side and hitting really

[SPEAKER_00]: got up to AA, could return to that level to begin the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I think you look at the bats of ball ability.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wasn't really overmatched in terms of, you know, strikeouts really jumping or anything along those lines.

[SPEAKER_00]: Still maintained, really good walk rates that were above league average.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, while the

[SPEAKER_00]: The home run totals and power aren't eye popping, the Carolina League where he played a majority of his season isn't the easiest place to hit for power.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the hardest.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then on top of it, I think, you know, just he's a young switchheader.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that adds a whole other element, I think, to some of the underlying numbers.

[SPEAKER_00]: But.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it was really impressive, you have the speed, you have defensive ability, you have power projection when you look at this player's cigar, you say, all right, I could see a 20 home run plus bat here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And just a really impressive explosive athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's really when you see him in person, the first thing that stands out to you and how took in a series in Carolina, and then saw him a few days later in the future's game, that's really what sort of

[SPEAKER_01]: three brewers in fielders, three brewers, short stops, really, because we've painted in Cooper Pratt also made the top 50.

[SPEAKER_01]: The brewers may be one of the best teams in Ashley, pretty consistently, they may turn out pitch after pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: They also have more infielders in pretty much anyone as far as, and again, also like we just noted there, you're talking about multiple infields who will like, Pratt will probably be in AAA to start the year,

[SPEAKER_01]: pretty good situation to have to try to figure out, oh wait, where do we fit all of these infielders, these short stops who can play multiple positions?

[SPEAKER_01]: Monet is kind of the guy who really, I would say, as you just kind of laid out, has really kind of leapt up this list over the last couple of years, it's really advanced, plate discipline for a guy, his age.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of one of the things it stands out.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's also, like you said, the best is still yet to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are talking about a teenager who will be a teenager for quite a long while still.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we keep emphasizing that because those are the guys who end up being, if you look at the guys who end up being,

[SPEAKER_01]: the real long-term stars of the big leagues.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's often the guys who reach the majors at an age much younger than everyone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at the numbers that one sod is put up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at what Fernando taught his junior, look at Ronald Akunia, you can look at Bobby with junior.

[SPEAKER_01]: The guys who get there the fastest because they're already so good are often the ones who end up being the best at the big leagues as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then we have the top two pitching prospects on this list.

[SPEAKER_01]: are a pair of guys who still prospect eligible, still rookie the year eligible.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we already have gotten a pretty good taste of what they can do even at the big league level.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw Nolan McLean was a key part.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was really kind of vital for the metts kind of down the stretch.

[SPEAKER_01]: They did make the play us, but it wasn't Nolan McLean's fault.

[SPEAKER_01]: and then tray a savage, he didn't want even really part of the playoff race for the Blue Jays as much as he arrived very late in that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But much more I would say the guy who in the playoffs is a big reason that they got, they took it to game seven against the Dodgers in the world series.

[SPEAKER_01]: We feel pretty good about this more than most times when you say our top pitching prospects because we kind of already, we're not having a project a whole lot here, are we Jeff?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't think we are.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's funny, it kind of even extends beyond the top 10 that four of our top five pitching prospects, I think in some way, shape or form, have already found success in the major leagues between the Claiming cabbage, Baba Chandler, and Peyton Toli.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the latter two certainly are,

[SPEAKER_00]: not comparable in terms of the success that they've seen to McLean, who arguably looked like a top 15 or 20 starting pitcher in the major leagues in his short sample size, and then try a savage you had a historic playoff run, and a historical performance in the world series one that we probably won't forget.

[SPEAKER_00]: for decades.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think when you sort of look at those two players, it's very rare that we have guys that have as much of a sample size in the major leagues against good lineups on top of that in pressure situations and we're able to sort of dissect that and evaluate that on top of all the information that we've had on these guys dating back to when they were college or even in high school in the claims case.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a really, really interesting group I think of pictures at the top,

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is a higher degree of confidence with both those guys, and it's why they're in the top 10, which we're always very reluctant to put pictures in the top 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because historically, even when it's somebody like Andrew Painter, and he looks phenomenal, like this might be a number one overall prospect as a picture, things like he goes, you know, and gets injured and had Tommy John surgery and Mrs. Two seasons.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Emily came back and was not as impressive.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, okay, so that's the two top pitching prospects.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is one other who just missed the top 10, but we will give you a little bit of a further taste here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would call this the prospect the top who might surprise you is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like both kind of kept moving this guy up, kept moving this guy up.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I would say that when we look at at the end of the day, Carter Jensen, Royale's catching prospect, ranks 11th on this list.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the one that you would we would have never projected coming into 2025 that Carter Jensen would be 11th on this list going into 2026.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it was a pretty unimpeachable season wasn't it like looking at it now from 2026 looking back at 25.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to have him much lower than this, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Just considering the power, the hitting ability, the defense of key premium position, he's done it all the way up to the majors.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason he's 11th on this list, but what stands out about Carter and Ted, why is he kind of probably the biggest leap up this list?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think, you know, the biggest thing that I want to state make a statement about, I mean, you mentioned the power, and we'll talk about that in a minute, just the jump that Jensen has made, you know, from a 2021 high school prospect, to a guy that got to the majors, and, you know, shown enough skills defensively,

[SPEAKER_00]: that he we now think he sticks at the position long term where that kind of was against the narrative over the early years of Carter Jensen's career now that being said

[SPEAKER_00]: When we watch batting practice at the future's game last year, which is one of our favorite, you know, things to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say it's probably our favorite piece of covering the future's game is the batting practice and seeing those guys in a major league park.

[SPEAKER_00]: guys like Lazaro Montez, you know, who almost hit balls out of the park and kept mechanical, who was really impressive, et cetera, et cetera, you know, Baseo, Baseo.

[SPEAKER_00]: So many exciting guys that we've seen over the years in this, you know, event.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it was one of the best power displays that I've seen, just continuously backswing the ball to all different parts of the park, putting it up into the chop house consistently, you know, among those Jose Borshania's and most types.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I just think it's an impressive swing, and you know, an impressive approach.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gets on base at a high rate.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just rare that you find an everyday catcher that has this sort of offensive potential.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think when you look at those guys historically, we've even been too low on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think this is an over-correction.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is sort of catching up to the market and where they are on Carter Jensen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I will say, like, one of the things I love about this is I will just point out, one of the things that it's not a 100% rule or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: the big leagues, and you look at the quality of offence of production from catchers that you get at a lot of places.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have a catcher who can legitimately catch, you can't just put anyone back there and say, oh, see what you get.

[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, to just, yes, there is the ABS challenge system now, doesn't change it at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: Framing is still vitally important and it will remain vitally important for catchers.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't just put anyone back there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Pitch framing is important, blocking is important, throwing is important.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if you have a real catcher, a guy who can actually catch, and then you say that this guy can bat, let's see if they'd say, second, fifth, sixth in your lineup.

[SPEAKER_01]: And give you real offensive production in addition to solid defense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those teams often have a little bit of a leg up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those teams often have, I think it's one of the things that Dodgers have had.

[SPEAKER_01]: Will Smith being a real offensive force.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yes, you could say the Dodgers have a lot of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: But will Smith being an offensive force in addition to giving them that defense has given them a leg up over a lot of teams.

[SPEAKER_01]: You see that Alejandro Kirk with the Blue J's last year, having a catcher hooking

[SPEAKER_01]: provide both offense and defense is something that's hard to find, but when you do find it, the Royals have had this obviously with Salvador Perez for much of the last 15 years, even almost now.

[SPEAKER_01]: But having another guy following on the footsteps of that who can kind of job share with Perez for now and then kind of take over as the long-term catcher is pretty special.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where I wanted to end this also.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just kind of look at the top of this list.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we both feel like that as the top of this top hundred goes, it's a pretty special group.

[SPEAKER_01]: A year ago, I would say that we were looking at it and saying, okay, we've had a lot of graduations.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there was really, but it didn't feel like you didn't have that top of it where you're like, oh, this is man, I'm just so excited about the top of this list.

[SPEAKER_01]: This year, I would say it is very much.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's heart, this is the most short stops we've ever had on the top 100 in the 37 years of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you look at the very top of this list,

[SPEAKER_01]: It's four short stops, top four spots.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's five short stops in the top seven.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's six short stops in the top 12.

[SPEAKER_01]: Half of the top 12 on this list are short stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we don't mean short stops in name.

[SPEAKER_01]: We mean honest to get in short stops.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a prep short stop class that the draft really that really stood out.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have a ton of those who made this top 100.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you look at this top 100, it does feel like it's one of those that's

[SPEAKER_01]: one that could we could look back on and really be like, man, that was a year as opposed to one of these where you go, well, someone had to rank number one, someone had to rank number two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that how do you see it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's definitely the vibe and, you know, it certainly helps.

[SPEAKER_00]: when you have a pitching crop that's headed by a bunch of guys that have already had success in the major leagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's fairly important.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the other part of it, too, is I think we've gotten better at evaluating pitching prospects over the last couple of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, there's a lot of guys within this list, especially from, you know, 50 on that are really interesting pictures that could have impact even this season with a respective clubs.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is a top 100, the full top 100 is over at baseballamerica.com.

[SPEAKER_01]: So much more, not just the top 100, but the shoulder content that goes with that, that will give you stuff to kind of dive into.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know we have a big winter storm that's expected to hit much of the U.S. this weekend.

[SPEAKER_01]: How do a lot, buckle in and enjoy all the coverage that we have on this top 100 over at baseballamerica.com.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're gonna have more coverage also on our podcast

[SPEAKER_01]: in addition to the deep dives and all the other stuff that we're doing at baseball America's YouTube channel and podcast feed.

[SPEAKER_01]: But thank you for joining us here as we looked at the top 100.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm JJ Cooper.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's Jeff Ponds.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a long everybody.