00:00.031 --> 00:03.777
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, and welcome to Baseball America's draft podcast.

00:03.937 --> 00:09.346
[SPEAKER_00]: I am Carlos Colaza joined by Jacob Rudner, college and draft extraordinaire himself.

00:09.967 --> 00:15.035
[SPEAKER_00]: We are here to talk some draft talks and prospects, guess leading off today.

00:15.055 --> 00:17.719
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about the news you broke this week, Jacob.

00:17.952 --> 00:24.782
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake McCoy, Lieutenant pitcher in the draft class, one of the more exciting, Lieutenant pitcher's in the class out of South Carolina.

00:25.323 --> 00:28.187
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, we'll not be seeing him throw this spring.

00:28.868 --> 00:29.730
[SPEAKER_00]: He has an injury.

00:29.750 --> 00:32.434
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into that later in the second half of the show.

00:32.454 --> 00:40.766
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk some draft sleepers, both Jacob and myself have been writing a lot about sleepers this week about on baseball america.com.

00:40.786 --> 00:41.968
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to get into that as well.

00:42.108 --> 00:43.791
[SPEAKER_00]: But I guess we have

00:43.771 --> 01:10.234
[SPEAKER_00]: sort of bury the fun stuff for the second half and talk about bit of a downer feels like it's kind of normal normal news happens every year for the draft but it's always such a bummer when it does and I feel like Jake McCoy was one of the more exciting players in this class a player who was one of the more significant risers on our october draft update uh... jica let's just talk a little bit about this news uh... what are your thoughts just more generally thrown out to you

01:11.041 --> 01:13.084
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm well, how are you?

01:13.525 --> 01:16.109
[SPEAKER_01]: And no, this sucks.

01:16.329 --> 01:27.627
[SPEAKER_01]: And like you said, it is kind of like the, feels like once a preseason, we get this terrible news out of somewhere important that, you know, X teams Friday night starter is going to miss the season.

01:27.687 --> 01:29.089
[SPEAKER_01]: And this year it's Jake McCoy.

01:29.790 --> 01:33.977
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll compare it to a situation last year because I think that there's some like,

01:33.957 --> 01:36.339
[SPEAKER_01]: draft conversation utility to this.

01:36.860 --> 01:42.245
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year, it was Ben Abelt, who got hurt around this time and blew out and needed surgery.

01:42.585 --> 01:46.729
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was some similar, like, preseason helium to the name.

01:46.870 --> 01:49.752
[SPEAKER_01]: We were starting to wonder how high he could push up the board.

01:49.772 --> 01:52.495
[SPEAKER_01]: If I remember correctly, he was a preseason all-American as a reliever.

01:52.875 --> 01:58.361
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were getting ready for this big season where Abelt was getting ready to, you know, move to the Friday night role for TCU.

01:58.381 --> 01:59.702
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a lot of excitement about that.

02:00.102 --> 02:03.846
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he doesn't get to play in a game because he blew out.

02:03.826 --> 02:19.244
[SPEAKER_01]: And then ultimately goes in the fifth round because we never got to see him start this feels Similar in that it is another guy who didn't have track record in the world that he was in last year was not a great year For him 6.9 ERA is a starter.

02:19.324 --> 02:24.610
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like 14 starts for South Carolina then he goes out on the cape And he's outstanding for like 12 innings.

02:24.910 --> 02:33.580
[SPEAKER_01]: I forgot 25 batters walk to we saw kind of what it could be But we haven't seen it in a game and this preseason draft momentum that was

02:33.560 --> 02:49.813
[SPEAKER_01]: from everything I was hearing kind of trending towards like that first round line a little bit for some people heading into the year others it was you know pretty firmly mid second round early second round kind of dissipates before it ever has a chance to get going so it sucks I think that for South Carolina

02:49.793 --> 03:05.271
[SPEAKER_01]: You lose a guy who you had a lot of confidence in in a year that's going to matter that can work college, podcast, chatter, but, you know, as it relates to the draft, you know, we definitely lose out on a pitcher who I think had a pretty decent bit of momentum and had a chance to maybe push into the first round.

03:05.572 --> 03:09.560
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so at the time of this injury, and it is an elbow injury, you see a tear.

03:09.681 --> 03:15.032
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if we'd specified it, but it's expected that he's going to have surgery for that and just be done for the entire year.

03:15.092 --> 03:17.317
[SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned a belt, I think that's a really good one.

03:17.417 --> 03:24.492
[SPEAKER_00]: But the player I thought of for this, maybe in terms of like draft stock and how we could potentially see it pan out is

03:24.472 --> 03:25.614
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke's anard.

03:25.674 --> 03:38.397
[SPEAKER_00]: He's one of the first players that I thought of, different sort of pictures entirely, but just in the way that the industry's talking about both pictures as draft prospects, you had mentioned like pushing towards the first round with McCoy.

03:38.417 --> 03:41.162
[SPEAKER_00]: We had a Marty ranked in the top two round range.

03:41.222 --> 03:47.914
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if he was healthy and he got a chance to go out there and pitch, it would be much more likely that he moved up from that 58 number than,

03:47.894 --> 04:08.434
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, move back just with how good he looked in the Cape Cod League and then looks in art as a picture who entering his draft year Who's a member of the 2024 draft class he didn't pitch at all during the spring of his draft year But scouts universally just loved the bill loved this stuff and I feel like there are enough teams maybe not every single team

04:08.414 --> 04:09.235
[SPEAKER_00]: in the game.

04:09.255 --> 04:16.783
[SPEAKER_00]: There are enough teams that are just willing to take on some injury risk with pitchers, maybe to a level that they wouldn't tend 15, 20 years ago.

04:16.923 --> 04:18.164
[SPEAKER_00]: It's commonplace now.

04:18.244 --> 04:19.105
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of the norm.

04:19.666 --> 04:24.391
[SPEAKER_00]: And so wouldn't surprise me at all if Jake McCoy still wound up being a top three round pick.

04:24.431 --> 04:26.433
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got the left hand in this on his side.

04:26.493 --> 04:30.457
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a fast ball that was going up in velocity.

04:30.497 --> 04:32.839
[SPEAKER_00]: He was up to 98 in the Cape Cod League.

04:33.160 --> 04:36.463
[SPEAKER_00]: The control was trending in the right direction.

04:36.443 --> 04:56.325
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably that element of his profile is maybe the most interesting one, maybe the most polarizing one, maybe the most divisive, because as you said, I mean, his track record of performance with South Carolina, if you just looked at his performance numbers, you probably would be like wondering what we're talking about here, because it's a career 7.11 ERA.

04:56.305 --> 05:01.736
[SPEAKER_00]: over 15 starts, 26 appearances and 76 total innings at South Carolina.

05:01.876 --> 05:09.230
[SPEAKER_00]: I think even going into the summer, Jake McCoy is not a player that we would have been talking about as a top 100 type guy at all.

05:09.310 --> 05:18.448
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the the stuff was lighter, the control was below average or poor, but on the

05:18.428 --> 05:24.696
[SPEAKER_00]: the way he looked moving on the mound is exceptional like the delivery is super clean and athletic and easy.

05:25.096 --> 05:26.618
[SPEAKER_00]: The hand comes through really fast.

05:27.860 --> 05:31.945
[SPEAKER_00]: I just like the build and just how the operation looks entirely fastballs up to 98.

05:31.965 --> 05:32.826
[SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned the slider.

05:32.946 --> 05:46.343
[SPEAKER_00]: We've had a lot of scouts put plus grades on the slider and he hasn't thrown a change up too much, but I feel like just seeing a couple of the ones that he did land gives me some confidence that with more reps

05:46.323 --> 05:47.024
[SPEAKER_00]: as well.

05:47.125 --> 06:03.977
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just a huge bummer to see, but I do think that even in a really good draft class where there's a lot of depth, I'm on both pitching front high school and college, it would really surprise me if you did not have a lot of interest just basically purely off the cape and just the fall feedback we got from teams.

06:04.278 --> 06:06.862
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it's a lefty up to 98 miles per hour.

06:06.902 --> 06:07.884
[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned you had a good mover.

06:07.984 --> 06:19.102
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that there were signs that a lot of the problems that he had last year, particularly the control issues, were starting to take a step in the right direction.

06:19.162 --> 06:27.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that you can tell that it was fixed, but all the feedback from the fall and even his two innings of preseason work, which is when he got hurt.

06:28.207 --> 06:29.869
[SPEAKER_01]: It was around the zone.

06:29.909 --> 06:32.292
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got upper 90s velocity, like I said.

06:32.372 --> 06:35.096
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a profile that gets pretty difficult to ignore.

06:35.116 --> 06:37.539
[SPEAKER_01]: There were, I mean, you heard this too.

06:37.599 --> 06:46.210
[SPEAKER_01]: There were a lot of people who thought that he was the best left-hander in the class, especially because there are questions about what exactly coal car loans roll is going to look like at Arizona State.

06:46.710 --> 06:51.396
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're talking about somebody who, if he pitches, even if it's not like, you know,

06:51.781 --> 07:01.474
[SPEAKER_01]: All American caliber stuff, I think that there is kind of a void at the top of the left handed college left handed starting pitching category in this draft.

07:01.514 --> 07:09.164
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's a really good pitching draft, but I think that it's a pretty wide open race for who left handed SP1 is on the college side.

07:09.184 --> 07:11.207
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I don't know that there's a clear answer for that right now.

07:11.542 --> 07:15.411
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the left-handed pitching depth on the high school side is tremendous this year.

07:15.471 --> 07:18.619
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's three players that could go in the first round today.

07:18.639 --> 07:25.756
[SPEAKER_00]: It won't shock me, and then even beyond that, there are a couple left-handed pitchers in the prep class that have you a second round, third round, take talents.

07:25.816 --> 07:29.365
[SPEAKER_00]: But once you get to the lefties, I feel like there is this cluster

07:29.345 --> 07:47.708
[SPEAKER_00]: of left handed pictures that the least we currently have in the second third round range guys like Ethan Klein Schmidt at Oregon State, Ryan Morone at NC State, trade beard at Florida State, Cole Carlone who you mentioned, Ricky O'Hadah, UC Irvine, Ethan Norby, East Carolina, like all those guys,

07:47.688 --> 07:49.673
[SPEAKER_00]: I view them in a similar sort of range.

07:50.155 --> 07:53.102
[SPEAKER_00]: And if healthy, I think it's pretty easy to say.

07:53.163 --> 08:03.891
[SPEAKER_00]: You take McCoy at the top, even though some of those guys, like Norby and Ronan, particularly, have a really impressive track records with their schools and just have logged a lot more innings with.

08:03.871 --> 08:04.512
[SPEAKER_00]: performance.

08:04.552 --> 08:14.005
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we talked, I don't know if we mentioned this on the last podcast, but pictures can change so quickly in terms of how they're evaluated and how the talent is viewed.

08:14.606 --> 08:21.215
[SPEAKER_00]: We see that every year, I'm sure there are going to be players that are not discussed that we have not mentioned right now who just vault up the board this spring because they're going to come out.

08:21.235 --> 08:22.116
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to show better stuff.

08:22.136 --> 08:23.077
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to show better command.

08:23.097 --> 08:24.259
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just going to go out and post.

08:25.541 --> 08:27.904
[SPEAKER_00]: McCoy was on a very short list of players we were both.

08:27.884 --> 08:29.025
[SPEAKER_00]: really excited to see.

08:29.125 --> 08:31.188
[SPEAKER_00]: So just generally a bit of a bummer.

08:31.308 --> 08:48.347
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if you have anything you want to add more on this if there are any angles of this that we haven't thought about, but I guess it will be interesting to see how much money a college pitcher who has 76 total innings on his resume in an era north of seven will wind up getting.

08:48.868 --> 08:56.777
[SPEAKER_00]: I might actually be curious now if and when he signs this year to just see what sort of like player pool we have to

08:57.196 --> 09:19.356
[SPEAKER_01]: I will say, you know, I think that there is a case to be made that this is different than the about situation just because like I actually don't think he's going to fall as much in the draft rankings as maybe somebody who had bigger I mean equal questions even would like for some reason this feels like a really secure draft profile even with a

09:19.336 --> 09:36.619
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, season ending double digit month recovery injury, which is interesting to me and then the other thing that I would say is this does give an opportunity to somebody on that South Carolina pitching staff, which is a lot of draft eligible talent to make a move here and it's not left handed, but

09:36.599 --> 10:00.767
[SPEAKER_01]: Alex Philpot from everything I'm hearing early on has a really good chance to end up being their Friday guy now that was kind of McCoy's like a penciled enroll for this season and now Philpot who's up to 100 miles per hour has a pretty good slider, this change up is plus that's a guy who I think has an opportunity to kind of vault into the early rounds here, Josh Gunther, the chancellor from Wake Forest has some super enticing stuff that fastballs excellent,

10:00.747 --> 10:14.704
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not really had an opportunity to showcase his stuff and starting well, I think that that's something that we're about to see AMP Phillips, who's at South Carolina, is maybe a little bit even deeper on the board than those previous two guys I just mentioned, and he has a chance to actually be pretty decent.

10:14.744 --> 10:20.131
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, if you're South Carolina and you're a fan of that team and you're thinking about, you know, A, what does this do to us?

10:20.171 --> 10:23.655
[SPEAKER_01]: But B, from a draft standpoint, what does this look like for our school?

10:24.176 --> 10:28.982
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I think that that's a team that has a

10:28.962 --> 10:41.908
[SPEAKER_01]: needing to kind of prove itself, which is obviously a nice tie in here, but we're about to talk about, but I do think that that's kind of a team that is worth keeping an eye on if you're a draft nut to see which pictures emerge now that the clear top guy is not going to play.

10:42.378 --> 10:54.780
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a professional segue there from from Jacob to to segue into sleepers and maybe that that South Carolina pitching staff as you're how you're talking about it just the death that it has is kind of a microcosm of this draft class as a whole.

10:54.840 --> 10:59.408
[SPEAKER_00]: I really think this draft class has tremendous staff that was talking about it with Ben when we're recording.

10:59.388 --> 11:29.142
[SPEAKER_00]: future projection podcasts this week that as I'm going through deeper and we're expanding this list I keep writing up players and I'm not running out of players that are exciting and I think are really good prospects this year the same way that I feel like it's typical in this range and maybe that'll be the case for the South Carolina rotation someone goes down and then someone will have a chance to pop up and really improve their soccer shows what they can do but let's pivot to maybe some more some more fun topics

11:29.122 --> 11:32.727
[SPEAKER_00]: a piece of injury news before the season gets rolling if we do.

11:32.767 --> 11:35.070
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure Jacob will be the first to hear about it.

11:35.230 --> 11:36.672
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's get into some sleepers.

11:37.053 --> 11:39.797
[SPEAKER_00]: It felt like this week became sleeper week in in some ways.

11:40.177 --> 11:43.382
[SPEAKER_00]: We wrote about sleepers for college out 25 teams or Jacob did.

11:43.842 --> 11:50.812
[SPEAKER_00]: The prospect team rolled out sleepers for all 30 big league orgs, I had a separate draft piece where I wrote about 10 sleepers who had a chance to move up board.

11:50.932 --> 11:53.455
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's get into some sleeper talk, Jacob.

11:53.496 --> 11:55.298
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will say that

11:55.278 --> 11:57.961
[SPEAKER_00]: These are not all the players we're excited to talk about.

11:58.001 --> 12:04.469
[SPEAKER_00]: We are saving a few who are a little bit higher on our board or will be a little bit higher on our board next week after our draft update.

12:04.529 --> 12:13.840
[SPEAKER_00]: So if we're not talking about an obvious player that maybe you want to hear from, I would encourage you to just check back next week because we'll be back with some more Rizers talk a week from now.

12:13.880 --> 12:16.864
[SPEAKER_00]: But maybe guys who are just a little bit further down the board,

12:16.844 --> 12:18.430
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like three round plus range.

12:18.450 --> 12:23.529
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's a hard and fast cut off, but just give us an opportunity to talk about some exciting players.

12:23.549 --> 12:25.616
[SPEAKER_00]: Some pick-to-plate, pick-to-click types.

12:25.717 --> 12:28.828
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some, some reds buds and personal cheese balls here.

12:29.230 --> 12:31.233
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the the Reds Buds list.

12:31.254 --> 12:40.550
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of taken on a life of its own, but no, this is a really fun year for a I should probably plug myself go go to baseball america dot com slash college check out that story.

12:41.772 --> 12:52.150
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think that this is a fun year for the quote unquote sleeper cheese ball run bud, whatever your word is for guys who you really like, especially on the pitching side like.

12:52.130 --> 12:58.497
[SPEAKER_01]: As I've gotten ready here for college opening day, I'm starting to really dig deeper into these mid-major teams for example.

12:58.537 --> 13:06.745
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm starting to see these guys who it's like, man, Leaf Palmer, who's at Oregon State last year, and is now going to be the front man of the Cal Poly rotation.

13:06.785 --> 13:08.227
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that guy's got some interesting traits.

13:08.787 --> 13:11.110
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to be really curious to see what he does.

13:11.130 --> 13:12.311
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that this is a good year.

13:12.772 --> 13:15.454
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that you probably want me to like talk about specific players.

13:15.494 --> 13:17.477
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a really good year for the college reliever.

13:17.957 --> 13:20.820
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's going to be an interesting demographic to track.

13:20.800 --> 13:29.458
[SPEAKER_01]: and also say it's interesting demographic to track just kind of like where we are at in terms of how draft strategy works in professional baseball.

13:29.478 --> 13:39.479
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that there's increasing value being put on guys who are college relievers with stuff that you know is not going to necessarily get much better, but it's already pretty good across one or two.

13:39.500 --> 13:40.682
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a really great idea.

13:40.662 --> 13:47.834
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and then those guys are going early, like I think of Mason Peters from Dallas Babs last year with the Mariners, a picker than I think the fourth round.

13:48.335 --> 14:02.839
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt like an aggressive pick a little bit, if you were just looking at it like in a vacuum, but I think that the trend says that that's the direction that we're heading in with that group, and then I think about guys like Ethan Thomas, who transferred from Hawaii to

14:02.819 --> 14:04.080
[SPEAKER_01]: TCU for this season.

14:04.100 --> 14:13.188
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a ridiculous fastball regularly over 20 inches of IVB, fat conversations with former big wet or current big west coaches who faced Thomas last year.

14:13.608 --> 14:19.534
[SPEAKER_01]: Who said that he far in the way had the best fastball that they faced Thomas Burns, who and I have both written about over at Texas.

14:19.594 --> 14:23.117
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, but to say that Thomas's are two great ones, both of them just have great fastballs.

14:23.157 --> 14:26.119
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wrote up Thomas Burns for updated draft list.

14:26.139 --> 14:31.324
[SPEAKER_00]: He's definitely a guy that I feel like is in this exact sort of tier of reliever with a huge fastball.

14:31.304 --> 14:35.011
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, seeing how the arsenal develops the control like Texas has done a really nice job.

14:35.331 --> 14:37.696
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think has a great reputation for how they develop pictures.

14:37.756 --> 14:45.310
[SPEAKER_00]: So Thomas Burns, if he wants a being one of the first, I don't know actually, are they expecting to start him at all to the expect to be a really good this year.

14:45.350 --> 14:46.612
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, that's been really fun.

14:46.672 --> 14:48.255
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he's going to be back in the bullpen.

14:48.275 --> 14:50.359
[SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like Carlone is going to be in the bullpen.

14:50.339 --> 14:51.561
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

14:51.582 --> 15:00.560
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's like West Coast pitching fans, Santa Garcia, who's at Oregon last year and has a ridiculous left-handed fastball, is now at LSU, he will not start most likely.

15:00.600 --> 15:01.482
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be in the bullpen.

15:01.502 --> 15:10.440
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, all these guys, Tau Randall at UCLA, somebody who I just wrote up, I think that there is a really deep group of pictures who have intriguing stuff.

15:10.420 --> 15:28.210
[SPEAKER_01]: Particularly on the fastball side that are not going to crack a college rotation for whatever reason and are going to end up in these bullpens and have a chance to go pretty well, whether that's because an org thinks that they're going to make the jump to a starting role eventually or because they're on this like rocket ship path to being able to contribute at the big league level in the next two three seasons.

15:28.966 --> 15:29.287
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

15:29.367 --> 15:47.225
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are a ton of, I mean, I mentioned this on the high school, just the high school demographic as well, but like the stuff is just feels like over, overflowing in this class, maybe it's just a sign of like where baseball is as a whole on the amateur side, everyone has ridiculous stuff, but you mentioned a couple of stuff monsters.

15:47.285 --> 15:49.590
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the guys I'm most excited about.

15:49.570 --> 15:52.174
[SPEAKER_00]: I think is a little bit different of a profile.

15:52.474 --> 15:59.325
[SPEAKER_00]: And as I dug into just what he's been able to do, gone to the pitch mix, I found myself really liking him a ton.

15:59.505 --> 16:00.968
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also out on the west coast.

16:00.988 --> 16:03.111
[SPEAKER_00]: UCLA, right hander, Logan Reddeman.

16:03.792 --> 16:14.228
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not think he is a name that many people outside of like diehard college baseball fans, maybe diehard draft fans are aware of, but he's certainly a player who's going to get a lot of attention

16:14.208 --> 16:28.201
[SPEAKER_00]: this year, just by proxy of being on UCLA, a team that is one of the favorites for College World Series Championship, a teammate with Rock Chilowski, who's going to have every single eyeball in the country, anyone who's at all interested in the draft is going to be watching Rock Chilowski and UCLA.

16:28.722 --> 16:30.404
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're probably going to see a lot of Logan Rediman.

16:31.344 --> 16:32.566
[SPEAKER_00]: He came from San Diego.

16:33.046 --> 16:40.333
[SPEAKER_00]: He's ran a pitcher with just tremendous strike throwing ability in two years

16:40.313 --> 16:43.597
[SPEAKER_00]: 31 batters in 131.1 innings.

16:44.038 --> 16:46.922
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a walk rate of 2.1 per nine.

16:48.424 --> 16:51.127
[SPEAKER_00]: And just past great feel for his entire pitch mix.

16:51.147 --> 16:54.091
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's not the most overwhelming stuff you'll see.

16:54.452 --> 16:58.377
[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob has already talked about a couple of pitches that are quite a bit louder than the fastball he's throwing.

16:59.078 --> 16:59.699
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's 92.93.

17:00.420 --> 17:01.261
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll touch a six.

17:01.281 --> 17:03.484
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a slider, a change up, a curveball.

17:04.125 --> 17:07.249
[SPEAKER_00]: And what stood out to me is he threw every single one of those pitches.

17:07.229 --> 17:11.255
[SPEAKER_00]: first strikes at a rate better than 63 percent.

17:11.977 --> 17:18.908
[SPEAKER_00]: Jeff Ponce was doing some kind of data sourcing for us today in the slack and just threw some strike rate numbers.

17:20.170 --> 17:23.415
[SPEAKER_00]: And at the major league level, the average strike rate is 63 percent.

17:23.455 --> 17:25.779
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the minor league rate was 60 percent.

17:25.799 --> 17:28.343
[SPEAKER_00]: So the fact that he's throwing his entire mix at a

17:28.323 --> 17:44.222
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you just directly translated it to the major leagues would be a 63% rate is impressive to me and it's not like he's throwing an upper 80s fast ball scraping for 92s and 93s like it's solid stuff across the board now he's going to have an opportunity to do that

17:44.202 --> 17:52.676
[SPEAKER_00]: against better competition and with a magnifying glass on him, I'm always a sucker for for pictures who really throw a lot of strikes and he absolutely did that.

17:53.037 --> 18:05.096
[SPEAKER_00]: He also pitched briefly in the Cape Cod League, 25 to 3 strike out to walk ratio there so that was really encouraging to see even if he doesn't add any stuff at all and it's just kind of the same guy and just does it at UCLA this year and does it again?

18:05.116 --> 18:09.163
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you could pretty easily be talking about it

18:09.683 --> 18:10.884
[SPEAKER_01]: I went and I saw him in the fall.

18:11.205 --> 18:12.226
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I got the same twice.

18:12.686 --> 18:14.449
[SPEAKER_01]: He was really impressed with the athlete.

18:14.469 --> 18:18.874
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that was another thing that stood out is just the quality of the movement on the mound is really good.

18:18.894 --> 18:25.261
[SPEAKER_01]: I have seen and heard that UCLA has made an effort to clean up the delivery a little bit.

18:25.321 --> 18:26.463
[SPEAKER_01]: There's less moving parts.

18:26.523 --> 18:33.070
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not as fricky jerky, which I think was something that they observed him, even though he had really good command of all of this pitches last year.

18:33.090 --> 18:38.897
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's led to even better strike throwing.

18:38.877 --> 18:40.221
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's got a plus change up.

18:40.562 --> 18:41.584
[SPEAKER_01]: He uses it really well.

18:41.665 --> 18:43.008
[SPEAKER_01]: He throws it to both sides of the plate.

18:43.068 --> 18:43.971
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an effective pitch.

18:44.512 --> 18:46.056
[SPEAKER_01]: The fastball has improved as you mentioned.

18:46.097 --> 18:47.039
[SPEAKER_01]: He's added velocity.

18:47.400 --> 18:49.967
[SPEAKER_01]: When I saw him, I believe he was up to 96.

18:50.065 --> 18:54.351
[SPEAKER_01]: And like you said, the prominence of the role this year, UCLA is huge.

18:54.371 --> 18:59.659
[SPEAKER_01]: He will be there Friday night guy unless something dramatically changes in the next two weeks before the season starts.

19:00.059 --> 19:02.523
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a really big role on a really big team this year.

19:02.703 --> 19:12.297
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can also tell you that from a recruiting perspective, when he entered the portal out of San Diego, this was not somebody who had limited West Coast interest and UCLA's no small program.

19:12.337 --> 19:13.018
[SPEAKER_01]: But like,

19:12.998 --> 19:24.763
[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about the NIL juggernauts of the college baseball world where aggressively pursuing Logan Reddeman and UCLA just want a recruitment that it knew it wanted from the beginning and I think it landed a great picture.

19:25.098 --> 19:43.191
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate to the that Redmond is staying loyal to the West Coast there with that the transfer it's it's fun to see you mentioned the change up I'll just really quickly add He drove a 41% mystery with that change up last year during the spring, which is pretty impressive mark, but uh, I'll I'll defer over to you for for where you want to head next Jacob.

19:44.082 --> 19:51.268
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we could we could stay on the west coast here and actually I'm really excited about his team mate, a Cal Randall.

19:51.369 --> 19:58.495
[SPEAKER_01]: I very briefly mentioned a great example of what the the stuff potential looks like in the deeper rounds of this draft.

19:59.376 --> 20:01.578
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a low to mid 90s fastball.

20:01.898 --> 20:03.880
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got a lot of carry up the top of the zone.

20:03.940 --> 20:14.089
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got interesting relief traits deep extension and a little bit of crossfire delivery three quarters release and he's got a pretty well rounded pitch set.

20:14.069 --> 20:33.596
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody who's going to end up back in the bullpen, which I think is interesting this year, and again, it's kind of one of those themes where it's like We're seeing at the top of college baseball that some of these teams are so heavy with draft talents that they're able to fill out their rotations and it's pushing some of these guys to like easily would start somewhere else into the bullpen, and that kind of seems like where Cal Randall is headed.

20:33.676 --> 20:35.318
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know if he's going to start

20:35.298 --> 20:37.141
[SPEAKER_01]: uh but it's super unique release traits.

20:37.161 --> 20:51.703
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got this weird old school high leg kick that he employs that I always am kind of like enamored by these guys that come out with super funky mechanics and doing a little bit differently and he certainly like fits that bill uh but was super successful on paper too like you're you don't have to

20:51.683 --> 20:56.830
[SPEAKER_01]: dig super deep to understand the value area to 3.080 RA with 31 strikeouts over just over 26 innings.

20:57.290 --> 20:58.832
[SPEAKER_01]: All in relief is a sophomore last year.

20:58.892 --> 21:02.117
[SPEAKER_01]: And now he gets to kind of do that role again.

21:02.157 --> 21:04.159
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not not unfamiliar territory.

21:04.640 --> 21:06.903
[SPEAKER_01]: I would be surprised if we didn't see him look really good.

21:06.943 --> 21:11.409
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the question becomes do one of these model driven analytics driven teams.

21:11.489 --> 21:15.514
[SPEAKER_01]: Take a shot at the stuff and the release traits and see if it plays up in a bigger role.

21:16.186 --> 21:20.953
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, big fastball, sitting 94.95, up to 98, good carry.

21:20.993 --> 21:23.436
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, pretty flat approach angle.

21:24.858 --> 21:26.340
[SPEAKER_00]: What are your thoughts on the secondarys here?

21:26.360 --> 21:32.829
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's mostly used, or at least last spring, he did use a changeup quite a bit more than any other of his secondarys.

21:32.889 --> 21:35.232
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a firm upper 80s changeup.

21:35.252 --> 21:43.223
[SPEAKER_00]: He's also got a little slider cutter hybrid that he used about 10, 13% of the time, depending on how those pitches are getting classified.

21:43.203 --> 21:45.886
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you confident that he has like a knockout seconder?

21:45.966 --> 21:51.773
[SPEAKER_00]: You mostly excited about just the fast ball here and maybe what a team can help coax out of him in the seconder department at the next level.

21:52.433 --> 21:53.554
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more that for me.

21:53.975 --> 22:00.843
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm looking at like really good release traits and somebody who's a good mover who like I said gets down the mound really well.

22:01.623 --> 22:08.451
[SPEAKER_01]: The extension which is like a really big thing combined with the approach angle that you mentioned those two things combined to create a look that's very tough to hit.

22:08.431 --> 22:12.219
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, he does have a change up that I think is super serviceable.

22:12.260 --> 22:20.478
[SPEAKER_01]: He controls it pretty well and he threw it for strikes like 60% of the time last year, and I believe in the track man sample that we have is off top my head.

22:20.518 --> 22:24.988
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like a 28% with rate on that pitch in particular.

22:25.863 --> 22:27.766
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it like a spectacular change up?

22:28.047 --> 22:29.349
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's kind of unique.

22:29.369 --> 22:35.199
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like one of those higher spin change ups that he locates well, it moves decently.

22:35.599 --> 22:38.184
[SPEAKER_01]: I could see that developing into an above average pitch.

22:38.484 --> 22:42.471
[SPEAKER_01]: Do I think this is somebody who ultimately ends up in a rotation as a professional?

22:42.451 --> 22:56.476
[SPEAKER_01]: probably not, but again, like I think that you with with him and it's almost an identical conversation with Ethan Thomas who I mentioned with the great release traits, like long extension, big fastball with lots of curious top of the zone.

22:57.317 --> 23:07.395
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't necessarily think that that ends up being a starter's mix, but I do think that both of those guys have like prominent draft potential those relievers and probably stay in the real long term.

23:08.253 --> 23:10.876
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I kind of want to move to the hitting side.

23:11.037 --> 23:12.098
[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about a lot of arms here.

23:12.158 --> 23:14.581
[SPEAKER_00]: I got a couple hitters that I'm excited about as well.

23:14.702 --> 23:15.883
[SPEAKER_00]: One on the high school side.

23:16.063 --> 23:20.830
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is Dominic Pelagrin who is a short top at a pulley cross eye in New Orleans.

23:21.170 --> 23:22.992
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not see him much at all.

23:23.012 --> 23:32.505
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I saw him at all over the the circuit, but just having some conversations with scouts and seeing some video of him from this fall and he's already played in some events early.

23:32.485 --> 23:39.051
[SPEAKER_00]: this year, as we've gotten into 26, but he sounds like a really fascinating defensive oriented prospect now.

23:39.672 --> 23:42.514
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a smaller guy, six foot one, 175 pounds.

23:43.195 --> 23:59.050
[SPEAKER_00]: Atta Luiziana, he had a tremendous spring last year with his high school team, his co-nvp of his district, and he gets absolutely glowing reviews for his defensive work, his athleticism, his speed, his a plus runner, his twitchy, I feel like

23:59.030 --> 24:18.212
[SPEAKER_00]: no one that I've talked to who's seen him and likes him has any doubt that he's going to be a short stop and a chance to be really impactful shortstop that with all the trades, the instincts, the hands, the footwork that you want to see and what's really exciting about what he could potentially be as he's had some really impressive strength gains over the offseason.

24:18.232 --> 24:19.513
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a little bit more physical.

24:20.334 --> 24:21.816
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's been some bad speed.

24:21.916 --> 24:25.240
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some hope that there's more power coming.

24:25.220 --> 24:30.887
[SPEAKER_00]: There's still a lot of uncertainty that I at least have with him offensively, just because I haven't been that exposed to him.

24:30.927 --> 24:46.806
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think his track record of performance in high level events is extensive, but maybe this is one of those pop up sleeper type short stops where people are running in to see him because of the strength gains going to see if there have been any tool changes just the

24:46.786 --> 24:51.432
[SPEAKER_00]: The evaluation of the hit tool in the offensive package can change significantly.

24:51.472 --> 24:55.196
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, steel haul is like the greatest example of this from a year ago.

24:55.216 --> 24:59.842
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that Dominic Pelagrin is the athlete or the runner that haul is.

24:59.882 --> 25:04.147
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a 60 runner versus an A runner and one of the best pirathlets in the class in steel haul.

25:04.187 --> 25:08.592
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying that I think Dom Pelagrin is going to shoot up and be a top of the first round pick.

25:08.572 --> 25:25.618
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just think that profile and the defensive acumen and the tools there are exciting on its face and then the strength gains are encouraging to hear about as well So I'll be very curious to see like what deep south and Texas Louisiana guys think when they're running in there the spring so he's definitely a name out keeping your mind

25:26.324 --> 25:34.318
[SPEAKER_01]: Most curious of guys like that should get to campus, like should have the intention of having a really high number so that you either get to campus or you get paid.

25:34.919 --> 25:41.029
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I do wonder about like the strength gains department when it comes to college.

25:41.049 --> 25:52.028
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that there's a really strong track record of guys who are hitters going to school and getting stronger and proving that they can kind of hit in the power department and proving that they can hit like in this case in general.

25:52.008 --> 26:14.703
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you already know that they're a plus defender and a good athlete and like that's the kind of profile that goes really well for a college bat then again, you also like and you and I had this conversation last week on the draft podcast where it's like What do you think about the college bat in general, but it's always interesting for me for some of these like underdeveloped smaller high school hitters with hit tool questions that are good athletes and are going to feel their position.

26:14.743 --> 26:15.805
[SPEAKER_01]: It's always weird for me.

26:16.257 --> 26:19.322
[SPEAKER_00]: There are some teams that just seem more willing to take those smaller guys.

26:19.382 --> 26:26.755
[SPEAKER_00]: Those light impact guys seems like the debacks, the brewers, the guardians have felt like they're really unbothered by taking some of the short guys.

26:26.795 --> 26:31.503
[SPEAKER_00]: Even the Dodgers have taken a few guys who are just smaller and didn't have a lot of impact or strength right now.

26:32.204 --> 26:35.410
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll try and develop that or just pack on some more strength as they age.

26:35.490 --> 26:37.253
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think he's like...

26:37.233 --> 26:40.741
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Kelly Lindsay's a good one to maybe throw into that bucket as well.

26:40.801 --> 26:42.024
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see what happens to them.

26:42.044 --> 26:46.635
[SPEAKER_00]: This is maybe more of a deeper sleeper than some of the college names we thrown out.

26:46.716 --> 26:48.861
[SPEAKER_00]: But any, any hitters you really excited about?

26:48.901 --> 26:51.768
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I know there's one that you've been, you've been talking about a lot.

26:51.808 --> 26:52.569
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to steal them.

26:52.610 --> 26:53.672
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you want to talk about them.

26:53.652 --> 27:06.424
[SPEAKER_01]: They're well, they're two who fit this, who fit this and maybe we'll have a chance to discuss both because they're kind of on both of our lists, but Joe to roll it over at Virginia will be the first one and there you go, I got to look like I took the cue correctly.

27:07.025 --> 27:19.457
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pretty small data sample size for us, like we don't have a lot of in front of trackman bad at balls to look at here, but the teeny tiny sample that does exist.

27:19.437 --> 27:22.900
[SPEAKER_00]: 29 to rally all events to really really quickly writer transfer.

27:22.940 --> 27:24.402
[SPEAKER_00]: He's now Virginia the spring.

27:24.922 --> 27:25.083
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

27:25.123 --> 27:26.024
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was about to say.

27:26.644 --> 27:26.744
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

27:26.764 --> 27:26.944
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

27:26.964 --> 27:29.827
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a really small sample size at a really small school.

27:29.987 --> 27:32.370
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that needs to be kind of baked into this conversation.

27:32.390 --> 27:34.011
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's why he's a sleeper.

27:34.192 --> 27:47.605
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously if this was done at a high major school, we'd be having a very different conversation, but he's a slightly undersized right handed hitting second baseman last year produced a 95 mile power average eggs of velocity again, very tiny, tiny sample.

27:47.585 --> 27:49.107
[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't chase a whole lot.

27:49.909 --> 27:54.176
[SPEAKER_01]: The swing decisions are buttoned up just generally speaking, like he's aggressive in the zone.

27:54.877 --> 28:00.346
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that again, and that just keeps reiterating very small samples in 86% zone contact rate.

28:00.366 --> 28:03.130
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a well above average 83% overall contact rate.

28:03.431 --> 28:10.923
[SPEAKER_01]: The angles on the bat and balls, both just in general and then with his best contact, like at the top end of his exit velocity range are really good.

28:11.123 --> 28:12.445
[SPEAKER_01]: He puts the ball in the air.

28:12.425 --> 28:16.810
[SPEAKER_01]: And then at the surface level, the results last season were pretty impressive.

28:16.890 --> 28:24.658
[SPEAKER_01]: He had 377, 41 on base, 18 home runs, and he's a very solid defender, very clearly a second basement to me.

28:24.738 --> 28:29.543
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he moved to a corner on the grass one day, just because the athleticism is decent enough.

28:30.063 --> 28:35.248
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's a pretty surefire offensively forward second base profile.

28:35.288 --> 28:35.949
[SPEAKER_01]: You're looking at here.

28:35.969 --> 28:41.655
[SPEAKER_01]: And if he's able to do it in the ACC, I could see him being a major

28:42.108 --> 28:44.412
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, his two seasons at writer worked tremendous.

28:44.452 --> 28:49.461
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, between both those seasons, he had 335, 453, 648.

28:50.002 --> 28:56.434
[SPEAKER_00]: He had double digit home runs both years, went from 10, 100 runs of 2024 to 18, 100 runs in 2025.

28:56.614 --> 29:03.306
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the piece that I did a few weeks ago, where we're just plotting some of the best college haters in the country, like his,

29:03.286 --> 29:10.655
[SPEAKER_00]: where he shows up on this graph of contact power chase is like maybe the most visually apparent in a positive way.

29:10.675 --> 29:13.819
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just like up in the top right of the graph where you want to be.

29:14.019 --> 29:23.331
[SPEAKER_00]: And as Jacob was saying, it is a smaller sample and the competition he produced that better ball data is against just worse arms than he's going to see consistently this year.

29:23.411 --> 29:30.880
[SPEAKER_00]: So if he's able to replicate or just come near that sort of underlying better ball data and perform the ACC.

29:30.860 --> 29:42.843
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why he wouldn't go in the first three rounds, um, he would fit with a lot of these like performing smaller college middle and field types in the ACC that we've seen just go off the board in a good way.

29:42.903 --> 29:47.171
[SPEAKER_00]: So the bat to ball skills and the impact is is really exciting to me.

29:47.191 --> 29:49.395
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a conrad, but I believe you're going real quick.

29:49.415 --> 29:52.581
[SPEAKER_01]: Like East Conrad was somebody who made a jump from, you

29:52.561 --> 29:54.824
[SPEAKER_01]: very, very small mid-major marathon.

29:54.905 --> 30:01.615
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he goes to wake for us and didn't even play the entire season and has this like meteoric draft rankings rise.

30:02.135 --> 30:07.343
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that this is exactly the same because we're talking about a second-based physicality.

30:07.383 --> 30:08.265
[SPEAKER_01]: He's on their side.

30:08.545 --> 30:08.745
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

30:08.785 --> 30:09.827
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the

30:09.807 --> 30:23.327
[SPEAKER_01]: There are differences in terms of what the player is, but I think that the path is very similar in terms of what they're coming from, who they were facing, the data that they were producing at that level, and then having an opportunity to go against ACC pitching and then kind of just show it.

30:23.888 --> 30:34.043
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, that's very similar between these two, and I think that it probably puts to rolely in that, like you said, second, third round at the very high end of the ceiling if

30:34.023 --> 30:34.383
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

30:34.664 --> 30:40.311
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured that he was going to be one of the names you're interested in, but I was actually thinking you were going to go a different direction.

30:40.351 --> 30:42.173
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought you were going to go for Mr. Hill and Hill.

30:42.754 --> 30:42.854
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

30:42.874 --> 30:44.196
[SPEAKER_00]: North Carolina, who is a player.

30:44.236 --> 30:50.804
[SPEAKER_00]: We did both write about and I tried to hold back from talking about him because I do feel like you are the whole guy in the room.

30:50.924 --> 30:55.169
[SPEAKER_00]: He's also interesting and I feel like he has some similar shades to Conrad.

30:55.650 --> 30:58.113
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're similar than to Roli.

30:58.133 --> 30:58.473
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

30:58.493 --> 30:58.714
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

30:58.734 --> 30:59.915
[SPEAKER_00]: In terms of physicality tools.

30:59.975 --> 31:00.135
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

31:00.155 --> 31:00.756
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.

31:01.057 --> 31:12.493
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I mean, the thing that interests me with him is just the well-roundedness of this profile, like I think that we're talking about a player who brings both the bad-ad ball data.

31:12.613 --> 31:15.157
[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the underlying stuff, the angles are a little bit weak.

31:15.517 --> 31:17.860
[SPEAKER_01]: But like it's really solid contact consistently.

31:17.980 --> 31:19.262
[SPEAKER_01]: He hits a lot of line drives.

31:19.783 --> 31:21.045
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't chase a whole bunch.

31:21.686 --> 31:22.727
[SPEAKER_01]: Makes good contact.

31:22.787 --> 31:24.870
[SPEAKER_01]: Both in the zone and just overall.

31:24.850 --> 31:30.035
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also the athleticism, which is a little bit more difficult to non-data centric to measure.

31:30.095 --> 31:32.418
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he is capable of playing in center field.

31:32.918 --> 31:34.140
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year was at George Mason.

31:34.220 --> 31:35.201
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he's at North Carolina.

31:35.321 --> 31:36.882
[SPEAKER_01]: James Quinn-Iron just playing in center field.

31:36.903 --> 31:37.743
[SPEAKER_01]: So he was pushed to right.

31:38.344 --> 31:47.273
[SPEAKER_01]: This year it sounds like all signs are pointing towards him taking over center in Chapel Hill, which is, I mean, you think about who's held that roll down over the last couple of years.

31:47.353 --> 31:53.760
[SPEAKER_01]: And it seems like if you have the opportunity to start in center for the tar

31:53.740 --> 31:55.002
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, first or second rounds.

31:55.022 --> 31:55.202
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

31:55.222 --> 31:55.723
[SPEAKER_00]: Consider agents.

31:55.743 --> 32:05.818
[SPEAKER_00]: Honeycutt, cane, capley, I mean, whatever you think about vans honeycutts, hitting ability and pro ball, or cane, capley's size and power, two of the better defensive center filters.

32:05.978 --> 32:09.203
[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen in recent years, and both did really well in the draft, as you said.

32:09.243 --> 32:12.508
[SPEAKER_00]: So big shoes to fill for, for, oh no, there.

32:12.488 --> 32:18.195
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're, and the profile is so remarkably similar in terms of what he's capable of doing.

32:18.275 --> 32:20.057
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that he has a chance to hit for power.

32:20.097 --> 32:22.700
[SPEAKER_01]: They've gotten him to lift the ball a little bit more.

32:22.740 --> 32:24.042
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the feedback in the fall.

32:24.382 --> 32:26.164
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's certainly the early feedback in the spring.

32:26.225 --> 32:28.888
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a part of the conversation with Keppley.

32:28.908 --> 32:32.312
[SPEAKER_01]: In particular, it was getting the ball into the air more to maximize his best contact.

32:32.672 --> 32:34.134
[SPEAKER_01]: He was able to successfully do that.

32:34.214 --> 32:35.696
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Hall has more strength.

32:36.197 --> 32:37.859
[SPEAKER_01]: And he'll be able to do that a little bit better.

32:37.899 --> 32:39.120
[SPEAKER_01]: And then,

32:39.100 --> 32:44.330
[SPEAKER_01]: North Carolina Scott Forbes has this thing for getting these center field types.

32:44.350 --> 32:46.794
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be have it reekers on the basis.

32:47.015 --> 32:51.864
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year Owen Hall swiped 42 bags at George Mason and it kind of gets lost in his games.

32:51.884 --> 32:56.232
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're talking about this like very dangerous base runner who has

32:56.212 --> 33:12.887
[SPEAKER_01]: Pretty decent signs of power that needs to translate to the game a little bit more makes contact And he's gonna play a premium position in the decent level like this is a really complete Prospect who is proving it at the power for level away from having some real draft healing in my opinion

33:13.154 --> 33:19.682
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he looks the part six foot four to 15 pounds can really move exceptionally well for that size, like you mentioned.

33:20.282 --> 33:24.327
[SPEAKER_00]: I have like the swing doesn't look the most natural to me at times.

33:24.407 --> 33:25.909
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think it can get a little loopy.

33:25.929 --> 33:30.494
[SPEAKER_00]: It can get in and out of the zone a bit quickly, but as you've talked about, he hits the ball hard.

33:30.554 --> 33:32.436
[SPEAKER_00]: His performance last year was tremendous.

33:32.556 --> 33:36.321
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he is a high ground ball type guy.

33:36.341 --> 33:40.005
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just over 50% ground ball rate for his career.

33:39.985 --> 33:48.540
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if he's able to elevate a little bit more and just tap into that power and I think the Bosch is a pretty good park for left handed hitters just with the power alley.

33:48.580 --> 34:04.187
[SPEAKER_00]: They have there in right center and prove that he can play a center field like I maybe have been thinking about a lot of these guys were moving from a corner to center and just kind of assuming they're going to look pretty good there, but he hasn't really done it yet, so that's another thing he's going to have to go out there and prove.

34:04.167 --> 34:09.058
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but yeah, you look at the profile, you look at the tools, you look at the performance.

34:09.099 --> 34:11.384
[SPEAKER_00]: There's really a lot to like with Owen Hall.

34:11.404 --> 34:19.122
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's he's definitely a name that I would, um, be kind of on your on your page with just very excited about him, excited to see what he's able to do.

34:19.473 --> 34:45.025
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would add on him like just to get really specific here about what the problem is and why I mean it's it seems weird to me sometimes it's just like I've put myself into the you know more casual draft fan brain for a second I would be like super confused as to why I'm hearing about this guy who hit well over 300 who stole 40 plus bases who transfer to a high major school and how is this somebody who's in the sleeper category is

34:45.005 --> 34:45.806
[SPEAKER_01]: a great question.

34:46.247 --> 34:50.835
[SPEAKER_01]: He does make a lot of contact, but it is like I said, not to the right.

34:50.875 --> 34:52.237
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not at the right angle.

34:52.277 --> 34:56.104
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year, he pulled the ball in the air 15.9% of the time.

34:56.144 --> 35:01.393
[SPEAKER_01]: His hard hit launch angle, so that's when he's making his best contact, where is the ball going?

35:01.814 --> 35:05.460
[SPEAKER_01]: It is on the line, if not on the ground, and then just his...

35:05.440 --> 35:09.853
[SPEAKER_01]: launch angle to the pull side general is literally as I'd have her just ground balls.

35:09.934 --> 35:19.703
[SPEAKER_01]: So when he's making contact to his pull side when he's hitting the ball hard to the pull side, they are screaming line drives at best and he's Jason Edwards.

35:20.543 --> 35:30.441
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's like, and the Jason Hayward profile and college, especially from somebody who did that against the pigeon face in the A 10 is not a terribly appealing profile.

35:30.521 --> 35:33.847
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, to be close to Jason Hayward common is a little bit of a joke.

35:33.867 --> 35:37.353
[SPEAKER_00]: If he was Jason Hayward, he'd go really high in the job, everyone to read through all about how come.

35:37.874 --> 35:44.847
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let me let me be clear that the hitting the ground balls at a super high rate and not hitting your best contact in the air profile.

35:44.827 --> 35:49.314
[SPEAKER_01]: is a really tough one to like break out of if you're doing that in college, especially at George Mason.

35:49.755 --> 36:00.793
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's why I think he's super interesting because again, if North Carolina was able to fix some of that and get the bomb to the air more, he becomes to be one of the more interesting left-hand and hitting outfield prospects in this class.

36:01.668 --> 36:09.099
[SPEAKER_00]: I just had to pull up Garrett Mitchell's fan grasp page so I could see what his ground ball rate was these days because I feel like Garrett Mitchell was always the huge.

36:09.340 --> 36:10.321
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, please lift the ball.

36:10.381 --> 36:11.183
[SPEAKER_00]: Get the ball into the air.

36:11.203 --> 36:11.844
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you do that?

36:12.324 --> 36:15.269
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to take a guess of what Garrett Mitchell's career ground ball rate is?

36:16.050 --> 36:17.172
[SPEAKER_00]: It's four seasons.

36:17.512 --> 36:19.736
[SPEAKER_00]: It's how many total games has he played?

36:21.659 --> 36:25.545
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, a cost-forces 141 games, 443 played appearances.

36:25.625 --> 36:29.110
[SPEAKER_00]: So just under like a full season of playing time.

36:30.170 --> 36:35.499
[SPEAKER_00]: Give me give me a 52% ground ball rate okay better than that if you want him to get the ball in the air.

36:35.619 --> 36:54.270
[SPEAKER_00]: It's 48.9 Total he did have a 55.8% ground ball rate in 2020 for specifically but other than that every year he's been under 50% so I would have If I hadn't looked at this in Benassegess, I would have guessed similar to what you just did so Good on you Gar Mitchell you can get the ball in the air tap into that

36:54.892 --> 37:17.437
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I didn't have any other specific names, but I don't want to preclude you from getting into more if you have them Jacob, but we have touched on a few and I would also just point to both the piece I wrote on sleepers and then Jacob is written multiple pieces this past week on sleepers those are on the side of baseball america dot com check those out if you want more names or just more detail on some of the players that we've touched on.

37:18.278 --> 37:19.179
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, what a little more.

37:19.720 --> 37:20.541
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, go for it.

37:21.021 --> 37:22.543
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to talk about Bo Rudy.

37:22.663 --> 37:24.325
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't I can't be invited.

37:24.305 --> 37:29.070
[SPEAKER_01]: on to a super fast and to see that would have been horrible.

37:29.430 --> 37:30.431
[SPEAKER_01]: He is my guy.

37:30.451 --> 37:31.613
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not really excited.

37:32.453 --> 37:38.980
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm super excited about right-handed reliever Bo Rudy and if you're sensing him here, it's because you're you're right.

37:39.220 --> 37:41.042
[SPEAKER_01]: I am definitely into this reliever class.

37:41.543 --> 37:45.867
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys, this is what me and Jacob will, me and Jacob will just fight over whether we should like relievers.

37:46.548 --> 37:49.992
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I put a lot of them harshly and Jacob is Jacob is more excited about.

37:50.032 --> 37:50.372
[SPEAKER_00]: That's good.

37:50.412 --> 37:52.354
[SPEAKER_00]: We need

37:52.334 --> 38:01.865
[SPEAKER_01]: some of the stuff monsters in this class are really intriguing and like he is the chief stuff monster of this class transfer from Kennesaw State.

38:02.266 --> 38:18.865
[SPEAKER_01]: He's now at 10 to see the feedback that I've heard from coaches from scouts from opposing coaches has been that he is built like an NFL

38:18.845 --> 38:22.231
[SPEAKER_01]: That is unlike any other fastball in this class.

38:22.311 --> 38:31.146
[SPEAKER_00]: It has an average spin rate north of 2700 rpm Which states that that spin rate is like a great spin rate for breaking balls.

38:31.227 --> 38:34.913
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so rare to see about a fastball with the high of the spin rate

38:34.893 --> 38:39.081
[SPEAKER_01]: He would have an elite slider by spin rate alone.

38:39.121 --> 38:42.467
[SPEAKER_01]: He would have an elite slider in this class at that spin rate.

38:42.487 --> 38:47.215
[SPEAKER_01]: That is his fastball averages over 18 inches of induced vert.

38:47.235 --> 38:50.341
[SPEAKER_01]: He throws it from a super low five foot four release height.

38:50.541 --> 38:52.665
[SPEAKER_01]: And for you VA fans out there,

38:52.645 --> 39:02.598
[SPEAKER_00]: It is minus 4.27, which is that as flat as you're going to see, you know, with VA, I am never sure how I'm supposed to say that out loud on a pod.

39:02.638 --> 39:05.222
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it is so unintuitive to speak.

39:05.242 --> 39:11.029
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it is super unintuitive, and I think that you have to include the minus, because it is degree.

39:11.630 --> 39:16.456
[SPEAKER_00]: People mostly just the minus, and I'm all just looking at it with the minus, yeah, you're right.

39:16.476 --> 39:18.139
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's it's part of the one up there.

39:18.179 --> 39:19.260
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the degree.

39:19.240 --> 39:23.446
[SPEAKER_01]: But the point is super flat.

39:23.927 --> 39:28.995
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're unfamiliar with it, the closer to zero, that that number gets the flatter it is.

39:29.235 --> 39:42.155
[SPEAKER_01]: And so his fastball plays well above that velocity range that I just mentioned, like he will go out there and throw 89 mile prior fastballs in the SEC that some of the SEC's best hitters will look foolish on and swing through.

39:42.195 --> 39:43.577
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the feedback.

39:43.557 --> 39:47.982
[SPEAKER_01]: from this fall is that he has such a good fastball that it does not need more velocity.

39:48.182 --> 39:51.605
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just such like a one trick pitch that hitters don't know how to handle it.

39:52.086 --> 39:55.970
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's such a good pitch that he goes to it 88% of the time.

39:56.070 --> 40:00.234
[SPEAKER_01]: He barely throws anything but that unicorn fastball.

40:00.254 --> 40:03.678
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the Devon Williams change up of fastballs in this class.

40:03.758 --> 40:07.622
[SPEAKER_01]: It's such a good pitch that it is the basically only thing he throws.

40:08.022 --> 40:10.645
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a high 70 slider that is like

40:10.625 --> 40:34.658
[SPEAKER_01]: Fine, if you want to even call it that, I believe he spins his fastball better than he does his slider on average and that's the entire profile is this the slider spin rate this is 2025 the fastball spin rate was 2726 basically and the slider was 2667 so there you go

40:34.638 --> 40:44.214
[SPEAKER_01]: So he has a higher spirit on his fastball, which hitters chase to a 38% rate last, which is not a normal number.

40:44.234 --> 40:48.221
[SPEAKER_01]: None of these numbers on this fastball fall into the normal category.

40:48.261 --> 40:48.762
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

40:48.902 --> 40:50.284
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like you said, unicorn.

40:50.264 --> 40:53.010
[SPEAKER_00]: He average 90 miles per hour with the pitch less here.

40:53.030 --> 40:54.634
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he touches 93 or 94.

40:55.456 --> 40:57.340
[SPEAKER_00]: It's low average in terms of velocity.

40:57.801 --> 41:05.618
[SPEAKER_00]: If we're talking about this guy 10 years ago, we would have been saying, you know, the fastball is late, but he manages to have success with it.

41:05.638 --> 41:07.001
[SPEAKER_00]: It's got sneaky hop.

41:07.062 --> 41:07.863
[SPEAKER_00]: It's deceptive.

41:07.903 --> 41:09.066
[SPEAKER_00]: Something like that.

41:09.046 --> 41:17.370
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's generated a 29% mystery with it in his two years of Kennesaw State and Batters have hit just 224 against it.

41:17.410 --> 41:19.797
[SPEAKER_00]: He also throws it for strikes a ton as well.

41:19.877 --> 41:24.490
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not like a pitch that Yep, he doesn't know what's going so it is a freaky pitch

41:24.925 --> 41:36.879
[SPEAKER_01]: And like some of these guys who get out there and throw fastballs at a ridiculous rate are throwing fastballs like 70% of the time and your and my eyes will widen, will be like, whoa, he doesn't really have any other secondarys.

41:37.280 --> 41:39.763
[SPEAKER_01]: He throws this thing 90% of the time.

41:39.883 --> 41:42.406
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is like that's your herd fastball rate.

41:42.746 --> 41:43.607
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

41:43.827 --> 41:54.460
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's on like, and it's on like, and it's on like, and it's on like, and it's on like, and it's on like, and it's on like, I have picked my brain so hard to think about

41:54.440 --> 42:10.170
[SPEAKER_01]: For this and I really truly can't think of one, like there has not been a pitch that stands out to me this clearly in any recent draft class and I maybe you have a better answer than I do, but I truly cannot think of somebody who comes in with such a unique.

42:10.150 --> 42:13.994
[SPEAKER_01]: offering that will literally, his entire draft profile is that right there.

42:14.014 --> 42:14.354
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.

42:14.374 --> 42:14.494
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

42:15.375 --> 42:20.760
[SPEAKER_00]: There are some other fastballs in this class that are very unique, not in the same way that we've been talking about for Bob Rudy.

42:20.820 --> 42:32.352
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Connor Fennel, I've, uh, Vandy is another one who has just a really odd, unusual fastball from a weird angle that has a weird movement trades and is slow, but still effective.

42:33.312 --> 42:35.955
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but yeah, this one is, is unique in a, uh,

42:35.935 --> 42:42.318
[SPEAKER_00]: in a way that's, yeah, I can't think of the, like, the spin capacity of the fast ball off the top of my head.

42:42.339 --> 42:43.583
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't think of.

42:43.698 --> 42:44.078
[SPEAKER_00]: of one.

42:44.098 --> 42:48.684
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure there are some other like high spin fast balls, but yeah, I can't think I want to tell my head right now.

42:49.304 --> 42:49.765
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good one.

42:50.706 --> 42:51.106
[SPEAKER_00]: So there you go.

42:51.126 --> 42:52.288
[SPEAKER_00]: You got your plug-in for Bo Rudy.

42:52.548 --> 42:53.329
[SPEAKER_01]: Well done, Jake.

42:53.709 --> 42:54.350
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my guy.

42:54.450 --> 42:57.434
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to go watch a stupidly weird pitch.

42:57.454 --> 42:57.974
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the one.

42:58.355 --> 42:58.535
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

42:58.755 --> 42:59.236
[SPEAKER_00]: Check him out.

42:59.956 --> 43:00.998
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

43:01.298 --> 43:02.119
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that'll wrap it up.

43:02.139 --> 43:03.360
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to end it on that.

43:03.440 --> 43:04.882
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's a funnel into end on.

43:04.982 --> 43:08.406
[SPEAKER_00]: So anything you want to plug or point people to, Jacob, before I close out of here?

43:08.808 --> 43:11.131
[SPEAKER_01]: Get ready for a preseason awards.

43:11.211 --> 43:16.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Carlos and I will be back together podcasting next Tuesday.

43:16.178 --> 43:25.450
[SPEAKER_01]: Today's January 29th, the first February pod to talk all Americans and to really kind of dig in on this preseason fun.

43:25.470 --> 43:28.634
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't college baseball division one season gets going on February 13th.

43:28.734 --> 43:31.297
[SPEAKER_01]: So baseballamerica.com slash college.

43:31.377 --> 43:38.747
[SPEAKER_01]: She got the top 25 over there and then tons of preseason

43:38.913 --> 43:39.795
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

43:39.895 --> 43:44.547
[SPEAKER_00]: Once the calendar turns to February, it feels like we're basically there, ready to roll, so can't wait.

43:45.329 --> 43:46.030
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, guys.

43:46.050 --> 43:46.592
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening.

43:46.612 --> 43:47.915
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for supporting baseball America.

43:47.955 --> 43:48.877
[SPEAKER_00]: We really appreciate it.

43:48.977 --> 43:50.581
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for writing, we're being the show.

43:50.782 --> 43:52.827
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have done that, if you haven't, I want to take the time.

43:53.328 --> 43:54.571
[SPEAKER_00]: We'd really appreciate that as well.

43:54.731 --> 43:56.095
[SPEAKER_00]: But for Jacob, I'm Carlos.

43:56.235 --> 43:57.057
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you guys next time.