[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, JJ Cooper, Jeff Ponds.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are here with another of the baseball America Prospect profiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And today, we're talking about someone who, let's just be clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't already know something about Treyus Savage, you're probably not watching this video.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because Treyus Savage has, for someone who is still rookie eligible,

[SPEAKER_00]: He's already had one of the best introductions to the major leagues that you will ever see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, a star of the Blue Jays postseason run all the way to Game 7 of the World Series last year, someone who will be in their rotation from day one, Jeff, I'll just start it off by asking it this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: is what we've seen so far, the hint of what's to come, or is it almost kind of asking too much of triusavage?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, come post season time, he was a front of the rotation ace, which is a lot to ask of a rookie pitcher, especially if you're gonna ask him to do it over the length of a whole five, six months season as opposed to one month, like we saw last year.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, you know, there's an old cliche and scouting that, you know, once you see someone to show a tool once you at least know that it's there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I think that that's the positive that we know that he can get up to these these sort of high heights obviously gets up for big games.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't wilt under the pressure of the big moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: and faced some great lineups and really did some damage and, of course, set a record in the world series.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do I anticipate him to set more records over the next couple of years?

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably not.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think he's probably more of a high end number three for for

[SPEAKER_01]: a team that's competing for a championship or a number two is there maybe a little bit more upside for an ace than what we had thought coming into the year perhaps certainly he showed a higher level of performance that we could have even imagined I mean we and this was a guy that

[SPEAKER_01]: pitched in big spots in college, you know, had a great performance, you know, dual chase burns, and that wake far is line up that was loaded, you know, in his final college game.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not like he's ever wilted under the pressure of the moment, but I think when you look at the season he had, climbing all the way from low-A, every longer the minor league ladder, and then ends up in the biggest possible moment he could be in.

[SPEAKER_01]: and at the end of the season in the world series is great.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we break down what your savage does well, I think you look at how unusual he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's an unusual movement on the pitch mix.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's almost nothing that moves glove side.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got two really unpredictable pitches in his splitter, which

[SPEAKER_01]: he could cut it in a particular time, and next one could run a little bit more, or his breaking ball, which most of the time breaks to the arm side, some, and other times does break a little bit to the glove side.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's really tough to sort of almost predict, even if you've seen it multiple times, where those two pitches are gonna be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And all by the way, he has a really unusual arm slot that creates a ton of ride on his fastball

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's kind of an outlier in that release height standpoint as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a really unusual look, and there's some power on all of his pitches as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not sitting 98 to 99 miles an hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's more mid mid 90s, but when you combine that movement and that really unusual look with the power that he has, and a couple of different secondarys that are very unpredictable, I think your best hope is to sort of lay off the stuff and hope that he walks you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say with that like we were watching video there of his delivery and the other thing that does stand out is his cousin has that kind of almost as back to the batter as he starts his delivery.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ball is behind him for a lot of that delivery so it does make it hard to pick it up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that this is both, this is kind of when you talk to evaluators, I think that this is sometimes kind of the both the plus and the concern with the savage is

[SPEAKER_00]: it does make him very unusual and there's nothing better that a pitcher can be than to be unusual.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't want to be something like what hitters see all the time because hitters really teaf off on things that they are used to see.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the really good what tray is have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jeff, is there a concern?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very over-the-top delivery.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an unusually over-the-top delivery.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things what I've talked to scouts over the years is when you see a delivery a release point like that, the one of the questions is, is how long is he going to be able to maintain that, keep the stuff with that kind of more unusual over-the-top delivery?

[SPEAKER_00]: I say that with him, you can also say this a little bit with Jonah Tong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have concerns with that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or is it something where you think that that's not really going to be an issue longer?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I think it's one of those things where it's what makes him unusual and I think it's put a loud so much of that to work now if it's a conversation about

[SPEAKER_01]: the potential wear and tear of throwing more over the top, which based on some studies, we've heard is more damaging long-term than lower arm slots and can lead to more potential problems.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a conversation that a lot of teams had leading up to that 2024 draft.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's one of the reasons that he dropped the medical's weren't great.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there has been even comments that I'm not sure he could physically throw from any other arm slot.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I do think it's concerning for maybe a long term viability standpoint, but we're also talking about pitchers.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen guys that had the easiest cheese we've ever seen thrown out of throw, you know, throw it at 90 to 100 miles an hour and those guys are still getting hurt and going under the knife and and missing multiple seasons.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know,

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if, I don't know if the high effort delivery is necessarily something that we need to be as concerned with as we may be once thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it is something when you're evaluating the player and you're trying to pick some nits, I think that's certainly one that you might pick.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would just put out with that, that Tim Linsekum was very over the top and you could, again, however you want to perceive it, you could say, well, Tim Linsekum at the end of the day ended up kind of wearing out and breaking down a little earlier than some of his contemporaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so that's the downside, and then the upside is just, yeah, but he also won a pair of sirens and was an all star four years in a row and was a key guy who helped the

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you kind of would sign up for the 10-linsque of experience 10 times out of 10, you know, would like to see more.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like you said, maybe this is a long term concern potentially, we don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, it's obviously something that makes him a more effective picture right now than a lot of his contemporaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you look at that, like, again, he's kind of in the rotation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can just kind of pencil him in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Looking with that being the case, we expect him to graduate quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's kind of coming behind him?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who are some of the guys coming up behind Treyus Avich who could be the next number one in this Blue Jays organization?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, there's a pair of short stops when you look at Jojo Parker, their first round pick from last year, considered one of the better combinations of hit tool and power in the class, whether he stays at short stop long term, probably a bigger question, maybe more suited for third days, or maybe even second base.

[SPEAKER_01]: But behind him, you have Arjun Namala who, you know, for points in time over the last two years,

[SPEAKER_01]: has looked like one of the best young shortstop prospects in the game and then at other points in the last two years he's looked like he's never going to hit and it was a really unusual season for Namala really sort of uneven was great in the first half one of the best hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: in any high league, and was the youngest player or one of the youngest players in the Northwest League for that entire chunk of time, and then the second half really didn't struggle with swinging Mr. Strikeouts, but just didn't do much damage.

[SPEAKER_01]: had a lot of bad luck on balls and play and there was just some timing stuff that needed to be fixed but he's a really good defensive shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a good arm.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's some upside there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then there's some really interesting arms.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you look at a Johnny King, one of the best young lefties, you know, in the complex levels over the last couple of years, I'd say.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, maybe his debut with DeNedon and LoA looked pretty good there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, you have Ricky Tiedman behind him who I think maybe graduates this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: and then gauge Stanford who was another huge breakout for the BlueJays last year that maybe got overshadowed a little bit by King, and of course you savages emergence.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they do have some arms.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a bad top 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's as good as the BlueJay system has been in probably the four years that I've been covering it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was going to say, I don't think there's a whole lot of Blue Jays fans complaining right now as they I would want one more win, but what a great season the Blue Jays had last year, which was key of that was Trayis Savage, who was our prospect profile for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, keep checking back for more of these prospect profiles, releasing one of these everyday during spring training.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to have 30 of these at one for each organization, so check it out on the Baseball America YouTube page.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone, another of the baseball America prospect profiles, and today we are talking about red socks starting to pitch your patent holy.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are a red socks fan or even if you're not, even if you're just a fan of baseball, I can't imagine that you are not already pretty well aware of the story of patent holy, but Jeff Ponce has been covering it for us all along the way, and Jeff, great to see you and just want to ask you to kind of tee this off.

[SPEAKER_00]: The development we've

[SPEAKER_00]: Surprising to you or like no, this is kind of the development path and something that the red socks have just gotten to be pretty good about as far as developing stuff and kind of arsenals for their starting pitching prospects.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, on the idea that his stuff was going to tick up in year one.

[SPEAKER_01]: is not a surprise, bigger guy was a two way player at which tossed state and then at TCU.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think any time, you know, we saw Nolan McLean, any time we see these guys that are pitchers that are two way guys, and it probably goes the other way too.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just so hard to sustain both successfully.

[SPEAKER_01]: One can take some time away from the other, especially if you're playing at a high level like Division I College Baseball on potential top 25 caliber type of teams.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not a shock that when fully committed to it, we saw a four to five mile per hour jump in terms of his foreseen fastball velocity.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that kind of continued to tick up as the season went on.

[SPEAKER_01]: What I do think is surprising is the fact that he took those steps forward almost immediately.

[SPEAKER_01]: In spring training, we were hearing about him hitting 98, 99 miles an hour in the shorter sort of truncated outings.

[SPEAKER_01]: With all of those pitch metrics that he had to sort of innately as an amateur.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that really stands out with him, he's fastball first.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can mention that there are

[SPEAKER_01]: five different pitch shapes, you know, potentially six different pitch shapes within his arsenal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything kind of begins and ends with that forcing fastball for Peyton, Toli.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gets outlier extension.

[SPEAKER_01]: Seven and a half feet on average.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes I've seen it closer, just on track, my device is on live pitches.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's been closer to eight feet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not only does he create very unusual angles because of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a bigger guy, but it lowers his release height to five foot seven, and for, you know, a guy like Peyton Toli, who's standing six foot six, 250 pounds, that's a really unusual thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It just shows you how good of an athlete he is despite this sort of barrel chested larger frame.

[SPEAKER_01]: What that does is it drops?

[SPEAKER_01]: the release height, which then in turn, because he creates, gets behind the forcing fastball and creates a lot of efficient spin, meaning spin, that contributes directly to movement.

[SPEAKER_01]: It creates this flat plane of a approach that we've seen with a Jake DeGrom, as we've seen with a Spencer Strider and a lot of these guys that have had, you know, a tremendous amount of success.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has that sort of fastball.

[SPEAKER_01]: He creates ride from these lower angles.

[SPEAKER_01]: He creates efficient

[SPEAKER_01]: power, so power movement release traits, and then on top of JJ, it was 61.5% in zone over a 700 plus pitch sample in the Bideners last year.

[SPEAKER_01]: He really commands his fastball well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think in all ways shapes and forms, it's a 70 fastball.

[SPEAKER_01]: The bigger question is JJ,

[SPEAKER_01]: do the secondary sort of falling line.

[SPEAKER_01]: His slider being sort of his primary secondary.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a little bit cutterish, little bit gyroish and some way shapes and forms.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you kind of look at how it breaks down, he's got it more of a traditional cutter that's more like in the low 90s.

[SPEAKER_01]: His traditional sliders more in the mid 80s.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a sweeper in the low 80s that has a lot more horizontal break than the traditional slider.

[SPEAKER_01]: that I think could turn into in a above average pitch from him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he took all these steps forward in terms of adding the VLO, showing that he had the command, keeping all of those unique traits intact while adding velocity, which isn't always an easy thing to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Really the next step for him in 2026 and beyond is refining those secondaries.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, developing as a pitcher in terms of his attack plans and all those sort of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: If he does that, I think there's front and upside with a guy like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just when you're looking at someone who has command and a really unique fastball size and all these other underlying traits that teams look for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, this is a guy who has a fast ball that's about as good as it comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now the question is going to be, is he going to have a second pitch that doesn't have to be one of the best pitches in baseball, but just as at least above average, something that he can rely on reliably.

[SPEAKER_00]: outing after routing, and that's a little bit more of an open question, I think, with Toli.

[SPEAKER_00]: Was he the, as you look at it, they have, obviously, kind of, eerily who also had a very good year last year.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have franklin areas, but it feels to me like Toli was the clear kind of standout number one prospect in the redsuck system.

[SPEAKER_00]: How, how do you view it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think teams tell you what they think.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this was certainly a situation where a team really told us what they thought.

[SPEAKER_01]: They jumped his 40-man roster years by what?

[SPEAKER_01]: Two or three seasons, and add it under the 40-man roster, wanted him in the mix, going into leading up to that stretch, getting into the playoffs, where it was really pivotal, and they were dealing with some injuries kind of across the roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: That group down the stretch and then he was on the playoff roster as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it guaranteed with all the signings and trades that Toli is in the rotation break in camp?

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably not.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's kind of tough to make that determination.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to depend on health of the other people in the starting rotation

[SPEAKER_01]: He's certainly in the mix and I wouldn't expect anything less than 20 appearances this season for the Red Sox.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I may come out of the bullpen and longer stretches.

[SPEAKER_01]: Others might be response starts.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's still a starter long term, but the Red Sox really told us what they think of this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Conley Earley is a great story.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the upside on a totally versus a Conley Earley is very different.

[SPEAKER_01]: Frank and Aria is still pretty far away.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, it's not a,

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a very good defender.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows how to hit.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's questions in the power and some of the other tools.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think when we look at it, it's like, yeah, this guy came into pro ball and do a little bit more than a year and actually less from his actual professional debut, he was able to get up to the big leagues and perform and it had not been for a tray of savage.

[SPEAKER_01]: This probably would have been an even more remarkable story and even more unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's something that stands out to me as is that when you look at how we do things at baseball America, there's really kind of like three kind of threshold, three prongs at all, on the stool that kind of fit together, why is a prospect to be our number one prospect in this system?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is it going to rank high in the top 100?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is tools, Peyton told me as we just talked about one of the best fastballs in, in minor league baseball, but also in the best fastballs that major league baseball being served.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you say skills and he's shown kind of the ability to use that to harness that even at the big league level and likes of that proximity that that that that key is here that makes him kind of stand out as the clear number one in the red sox system is Of the guys we're talking about patentoy has absolutely done this already all the way up to the major leagues and yeah we'll see if he fits in that rotation on day one opening day of season to the red sox credit they really add a lot of starting pitching depth.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's kind of hard to believe that he won't pay a significant role for the Red Sox in 2026.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's our Red Sox prospect profile for more prospect profiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Check out the Baseball America YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're releasing one of these each day during spring training.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't miss the next episode of Hot Sheet Tuesdays at 3 p.m.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm JJ Cooper, he's Jeff Ponds, and we're here with another of the Baseball America Prospect profiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today, we are talking about the Yankees No.

[SPEAKER_00]: 1 prospect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Shortstop George Lumbar, Jr.

[SPEAKER_00]: George Lumbar Jr. has been a clear top 100 prospect for us for a while, Jeff, the thing that does stand out here, feel like this is a pretty crucial season for Lumbar.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lumbar has been a scouts darling for multiple years, a guy who stands out for just kind of how well, how polished she is, solid defender, very good idea of kind of the strike zone and kind of works counts.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say that we're still waiting for that year where kind of that turns into kind of mega production for George Lombard Jr. Do you think that that is 26 or how much of a concern is that for you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's got to be concerned for anybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I wonder if

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, granted, I talked to Scouts outside the organization that saw a lot of Lumpart over that first month, the season where he was really hitting in a high A, you know, over 24 games with Hudson Valley hit 329, 495, 488, only one Homer, but more walks than strikeouts, it was a 20.7 walk rate.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he was dominating, it was a 194 WRC plus.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I tend to wonder if,

[SPEAKER_01]: They maybe moved him a little bit too fast.

[SPEAKER_01]: And didn't allow things to settle in a little, but there was gonna be a struggle period regardless of where that happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think unfortunately, it happened to AA.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was higher competition that he had seen anywhere outside of some backfield games.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Yankees don't play that many backfield games that he would have a large sample over the course of the last few years.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think offensively really was kind of behind the April for a good chunk of the year and had to sort of tread water to stay afloat.

[SPEAKER_01]: Defensively, we have no questions.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think base running, all the other elements of the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's been a phenomenal player.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's very polished and I think that's easy to see and it's very easy to to watch him for a series and like the player.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there is some question the swing and miss started to really creep up during that period of time.

[SPEAKER_01]: He still walks but you kind of wonder is he overly passive maybe.

[SPEAKER_01]: There wasn't as much impact as you had hoped.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's some of that stuff where the rubber could meet the road this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has a longer time, a longer stretch.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I would imagine he probably does return to double A to begin the season.

[SPEAKER_01]: That might be where we start to see the production really hit.

[SPEAKER_01]: But after a couple years of solid but not all impressive production,

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a question.

[SPEAKER_01]: It got a little bit better last year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we do need to state that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But a lot of that was was really buoyed by that very strong opening month.

[SPEAKER_01]: Things started to get better as the year went on a little bit with him in AA.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think at the same time, there are major questions on whether he's going to hit or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is kind of where we, this is one of the guys where you have kind of this conundrum, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Lumbard will play.

[SPEAKER_00]: He reached double A last year pretty much reading right before his 20th birthday.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will play into June this year as a 20 year old going back to double A most likely.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll play, you know, he'll finish the season as a 21 year old.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he is very young for the levels that he's been at.

[SPEAKER_00]: And

[SPEAKER_00]: Physically, there's also there is the potential here that there really could be a lot more in here, but at the same time, again, we just haven't, you know, we we've seen flashes of it, we haven't seen it consistently.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fascinating part, if you are a Yankees prospect watcher though, is you have this short stop prospect who will be in AA as a, again, as a 20 year old star of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Jeff, you have another one coming, who is kind of right on his potentially couldn't up right on his heels, why if you are a Yankees fancier, do you also be paying attention to Dax, Killby, the next Yankees short stop prospect?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, had a immediate production.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think for a lot of those that are just kind of scanning the box scores and looking at the fan graphs and the baseball reference pages and the MLB pages and the baseball America pages, you know, they're going to see the slash line.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, granted it was a small sample size, but right out of the draft this guy hits.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you kind of do a little bit more research, you start to peel back a couple layers of the onion here.

[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see at the draft combine, he was a big stand out in terms of the EVs and the athletic testing, some of the things that we've reported about other athletic testing that we've been exposed to.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a lot of upside with DAX Kilbe.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of momentum right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe as much momentum behind him as we've seen from any Yankee's prospect, since Jason Dominguez, nothing's ever gonna approach the Jason hype, but he's got a lot of it right now and I think for good reason, because there is,

[SPEAKER_01]: big upside here, even if he's not a short stop-long term and it's more third-base, removes into this center field, could be a valuable defensive player who's really exciting offensively.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got the EVs, he's got the speed, he's got the bat to ball skills and the swing decisions.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's really just a matter of optimizing those angles and that is actually something the Yankees have had some success with hitters in their organization over the last few years.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think there's a lot of reasons to be excited about Kilbee just when you sort of look at

[SPEAKER_00]: But you just laid it out there where this also could fit pretty well for them in that these are two players, we're projecting George Lombard Jr. as a short stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if Anthony Volpe, a healthy Anthony Volpe comes back and is better than he was last year, which obviously we knew he was battling, found out that he was battling a lot of injuries.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that could kind of block him a little bit, but Lombard's a slam dunk short stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it does suddenly, you know, kill me with his offensive potential and all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of, this is not an either or situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: This seems to be more of a yes and situation where both of these players could pretty easily find spots in that Yankee's lineup.

[SPEAKER_00]: And especially like you said, you could put killby.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the great thing about short stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: But critically about short stuff prospects in both of these cases is we saw it on projected lineup.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we could kind of move these guys around.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're kind of the players who can fit almost anywhere you need them to fit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lombard, I would say, again, Volpe is a good defender, but Lombard has a chance to really be a true shorestop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kilbee, where do you think he fits best in the long term?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not for the Yankees, but best just kind of with his toolset.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I think you'd love to keep a guy like that at third base and have this very athletic.

[SPEAKER_01]: third baseman with a big arm that can cover a lot of range that can potentially fill in a short stop in a pinch if an injury happens and you know can very reasonably hold down the fort there for long stretches of time.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to keep them in the infield frankly, but it wouldn't shock me if you know they sign a third baseman.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's somebody else that comes up, somebody else that's in the mix there, you know, lumbar to course sticks at short stop

[SPEAKER_01]: maybe he gets moved to center field and kind of answers that long-term question for the Yankees.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, either way, I think it's going to be one of the more valuable non-catcher positions on the field, whether it's shortstop, third base, or center field.

[SPEAKER_01]: These two go to an athlete to not be a really valuable defender.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I would say that these are the players who are very much kind of key for the Yankees going forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: George Lombard Jr., as we said, he's going to be in AA as a 20, who will then turn 21 year old.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he has kind of the consolidation year, the year where he kind of just, that what we saw in high A to start last year is we see more of that in AA and then paving the way to kind of finishing the year even in AAA.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you are talking about a guy who already has been a consistent top 100 prospect for us who could rise further up that top 100 and now He's not alone the Yankees have a pair of short-stop prospects on our baseball America top 100 That's a situation that not a whole lot of organization brewers have more than they know what to do with

[SPEAKER_00]: But there aren't a whole lot of organizations who have that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, that's our Yankees prospect profile on George Lombard Junior.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our number one prospect in the Yankees organization.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoyed this prospect profile, check out.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have more of them on the baseball American YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are releasing one of these a day during spring training.

[SPEAKER_00]: And don't miss the next episode of The Hot Sheet Show Tuesdays at 3pm Eastern.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone were back for more baseball America prospect profiles and today we are looking at the number one prospect in the Baltimore Orioles organization.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty easy one this year which is Samuel Bessayo the catcher slash slugger.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll we'll talk about where he fits as positionally.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is a catcher but I would say Jeff the key thing that does jump out and the thing that makes

[SPEAKER_00]: the hitting the overall offense of potential that he has, how special could Samuel Bessaiobi?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think if, you know, he maintains some ability to stay behind the plate, he could be

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, one of the top offensive catchers that we've seen in quite a long time, I think there is, you know, Salvi Perez sort of potential in terms of him leading catchers year after year in home runs.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's potential 40 home run power.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you just look at the raw power, but it's not just raw power.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see plenty of prospects JJ that have 70 raw or better, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's multiple probably in every organization.

[SPEAKER_01]: What makes Besayo different is it goes along with a above-average hitting ability.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he balances not only swing decisions, which, you know, he's not the most passive hitter on earth, but there's a good balance of really identifying pitches that he knows he can drive, and then the ability to make contact with those pitches in, you know, a variety of shapes, velocities, and locations.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what makes him different than other power hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: The fact that he's also really a hitter with this outlier power behind it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And ultimately, that's why besides one of the top prospects in the game at the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: The key part of this, like you said, this is a guy who when it comes to his offensive potential, there's very little question.

[SPEAKER_00]: The really, the big question is not one that's going to prevent him from being a solid big leader.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you said that tomorrow, Sammy Bessai would never caught again, offensively, he still could make a real impact, like Jeff just laid out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it is the fact that he is a really plausible catcher too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, one thing I will note, you may see somewhere that he's listed at 63864180.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually 64250, like that's his actual weight that is from the Orioles media guide although a lot of places have not updated it is up yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that just kind of gives you a little bit of a picture.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are not many catchers, long term catchers, who are 64250.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as Jeff just noted, the one that you can kind of point to is Salvador Perez.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the other part of this is if you watch Besayo catch,

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't stand out as a player who has no hope back there.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a bat who's just asked to knock the ball down back there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So really good arm, as a frame or he's gotten better and better, I wouldn't say that he's an amazing pitch frame or now, but he is a solid pitch frame or who has shown some ability and again, like you can tell that the oils of clearly work from the big questions are going to be how well he can block and how well he can kind of unfurl that body over and over

[SPEAKER_00]: I think one knee catching has helped him because it takes a little bit of that pressure off the, you know, off the knees because you're and then also maybe even adds a little bit to his agility in some ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jeff, like, if you were saying, that's funny, I think you and I've had these kind of conversations.

[SPEAKER_00]: But is this a guy who's going to catch a hundred games in his big league career?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or do you think it's more likely we're talking to someone who could catch 500 plus games in his big league career?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think when you look at the sort of things that he needs to make improvements with, it's not the stuff that moves you off the position immediately.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has the arm back there, as you said, it's not like the hands are a 20 or a 30, you know,

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the receiving at times is below average, and isn't super clean.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's also stuff that can get cleaned up.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have to remember how young Samian Bessaiow is, just turned 21 last August.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's a lot of time for him to sort of make those adjustments.

[SPEAKER_01]: We often see a lot of the catchers in the game, or guys that don't even get up to the big leagues until they're 24 or 25 years old.

[SPEAKER_01]: It takes time to learn, you know, all of the ins and outs, the ethiosyncrasies of that position.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's got enough of a baseline that I would lean closer to the 500 than I would to the 100.

[SPEAKER_01]: What he has as in his way early and it might be something that, you know, buys him some time and, you know, potentially,

[SPEAKER_01]: uh... learns under sort of the wing of of an adly rushmen he's not going to be asked to catch a hundred games right out the gate so there is some time for him you know to see some time back there for them to sort of pick their spots work with him to decide on things that they think that he can improve you know and we talked about salvey brez from a defense of standpoint you know he's a player particularly when it came to framing grades and some of the stuff we saw on savon

[SPEAKER_01]: over the years he's gotten a lot better at that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I do think it's stuff that's very teachable now, especially considering we can quantify so much of it in a way that we couldn't 15 years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: the other thing that's interesting with that is as you mentioned.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's 21.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just to put it in perspective, the Orioles drafted Caden Bodine catcher in the first round in 2020, if I don't trade it up since, they've already traded him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Caden Bodine's older than Samuel Balsail.

[SPEAKER_00]: Caden Bodine made his pro debut at an age that was older,

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Samuel Bassiah was making his major league debut at 21-year-old catcher.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot more kind of runway here for him to develop both behind the play and at the play.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we know that Bassiah is going to graduate.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go on a limb and say that Dylan Beaver's who was our number 2 prospect in the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to graduate as well considering he was up in the big leagues last year as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Looking ahead, who's kind of next up for the world?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you see as the player who's most likely to be their number one prospect after beside your ranchways?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's a very interesting system at the moment, because I don't know if you can make choice by the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you an answer while you're thinking of your answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go Nate Jordan.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to say it was a battle between Nate George and then a couple of pictures when you look at a trade Gibson, a Louis daily own, you know, daily own takes more steps forward if Gibson comes out and is really pushing his way to maybe.

[SPEAKER_01]: make his major league debut in the first half of the season, you know, I think those are guys that could potentially overtake the, excuse me, replace those two when they do graduate.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would assume that it's probably going to be within the first month or so at the season.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Nate George in terms of position players, he's sort of is the next top.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would take him over Ike Irish or Enrique Bradfield or Lloyd or some of these other bats that are in the system.

[SPEAKER_00]: I Irish is another interesting one because everything we just said about Samuel Bessayo and hey, it's a bat he could catch but really he's going to catch or is he going to be more of a a thumper I would say that take that and just kind of amp up the knob on that a little bit I would say that if you think if we think the Samuel Bessayo is a bat first catcher whose defense should be enough to potentially stay back there I would say that Irish is a bat.

[SPEAKER_00]: who could catch is the way to put it, but probably more likely is going to be an outfielder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even with the Orioles, I don't think that the intention is for him to be a regular catcher.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's more of something that he will be able to do in addition to some of the other things he does.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I encourage, I do think, is another name to watch here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, the Orioles had a very deep draft because of all the extra picks they had last year, all the money they had to spend.

[SPEAKER_00]: they've already traded some of it away and the benefit was to get shame bars, but at the same time, there's still a lot there with that Irish as a name to know, as you said, Nate George, but the pitcher's Tray Gibson, you know, Luis De Leon, and by the way, also big upside probably a little further away, Esteban Mejia, another name to know.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot still interesting in the Orioles organization.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us on another of the baseball America Prospect Programs.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are back with another of the baseball america prospect profiles where we're looking at the number one prospect and each and every organization and today we are taking an in-depth look at raised number one prospect Brody Hopkins a picture Who's had a fascinating path to get to this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's say that in part because

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't ask Brody Hopkins a year or even two years into his college career, kind of okay, you're going to be a number one prospect in baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you'd have thought that there might be an OF after that.

[SPEAKER_00]: His older brother TJ made the majors with the reds as an outfielder.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here we are with Brody who later in his college career converted from being a picture who

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, an outfit or would occasionally get on the mound to a full-time pitcher and when he did everything really blossomed.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was actually drafted by the Mariners, then traded to the rays in the Randy Rosarina trade, a couple of trade deadline deal a couple of years ago now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jeff, what is it about Brody Hopkins?

[SPEAKER_00]: I know he is a fascinating pitching prospect to you and to me, but what is about him that stands out that makes him really kind of one of the nastiest and most intriguing pitching prospects in the minor leagues.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think, you know, this idea of Brody Hopkins developing into a top tier pitching prospect.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of first came on my radar when he did transfer to Winthrop that year, and I started to hear from some folks in the amateur side.

[SPEAKER_01]: How there was this kid who was a two-way player that had this outlier, athletic testing,

[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of projectable traits on the mound.

[SPEAKER_01]: We kind of fast forward now, you know, three years later.

[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of that stuff has come to fruition.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of that projection has now become reality with Hopkins, and he just figured, finished off his first full season in the High Miners with an excellent year with double-Aben summary.

[SPEAKER_01]: And underneath that strong performance is outstanding data.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that athleticism shining through, just in terms of his strike, throwing, refining a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's still more refinement if you wanted to talk about where we would pick nits in Hopkins game.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the strike throwing, the zone rates could get a little bit better.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were actually a great improvement from what we saw from Hopkins as an amateur in that season with Lintrop as

[SPEAKER_01]: you know, a primarily a full-time starter.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's now really developing to someone I would say has fringy average sort of command.

[SPEAKER_01]: Does a good job of moving the ball in and out of the zone?

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we could talk about the stuff JJ.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you really want to dive into that, I almost feel like I should leave that to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's so outlier, particularly that curve ball, where there's very few curve balls on earth, even thrown by the best guys in the major leagues that have as much velocity and movement as Hopkins brings to the table with that pitch.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a curve ball that you feel like is a mischaracterization when you first see it because curve balls aren't supposed to be 88, 89 miles an hour maybe even a 90 like you see a pitch flash is a 90 and this says curve ball and you're like no that's not right and then you watch it and you say okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it your, it's not your old school yacker that you're talking about that, you know, coming from above, basically the head and then drops no, can't be.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's nine, almost 90 miles an hour, but what it is, it's a real down or pitch.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not a slider that is being called a curveball.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is an actual curveball.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just,

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't really have an analog for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have a comparison for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I struggle to come up Jeff with anyone else who throws this pitch.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what kind of makes me really excited about it because we know we are in 2026.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the best things you can do as a picture is be unusual.

[SPEAKER_00]: throw something that hitters aren't used to seeing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think any hitter who ever sees the curb already Hopkins is throwing ever things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, this is just like that other 10, 15, 20 curb balls I see.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a truly outlier unusual pitch, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think the closest comparison point is probably one of the best relievers in the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Yohan Durant, who has with the Philly, who has a bunch of really outlier, unusual pitches.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was kind of the original Splunker guy, which Paul schemes as a starter, then sort of took on a life of its own.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's kind of the same with the curveball.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, he doesn't use that curveball at the same rate that he's still in the split finger or the four seamer, but it is his primary breaking ball.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's an upper 80s pitch.

[SPEAKER_01]: With a little bit less drop, but I would say, you know, with each mile per hour, you're going to lose a little drop.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's it's probably the most comparable pitch.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you're talking about one of the most outlier breaking balls in the major leagues, it could swing and miss pitch.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a starter that's doing this that also sits 96 to 98 miles an hour was up to 101.

[SPEAKER_01]: As a starter with spin with really outlier release traits and plane characteristics, not all that, you know, it's all that different actually sort of reminisce in of the Dodgers Emmett she and we've seen how he's progressed over the last couple years had an outstanding sort of half a season with the Dodgers last year fast balls like that work.

[SPEAKER_01]: curveballs like this work.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and he has a hard not, you know, low 90s cutter.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a pretty good change up.

[SPEAKER_01]: He'll mix in a sweeper as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a really interesting pitch mix.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's also like the kind of guy that has the types of traits and characteristics, release and spin-wise, that there is sort of an open book, you know, in terms of what he could add from, you know, a new pitch or a pitch development standpoint.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there's certain guys where there may be saying, hey, you can go into this section here, you can shop in this section here.

[SPEAKER_01]: When Hopkins comes into one of those facilities, they can sort of open up the full pamphlet and say, you know, what's your pick?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's what makes him such an exciting prospect because he has all these traits, he's a college picture, he's done all that sort of thing, and pitched him big games.

[SPEAKER_01]: He also has a lot of projection left as a starter that I'm not sure we even see the best version of Brody Hopkins until, you know, he's 25 26 27 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing you mentioned is the control and command are kind of the questions, but two things with that one.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do feel like that this is the perfect organization for that because the rays do an excellent job of helping pictures maximize their controller command.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's generally your strike rate goes up about 2% just by becoming a ray.

[SPEAKER_00]: They very much believe in the

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have stuff, throw to the middle of his own and you will even if you don't hit your spot, you'll still be with in the zone and you'll still be hard to hit.

[SPEAKER_00]: But on top of that, as you said, we're also seeing kind of steady improvement.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're seeing if, you know, there's athleticism here as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: That office often athleticism is something that helps you kind of develop your control and your command because your ability to repeat your delivery is better than someone who's stiffer.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's also stands out here at Pretty Hopkins.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do think that kind of the last question I have for you Jeff is when we look at ETA, the rays generally are a little bit slower to promote.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hopkins spent basically a long time in AA last year, ticketed for AAA this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think a 2026 ETA is possible, but I would say that it is less

[SPEAKER_00]: of a sure bet less likely I would say than if Brody Hopkins was in, another organization, how soon do you think this guy's going to be ready?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's going to depend on what he looks like sort of coming out of spring training and over that first few months of the season.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, when I was a kid, I love those choose your own adventure books and they were all these different options in terms of where things could go and I kind of feel like when I'm looking at Brody Hopkins in the ETA for this year, if he comes out looks phenomenal dominates in AAA, you know, has no issues with the challenge system, etc.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see another step forward where he, you know, the the strike throwing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's a little bit closer to average, maybe even a little bit above average.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's showing all this stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's mixing a variety of shapes and he's really dominating guys who are not only top prospects that are close to the majors, but guys who have major league experience, which is what I think you really get a good sort of litmus test against at the AAA level.

[SPEAKER_01]: If he does that, it wouldn't be shocking if he's up in June more than likely even if he's just pretty good and similar to what he wasn't AA and we see slight improvements in the strike throwing and he performs.

[SPEAKER_01]: probably a guy that maybe we see in the end of the season.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's opportunities there in the raise rotation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the health stuff is probably gonna linger a little bit there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the 40 man questions and how that shakes out over the next couple of weeks for the raise.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we'll have a big determination on how that ultimately ends up.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think you look at them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you had to bet your smart money, probably early 2027.

[SPEAKER_01]: a fair amount of upper-minded experience, he only has one full year in AA.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would expect him to spend a majority of the year in AAA.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there is that outside option where you kind of choose your own adventure in this guy really, really performs in the first couple of months, and it's impossible for the race to keep him down any longer.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is our prospect profile on raised number one prospect, Brody Hopkins.

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