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[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody JJ Cooper met any another of the baseball america prospect podcast deep dives.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We are talking all about the Re-fuffled re-organized entirely new regime Washington Nationals who has basically a kind of a a new approach and I would say

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[SPEAKER_00]: So good news bad news to that news that that also seems to be somewhat of an understanding that, you know, sorry that's fans, we did do a rebuild, there are pieces of that that will be part of this, but we're also, again, to change over in front office is kind of the starting point of an acknowledgement that this multi-year rebuild that they've gone through did not take, and now they're going to see can they do it again?

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[SPEAKER_00]: When you look at it now, the new part of only regime, how much do you think is going to be keeping pieces of the old rebuild and how much of is going to be not starting from scratch, but starting several steps back from all of this team's just around the corner to to be contender.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's a great question.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think, I think it's unlikely the CJA everyone will be on the next nationalist by our team James would might be.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Dylan Cruz, David Lion might be, but it's, it's, it's, it's, we'll ease maybe not, but it's long term because, um, when you take, you like, well, that's one one great, great prospect.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And put you past on some college guys to do it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That signifies more of a longer term approach when you trade Mackenzie Gore, that underlines they're taking a longer term approach.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the point to me that made it very clear that this is not a, oh, we think we're a piece or two a lie.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, Mackenzie Gore,

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[SPEAKER_00]: doesn't have that many years till free agency, but at the same time, he's still at two, where if you thought, oh, there's something 2027 is a really, we could really be there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You might not, for any McKenzie goal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And when they did, and I got the package that they value in, that we value with two top 10 prospects.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So,

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[SPEAKER_00]: They obviously created for Harry Ford as well, which is kind of a, I would say, a signifier that maybe Kibbert Ruiz is not the catcher of the long-term future and I would say on top of that, they also got some news last year, injury wise on the pitching front.

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[SPEAKER_00]: kind of maybe pushes the timetable of it too, Arlen Susana and Travis Cora, two of their best pitching prospects are basically, you hope to see them later in this year.

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[SPEAKER_00]: At best, you know, and probably not going to see them at full speed and in the primes again till 2027 and probably still need some more developmental time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that adds to this like

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no, it's absolutely true, but when they're healthy and effective, like they have to with the better arms and the top 100, they're that good.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I would say that kind of the guy don't forget about him is no good graduate.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And now, but now let's see also what we've seen flashes from Kate Cavali in the past, and we've also seen many eye elephants, like, okay, why are they going to be able to get from him?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I would say that 2026 now becomes for the new regime,

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[SPEAKER_00]: to figure out who are we building around here, who has value in trade, who can we improve, who can we maybe unlock something new that wasn't there before, and hopefully maybe either becomes a piece of this, or becomes valuable in trade.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, can they get more out of a Brady house?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Can they get more out of a James Wood, who has shown flashes?

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[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say, I don't think we've seen the best yet that we're going to see, hopefully that we're going to see other James Wood.

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[SPEAKER_00]: even though I've been pretty good at talking.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Now that's fair.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And you mentioned Cavalry and House those are two organization first round picks.

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[SPEAKER_03]: our important for the future, be there for on field value or trade value.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So they need to get a lot out of those guys.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, speaking of this, you already mentioned.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So the number one prospect in the system is Eli Willitz.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And now we should know, this was not a Pokemon.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this was a, this was a kind of in-between pick, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: So the Microsoft regime had, you know, Microsoft had been basically already dismissed.

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[SPEAKER_00]: and Paltobony was brought in offseason, but Eli well, it's kind of does not feel like fit in with what the new regime, when they're saying this longer term approach, when you take a high school sure stop at the top of the draft.

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[SPEAKER_00]: How easy was he as the number one pick in this group?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no more prospect.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, given the alternative options, he was a slam dunk.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think you have a,

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[SPEAKER_03]: maybe switch hitting shortstop, the lock to stay at the position, runs well, great bad to ball skills.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You're just looking for the physical development in the power development.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That's really the only thing holding it back from the higher standing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I think I think he's a very strong prospect.

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[SPEAKER_00]: When you look at him, if you're saying, okay, I'm an actual fan, I'd want to kind of picture him.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like what are the possibilities of him and what are the

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think the concern is just that the impact will never reach like more than 50 for power.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Is that partly because when you look at his dad, it was a big ligor, but looking at his dad's careers, that kind of play, and when you look at his body type, does that kind of fit in his body type, yeah?

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[SPEAKER_03]: He's a slender, he's his physical maturity in front of him, and how that plays out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: will determine the power and but I think the floor is very high because he's a short stop and because he can accrue short stop not like at worst he's batting at the bottom of your order and playing every day and at best he's kind of batting at the top of your order yes he could run he can play defense and to to give an example of another team you do with the meds like again when I talk about what we talk about power development we always acknowledge like if you can hit

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[SPEAKER_00]: There's always a chance that power is going to come when Francis go into or now the Met short stop was coming up through the minors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So a question we always heard was, I can have no easy going to play short stop.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's really good.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's going to hit how much power is going to develop and then you turn around and all the sudden into 20s as he physically matured the power can like that's the hope with the guy like Eli will tell him that.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, I wouldn't rule it out, but we just haven't seen him yet.

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[SPEAKER_00]: When you look at this, so you said, it was pretty easy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And part, if Arlinson Xanna had stayed healthy, would it have been maybe a little bit tougher call or was still probably been an E-Li Willows clear number one?

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[SPEAKER_03]: It may be a little trickier, but Susanna has a much shorter track record of like being the version we saw during stretches in 25 and having that kind of control and that kind of dominance and the bit your injury risk in general, unfortunately.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think I think Willows would have been the kind of

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[SPEAKER_00]: And so the other thing with this is that Harry Ford comes in and moves straight into three Luis Parolis is acquired, you know, he's four, like Gavin Fiend is five, like that's like a good news bad news thing almost to me a little bit, like the good news is this is a organization that's bringing in talent when they outside making moves to do that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, I would also say for a organization that's been in rebuild mode,

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[SPEAKER_00]: You kind of would hope that there would be a little bit more at the top of the top 10 to be like, Harry Ford comes in and maybe he slots five, maybe he slots six, not three.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's fair.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think that's fair, because they're bringing in good prospects, we're not elite ones.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think the factor here is simply that high draft picks like Seaver King, Luke Dickerson, didn't really perform last year,

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[SPEAKER_03]: But I mean, could have or should have performed.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So that's a large factor in the looms with this entire organization.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of leads into this next question that we'd like to ask, which is, is the system better or worse than it was at this time last year?

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[SPEAKER_03]: I would say it's better because it's deeper.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And they did, but the number one pick.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But that's true.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The 2025 draft they had a large bonus pool, I figured it was the highest or not.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the orals may have caught that in those books.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But one of the highest bonus pools they spent it almost exclusively on high school players who have high up side potential.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And they graduated a number of quality players, like Dylan Cruz, Brady House,

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[SPEAKER_03]: take a volley, they don't lie on all these players, Brad Bower's, all graduated.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So they had a large graduating class, but despite that, I do think this group has more upside.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a deeper group, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's the thing that does jump out here.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It says, you said, like they drafted high school guys who they don't even slot into the top, you know, you're talking 10, 10 on in some of these guys.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Where obviously there's a little, let's get some, I think this is kind of the, to me kind of one of the key developments here

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[SPEAKER_00]: we've written about it before.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The nationals have been without question I would say in the current draft era, 2012 on they've been the worst hitting development in major league baseball.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's not close.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's the best hitter has developed homegrown.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Again James Wood, CJ Abrams, do not count for this.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Those were guys who were drafted elsewhere and then brought in.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But

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[SPEAKER_00]: If you said, give me the five best homegrown drafted or signed internationally hitters for the nationals in the, you know, especially in draft.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They did have Victor Robles couple of guys like that in the draft.

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[SPEAKER_00]: If you look at it, it is guys.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It is miss after miss and it is that that's where they're going to have to the new front office.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like some of the guys who are already, yeah, like you said, it's can you can you find another gear for Sever King who was a

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[SPEAKER_00]: A year and a half ago now, but did not have a season where you're like, yep, we feel good that this is, you know, that just as you're seeing everything you want to see, there's there are questions there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You said some of the guys who are graduated is Brady House, Dylan crews who have not really, you know, like Dylan crews was consider one of the top players in that draft bus and have not been particularly impactful so far.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There are questions about his impact to the big level.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I would say that you could go to this high school class that they just sign, but then like also guys, you know, there's some guys to out say are maybe it's a little late, but like can this new regime get, Elijah Green still has some of the loudest tools in baseball.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great, you know, there's great power there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He can run, there's defense, all that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He's never made enough contact for it to matter.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a getting a little late in his development for that to turn around.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But this is a new approach.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This is kind of an organization doing things differently.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm going to pass it out to see if some of these players.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Not at all, but it's some of them find another gear.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, kind of with this new regime.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think a Christian Vicaro, the Cuban center fielder, I think you could put him in the group as well, of a guy who has potential that has been realized hardly any of it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think there's another project for them.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think they if you said what has been the problem if you said try to try to summarize it with the nationals it's been the nationals I think understandably they like tools but there's been a lot of guys that they drafted over the years and again we say like we can I I'll try to link put the link to the story on this they have the they have by far the least amount of production among drafted hitters and 2012 and that was very true in 2025 second lowest OPS among all full season

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[SPEAKER_00]: And what they we've seen, we've seen consistently it's troubles with pitch recognition, troubles with contact rates, it's drafting guys who have power, who have athleticism, who have defense about you potentially, but then who get derailed because you have to control the strike zone, you have to when you get a pitch to hit really make do something with it and there's been consistent issues with that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I know that Brady House has already talked in spring training about, hey, we got a tragic machine now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This is great.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And again, that's that's not congratulations.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You're now on the cutting edge.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That is congratulations.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You are moving into what is considered normal for a major legal organization.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have to be bleeding edge here if they can start doing a better job of making context of pitch recognition.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Of helping guys swings get to that point that it fits better what they're trying to do, this could really be kind of exponential growth.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There's a tremendous amount of low hanging fruit in this organization for this new player development regime, because I was shocked like going through these top 30 reports how strikingly similar or so many were.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's the ball on the ground too much, Chase is too much.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's like that pretty much fit every one of our top hitting prospects.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that's, that's, okay, if you have one or two of those, it's like, okay, we knew when we brought this guy in, that this guy would be a longer burn.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have to vote.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But if you're doing that over and over, it's the same thing like when we did the Rockies, and it's like, whenever every Rockies are part of our red, it's like, how many,

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[SPEAKER_00]: infield corner outfield defensive question, big power, big contact concern guys can one organization have.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, even their guys were good defensively like their public corner, they're not like, they don't have any short stops for almost in the organization.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have center fielders.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They have more like the guys who are at the very individual defensive spectrum and then still face offensive questions.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I would say the nationals flipped that a little bit, which is they have a lot of guys, they've had a lot of

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[SPEAKER_00]: They kind of sell a lot of times again because of these issues, they stagnate a little bit.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you mentioned, again, I want to, there's a couple of guys that I think are kind of fascinating, but you mentioned Sever King.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Sever King, you know, get promised, you know, first round pick 20, you know, you're gonna have to go now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Coming out, it was like, okay, this is a guy who had one year at Wake Forest.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The scene is one of the better kind of more athletic,

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[SPEAKER_00]: but also that's where like it was the hit tool is going to be kind of one of the caring tools here.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Not a lot of impact last year.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like what does he have to do?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, low hanging fruit.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What is the potential to low hanging fruit with a guy like see their king?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think it fits identification, not chasing, you know, identifying pitches to damage and and really just.

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[SPEAKER_03]: getting the ace wing on the ball and not making ground as much ground ball contact.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We began to see that manifest a little bit in the AFL where he was going to this no-striped swing and really really swinging with more intent than he had during the season.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I would say, this is going to be the biggest development question, the biggest story with the naturals is, can they really improve the, the, the hitting development?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to kind of switch up all order a little bit or what we do because when we say, what is this organization good at developing, I feel like we can't say almost anything on the hitting side.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Again, like there's been guys who they brought in, like James Wood is, you know, a useful I think by the day of the mile, you see, he actually did have a very intentional improvement last off season to meet the ball of fun and improve that's me, but yes, but I do feel like I'm a pitching side like we've seen some success some guys come up with a big legs and have some success, but on top of that, if you ask me how this national team kind of does take that

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[SPEAKER_00]: We know that you have to have numbers and not everyone is going to work out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But an organization that has a Suzanana and a Coral is Anna Culemi and it's a Cora.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And again, some of the guys who are already up in the big league level, there's real upside talent here, if it all clicked, and today's healthy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's the two big questions, yes.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But is that is pitching kind of where they're a little bit, they've been a little bit stronger of development?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think you can make the case.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think last year, when Gore was injured late in the year, I think they had an entirely homegrown rotation.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't a great rotation, but it was all guys they developed.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, Brad Lord is a good five, six-spot starter guy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Were they completely homegrown?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so the guy's like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we'll see, like with Cavali, we'll see with some of these, like, there are the pieces here, I feel like on the pitching side, I feel like on the hitting side, even if we're being optimistic.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's still, it's gonna take a lot of these guys who are, good ways away developing to kind of, yeah, unless they really do find, it like, the most rosiest optimistic way of saying this would be is if DJ Abrams finds another year in 26 and James Wood finds another year and Dylan Cruz finds another year and the Cable Louise Harry Ford combo pack, you know, like these kind of things,

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[SPEAKER_00]: all, you know, if enough of those click, then all of a sudden this team's in a different spot that Brady House, another one.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, there's a number of these guys, but that's where this gets really tricky.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I do want to kind of talk a little bit like say, brought in Harry Ford.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And Harry Ford, I feel like, has covered on the edge of the top 100 for us.

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[SPEAKER_00]: for a basically since the last World Baseball Classic, when he also was playing for Great Britain.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like there are some really good attributes to Harry Ford.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I also think that there are some attributes of him that maybe aren't as true as they used to be.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think that Harry Ford is still athletic for a catcher.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But I will know, like, he better catch because when they, the Mariners talked about, oh, we're going to work on his first till he make him an outfielder, they jumped that pretty quickly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And if you look at his speed, he does not run like he did a few years ago.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He is not that premium, you know, for a, for a catcher still runs well for a catcher, but he's not like this plus run or anything like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that have, you know, like I do think that

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[SPEAKER_00]: his path is much more as can he get defensively to the point where he's a solid defender at a catcher who gives some base who does hit.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And okay, maybe there's not a ton of impact there, that could be okay if these other aspects come along.

18:51.484 --> 18:58.651
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do feel like he's kind of positioned in a place here that gives him a real opportunity, probably much more so obviously there was pink case.

18:58.951 --> 19:03.636
[SPEAKER_00]: In Seattle where there is this this this the catcher who

19:03.616 --> 19:06.139
[SPEAKER_00]: Think to have that job pretty locked down for a long time to come.

19:06.159 --> 19:06.820
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's pretty good.

19:07.561 --> 19:10.144
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, my fort has a great run away here with the nationals.

19:10.164 --> 19:16.892
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think we see with catchers, those who want to catch and want to put the work in can can get to near average.

19:17.753 --> 19:18.654
[SPEAKER_03]: That's a pretty high rate team.

19:18.674 --> 19:20.916
[SPEAKER_00]: They've gotten a lot better at developing coaching.

19:20.936 --> 19:26.603
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, you know, so I think maybe the most a sequel to say it is the ball is in his court.

19:27.697 --> 19:30.039
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I will stay right now.

19:30.140 --> 19:33.343
[SPEAKER_00]: Question we also always ask is who's your guest to be next year's number one?

19:33.363 --> 19:34.104
[SPEAKER_00]: I will stay right now.

19:34.204 --> 19:37.507
[SPEAKER_00]: If Eli will, it's not number one for this organization next year.

19:38.849 --> 19:49.119
[SPEAKER_00]: Either it's an incredible story because that piece someone else has emerged as like a top money prospect in the game, top 25, or it's not a great sign for Eli Willet.

19:49.139 --> 19:50.941
[SPEAKER_00]: That's really kind of the only two things.

19:51.121 --> 19:54.565
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he graduated in the year and he was the number one pick a year ago.

19:54.916 --> 19:55.878
[SPEAKER_03]: Where do they pick on this draft?

19:56.378 --> 19:58.221
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I should have looked that out together.

19:58.241 --> 20:00.425
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not, they're not, they're like, it is a good draft.

20:00.485 --> 20:06.675
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, I do think that will, it's obviously should be the, you know, the guy.

20:06.695 --> 20:07.617
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.

20:07.757 --> 20:09.159
[SPEAKER_03]: But that's absolutely fair.

20:09.239 --> 20:09.921
[SPEAKER_00]: First full season.

20:10.221 --> 20:10.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

20:10.481 --> 20:11.463
[SPEAKER_00]: For full season.

20:11.884 --> 20:12.064
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

20:12.449 --> 20:19.356
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, who would take like an outstanding performance from like a silver king or a guy and seeing type of guy to even enter the conversation?

20:20.216 --> 20:27.043
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say, yeah, the better way to ask right now, I guess would be like, and we'll take the draft out for now beyond him, who has the best case?

20:27.083 --> 20:36.512
[SPEAKER_00]: Because again, we do think like, since all of my still be able to upload this, I could see him still being at number two, but like, is it Gavin Fiend potentially who quickly?

20:36.532 --> 20:38.454
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, obviously they really liked him.

20:38.534 --> 20:40.836
[SPEAKER_00]: He was, there were a number of teams who really liked him.

20:41.322 --> 20:42.924
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, coming out of the draft.

20:44.046 --> 20:50.595
[SPEAKER_00]: He's more like, for everything we just described, because he's another high school shortstop for last year's graph class.

20:51.015 --> 20:57.184
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you take everything we describe that Eli Willitz, it's kind of like the mirror, it's like the opposite of that, right?

20:57.885 --> 21:01.710
[SPEAKER_00]: So Gavin Fiend is probably not going to be a shortstop in the long term.

21:01.927 --> 21:05.051
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is potentially real offensive impact here, I feel like.

21:05.212 --> 21:18.310
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, like as you mentioned, a lot of teams love the hating attributes, the chance for above average plus hit our, um, and obviously the nationals, uh, really valued it because they traded Mackenzie Gore to acquire V and as the headliner.

21:18.711 --> 21:26.702
[SPEAKER_00]: And Devon Fitzgerald also became like a headliner that like, and there's some good and bad here too, like Devon Fitzgerald had a really good, like really impressive.

21:26.682 --> 21:28.405
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, pro ball last year.

21:28.445 --> 21:34.294
[SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, the, yeah, but is it was a little older, you know, like, is they more polished player?

21:34.314 --> 21:40.484
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's still kind of, there's some scouts who kind of, you wouldn't say, I want to see him do it against more of that competition.

21:40.504 --> 21:43.408
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see how much projection there is there and all that.

21:44.410 --> 21:48.095
[SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of a, he'll be a very interesting guy to watch in 26, I feel like as well.

21:48.436 --> 21:54.225
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, hit first and feel they're probably not a short stop, but, you know, it's good to have these players around.

21:55.133 --> 22:00.800
[SPEAKER_00]: You also mentioned like, we're going to talk more about these when we get to the, the, the, I'll tease it.

22:01.300 --> 22:06.106
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to wrap up the video side here, but we're going to talk about some of those high school guys.

22:06.126 --> 22:16.818
[SPEAKER_00]: You said it's not just that you like, well, as they took on the podcast feed, we will dive into more of those because most of those guys fit in this 11 to 20, 25 range on this top 30.

22:17.158 --> 22:18.660
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do that right after this quick break.

22:21.796 --> 22:32.191
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Matt, the high school guys after Willets, who are some of the names to know, some of the names who've kind of been this, names to know really at 10 on on this list.

22:32.953 --> 22:41.625
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they spent a large portion of their draft bonus school on Willets, but they saved money with it one over all pick in order to sign some other high school players.

22:41.686 --> 22:43.348
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd pick number one,

22:43.615 --> 22:51.929
[SPEAKER_00]: With very few exceptions, we may see it this year with Rock Chalowski, but with very few exceptions, even if you give that guy decent money, you're still gonna have a lot of money to spend elsewhere.

22:52.530 --> 23:03.047
[SPEAKER_03]: In the national's spent most of it on some high school talent, including a Rothschild line of high school shortstop toy James, and then a couple of pictures, right handers, land in Hormann and Miguel C. May, Jr.

23:04.589 --> 23:06.973
[SPEAKER_03]: The pictures are a power oriented right handers,

23:07.510 --> 23:10.276
[SPEAKER_03]: who have a long track in front of them as high school right handers.

23:10.997 --> 23:13.904
[SPEAKER_03]: And Quay James is more of a natural hit guy.

23:13.924 --> 23:17.752
[SPEAKER_03]: I think a lot of scouts seem as a bad first second or third basement eventually.

23:18.052 --> 23:25.869
[SPEAKER_00]: So they literally, okay, this is the true dream scenario I would say that will probably not turn out.

23:26.150 --> 23:26.751
[SPEAKER_00]: But

23:27.035 --> 23:35.112
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a scenario, if everything breaks right, that they could basically have acquired, the team was not there pick.

23:35.132 --> 23:44.753
[SPEAKER_00]: But three high school short stops in one draft class who could end up slaughting is like, here's your second basement, here's your short stop, and here's your third basement, who all come up together.

23:44.833 --> 23:45.975
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, absolutely true.

23:46.115 --> 23:47.338
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, I will say.

23:47.318 --> 23:53.189
[SPEAKER_00]: That is like, you know, okay, that would be like I need this one card to draw, you don't like a royal flush.

23:53.790 --> 23:55.874
[SPEAKER_00]: The chances are it won't develop like that.

23:55.934 --> 24:03.207
[SPEAKER_00]: But if it did, like they went very, it was a very good high school store stop class and they went very strong into that high school store.

24:03.227 --> 24:07.555
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, one way or the other, it's going to be a watershed drive for the functions organization.

24:07.906 --> 24:37.035
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, you would new regime that this is, it's not their draft, but it is one that could be very impactful like you said for them, when you look at these arms, I do feel like for these are guys who, they have to level up a little patience with like high school power pitchers, you know high school draft, the power pitchers don't expect that to be turnaround two years from seeing in the big leagues don't expect it to be something where there's never some bumps in the road because even the guys who really didn't know, the Kenzie Gore being a perfect example is,

24:37.792 --> 24:43.721
[SPEAKER_00]: They often have stretches, Lucas G. Alino who's end up being a very good one like they often have stretches where you're like, what is happening here?

24:44.442 --> 24:49.530
[SPEAKER_00]: Because they have to go through kind of these, you know, there are pictures who skipped that step.

24:49.550 --> 24:50.531
[SPEAKER_00]: Very few prep pictures.

24:50.571 --> 24:52.654
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like they do, even the good ones.

24:52.674 --> 24:53.536
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

24:53.576 --> 24:53.716
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

24:53.736 --> 24:55.318
[SPEAKER_03]: Take a good example of 100 green.

24:55.338 --> 24:56.400
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, how does it actually?

24:56.540 --> 24:57.882
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I suppose they found it as maybe.

24:57.902 --> 24:58.844
[SPEAKER_00]: Jose Fernandez did.

24:58.864 --> 24:59.184
[SPEAKER_00]: You're right.

24:59.505 --> 25:00.646
[SPEAKER_00]: But like 100 green, that example.

25:00.706 --> 25:03.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Now if brother rotation guy and like,

25:03.256 --> 25:05.982
[SPEAKER_00]: 100g of stretches where it's like, wow, that's an ABRA.

25:06.002 --> 25:08.988
[SPEAKER_00]: He's every fastball he throws comes in and a hundred.

25:09.028 --> 25:10.732
[SPEAKER_00]: He seems to go out at a hundred times, you know?

25:10.752 --> 25:12.135
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been a bigger than that.

25:12.435 --> 25:13.938
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm a specter of injury, unfortunately.

25:14.259 --> 25:14.439
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

25:14.880 --> 25:20.472
[SPEAKER_00]: So what are some other guys that jump out to you that you should know, you know, that national fans should know beyond the 10.

25:22.460 --> 25:32.572
[SPEAKER_03]: I was really impressed her entry, and I should say with Sam Peterson, the appeal that from Iowa, when I know some other organizations carry in pretty high, other evaluations of the nationals.

25:33.293 --> 25:38.139
[SPEAKER_03]: Just an athletic player who's finding is swinging and playing more center field as a pro.

25:38.199 --> 25:40.542
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he's got more upside if he can stay healthy.

25:40.622 --> 25:43.565
[SPEAKER_03]: He's dealt with myriad injuries, but I like him.

25:44.967 --> 25:49.092
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I think that also at least one guy who really did kind of break out in his debut.

25:49.139 --> 25:55.088
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, more coding her mom, middle and field there in the Dominican summer league, modest signings.

25:55.108 --> 25:57.231
[SPEAKER_03]: It's six bigger signings who pit really well.

25:57.812 --> 25:59.855
[SPEAKER_03]: What's the key as attributes to stand in the middle and field?

26:00.696 --> 26:03.741
[SPEAKER_03]: It's got a lot to prove, but very encouraging start.

26:04.782 --> 26:07.426
[SPEAKER_00]: I can feel like I can promise you this national fans.

26:08.187 --> 26:13.375
[SPEAKER_00]: We will have a story at some point in the end of this year kind of looking at how is the nationals

26:13.591 --> 26:15.913
[SPEAKER_00]: different from where they were a year ago.

26:15.994 --> 26:17.435
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll look at that at some point.

26:18.116 --> 26:24.783
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do think it'll be very interesting to see, kind of, this national's 2026 season.

26:24.823 --> 26:28.887
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate to say, because I know that if you're a national fan, it's been a grind here for a while.

26:29.468 --> 26:38.538
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do feel like that this is the year that questions going to very much be we're going to see how to turn around, how the development is going.

26:39.339 --> 26:40.560
[SPEAKER_00]: This could be, again,

26:41.806 --> 26:46.993
[SPEAKER_00]: us talking this time next year, we could be talking about Eli Wilets being much closer to the big lights.

26:47.093 --> 26:50.878
[SPEAKER_00]: We could be talking about Harlow Susanna Travis Sikora House.

26:50.898 --> 26:56.405
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me being like, wow, this looks like a really impressive way of pitching this just around the corner.

26:56.465 --> 26:59.549
[SPEAKER_00]: We could be talking about this high school shore stop class.

26:59.589 --> 27:05.716
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about it was like, whoa, these are now three, you know, guys who are at least knocking on the door of the top hundred.

27:06.197 --> 27:11.644
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot

27:12.620 --> 27:21.602
[SPEAKER_00]: We know also we can say that a year from now will probably saying like there is no clear way of saying whether this rebuild you know is going to click or not is to still do so.

27:22.424 --> 27:23.346
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think that's fair.

27:23.366 --> 27:26.494
[SPEAKER_03]: I think I think it was Carlos on our staff who noted.

27:26.845 --> 27:31.451
[SPEAKER_03]: a lot of shortstop talent in this group, but there's not a lot of like plus power projection.

27:31.852 --> 27:33.514
[SPEAKER_03]: I think they'd run the risk there.

27:33.534 --> 27:39.222
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that was why someone like Ethan Petrie was attracted to them in this 25 draft and established a C.C.

27:39.242 --> 27:39.703
[SPEAKER_03]: Bauerhider.

27:40.204 --> 27:46.833
[SPEAKER_03]: I think you're haunting Morales a few drafts ago, but that reason, but they don't have anybody who's like, wow, this guy's gonna come up and bang.

27:46.953 --> 27:48.415
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will say this.

27:48.395 --> 28:06.658
[SPEAKER_00]: Considering their draft track record of previous years with the guys who had real power, I think zigging, you know, zagging where they had zigg before made some sense to it's like, hey, as you just laid out, there was so many of these guys who've been in the system who the hit pulls the real question.

28:06.678 --> 28:09.962
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you know what, let's get some guys who the hits will not the question.

28:09.982 --> 28:16.731
[SPEAKER_00]: I will think to give an example of an organization,

28:17.977 --> 28:27.886
[SPEAKER_00]: The Tigers, for the longest time, really struggled to the Tigers drafted position player wise, I was sick of the 20 teams.

28:28.327 --> 28:34.733
[SPEAKER_00]: They basically drafted power arm pitchers, often SCC pitcher with a relief risk.

28:34.753 --> 28:46.043
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they drafted toolsy position players who had real defensive value, had athleticism, often had power, but it was like, we're gonna figure out how to make them hit.

28:47.204 --> 28:48.526
[SPEAKER_00]: that didn't work very well for them.

28:48.926 --> 28:52.811
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you could look at when kind of flip into the 2010, 2020s.

28:52.932 --> 29:05.248
[SPEAKER_00]: They started switching for less draft hitters who were got to figure out, athletically, where they play the Colt Key of some of the world, the JC Youngs of the world.

29:05.949 --> 29:09.374
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they ended up kind of like those guys could hit.

29:09.434 --> 29:12.077
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they got to the Kevin MacDonalds of the world.

29:12.738 --> 29:15.642
[SPEAKER_00]: And so then,

29:16.330 --> 29:22.799
[SPEAKER_00]: you got to the point where, you know, it's really kind of turned them around, in some ways, obviously, it's not just that.

29:23.160 --> 29:27.626
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's where I do think that that's sad may be very useful for them.

29:27.646 --> 29:29.209
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though again, that was not this regime.

29:29.589 --> 29:31.392
[SPEAKER_00]: That was kind of the inner regime in the dream.

29:31.492 --> 29:36.499
[SPEAKER_00]: But that approaching is saying, hey, let's get hitters and see if we can develop power.

29:37.205 --> 29:41.331
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can say that the nationals had real struggles taking us to a power in developing their ability.

29:41.351 --> 29:43.575
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe this other approach works a little bit better.

29:43.895 --> 29:48.342
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that you can improve, we've seen examples, ultimately came from the revsots.

29:48.362 --> 29:56.935
[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen examples of kind of consciously working on bad speed and improving power, developing it.

29:57.033 --> 30:00.987
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that's the most encouraging thing for national stands.

30:01.007 --> 30:08.713
[SPEAKER_03]: The value of the Red Sox got out of the draft, especially after the first round was pretty much unparalleled over the last few years.

30:08.896 --> 30:13.403
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is our national prospect podcast deep dive.

30:13.663 --> 30:14.765
[SPEAKER_00]: And we hope you enjoyed this.

30:14.825 --> 30:19.352
[SPEAKER_00]: This means 2019's down one to go.

30:19.652 --> 30:21.315
[SPEAKER_00]: We will be rolling out the angels.

30:21.695 --> 30:24.019
[SPEAKER_00]: And we will then have wrapped up 30 deep guys.

30:24.580 --> 30:26.763
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we wanted to get it done kind of early in spring training.

30:26.863 --> 30:30.128
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so little later spring training that I deal, but we got it there.

30:30.228 --> 30:33.814
[SPEAKER_00]: We're still far, far away from the start of the regular season.

30:33.974 --> 30:36.658
[SPEAKER_00]: So format, I'm JJ, it's the long everybody.