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[SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, Jay Cooper, Jacob Runner, Carlos Clauseo, Facebook, America, Hot Sheet Show.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And man, it is a loaded show today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So much going on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is the time of year that we all love because there's more stuff going on than we can kind of fully wrap our brains around.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we have multiple of us.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, I'm trying to keep track of everything going on in college baseball.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But Jacob, he's got that handled.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to keep track of everything going on the draft, but I'll have everything handled, but Carlos, he does have that handled.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And you got me here just because I'm along for the ride today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna be listens to them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But thank you for joining us.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We do want to, as we always say, like, hey, we love entering your question.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So if you have a question, if you have a comment, leave it in the chat and we try to get to those.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But today is all about the college rule series and all about the draft because we have a new mock draft up

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[SPEAKER_01]: as well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to start on college baseball.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The field of eight now, the college world series field is set.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, I guess the theme, which I feel like that we could probably just record this right now and say it again next year probably, but

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[SPEAKER_01]: There are five SCC teams here, one of the themes of this year most definitely is the SCC looks extremely powerful and we know that SCC team is going to be playing for the title.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Let's let's make no mistake about it.

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[SPEAKER_02]: The theme of the last six years and basically the last decade is that the SEC has a real handle on college baseball.

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[SPEAKER_02]: This is not news.

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[SPEAKER_02]: This is not a novel situation.

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[SPEAKER_02]: The SEC has dominated the sport now for the better part of the last decade as I said, if they win it this year, it'll be the seventh consecutive season.

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[SPEAKER_02]: with an SEC team as the last one standing.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It is college baseball's most dominant force, and I know that throughout the regular season there is an urge among fans to talk about how how the SEC might be slipping or how there are other conferences that are underrated relative to the SEC's overratedness.

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[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's very simple.

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[SPEAKER_02]: The SEC is as good as it gets, you did a great piece about just how prominent the SEC has been in the college world series, almost all of its teams have been over the last several years.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It's a remarkable pace for a remarkable league, and I think that you get what you pay for.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this is the highest investment environment for college baseball in the country, and they get the best results.

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[SPEAKER_01]: To give, like, if you're not, if you're going to be tuning in this weekend, starting Friday, but you haven't been paying as close attention.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You're a baseball fan, but this is the time of year that you kind of say, okay, I'm locking in a college baseball.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We've got some star teams here, but Jacob, the other thing I would say is, if you're just looking like, hey, I am rooting for a Cinderella.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I am rooting for a club that I can just kind of get behind and and hope to see an amazing

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[SPEAKER_01]: We've got one of those, too, don't we?

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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we did, you know, Troy is that team this year, just thanks to a remarkable run.

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[SPEAKER_02]: But the reality is, I think that this has been a really good season in general for the underdog.

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[SPEAKER_02]: We've seen several teams make Troy like runs to the Super Regional several first timers.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And there's a decent chance that we'll see a first time champion.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Half of this college world series field has never won a national championship before.

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[SPEAKER_02]: That doesn't include.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Alabama, which would continue an impressive SEC streak, and North Carolina, which is a modern college power, even without a world series title, and then of course you have teams like Troy and West Virginia, Cinderella's kind of a different nature.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Troy, the Cinderella in the sense that it was one of the last teams into the field, West Virginia in the sense that it's never been to Omaha before, and it isn't necessarily an established power on the college baseball scene.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It's a little bit

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[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, two, two horses and conferences that also deserve some representation.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Last year, some but we got Coastal Carolina to the championship.

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[SPEAKER_02]: This year you have Troy representing the League again and for the big 12 which kind of has been slighted on selection Monday over the last couple of the seasons, West Virginia is a really good champion with some history that it has a chance to make along the way.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing I would say about these first games, because the format of this is double elimination tournament, one team comes out of each side of the bracket and then they play a best of three championship series.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But Jacob, the main event of this first round is gonna be the final game of the four, right?

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[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, that's Saturday night Texas versus Georgia.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Those are the two favorites right now.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I think we're regardless of who wins that game.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They come out of there as the odds on favorite to go and win the college world series this year.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They're the best SEC teams, which typically means that they're the best teams in the country.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, two teams that match up really well though.

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[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to sugar not offense that Georgia has displayed all season.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They've been very reliant on the home run.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Number one home run hitting team in the country.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Now, they're going to go to a ballpark that tends to hold the fly ball in a little bit, but different than some of these very home-run reliant teams.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Georgia is very still going to come to just putting the ball in play.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It's mature at bats.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They have a lot of hitters up and down the lineup, who do a very good job of just kind of controlling the pace of the game.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that will serve them well in Omaha.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And the Texas, another very well-rounded group.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They pitch the ball great.

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[SPEAKER_02]: There's depth to that staff.

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[SPEAKER_02]: They have a closer, infreshman Sam Kozart.

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[SPEAKER_02]: who has been excellent the season that ends up being a pretty important in the College World Series.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And the offense is great at the top.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Even Robinson's kind of been the leader, Adrian Rodriguez, a prospect in next year's class, has been excellent for them as well, especially recently.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And the bottom of their lineup has kind of filled in as well.

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[SPEAKER_02]: So two well-rounded teams, two SEC teams that have great regular seasons, both on record breaking pace and some in some

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[SPEAKER_01]: Carlos, we kind of hit on a couple of, you know, Jacob hit a couple of the names right there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But there are, we've seen like a lot of the top draft prospects are no longer playing, but that doesn't mean we don't have some star power coming to Omaha.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Who are a couple of the players?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Who are a few of the players that both stand out as college performers, but also guys who are gonna hear their name called very quickly come draft it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there are still a couple of really interesting names that are getting a lot of action in the first round.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe even towards the top of the board.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And I also got to get some credit to both of you guys here on the show because I think both of you mentioned these as players that could potentially improve their stock in this post season over the last few weeks at Baseball America.

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[SPEAKER_03]: One of those players and maybe the most notable is Alabama shorts up Justin LeBron.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think Alabama having a deep run into this college world series is tremendous news for LeBron.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He has performed particularly well in regionals and super regionals leading up to this point.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He's been nine for 24 with two home runs, two doubles, slugging over 700.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He's made a handful of highlight plays, and I think because of these high impact performances on this stage, there are teams that are sending serious scouting heat into watch him, because he was such a polarizing figure throughout.

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[SPEAKER_03]: the spring season, both in conference, maybe towards the stretch of the non-conference play as well as we've got closer to conference.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But LeBron having a strong postseason is tremendously important for his draft stock.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think he has done a good job answering that challenge.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We have heard teams as high as five, seven, potentially thinking about him in the first round.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if that's where he's likely to go at this stage, but the fact that he's being talked about in this range,

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[SPEAKER_03]: in my conversations with sources throughout the industry.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think speaks to just how well he's finished this season.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He obviously has a very dynamic tool set at leticism and upside, but the late performance for him is maybe as important as any qualitative in this class.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The second one is an arm.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Um, that I think is maybe not being talked about quite as high in the draft right now, maybe not top 10 currently, but if Ole Miss right hand a pitcher, Taylor Raebe is able to just continue dominating down the stretch.

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[SPEAKER_03]: If he has allowed college world series appearance, we've seen pitchers make a run like this in the past over his last three starts.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Taylor Raebe has a 30 to four strike out to walk ratio.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Hitters are hitting just 164 against him.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He's sitting mid 90s with his

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[SPEAKER_03]: And he's throwing strikes at a 69% clip overall.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Me and Jacob were talking about this earlier today, over the weekend, like whether or not he is the top pitching prospect on this old mess team is now a real debate.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Kate Townsend has been the guy for weeks and weeks now.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But Taylor Rae was certainly pitching better down the stretch.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And I think there are a number of scouts that we've all talked to.

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[SPEAKER_03]: They kind of view him as the leader in the clubhouse.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Now we have him at the back of our mock draft, the most recent one that went up this week.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I wouldn't be at all surprises to him inside the first round and maybe really healthily and solidly in that range with more performance down the stretch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So the other guy would say star power wise here is Daniel Jackson.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We saw him hit the dramatic home run, uh, tentoning to beat, uh, Mississippi state in their, uh, in the second game there, he's having he is one still stolen base away from coming the second 30 30 player in division one history, JD Drew is the only one that's done it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, Daniel Jackson, we should mention if you don't know is a catcher.

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[SPEAKER_01]: who also is one steel away from 30, 30.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He's a real prominent guy, but Carlos, he's also kind of the guy who I would say draft-wise, there's still a little bit more skepticism out that what is kind of the concern.

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[SPEAKER_01]: If you're someone who's watching of this guy sitting on runs, he's playing catcher, he's stealing bases.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What are the reasons that there's still a little bit of hesitancy of bumping him up into that kind of that middle or top of the first room?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I saw a commenter that we had on the show on Coltette saying that Lackie isn't even the best catcher in Georgia and I assume he's talking about Dino Jackson here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I would say the biggest difference there is maybe using those players is is probably pretty useful in highlighting the questions that Dino Jackson has.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think Faun Lackie very much is the best catcher in this draft class and part of the reason he is is because he is in a lead athlete in a lead defensive catcher right now.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think Daniel Jackson is a really impressive athlete in his own right.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There's actually a surprising number of athletic catchers in this class in particular.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But I would say as opposed to Von Lackey, wherever one in the industry, is highly confident that he has a chance to be a tremendously valuable defensive catcher.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think Daniel Jackson still has a lot of work to go in that area.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There are scout to believe he can catch that he has the tools, he certainly has a strong arm that fits back there, but his receiving needs work in a way that is not true for Von Lacke.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think there's also, despite the numbers, there are some questions about like the hitting track record with Dana Jackson.

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[SPEAKER_03]: This is far and away his best offensive season.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He does have some swing and miss tendencies in the past.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think if you look at the underlying contact rate that he has even this year, with the season he's putting up, which is tremendous.

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[SPEAKER_03]: we've seen since like a Charlie Condon who also came out of Georgia.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think those are some of the questions that you'll get into.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think in general as well when when college players are putting up massive offensive performances in very hit or heavy parks, scouts are right to be skeptical of those performances if you didn't come into the season with glowing thoughts on the offensive profiles of players.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The way a wood bat plays with your pure hitting ability and your power at the next

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[SPEAKER_03]: from the college bats that we see in college baseball, certainly the competition from a pitching perspective in the ballpark dimensions.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So those are some of the questions.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to completely bury Dana Jackson here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We do have him in this mock draft.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I do think he's a guy who can seek into the back of the verse round, but those are kind of highlighting some of the question marks that I've been getting from people that I'm talking to throughout the industry.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So speaking of that mock draft, we're going to talk a lot more about that right after this quick break.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We are back, and Carlos was busy last week this weekend, rolled out a Monday, mocked draft 4.0, we're obviously still away, so we've got still over a month until the MLB draft, but we are getting a little bit closer, we're getting a little bit more locked in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Carlos, what are some of the key takeaways from your reporting as you put together this new

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, maybe the lead take away is a little bit boring because I think it is pretty chalk in terms of mock 3.0 versus mock 4.0.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I quite like that as the person who comes up with a mock draft because I think to me that in the case there is some sort of clarity or at least a growing consensus on the players at the top of the board at least makes me feel like it is easier to work down the board with some confidence this was also maybe the first mock this year.

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[SPEAKER_03]: where really throughout the 20 to 40 range, I started feeling more comfortable with player team connections.

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[SPEAKER_03]: At this point I think again that probably

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[SPEAKER_03]: follows on from the fact that there's a growing consensus at the top of the board.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But maybe the highest level take away, there continues to be a clear top three in this class that is in order Rock Chalowski, Grady Emerson, Vaughn Lackey.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I do believe that those three should be favored to be the first three players off the board in some order.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We've had this order for now.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I believe three straight mock drafts just because

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[SPEAKER_03]: everyone I've talked to thinks this is the most likely order that's not to say that is guaranteed.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But I do think that putting anyone else into those top three right now, you're probably being a little bit more creative than you need to be at this stage.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So that's the main headline takeaway.

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[SPEAKER_03]: If you're a white socks fan, I think Brock Cholowski is still the favorite.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I definitely do think greedy Emerson and Von Lackey are certainly in that conversation.

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[SPEAKER_01]: looking a little bit further on though that's where i feel like that you said like there's a top three i think you mentioned in the mock there's always the possibility that there's a attempt to float someone down by asking price on the bonus and all that but that's a clear the top three delineation and then after that it becomes much more wide open much you're obviously pretty quickly um even at the back of the top

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[SPEAKER_03]: I actually think it feels a little bit more, I'm least hearing more consistent names in the back of that top 10.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And moving beyond the top three, I think they're also as a separate top six.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think the second group of three is maybe a little bit further away from the top three today that includes the top picture in the class in Jackson, Flora.

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[SPEAKER_03]: that includes two toolsy high school hitters in Jacob Lombard and Eric Booth Jr. All three of those players out expect to go within the first really seven or eight picks.

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[SPEAKER_03]: If any of those players fell beyond eight right now, I think that would constitute as a surprise on draft day.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And then there is this kind of cluster of college hitters towards the back of the top 10.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You see it here on the mock draft, Drew Burris.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We have to the A's Tyler Bell.

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[SPEAKER_03]: but shorts up with Kentucky to the Braves and Derek Curiel, the LSU Alfielder.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think maybe what separates that group right there, and I would even include Ryder Helferick, the Ketrad Arkansas as another name that is consistently talked about with all those names as kind of the the next up best of the rest here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: They're all premium position college players with either a track record of performance throughout college or really strong seasons this year and maybe Tyler Bell in particular is the

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[SPEAKER_03]: for really loud performance.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But I think there is some comfort that teams are feeling with the fact that you're getting well-rounded profiles, you're getting premium position players, where even if maybe the hit tool falls a little bit off in pro ball, you're going to get value from these players defensively as well.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That kind of is the group.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That seems to form the the top of the next tier and then after that I think it's where it could get really dicey, but you'll also note from this mock draft It's very hit or heavy in the first 20 or so picks part of that is because the college pitching has just been influx Really throughout the spring players have gotten hurt

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[SPEAKER_03]: the performances for the second tier of college pitchers has been very up and down.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That's one of the reasons why I think Taylor Ray was such an interesting watch moving forward in the college world series and then you get into the high school pitchers the second tier of high school hitters, college hitters that have maybe more profile questions or hit risk.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That's where things are really going to get all over the place, dealers, choice, teams hunting for deals.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It could get crazy in that range.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was gonna say like, we kind of look around.

17:22.772 --> 17:28.816
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been looking around all year for like, okay, who are the college pitchers, Jackson, Flora, being the one who's kind of check the box is all year.

17:29.296 --> 17:30.838
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there anyone else you mentioned right?

17:30.858 --> 17:36.141
[SPEAKER_01]: But is there anyone else who kind of gave a strong finishing kick who most of these guys are done now?

17:36.161 --> 17:47.910
[SPEAKER_01]: Did anyone else kind of make that argument to where it's like, okay, they at least put themselves in that conversation for a second college arm off the board or is that kind of more of player backing up from that rather than taking step forward?

17:49.105 --> 17:54.192
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, interestingly, I don't think Liam Peterson necessarily put the excellent mission point on his season that he would have liked to.

17:54.212 --> 17:57.697
[SPEAKER_03]: He got hit around a little bit more against Troy in his regional game.

17:57.717 --> 17:59.319
[SPEAKER_03]: And that was not his greatest outing.

17:59.380 --> 18:03.265
[SPEAKER_03]: But I think prior to that, he had put together some really strong outings.

18:03.305 --> 18:05.949
[SPEAKER_03]: There was some thought that he was getting a little bit more consistent.

18:06.269 --> 18:09.433
[SPEAKER_03]: with his release point throwing more strikes consistently.

18:09.453 --> 18:20.625
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think even with some of the questions with Liam Peterson season, teams seem to be viewing his pure stuff as at in a lead enough level where they're happy to take a shot on that potential upside.

18:20.945 --> 18:25.771
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a name that I was hearing a lot more in the middle half of the first round that I was expecting to.

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[SPEAKER_03]: heading into this report writing process.

18:27.932 --> 18:32.594
[SPEAKER_03]: I did think that his final outing might be enough to kind of slide him further back into the 20s.

18:33.034 --> 18:34.895
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not necessarily sure that's the case now.

18:34.935 --> 18:38.057
[SPEAKER_03]: We have him mocked in this version to the Rangers at 16.

18:38.557 --> 18:43.419
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he has realistic landing spots, six spots in front of that, six spots behind that.

18:44.320 --> 18:49.882
[SPEAKER_03]: So while I don't know if Leon Peterson is definitely the favorite to be the second college pitcher off the board after Florida.

18:49.922 --> 18:50.763
[SPEAKER_03]: He's certainly one of the

18:54.105 --> 19:00.414
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you're a team who just has a lot of confidence in what you can do from a pitching development standpoint can help him find more strikes.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know that it's a difficult argument to make that Liam Peterson's purest stuff is fastball.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His slider is curveball is change up, are among the best in the class.

19:11.948 --> 19:14.370
[SPEAKER_01]: So that is a look at mock draft 4.0.

19:14.410 --> 19:18.414
[SPEAKER_01]: Check out at baseballamerica.com has the full list all the way out to 40 picks.

19:18.735 --> 19:22.058
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, if you enjoyed that, we have a staff draft coming up before too long as well.

19:22.438 --> 19:26.362
[SPEAKER_01]: We will keep covering the draft all the way up until draft day and beyond.

19:26.902 --> 19:28.664
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to take some of your questions.

19:28.724 --> 19:31.527
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you have other questions, feel free to ask them right now.

19:31.967 --> 19:34.750
[SPEAKER_01]: We will still get to those in the next segment right after this.

19:37.231 --> 19:38.692
[SPEAKER_04]: Cratch, you know, I travel all the time.

19:39.032 --> 19:43.135
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm always looking for possible tickets to go see events, concerts, MLB games.

19:43.495 --> 19:45.037
[SPEAKER_04]: When I do, I always find Seekyke.

19:45.937 --> 19:50.440
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I'm not traveling, so pretty much, I'm looking for the games on my area.

19:50.540 --> 19:57.445
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm gonna look for an Orioles game, I'm gonna look for the Phillies game, the Met's game, the Yankees game, but you know what else is coming up?

19:57.465 --> 19:59.607
[SPEAKER_05]: The All-Star game, Seekyke's got me.

20:00.673 --> 20:02.754
[SPEAKER_04]: Hey, you're going to need them tickets to the all-star game.

20:02.794 --> 20:03.835
[SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be crazy.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Hey, they have over 35 million downloads for a reason.

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[SPEAKER_04]: It's because they have everything in these green dots, red dots.

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[SPEAKER_04]: You pick your seats, see this?

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[SPEAKER_04]: See this scene from your seat.

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[SPEAKER_04]: It's the best app going for tickets.

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[SPEAKER_04]: And of course, I have a code for you guys.

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[SPEAKER_04]: That's 10% off any MLB tickets with promo code Territory10.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically add it to your account so you can use it later.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, SeekGeek.

20:44.024 --> 20:46.265
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're back, and we're gonna take your questions.

20:46.285 --> 20:47.746
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got a lot of good questions this week.

20:47.786 --> 20:49.087
[SPEAKER_01]: Still have some more coming in, right?

20:49.167 --> 20:58.313
[SPEAKER_01]: There's we came back from the break, but we will start off with a good one because it's got a tie to the 2027 draft and also to the College World Series.

20:58.833 --> 21:04.337
[SPEAKER_01]: Robert G. Fitzpatrick asked, being in Omaha looking forward to watching West Virginia's Galilee Gavin Kelly over the next week.

21:04.757 --> 21:07.100
[SPEAKER_01]: you don't see a catcher second base combo very often.

21:07.460 --> 21:14.068
[SPEAKER_01]: What's his most likely a movie position I will point out will Smith the Dodgers catcher the rare catcher second base spin.

21:14.448 --> 21:19.694
[SPEAKER_01]: But Jacob Gavin Keller are a number one college prospect for the 2027 draft right now.

21:20.095 --> 21:21.917
[SPEAKER_01]: But where do you think he ends up playing improbable?

21:22.888 --> 21:24.248
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you kind of took the words out of my mouth.

21:24.268 --> 21:30.331
[SPEAKER_02]: They were the, the Bill Smith Austin Barnes types who have played an infield position while catching in college.

21:30.831 --> 21:31.931
[SPEAKER_02]: He's, he's of that moment.

21:31.951 --> 21:33.912
[SPEAKER_02]: I do think that he'll be able to stick behind the plate.

21:34.012 --> 21:37.033
[SPEAKER_02]: I saw him when West Virginia was at Arizona State.

21:37.173 --> 21:42.175
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's good enough, I think a lot of the time and JJ, you're probably better equipped to comment on this than I am.

21:42.215 --> 21:48.757
[SPEAKER_02]: But catching is about willingness and to agree at the NSism and just overall capacity for the game.

21:48.817 --> 21:50.778
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that Gavin Kelly checks a lot of those back.

21:51.699 --> 22:01.847
[SPEAKER_02]: There's obviously a desire to catch, he's doing it right now, he is one of the more athletic players in next year's class and just to kind of know how the overall game feel is very high on him too.

22:01.907 --> 22:03.989
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would imagine a protein gives it a shot.

22:05.308 --> 22:13.594
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say so too and I guess especially we've seen like I would say he's further along than Austin Wells as was at this time and we've seen what has turned out they're often well.

22:13.634 --> 22:14.575
[SPEAKER_01]: So that'd be an example I'll make.

22:14.956 --> 22:23.982
[SPEAKER_01]: But next question I believe is from Olivia, Olivia 2016 videos asked, you could make a strong argument that Jackson Flora was the best player in college baseball this year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think that is a solid argument.

22:25.844 --> 22:28.126
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been a fun discussion that we've been having

22:28.746 --> 22:38.391
[SPEAKER_01]: uh, staff wise because I think it really comes down to how much you value run prevention and how much the picture you think plays a role in that versus strike out, walk rate, hit rates and all that.

22:38.471 --> 22:39.751
[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, I'll start with you.

22:40.291 --> 22:48.015
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you make that, you think that the argument could be made that Flora was the best easily led the nation and ERA division one pitchers in ERA this year.

22:49.189 --> 23:16.467
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, the the best run prevention pitcher in the country was Jackson Flora and that is at the end of the day the name of the game I think that there will be people Carlos Kafka who will look at the strikeout minus walk rate and some of the rate stats And it's less impressive and it's a fact that he did not have standout numbers and certain categories But I think he would expect sometimes from a top pitcher in a draft class, but there are many ways to skin the cat I think that Jackson Flora was

23:17.067 --> 23:18.788
[SPEAKER_02]: as effective as anybody would need to be.

23:18.928 --> 23:26.231
[SPEAKER_02]: And if we're judging just by a college season, was he constantly the most dominant player from a swing and missed standpoint?

23:26.451 --> 23:32.334
[SPEAKER_02]: No, there were several players who were better, but was he the most dominant from keeping runs off of the board standpoint?

23:32.434 --> 23:33.394
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there was nobody better.

23:34.715 --> 23:35.395
[SPEAKER_01]: What about you, Carlos?

23:37.155 --> 23:37.395
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

23:37.595 --> 23:39.737
[SPEAKER_03]: I think Jackson Flora has had a tremendous season.

23:39.777 --> 23:41.799
[SPEAKER_03]: I think what he's done is really impressive.

23:42.040 --> 23:46.644
[SPEAKER_03]: I do ultimately think that ERA is partially a team statistic.

23:46.704 --> 23:49.546
[SPEAKER_03]: I think part of that number has to do with the defense behind him.

23:49.987 --> 23:57.093
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you're trying to isolate what a picture does on the mound, I think we have better tools, better statistics to drill a little bit deeper than that.

23:57.133 --> 24:01.157
[SPEAKER_03]: And what stands out to me about Jackson Flora admittedly the consensus top college

24:02.498 --> 24:13.930
[SPEAKER_03]: His strikeout minus walk rate, which I think is one of the best individual statistics you can point to for college pictures to just kind of figure out there their performance is 25th in the country among qualified starters.

24:14.050 --> 24:19.797
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think that speaks to the sort of dominance that you would expect for an era that low.

24:20.277 --> 24:36.164
[SPEAKER_03]: I would point to a player like Mason Edwards with USC who's 2.07 ERA is not quite as impressive as a sub 1.10 or whatever floors was at the end of the year, but he was one of the most dominant pitchers in terms of striking batters out not like not making his defense work behind him.

24:36.224 --> 24:39.185
[SPEAKER_03]: He finished the season fourth in strikeout minus walk rate.

24:39.265 --> 24:41.526
[SPEAKER_03]: He led the country in overall strikeouts.

24:41.846 --> 24:45.227
[SPEAKER_03]: The fact that he had the rate he did while throwing almost a hundred innings.

24:45.427 --> 24:46.228
[SPEAKER_03]: I think is impressive.

24:46.848 --> 24:48.549
[SPEAKER_03]: So I would lean towards Mason Edwards.

24:48.710 --> 24:50.771
[SPEAKER_03]: I even think you could point to guys like Dex, Whitney.

24:51.232 --> 24:53.734
[SPEAKER_03]: I'd Oregon State, Granity, didn't throw the same number of innings.

24:54.014 --> 25:03.261
[SPEAKER_03]: I would have Jackson Flores somewhere in the three to five bucket because even while I don't put the most weight on ERA, it's hard to look at that mark and not still be oppressed.

25:03.561 --> 25:04.262
[SPEAKER_03]: Uvis a little bit.

25:05.273 --> 25:09.978
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, gotta do this one quick Carlos, but we have another question here about Grindlinger, Jared Grindlinger.

25:09.998 --> 25:13.361
[SPEAKER_01]: What are the traits that connect Grindlinger to the Nats for the new front office?

25:13.742 --> 25:17.145
[SPEAKER_01]: Would he be more of a Boston pick or a Pittsburgh type pick?

25:19.020 --> 25:25.982
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'll speak to why he's connected the nuts and Boston, because I do think those are the two most heavily associated teams with Jared Grindlinger.

25:26.022 --> 25:30.583
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think there's also maybe translates to just most model heavy clubs in the draft this year.

25:31.243 --> 25:36.284
[SPEAKER_03]: All of these teams are very intrigued by his contact traits for his age.

25:36.404 --> 25:38.424
[SPEAKER_03]: He's one of the younger hitters in the class.

25:38.464 --> 25:39.565
[SPEAKER_03]: Still 17 on draft day.

25:39.605 --> 25:41.145
[SPEAKER_03]: He was a 2027 reclass.

25:41.565 --> 25:44.266
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you look at his performance in the 2025 showcase or get

25:45.186 --> 25:48.791
[SPEAKER_03]: his misrates were kind of mind bogglingly minimal.

25:48.991 --> 25:51.875
[SPEAKER_03]: I think he had three total misses throughout the circuit.

25:51.975 --> 25:56.942
[SPEAKER_03]: It was just one of the lower misrates you'll see from a high school hitter in that sample.

25:57.062 --> 25:59.485
[SPEAKER_03]: He continued to make a ton of contact this spring.

25:59.866 --> 26:01.908
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a very polarizing player because

26:02.589 --> 26:22.948
[SPEAKER_03]: As a hitter, he's probably a corner profile in some capacity, maybe first base, maybe outfield, and he's not shown a lot of power yet, so more traditional teams are maybe one to see more power, more tools, but a lot of the model oriented teams, the nationals, the Red Sox, I would include among them, just are really excited about what that contact ability at his age may be points to in the future.

26:24.273 --> 26:27.316
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that is the Baseball America hot sheet show for this week.

26:27.356 --> 26:28.338
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining us.

26:28.398 --> 26:30.960
[SPEAKER_01]: Please do check out the YouTube channel like and subscribe.

26:31.301 --> 26:33.143
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so much more over at Baseball America's YouTube channel.

26:33.163 --> 26:36.186
[SPEAKER_01]: Podcast feed and most importantly, Baseball America.com.

26:36.727 --> 26:37.548
[SPEAKER_01]: So long, everybody.