[SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, JJ Cooper, Jacob Runder, another baseball American college podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: I said another, it kind of feels like another, but at the same time, first one of the week, you know, because we've been kind of busy.

[SPEAKER_01]: We hope that a lot of you have seen us because we've been going live after the last game every night.

[SPEAKER_01]: So while we haven't been podcasting on the college side, we have been.

[SPEAKER_01]: broadcasting.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have been live-casting and taking your questions, your comments, all that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will do that again if you have not seen it and you are listening to the podcast or you watch this on YouTube.

[SPEAKER_01]: Subscribe to YouTube.

[SPEAKER_01]: Click that little bell and you'll get notifications when we go live because we will go live after Game 1.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will go live after Game 2.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if necessary,

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope because I like to see three games.

[SPEAKER_01]: I like game three.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll go live after game three.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Jacob, you got sleep in a little bit today.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we get a little bit of a kind of a take a deep breath and look ahead to Saturday, Sunday, and potentially Monday, North Carolina versus Oklahoma.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot to unpack here, a lot to unpack.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we're just going to dive straight in.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like again, obviously you guys have a pretty good idea out of imagine, most of you listening to this, of these teams, but we still want to talk them through.

[SPEAKER_01]: And especially because again, we know we'll have some of the podcast listeners who have not seen what we were been talking about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen to what we talked about this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to dive right into, let's start with Oklahoma.

[SPEAKER_01]: which Jacob, I'm going to kick this over to you, but my summary would be, no one would have seen this coming short of maybe if you were literally in that dugout until the post season.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then here we are in the post season and Oklahoma has knocked out Georgia Tech who arguably was the best team in the country this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: them are UCLA.

[SPEAKER_01]: They then knocked out Kansas, who was a top-notch team all year.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they just yesterday sent home Georgia, who Georgia Tech had the best offense in the country.

[SPEAKER_01]: Georgia Tech had the second best.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Georgia Tech had the best offense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Georgia had the second best offense in the country this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: They sent them home as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: They

[SPEAKER_01]: It is a transformation.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of those that we don't see very often between regular season and postseason.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's kind of an inverse bell curve of a season for Oklahoma.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we saw them in Arlington on opening weekend, Carlos Clason and I were there to watch the debut of the 2026 Oklahoma team.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thought they were pretty good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was reflected in our top 25.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was reflected in the way that we were talking about the team.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that if you talk to some of the players in Oklahoma's dugout, they would tell you that that was how they viewed themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were really successful coming out the gate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cam Johnson, their left-hand starter, looked great.

[SPEAKER_00]: L. J. Mercurius was their number two starter.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had an outstanding start to the year as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And neither of those guys were in the rotation.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the time we got to the postseason, because the middle of the year, as I said, kind of inverse bell curve, was a major dip.

[SPEAKER_00]: They really did fall off as a team.

[SPEAKER_00]: They finished 11th in the SEC.

[SPEAKER_00]: at 14 and 16 in the conference.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their numbers really dipped throughout the regular season, specifically in the power department.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think early it looked like maybe they had a couple of pieces.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be able to put the ball over the wall, but ultimately that did not end up being true.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were like 94th in the country in the regular season and home runs with 65.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were very athletic.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were very stolen base heavy.

[SPEAKER_00]: They moved really well.

[SPEAKER_00]: But

[SPEAKER_00]: This was not a dominant force type offense.

[SPEAKER_00]: They did not rank particularly well in pretty much any category.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were efficient when it came to drawing their walks.

[SPEAKER_00]: They did not chase a whole bunch outside of the strike zone, but they missed a ton in the strike zone as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were one of the worst teams in the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the regular season when it came to k-rate as an offense at I think they believed they rate 270 if in the country in the category over 22 percent in strikeout rate they did not hit for a very good average in the regular season they batted 279 on base they were not exactly very efficient but they did

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, man, you facture runs reasonably well when they were down, and on the pitching side, it was reasonably similar.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it was a hot start to the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw some of that swinging miss potential in Oklahoma, and then things really took a dip.

[SPEAKER_00]: The walk rate started to spike.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cam Johnson started to have some of these outings where it was like, are we gonna get the five-in-ing Cam Johnson?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are we gonna get the six-in-ing Cam Johnson?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or are we gonna get the Cam Johnson that needs to come out of the game and turn it over to the bullpen before the first inning is over.

[SPEAKER_00]: multiple times this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it has really been a tale of two teams right now we are seeing Oklahoma as what I would describe as a completely new team.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a group that has in a lot of ways reinvented itself especially offensively and on the pitching side they have found some young contributors.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys who will be there for another couple of years freshman who have been very successful namely Cork Rager who we're going to talk about more in a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: But

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, broadly speaking, before we get into the line-ups in the rotation, I think the easiest way to describe this Oklahoma team is one that really started strong, kind of lost its sense of direction for quite some time, which led to a reasonably unsightly finish in the SEC, and has since refound its footing, and looks again like one of the best teams in the country.

[SPEAKER_01]: How much of that is, again, it's both.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you mentioned it, I think we can kind of probably dive in on the more granular level, like if you're on the YouTube side, we're putting up the line-up to end the rotation, but looking at this rotation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is kind of a mix and match of what they were in the regular season and kind of, hey, it's brand new, it's brand new, we're moving guys around as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: they have gone from Cam Johnson Friday starter to Cam Johnson is not yet pitched in Omaah.

[SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, and they've gone from Zanimra Curious, who pitched a good bit, but not a starter to, here's the ball in a key minute is a starter, and he lived up to every possible expectation, every hope.

[SPEAKER_01]: How much of this is, they've kind of handed the ball over to the freshman, on the pitching side, how much of this is that they're pitching better.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think it's a pretty 50-50 proposition that they are pitching a lot better and they are throwing more strikes and maybe the graphic to pull up here is the comparison of what this team has looked like in the regular season versus what they're doing now.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you go, just look at the pitching.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they are, it's not a lot, but they are in the strike zone more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's really critical and in talking to some scouts, they've found this interesting as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: The strikeout rate in the postseason has gone down for them, but so has the walk rate.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's really important.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're seeing some of these younger guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: live in the strikes on a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think even more critically, they aren't chasing the chases, which is a word that I used on our last livestream after Oklahoma made it to the National Championship series after they beat Georgia in the semi-final.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not chasing chases has been huge for them because in the regular season, that led to a lot of walks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas in the postseason, I think that they have been more willing to challenge teams in the zone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're going to go and get your whiffs that way, great, but they have such a good defense.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's seemingly been this awakening to the fact of realization that they can pitch to those guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Camden Johnson is a really good third baseman.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the College World Series on the biggest stage, that guy is a vacuum cleaner, and he is a really good athlete, and there are a number of guys who are like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Dazen Harris is a really good athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jason Walk is a phenomenal athlete.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are a number of players on this roster who Brendan Brock is another guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I just think that this is a team that

[SPEAKER_00]: has realized exactly what it has.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that has impacted the way that they're pitching.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, to answer your question, it's a very long-winded way of answering your question.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that we're looking at an Oklahoma team that is more comfortable pitching in the most efficient way possible, and that is living in the zone, and if that equals contact fine, because the guys that you're seeing on your screen right there are largely,

[SPEAKER_00]: So good at what they do that you can afford to I don't want to say make some mistakes But to allow other teams to challenge your defense and it's gone well from Jackson Willets is a super Heady shortstop who really understands the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was a pick play

[SPEAKER_00]: That second base in the college world series that he effectively orchestrated, that was so brilliant based on the body language and the direction of the runners chest and how he was, you know, where he was facing when the pitches were coming and he successfully orchestrated this pick play that generates out like these guys are really smart and cohesive defensively and on the pitching side, they've kind of realized that and they're starting to take advantage of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: OK, looking at this, if you were going to summarize, what if Oklahoma's going to win it, they're going to win it because of X, and if Oklahoma's going to lose it, they're going to lose it because of Y.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is X and Y?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it starts with the guys who are looking out on your screen right here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think

[SPEAKER_00]: really come into his own, he's a freshman left hander by his own admission, the early part of the season was tough on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was some lingering injury stuff that caused him to miss a starter to and he has since

[SPEAKER_00]: rounded into this very mature, you know, very advanced stuff wise freshman who has, I mean, you can see it on your screen right here.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a near 30% strikeout rate.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a sub 7% walk rate, which are both outstanding.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is rapidly closing in on their innings pitched leader top spot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Al Jemmer Curious is still there even though he's moved into the bullpen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that for them to

[SPEAKER_00]: it will require another gem.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that it needs to be seven innings of no runs, you know, a shutout ball, but a really good start from chord rager in the first game because

[SPEAKER_00]: freshman are unpredictable and he is one but freshman are unpredictable and he's the best one and if they're going to trust him to start game one you really have to set the tone in the college world series final because I think there is a pretty serious drop off especially in the consistency department

[SPEAKER_00]: beyond Rager.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you really don't know what you're going to get.

[SPEAKER_00]: West Laoski has been good for the most part, but it's over 34 innings.

[SPEAKER_00]: El Jemmer Curious has been effective, but now he's a reliever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Zandermer Curious looked really good in Omaha, surprisingly good in Omaha, but he is coming into the College World Series final with an ERA North of 5.5.

[SPEAKER_00]: So,

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that if your chord rager with the success you've had over the last basically month and a half now and he's been one of the best pictures in the country over that span you kind of need that guy to show up because without that this is not like the team that Oklahoma is playing in North Carolina is so disciplined and we'll talk about this more in a second when we kind of offer the scout here but

[SPEAKER_00]: you cannot beat yourself against North Carolina.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for this pitching staff, I think that we've seen throughout the year that there has been some tendency to kind of get in its own way, especially in the walks department.

[SPEAKER_00]: When it's really on its game though, and they're, like I said, throwing strikes, willing to pitch to their defense, which is a key,

[SPEAKER_00]: it's a really tough team to beat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that to me is kind of the key and of course, you know, the offense has been as good as it's been that we'll have to continue.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's cards with the pitching.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be a little bit transparent here.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have we have done the Scouting Report on Oklahoma said yesterday that we planned to have this out pretty early on Thursday and you're getting this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot later on Thursday or it's Friday.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're listening to this,

[SPEAKER_01]: And news got in the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: We will cover that a little bit later, but we had to pause because we had some, you know, if you probably have noticed by now we had at Baseball America the story about the MLB's rather significant proposal to utterly reshape the draft system and international draft as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously that would also dramatically affect college baseball.

[SPEAKER_01]: All that as over at BaseballMark.com it's also on the Baseball Market YouTube channel as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to get back to the preview, but that if you're wondering why we look a little different, why we, uh, I look a little more tired, pick up a little more tired, and why we didn't get the sound at the time we promised, well, you know, the unexpected does happen, but jumping right back into it, scouting North Carolina.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've said kind of through this that North Carolina is the team,

[SPEAKER_01]: that's been just kind of rolling along all through this tournament all through the postseason.

[SPEAKER_01]: Although they were stretched to the absolute limit by Southern Cal in a three game series that came down to a no-one whole swing.

[SPEAKER_01]: But let's start with a lineup this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob and kind of your overall thoughts like what stands out about this

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this throughout the entirety of the College World Series.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a super, super disciplined group.

[SPEAKER_00]: One through nine, and we've seen this throughout the College World Series.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's part of the reason there at this point that they've looked so dominant to this point is because this is a team that is as well-coached.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as well, maybe not as well, but just as efficient and strong when it comes to the execution as there is in the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you look up around this team,

[SPEAKER_00]: walk rates, all of the great spots, just if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it, but go ahead and do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every single player in their regular life, we have like we put 10 here because they do play different outfits depending on the day, but of their what we call their regular lineup, every single one of those players has a walk rate over 10%.

[SPEAKER_00]: which is elite.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, none of the strikeout rates throughout this roster are egregious, either.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Colin Heinex is a little bit elevated at 21% but by a large Cooper Nicholson 22.4% by and large though, this is a group that does not strike out a ton.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to walk a lot and as I'm sure you're noticing if you're looking at this, there are a number of guys who can hurt you on the basis as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a super athletic group.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you go to baseballamerica.com, we have a great feature, or I would like to think it's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: On North Carolina and how they've recruited a number of two sport athletes, guys who have athletic backgrounds, it's a theme throughout this roster.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, oh, by the way,

[SPEAKER_00]: They are very capable of putting the ball over the wall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like this North Carolina team likes to walk around and tell people, we don't play by the home run.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not a big home run hitting team, but they have five guys on this roster who are at double digit home runs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it the loudest home run hitting team?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, but they will hurt you if you make a mistake to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen that, at times throughout this postseason, this is just kind of the group that you're not going to want to make mistakes against, and they will force you back into the zone where you just have to execute,

[SPEAKER_00]: one through nine, and if you want to include Ron Kellis really 10, guys are very efficient hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is, and also the other part we should say with this lineup is the athleticism is also a parent.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is not the, like, this is not that they have eight defenders at every spot, but they also don't really have a, they have a whole lot of defenders who are above average for their position,

[SPEAKER_00]: absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think the theme with this team is just execution.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oklahoma, just to contrast the two, Oklahoma is playing really hot baseball right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oklahoma has headed tremendous amount of home runs throughout this postseason.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oklahoma is also not the team that is going to

[SPEAKER_00]: force you into the zone, Oklahoma is not the team that is going to get you into bad counts for the pitching into advantage counts for the hitters consistently.

[SPEAKER_00]: They'll get you into advantage counts for their bats.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they are going to do that up and down the lineup, the same way this North Carolina team will.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a group that will really press its fingers into your wounds throughout the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you make mistakes, they will capitalize.

[SPEAKER_00]: in college, baseball in general is base running and just how clean base running can be for certain teams and I'm not necessarily talking about stolen bases.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about like opportunities to advance first to third to base advancements.

[SPEAKER_00]: opportunities to score from first base on balls into the gap.

[SPEAKER_00]: This team doesn't miss a lot of those opportunities.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't see them getting thrown out a lot by being too aggressive, but you also don't kind of scratch your head and wonder, like, should he have gone, should he even advance another base, like they just do it?

[SPEAKER_00]: perfectly most of the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So discipline really touches every phase of this lineup.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it comes down to the swings.

[SPEAKER_00]: It comes down to the non swings.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's also advancement opportunities, stolen bases.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even things as simple as like,

[SPEAKER_00]: putting the ball in play in situations where you have a runner on second base and you have an opportunity to get them to third with one out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or, you know, getting a ball into the air with a runner on third base to be able to score him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is the team that will do all of those things very well and frequently.

[SPEAKER_00]: That that is their strength.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it makes up for a lot of the lack of power that this line up has overall.

[SPEAKER_01]: I do think also we've kept saying through this that like this is not a star based team.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to I want to kind of rescind that statement personally.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can make your own decision Jacob.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you're seeing this yeah Owen holds a star Owen Hall his had a season when you throw in the postseason he's had this is a star he's hitting almost 400 is on you get some base more than half of the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, he doesn't hit for a ton of power, although you, I'll tell you this.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking long-term, I see those 26 doubles.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think some of those are going to turn into home runs long-term.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when we talk about walk rate, he walks more often than he strikes out.

[SPEAKER_01]: He steals bases.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a solid defender in center field.

[SPEAKER_01]: You put all this together.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of the best players in Omaha.

[SPEAKER_00]: you don't have to tell me twice.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of our longtime readers and listeners will know Owen Hall is somebody who I've been a fan of from the jump and to your point from a pro standpoint

[SPEAKER_00]: Those 26 doubles are super encouraging if you are a scout and you're trying to decide where oh and hold a supposed to go because yes, he doesn't have a lot of home runs eight home runs is below average for some of the guys that will go in the range that he's going to go on the draft.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exit Velocity.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's smoking the baseball more often than not.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just that the angles aren't great as far as home-run power goes But this is an aggressive and calculated hitter.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a 43% swing rate to a 19.2% chase rate

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, a lot of the best contact is on a line or even sometimes on the ground, but like from a ball of clay standpoint, you're talking about a six foot four six foot five athletic run there Who's going to go get it in the alleys in the outfield and is also very strong a former basketball player and he is approaching 30 like it would not surprise me if by the end of the national championship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Owen Hall has 30 doubles on the season and is batting over 400.

[SPEAKER_00]: That will not, I think it's very well within reach, just given how often he's doing those kinds of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, flipping over the pitching side, I would say we're not getting in prediction yet, but I will just say right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you ask me what is North Carolina's biggest advantage in this series, it's the pitching.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's nothing against Oklahoma's pitching, which was very good, obviously, all through the,

[SPEAKER_01]: but they don't have adjacent to Carol.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't mean that isn't, they don't have someone as similar talent to Jason to Carol necessarily.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what I mean by that is is, they don't have someone who has both the combination of talent and track record where, Jason to Carol's 11, 2, 2, 3, 1, ERA this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not like something where you go, where did that come from?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jason to Carol's been one of the best pictures on Carol and his team for three years now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So,

[SPEAKER_01]: Having him, I assume, by all assumptions, media days tomorrow, but having him on the mound for game one makes you feel very good about your chances of being up one-o-going to game two.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would think.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, Jacob?

[SPEAKER_00]: not, not even a question.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is the team, uh, if you're going to pick, you know, who's got what strengths?

[SPEAKER_00]: These guys went on the mound, not particularly close.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jason DeCaro is on a heater, in addition to being one of the best pictures in the country over the course of the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually playing his best baseball right now, which is a crazy thing to say about somebody who is closing in on a hundred innings on the year with a sub 2.5 ERA,

[SPEAKER_00]: that he's playing better now than he has been at any other point during the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that is absolutely true.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he is really rounded into form.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen him have some deep outings so far in the postseason through a complete game in the Super Regional against USC, which in my opinion is the only reason why North Carolina is even here right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they get here without a complete game from Jason to Carolyn Game 2.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then,

[SPEAKER_00]: beyond him, Ryan Lynch, is it an attractive ERA this year?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it an attractive strikeout total?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, not really, is it an amazing strikeout rate?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, not really, but he doesn't walk a lot of guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen him be very successful so far in the postseason.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if they aren't the deepest outings, he is a reliable, hard-throwing,

[SPEAKER_00]: almost like an opener type when he doesn't go deep in the games, but the potential to be able to give them a lot of innings is certainly there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then, to me, this is the v-guide to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kitten Glober is an all-world level talent.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this guy has been described to me by opposing coaches as an alien, which I don't think is yet said a whole lot about just anybody.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is a, you know,

[SPEAKER_00]: freshman pitcher who is up to 94.97.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's sitting 94 up to 97 in games.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a holacious sweeper that he's not afraid to throw in any county.

[SPEAKER_00]: He throws it for strikes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So throw it for chases and he pounds the strike zone relative to other players his age.

[SPEAKER_00]: 39 walks over 87 innings going into the national championship.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to play.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then it's a 2.17-year-a.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a strikeout rate over 30% which is outstanding.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a premium player like let's let's put this into perspective here.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are not any for me from this chair.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are zero better freshman pitchers in the country than Kate and Glober who every single time he's entered a game this year 28 appearances.

[SPEAKER_00]: North Carolina has one.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are 28

[SPEAKER_01]: And again, maybe foreshadowing my pick with this, Blauer is without question.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the best reliever in Omaha.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, Cose art would be said, you know, obviously, Cose art would be the guy protects us who you would say, is at least in the discussion, but Blauer's been better this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would say at the end of the day.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the key thing about this is that, and this is where I do think that there's this distinct advantage, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: I could very well see a scenario.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I can see a scenario where Glover pitches in every single finals game, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, okay, you're going to pitch to the ninth or the eighth and ninth and you're going to pitch to eighth and ninth and you're going to pitch to eighth and ninth.

[SPEAKER_01]: However, depending on how game one goes because we also know that Jason DeCaro, they may just give him the ball and he goes, thank you, it's mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not giving it back because we've seen him do that where he just goes the whole way.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the other part of the say was, is that

[SPEAKER_01]: and Jackson Rose, that combination is to be honest as good or better than any one that Oklahoma is going to bring in out of the bullpen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's their number two and three.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so where I do think that this is a significant advantage is that I do feel like Carolina has multiple options that they feel very good about.

[SPEAKER_01]: We know they feel, I know McDuffee's had a couple

[SPEAKER_01]: They clearly feel very good.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want to note with this, these are two guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, everyone of these guys we're talking about has thrown 50 or more innings this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a group of players who, now, if the flip side I'll say of that is, if this goes to a game three, you mentioned the Carol, you mentioned Lynch.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw Folgerbo as in their final game there, and it's like,

[SPEAKER_01]: He will be used truly, I feel like as an opener, if he starts again.

[SPEAKER_01]: If game three is going to be all hands on deck, but for North Carolina, I feel like game three, if it got to that point, assuming the Carol and Lynch have really gone pretty much as much as they can go, that is going to be the bullpen game, because it has to be almost, doesn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would imagine so, and it would not surprise me, I think that the, you know, we did this with Oklahoma, the key, in my opinion, is that Jason DeCaro's game one start needs to look like a lot of the start to these have this postseason just in case it does go to a game three because if you don't have to use King lover and game one and you can somehow get away with.

[SPEAKER_00]: avoiding using him, putting him in for a very short stint in what could be a potential loss in game 2 that forces a game 3, so it can surprise me if Kaden Glober is the game 3 starter.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or even if they don't call him the starter, he's going to pitch the majority.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to pitch more innings than anyone else, though, than that kid.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I guess my point is you're not going to take a risk of having anybody but him open that game because you're going to want to give yourself an advantage and he's unhittable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's really no other way to put it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, teams of the score rubbers on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why you have a 2.1 70.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: But

[SPEAKER_00]: he is outstandingly good like this is this is the most dominant picture that you can put on the mound if you're North Carolina and I think what's unique about him is that there are relievers like you mentioned Sam coasts are there are relievers in the country right now that are

[SPEAKER_00]: dominant, like true dominant forces, but they've worked to relievers workload so far this year, not Caden Glober.

[SPEAKER_00]: Caden Glober's up to 87 innings this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is effectively their third starter by pure workload.

[SPEAKER_00]: 28 games, almost 90 innings.

[SPEAKER_00]: To me, that's the guy you call on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it will be interesting to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the keys, one of the X factors is how Kate and Glober gets used.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean that he comes in and closes games, maybe, and that's the role that he's been in all year, and it could be a multi-inning situation in both games.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is somebody who, in addition to all the other things we've already talked about.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is a little bit like rubber, excuse me, rubber armed, in the sense that like he can come back a day later, if he throws two winnings, he can come back a day later, even if there's three innings, we've actually seen that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that how Scott Forbes and company choose to deploy their freshman clothes or in the first game in particular, but throughout the entire weekend, will be really critical.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so let's kind of put a bow on this and let's also make our predictions, but we'll start with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've taught and covered this a little bit, so we're gonna recap this a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma has one national titles.

[SPEAKER_01]: Two, if I remember correctly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three, two, two.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they have a 111 21st century.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they have it one regional era.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they have one super regional era.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they haven't one one obviously because it's a lot sooner than that.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have one one the SEC.

[SPEAKER_01]: They would become another you know, another SEC title.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I would think also, I want to just kind of put you up to set up for this, and it would also be a further validation of what this coaching staff has done, not just this year, but for a number of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean,

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that Skip Johnson is one of the best coaches in this game and I think that that is particularly true when it comes to the development of pictures.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that if you were to call Clayton Kershaw right now and ask him, you know, who's the best pitching developer in the college game?

[SPEAKER_00]: He would tell you Skip Johnson because there's a very storied history that's well-reported between those two guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can just look up Clayton Kershaw Skip Johnson and you can find, I'm sure a lot of great work under the LA Times has a story from a couple years ago about their relationship

[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of other people other than a future Hall of Famer who would tell you that Skip Johnson is one of the greatest that there is to develop pitchers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is validation, they came close before in 2022, they were the runner-up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now you have an opportunity to go and get that title and to really cement yourself with your Skip Johnson as one of the all-time greats because the reality is, you know,

[SPEAKER_00]: you're only as great as the titles and so in some sense like yes I think skip Johnson is one of the greatest coaches of all time I don't think that's even up for debate anymore but at the same time that's a really hard argument to make when you don't have a title on your resume and this is his chance.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can I just interject on that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Mike Barton is one of the greatest coaches called coach of all time but I hate to say it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I really do but if I mentioned the name of the late Mike Barton to someone

[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing that's going to come in their head, if someone's really in the know, is probably going to be, I can't believe, in everyone.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's going to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: Winning one takes that away forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what, that's what I would say there.

[SPEAKER_01]: For North Carolina, this is, to me, I mean, they've been here before.

[SPEAKER_01]: They ran into the Oregon State Buzzsaw.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've been here.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if North Carolina wins this, to kind of what we just talked about with Skip, I would say in this case, it really does, there are one of the best programs of the 21st century right now, but the same thing you just said.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of hard to say that if you say, oh, how many titles of you want zero?

[SPEAKER_01]: If you say one, this entire run for North Carolina over the last 20 years, takes on a whole different hue.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this is a reference that's a little bit too deep for people who are new words of the college baseball scene, but the last time that North Carolina played in the National Championship game, Tim Federal Rovich was the catcher for that team FedEx.

[SPEAKER_00]: This has been a long time in the making for a program that, I mean, like you want to talk about Mike Martin being one of the best ever and one of the things that people say whenever you bring about if you're really in the know is man, I can't believe he never won one apply that to the entirety of the North Carolina program like I think that that is the Mike Martin of teams you talk about North Carolina baseball and

[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard not to bring up the fact that this team has never won a national championship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two-time runner-up, 06 and 07, but they have never gotten to the mountain top.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the first time they've been back to the national championship since those years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, most people are going to know this, but I'll just lay it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have been to the CWS this century, 06, 07, 08, 09, 1113, 1824, 26.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of trice.

[SPEAKER_01]: Plot times.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they are, again, I feel like, and I do feel like that this is, yes, Oklahoma is a buzz saw.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma is on a heater of all heaters.

[SPEAKER_01]: That said, I picked North Carolina to win this before to turn it began.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is no reason for me to change my vote.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm gonna stick with, I'm gonna lose, but it comes to individual games.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have, I tip my caps or you have won that.

[SPEAKER_01]: However, if I got my pick of who's gonna win it right, I'll still take that as, you know, as consolation price.

[SPEAKER_01]: But what about you?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, first of all, thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go back to the logic that has guided me to my individual games victory in our pick-up contest.

[SPEAKER_00]: I went 7 and 3 and the only reason that there was separation between the two of us, we would have been tied going into the championship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Had I not picked Oklahoma, had I gone with Georgia in the bracket final?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to make that mistake again or I'm not going to make that mistake for the first time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going with the suitors JJ, I think that there is something to be said for being exceptionally hot at the right time and if you can hit the way that they're hitting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there really an advantage?

[SPEAKER_00]: Offense wise between what North Carolina's capable of doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: And what Oklahoma's capable of doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oklahoma was already a well-equipped team when it came to drawing its walks.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's already a team that's going to steal a lot of bases relative to what North Carolina's capable of doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And really, you know, even lots of to the rest of the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now all of a sudden, we're not seeing them strike out at an embarrassingly high rate.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're seeing them hit, hold runs at an otherworldly rate, basically two and a half home runs a game throughout the posties and in ten posties and games.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're seeing Oklahoma hit for average, and also on the mound, we're seeing Oklahoma through strikes, we're seeing them miss bats, and we're seeing some of these freshman pitchers kind of, it's almost like they're starting off their sophomore years.

[SPEAKER_00]: has gone through some of the freshman woes that happened in college baseball and over the course of the last month, it's looked more like the, you know, coming out party for the start of his sophomore campaign than it does, you know, the end of a freshman season.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am not going to pick against the hottest team in the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that the mojo is a big factor and so let's see if I can close it out hot here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was good on the daily pickup, but I'm going to stick with the

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I guess we also have to do our daily pick them for Saturday because even we'll play it out even though I can't win out speak.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you can't.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can, but you would you would have to be an idiot for me to win Because we're active and I believe you would have to like they the game the series would have to go three games and you would have to sweep them without me getting one.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you ever just Okay, one of these days I have to pick first and the day I pick first if you just pick the same team I can't win.

[SPEAKER_00]: there you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: So again, I, you know, you're not an idiot.

[SPEAKER_01]: I, so, okay, game one, I'll go first.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say North Killin, to Carol on the mound North Killin.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, maybe this is the, the, the start of something new for you here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go Oklahoma, court rager.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm, I'm, I've kind of like,

[SPEAKER_00]: a little bit like of a falling in love here that's going on just with the potential that I'm seeing on the mound.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Cord Rager is showing us something that's indicating some really sky-high potential.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that this will be the game that cools in because I will call back to something I said on one of our live shows.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that chance in Cole, the right hander from West Virginia, was a really poor matchup for North Carolina, or for the chance in Cole North Carolina was a bad matchup for him, because they weren't going to chase him out of the zone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when he is in the zone, he doesn't have overwhelming stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when he is in the zone, chance in Cole is beatable, especially if I really good bats.

[SPEAKER_00]: And North Carolina did that the question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Court raker on the other hand is not only very capable of living in the zone, we saw him do that in his first college World Series start, but he was gonna miss your back in the zone too.

[SPEAKER_00]: That slider and fastball are gonna blow past some hitters now If you're not really on your game and a pitcher who's capable of challenging this North Carolina team in the strike zone is a very different Proposition than somebody who really kind of needs you to chase outside of it because this stuff isn't gonna overwhelm you when he comes after you I'm sticking with the suitors

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that is the Baseball American College podcast for this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: We apologize for the delay.

[SPEAKER_01]: We do hope that the coverage over at Baseball Market.com was worth the delay.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we will be back live after Saturday's game.

[SPEAKER_01]: YouTube channel, click subscribe, click those notifications, and you will know when we're going live.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll also try to tweet it out soon and out on BlueSky as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're also on Twitter for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're on YouTube for it, you can leave comments, ask questions, which you can't really do on Twitter.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we'll be back Saturday for that, and then we'll be back Sunday after the Sunday game.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if there's a game Monday, we'll be back after that, and we will be back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably next week, but I'm not going to promise that because I'm probably going to tell Jacob to go away and not think about this for a while once he gets done because It's a grind.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's fun grind, but it's a grind, but for Jacob.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm JJ.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a long everybody