[SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody JJ Cooper Carlos gloss of baseball America draft podcast I'll just start by saying we're both were just like we're both kind of tired at this point Like I just got home from me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll start game Carlos have been home for a couple days, but I mean we love it I mean not don't get us wrong, but it's a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean it is a we yeah, it's a fun out of you

[SPEAKER_00]: It takes a lot out of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to bed and we're recording this Wednesday night like 830 and I think I'll get done reporting as maybe just go straight to bed But we're not going to talk about the 2026 draft right now because that's so last year.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's old news.

[SPEAKER_00]: That happened in the past.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're looking to the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what we're going to do today and I think it's a good time to do it is

[SPEAKER_00]: baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna calm.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have rolled out our way to early mock draft, which by the way, see thing like last year, we'll nail one one a year before the draft, because by the way, getting Rock to Laos get one one, not that unusual.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was those the light socks were going to pick Rock to Laoski one one and the draft lottery hadn't happened, but we got that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So good job Carlos, but we have our way to early mock out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we also have a combined, our top, our first combined list.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have the high school list in college list separately.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then a year out, we combine them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we so we have our combined.

[SPEAKER_00]: 227 top draft prospect, top 100 draft prospects for now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's 100 now.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got a 200.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got a 300.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got a 400.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't talk about explaining that draft class quite yet, Jake.

[SPEAKER_01]: Next week, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got some time.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have before that hopefully.

[SPEAKER_01]: this is really it feels crazy every year it's like we're halfway through processing what we just spent a full year building up to and then all the teams are now signed all the classes are signed we're starting to see signing bonuses and it's like nope time to focus on 2027 a week ago two weeks ago I was watching

[SPEAKER_01]: college national team we're kind of like this week watching them over over stream on video and then for me I don't know if you'll be able to get out here but at least I will be at carry a lot of this next week watching the top high school players so it really is like summer circuit is here and we're diving into next-ish class.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that is what we're doing today and this will be a

[SPEAKER_00]: big picture look at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have, we have 51 weeks to go in depth.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're here and you're saying, I expect 20 minutes on Dylan Swords today, you're not getting that today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry, I mean, like one thing, one of the things that I did, I was very, I want to go on a little aside before we get to that, which is one of the cool things about doing this podcast, doing this video series on YouTube as well, which is still a podcast, but has video version of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: wind the draft rolled around.

[SPEAKER_00]: All these players are getting taken.

[SPEAKER_00]: All these things like players moving up, players moving down and all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I do feel like, look, if you are a baseball America subscriber, I feel like that you had a very good understanding of what was going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: We, the ups and downs, players moved up, players moved down.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's never going to be perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: We wanted to be better every year, but we had that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'll say this also, like, it was amazing how many videos I could link to that day.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, if you want to know more about this player, we spent 20 minutes or 15 minutes on here.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to know more about this player, it was a 10 minute discussion we had about that player.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all like, we really did, like, Zion Rose is rising up boards.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, here's when we talked about Zion Rose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob Lombard, there are concerns about his hit tool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, here's where we spent 10 minutes talking about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Brought to Laoski, why we think he's going to be number one at the end of the day.

[SPEAKER_00]: The case for Grady Emerson who goes to to be in that consideration as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: All those things were there.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do that again for the 27 class.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to roll into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But to start that Carlos, big picture, a year out, the 2027 MLB draft class looks like it's going to be blank.

[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like it might be not quite as good as the 2026 class for me right now, um, a year ago at this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were walking into a 2026 class that was hyped beyond anything I had experienced at Baseball America and to be clear, I do think the 2026 draft class fell short of the expectations that the industry had for entering the summer and I think even fell short of the expectations the industry had entering

[SPEAKER_01]: the spring.

[SPEAKER_01]: We did not see the same number of college hitters and college pitchers take strides forward like we saw in 2024 when you had guys like Charlie Condon, JJ Weatherholt, Travis Visana, Chase Burns, Hagen Smith, Jack Kaggleon, like all those guys went out for a form that are really high level and a class that was seen as like fine entering the spring

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just start up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just interrupt.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did a piece of baseball haircut, I caught off the All-Stragging.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the best drafts, the best first rounds.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel confident saying right now, in 2026, two years out from that draft, it's going to be one of the best drafts, the last 15 years, and I say that because we had three top 10 picks in the All-Star game, and I know All-Star games are a little bit the tangent of one year or the next or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of drafts where you won't find three all-stars in the top 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pick all years and put them together, and you're not going to find that.

[SPEAKER_00]: To see that, and to see also, I do believe that by this time next year, by year three, I would be surprised if we don't see that all 15 of the top 15 picks.

[SPEAKER_00]: have reached the big leagues, which I'm not saying it's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy going to be great, but that would be as crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, the 2024 class, like a class that can be considered like it's fine, and then it goes on to be great.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say that recently once we have our great, our 2020, 2024, I think you'd say 2019, which by the way,

[SPEAKER_00]: five of the top 10 from that class.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're also in the all-star game, which is remarkable.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then the flip side is, you can also see a class that is thought to be good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it ends up being way less than you think it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think 2022 would be the one that probably fits in that group.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so yeah, we'll see what happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's a lot that's going to change.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're just now starting to dive into this class full time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the conversations that come from Scouts also are going to be more.

[SPEAKER_01]: Detailed and evolved now because the scouts that I'm talking with are finally going to be focusing full time on this class and the conversations I have with those evaluators will form my opinions of how we're viewing the class, but I'd say on the college side right now we wrote about this a few months ago, I think when we were just kind of impressed by

[SPEAKER_01]: the amount of stuff that was in this college pitching class.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the college pitching in the 2027 draft has a chance to be the resounding strength of the class, like the demographic that we think of when we think back on the 2027 draft.

[SPEAKER_01]: It has a chance to be a really, really good college pitching class.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think beyond that,

[SPEAKER_01]: There are probably questions.

[SPEAKER_01]: The way Ben Badler talks about the high school class in general in 2027.

[SPEAKER_01]: It does feel like the depth of the class is maybe a little bit lighter than we typically have at this time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know a lot of the players in the 2026 high school class that we were excited about entering the summer didn't live up to those expectations and their stock fell.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the starting point seems to be at a lower level than a year ago at this stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think

[SPEAKER_01]: at the very top of our class right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm probably bearing the lead a little bit here, but we have Dylan Seward, short stop out of California.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think that just based on his tool set and track record, if he were eligible in the 2026 draft, there's a real case for him to have gone over Gradient Mason this past year.

[SPEAKER_01]: He does seem to have some of the strengths of a Gradient Mason in terms of the

[SPEAKER_01]: quick, compact, hit-erish look in the box as a switch hitter, by the way, with the physical tools that we got excited about for both Eric with junior and Jacob Lombard.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's an 80-grade runner.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has a chance to be a plus defender at shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think probably power is going to be his biggest question, like he doesn't have

[SPEAKER_01]: Jacob Blombard, physicality or raw power currently, but I think you can see with the way his hands work and the quickness.

[SPEAKER_01]: And just some of the physical projection he has, I imagine people are going to start to feel pretty comfortable about that element of his game.

[SPEAKER_01]: So on the high school side, it does feel like it's Dylan Seward and then everybody else.

[SPEAKER_01]: As we enter the summer,

[SPEAKER_01]: And then on the college side, I think there are a couple of different arms that are a couple of different bass that I feel like you could make cases for at the top of the class.

[SPEAKER_01]: If Dax Whitney at Oregon State was healthy, I think he would maybe even be the overall consensus number one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like he probably would be above Dylan Seward if he were healthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, Dax Whitney got injured halfway through the 2026 season, he had a season

[SPEAKER_01]: even then.

[SPEAKER_01]: He might be a top 10 pick even still because I do think he probably would have been called and maybe still will be called the best pitching prospects and small schemes like it's that good what he was doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Prior to being healthy and then some other names here at the top Thomas Villencus and hopefully we can Figure out exactly the pronunciation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure I'm butchering it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I apologize if I am Mississippi State left-handed pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was the most impressive arm college national team trials Brennan lost in the shorts up at Florida.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think

[SPEAKER_01]: offensive package in chance to play shortstop are going to have him talk about at the top.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then just two more hitters I'll mention here on the college side that I'm really intrigued by Gavin Kelly, catcher and second baseman at West Virginia, and Landon Harrison, our baseball America college player of the year at Arizona State.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think those two maybe the best like pure hitters on the college side.

[SPEAKER_01]: All those guys are at the top of our class now and then

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I do want to get in a little bit more to some of the top guys and what to look for.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll do that right after this quick break.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Carlos, we're back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, with Suer, you've laid it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I, I feel like that, I think we even talked about them alive show, post draft, it's all a blur at this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, this is a guy who has a very good chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: to be kind of a pole to pole, like, much like Rochalaski was.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rochalaski was our no-moan prospect this time last year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it was never a moment where that dipped, the whole way through.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times it does, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times it may be because the player that was number one is disappointing a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's because the player number one do everything that we expect and the player number one is, but someone else shows up and you're like, oh, that guy's even better.

[SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned that the power like the reason I could see him being not the number one pole to pole is kind of the power projection right like would that be because it seemed like the rest of it's pretty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, pretty well already established is it the power going to be the question that that we're going to that everyone's going to be focusing on all summer I guess and got a going forward.

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably I'm not sure how much he's going to get beaten up forward over the summer, but it'll definitely be the case where if you feel like it's a little bit light in that department worse than just like, oh, we think it could be average moving forward.

[SPEAKER_01]: It'll definitely be the case where everyone who's going to scout him.

[SPEAKER_01]: next spring will really hope that he has a strong off season.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll hope that he gets into the weight room, add some more strength, shows a little bit more physicality.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it'll be the case of like a Bryce Turang.

[SPEAKER_01]: I remember him entering his draft year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe it was the summer of 2017.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was a 2018 draft.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: So summer of 2017, he was the top player.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the class, he had the X on his back as all the top players do, and then everyone did seem like a little bit underwhelmed by his performance because it was never like blow you away and then during the spring, there were questions about how much impact he's going to have he wound up going somewhere in the middle of the first round, just a little bit from that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sounds like Dylan Stewart is a legitimate top-of-the-scale 80-grade runner.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he's a bollywood runner.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a Bobby Whittrunner, it seems like, and again, to be clear, I have not seen Dylan Seward much in person, Ben has seen him a lot more than I have, which is why I'm so excited to get out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now you're getting serious.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think power is probably, maybe he comes out the summer and really swings and misses much in the hit tool because more of a question, I don't expect that to be the case given his reputation as a pure hitter.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the tool to get some most scrutinized with him is it more of a greedy Emerson to where people are like, okay, he has solid power, is it gonna be Eli Willitz?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where it's like, hey, we don't know how physical he's gonna be and Eli Willitz is proving that wrong, is it more Derek Curiel, Bryce Turang, like thin frame, like what's the body gonna look like in the future?

[SPEAKER_01]: All of that will have to figure out throughout the summer and fall and spring.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that probably will be the biggest question mark for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: college class on the hitterside, that is there a hitter who, like, to be honest with Landon Harrison, who had the best year of all these guys as far as the college hitters.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he had an incredible year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do feel like that there's, there's probably a ceiling there, just with his position, his profile, all his, everything works like,

[SPEAKER_00]: If he ends up one one, it's probably because someone else in this group or some others in this group of fallen back, because he just doesn't, I struggle to come up with.

[SPEAKER_00]: The closest I can come up with to a guy who kind of fits that profile and he had a better season, even though Andrew Ben Nintendo season was incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like the year that Andrew Ben Nintendo kind of moved his way into that talk tier, which was kind of a little bit of an out of nowhere season at that time.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's still a limit to what you're going to wear out fielder, especially not a, we're not talking about the next, you know, King Riffy Jr. in center field or anything, an outfielder, potentially a corner outfielder, where they're going to go, college out theater.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that kind of open up the spot for like, is Gavin Kelly, like we said, is a catcher second baseman, and as much as I like Gavin Kelly,

[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't, I don't like it as much as when we're talking about Vaughn Lacky who I would have had a lot of way to move up last year, but Vaughn Lacky was a catcher.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know he played other positions, but there wasn't a question about, is this guy going to be a catcher?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess what I'm kind of leading up to in a very way too long-winded way, just Brendan Lawson have a chance at the end of the day to be the number one college position prospect, partly because of positioning plays or their limitations with him as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think there are probably limitations with all three right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think all the reasons you mentioned for Landon hairstyle being a questionable one one, like you don't typically have a left field profile who's playing, again, like very limited defense.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he has one of the better hit power combinations in the class, but you typically don't have

[SPEAKER_01]: players who you're looking at is like you're maybe a fine left field or go one one with Gavin Kelly.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't look like a typical one one profile physically defensively.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a great pure hitter and he did hit 19 homers.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think there's sneaky pop there, but if you look at

[SPEAKER_01]: some of the just the power projection with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't feel like your classic one-one either, especially if you think maybe he's more of a second basement than a catcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be really curious what Scouts are thinking about him defensively, but like we had Gavin Kelly at the top of our college was entering C&T and what I was hearing just an early feedback on was like

[SPEAKER_01]: And so then you move on to Brendan Lawson, who we haven't seen because he's Canadian.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't playing with the college national team.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not played.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not played in the in the cape this summer.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I do feel like from an offensive profile perspective, from a physicality perspective, from the position that you write beside his name.

[SPEAKER_01]: He fits much more of the traditional top of the class profile left in a hitter with power, with on base value, move from first base to shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that shortstop question for Brendan Lawson is going to be his big question.

[SPEAKER_01]: His Brendan Lawson really, a pro shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fairly skeptical of that right now, probably sticking to bear down on him a lot in the fall and in the spring to see.

[SPEAKER_01]: I also think there are some,

[SPEAKER_01]: questions when you look into his heading numbers in conference.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at his conference performance with Florida.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have some pure hit tool questions with Brendan Lawson that I think are going to just open the door and I would say for the entirety of this college pitching demographic.

[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't had, I mean, you don't typically, I don't think teams want to see arms leading the way at the top of any class, just because there's a lot of risk in those profiles, but I do think if you are going tool for tool and looking at the track record, guys like Dax Whitney and especially guys like Thomas

[SPEAKER_01]: They check far more boxes of prototypical one-one candidates than the hitters do at this stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: And all the chatter I've heard so far on the class, and again, let me just emphasize it's very, very early.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are in the discovery process.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our board will change.

[SPEAKER_01]: I do not view our current board, especially on the college side.

[SPEAKER_01]: As anywhere close to where it was a year ago, where it's like, hey, Rochelowski, he is eight.

[SPEAKER_01]: definitional one-one candidate on the college side is as much more wide open.

[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, if I was to say who's most likely to go first, it would be one of those two pictures for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'd say college that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say I think of the college side.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, of the college side.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sue, I think Sue, or it makes, again, we always said, Brady Emerson in a non-rock to Lowski class, perfectly viable one-one candidate.

[SPEAKER_01]: It could be like the 2025 draft for Eli Willitz.

[SPEAKER_01]: just well rounded, hit or a short stop, Dylan Seward, more toolsy than Eli Willis at the same stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: If none of these college players address the weaknesses, we're talking about if there's not someone else who vaults at the board, it could very easily just be Dylan Seward wired a wire.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, to lay it out of the different way.

[SPEAKER_00]: This year we had one college pitcher taking in the top 15 picks right I'll take the over for next year Next year I think we could have seven yeah the way it lays out like now Which set which are those seven I mean seven's a lot right I know that there is a predilection among teams That to take hitters take take position players that can't top the draft but The thing that does stand out about this is is that

[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about some of the guys, but you could throw in the William Schmitts and you could throw in the Aiding Kings and the Camden Clarks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you could go down and say, Ryan McPherson.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ryan McPherson, you could go down this list, Land and Mac, Chris Levonis, like Dirt, Case and Evans.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of names here of guys who, not every one of them's gonna be a first round pick, but they all have first round kind of,

[SPEAKER_00]: abilities.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one other thing when we talk about strengths of class, we just came off a very good college catcher class.

[SPEAKER_00]: This would've got a chance to be really good as well, doesn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: You might say this one, a quote unquote catcher class.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you feel like there are a lot of bats who catch them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'll be curious how many of these catchers, teams full confident will catch moving forward, but at least listed as catcher right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how many rider health ricks and bond lackeys defensively they run this group, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of day no Jackson, so I read a lot of power, a lot of hit first offensive we're going to do a very physical college catchers, yeah, that could be another trend next year.

[SPEAKER_01]: The one thing I feel like is lacking just overall as I'm scanning down our list, just middle infielders, prep pitchers too, sorry, you're sitting outfielders, middle infielders, middle

[SPEAKER_01]: I think USA, like Team USA's team is probably evident of this, but like if you're looking at the weaknesses of that team in the lineup, I do think it's both the middle-end field positions.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think from a prospect capital standpoint, the middle-end field seems to be a question for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of these interesting corner profiles take Davis at first base, Brody Johnson at third base.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are not, I mean, maybe this is more typical, maybe we've been spoiled with the likes of Rock Chilowski in Chasia, with her whole old and previous years.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll see what Brendan Lawson does, maybe he proves me wrong, maybe Gavin Kelly is a legitimate second basement, but that's an unusual profile.

[SPEAKER_01]: Travis Pazana was the first ever second basement to go one one over all for a reason.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a question mark.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have your questioning the high school pitching.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the other thing I think is kind of like, and again, I get it like at this point, that is a group that should generally be long.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me throw you, so I think one of the things that baseball America that is a little bit frustrating at times is like how long the feedback loop is to figure out.

[SPEAKER_01]: where we miss, where we got right, how we can improve the process.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're always thinking about this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think one of the areas, over the last two years in particular, that we felt like we're probably a little bit too light on the preseason list, is having college pictures too low and having high school pictures too high.

[SPEAKER_01]: I do hope and feel like this class

[SPEAKER_01]: is a great kind of bellwhether for us to adjust in that area and part of my reason why I think that where we have those systemic biases is because a lot of the times over the summer, the top college pitchers are not pitching at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: They disappear.

[SPEAKER_01]: disappear.

[SPEAKER_01]: The high school pitchers are pitching in these abbreviated albums where they're throwing a really hard and the haters are seeing a different arm every time up.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's set up, like it's not set up, but like the environments are very beneficial towards pitchers.

[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of them go out and have success and it is very much like a their in front of us right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: We see them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we revank them high, they end up sliding some of the college guys who we just haven't seen in a while or who go from reliever to starter or who are injured, they come out.

[SPEAKER_01]: They produce or even just your vanilla college pitchers who don't have the most explosive stuff, those guys go at the board.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I do hope that this year really sort of in a better starting point for those demographics and maybe it's also the case that even relative to a normal high school pitching here, that's down, although we're already getting questions about why a striker pens not on our way to early top 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: we are and we do not have him near there right now um now i get it i get the questions he's he's famous he's very famous right now and he's very good like let's be clear he's not like we're not like oh no we forgot to rank striker pens but okay so why is striker pens not in our way to early top 10 which i would begin the be on the answer of because we have him ranked let me make sure i

[SPEAKER_00]: So, okay, what does he have to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, just give a very quick.

[SPEAKER_00]: He throws really hard, but we haven't seen really the full repertoire or the aspects of it that you know, again, and high school pitchers who throw 100 to age 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a very small subset, but that's.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, I mean, I guess we have him right now in a similar range where we had save gonsims a year ago at this stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're probably reasonable comparisons, big six foot six, save gonsims is two inches taller than that, but pictures who can throw 100 and strike a fence again, I think so far this summer, he's throwing a very abbreviated outings.

[SPEAKER_01]: Teams are just gonna want to feel more confident that he is,

[SPEAKER_01]: more of a pitcher than just a pure thrower.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, not to say that he's just a pure thrower.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have him ranked as a top 50 prospect right now after reclassifying.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have seen really good breaking stuff from him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's dominated in short stints, but it is the case.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think Ben mentioned this.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you just look back at the track record of pitchers who go top 15 overall on the draft, it's a very short list of high school pitchers in general.

[SPEAKER_01]: Seth Hernandez is an outlier at this stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, I think there are a lot of other high school pitchers in this class who are a little bit closer in terms of well-rounded arsenals, starter profiles, Connor Solerno in particular, really excites me, we've seen him for a couple years now, and I think he just has a more complete starting pitching profile at this stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's probably why.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I kind of like how you laid that out.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one thing I wanted to point out to people is is if you want an example that we just had of what Carlos is talking about as far as the high school pitchers, watch the future's game, watch the All Star game, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We had literally on the All Star game, we had many of the best hitters in the world and they were just getting mode down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because every single pitcher out there was going out there for one inning and shoving and then it's like, oh, I'm starting to figure this out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry, you got a new one coming in the next time.

[SPEAKER_00]: it's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to hit those situations.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I do think the other part that I'm kind of fascinated to see with this class, like you said, there are, I do think that if we're going to be interested in a good way about this class.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, we kept hearing about it is the

[SPEAKER_00]: See Friday night starters weekend and week out like the guys who you're like that guy's just gonna shove in the big leagues Yeah, that's Whitney sophomore like the sophomore class had more of them last year This is a piece of state had like four of them in the sophomore class like we've we've heard jokes from scouts You said hey, I'm just gonna basically buy season tickets to Mississippi state and just watch them all year because their entire rotation is just absolutely loaded They gonna have three or four

[SPEAKER_01]: first round arms, which is insane, but yeah, I do think if you want to get excited about the class right now, get excited about Dylan Seward, he has a chance to be a really unique high school athlete who just checks all the boxes and get excited about these absolute horses that are going to be running out routinely.

[SPEAKER_01]: We should not be lamenting the Friday night starters next spring.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we are a lot of these guys have gotten hurt and not if we are

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we are, then this track class really will be, because if that maybe two months from now, JJ will be talking about, hey, like all these hitters came in and know where we're really excited.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's, that's can still happen, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that definitely feels like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just the sheer volume of pictures who throw incredibly hard and have coming into, they're going to come into the year with all ready, really impressive starter track records.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not super common.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not super common.

[SPEAKER_00]: The last thing I want to ask you is

[SPEAKER_00]: with tax Whitney.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say that the most optimistic viewpoint would be that, like, again, not most optimistic.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's far out.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to get too far into speculation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we have seen examples of pictures who can't throw

[SPEAKER_00]: in their draft year, going well, but you don't often see them going at the top of the class.

[SPEAKER_01]: And again, he would very possibly be throwing, I was going to, I was going to ask you this because it has been a few years since our top college pitchers or just top pitchers in general, I guess, Dylan, let's go on the high school side.

[SPEAKER_01]: But who is the last elite college pitcher who didn't throw,

[SPEAKER_01]: and went top 10, top 15.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it all the way back to like Jeff Hoffman?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, Jeff Hoffman did throw though because he got blown out, he blew up early in the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like you saw him and then he blew out.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one that comes to mind for this is me and names.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stanford pitcher was taken by the by Cleveland and

[SPEAKER_00]: but like 19 and it made the make-a-lice, but he's not been, okay, give me a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's 1-A-19, maybe 18.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because even just like looking through our previous drafts, I'll pull up a couple of these and go through, but like this here, Jackson Floor, obviously, the consensus, one-one healthy all year, Tyler Brenner, Kate Anderson, Liam Doyle, Jami Arnold, Kaisenwood, all those guys were healthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: the whole time through.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we've just been lucky in recent years to have good health in 2024.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had Nick Kurtz.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, can you excuse me, not Nick Kurtz.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, again, Smith.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Chase Burns, they were healthy all spring, although Hagan Smith had his injury questions prior to that 23 Paul schemes.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had Rhett Ladder, we had Chase Dullender.

[SPEAKER_01]: All those guys were healthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: The whole year, 22 Gabriel Hughes, Cooper Jerpee.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that was not a great college pitching class.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kate Horton, I guess to the top end, there were guys that didn't pitch the full year.

[SPEAKER_01]: 2021.

[SPEAKER_01]: How powerful.

[SPEAKER_01]: Calquantrol okay 16 where did he go?

[SPEAKER_00]: 2016 and Quantrol went let me give sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: So really my entire time at Baseball America covering the draft we have not had a college pitcher in the top 10 top 15 who just went miss their whole year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went a total roll and he did not pitch in an official game his draft year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's still in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So again right now if if Dax when he doesn't throw at all next year

[SPEAKER_01]: It still seems hard for him not to go top 10, like I think this is a talent that's going to fit there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that'll be an interesting wrinkle, like handling that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've literally never done it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, by the way, he's not fun because it's not fun, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The thing I want to re-quantrol is,

[SPEAKER_00]: It was always very vague.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, is he going to throw?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is he going to pitch him game to those like, he's doing some workouts for some teams?

[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, I guess we have some recent example of this because to tie this back to our just drafted 2026 class, Carson Wiggins.

[SPEAKER_01]: Carson Wiggins would pitch it all and is not the same tier of talent as Dex Whitney throws us hard, but in terms of everything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: But example though, of a guy who I would say,

[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, wouldn't really well for a guy who did not throw his draft year.

[SPEAKER_01]: Getting slot at picked 27 incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, so what I would say with that though is it's like, that's what I think, what one of the things that's gonna be interesting about this, when we talk about this college pitching class, one thing with Whitney is he is hurt, not that not as much the fact that he is injured currently, I would say being a factor,

[SPEAKER_00]: Timingwise, one could argue that in a crazy way, it could speed his path through Pro Ball, because

[SPEAKER_00]: his perfect timetable to return could be like, he's drafted and then you're like, he's thrown zero innings this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not worn out at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's helped these.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why don't we send them out here for 40 innings before the end of the year and it ends the year?

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's like, oh, he reached double A.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be ready for triple A next year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be in the big league.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's crazy that that could be kind of happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time,

[SPEAKER_00]: He can't push himself, he won't push down too far, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the Hayes already in the barn that we saw Dax Whitney healthy was a stud who the risk will be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this injury flukish?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or is this something where his injury risk, his delivery,

[SPEAKER_00]: lead to an increased worry of his long-term durability.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's something he's obviously dive into.

[SPEAKER_00]: They'll have biomexstaffs, you know, like diving in and figuring that out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he's got to kind of like a pretty well solidified near the top of this class.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys could move ahead of him, but it's really hard for me to imagine if Daxwood and his recovery is anything like normal and he doesn't

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just pulled out a very far down just because I was curious and I'll share it on the podcast here as we close, but I just pulled college pitching data from 2021 to 2026, any pictures that aren't at least 100 innings, where would you guess Dex Whitney is and strike out minus walk rate, my favorite, my favorite number.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I will say the the success rate of these pictures makes

[SPEAKER_01]: this uh being a useful stat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so so this is so you're saying six drafts?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, 2021 and this is multiple seasons too.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's just your total volume, 2021.

[SPEAKER_01]: good guess he's seventh.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is Andrew Walters first, Chase Burn's second, Jack Lighter third, Andrew Abbott, fourth, who I don't think I would have ever guessed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul Skene's fifth, Parker Messick's sixth, who's been tremendous, and then Dax Whitney seventh.

[SPEAKER_01]: Rounding out the top ten, Carson Punkwist, Kumar Rocker, Cooper Jirpy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Pretty good listen names there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty good listen names there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Cool, all right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that is the classic way to wrap this up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nice little cool tidbit here.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the baseball America draft podcast for this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our first of, I promise you, many, many hours, once.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you add this all up by the time we get to next draft, like you said, oh, I want to, I want to be ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to listen to every draft podcast that they did to get you ready and throw in future projection, like,

[SPEAKER_00]: While you're doing that?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if you did come to this pot expecting more 2026 recap, just hop over to the future projection feed we have that for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we don't want to miss that all here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, but if you did, I promised you that you would need to start your listening probably at least a week out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But,

[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of the 26 draft Carlos also did roll out analysis of all 30 drafts like in depth analysis We're not talking Distraf good this draft so so this draft.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know this was like Cop the pick 25,000 worth total from this team so and by the way, so you can read all 25 or you can just pick out your team and read You know

[SPEAKER_00]: a lot still a lot there's that over there there's also scouting reports on we still got two guys to finish up but everyone else in the top ten rounds has a report many players outside the top ten rounds have a report and a whole lot more over at baseball america.com and by the way we'll be rolling out where these drafts these are fitting in the top 100 and top 30s in the next few days as well for Carlos I'm JJ it's a longer buddy