[SPEAKER_03]: Hello everybody, JJ Cooper.
[SPEAKER_03]: Josh Norst, binbabler, baseball America hot sheet show.
[SPEAKER_03]: Got a great one for you today.
[SPEAKER_03]: We have
[SPEAKER_03]: the DSL experts.
[SPEAKER_03]: We have, we're going to have a special show today because it's a special year in the Dominican Summer League wrapping up in the playoffs right now.
[SPEAKER_03]: We got the two guys that you want to hear about.
[SPEAKER_03]: You want to hear from about that league, about the season, about the prospects in it.
[SPEAKER_03]: But before you do, welcome, thank you for joining us.
[SPEAKER_03]: Please subscribe to the channel, the YouTube channel that makes sure that you don't miss any of the shows, any of the podcast,
[SPEAKER_03]: in the other videos that we do every week.
[SPEAKER_03]: And as always, we love to get your questions.
[SPEAKER_03]: So send in your questions, we set aside time to make sure that we can answer your questions each and every week.
[SPEAKER_03]: Here on the hot street show, we're going to also talk to Daniel Jackson, Golden Spikes Award winner of this year, Georgia Ketcher, now Colorado Ketcher, coming off of a dominant year in college.
[SPEAKER_03]: And now making the adjustment and having a dominant start to his pro career, we're going to do that, but first, we're going to the first move to talk to you.
[SPEAKER_03]: So the Dominican summer league season, always interesting, always useful pay attention to.
[SPEAKER_03]: But Ben, you've been following this for many years.
[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like that this year, especially on the hitting side, it's a little more special than normal.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, there's just a lot of really exciting position player projects in the DSL coming from this 2026 class.
[SPEAKER_06]: The pitching side, I think, is really light.
[SPEAKER_06]: I think that's just more of an overall trend throughout international signings recently from Latin America.
[SPEAKER_06]: But on the position player side, it's extremely strong, extremely deep.
[SPEAKER_06]: We already have some of those guys in our top 100 including.
[SPEAKER_06]: and high-mobile Gomez from the Kansas City Royals, who just looks like a really, really special player, just a great combination of tools, skills, hitting ability, instincts, both at the plate, and in the field.
[SPEAKER_06]: And this was easily one of the top prospects in the entire 2021-26 international
[SPEAKER_06]: he always performed at a high level.
[SPEAKER_06]: So seeing him hit the way he has this year for the Royals in the DSL.
[SPEAKER_06]: is no surprise, but just to see how dominant he's been has been extremely exciting.
[SPEAKER_06]: This is a great combination of hitting ability, contact skills, strike zone judgment, power with the physical upside for a lot more power still to come, and then he's a great runner, a great arm, great defensive instincts at a premium position in center field.
[SPEAKER_06]: This guy's already rocketed.
[SPEAKER_06]: up our top 100 and where we have them now is probably about the lowest he's ever going to rank from here on going forward I would imagine.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Josh, you know, Ben just gave us kind of the breakdown on Gomez, but you're doing kind of calls right now working on the soon to be arriving Dominican summer league top 20 prospects list say 20.
[SPEAKER_03]: I put 20 in quotes because it, you know, sometimes you end up having a little bit more than that or a lot more than that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But is there anyone else who's kind of fitting into that discussion of kind of the best prospect in the league?
[SPEAKER_03]: you know is Gomez the runaway guy or their other guys is there anyone else who's kind of fitting in that discussion.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think Ben kind of hit around on the mark when he says that it's been a really hit or heavy league right now.
[SPEAKER_05]: And he will go as is kind of the runaway guy.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think I've been fortunate the last three years have done this to have some pretty easy layups for number one.
[SPEAKER_05]: He's his body two years ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: Joe Sparkan's all is last year and go as this year.
[SPEAKER_05]: But there are some pretty clear one-a's, one-bees, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_05]: Francisco Brent Arena with the fillies who was pushing for, you know, spot on the top 100, and maybe even move up a couple notches.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think you know, I was two notches to move up.
[SPEAKER_05]: And the fillies top 30, right now, he's been as advertised.
[SPEAKER_05]: He's hit the ball hard, often, and he's played center field pretty well.
[SPEAKER_05]: He has the look of one of their better pitching, our hitting prospects over the next couple of years.
[SPEAKER_05]: So he'll be in the mix there, as will, you know, guy like Justin Paine with the Yankees who's already in low A and turning baseballs into flatter baseballs with the way he swings.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's a lot of other guys on the cost.
[SPEAKER_03]: Let me ask you, I'm paying you.
[SPEAKER_03]: So he's kind of an unusual profile.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like he said, a little bit older, but he's jumped all the way to low-way this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: But that power kind of forced them to kind of move him pretty quickly, didn't it?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I did, they jumped over the FCL because the FCL season was over, but they could have put it in bridge league or things like that, but it's generally a really good sign when you see a player jump from the DSL to the states in his first year because obviously there's some
[SPEAKER_05]: affectations that happen when you move like that, but he's got to low a and he's been pretty darn good there And when you talk to scouts who have seen him in the floor to stately, I mean, they put really big numbers on him You get hit the ball hard.
[SPEAKER_05]: He has a cannon arm in right field.
[SPEAKER_05]: He moves really well
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, I'll be frank, he's challenging for the Yankee's number one prospect entering next year, assuming George Lombard Jr. graduates, like it's a two-person race, I think, between him and Dax Killby and Killby's unfortunately barely played this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Ben, there's also the other story, I feel like, of the league this year, has been the Brewers, which,
[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like we can say this every year.
[SPEAKER_03]: We had Jackson, Churio, we had Jesus, but sometimes we have guys who just skip straight over the DSL for the brewers, but this year saying, oh, there's a really intriguing brewers prospect in the DSL, doesn't really do it justice because the only answer to that is which one?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because this is a trio accord-tent, a quintet of interesting prospects, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, they have a bunch of really exciting young hitters in the DSL this year.
[SPEAKER_06]: Diego, frontato, a short stop they signed just to really well rounded player, good blend of hitting ability, speed, defense, somewhere where that's going to be short stop or second base.
[SPEAKER_06]: Him, Ricky Monnees has gotten a lot of attention just because of the
[SPEAKER_06]: the power that he has, I mean, he has just terrific bat speed, big power, solid enough contact skills, probably, or third base than shortstop, and is going to have to keep working on his defense to stay there.
[SPEAKER_06]: a lot of exciting traits at the plate.
[SPEAKER_06]: Jose Rod regas maybe doesn't have the loud slash line that those other two guys have, but a premium defender at short stop with great contact skills.
[SPEAKER_06]: And then when you're under his motto, he's been a really nice sleeper pickup for them.
[SPEAKER_06]: Those other three guys are big, big money signings, but mottoes has just got a
[SPEAKER_06]: A really good knack for putting the bat to the ball, controlling the strike zone, not that big, more of like a second base, third base type guy, more gap to gap, type power than a big home run hitter, but really good feel for the barrel.
[SPEAKER_06]: This is a bunch of really good position prospects coming out of that signing class this year.
[SPEAKER_03]: And Josh I know, like I said when you're a work that you're doing on this, you brought up models to me that he's one that's really kind of, again, for a guy who was not really as much of a high profile guy coming into the international signing period, he's really opened some eyes very quickly.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I mean, just become flowers go talking to someone about this group and when you said quintet, I thought you were selling a little bit short.
[SPEAKER_05]: Like, if you tell me it's a DSL top 20, I could probably do eight brewers, but not hers.
[SPEAKER_05]: But Mottos was the name that really stuck out.
[SPEAKER_05]: This is the guy he said, this is probably the only prospect in his coverage.
[SPEAKER_05]: that he might go or in the league, well, in his coverage, that would go plus hit and plus power.
[SPEAKER_05]: And you look at, you know, the output and it's there.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's really crazy as you look at the data and it's not necessarily, it looks like there's still plenty of surface to scratch.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's, you maybe needs to learn what to unleash as a swing more often, or which pitches to really hammer, but there is potential in there for this to be a really special hitter.
[SPEAKER_05]: So,
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, I imagine him gets talk about frontado, but this guy's, you know, it's all this whole team and it's just like it's stacked to high heck and he even got pitching prospects on it.
[SPEAKER_05]: So the brewers continue to kill it in Latin America.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Ben, you mentioned this, but why is it that we see so many hitting prospects now and fewer and fewer pitching prospects coming out of the DSO.
[SPEAKER_06]: the I think part of it is just the incentives for players and for the trainers who are training these players to develop them as position players.
[SPEAKER_06]: I think for a lot of young players anyway, there's just like a natural gravitation to wanting to be a hitter instead of a pitcher, right?
[SPEAKER_06]: Like if you ask a lot of kids in here in the United States, oh, do you like hitting or
[SPEAKER_06]: whose future is still on the mound like a lot of them still say no I really like hitting more I want to be hit or I want to Show guys I can hit So I think there's some of that to it, but a lot of it is hey like look at the bonuses the teams are paying players
[SPEAKER_06]: There's like what one maybe two guys every year that sign for a million dollars who are pitchers and then another 50 sum odd players who are position players even the six figure bonuses there aren't that many pitchers that are signing for a whole you know for a whole lot of money.
[SPEAKER_06]: So the incentives really are just to for the trainers and for the players to be position players because teams don't want to take on you know there teams don't want to invest a lot of money into
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, we can say they're signing at 16 and 17 years old when they're really making the decisions.
[SPEAKER_06]: It's probably 15, 14, 13, even younger to take on the risk for those that young of an age of a picture.
[SPEAKER_06]: When they know how much risk is in teenage pitching in general.
[SPEAKER_05]: But it's been, I just went up on that for a second.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's kind of funny, one of my favorite stats.
[SPEAKER_05]: We've mentioned low dollar bonuses in the 22-world series.
[SPEAKER_05]: The first three games were won by pictures for Latin America.
[SPEAKER_05]: And their combined sighting bonus was $40,000.
[SPEAKER_05]: Man.
[SPEAKER_03]: So there are a ton more guys we could have talked.
[SPEAKER_03]: I see Albert for me in the comments.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I mentioned about Albert for me.
[SPEAKER_03]: We could talk about Emmanuel Luna.
[SPEAKER_03]: We could talk about Samiel Sorano.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're on your own, Hernandez has already been traded and now it's a giant's from the Padres.
[SPEAKER_03]: Tone guys in the league will have a lot more over at Baseball American.com.
[SPEAKER_03]: Keep your questions coming.
[SPEAKER_03]: We will get to those.
[SPEAKER_03]: But when we come back, we'll be talking to 2026 Golden Spikes Award winner, Daniel Jackson.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially nowadays where you could think your team is out of it, but they might be back in it again.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We are excited to be joined by Daniel Jackson.
[SPEAKER_03]: Daniel, thank you for joining us.
[SPEAKER_03]: Always great as a UGA grad.
[SPEAKER_03]: Someone who knows how awesome Athens is, always great to be able to talk to someone else who also knows that Athens is the best places in the world.
[SPEAKER_03]: No question on that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Great to see you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for joining us.
[SPEAKER_03]: Congrats on the start in Pro Bowl.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just want to start with kind of asking, like, how's the transition been, you know, it's a lot to do when you're hitting and catching, but how's Pro Bowl been so far?
[SPEAKER_04]: It's been fantastic, definitely is like a different transition, you know, going from college, you know, you're playing through to four games a week to now, you know, it's, it's every day, you've got the Monday off day and, but it's been a smooth transition.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, I do also want to ask you like, so you are now in a teammate, well, not again, but a teammate of Charlie Condon, the other golden spikes award winner from Georgia, also a Colorado Rocky prospect.
[SPEAKER_03]: But when you didn't overlap though, because if you could kind of take people through your career, first year at Wafford, did you ever imagine, did you kind of, was this kind of the plan?
[SPEAKER_03]: Was there a thought of like, hey, you know, I think that this could kind of be, I'm gonna go, you know, go to Wafford and then maybe go to a SEC school after that
[SPEAKER_03]: how did kind of your path from high school to offered to Georgia?
[SPEAKER_03]: How did that kind of come about?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I just wasn't like super heavily recruited come out of high school and then you know kind of got hooked up with Wafford through one of my summer ball teammates Ryan Lynn and then yeah kind of kind of flourish from there and then you know my dreams and hopes were always to play at the highest level possible so found kind of got that opportunity after my freshman year
[SPEAKER_03]: So you have that software year at Georgia kind of got established, but it really you found another gear last year.
[SPEAKER_03]: I remember hearing about in fall ball, kind of the fall balls, like I remember West Johnson talking about, like, oh, I think we think we really have something here.
[SPEAKER_03]: What clicked for you?
[SPEAKER_03]: What changed between your first year of Georgia and your second year?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so there's like three main things.
[SPEAKER_04]: One of them was just kind of the confidence and belief factors.
[SPEAKER_04]: After coming back, playing summer ball, I kind of just showed up to campus and I tried to be the best version myself, kind of walk around differently, kind of hold the higher standard for myself.
[SPEAKER_04]: So that maybe we're confident in myself and then a approach thing too.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, trying to make it harder for the pitchers because I felt like, you know, I was a little bit too easy up and out of my sophomore year.
[SPEAKER_04]: Really, you know, you know, kind of set, I'm trying to find the word about that.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, breaking balls were tough for me.
[SPEAKER_04]: So I knew I had to get better at that.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, you know, footballs, swinging at all loss, be, you know, regardless of how dumb I looked, you know, as long as there's And I was trying to get my best swing off to practice that.
[SPEAKER_05]: So what were your expectations for pro ball coming in and how would they match them?
[SPEAKER_05]: I think I don't know how lucky you realize you are like with Fresno, like that's a AAA stadium.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I mean, I don't know what expectations you had for facilities coming into the league, but just overall how many like pro ball so far and has it matched what you thought it would be?
[SPEAKER_04]: No, it's been loving it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Honestly, I didn't know what to expect to be honest.
[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, you're right about the the ballpark it was, you know, we rolled up that, you know, around like 12 o'clock 1 a.m. because we had just got back from saying, Jose, and I didn't really realize how massive the ballpark was, so that was pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_06]: Then since you've gotten into pro ball, I know it's only been a short amount of time.
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, some teams are pretty hands off on guys first and out of the draft, but have the Rockies talk to you about things that are any adjustments that they want to see from you or has been hey, just go out and play and we want to watch you and see how you do.
[SPEAKER_04]: No, no crazy adjustments.
[SPEAKER_04]: We've been working on some swing stuff, just some drills to implement
[SPEAKER_04]: you know, the kind of a catching philosophy, but for the most part, it's been pretty, you know, go out and play.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I love talking catching.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love watching you kind of catch this year kind of drilling down on it and I'll had a really good staff, obviously, that you worked with at Georgia.
[SPEAKER_03]: When you're kind of behind the play in a situation like that, like obviously we can talk about called pitch framing, presentation, blocking, throwing all aspects of it.
[SPEAKER_03]: But how much of it is to be a good catcher is just kind of that almost that mind-milled that you have to have with the pitcher?
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, how have you kind of developed as a catcher?
[SPEAKER_03]: How do you feel like as a catcher now, you're different than you were when you, when you intercollege?
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just understanding the game more
[SPEAKER_04]: that a relationship with the pitchers is a massive part of it, you know, spending every day with, you know, 15 different guys on the staff and, you know, having to learn how every guy operates is a big factor of it.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then, all the other stuff kind of just comes along with Prax and every day, you know, the receiving the throw on the blocking.
[SPEAKER_04]: That just comes after Prax this.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you obviously come from a high profile premier college program at Georgia and now you're in pro ball.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm curious about how the technology available at Georgia compares to the technology and training tools available in pro ball with the Rockies.
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's kind of like, it's kind of tough because you know, at Georgia, like I was kind of fortunate to get in there, you know, right as we have a massive renovation.
[SPEAKER_04]: So
[SPEAKER_04]: All the technology was really get Georgia out here though, you know, with the probe while we have You know the Hawkeye at every stadium, and I'm seeing some some cool new stuff that I've never seen before Even though I so I but I can't fully understand it yet, so I can't I can't go into death too much Because I'm not gonna talk about what I don't know But the technology is good
[SPEAKER_03]: So, again, trying to develop those relationship with pictures like you come into Pro Ball and okay, you're in the complex and then you head out, you know, to a full season club, how do you kind of develop that relationship?
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, how long does it take before you can kind of like a picture and you kind of click where you kind of understand, okay, I know what he's trying to do here, I know kind of what, you know, what I need to give this picture now.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'd say, you know, after kind of like the second time scene in the guide, the first time is, it can be kind of, honestly, a little scary, you know, that's not exactly the right word, but, you know, it's the first time you're seeing a guy in its endgame, so you're kind of like, you know, being, you know, you're trying to learn the guy.
[SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, after that second time you start getting more comfortable, you know, what he's trying to do with his pitches and then after that, it's easy.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I've also got to ask you, you know, the great season you had, I think the part, you hitting a lot of homers, hitting for average, as a catcher, all that, that stands out.
[SPEAKER_03]: But the part that I think surprises people a little bit is, anytime you got on first base, it was something where the other team had to know you were looking to go.
[SPEAKER_03]: Has that always been part of your game?
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I feel like that was kind of one of the things that really stood out, kind of was a separator for you, you know, in college, but how did you become a base dealer?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I would say a big part of it was, you know, that freshman year at Wafford, a big, big bass trying school, you know, it was 20, 30 minutes a day, you know, just on the bass path, you know, working on it.
[SPEAKER_04]: And the only difference was, you know, at Wafford, when you were in that church, you know, the other teams are waiting for you to try and take off the second bass.
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, you know, when I got to Georgia, you know, people are just expecting to slug and stuff.
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, I would say in the SEC,
[SPEAKER_04]: in particular, you know, the pitchers are slower to the plate.
[SPEAKER_04]: And so I was pretty confident and, you know, after, you know, how after I see how slow they are to the plate, you know, I feel like it's pretty easy.
[SPEAKER_03]: Pitchers sometimes will give it to you.
[SPEAKER_03]: They'll, you know, 1, 6, 1, 7, just that's like, that's a green light.
[SPEAKER_03]: Just say, just take the base.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I'd also do want to ask you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Congratulations again on the Golden Spikes Award.
[SPEAKER_03]: But more, you know, fun to ask.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, when you heard your name called, when you basically walked up there, but you, you know, when you grasp that trophy,
[SPEAKER_03]: What does it feel like?
[SPEAKER_03]: What does that mean to you to be the basically that unnamed the best college player and amateur baseball should say in 2020, 6th?
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, it was an incredible feeling and definitely something that, you know, I'll cherish.
[SPEAKER_04]: Especially, you know, after, you know, my sophomore years, it was a down year.
[SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, something I kind of knew, I had and saw myself was to be able to go out the next year and kind of return, you know, to the player I feel like I have.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, picking up that trophy, you know, I felt like I approved myself right, and so it was a great feeling.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, when you go into the, again, you're wrapping up this season, but other things that does stand out, this is how important the offseason that first off pro-offseason is.
[SPEAKER_03]: Are you kind of like already kind of envisioning what you want to be, you know, what you want to be like, where you want to be,
[SPEAKER_04]: Also, you haven't put too much thought into it just because, you know, I want to get through these last couple of weeks of the season, hopefully make playoffs and then, you know, we'll have a few weeks of interest, so, but by that time, I'll probably have a better idea, but you know, stay in the weight room, stay mobile, keep working on the craft and go from there.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, we really do appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for the time, Daniel.
[SPEAKER_03]: Best of luck, and again, best of luck in the playoff race, like you said, also.
[SPEAKER_03]: You guys are making a playoff push there.
[SPEAKER_03]: So thank you for the time, best of luck with the season and the off season as well.
[SPEAKER_04]: Appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, guys.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: That was Daniel Jackson, Golden Spikes Award winner and Colorado Rockies prospect.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we appreciate him joining.
[SPEAKER_03]: We'll be back with the final sprint and take your questions.
[SPEAKER_03]: Get your questions in.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We are back and I'm going to put on my fire proof suit here to make a point on something that's probably going to annoy some of you all.
[SPEAKER_03]: Don't not doing it for that reason, but did have a piece over at baseballmerica.com today.
[SPEAKER_03]: And in it, we kind of looked at what teams are winning and losing in the miners.
[SPEAKER_03]: what teams are performing as far as their hitters, their pitchers, what teams are young as far as their rosters, what teams are old for the miners, their rosters.
[SPEAKER_03]: And one of the things that does stand out in that, that still stands out year after year, is that the Dodgers are really good at developing players.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I say that because
[SPEAKER_03]: We tried to do this by normalizing it by park, by league, putting all that together.
[SPEAKER_03]: And in normalizing it, what we found is the Dodgers are really good at hitting for average, getting on base, slugging, hum runs, walks, strikeouts for hitters, flip it at pictures.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're well above average in ERA, in strikeouts, in most pitching metrics.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're not above average in walks, I will say that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But,
[SPEAKER_03]: That's for an organization that, you know, I know we can talk about the major league level, all the money they have to spend and all that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But at the minor league level, it's a team that drafts late that often doesn't have.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's all that speaks because of free agents, it's signed.
[SPEAKER_03]: But Josh, it made me think of something that you've talked about before, which is,
[SPEAKER_03]: The Dodgers are a team that they really focus on doing everything well.
[SPEAKER_03]: They scout well.
[SPEAKER_03]: A lot of these players that they're developing are players who came to them in often minor traits and then develop.
[SPEAKER_03]: What is it that the Dodgers are doing that kind of makes this click?
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, when we talk about investing their money, it's not only in the big leagues on players, they invest in people.
[SPEAKER_05]: I just twice this year alone, I've happened to be directly adjacent to a Dodgers scout on a flight this, you know, to wherever.
[SPEAKER_05]: And they're just scouring the globe, finding,
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, under the radar type talents, and it's, it's really not that hard to understand that yes, the money does matter, but the fact that they have really talented evaluators who go all over this country to try to find pieces in trades really says something.
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, it was, it findings, I your hope to turn them into the tarick school or, you know, getting out of Sarah Nowski and betting big on Mike Sarota, not that Mike Sarota was some under
[SPEAKER_05]: The fact that they knew what they could get out of him was really impressive and just it's hard to go to too many parks and not see someone from the Dodgers employed there.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I applaud that.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's not a trend that we just saw Miami let go of its entire professional scouting staff.
[SPEAKER_05]: According to Bob Knight and Gale the other day.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it doesn't sound like they're going to necessarily, at least when I'm here and they're not going to replenish.
[SPEAKER_05]: And in this day and age, the Dodgers are one of the teams that believes in people, and it's becoming harder to find that.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so I applaud them for it.
[SPEAKER_06]: internationally too.
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, like this is a team that like you said, JJ, they're not picking toward the top of the draft.
[SPEAKER_06]: Their bonus pool in the draft is usually one of the smallest.
[SPEAKER_06]: So there's not a ton of flexibility that they have there.
[SPEAKER_06]: But internationally, I mean, Hoseway to Paula at Wardo King Tiro, Emil Morales, I mean, these are three of the top prospects in baseball right now.
[SPEAKER_06]: And Emil Morales was a big signing and, you know, the
[SPEAKER_06]: Dodgers obviously get credit for signing him, but those other two guys were not like exorbing it signings anybody could have gone out and signed these guys So I think the Dodgers also just do a really strong job in our national as well
[SPEAKER_03]: They do a lot of things well, and that's one of the things that stands out when you just look at the data.
[SPEAKER_03]: But we thank you for joining us on today's Baseball America Hot Sheet.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for joining us every week.
[SPEAKER_03]: Please do subscribe, like our videos that helps other people see them, and do check out all the coverage on the YouTube channel, but also over at BaseballAmerica.com for Ben and Josh, I'm JJ.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for joining us.
[SPEAKER_03]: Have a great day.
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