[SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody, J.J. Cooper, Carlos Closso, Facebook, America, Draft Podcast, back together again and got fun stuff to talk about today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We usually do, but we got lots to talk about today because you, Carlos, just finished up watching the 18-year national team phase two of their team trials.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a team we're going to talk about today is all about the high school class because one thing that's not surprising is when you talk about Team USA's 18-year national team, you are talking about the top prep players in the draft class in most years.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some exceptions of players who have been left off all that, but

[SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you and I kind of just will start with that like you just got to spend and it was a little cooler this time It wasn't nearly as melty as it was for phase one, but what we're like overall what stood out from watching the phase two of the trials

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I just had to say before we get into the players in the team, how nice it is to be back in North Carolina where going out to carry is a 15 minute drive for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And my ability to just see all these players at home and see everything that happens at USA is just awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And phase two was a lot of fun.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was batting practice in a single game a day.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were down to 46 players who were kind of the finalists making their bids to get on the team.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think, like you said, Team USA, 18-U college national team, you would assume that the top players from those respective demographics are going to be well represented on the team.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the case this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a number of our top players in the class.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we'll note, in previous years, maybe my first few years at Baseball America, maybe before that, even.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a challenge for Team USA in getting the top pitchers in particular onto this team with the various timing of the summer schedule, how much those guys were pitching and showcases.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those pitchers wanted to shut things down and not pitch deeper into the fall, which is when Team USA typically plays.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think this year, like they've done in the last few years, they've really done a nice job getting a lot of the top arms in particular on this team.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think

[SPEAKER_01]: At phase two of the trials, the arms seem to be more dominant than the hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's probably generally the case, regardless of class, regardless of strength.

[SPEAKER_01]: It still is a situation where a lot of the times the hitters are not facing the same picture repeatedly because you're cycling through so many arms trying to get them looks to try and keep guys fresh.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it is a pitching first event.

[SPEAKER_01]: Typically, that said I do think the high school pitching in this year is pretty exciting.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a, it feels like a very well-rounded team to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can get into kind of what we're maybe expecting with teams to look like.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I think very solid, well-rounded, we went into the summer, JJ.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe being a little bit critical of this high school class, like expectations were that it wasn't gonna be great.

[SPEAKER_01]: I still have some specific questions around specific positions in this year's group, but overall I've been more impressed than I expected to be with just the general talent that we have this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say the question I wanted to ask with that was kind of like when it comes to the hitters like you said pictures would normally I had an event like this it's kind of this is not something where you're going out there and saying oh I'm going to give you six innings.

[SPEAKER_00]: So with that being the case that gives advantage to the picture you're not there is no such thing as at three times for the order penalty in in right national team trials that's never happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: But on top of that,

[SPEAKER_00]: You said kind of coming into the summer and we've talked around the summer, the questions about this class on the high school side kind of are more who are the big thumpers in the class than who are the arms, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's not a ton, like I would say there are a lot of hitters who have really polished offensive approaches, there are a lot of hitters who seem to be natural peer hitters.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then there are a few players who have very obvious power.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that there are a ton of players in this class who really combined both.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think Drake Hop, who's an outfielder out of Texas, made the final roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's maybe been the most well-rounded and impressive hitter.

[SPEAKER_01]: for me, the summer at both stints of the 18-year trials, his combination of impact, zone control, contact skills, just natural, hating ability, has been impressive, but even at the very top of the class, Dylan Seward, I think this was the case at Area Cows, I read through Jacob's piece, I wasn't there this year in person, but Dylan Seward hasn't had the kind of blow you away, offensive summer that maybe you expect, but he is the sort of player who,

[SPEAKER_01]: I mentioned this when Bobby would junior was in high school, but even when Bobby would junior was not collecting a ton of hits or really wowing you in the batter's box, he's doing a lot with his feet on the basis.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's making really impactful defensive plays.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's just that well-rounded sort of player.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we look at the top of our board, guys like Leo, notly, Carter had not max him in way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those are all players who, I'm sure they're gonna be questions about power.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get into some of the stronger, more physical players for the nonetheless, Brady Cunningham, who was at trials and didn't make the final team.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot of swing and miss there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I do wonder, like, okay, who are most well-rounded offensive players?

[SPEAKER_01]: but yeah, those are kind of questions that I don't have at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe the most obvious player who could fit that is Jacob Seaman.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think Jacob Seaman being injured, he had a laborum surgery, he's not been playing a lot this summer because of that injury.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the biggest question mark that I would have with this final team USA roster is center field.

[SPEAKER_01]: Most of the players who were playing center field in phase two of the trials didn't make the team, and if you look at the outfielders on this roster, most of them look like corner outfielders, some of the players playing outfield are probably more natural infielders.

[SPEAKER_01]: If Jacob Seaman was healthy and available, I imagine he's probably going to be one of the favorites to kind of lock down that center field position.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is a tremendous impact athlete who

[SPEAKER_01]: He maybe would have fit like the biggest question mark.

[SPEAKER_00]: I personally have for this roster, but we just didn't get to see him so that's a bit of a bummer There is no PCA You know past 18 you making has just absolutely the catches you see in the big leagues You were seeing those with a college and I'll be called 18 you Nash me.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was robbing home runs with Team USA as a high schooler and was an impeccable defender at the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think

[SPEAKER_01]: It's him, Drew Jones, maybe Enrique Bradfield that are like the shortlist of the best high school center field defenders I've seen.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't seem to have a player like that this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so the roster is set.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're watching on YouTube, we have the roster up here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you would expect, you have a lot of guys listed as utility or as infield or as, Well, only one, I think only one single player listed as infield actually.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Dylan Stewart is an in-fielder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone else is like, well, you know, let's see how this works.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Malachi Butler also listed as an in-fielder.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Chase Fuller is an in-fielder slash RHP, which obviously you will see a lot of two way guys on this team as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, to kind of start out, we will get into kind of who's the guys who made it on the May surprise you a little bit, or the guys left off.

[SPEAKER_00]: But big picture here when you look at you,

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say if you are saying what are kind of the standouts in the high school class, a lot of names from that group are staring at us on this national team roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think so.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, to me, the standout to, beyond just being ranked highly, everyone knows who Dylan Seward is in this class at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the players who have impressed me, offensively in the lineup, I mentioned Drake Hopp.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's been one of the more well-rounded and exciting hitters in the class.

[SPEAKER_01]: Malachi Butler, who you do mention is also listed and filled.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would assume he's going to be the starting third baseman on this team.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has a very well-rounded game.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's played shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: He looks good defensively.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has

[SPEAKER_01]: he controls the zone well, he's got some thump.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's a really well-rounded bat that's going to fit somewhere nicely in the middle of this lineup.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sebastian Castillo got a ton of that bats in phase two and he seems to really be an impressive offensive player.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure exactly where his most natural position is defensively, but I would assume he's going to be

[SPEAKER_01]: either starting at first base or trading off time at first base with Chase Fuller.

[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned as a two-way player, those players seem to make a lot of sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: At that position for me, so those have been two of the more impressive.

[SPEAKER_01]: I guess Broder Catkey as well, who is...

[SPEAKER_01]: One of three catchers here, Cooper Collins, does come in with some TMSA experience.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe is the favorite to be the starting catcher just because of that and because of the defensive ability.

[SPEAKER_01]: But with how well broder, khaki was able to just impact the baseball throughout phase two.

[SPEAKER_01]: It wouldn't shock me if you got a lot of ABs, whether that's via the DH, maybe that is.

[SPEAKER_01]: As the starting catcher, I'm not exactly sure what the order is going to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: at that position specifically and in the past we've seen team USA happy to shuffle through catchers just to make sure no one's getting worn down too much so those are kind of something offensive standouts There's a ton of pitching here with this this USA team and I'll be really curious to see how they

[SPEAKER_01]: utilize these arms, who they're going to put in starting roles, who they're going to put in relieving roles.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we can imagine guys like Chase Fuller and Broken Witcher who are the two notable two way players on this team would be surprising to see them in a starting capacity.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think just given how they're used, how many innings they've thrown.

[SPEAKER_01]: They seem like premium arms to come out of the pen, but George Ferguson, Connor Soler, no Ethan Gustus, Samir Muhammad, Isaac Vidal, if those were the guys who were getting the primary bulk innings load, I think Teamus A is in great shape, we'll get into George Ferguson a little bit later, but these are some of the top.

[SPEAKER_01]: Itchers in the class, I'm kind of looking down our list to see the most prominent names at the top of our board who didn't make the final team or maybe weren't even invited to phase one phase two.

[SPEAKER_01]: both were Chub Jones Jr. who has struggled the summer with his control and command and then strike her pence.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think you can say the same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hasn't thrown ton of innings and when he has thrown, it's been real struggles with the control and the command piece.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think you've got a lot of premium stuff from this group of arms and the polish that a lot of these guys have shown from a strike throwing capacity, from a pitch arsenal capacity is really impressive to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: So

[SPEAKER_00]: So along those lines, kind of looking at, you just mentioned, like, okay, those were a couple, you just hit it right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: A couple of the names of players, of pitchers, who some fans maybe, some maybe listening, going, wait, well, why is, you know, Chuck Jones is not on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he's just brother to throw strikes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say a significant amount of the summer from what we've seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would throw one other out there, I wanted to ask you about, which is Colin Scott, who just reclassified,

[SPEAKER_00]: relatively recently to be in the 2027 classes to 28.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, was part of, you know, as one of the younger guys there was part of, you know, of these trials.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you surprised at all to not see him as maybe a two-way guy on this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I'm not necessarily sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Colin Scott obviously has really impressive stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think his alting in phase two this past week, maybe push him out of consideration or at least maybe made it easier to take some of the players who threw more strikes than he did.

[SPEAKER_01]: He did struggle with control.

[SPEAKER_01]: He walked two batters in his first inning, walked a batter in the second inning, then walked two more batters in his third inning of work in the outing that we saw from him.

[SPEAKER_01]: gotten up to 98 miles per hour, he drove a ball hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: As a hitter, we didn't get a ton of that bass from him in phase two, and I just think that there are probably other pitchers on this roster who can kind of do what he does, and maybe show a little bit more polish on the mound, both Chase Fuller and Brogan Witcher have the ability to bring you high impact fastballs upper 90s velocity, and maybe just do a little bit more with the pitchability and command piece.

[SPEAKER_01]: For Team USA, you tend to see team USA taking younger players, more underclass players.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the case on this year's roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if if Colin's got didn't reclassify if he maybe would be more likely to be on the team, because Team USA does like to try and build in that experience if they can without, obviously, running, you don't want to take a lesser player just to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But another player who I thought had a chance to make this would be Colin Poplin, who is one of the top arms in next year's classes.

[SPEAKER_01]: He looked pretty solid at times, but I think it may be just highlights how impressive this pitching staff is when I look at it on paper.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's also probably worth mentioning with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just hit on something that's kind of important here.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a team that is going to play games that matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a showcase where you're just trying to put together the best assemblage of, hey, who are the players who are going to be the names you want to look back on 10 years from now.

[SPEAKER_00]: if you don't throw strikes, it becomes really hard to make your case to be on the team because you're gonna, you're trying to win games.

[SPEAKER_00]: And nothing makes it harder to win games than if you think that you're gonna get two, three innings out of a guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have to get someone up right after that and then now all of a sudden,

[SPEAKER_01]: then you start running out of innings and you're starting to figure out how do we get everything covered in a way that if you kind of go with someone with maybe a little bit less pure stuff but a lot more reliability that's it's it's a 20 man roster as I'm looking at it there are nine players who have the ability to get on the mound I'm sure some of these position players have pitched for the high school teams and maybe could be used as like emergency arms if you need but that does like reinforce why you see so many two way players

[SPEAKER_01]: on these rosters because you're really just trying to maximize the roster spots.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a couple other names who were on the phase two roster who didn't make this list that I want to highlight here because I was pretty impressed with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a trio of up the middle, middle and field shortstop second base.

[SPEAKER_01]: And with the third player, he's got some alpha versatility as well, but Leo Nockley, I thought had a really good chance to be this starting second baseman on this team.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think his ability to just compete in the batters box and make a lot of contact, would have made him a no-brainer, also a rock solid defender.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's a hitter who looked good to me and I'm a little surprised.

[SPEAKER_01]: to see didn't make the roster another player who kind of fits that same category as Max Heminway, who's a shortstop out of Florida, and I didn't mention it with Leo Nockley, but he's out of Pennsylvania.

[SPEAKER_01]: Max Heminway, another middle infielder who I felt like could have easily taken on the second base starting job if we're assuming that Dylan Seward is going to be the kind of locked in starting shortstop here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He showed an impressive hit tool and can play all over the infield for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the last name,

[SPEAKER_01]: That maybe, I don't know if he was like a favorite entering the event, but I was really impressed with him throughout as one Diaz, who played Second Bay, shortstop, he played Alfield as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's an element of one Diaz, his game that I think is, he's maybe not the most surprising name to me to be left off, but he's the name that I would have been most excited about if I were like, on Team USA, thinking about his potential role in the roster because we look at the Alfield here.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's not a ton of Alfield depth.

[SPEAKER_01]: Here, and I think Juan Díaz is a player who maybe didn't have them in most impressive results in terms of like, did his balls in play fall for hits, but I was impressed with how frequently he was on the barrel offensively, he really hit the ball hard consistently, and he can play all over the field.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I would have been interested to see if he made the roster.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the reason all these names are a little bit surprising to me is because Graham Houston did make the team.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not sure that Graham Euston has had the best summer offensively.

[SPEAKER_01]: I come into this as a big Graham Houston fan.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm a pretty strong fan of the Houston family in particular with what America has done in the past and he is an exceptional defender.

[SPEAKER_01]: He played second base.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's played shortstop.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can play third-facing play all over the infield.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be an impact club for you But he really to me has has kind of struggled in the box offensively more than all those three players I just mentioned and I think you could also say that this is maybe what Team USA is prioritizing your prioritizing

[SPEAKER_01]: strike throwers and pitchers you feel comfortable with.

[SPEAKER_01]: They really want to be a fundamentally sound defensive team as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So perhaps that's why Graham Houston gets the nod over players.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think maybe impress me a little bit more offensively with the bat, with a notherly, with a himming way, with the deas.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Graham Houston, I would imagine is going to be playing somewhere up the middle defensively.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would assume he's the starting second baseman given the players in this team.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would imagine hitting towards the bottom of the lineup, but those are some of the

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that a little bit though potentially mix and match because you've got Louis Rinkon here as well, who, you know, again, all these guys, Malachi Butler's a short stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like all these guys, like can't play short stop, but assuming that we think the Dylan Seward is probably going to get the vast majority of played appearances, you know, games at short stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't think Dylan Seward has a universe here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want defense or do you want a little bit more offense but maybe a little less defense?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you definitely have some players where you can mix and match.

[SPEAKER_01]: And like a lot of these players, Graham Houston, Malachi Butler, Jack Swanson, Lubin Rinkham, they've played a number of different defensive positions throughout trials, which I think gives you an idea of like how the coaching staff is thinking about using them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe Dylan sewer played it in any, in any, off of short stops.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if he's not the short stop every game, that would be a bit of a surprise.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you have any team USA National Team at the high school level, you're going to have a ton of short stops to ton of guys who are playing opposition.

[SPEAKER_01]: Greatie Emerson a year ago was not the starting short stop for Team USA.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was playing third base, and he was the first overall high school player selected as a short stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: We expected him to be a good one for a long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: He just happened to play alongside Innerwees, who was a wizard with the glove.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I would assume Lubin ring cone is going to be starting in right field, like it's not his natural position, but he played enough of that position in trials and like trying to piece together the outfield here, Drake Hop, most of his time came in left field, Sebastian Wilson is the lone outfielder on this final roster who actually got time in centerfield, I believe.

[SPEAKER_01]: Most of the guys who were playing regular innings at centerfield,

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in Bastion, Taylor Dodd, they just didn't make the team, and so I do think you're probably piecing together the best bats you can offensively in the outfield, but the best defenders seem to be kind of centered on the infield to me this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would even throw out though that maybe that's something that as you work up for the qualifier that they actually like still like they're going to have to experiment a little bit because as you lay it out like right now Wilson they have to have someone else who can play center field on this team and Wilson's the only one who's really doing that on this right so I mean you guys like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: someone else is going to be at least able to do that, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be really curious who kind of like the next up center fielder is because there's an obvious name that jumps out to me from that category, but like you said, they are going to have, I believe some tuneups in October a few days before they head down to the Dominican Republic to kind of work through all of this C, C where the players

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I do want to say about this, like our early feedback, I just want to be clear about it, like when these rosters have been named in past years, without even kind of going out looking for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've gotten kind of feedback from Scouts pretty quickly, like, I don't understand some of these decisions, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This year feels more, when you say like, okay, this guy or this guy or this guy or this guy, there are, there are always gonna be tough calls for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I would say that this year seems like it lacks the, how did they leave these guys off instead of these guys, questions that we've seen in some past years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the top players who we didn't see this year are Jacob Seaman, who is injured.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that one makes sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Grant Westfall, we have as an outfit out of Kansas, who's ranked pretty highly, who we didn't see here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Carter Hadnott was one that you could say, oh, where was he?

[SPEAKER_01]: But given the number of short stops, we just talked about that one is at least.

[SPEAKER_01]: understandable.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I don't think there's an obvious name.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, why isn't this guy either in consideration or on the roster?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you said in the past, there were some names who were like, this guy maybe one of the better pictures in the class and he wasn't at TMSA.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the time that's not TMSA's.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fault inherently because sometimes like the pictures are just like no, but again, to circle back to what we said at the beginning, I do think they've done a really good job recently of getting the best players in the class, whether that's a credit to Team USA for doing a a better job recruiting and convincing those players to come, or if it's a credit to the players for being willing to play for Team USA, and I think it's only beneficial for these guys to get more exposure.

[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of these guys take obvious pride in playing for the country and

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know that there's like an obvious critique outside of this kind of nitpicking on the edges and on the margins where whichever player you want to make a case for makes sense to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, well, when we come back to this break, we're going to talk about the guy who probably has had the best summer if we were going to pick a summer star.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the player I think we'd pick.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do that right after a quick break.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're back.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Carlos,

[SPEAKER_00]: George Ferguson was already a name coming in.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not like for something where we go, where did this guy come from?

[SPEAKER_00]: But it does feel like that George Ferguson is a guy who every time he's taken the mound this summer, he just increases kind of the excitement of what this guy could be as a pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was a little bit bummed to have missed the George Ferguson area code games outing that Jacob has written up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think Josh got video of this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's already on the site if you want to see that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And George Ferguson watching him, I think he started the first game of face to against Ethan Gustas.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was a dynamic pitching matchup.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ethan Gustas went three innings, struck out five betters, didn't allow hit, a run, a walk and George Ferguson equaled that three innings, struck out six.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he was just a electric.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's three pitches that look like they're above average or better.

[SPEAKER_01]: Both the fastball and the change up to me looked plus at times in this album.

[SPEAKER_01]: His ability to generate power and generate movement.

[SPEAKER_01]: Generate power with the fastball and generate movement with the change up was extremely impressive to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think his change up might be the best change up that I've seen.

[SPEAKER_01]: this summer, he got five whiffs on that pitch and throws it in the 87 to 89 mph range, which is like pretty stunning velocity for a high school pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: There have been multiple high school pitchers we've seen this summer.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think including Gun Poplin who is not eligible until next year by the way who are throwing 90 mph per hour changeups, which is just

[SPEAKER_01]: ludicrous and then he rounds out the arsenal with a legitimate breaking ball in the mid-80s that I thought also looked like a potential above average pitch with flashes of really impressive glove-side sweep.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it's just he checks a lot of the boxes that you want to see.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's a dynamic arsenal.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a large pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: He threw a lot of strikes, so that combination of power, strike throwing ability is kind of, I mean, like you said, it's not like this was some off the radar name.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had him as a top 50 ranked player over all in the class coming into the year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe he was the number four or five pitcher overall right behind Samir Muhammad.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's definitely going to be moving up in our next rankings.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you could make a case.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like if you want to say him versus Connor Solernaut at this point, like who is the single best high school pitcher in the class, I think George Ferguson has gone out and kind of made his case as that pitcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Both of these two guys are probably going to have some nitpicking with their deliveries.

[SPEAKER_01]: The way that George Ferguson looks on the mound is just a little bit unconventional.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a little bit of funk.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a little bit of effort.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think at least what I've learned in the past is that if a picture is able to repeat and execute his pitches and there are really no question marks that come from that delivery, sometimes guys just look a little bit different.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll be curious to see what the pitching analyst and just scouts in general have to say about his delivery and what questions that might give them for projecting him moving forward.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in terms of stuff and execution, he has been.

[SPEAKER_01]: electric throughout the summer and it was it was a ton of fun to watch him do that on on Sunday I believe it was there's some some of these pitching outings really stick in my memory for a long time Ethan Hankins Jensen Hirsch corn Jared Kelly I think that George Ferguson outing is maybe going to be one of those for me

[SPEAKER_00]: So Ferguson, we don't have every summer outing we have for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But synergy, sports does have a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have six outings for him right now in kind of the in the database.

[SPEAKER_00]: And 71% strike percentage in the six outings.

[SPEAKER_00]: is you, in most recent at USA, let's see, let me check just to make sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, August 23rd.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so that's in there.

[SPEAKER_00]: But 71% strike percentage overall, 77% strike percentage with his fastball.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a crazy number.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you talk about his, well, so his change up,

[SPEAKER_00]: 71% strike percentage, 70% mispercentage when they do the same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: We got it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then his slider, you know, which he says, like an 80, 3 to 85 boner pitch, but his slider, 85% mispercentage to summer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, he's just been utterly dominant.

[SPEAKER_01]: If he's not one or two in this starting rotation for TMSA, I would be surprised.

[SPEAKER_01]: If it was me, I'd be starting either.

[SPEAKER_01]: Him or Connor Solerno and Game 1, I don't think he can go wrong with either of those pitchers.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're...

[SPEAKER_00]: He's faced 62 batters in those six outings, 37 case three walks, 19 balls and play, five hits.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh 89, 177, 143.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we say that he's been the star of the summer, again, that does not currently have his area code outing in there, but that's not going to change his statistics in a negative way we can say, because he was also a very impressive area code.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm seeing what his actual line was, so he at Erica's, he was three scorelist, two hits, one walk, four strikeouts, touch 96 there, and I think he was up two miles per hour higher.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he touched 98, and had touched 97 at least six times for me at the USA game, so with a little bit harder, fastball.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Ferguson, like I said, he very well couldn't end up being our number one pitching prospect, but you've also talked about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is something that we're trying to continue to calibrate is, but we also know that there's a feeling.

[SPEAKER_01]: See a little bit of a ceiling here.

[SPEAKER_00]: That may put you into being like a top 15-ish player in the class, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even with this year's college pitching, it'll be really interesting to see like would right now on our overall list.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've got case in Evans and William Schmidt at 14 and 15.

[SPEAKER_01]: like if you wanted to say like hey those guys you take over high school picture even the George Ferguson has been as dominant as he has been.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's understandable to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd rather have a Camden Clark, it's other miss or an Aden King who has multiple years of SEC, starter track record.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean that that makes sense to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've got right now Connor Solerno, our top high school pitcher in the class of 21 overall.

[SPEAKER_01]: That feels like a reasonable range to start our top pitch in the class right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: and going too much higher than that might be a little bullish.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd say what we talked about and people who listen to the podcast regularly will kind of know our thought process here and where we're trying to correct for, but one thing we should keep in mind as we move forward is regardless of how dominant these arms have been this summer of the high school pitchers.

[SPEAKER_01]: We should be cautious about how aggressive we want to be in moving them up in overall board.

[SPEAKER_01]: On the high school list, there's more ability to move those guys around and get them up to board and hire and kind of illustrate their upper movement.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to move out the board regardless, but just trying not to get into a situation where post-summer, all of our high school pictures are stuffed because they just dominated in these events that are set up for them to succeed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then in March and April, we find them sliding behind college pictures.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say a couple of things with that one is like, yeah, most of his outings have been of the three inning or shorter variety, which if you're having to face George Ferguson once in a game, you know, good luck.

[SPEAKER_00]: But also on top of that, I would say this is not these you've just laid out.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not last year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last year,

[SPEAKER_00]: you could kind of if you were a team and we saw this to some extent in the draft, which was when you got to that 15 range, you could talk yourself into a high-school pitcher conceivably because you're like, these guys just are better than the college got, that college pitching class lacked that kind of front-end depth of guys where you're like, this guy's performed, he's got track record, he's got durability, he has all these things, why would you not take him first?

[SPEAKER_00]: Last year was kind of more of you had like you kind of the old adage of you can have it fast You can have it cheap or you can have a good pick two of the three with that pitching class last year was almost like pick two of the three right you can have right durable

[SPEAKER_00]: with track record, but not stuff, or you can have stuff, but not a track record with some durability, or you can have durability and stuff, but not a track record.

[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't really have the kind of the group who had all that together.

[SPEAKER_00]: This year, if everyone stays healthy, or even a guy who we said is coming back from injury, we can't say that Dex Whitney's staying healthy, but he has track record, he has stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if he's healthy again, you could say, well, he's

[SPEAKER_00]: probably at least as durable as a high school class guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's where this, there may be a little bit more of a ceiling here if you're a prep pitcher because of that.

[SPEAKER_01]: 100% definitely something to keep in mind and for for team to say yeah they're gonna reconvene October 17th through 19th and then they're gonna begin international play in the DR on October 22nd so we'll continue to track those guys remotely as they attempt to I think it'll be three straight winning gold in this qualifier if they are able to achieve it that is going to be the expectation for this team heading into that event yeah and we'll see what they think it'll be yes the 18

[SPEAKER_00]: You hate to say it, like it is, you could call it unfair, but the expectation is like the anything short of winning or gold in a year that it is the tournament.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of disappointing, because this 18-ute team has that kind of track record.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, and I think that USA baseball for this specific classification, this specific team, I think has performed enough in the past

[SPEAKER_01]: to provide that, to make that be your expectation without it being critical.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they are good enough and they have the talent to where that should be the expectation.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know, maybe that sounds tough, but like, they've done it for years now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So continuing to kind of hold that status does seem to be like it should be the expectation for the team.

[SPEAKER_01]: And like we said, I think this is a roster that looks pretty well rounded.

[SPEAKER_01]: That will be curious to see just kind of what the rotations are looking like, what the lineup actually looks like.

[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, getting more at bats from the hitters is always going to be useful to see.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a fun group of players and I'm excited to continue watching them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna get to see, we'll be going to see some more this weekend as we record this, we're heading up to Baltimore for the Baseball Factory under our All-American game.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll get to see more of the top players in the class.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing that, but thank you for joining us on the Baseball America, draft podcast, do check out over Baseball America.com, all the stuff that we have from the event to the summer, get you ready for, again, we want you

[SPEAKER_00]: I had of everyone else that, you know, if you follow the draft, we want you to be understanding kind of where you're going to be able to understand the movement kind of all the way through not just, you know, if you want to, not just right before the draft.

[SPEAKER_00]: So check that out over at Baseball America.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please, again, as you can, like and subscribe, that does help the channel as well for Carlos, I'm JJ.

[SPEAKER_00]: So long, everybody!