00:00:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Baseball.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: America Fantasy Podcast.

00:00:12
Speaker 3: I'm James Anderson, joined by Jeff Ponce, and got a great show previewing the Arizona Fall League today, and just some updates on stuff coming to the site.

00:00:22
Speaker 2: I'm working on a.

00:00:24
Speaker 3: Top 350 redraft rankings for I know there's already a first round of ADP out there for 2027 leagues. So, uh, be on the lookout for that on Wednesday at baseball America, but, uh, we got some AFL prospects to cover Jeff. Uh, I, I love this year's kind of crop of like the top dozen 13, 14 or so prospects. Uh, the big key will be hoping that like all of these guys stick around. We don't have, um, several early exits like we always seem to have, but, um, I figure we can start, um, I have him ranked roughly by ETA. I want to start with Sebastian Walcott because I think he can make a case that of the best prospects in the Arizona Fall League, he might be the first guy to get to the big leagues. We've talked about him a little bit on the show. I'm really excited for people to see the cover of the handbook if they haven't already. That's one of my favorite Baseball America handbook covers ever. I'm not just saying that because I'm new to the company, but Sebastian Walcott, man, finished the year on fire. How do you think he does in the AFL? How much do you think he plays? And how could that impact when we see him up next year?

00:01:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously had the elbow injury that caused him to miss a good chunk of the season. Once he came back, he wasn't playing in the field, but looked excellent at the plate. Was one of the better hitters, I think, over the last few months of the season. I think has really put himself into a position for there to be a real conversation at one between him and Jesus Made. I think this is, as far as upside, the upside might be higher than Made, particularly for fantasy. I think there is, you know, 30 home run, maybe 30 steal upside here with a good batting average or super athletic player that you know, depending on how they want to attack the infield next year, it could be a shortstop or a third baseman.

00:02:24
Speaker 4: Um, and maybe could play a little bit of both.

00:02:27
Speaker 1: And I think we both know that when you have that like dual eligibility at corner infield, middle infield, uh, it makes setting your lineup very easy, gives you a lot of flexibility.

00:02:35
Speaker 4: So I think he almost has that additional component as well.

00:02:38
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for him as far as ranking prospects for fantasy.

00:02:42
Speaker 4: This would be my number one right now.

00:02:45
Speaker 1: Um, it wouldn't shock me if he sticks around for a little while in the AFL, when you consider how much time he missed, he's not a pitcher. He's a position player. I don't think he's going to be run down. I do believe that he's going to get some reps in the field. That's probably paramount for kind of establishing himself as the number one prospect. It's just to see him out there in the field, making some plays, et cetera. There's plenty of balls in play in the AFL. So he's going to get plenty of work there, whether he's a short or a third base, but I think the offensive production and just, kind of leveling up in terms of, you know, breaking through into, you know, the, the, the greater conversation in fantasy baseball. And what I mean by that is your NFBC leagues going into next year, that ADP, I think will continue to climb. He'll be a hot name that people will be targeting because there is a really good chance that Walcott is on this team on opening day.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: I really do believe that. I think, just even in terms of like.

00:03:41
Speaker 1: Your 12 team home league kind of dynasty keeper kind of leagues, he's going to be a hotter name.

00:03:46
Speaker 4: He's probably going to be one of the.

00:03:48
Speaker 1: Hotter trade acquisition targets this off season, particularly if, if he has that platform AFL where he goes out there, hit some homers, steal some bases and puts up a gaudy slash line that we're used to seeing.

00:04:00
Speaker 4: With good players in the AFL.

00:04:01
Speaker 1: So I really think that, you know, um, he's kind of on a rocket ship right now. And just the way the AFL is the, the, the hitting environment, how great of an offensive environment it is could probably throw a couple of turbo boosters onto that rocket ship.

00:04:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the right prospect at the right time, uh, in the AFL.

00:04:21
Speaker 3: Like I think he's poised for just a really strong run there. And if he does spend, you know, four weeks out there and, and plays well, uh, I'm with you. I think he could break camp on the opening day roster. And you kind of look at how the pieces might fit. Ezekiel Duran had a breakout year. I think he can play sort of all over. Corey Seager and Josh Young are two of the most oft-injured, good, established big league hitters we have. Wyatt Langford is kind of close to joining them in that. And I think the key will just be if they're able to move Josh Young and Jake Berger into sort of a first-base D.H., share, and then open up a one spot for Walcott, whether it be short or third or whatever. But I, I think you can kind of draft him with confidence, even if you're not a hundred percent sure how the pieces are all going to fit. You just look at Seager and, and Jung's like injury history. I just think it's, it's kind of set up for Walcott, uh, to have a big year and to be up right away. Uh, Jeff Aiden Miller of the Phillies, um, I mean, if his back injury had never happened, he might've been up all of this season or, or at least a good chunk of this season. I think the biggest question I have for you is just sort of how much do you expect Miller to play out in the AFL this year? He got into four rehab games before the.

00:05:45
Speaker 2: End of the season.

00:05:47
Speaker 3: Like if he's able to kind of play almost every day out there, that would just be huge. I think for people feeling good about trusting him to spend a good chunk of next year in the big leagues. But, Um, how do you expect that to go for, for Miller on the NFL?

00:06:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:06:02
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just a matter of, you know, how is he feeling? How is the back feeling? Because another guy here that missed a majority of the season with an injury, it's a little bit more nagging where, you know, Walcott was an injury.

00:06:18
Speaker 4: He had surgery. He comes back.

00:06:20
Speaker 1: We have some track record of how guys, when it's nagging stuff like this and particularly backs, um, I get concerned, you know, think about Evan Carter at this point, what three years ago, you know, was 20 years old in the big leagues, you know, playing a vital role in a world series run in an eventual championship. He's kind of been on and off the field since he's still only 23. I was looking at my keepers in the league the other day and was like, wow, he's not as old as I thought he was. Backs worry me. So if he's truly feeling better, I think that, you know, there's some runway here for him to see 15 plus games in the AFL because he needs that time because he missed so much of the season, but it is the kind of injury that if things start to, you know, stiffen up or he's just feeling some aches and pains, I would imagine they're going to be.

00:07:19
Speaker 4: Overly cautious with him.

00:07:21
Speaker 1: And so he is, maybe a high probability shutdown candidate, but it's kind of like the two extremes of if he's truly feeling good and, and the back is good and it's loose and he's able to play through that, he'll probably see consistent at bats. As far as the player, it's an excellent hit tool. The bats of ball skills have always been strong. Um, you know, it's, he balances aggression and kind of a discerning.

00:07:45
Speaker 4: Eye at the plate. Well, which, which is kind of what you want. And there's juice. There's real juice.

00:07:51
Speaker 1: Um, biggest thing for him has kind of always been optimizing to kind of pull the ball. He's not the biggest guy, even though he has some thump. But I don't have any, I don't have any expectations.

00:08:03
Speaker 4: That he won't hit.

00:08:04
Speaker 1: You know, I think he'll get up to the big leagues eventually and hit health permitting. And that's just, that's the biggest question is this isn't like a broken bone or a knee injury or a ligament fix. It's an area where backs can be, you know, they can, they can, drag on for five, six years where you're, you're dealing with back issues. So that was one of the reasons we moved him down to the top 100. It certainly wasn't a talent thing on a, on talent alone. He's a top 30, 40 prospect, especially with the ETA. Yeah.

00:08:34
Speaker 3: How many games he's able to handle is gonna really dictate sort of how I feel about him after the AFL. Uh, because I had him as a, as a top 10 fantasy prospect pretty easily before the back injuries, because he started running so much, um, in 2025.

00:08:52
Speaker 2: Like he, he was looking like a potential.

00:08:54
Speaker 3: Five category guy and the Phillies are just always so top heavy. They're always going to have room for a guy like this. So just if, if Aiden Miller can handle like 15, 18 games out there and can kind of finish strong, that would be great because I think like the Phillies are going to need him as soon as, as soon as he's ready, as soon as he's knocked the rust off, if the back is cooperating next year, I think they're going to need him up there.

00:09:19
Speaker 2: So. um, Aiden Miller, kind of a swing piece here. And Jeff, you and I do, uh, the, this, uh, Arizona.

00:09:25
Speaker 3: Fall league fantasy league set up by a great dynasty character, uh, Nate Handy. And I passed on Aiden Miller with pick, uh, eight here. I took Braylon Payne instead, just because I wasn't sure how many games I was going to get out of Aiden Miller. If I knew he was going to play like the full season out there, I definitely would have taken Miller with that pick. Um, Now, Jeff, the only pitcher who I think is a clear top 100 fantasy prospect who will be pitching in the AFL is Harleen Susana and. Susana, like just if you want to compare his stuff to successful big league pitchers, it's basically.

00:10:08
Speaker 2: Kind of the best guys. And it's just health and the control. Is he a reliever? Is he a starter? But just the stuff is out of this world.

00:10:18
Speaker 3: Through 20 and a third innings at high AA, AAA after returning from lat surgery this season. You know, obviously the conditions in the AFL aren't optimal for pitchers, but how excited are you to see Susana out there? And how do you see the Nationals handling him in 2027? Yeah, you know, we'll see.

00:10:43
Speaker 4: It's just such a tough run environment.

00:10:45
Speaker 1: For these guys, not to say that there aren't pitchers that go out there and aren't successful and particularly pitchers that are prospects. But I think it's just seeing his stuff on, you know, stat cast and getting some of the Hawkeye data publicly, I think will kind of push the discussion forward on him.

00:11:05
Speaker 4: He's just so unique.

00:11:06
Speaker 1: Like he's a unicorn in terms of the type of power that he can produce. I would argue the only guy that's a starter is, that produces the kind of power and stuff that he does is J Jacob Mizurowski. I mean, you know, this is a guy that I saw him in his first double a rehab start late in the season this year at Hudson Valley. And his first three pitches were 103 miles an hour. Like I've never gotten one Oh three on my gun before I've had it for eight, eight, nine years now.

00:11:40
Speaker 4: So like, that's, that's pretty significant. Like, It's real cheddar.

00:11:44
Speaker 1: You know, he's got a cutter at, you know, 90. Um, surprisingly he threw way more strikes than you would have expected.

00:11:54
Speaker 4: Got my cat visiting. She loves, she loves to come on. We're on the show.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: Uh, but, um, through more strikes than, than, than I was expecting. It's just, it's such turbo stuff that particularly in the lower minors guys are a little like hesitant to even swing at it. Um, moves a ton. He gets a ton of run on that fastball too. Like, I think he had one sinker that was 103 miles an hour with 20 inches of arm side run.

00:12:24
Speaker 4: Like it's just, it's just crazy stuff.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: So he's the kind of guy that even if he ends up being a reliever, I think he's going to be fantasy relevant because he's going to be like Mason Miller.

00:12:35
Speaker 4: You know, it's like, there's there.

00:12:36
Speaker 1: And I saw Mason Miller do something similar when, when he was out in AFL back in 23, maybe. um 22 23 so like you know these guys get an opportunity to pitch in these environments um the stuff really plays and you get to see him against really good lineups some of the best lineups that he's ever going to face until he gets up the big leagues um so yeah i i'm excited to see him just because you know the stuff is so loud um between the sinker the four seamer the cutter He's got like a, like almost like a sweeper. I think that was like 87 that might've had like 15 inches of sweep on a couple of them.

00:13:14
Speaker 4: It's just really crazy stuff. So we'll see.

00:13:19
Speaker 3: How it goes.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: If he's thrown enough strikes, he's a guy that could come out of the AFL with, you know, quite a bit of buzz just because of the stuff he does is super Yeah, and.

00:13:28
Speaker 3: I ranked him as my number three pitcher in the minors on my final prospect update of the season behind Ryan Sloan and Seth Hernandez, even knowing the reliever risk with Susana is just very obvious. But like you said, like the two big leaguers that kind of come to mind with him are Mizorowski and Mason Miller. So health permitting, I just don't really see a way where he's not really making an impact in fantasy. And I think the nationals, like if he's throwing strikes, like this is not the type of guy you send to AAA for like two months next year. If he's like rolling and pitching well, like I think you, you get him up in the big league rotation. Um, if he's healthy and throwing strikes, basically, would you agree with that? Or do you, do you see them kind of slow playing him at all?

00:14:22
Speaker 4: No, I think you're right.

00:14:23
Speaker 1: And I think even the way that they moved him, once he came back from the injury, I cover the nationals. I've had, I've done all my top 10 work already. I'm in the midst of writing those reports. I've written Susanna's report already. And, you know, I, I sort of feel like they're in a setup right now where they're kind of playing with house money.

00:14:43
Speaker 4: They were a little bit better than I think they expected.

00:14:45
Speaker 1: It's going to be, you know, a slobber knocker as Peyton Tully would say in the division next year, I think there's going to be a lot of good teams there.

00:14:53
Speaker 4: Marlins are better than they've been. The Braves, the Braves, the Mets, I think we'll be back.

00:14:57
Speaker 1: Um, So they kind of have the ability to be like, hey, let's take a shot and see if this guy can start for us and see how it goes and give him a longer leash. Because the upside of that working out is you have an ace. There's not a lot of guys that have that.

00:15:14
Speaker 4: Sort of ceiling.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: It's just what's the probability that he gets there? You probably can't do it unless you let him get his teeth kicked in for a year in the big leagues. We've seen a lot of guys have that happen.

00:15:24
Speaker 4: They adjust.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: They could slow roll them in the bullpen and the majors and then like have them go a couple of innings and then maybe stretch them out. There's a few different ways to attack it, but you know, they've kind of committed to him as a starter. And I think he's a starter until he really proves that he has to go to the patent.

00:15:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.

00:15:45
Speaker 3: And I, I mean, I think you can take a shot on a Susana in a, in a draft champions type of league. Like, Maybe you get like 10 starts out of him, but they could be 10 starts where you want him in your lineup. Jeff, Caleb Bonhamer, he's going to play outfield in the AFL. He played nine games in center field to close the year at AA. And I just think his season is so interesting because I feel like all the Caleb Bonhamer buzz was like hitting a crescendo like in like May, June. But I thought his second half was more impressive than his first half because he– really kind of optimized everything. Like he, he kind of had the just extreme pull fly ball thing going early on. And then everything just kind of evened out. Like he, he cut the case after getting the bump to double a I just think he had kind of a more well-rounded attack and was still like hitting a ton of a ton of homers, which, which he will do, but just really kind of looked like a better pure hitter to me and, and against a higher level of competition. Now he's playing a new position. And I look at that, that White Sox depth chart, and it's just, they've got that one spot, the Benintendi spot that's open. Benintendi is still under contract next year, but like imagine Caleb Bonamer in that Benintendi spot by mid season. And this would just be a full lineup of guys under the age of 28, I believe. So like, it's just a really fun time to be a White Sox fan. Bonamer feels kind of like the final piece to this puzzle. I'm excited to see what he does in the AFL and just kind of the more I think about it, I think he could be up fairly early next year.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: Well, and I think it's funny because there seems to be a perception problem with Bonhamer and I don't quite understand it. He gets talked about like he's 24 years old in a lot of circles. He's 20 years old. He's five days away from turning 21. So he's going to be 21 all of next season. He's going to be in the big leagues. at 21 years old, they're going to jump his rule five year by a couple of years.

00:17:54
Speaker 4: And I think you put it perfectly.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: What he did to me in double a was better than what he did in high.

00:18:03
Speaker 4: It was more games. One more home run.

00:18:09
Speaker 1: Gets on base at a high clip. I think he has a good balance. Like he's not overly passive. He's kind of passive enough. He's not overly aggressive. He's kind of aggressive enough that he doesn't overexpose himself. There's more bats a ball skill there than I think people realize. He hits for power. He finds the barrel consistently. It's good bat path. It's actualized power. You're not going to have to make any adjustments to this guy. I think he'll actually find more contact. When you consider how young.

00:18:38
Speaker 4: He is, right?

00:18:39
Speaker 1: I mean, he's not even draft eligible as a college guy.

00:18:45
Speaker 4: Right.

00:18:45
Speaker 1: And he's surpassing a lot of performance from like highly touted college guys that people believe in.

00:18:51
Speaker 4: He runs.

00:18:52
Speaker 1: There's more speed here than I think people realize that a conversation and the dynasty dugout chat. I love going in there and chatting prospects. Cause they're always chatting prospects and there's some, some sharp folks in there. Good conversations. And I was saying to somebody, I was like, this guy was a 55, 60 runner. Like you get plus run times on bottom row on a jailbreak, you know, I probably put the grade more like a 55 long-term.

00:19:17
Speaker 4: I do think he's going to run.

00:19:18
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to be 30 steals, but a guy that contributes like 10 to 16 steals a year while hitting 25 to 30 plus home runs, getting on base, not killing you in batting average, but kind of giving you league average batting average. That's a really valuable player. And I think that's what Bonhamer can be. I've always kind of been beating the drum on Bonhamer going back to when he was a Michigan high school kid.

00:19:43
Speaker 4: Um, just believe in the swing, believe in the athlete. Uh, he's not a good defender.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: His hands and actions weren't good His internal clock wasn't good. Moving him out to the outfield. He's got the speed. And I think the arm to be successful out there as a corner guy could probably play either corner pretty successfully.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: And offensively he fits that profile.

00:20:04
Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, I actually think like next year he could be one of the better power contact and power guys in that lineup because they have so much swing and miss on the White Sox lineup.

00:20:15
Speaker 3: Right.

00:20:17
Speaker 2: That.

00:20:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I think in a couple of years, like he could establish himself as one of the better hitters in that lineup.

00:20:23
Speaker 4: I'm a, I'm a Bonham or guy.

00:20:25
Speaker 1: So there's others who are less bought in, but I think you look at what this guy has done through. I mean, he's never had a WRC plus below one 39. right out of high school over the course of a couple of years, he's really performed. He's been in the upper minors. He's performed in the upper minors, um, and should start the season next year in Charlotte. And he's only, he's only a call away and he's the kind of prospect that if there is a big injury and they need to replace some of that production, I think Bonhamer is probably their first call.

00:20:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:20:59
Speaker 3: I mean, the more we talk about it, I just keep getting higher on him. Uh, and I think, um, Taking him in draft and hold leagues for next year, maybe try to trade for him in a dynasty league. Putting him in an outfield corner, I do think that could really make all the pieces fit for them. Tristan Peters, I was really impressed with his defensive metrics when I was looking at him.

00:21:28
Speaker 2: Another sleeper for next year.

00:21:31
Speaker 3: Let's head to a quick break here, but when we come back I want to get Jeff's take on how soon we might see Zaheer Hope in the Tigers outfield.

00:21:42
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00:22:41
Speaker 1: All right.

00:22:42
Speaker 3: Back with Jeff Ponce on the Baseball America Fantasy Podcast. And Jeff, Zaheer Hope has played what would amount to like a full season at AA across parts of three seasons. He was better than league average in all three of those seasons at AA. So safe to say he doesn't need to go back to that level. Probably won't need that much time at AAA.

00:23:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:23:04
Speaker 3: But I think him having a strong AFL would kind of cement that, that he might only be a triple-A for, for a month or two. And he was the first overall pick in that aforementioned Arizona fall league fantasy league we're in. So I hear hope Jeff, you know, new org, but I think he's, he's poised for a big AFL, right?

00:23:28
Speaker 1: I could he's played a lot of games though.

00:23:31
Speaker 4: You know, so I wonder if, He's.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: Out there for a week or two and then, you know, ends up shutting it down.

00:23:39
Speaker 4: Because as you said, like.

00:23:40
Speaker 1: He played 124 games this season, played 127 last year, 121 the year before.

00:23:49
Speaker 4: Shout out to Zaire Hope for staying on the field, by the way.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: I think the other thing they discussed with him is like the first week or two that he was in the Tigers org was rough. He really struggled post-trade. and then got his footing adjusted. It was really good for them down the stretch. I think they got into the playoffs as well. Again, Erie seems to get in there every year. Um, and like just constantly gets on base his for power. There's some speed, um, not a center fielder, but can play all three outfield spots. To me, he feels like a guy that, yeah, the tigers, if he's in triple a, it's going to be for a few weeks and then he's going to be up with the club. Um, they're going to have PPI eligibility with him too. And I think just with the, the tech school will trade.

00:24:34
Speaker 4: They're going to.

00:24:35
Speaker 1: Want to show some of that river. Ryan's going to get some run. He's going to get some runs. So, and unlike river Ryan, he's always on the field. So yeah, I think there's a lot of positives with hope. Liked him for a while. This is what his second tour in the AFL too. So yeah, we'll see how it goes. I mean, if he plays, he's going to hit. I just wonder if he's only there for, like a week to 10 days, but.

00:25:00
Speaker 4: I could totally be wrong. He's played a lot of games.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: That is a good call though. Sorry, SPP.

00:25:05
Speaker 3: Um, yeah, that he, he would be of the guys we've talked about. I, I feel like you'd be the least surprising early exit. Um, but like you look at that, that tiger, I mean, I'm, I'm kind of not really into a lot of the tigers position players, uh, but I mean, it's, it's basically Max Clark, Riley green, and just a whole lot of nothing in that third outfield spot.

00:25:29
Speaker 2: So, um, I think he'll be up pretty soon.

00:25:31
Speaker 3: Uh, Arjun Namala, Jeff, uh, new org for him, uh, with the angels now, another guy who won't have a hard time breaking in whenever he's big league ready, but it's a, it's a new regime there. So, you know, maybe they won't be quite as aggressive, but, uh, namala i mean he i think he did miss time last year right so um i mean this is going to be a nice run scoring environment for him uh toolsy shortstop you've written about him plenty covering the jay system what should people be on the lookout for with them.

00:26:05
Speaker 1: All yeah um i actually took him with my first pick in the afl draft and yeah he missed time for a hand i think he had maybe an oblique or something earlier in the year when he was with Toronto.

00:26:21
Speaker 2: Still, I.

00:26:23
Speaker 1: Followed Namala. I was there for his first pro game in the complex, saw half of his games. He played out of the draft, saw him the following year. I covered him for a bunch of years with the blue Jays. And you know, the, the defense has always been good. He's always been somebody where it was like, all right, it's 55, 60 defense, five 60 arm. He's going to stick at shortstop long-term.

00:26:46
Speaker 4: The power was there. the approach was there at points, the swing and miss was a little concerning.

00:26:53
Speaker 1: Um, he took a big step forward, like as a hitter, like physically grew a lot this year. He's another guy who's super young in two weeks. So when he's in AFL, he's going to turn 21. And this is his third professional season, like full professional season, 24, 25, 26, he was drafted in 23.

00:27:12
Speaker 4: So he's still really, really young.

00:27:15
Speaker 1: Um, Even when he was drafted at 17, would have been draft eligible for the next draft, but was a little ahead in school.

00:27:22
Speaker 4: I don't think he reclassed.

00:27:25
Speaker 1: But I think you look like the swing strike rate went down a little bit this year. This approach just seemed better. He just seemed more in control of his at-bats. He was getting to the power more consistently and really ended the season on a high note. I know that he didn't hit all that well in the playoffs, but hit a bunch of homers. In the month of September, he hit something like 10, 11, 12 home runs. He put up some, some pretty decent numbers. So, um, he's, he's a guy where I expect him to get a good run in AFL. Um, you know, because he didn't play like a ton of games this season. I think it was like 89 games total. So he's got a few weeks to make up. Um, it's an Arizona based team, so he'll be close to their facilities. I would imagine he's going to spend some time out there anyway. And he can hit for power, can run a little bit and get on base, can hit for average. And I just think he's a guy that is going to get a lot of run and was hot in September to end the season. So I'm going to try to ride that hot streak a little bit, AFL fantasy, but I'm a big Arjun Namala fan.

00:28:34
Speaker 4: I think he's one of the better shortstop projects prospects in the game.

00:28:37
Speaker 1: And I think, you know what peak could be a guy who hits for a lot of power hits for some average, um, probably doesn't run enough to be like a huge fantasy star, but from a real life perspective, because he's so good defensively is going to be a really strong all around shortstop for someone, probably the angels at this point.

00:28:57
Speaker 2: Do you think it could be like a 25 Homer 10 steel type of thing at peak?

00:29:03
Speaker 1: I don't think that would be, uh, crazy to think i think it could maybe have seasons where it's like 12 to 15 steals as.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: Well um that's a good that's a heck of a player.

00:29:15
Speaker 1: Yeah i think he could be i think he could be really really solid yeah like if you got you know like uh i keep on wanting to like compare them to like zach nato because they have like similar styles of hitting um but i think you get one that's maybe a little bit more polished cause the swing isn't as like funky as NATO's is, you know? Uh, but yeah, I mean, probably doesn't run as much, probably hits for more batting average.

00:29:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I can see that.

00:29:47
Speaker 3: Uh, the next guy I want to talk about Tate South of scene. Um, I'm a, I'm a big South of scene guy for fantasy, especially, um, he hurt his wrist in his.

00:29:58
Speaker 2: First game at double a on July 28th.

00:30:01
Speaker 3: So making up for lost time and you know, he's another one of these guys where I would have considered him with my first pick in that, that AFL fantasy draft, but just coming back from the injury, not sure exactly how much he's going to be able to handle out there.

00:30:16
Speaker 2: But do you, do you have.

00:30:19
Speaker 3: Any hunch in terms of how much we see South the scene play out there? Is there anything you're specifically looking at with, with his game to sort of see, how he handles this assignment.

00:30:29
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:30:29
Speaker 1: I'm interested just to see how the hitting is, how the power is, if he's getting to it, if he's hitting the ball hard, um, that's typically the last thing that comes back with wrist injuries and the stuff that.

00:30:40
Speaker 4: You're, you're going to deal with.

00:30:42
Speaker 1: Um, prior to the injury, I mean, he was one of the breakout prospects of the season and the Braves had a few with him at Hartman. Um, it was really impressive. The power was really impressive. Uh, there's enough hit tool there. Um, And he had a really rough, and I think this is one of the reasons you can't, we talked about this in the FYPD pod, it's one of the reasons you can't overanalyze bad debuts for some of these high school guys because he was swinging and missing a lot. That was not the case this year.

00:31:09
Speaker 4: The power was there that he showed. It was more hit tool.

00:31:13
Speaker 1: Second baseman, I wonder how much long-term he's going to run, but I think could produce across the board enough that he's a productive fantasy player and a good prospect.

00:31:25
Speaker 4: So, um, could be interesting, but I'm going to be watching just to see how's the swing. Look, how's he hitting? Is he driving the ball? You know?

00:31:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:31:32
Speaker 3: I mean, that would be really impressive if he was driving the ball right away. Um, Braylon pain of the Brewers. Like I said, he was my, my pick in the, the first round of that, uh, AFL fantasy draft. Um, Jeff, like when, when the Brewers first signed pain, like, you know, it was kind of the speed, the athleticism, the, the center field defense, um, And he's just really opened my eyes with the power he's got in there. Some really impressive exit velocities this year and still has the athleticism and the speed. I think he really handled double A pretty well for a guy that, you know, I think when he was drafted, I think a lot of people thought he'd move a little slower. I mean, they've pushed him fairly aggressively and he's handled it so far. You know, not a guy that we ever talk about as like a top 10 fantasy prospect, but Just on the power speed upside, his tools are really impressive.

00:32:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, 100%.

00:32:28
Speaker 1: And I think the thing with Payne.

00:32:35
Speaker 4: Is it's a weird swing.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: I don't want to call it a bad swing, but if you've watched video, for a guy who's so athletic, it's an awkward stroke.

00:32:48
Speaker 4: He is super rotational.

00:32:50
Speaker 1: And explosive as, you know, dynamite, like his EV numbers are crazy. The power numbers, as you said, is like what really impressed me. We're like, I didn't think of him as that kind of a hitter. When I saw him for a series in Carolina last year with, um, Louise Pena and, and his is my day. And like all those guys been taunting, et cetera. Um, but he was hammering the ball this year, 107.3, 90th percentile EV, you know, one 15.3 max EV. 92.3 EV. His approach is actually good, but aggressive. It's like good aggressive, but typically to have this kind of approach, you need to have above average bat to ball skills, which he does not. He is below average bat to ball skills. It was a 28% end zone miss. That is really bad.

00:33:39
Speaker 4: That's concerning.

00:33:42
Speaker 1: But high swing rate, chase rate in comparison to the swing rate.

00:33:47
Speaker 4: There's a 22% gap there, which is good. It's 80% heart swing.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: So like when he sees something over the middle of the plate, he looks to do damage against it.

00:33:54
Speaker 4: That's good.

00:33:55
Speaker 1: That will lead to better results, regardless of bad swing and miss. But I think like he needs to probably rein in the approach and be a little bit less aggressive and try to hone in on just attacking pitches in the zone. If he can do that over the next year, I think some of the swing and miss becomes more tolerable. He's walking at high rates and it's a more sustainable high walk rate than what he had this year. And he's going to hit for a ton of power. He's just a weird player because you have that swing and miss and you have that funky swing that I'm, I'm not so sure works.

00:34:30
Speaker 4: Against the best pitchers in the world.

00:34:32
Speaker 1: But, you know, I know someone that hits with them and, and something he's working on and has made some adjustments and obviously he's had a great season and has a lot to build on. So he's a really exciting prospect. I think he's a really exciting prospect for fantasy. I've been high on him, but there are, I mean, there's some red flags here too, that you gotta, you gotta acknowledge, which is just swinging.

00:34:54
Speaker 3: And they, and they, you know, I think with a player like this, you gotta do what the Brewers did and just keep pushing him so that he, cause he wasn't, you know, even with those concerns, he was just raking at high a, and they push him to double a before his 20th birthday.

00:35:09
Speaker 2: And so like, I think, you know.

00:35:12
Speaker 3: The, the context with just how young he is and sort of the prospect he was two years ago versus the prospect he is now, um, just interested to see what, what the future holds for pain. Um, not a guy that the brewers have to be aggressive with at all in terms of pushing them up. Um, but I do think they wanted to get him up to the upper levels just to, to kind of work through those issues. Um, So Jeff, Charles DeVallen of the Dodgers hasn't played second base since 2024 at Florida Gulf Coast, listed as an infielder for Glendale. And I remember talking with someone from the Dodgers out at spring training last year, and they were just like, yeah, DeVallen's an outfielder. They're really excited about how he'd progressed as an outfield defender. But I'm assuming they're looking at their depth chart just like everybody else and sort of saying, you know, well, where, when exactly is he going to play outfield for us? Um, probably not anytime soon. So they're going to see how he does at second base in the AFL. Um, I, I love him, but it's still just, he's so accomplished, but he is a little old for a guy who's barely played a double A.

00:36:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, you know, I think, uh, some of it is that depth chart. Like he didn't get up to double a until the playoffs and was good there. I think like could have played in double a in may.

00:36:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:36:42
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

00:36:42
Speaker 4: There's no questions about his ability to hit.

00:36:45
Speaker 1: Um, you know, it was around him a little bit, uh, in his draft summer before he transferred to Arkansas. I was a good to a guy, good kid, hard worker, um, can really hit. I mean, there's bats of all skills here. There's approach, there's power. there's little question about that. I think the Dodgers like having guys. It's not only just like a, a depth chart thing. I think it's also having versatility.

00:37:11
Speaker 4: On that depth chart.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: You know, they were, they were quick to move Mookie back into the infield and add that versatility. I think it just gives them more potential lineups and almost might speak of how highly they view dabbling that they kind of want to put him in a position that, Hey, maybe this guy fits a role on our team next year, you know which I think is encouraging.

00:37:35
Speaker 4: Cause if this was a guy they viewed as like, Hey, this is.

00:37:38
Speaker 1: The fourth outfielder of the four great outfielders that we have between DePaula, Quintero and Sirota. Let's just trade this guy, you know, and keep them where he is and whatever that might be less reflective of like, Hey, we really believe in this guy. He's got the ability. He's played some, some infield before. Let's see if this can work. And if so, you know, this gives us like a ready-made replacement at, at second base or in the infield. And some of that, you know, we can, we can bring in, they've, they've kind of done the data driven second base thing with Max Muncy and some other guys historically. Um, so I don't know how much like they value, uh, second base defense necessarily. So if he's average there, it might be a big swoop for his fantasy value. And especially if he like continues to play some, some corner outfield and could be a multi-position guy, um, valuable hitter either way. That's a really interesting experiment. Probably one of the bigger storylines to follow just from a mechanics of like the Dodgers roster and baseball and like how things are.

00:38:38
Speaker 4: Going to go in 2027 and the AFL.

00:38:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:38:42
Speaker 3: I can't wait to see how he, how he looks out there. Zion Rose, the next guy I want to talk about Jeff. I mean, we've talked about him a lot already this, this fall, but you know, the best, 2026 draftee that's got gotten assigned to the afl and he's making up for lost time uh i mean is this a guy where like with a good afl you could see him like spending most of next year at double a triple a like do you think they send him to high for like the first half and then double a like how.

00:39:18
Speaker 1: Do you see i mean he He played a good month and a half in high A and was good. And they went on a playoff run too. They won they won the Midwest league, if I'm not mistaken, Quad city. So my guess is they would probably end up sending Rose to Northwest Arkansas. He starts in double a to begin the season.

00:39:38
Speaker 4: The other thing is like.

00:39:39
Speaker 1: He's from Chicago, so he can handle the Midwest weather in the early spring. We're in the two areas of the country. I mean, you're a Midwest guy. squarely in the middle of the map for the Midwest league. I'm kind of squarely in the middle of the map for the Eastern league. This is a tough.

00:39:57
Speaker 4: Places to hit in April, man.

00:39:58
Speaker 1: Like I don't think people understand like when, when, when Taro was bad in April this year, but the underlying data was good. It was like, wait, wait on this kid because he's playing in like 25, 30 degree temps. There's probably snow on the ground. Sometimes he's going to the park in the morning.

00:40:15
Speaker 4: It's not, it's not ideal.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: So, I wouldn't be shocked if he starts the season at double a, I think he's the kind of player he's dynamic.

00:40:26
Speaker 4: Quicker to the majors. He's the hit tool, super well polished.

00:40:29
Speaker 1: And I think that defensive abilities, as long as it's not a negative and he's not a negative in the field and the hit tool was polished and you know, it's ready for the majors just in terms of bats, the ball skills, swing decisions, like you're going to give a team a competitive at bat.

00:40:44
Speaker 4: I think those guys tend to move a little bit quicker.

00:40:46
Speaker 1: My concern is, as somebody who loves Zion Rose and wants to get the opportunity to have access to him in FYP draft, I'm nervous.

00:40:55
Speaker 4: He's going to rake dude.

00:40:57
Speaker 1: And, and we're going to, we're going to be talking about people taking a one, you know, which like this, like you can go a bunch of different directions. Like I think one for Rose is probably aggressive, but if he has a good AFL, I don't think there's any stop in them, especially when you consider some of the guys that have performed in AFL out of the draft, like a Kurtz or a Jack, have gone on to be fantasy relevant guys almost immediately, you know? So yeah, there's a little concern there, but I don't know if it's going to get to one, but.

00:41:26
Speaker 3: You, I mean, you're not going to get him, you know, if he has a good AFL, he won't be available at eight in the first round. You mentioned Eduardo Quintero played 112 games, all but one of them at high. You know, just a really, really talented, potential five category fantasy outfielder. And the only real knock is we don't know when he's going to be up.

00:41:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:41:56
Speaker 1: And he's a 60, maybe a 70 in center field. So of all these guys, he's the one that has the clearest pathway to like, Hey, you got bad center field defense. You got bad outfield defense, plug in Quintero and immediately he's like, he's not going to be a late inning replacement. Like, like host way to Paula, you know, and you know I think you look at the data like he had an awesome year like I said he had this this really weird April and I want to pull up his MILB uh MILB splits here um because if I remember he hit like below the Mendoza line in in April and then was pretty good the rest of the year.

00:42:41
Speaker 2: He was one of the best hitters in the minors probably the final three.

00:42:44
Speaker 1: Months like three months yeah And yeah, here, I wanted to pull the splits up because I remember this narrative, you know, when you're doing the.

00:42:50
Speaker 4: Top 100 list, people are like, what's wrong with this guy?

00:42:52
Speaker 1: So he hit 195, 305, 280 in April. And then the rest of the season, I'll just go by OPS because that gives you an idea.

00:43:01
Speaker 4: 941 OPS in.

00:43:02
Speaker 1: May with a 372 batting average.

00:43:04
Speaker 4: 1011 OPS in June with a 333 batting average.

00:43:05
Speaker 1: 1135 OPS in July with a 323 batting average, 1077 OPS in August with a 342, and then was down to a 921 in September, 971 OPS against righties, 834 OPS against lefties. Like he's a, he's a really strong hitter. And then you look at the underlying stuff, like, and he's still so young.

00:43:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:43:37
Speaker 1: Really high number of pitches he takes per at bat, but he's not overly passive.

00:43:42
Speaker 4: His heart swings a little low.

00:43:43
Speaker 1: I'd say that's the one kind of knock on him, but it's 12.4% end zone miss rate, a 15.7% chase rate, a 106.3 90th percentile EV hit a ball one 12.5 this year. And remember, you know how young this guy is, this is age 20 season, high barrel rate, pretty good angles. You know, there's some stuff to optimize with the swing. He'd get a little more aggressive in zone, but I mean, he's a top 50 prospect. And I think, very relevant fantasy and like a guy who could maybe even outproduce some of his skills because he has the defensive chops and, you know, on base skills to hit at the top of the lineup and like be like a 600 plus 700, you know, plus like plate appearance type of guy. And, you know, when you're trying to optimize at bats and dynasty guys like that can be really valuable. So he'd be a really good one. I, you know, I know people hate it when the Dodgers have good prospects, but I'm sorry, they have good prospects.

00:44:42
Speaker 3: My fantasy ceiling comp on Quintero for a while has been Andrew McCutcheon. I just think it's such an exciting... If it all works out, if he reaches his ceiling, the speed upside combined with, like you were saying, a potential one or two hitter, it's really exciting. Nathan Flewelling of the Rays, one of three catchers, I think, listed on that roster. Do you think Flewelling plays maybe some first base and like works on some of that out there. Like I know, uh, Caden Bodine is, has definitely, you know, passed him, uh, deservedly so in terms of who's going to be up first, but, uh, Flewelling's bad is what I love so much. I mean, I don't really mind that much if he moves off a catcher. I just really want his bat to be in the lineup as much as possible. Yeah.

00:45:36
Speaker 1: And like, he's super athletic. Um, He's a guy that was a huge athletic tester. There's more speed there maybe than I think people realize. I almost wonder if he's a better player if they move him to the outfield or make him a third baseman. I don't know if he's going to see any time in other positions. If you look at the number of catchers that are on that roster, that lends itself to him maybe seeing some work in different spots.

00:46:04
Speaker 4: Maybe it's first.

00:46:05
Speaker 1: He's got the arm, and I think if the footwork is good enough Maybe he could play a little third base could play, you know, some corner outfield and be pretty good out there. That's always been the selling point on him is like there's power. There's on base skills, a little swing and miss that you can kind of deal with, but he's kind of toolsy for a catcher. So I'd be interested to see what happens, but I mean, think about how, good he was in his pro debut, right? Like I know the slash line doesn't look good, but that was like classic Carolina league where it's like, yeah, he hit two 29, but it was a one 26 WRC plus.

00:46:41
Speaker 4: At 18 years old.

00:46:43
Speaker 1: He's still 19, put up a 21 home run season with a 14.6 walk rate. Um, you know, in a full season in the Midwest league, I think he's really, really interesting.

00:46:55
Speaker 4: Um, and he's another guy that could really break out, uh, with a good performance.

00:46:59
Speaker 1: Cause I think he does so many things well that might play up in that AFL environment.

00:47:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:47:04
Speaker 3: And, and I think you have to grade like his, his hitting data on a bit of a curve just because of how rare it is for a catcher that age to be assigned to the levels he was assigned to. So obviously like he's working on his catcher defense a ton while producing as much as he did as a teenager at these, these full season leagues.

00:47:26
Speaker 2: So.

00:47:27
Speaker 3: Really impressed with Flewelling. Jeff, I'm extremely excited about Dax Kilby as one of the younger players out there. You know, who knows how many games he gets into, but, you know, his hamstring injury almost resulted in like a lost year. Like he had a hamstring injury in spring training, then immediately re-injured it on a rehab assignment in late May. only played 32 games at single a last year did Dax Kilby. But I mean, he's just a data darling, really not hard to dream on his upside. How much do you think we see him play out there and how much do you like Kilby long-term?

00:48:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:48:05
Speaker 4: I mean, he's another guy we talked about with Aiden Miller.

00:48:07
Speaker 1: Like if Kilby's hamstring is feeling good and he's moving and there's no.

00:48:12
Speaker 4: Aches and pains, he doesn't tweak anything. He can blow up out there.

00:48:18
Speaker 1: This could be the perfect environment for him because like, The pitching doesn't play well. He's got issues elevating the ball and the ball travels a little further there. Jumps off the bat a little bit more. He hits the shit out of it. So like that could turn into maybe some more home runs than you expect. Gets on base at a high clip. Makes enough hard contact. It could be a lot of doubles there in the gaps. Could also steal a ton of bases.

00:48:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:48:42
Speaker 4: Fast and he runs that. he's one of these.

00:48:45
Speaker 1: Guys that I think like if he plays 22 games in the AFL, he gets pretty much a full season. You could be talking about one of the bigger performers that we were, we were looking at the first round and I was like weighing, like, when do I.

00:48:57
Speaker 4: Take Dax Kilby?

00:48:58
Speaker 1: Cause like, I may have taken first round cause he might be gone by the time I pick next.

00:49:04
Speaker 4: So like, I think he's a guy that could blow up an AFL. He just needs the time.

00:49:08
Speaker 1: All the tools are there. I think we've seen this with guys. We saw it with Walker Jenkins. We told you all the tools are there for this guy to hit for power. Postway to Paul, all the tools are there for this guy to hit for power. It's a little bit of a slow burn, but eventually that engine comes to the surface. They figure out the tweaks they got to make with the swing and then it's rockets.

00:49:27
Speaker 3: Right.

00:49:27
Speaker 1: So I think this is one of those guys still, this is a good buy low. This is a good buy low this off season, frankly.

00:49:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh, yeah. Buy low while you can.

00:49:36
Speaker 3: Um, the two guys I'm most excited to see in person out there when I go for, for first pitch Arizona are Kilby because like Kilby just pops on video to me. I like, I can't wait to see what he looks like in person. And then this next guy on his bell Gomez you know, what a, what a Christmas present come early for us on his bell Gomez assigned to the AFL. I have no idea how many games he gets in out there. But I mean, I'm just counting my blessings. What do you think about this one, Jeff?

00:50:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, this was the surprising one.

00:50:09
Speaker 1: I think this is the one that if you ask Josh Norris in a dream, hey, what would be the best present you could get when you fly out to Arizona the first day you're there? And you're at instruction. You're watching guys at instruction. One of those guys gets to go play in AFL. It would be Anibal Gomez. And this guy's in a rocket ship. This is the hottest prospect in the minors. I think you had him top 10. You updated your list prior.

00:50:39
Speaker 2: To coming here.

00:50:40
Speaker 4: What did you have him?

00:50:41
Speaker 2: Top 20. Okay.

00:50:43
Speaker 1: I think this guy might be top 10. I think you could argue him crazy high right now, just based on not just the numbers.

00:50:51
Speaker 4: You can watch a lot.

00:50:52
Speaker 1: Of those DSL games on YouTube. You search for the Royals games. You'll find some. So you can watch them on video. The feedback from front offices is, I was having a call with an NL team and unsolicited just started talking to me about Gomez and how they were engaged in a trade conversation with this team and how they came away like this is their best prospect and this might be a top 10 prospect in the game right now.

00:51:27
Speaker 4: It's a corner outfield profile probably, but he's going to mash.

00:51:31
Speaker 1: It's going to be like I think the upside here in terms of like what the stat line is going to look like in three years, if it all goes great, it's like came an arrow. This could be another 35 home run type of guy who hits for some average gets on base. You know, you kind of don't even care about the other tools. Like, I don't know how much he's going to run, but he might just stuff the power category so much that it's helping you in four categories and you're kind of just take whatever steals you.

00:51:56
Speaker 4: Get, you know, and it might be okay.

00:51:58
Speaker 1: Maybe it's 10 or 11 or 12. I don't know about, I don't have a great feel for how he's going to age as a runner. Cause these guys are so young, but that juice and that swing, that's going to, that's going to age well. And you know, this could, we could look back and be like, Oh, the Annie Bell Gomez here in the AFL.

00:52:15
Speaker 4: Like that was the year this guy was out here.

00:52:18
Speaker 1: Like we do with Acuna or Vlad or, you know, some of the Kurtz, like some of those other great players that ascend to the superstardom.

00:52:25
Speaker 4: Like, I think it could be one.

00:52:26
Speaker 2: Of those guys.

00:52:27
Speaker 3: It's almost like the Royals are using this to kind of figure out where they need to assign him next year.

00:52:32
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be Columbia, probably. I don't think there's any. He's not going to.

00:52:41
Speaker 4: After this, he's not going to ACL.

00:52:43
Speaker 2: No way. No. But like, you know, even if you're just scouting the stat line on him, I mean.

00:52:49
Speaker 3: 8.3 swinging strike rate and his ground ball rates under.

00:52:56
Speaker 2: 28% out there. Um, yeah, I mean the, it's, it's pretty exciting.

00:53:01
Speaker 3: Um, and his body like, you know, listed six to one 73, like that's why I can't wait to see him in person is I just, I kind of want to get a sense of like where I think the body's going to be in like three or four years.

00:53:13
Speaker 2: But, uh, yeah, this is really fun, really exciting.

00:53:16
Speaker 3: Uh, all right, Jeff, um, we covered all the prospects who I think are top 100 dynasty prospects.

00:53:25
Speaker 2: You could certainly make a case for like a Bryce Rainer, Chase.

00:53:28
Speaker 3: Harlan, Demetrio Crescentes, you know, Wyatt Sanford went in the first round of our AFL draft. Are there one or two prospects we haven't hit on that you kind of want to highlight on the hitting side before we move on to some more pitchers?

00:53:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Ty Pete's really interesting.

00:53:45
Speaker 1: Had a great year, had some weird injuries that he dealt with that I, like off the field, like medical stuff, not, not anything related to like muscle injuries.

00:53:56
Speaker 4: It was reported as a concussion. That's incorrect.

00:53:59
Speaker 1: It's a HIPAA violation as three-year letterman would say, I can't, can't make any HIPAA violations.

00:54:05
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, I, I think this dude is, is tooled up.

00:54:10
Speaker 1: I mean, he's one of my favorite players to watch in the minors, like just from like, as far as hitters there's power here, the hit tool made a, big improvement year over year was hidden lead off for that Springfield team.

00:54:23
Speaker 4: He's speedy. He's an excellent outfielder. He's just going to make highlight reel plays.

00:54:28
Speaker 1: And when he hits a bomb, he's going to have an opportunity to hit a lot of bombs in Arizona. He's going to bat flip in a way. It's going to, it's going to go viral. Like he's going to go viral. He's just so exciting. I nicknamed one, the one man show. And like, that's who he is. He's tie one man show peak like that. You put him on and you will be excited. If you watch him play baseball, you know, there's just a joy that comes with it. And it's exciting because he makes big plays. He finds barrels.

00:54:56
Speaker 4: He hits homers. He steals bases.

00:54:58
Speaker 1: He makes diving catches out in the outfield. Kind of does all those things. You know, if the hit tool continues to progress, he's a guy that could be really fantasy relevant.

00:55:10
Speaker 4: It's just historically it took him a little bit.

00:55:14
Speaker 1: He wasn't great with Seattle over a couple of years and they made a few adjustments to his swing and he really just found more consistent contact and, and was able to get to his contact quality more frequently.

00:55:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:55:27
Speaker 3: I mean, Pete, I'm with you. He's one of my favorite guys to watch too. The bat speed's just crazy. I love the personality that he brings to the game.

00:55:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:55:37
Speaker 3: I mean the, the Cardinals, man, they are, they're going to be getting pretty crowded pretty soon.

00:55:44
Speaker 2: Deepest system in the game. It's your system. Obviously, you know, you know it very well.

00:55:50
Speaker 3: So when I, when I first got hired by baseball America and you shared all your fancy spreadsheets with me, the first player I looked up was Sammy Hernandez of the Cardinals, just because I didn't have any exit velocity data on him. And I just wanted to see if there was any juice in there. There's not really much juice in there. Um, and I was just kind of let down by that, but, um, really good contact hitter interested to see how he does out there.

00:56:17
Speaker 2: I think, uh, Max Williams of the Marlins is, is pretty interesting.

00:56:22
Speaker 3: Um, I get like a one 13 max EB, uh, one, one Oh seven 90th, if I'm not mistaken. Uh, you know, there's, there's some, some contact, some chase issues, but Uh, I think Williams could have a pretty loud AFL. Uh, I, I don't believe I'm not a Dakota Jordan believer, but I just think be prepared for Dakota Jordan to put up some numbers out there.

00:56:49
Speaker 1: Um, I think Bailey is another one I was going to call out, like draft pick got hurt at FSU.

00:56:57
Speaker 4: So miss the end of the season. He was one of the best power hitters in college baseball.

00:57:02
Speaker 1: I don't love him as like an FYP guy, but I kind of feel like Another dude like AFL is perfect for miles Bailey. He can go out there and hit eight home runs. Like it's one of those guys where, you know, first week of the season, he hits three next week. He hits three, like, you know, like, and just ends up stacking up those numbers and people fall in love. Cause it's a fun swing and he's super explosive and, and, and, you know, like a good athlete for a power hitter.

00:57:27
Speaker 4: So he's another one.

00:57:29
Speaker 1: There's some of these names that like you have on this list are, really fantasy-relevant guys. It's just there's only so many top 100 players we can have. I would say my favorite guy of all the names that you've listed out of your top 400.

00:57:43
Speaker 4: Chase Harlan.

00:57:44
Speaker 1: When I look at the underlying data on Chase Harlan, I'm bought in that he's a top 100 guy. I honestly think I view him as a huge buy-in.

00:57:53
Speaker 2: This off season.

00:57:54
Speaker 4: Like I'm targeting Harlan and trades.

00:57:56
Speaker 1: If I can get them, of course I said this publicly, so now I won't get them, but, um, I just buy into the combination of like swing decisions, contact power. There's good angles. Um, he's still super young and production was there. He's another guy I could blow up in AFL.

00:58:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:13
Speaker 3: I mean, I, he, he certainly has a case as a top 100 guy and might be in it. If I, if I redid my, my top 100, um, All right, Jeff, let's let's wrap with the best of the non Harley and Susana pitchers that we are going to see in the AFL. And I think like the biggest name of these guys is probably Briggs McKenzie. Really exciting lefty with Atlanta making up for lost time. I also I know we're both big fans of Patrick Forbes with the Diamondbacks.

00:58:51
Speaker 5: Didn't.

00:58:51
Speaker 3: Wasn't able to stack innings really this year, but I thought he looked great when he was out there.

00:58:55
Speaker 2: Uh, you want to shout out a couple of these guys?

00:59:00
Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, you know, Brandon Clark, kind of the type. I'm so Cardinals pilled at this point. But Brandon Clark, to me, like, is kind of the type of pitching. Like, you can get innings with Brandon Clark where you think it's left-handed Missy Orowski.

00:59:18
Speaker 4: Like, he doesn't always hold it. There's been weird injuries.

00:59:22
Speaker 1: Like, a lot of his injury issues in 25, after he had that explosive first month and a half, were blisters.

00:59:29
Speaker 4: Which eventually for a lot of guys will go away.

00:59:31
Speaker 1: And it's not shocking because he spins the crap out of his breaking stuff and his fastball and has a ton of power. So like that's more receptive to that kind of thing. He had that weird surgery on his shoulder that you just don't know how it's going to track long-term, you know, or why it was caused, or if it's just something that he had to have worked on and then he's going to be fine. he's got to prove he can go deeper into starts to have any chance to, to, to really be viewed as a starter, but he.

01:00:03
Speaker 4: Could be a pen ace.

01:00:06
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe Harlan Susanna is, you know, Mason Miller. Like this is like the next or all this Chapman type of thing. Like in terms of like raw stuff, I don't think he's going to have a Chapman's career. Chapman's career is stands. But like a lefty, closer that comes in and throws 102 miles an hour, 103 with tons of movement and nasty break and stuff. Like he can be that, you know, you'll get innings in, in, in high a this season where you're like, you could put this guy out of the Cardinals bullpen right now.

01:00:39
Speaker 4: He's going to strike out the middle of the order. Like nobody can hit this stuff.

01:00:44
Speaker 1: It's just a matter of health and strikes with him, which is how it is with a lot of these guys. But, the octane there like he's pound for pound has just as good stuff as harland suzanne.

01:00:56
Speaker 3: He reminds me like it's almost kind of like a lefty like felix batista um like almost like in the like it like i don't like it's not going to be around this chapman like you said like no doctor have a hall of fame like uh closer career but um yeah i mean it's yeah and it could be the type of thing where he's you know on the you drop him after he gets like a it's big surgery at some point like that.

01:01:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.

01:01:19
Speaker 3: I mean, there's, there's a lot of upset there. Um, do you have, do you want to say anything about McKenzie or Forbes? Like, I mean, I know McKenzie's not necessarily that close, uh, for.

01:01:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll just, we'll, we'll see what we get there with McKenzie.

01:01:32
Speaker 1: Um, I'm always a little skeptical of any of the high school guys. Braxton Bragg had, you know, a little buzz prior to his injury and missing a year. You know, I think, uh, Sam Horn, uh, It's a Dodgers prospect.

01:01:48
Speaker 4: Kind of interesting.

01:01:49
Speaker 1: He was, he was injured in college. I think maybe he had like day one upside in the draft prior to the injury. So he could be a guy that really kind of like catapults his prospect stock coming out of AFL. If he pitches ball and the stuff is loud in front of a Hawkeye system and, you know, TJ stats and those guys are, you know, posting up a Sam horn.

01:02:08
Speaker 4: Look at this guy. He's got a new team. Like whatever it is, right?

01:02:11
Speaker 1: Like that, that, but that, you know, it, it drives the conversation forward on some of these kinds of guys, especially when there's not anything to look.

01:02:17
Speaker 4: At Roby coming back. I think Roby would have been in the.

01:02:20
Speaker 1: Cardinals rotation, making 25 starts this year if he was healthy. So how he comes back, how his stuff looks, I think could be relevant to fantasy redraft and dynasty. He could be a guy that's kind of sneaky in early DCs that you get them in round 48 or.

01:02:35
Speaker 4: Something like that, or 47. And then, and like with a usable starter, you know, come, come bank.

01:02:41
Speaker 1: It just depends like how strong he comes back.

01:02:47
Speaker 4: And I like Forbes a lot.

01:02:49
Speaker 1: Had somebody say to me yesterday that he might be the diamondbacks best prospect if he's healthy, like stuff is there. I've been really projecting into something. So it's, it's interesting. There's some interesting arms here. There always are. It's just the environment for them is, is a little like pitching on the moon. So yeah, your mistakes are really magnified in AFL.

01:03:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.

01:03:13
Speaker 3: I would say, I'd say wait until the 50th round on Roby in your first DC. And then maybe it gets to 49, 48 in the later DCs, but awesome stuff, Jeff. And like I said, top three 50 redraft rankings, full article, Position breakdowns come in Wednesday.

01:03:34
Speaker 2: So definitely check that out.

01:03:35
Speaker 3: And thanks for listening to the Baseball America Fantasy Podcast.